Playing the waiting game!

So I guess now is the time during the wedding planning process were there isn't too much for me to be doing! We did take our engagement pictures in Disneyland on December 8th. Thank goodness my photographer was willing to wait in the awful traffic over the grapevine due to the weather the night before. We had so much fun taking the pictures! I think they are going to turn out so great! I can't wait to see them!

I also am so grateful that Shannon, my cousin Scott's wife, is so willing to help me plan and organize the wedding! She has such a great eye for things and will be such a big help come the actual day of the wedding! We have been e-mailing back and forth about wedding colors, invitations, flowers, and looks for the church! Thank-you so much Shannon!

Hopefully my next post will be of a link to my engagement pictures!!!

Engagement Pics Coming Soon!

After working things out with our photographer, Patrick and I are scheduled to do our engagement shoot in Disneyland on December 8th! I can't wait! First, because it's Disneyland and that's my favorite place ever! Second, it's going to be so beautifully decorated for Christmas! I already have outfits picked out for Patrick and myself! I can't wait to take these pictures and post them! Hopefully it won't be too long!

Minor Setbacks

I haven't updated this thing in a while because there hasn't been much to talk about in the way of wedding planning for us. We have decided on a few things, and have reluctantly had to change our honeymoon destination no thanks to Starwood (it's my parent's time share company).

To make a long story short, we had been eagerly awaiting the 8 month mark to call and book our honeymoon at the Atlantis Resort only to find out that it was booked solid! Our second choice being St. Johns...booked as well! You can imagine my frustration as I decided to push our honeymoon back a week in high hopes that possibly changing our arrival by one week would allow for some opening...fat chance! It was completely full! Begrudgingly, we had to select another location. However, we did come across a little gem in a place called Cancun, Mexico. Have you heard of it? :) We were a bit leery of spending our honeymoon in spring break paradise, but we were reassured that spring breakers and those on their senior trips would have vamoosed by this point in time. After looking around on the website at the beautiful hotel we would be staying at and viewing the gorgeous pool pictures on the website, we decided this tropical location would be our best bet (and cheaper airfare). The only item on the agenda that I was hoping would not change would be my opportunity to swim with dolphins! And to my delight, this is in option in Cancun, along with horseback riding (I've never ridden a horse), a gigantic mall right across the street, beautiful beaches, and tours through the Mayan ruins! We are, to say the least, stoked! Who needs the Atlantis anyway! (Ummm, we do and if you know of anyone canceling, we would love to trade with them for a week in Maui!) There is a picture above of the hotel we will be staying in. I actually am loving the pink!

The other decision we delightfully agreed upon, just recently, was the location of our engagement pictures! Drum roll please....that's right, you guessed it....my favorite place in the entire world...DISNEYLAND! Patrick mentioned the idea to our photographer and she actually liked it! She said it gave her an excuse to go there! I'm super excited! I have been looking online at engagement pictures other couples have taken at Disneyland and they are adorable. We just feel like we enjoy and love Disneyland so much, it needed to be incorporated into our wedding somehow and this is the perfect way! I'm not sure as to when we want to take the pictures though. I was thinking maybe around Christmas because Disneyland is so gorgeously decorated around then, but that doesn't give me much time to loose the weight I want! I'm on track though, 10 pounds and counting!

Nancy, Patrick's mother and my future mother-in-law, also booked our rehearsal dinner setting. We will be enjoying a nice dinner at Woolgrower's. Hope everyone likes pickled tongue!

Oooo, I almost forgot the best part! I am going to try on my first wedding dresses on November 14th at the Little White Dress shop here in town! I'm actually a lot more excited than I thought I would be because I hate trying on dresses! They never fit the way I want them too. Hopefully this will be a different story. My mother, grandmother, maid of honor, and most of my bridesmaids will be in attendance! I'm very excited to get to experience this will all of my girls!

Well, that is all for now! Enjoy the holidays!

So proud!

For the last couple days I have had tons of free time on my hands, so I decided to begin work on my wedding slide show because I figured it would be a long process. I found a program on my Mac called iMovie and started messing around with it. It has worked out great for my wedding slide show! I'm so proud of what I have accomplished because it really looks like a professional did it! I'm not completely done with every aspect of the show, but I have gotten the majority of the work done! I even burned it onto a DVD and played it for my mom, Neeme, and Grandma and they loved it! I can't wait for you all to see it at my wedding!

Slideshow Possibilities

Today I actually took the time to short through pictures that Patrick and I found at his house that we could use in our wedding slideshow. I scanned all of the usable ones onto my computer and I plan to do the same with my pictures. I am actually going to attempt to makes the slide show! I just wanted to post a few because they are adorable!

Food, Flowers, & Fun!

Over the last couple weeks there have been some major decisions made about the wedding and reception. Probably the biggest decision so far has been going with Mossman's for the catering.

Patrick, Nancy, my mom, and I all met with Lori and Rick to discuss our menu and price options for the reception. After it was all said and done, we decided to go with two main course choices : tri-tip & chicken strips...yumm! If you know me, you know I am a very picky eater, so the chicken strips are my choice (along with my dad's). We will have two salads. They will most likely be some version of a green salad and a fruit salad. For sides, we will be having Mossman's awesome bread rolls and twice baked potatoes! So yummy! This dinner will be buffet style. They gave us a great deal! We are also getting actual plates to use from them, along with silverware, salt & pepper shakers, glassware, and a beverage station including water, tea, and coffee! The people from Mossman's will also be clearing the plates from the table! The extras are thanks to Patrick's mom, Nancy! Thanks Nancy!

The next item on the agenda was my florist. I originally had no idea who I'd be going with, but after quite a few suggestions, my mom and I decided to meet with Janice from Janice's Wild Flower Cottage. She was very nice and very budget savy! We decided on using fuschia pink and orange roses for the center pieces. The centerpieces will vary from table to table between tall and short arrangements. We saw some examples of her work with the taller arrangement and it is beautiful! Each centerpiece with have about 12 roses! The shorter arrangments will be set-up in a square shaped vase! The bridesmaids bouquets will have an assortment of fuschia pink and orange roses, along with some kind of purple flower! My bouquet will be solid pink roses! We also went with two medium sized arrangements for the ceremony stage. The groomsman's boutaniers will be a single pink rose with a little greenery (no baby's breath per Patrick's request). The petals I want to use to line the aisle at the ceremony and put on my cake will be provided by me because they will be much cheaper for me to get them at like Costco, according to Janice. And she is totally right because I can order 100 stems of hot pink roses for 99.99! That's awesome! We also decided to have the mom's carry a single rose (per my mom's request). My mom is also attempting to make flower balls to line the aisle way at the ceremony. She is trying it out using styrofome balls and fake flowers to cut costs! We will see how it turns out!

Lastly is the candy table we will be having! This will actually be our party favor for our guests. We will provide a little holder or bag with our name and date of the wedding imprinted on them. Then the guests get to fill their candy bag with whatever candy they choose! We have been on an apothecary jar rampage lately! These jars will look so beautiful with the tooling and lighting on the table. To add a personal twist, we are thinking of asking our parents what their favorite candies are, as well as ours, and labeling that candy with things like "Kim's Favorite," so the guests have a connection to us through their favor!

Can you tell I'm excited yet??

Everybody loves cake!

Today my mom and I met with the lady who will be making my wedding cake! Her name is Paulette Heguilustoy and she has been making cakes for many years here in town. She works out of her home and is the sweetest lady! She is giving us such a good deal for a cake that I know will look and taste amazing!

I had never really given much thought to what my cake would look like, other than the fact that it had to have buttercream icing and actual white cake in the middle. So, I guess you could say I wasn't THAT picky! I also did not want to spend an obscene amount of money on the cake because it will, of course, be eaten! With all of these factors in mind, I decided to meet with Paulette because she has a long history with my family of making all our cakes for large events! Not to mention her cakes also taste absolutely great!

After viewing many pictures of Paulette's gorgeous work, I decided to go with a 3 tier cake(14"-10"-6"). We will not be serving from the top layer because we will be saving that :) There will also be sheets of cake because the tiers we will actually be serving from only serve to about 140 people total, and we have an estimated guest list of 200. Having the sheets of cake really help in cutting cost.

Paulette is known for her fabulous decorative floral work on the cake. She uses fresh flowers all over the cake and on the cake table as well. The top of the cake will have the initial "B" cake topper, along with light green or white hydrangeas mixed with little flowers that match the bright colors of our wedding. For every ledge of the tiers of the cake, there will be rose petals filling them. These will most likely be fuschia pink rose petals. She is also mixing in the blues and purples with mini gerber daisies and delphiniums. It's going to be beautiful!

The inside of the cake will be white with buttercream icing as the filling in the layer! So delicious!

I never thought I would be this excited about my cake, but I so am! Throughout the whole meeting, I just wanted to have a bite of cake! Can't wait for you all to taste it!

(The pictures above are of Paulette's business card and the cake she made for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary!)

Next on the agenda is meeting with florists. Paulette recommended a few that sound reasonable and do great work!

We are also going to be scheduling a meeting with Mossman's for catering and will be dropping off the deposit for our photographer (Amanda Frank @ Frankly Yours) soon! Yay!

Yes, I actually forgot something...

I forgot something, believe it or not, in my first post!

It is the best part about this whole shebang- the honeymoon! My parents are amazing and are letting us use their timeshare and go to the Atlantis in the Bahamas! The picture above is where we will be staying for one week. We will actually be in the Harborside Villas, which are the pastel colored buildings in the photo! It will be amazing! I cannot wait!

In the beginning...

 

So I decided to begin a blog that "documents" the progress of my wedding! Hopefully this isn't just for me and others take a peak and give me their opinions on some of the options I am sifting through!

I guess it would be appropriate to explain how Patrick and I met. It all started at Kern Schools Federal Credit Union. We were both tellers at the branch located on the corner of Gosford & Stockdale. This branch is now closed :( Fortunately, we became friends before this happened! We actually officially began dating on January 15th, 2008.

Patrick and I had begun talking about our future, and how we both knew we wanted to be together forever. He proposed to me on May 10th, 2009 (Mother's Day). He was over at my house that morning and made me breakfast while I was getting ready. He told me that I needed to go eat because my waffles were getting cold :) I walked into the kitchen to sit down at the bar while Patrick was in my room doing something, when I saw a beautiful mahogany box next to my plate. It had a note on it that said "Open Me." So, of course, I opened it! Inside was another note that read "Will You Marry Me?" along with my beautiful ring (above)! I didn't say anything right away because Patrick wasn't in the kitchen with me! I walked down the hall to my room and peeked around the corner at Patrick. I had the biggest smile on my face, and so did he. I walked over to him and said, "Yes!" I told him he could breathe as he put the ring on my finger! My mom was in the other room and knew what was going down. She crept in slowly and told me see expected me to scream! Patrick did a great job because then I got to go to church and show my new ring off!

Since the proposal, I have been so excited with all the joys of wedding planning. My parents are being so generous in providing us with the funding for a beautiful wedding and reception. So far, we have decided on a few major details. The date will be June 12th, 2010! The ceremony will be held at my church, Central Church of Christ. We booked our reception at the Women's Club. This site is perfect because we will be needing a larger venue for the 200 guests we will be having! 

Photography is the one of the most important elements to me, as most everyone knows! So I've been having a great time checking out all the websites and pictures of other people's weddings. I have met with a photographer that I love! Her name is Amanda Frank and her business is called Frankly Yours! We haven't made the final decision to go with her yet because we are still waiting for some prices. Check out her website, she is amazing! Just click here! We were also recommended to check out Misty Dameron's website as well. 

We are now focusing on the catering aspect! I believe we are looking at Mossman's Catering because we know they have great food and they are affordable! We haven't actually set down with them to discuss details, but I'm sure that will be happening sometime this coming week or next.

We also already decided who is making our cake! Her name is Paulette and she has done quite a few events for our family. While her cakes aren't as fancy as some are nowadays, they are absolutely delicious! I know it will definitely be white cake with white frosting, but past that I have no idea!

Our DJ is very important as well! We want our reception to be semi-formal, but still a very fun atmosphere. Gabe, from Party Boy Productions, will be our DJ/MC. We have seen him in action and is such an awesome DJ! I actually worked with him at Kern Schools for a brief period. He will also be provided any lighting that we decide upon. One thing we definitely will be having is Patrick's last name, Bailey, and our wedding date lit up on the dance floor. It's actually pretty inexpensive and dresses up the dance area!

Colors are sort of decided upon. I found this awesome picture (above) that I have been basing my color scheme on so far, but it could change! I want my wedding to be bright and young and eye catching and I feel like these colors do just that! 

Our bridal party will consist of 5 people on each side. My Matron of Honor is my best friend since high school, Ashley. The bridesmaids will include: Tyann (a friend since junior high), Sara (cousin), Kacie (cousin), and Erica (cousin)! I think these girls will be awesome and they all know how to have a good time! Patrick's Best Man will be his brother Andrew. The groomsmen will include his friend Tyler, cousin Jack, and friends Brock and Ty. This will be a fun group as well!

I know it seems I have planned a great deal, but I am just trying the get the major details out of the way. Since we are having a wedding in June, a very popular wedding month, I wanted to make sure nothing got booked! I will be posting tons more, I'm sure! Give me your opinions or suggestions please!