Bridal Shower

Yesterday was my bridal shower and it was PERFECT.  I had such a WONDERFUL time with my family and friends.  My bridesmaids did such an awesome job planning.

The party was tea party themed and there was so much tea and so much food - I couldn't believe it.  Everything was just over-the-top!  I also got so many gifts from our registry that I'm going to have to think of more things to register for.

Bridesmaids Keep Out: Part 3 (A.K.A. I did it!)

Just two days ago I posted about the duffel bags that I was considering.  Well I decided to go for it!  And I got an awesome deal on them.

Here's my breakdown:

I ordered them from Target.  They com in all different patterns and are reasonably priced at $29.99,

The downfall - they're only available online.  In order to save, I actually signed up for the Target Red Card (their credit card) which gives you free shipping and 5% on all purchases.

I also used this coupon to get $5 off your purchase of $50 or more at Target.  

AND I used my Swagbucks points to trade in for Target gift cards.


AND (last thing I promise), if you shop through EBates you can earn 2% cashback on your purchase. (That is my referal link for ebates, so if you don't use it yet and sign up I earn $5 or something like that!)

Basically, you can get an AMAZING deal on these bags.  I hope this helps!  Sorry for the long post, I just love finding good deals.  

I did purchase the three duffels that I have pictured here.  However, I do have three bridesmaids.  I forgot to mention in my previous post that I won't be getting these for my younger sisters since they don't travel.  I'm still brainstorming for their gifts.

Survey Monkey (and Bridesmaids) to the Rescue

        So I posted about here, I have been having some difficulty deciding on a bridesmaid dress for my ladies.  Finally, I had it narrowed down to two dresses, but couldn't make a decision.  Fortunately, my maid of honor suggested using surveymonkey.com to get everyone's opinion, which is exactly what I did.  After looking at the results and taking everything into consideration, I was actually able to make a decision.  So, before I have a chance to change my mind again, I am making my decision official.  I just posted it on our bridesmaid website and can finally relax.

      Looking back on this whole ordeal I am still glad that I included my ladies in the decision making.  I think that we ended up with a dress that will all feel comfortable wearing and knowing that made my decision easier.  (I also just need multiple people to agree with me before being able to commit to anything, so having the continuous reassurance was extremely helpful).  What about you?  Did your bridesmaids help pick out their dresses?  Did you have as much difficultly as I did in deciding on the dresses?

P.S.  Apparently it can really take some time for those bridesmaids dresses to arrive.  I contacted David's Bridal and they told me that it can take anywhere from 6 to 18 weeks for dresses to come in and then you still need to leave time for alterations if they are needed.

Thinking Of You

After my trip to the doctors yesterday I found out that I am sick again for the third week in a row - I can't even believe it.  Also, I probably tore a muscle in my arm, so I currently can't extend it past a 90 degree angle.  From the doctors I dropped of my prescriptions and went home to lay down because I was exhausted   I needed to drive downtown to have my arm x-rayed, but I had no desire to get off the couch, let alone out of the apartment.

My lounging on the couch was interrupted by the mail man knocking at the door.  A package for me from my MOH, I had no idea what it was.  I was surprised to find a Bride 2013 hoodie and a card from my MOH and two bridesmaids.  My ladies are the best!!  Of course, the first thing I did was try it on and prance around the house, but afterwards I found the much needed motivation to go out and get my x-ray done.

That surprise couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Someday, Jumbo Butt Bows Will Be the Rage

So, after my bridesmaid dress dilemma (that I posted about here and here) I found the Bridesmaid Dress Song from the movie 27 Dresses.  It was a nice break from wedding planning stress, so I figured I'd share!

Also if you want to know what they're saying and can't catch it all check out the lyrics here.

27 Dresses

...And counting.

So after the bridesmaid dress crisis (read about it here) I decided to take another look at dress options.  For the next two days I spent hours upon hours looking at bridesmaids dresses and at wedding party pictures determining what style dress would work.  Eventually, I got to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore (I actually had my first wedding nightmare because of this - I'll tell you about that one later).  

MOH to the rescue again.  I called her up and together we sat on the phone going through David's Bridal and came up with some new options.  With that, be expecting Dress "Shopping" Round 2 pics soon.

Dress Dilemma

I recently talked about our bridesmaid dress search here.  After days of going back and forth and looking over all of the pictures, we decided on the dress below.  We thought it was the most flattering on everyone.

However, after showing the dresses off on my go-to wedding site (weddingbee.com) I got some comments back saying that they weren't formal enough to go with my dress/wedding.

Here is my dress/some pictures of the venue (see more pics of the venue here and read more about it here).  We are going for a traditional type wedding and it will be starting at 2PM on a Sunday.  

So are knee length dresses formal enough?  What's your thought?  Yay or nay?

Bridesmaid Dress "Shopping"

Forever ago, I talked about my bridesmaids being so far way (Check it out here and here).  Being so spread out, we had to get a little creative with our bridesmaid dress shopping.  Luckily, my MOH is AWESOME and figured it out.  Her suggestion was to find any big chain that sells bridesmaids dresses (which ended up only being David's Bridal) and each of us going to a store near us to try on dresses and take pictures.  So here's a peak into how it went!

So these were their top 3 picks:

                     

  

Team Bridesmaids

So my bridesmaids are spread out all over the Northeast.  My Maid of Honor  and my two sisters (bridesmaids) are in Maryland with each of them being at least 2 hours away from one another.  Another bridesmaid is in Nantucket and the other is in Connecticut.  And, as you know, I am here in Michigan.  With this in mind, I wanted to find a way for all of us to easily communicate and work on plans.  I decided on making a Team Bridemaids website, which turned out to be the perfect solution.  Between using the website and a shared board between all of us on Pinterest we have all been able to work together even though we are so far apart.

If you are interested I used the Google sites to make the webpage.  I included a link to our Pinterest board, a link to Google Hangout for when we have our "get-togethers", and links to a few helpful sites.  Here is a screen shot of the site.  I included information about the big day, a page of our engagement pics, a calendar with important events, a little bit about each bridesmaid (including how I met them, my favorite memory of them and a picture of the two of us), a message board section, and the story and pics of our proposal.  And all the over to the right I have the countdown to the big day!

My ladies all really liked the Meet the Team section.  I thought it was a nice way to show them how much I appreciate them and make them feel like they really are an important part of my big day.  Also, the message boards have been extremely useful, even more than I could have imagined.  It has been a great way for us to bounce ideas off each other and make decisions. 

If you have any questions about making your own site please feel free to ask. And in case you were wondering, Google Sites is completely free to use and you can make your site private.  Only the people that I specifically invite to the website (i.e. my bridesmaids) can see it.

The Bridesmaids

I officially asked my all of my bridemaids today and they all said yes!  I'm so happy.  My maid of honor and two of my bridesmaids are my three best friends from college.  My other two bridemaids are my two sisters.  In total, my bridal party has 5 people.  My fiance plans to match that and also have 5 people.

So, you might be wondering how did I ask them?  Well, since I wouldn't be able to see any of them in person, I had to think of a way to ask them long-distance.  I deciding that sending something wasn't a personal as I'd like it to be.  If I'm giving them a gift, I'd rather give it to them in person.  Since I'm seeing them in September, I plan to give them a gift then.  However, for now I came up with something to do.

I used kizoa.com to create a slideshow to send to my friends.  I made a slideshow of college days together and added in a poem about memories I had with them.  Each slide was a picture of us and a line of the poem.  The last line of the poem said, "And that's why I'd love for you to be party of by big day and in a very big way."  Then the final slide said, "Will you be my bridesmaid?"  The site was very easy to use and allowed me to send out the slideshow to my friends via e-mail. 

All of the girls loved it!  It brought back such good memories of all of us and left a couple of them crying.  (I know I wanted to when I was making it.)  After seeing the slideshow each of them called me up and said yes!

Now I just need to get my fiance to ask his best man and groomsmen.  Any suggestions?

Feel free to share how you asked your bridemaids and/or how he asked his groomsmen.