Surprising The Groom Getaway Style *Update 3/6*

I have been thinking about getting a chauffered car for our getaway, and surprsing my fiance with it after the reception.

I know I can afford to rent a Lincoln Town Car for an hour with a chauffer:




But I really want a Rolls Royce:



I called around and know I can get the Lincoln for an hourly rate of $55-72. The problem is I'd have to figure out where are we going to go. Straight to the airport? To a hotel? To our new place (once we have one, lol?) Idk. I haven't even seen a quote for the Rolls Royce but I know it's out of my league.

*Update: So, I found a place that will rent a 1961 classic Rolls Royce for $270. That is the price of the two hour minimum. I will have to see if it goes down closer to the date. I'm glad I found this, since the fiance thinks that Lincoln Town Cars are more for business execs!

Cute Favor Boxes

From Pinkavenuebride.com

These are gerber daisies, like the flowers I brought from dollar tree. Kind of makes me wish I gave a crap about favors.

Dollar Tree Aisle Decor

I was reading My Dream Ring and was reminded of how much I love Dollar Tree. I ran over to see what they had and got some AWESOME items to use for the ceremony decor. I need to stop buying things! But its so cheap, how can I say no?

Here's what I got:

Four 4 ft bamboo torches. Woohoo! I decorated them with the flowers I bought last spring from Dollar Tree. They really go with the summer theme of my wedding, and I hadn't even thought of them before! We will probably light them once the sun sets. And fyi, it does not come with oil to burn you have to get it elsewhere (I'll let you know when I know)




Two 42 inch Shephard's hooks. Pictured here it is seen hanging what is the beginning stages of my DIY pomander that will be on it. (BTW, is it still a pomander if it's a styrofoam square and not a sphere?)



I only bought two because I don't want to go overboard. But believe me I could have bought like eight of them! The aisle is pretty short, so I can skimp on decorations. But that doesn't mean this ceremony decor hasn't got me really excited.

And a I bought a fan-because it was pink!-to keep me cool. It's small enough to fit in my whatever purse I use for the day. I wish they had black fans for my bridesmaids! I'll go back in a few weeks.



I couldn't help but snap a few pics of these for any brides out there who may be doing a nautical theme:





So cute! The boat frames would be awesome for table numbers. The figurines would go well on a welcome table.

And because I never showed you (because I can't get a decent picture with my real camera either!) here's my DIY invites. The border is a shimmery silver, it features a bow, adhesive gemstone, and then adhesive pearl. We packed some in silver envelopes, some in plain old white. The bows were handmade by my bridesmaids and I and then super glued on. People were really impressed with them! My sis said she thought I went to a printing shop. All envelopes were sealed with silver "You're Invited" circular stickers.



Anyway the other things I got from dollar tree, not pictured: two more lanterns (I bought a bunch in the summer; they came back!), two Princess Tiana bathbooks to gift to my flowergirl, and a miniature display easel in silver to hold up my "Thank You" plaque on the gift table. If this doesn't inspire you to go to Dollar Tree, I don't know what will. You can visit their website here: www.dollartree.com

My First! The Sugar Doll Award

Thank you so much to the lovely bride Sony over at Bridal Bliss. She tagged me in my first award ever, The Sugar Doll Award.



Now that I have been awarded, I am supposed to list 10 things about myself, and then tag 10 other blogs that I would like to award this to! Hopefully I took so long to post this, because what can I say? Well, here I go.

10 Things About Me

1. Past celebrity crushes include: Pharell Williams, Shia Lebeouf, Blair Underwood, Mario. Well, they're all still pretty current :)
2. I want to have children after I have started my career. I pray that I have a girl first!
3. I could not pick a maid of honor because two of my sisters will be in the wedding. So we're not having one, or a best man!
4. I am so indecisive. Scared of making the wrong decision.
5. I wrote for my state newspaper, The Arizona Republic, my sophomore year in college.
6. I was also a Resident Assistant/Community Assistant in my dorm sophomore year. The person who is in charge of their floor and keeping up the rules. Yeah, I broke up a few beer pong parties!
7. Amerie's first album, All I Have, was the soundtrack to my life. Could listen to it from start to finish and love every second of it!
8. I love pretty much all of the color combinations for weddings that I see. My favorites have been green-brown-ivory, black-white-turquoise, gold-white-ivory.
9. I am soooo happy I found wedding blogs. Without them, where would I be?
10. Speaking of #9, I noticed a classmate of mine with a ring on her finger. She is engaged, and getting married in four weeks! She looked stressed. I asked her did she have any favorite wedding blogs she read. She said "What are those?" Now I know why she's stressed. I didn't have the heart to rec commend any to her because I thought she'd just be angry over seeing all the stuff she missed out on/didn't think about/didn't know about. :(

There you go! And now I am tagging:

Bridezilla? I think not!!!
Chocolate Rose
JEM Aqua Bride
Musings By Ivy
Eat, Drink & Get Married
Thoughts of the All Consumed Bride

Tying the Bridesmaids Together

So, I am concerned about making sure the bridal party all matches. I want everyone to pick their own black dress, and I will provide them with something to tie it all together. The items I am looking at were found on etsy.

What do you think...Go with a sash, that is $10 and I don't have to worry about sizing.


We would tie it under the bustline of each bridesmaid and then make a bow or knot in the back.

Or a bolero, like this one? It makes a statement. Hopefully no one hates it?



This may be doing a LOT, but maybe we can have two bridesmaids with one accessory and three with the other? I like the idea of playing with the number five since that's how many bridesmaids I have. Have to consult with my bridesmaids. Ivy, tell me what you think!

Our first wedding registry gift!

This beautiful 16 piece dish set from Target, courtesy of my sister!

Thanks sis! I love the color, I think it would look nice on any table. Hopefully I can throw down a good meal on this. Or the hubby can ;)

And don't worry. I wouldn't do something as tacky as list every single gift we get on my blog. I just was excited, because it was the first one and when it comes to gifts, I'm always like "Gifts? Lil ole me?" She ordered it on Valentine's Day. How sweet!

Cake Guessing Myself

I meant the title to be a play on second guessing myself about cakes. *cough*

I went back to the cake baker's website. And I remember even as I was leaving the cake tasting that day, there were so many designs I was in love with. How could I be in love with the original one I chose?


If we're spending a few hundered dollars on a cake (even if it is a gift from a lovely family member) shouldn't it be the most extravagant looking one we're getting for the price?

This cake just screams elegance. I love the variety of designs on the different layers, it is visually appealing:



This cake is luxurious, especially in person. I love that weird ribbon thing it has going on. Beautiful.



This cake stole my heart when I first looked at the website. It's just so simple and unassuming. Humble. Like you would think "Wow, look at this couple. They're doing all the right things. They're in it for LOVE, not to show off some fancy pants dessert."



It reminds me of one of those backyard weddings people only blog about where the atmosphere is cozy and loving and not trying to impress anyone.

But then look at this:



Don't you just love it? It screams wedding, tradition. Ahhh, how could I ever decide? I wish someone would just pick for me. Would you? Tell me which one you like best. (FYI the first pic in this post was my second choice for a cake)

Flower Girl Dress!

This just in: my sister sent me a link of the dress she purchased for her three year old daughter, our flower girl in the wedding.

It is from JC Penny and was very affordable at $27! It is light pink, though it looks beige.

Here is where you can see the dress

BC Experience + E-Pic Outfit #1

Hey guys! I couldn't wait to try out Maricopa Beauty College and I am excited to tell you that it went really well!

I went last Saturday, as a walk-in. They forewarned me that Saturday was their busiest day, so I lugged all of my books there(included my Shakespeare anthology that ofen elicits the question: Why are carrying the dictionary around with you?) I expected a long wait.

I told them I wanted a wash, deep condition, and to put in a few tracks. (I normally don't wear extensions, but I had a small amount of hair left over from when I did a pageant back in Nov.).

I was surprised when they saw me RIGHT AWAY, even though the place was might packed. A very sweet girl with fiery red hair named Lizette took care of me. She washed, deep conditioned, blowdried, braided in my extensions in the back, and flat ironed, and shaved the ends of my hair. Ooh, la la.

And how much did this all cost? $23!!! Seriously. TWENTY THREE DOLLARS! I was soo happy. And I was sold. Now I could be like all the high profile girls at my university who go to the hair salon every week if I wanted to- for a fraction of the cost!!! But I'll just go every other week :)

Here's a pic of my hair a week later (I need to flat iron it, but it's still pretty good. Excuse the face, please!)



It blends tremendously well when I actually brush it. I regret that I was lazy and did not take a picture last week when it was fresh. I hate pictures!

Needless to say, I have an appointment scheduled with the same girl who did my hair for Friday the twelfth. She will wash and deep condition, and I'm gonna have her make it extra curly. My hair holds curls pretty welll and I'll just touch them up over the weekend for V-Day. And I also told them to put me down for my eyebrows, nails with overlays, and a pedicure.

Hope you guys can follow my initiative and try out a beauty school near you! Hopefully it turns out well. It might be worth it try some cheap hair trials for your wedding day ;)

And moving on. I work at a clothing store, Wet Seal. They have been my favorite supplier of trendy clothes since I could shop for myself at the age of fourteen. I was on the hunt for my Valentine's Day outifit at my job yesterday and we just got this new dress in. Had to have it! I will definitely be wearing it for our engagement shoot in March.



With my 40% discount I couldn't pass it up. But, it's still pretty affordable, at only $27.50 regular price. You can see it for yourself at the website here

I also bought shoes for Valentine's Day that I think I could wear with the dress at our shoot(Not sure if I will though).



I got them from my store on clearance for $15. Not to mention their clearance is almost always "But One, Get One for a Penny." I got my shirt for Valentine's Day along with them. Either way, I def. will wear them for V-day. I'm sooo excited for the holiday!