Gonna climb that like a tree

I'm really hoping you all like funny movies.

By funny, I particularly mean Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40 Year Old Virgin.. you get the idea. Judd Apatow.

Because if you do (which you should) like the aforementioned, I'm betting you'll be just as excited as I am to see Bridesmaids.

Check out the trailer!

Oh hells yes. Scot and I have a date on May 13 to see this. It's like The Hangover.. but for girls. Bring it.

Inspire me

As I've gotten farther along in planning the wedding, I've been accumulating tons and tons (and tons) of inspiration pictures, which makes sense seeing as I'm a huge stalker of what Mr. Foxy so fondly calls "amateur wedding porn", aka, real life weddings. It's great to see what ideas Martha Stewart and The Knot come up with, but I love seeing those ideas in action at someone's actual wedding. I want to use them ALL.

Obviously I won't, but it's a nice thought.

Enjoy!
And yes, most of this I got off Style Me Pretty.

Clockwise: 1, 2, 3

Clockwise: 1, 2, 3

Clockwise: 1, 2, 3

What pretty things are you just loving lately?

Show me the glamelias!

I mentioned previously my love of the glamelia bouquet. I did a bit more research and realized that these are indeed starting to make a small comeback thanks to Katherine Heigl using one as her bouquet when she got married a few years ago.

A bit blurry, but you get the idea.

Image via Kuga Designs

I turned to our good friend Etsy to see what they had in terms of artificial glamelia bouquets, and was actually quite surprised with what I found at Flowers by the Vase's shop.

I had to verify that this was actually made of "real to life" artificials and not real flowers! I think it looks just stunning. I contacted the shop's owners, Jodi and Nicole, who also showed me a mock-up of a smaller, peachy-orange bridesmaid bouquet would look like.

This one is a little more "fake" looking, in my opinion, but it still makes me swoon. This was honestly the first time I actually got excited about flowers in regards to the wedding.. I'm just imagining myself and my girls taking amazeballs pictures with our fab florals (regardless of what they are).

Image via Solar Photographers

So, I'm obviously no where near ready to buy anything yet, but it's good to have options. Oh, and the price for a bridal bouquet and five smaller bridesmaids ones from Flowers by the Vase? Less than the 1 mentioned on this post. Yes, please.

In my giddiness, I ran the idea past Foxy Mama - of using artificial flower petals to create a one-of-a-kind bouquet.

"Miss Foxy Foxypants (that's my middle name, btw), no. Use real flowers."


Boh. Ok mom.

She's probably right, anyway. We're having an outdoor spring wedding. It's almost sacrilege to NOT have real flowers. Plus I have some ideas for that too.. I just thought the glamelias would make such a fun statement, no?

A Lurve Story

You know what would be nice?

Sharing our engagement story. Since I just kind of went "BAM! Read about our wedding!" and didn't give you much reason or a chance to say "awww". You probably still won't. But I'll share it anyway.

You should know there's some background to this story, so I'll start there. If you want the abridged version, just go to the bottom.

Way back when I was a little girl..

KIDDING.

But really.

Back in my senior year in college, all the dance majors (that was me) had to choreograph a piece and present it in a self-produced and -promoted show with about 6 other dance seniors. My show was in March, with graduation only 2 months after. As a congratulations/graduation gift, Foxy Mama got me a ring that I had been lusting over for years.

Elsa Peretti open heart ring

Simply gorgeous. I'm just as in love with it today as when I got it. I wore it every day on my middle finger on my left hand.

Well last March (2010), I had to do a fieldwork assignment for massage school and was offering free 15 minute chair massages at a local business. Naturally, I had to take off my ring to give the massages. I put it in an open pocket in my purse, to be retrieved later. When I was done massaging, I packed up and headed home - and for some reason, did not immediately put the ring back on my finger, as I usually do (and I'm usually quite obsessive about it). Long story short, it wasn't in my bag when I finally went to put it on the next day; see how the ring doesn't go completely around? I'm 99% sure that it got caught on my keys or something when I was fishing them out of my bag on the metro, and I didn't realize it got caught and fell off.

So.. no more ring. I was really upset about it, and at first decided not to tell Foxy Mama. Mr. Foxy said that we could get me a new ring, which was great, but.. it was sentimental, being from my mom and all, for graduating college, blablabla. I eventually ended up telling her, and she said that she would get me a new one because she knew how much it meant to me. I relayed the info to Foxy, and that was that. Best-mom-ever would get me a new ring.

Sidenote: As I've alluded to, Foxy and I knew at the time that we would get married eventually. I started to get antsy around this time, mainly because some friends and family kept. asking. if. we. were. engaged. and it was really wearing on me. I was happy in our relationship, but I got worked up about it due to other people not understanding that they just needed to let it be, and it would happen when it happened.


Now the weekend I told my mom I lost the ring, I was actually visiting her in NY. I offered to help her find her wedding dress (she got married that September), under the caveat that we leave me out of the equation. No questions about Foxy and I getting engaged. Without sounding like a spoiled brat, it was a bit hard to look for a dress for my mom - I was super happy for her, but of course it bit at me a little. Different story for a different time.

We ended up having a lot of fun, and found her dress. I hung out with her and her now-husband a lot over the weekend, ended up finding my maid of honor dress, and went home happy and content with myself and my relationship - honestly. I was happy that my mom was getting married, and my time would come eventually. End.

So I get home on Sunday night, worn out from a busy weekend, and Foxy and I snuggle up on the couch and start watching Public Enemies, which we rented from Netflix.

It sucked, so we stopped it about 20 minutes in.

We started talking, about random things, and then he just sits and looks at me and says "So you know how you lost your ring?"

"Yea..."

"Well what if we get you a new one?"

"Baby, my mom said she'd get me a new one, I told you that yesterday, remember?"

"Well, I didn't mean that kind of ring...."

"What? Wait.. what?"

"Will you marry me?"

"Are you serious? Really? Are you sure? Like, we're engaged? Really??"

"Are you going to say yes or what?!"


"YESSSSS!!!"

::commence smoochies and lots of phone calls and a Facebook update::

And while I don't have a picture from that night, I, in all my glory, looked something like this:

Aka, a hot mess in pajamas. I may have just been wearing a t-shirt and boy shorts. Not exactly photo-op material.

Anyway, apparently me losing my heart ring kick-started something in Foxy to make him propose. And apparently he took one look at all the ring options online and decided to just ask me, then go ring shopping together. Totally fine with me.

So there you have it! My really long, obscure, random proposal story.

And it was perfect :))

PS. Foxy Mama did eventually get me the heart ring again.. when I graduated from massage school last July!

Exclamation! (aka photographer reveal)

So I ever-so-meanly left you with a bit of cliffhanger on my photographer search. Won't do it again, promise! At least not this time.


So you all should know by now that Weddingbee is a great resource for finding vendors; they have a specific vendor section, but I actually like searching through the boards to see who recommends certain vendors, and what their relatively uncensored opinions are.

My key word search was along the lines of "inexpensive DC/MD/VA photographer". Of course, I could have written my own post and asked the boards myself, but why not use the resources that were already there first?

I found several threads where upwards of 20 people left helpful suggestions of photographers in the area, but I learned one key thing: "inexpensive" and "cheap" are relative terms. What is low cost for one person may not necessarily be low cost for another. As I mentioned, some photogs go up to $6000+ for a few hours of service, so some people may think that $3500 for a full day is a good deal. And it very well could be for some folks.

However, we are working with a $2000 budget at the absolute most. It used to be even less than that when I was hell bent on having a videographer. Since we nixed that idea, we expanded the photography budget a bit.

News flash: you can't really get a good, photojournalist photographer, with assistant/second shooter, for all day coverage in the DMV area for under $2000. It's virtually impossible.

Unlike Mr. Lolcat's mission, which is actually impossible.

I say virtually because.. well.. we of course found someone. I don't even remember how exactly I stumbled upon Exclamation Imagery, but I did. I heard good things and that they had "reasonable" pricing, so I emailed to find out price points, packages, etc.

A few days later, I get a call from Laura, the lead photographer. We talked about mine and Scot's wedding, what we were looking for, and what she had to offer. I heard her say something along the lines of "packages around $1700" and immediately asked her to email me a copy of as much information as possible.

We met with her the following week, and I have to tell you, I have no freaking idea how she can only charge what she does for full day coverage, two photographers, retouched images, and a photo album. She could (and should) seriously be charging way more - the photog gods must have been looking down on me when I found her.

Want proof? Check out some of her work:

All photos and more can be found on their Facebook page. Can you tell I love the faded look?!

The best part is that Laura, the lead photographer and one of the ones that will be at our wedding, is seriously the coolest person ever. She's fun, spunky, personable... and short. So she told us that she'll bring one of her tallest assistants (think 6'+) to shoot with her, so they get all sorts of different and fun angles. I literally cracked up when she told us that, but it's something I never would have thought of, and am so glad that she did! She also waived the travel fee (she's based out of Virginia and we're getting married in NE Maryland) since we booked quickly, and so far in advance.

Bonus: She just won one of the 2011 Brides Choice Awards on WeddingWire!

So all in all.. we're getting two amazing photographers for an entire day for under $2000. It's a steal, if you ask me. And I couldn't be more excited!!

The great photographer search..

We've all been there. You eagerly start looking around the interwebs, searching for a photographer who has a style you love, in your area, to capture one of the most special days of your life. A wedding is great in the moment and in memory, but it's even better in pictures because you can almost relive it over and over and over. You can catch the little details that you forgot about or were too busy to notice. You can see everyone's smiles and the look of absolute joy in your face as you exchange your vows. A good photographer is essential.

Snap.

So you find one, or two, or ten that you really like, and email them to find out about their packages and pricing. You don't want anything fancy, just full day coverage with a disc of hi-res, edited photos.. the album can come later. You're on a budget.

Then you get the responses, with prices at $5000 for 7 hours. $3300 for six hours. $6500 for full day, an extra $500 for an additional photographer.

Well hey, if you had that money, you'd spend it in a heartbeat.

But you don't. I don't. Damn.

Now that you sort-of understand what I've been going through for the past 9 months (with all vendors, not just photogs), I wanted to share a bit more of my journey in searching for a photographer.. especially since we just found (and booked) one!!

We got our engagement pictures taken by the talented Brooke Bready; I purchased a Groupon a while back for a one hour session with her, and figured an e-pic shoot would be the perfect opportunity to use it (never mind the fact that we weren't technically engaged yet when I bought it). The pictures came out great and she was a blast to work with, but in the end, I think her style is a bit too "portrait" compared to what Scot and I are looking for. As you may know, "photojournalism" is a hot word going around in the wedding photography world lately, and it's exactly what Scot and I are looking for. We most likely will not have a videographer due to budget restrictions, so a photog (preferably two) who can capture as many moments as humanly possible, especially the candid ones, and tell a story with them, is extremely essential.

As I was searching for other photographers, I fell in love with a slew of them. The above scenario happened, where they were all WAY out of our price range. The ones that were in our price range were very hard to find and when I did find them, I was hardly a fan of their photo style. It just wasn't what I was envisioning for our wedding.

So. I decided to scope out the Weddingbee boards one day (shocker), to see what other MD/DC brides had found in terms of good, affordable (aka up to $2000) photographers. Enter the bestthingtohappeninmylife as far as wedding planning had been going thus far.

To be continued!
What? I can't give it all up on the first date post.

On God, and other things.

Heads up: this post is sort of piggy-backing on my second post.

The fact is, I am coming to terms with my religion right now, and Mr. Foxy is an athiest (not agnostic).

Getting married in a church just wouldn't make any sense for either of us. Religion was a huge part of my childhood (and I am determind to make it a part of our future children's, as well), but I am a different person now than I was then. I also wouldn't feel right "making" Foxy get married in such a way that he's uncomfortable with the whole thing.. it just doesn't make sense.

So, we're not getting married in a church. I was concerned about how my parents would receive this since they are both Lutheran pastors, and both sides of my family are fairly religious. But I am just now finally able to say.. they'll have to deal with it. It's mine and Foxy's wedding, and this is what we are choosing for ourselves.

That doesn't make it any less hard, though. I still consider myself spiritual, and I would like at least a little God in our ceremony. I don't want to get married by a random person who knows nothing about me or Foxy, but at the same time, I don't want a pastor who will impose religion and God into the ceremony in ways we don't want it.

The trick is to find a family friend who is also a pastor to officiate our wedding, who will allow us to have significant control over what goes into the ceremony, while still offering some guidance. I have someone in mind, but have not yet broached the subject with that person. I am hopeful but cautious. It's much more of a fine line to walk than I initially thought it would be, but I'm ok with that, as long as it's perfectly us.

How did you decide what kind of ceremony to have, and who to officiate it?