Okay, so first off.. I definitely wasn't wanting to go dress shopping as soon as I did. I still have mixed feelings regarding it. (Which you'll find out more later)
When I started looking at gowns, I loved the mermaid ones but I knew my body would never, ever be able to pull that off.. A girl with hips isn't meant to be in one of them. So I knew I wanted a ballgown.
My first bridal experience was at a local boutique. First off, I walked in and told her my dream gowns and what they looked like. I wanted couture (without the couture price), more bling the better, fluff, tulle, and unique. I then told her my price budget and her nose was kinda like 'ehh' because she didn't have many ballgowns that would work with me in my price range. I'm sorry but I think $2500 is a decent price range for a wedding gown. Especially when you only wear it for a few hours! lol. So we began the search!
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that experience. But, after I put on a few ballgowns, she began putting me in fit and flare and mermaid fit gowns. I must say, I was absolutely shocked. The first mermaid gown I put on, I walked out in the mirror and had tears in my eyes. I looked AMAZING. Totally not what I was thinking I'd look like in a mermaid. I felt gorgeous, sexy and beautiful. I was not expecting that at all in a form fitting dress. Uh-oh.. could my image of me the day of my wedding be changing??
I left that first experience empty handed.
That night, we then headed to David's Bridal just to check out a few gowns. I put on some ballgowns but they all felt generic. =[ Womp womp. I put on a dropped waist gown with some amazing texture on the skirt and it was beautiful. But, wasn't wow-ing me.
We then had experiences 2-4. I won't go through the trouble of explaining it all. But let's just say, I knew what I wanted and I wasn't finding it. Wah. =[ My one consultant had told me I was possibly one of her easiest brides ever. She wouldn't even have to lace me up.. she'd start and before she could get the second loop in I'd be taking it off! lol. I know what I want that's for sure.
I was beginning to get extremely discouraged. The gowns I really loved that I found online were way out of my price range. But all the gowns that I was finding in the stores weren't wow-ing me enough at all. I loved pieces of each gown but not one whole gown all together.
I was so, so discouraged. I was beginning to hate dress shopping. I didn't even want to think about it. I would leave every store so broken hearted and almost in tears. Thank god I started shopping so early. Who knows if I would ever find my wedding dress??
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
DJ, Photographer, Florist, OH MY*
After booking the venue we went into full swing with the planning! I wanted to get all major vendors done as soon as possible because we wanted to be sure we got exactly who we wanted and didn't miss out because they were already booked on our date.
Our first one was the DJ. We had seen him at a bridal show and when he did the introductions he was awesome and exactly what I had wanted for my wedding. So I had to book him! I set up a meeting with him. I really wanted to get the price down since we had already met with a DJ and he gave us a good price but I wasn't completely in love with him. So, I spoke with Joe and he matched his price! And added in some extras! Woohoo! Got my DJ, Joey the Kidd from NJs Best DJs!
Next up was photographer.. it was so tough. We wanted someone with amazing pricing, amazing work and a personality that we got along with. I met with one guy who was a total geek and I probably would have punched him by the end of the night for being so obnoxious. Another was an arrogant asshole who I wanted to punch just sitting in there with him. And we ended up booking with the FIRST photographer we met with. Nobody could top her. Her personality was great. Work was great. Pricing was most reasonable. Woohoo! Second big vendor booked, Something Blue Photography!!
The last was the florist. I wasn't too worried about finding one. I wanted to wait until later on to book her simply because of the fact that I wanted to see the seasonal flowers around the time of our wedding. We met with a few prospective and finally booked ours, Flowerful Events, this past November. I can't be any happier with this decision. Especially since she works with my favorite, David Tutera!
It was so tough making all of these decisions. Especially a photographer, pictures last FOREVER. I want to be sure my pictures are amazing. DJs set the mood for your entire night and I definitely wanted someone out of the box who would be sure to have all of my guests up off of their feet! Which he will. And I want amazing florals for an amazing price, which I'm going to get with Flowerful. I'm so excited! It was such a relief booking all of them.
Next Post: Dress shopping.. from hell!!
Our first one was the DJ. We had seen him at a bridal show and when he did the introductions he was awesome and exactly what I had wanted for my wedding. So I had to book him! I set up a meeting with him. I really wanted to get the price down since we had already met with a DJ and he gave us a good price but I wasn't completely in love with him. So, I spoke with Joe and he matched his price! And added in some extras! Woohoo! Got my DJ, Joey the Kidd from NJs Best DJs!
Next up was photographer.. it was so tough. We wanted someone with amazing pricing, amazing work and a personality that we got along with. I met with one guy who was a total geek and I probably would have punched him by the end of the night for being so obnoxious. Another was an arrogant asshole who I wanted to punch just sitting in there with him. And we ended up booking with the FIRST photographer we met with. Nobody could top her. Her personality was great. Work was great. Pricing was most reasonable. Woohoo! Second big vendor booked, Something Blue Photography!!
The last was the florist. I wasn't too worried about finding one. I wanted to wait until later on to book her simply because of the fact that I wanted to see the seasonal flowers around the time of our wedding. We met with a few prospective and finally booked ours, Flowerful Events, this past November. I can't be any happier with this decision. Especially since she works with my favorite, David Tutera!
It was so tough making all of these decisions. Especially a photographer, pictures last FOREVER. I want to be sure my pictures are amazing. DJs set the mood for your entire night and I definitely wanted someone out of the box who would be sure to have all of my guests up off of their feet! Which he will. And I want amazing florals for an amazing price, which I'm going to get with Flowerful. I'm so excited! It was such a relief booking all of them.
Next Post: Dress shopping.. from hell!!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Date? Venue? Aoy!
When we first got engaged I knew the first thing that had to be done. Picking a date. David and I weren't really set on a certain date, but I knew I wanted to go for 2012. 2011 just wouldn't financially be feasible. We *hope* to have a house before we get married, so the later the date the better. BUT I did NOT want to get married in 2013. I'm not a fan of odd numbers. Plus I told Dave if he wanted me to wait that long then he should just take the ring back. So it was totally out and waiting until 2014 just was OUT of the question. So we came to the conclusion that if possible we really wanted May 30th (our anniversary) OR November 4th (the day we got engaged).
When we began talking about venues and such, David didn't really have anything in mind. All he wanted to have was a sit down meal and wanted it to be formal. I, however, knew that I wanted to be ON the beach or at least across the street. We began researching venues and started our site visits.
The first site we went to was The Palace in Somerset, New Jersey. The venue is gorgeous from the outside. But once we walked inside, there was NO way in hell I was going to get married there. First off, you wouldn't be the only bride there. I'm sorry, but the last thing I want to do on MY wedding day is run into another bride. So that was one mark against them. Then as soon as we walked into the ballrooms all I saw was the tacky old Victorian decorating. It's fine for other brides, but not for me. I'm more modern. I like clean lines, bright colors, and NO GOLD. So I was extremely turned off. The only good thing about it was the pricing was AMAZING for what you got. Everything custom to you. Amazingness. But not enough for me to book it.
The next venue we went to was Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, NJ. I was IN LOVE with this venue and so was David. It wasn't on the beach, it was on the river but it was absolutely gorgeous. It was extremely modern and chic. The venue was big enough for my guests. The hotel rooms were absolutely gorgeous. But once I saw the pricing, I almost died and my dreams were shattered. =[ Womp. Womp.
We went to a few other venues plus I had been searching online. Everything I found and fell in love with was out of my price range. Or at least I THOUGHT it was out of my price range. My father and mother were giving me a certain amount of money (that was to be decided once we booked) and I honestly knew that David and I couldn't afford to add too much to it. Plus, I think it's ridiculous to pay over $140 for a person to eat at your wedding! lol. So we searched and searched until we found our venue.
We visited Merri Maker's at the Water's Edge for a bridal show one Saturday afternoon. David came along and so did my mother. When we pulled up I loved the large circular window on the top floor. It looked like an enlarged beach cottage, but I was worried it wouldn't be formal enough (still kinda am?). Once we got in I thought the cocktail area felt amazing! It was open and you could see right out to the ocean! Beautiful. The food was great as well! We then walked upstairs to the ballroom. Once I saw the windows up there I thought it was so unique and different with the big circular windows up there! I sat down with one of the coordinators there and went over pricing. I told her I'd like to bring my father back and have him do a walk through with me. It was honestly the best bang for our buck. The pricing was amazing for what we wanted. It was on the beach. The windows were great and would make for some awesome pictures. It was ONE wedding at a time. The only downfall is that it wasn't as formal as I would have liked. But it's all about compromise right?
We went back a few days later and booked. We mentioned to the woman that we had a 200 person guest list. The venue's limit is 210. So, let's hope we fit comfortably! lol. ;D We booked that night and the date thing was one of the biggest concerns. I was also excited that we were able to have a beach ceremony! I was very anti-church wedding, David and I are of different religions and I did NOT want to sit through a lengthy ceremony lol, plus beach weddings are just GORGEOUS. So that was one of the first things that I told the woman. Which automatically put our date of November 4th out of the window. They stop doing beach weddings October 6th. We then looked at May, the 30th wasn't on a weekend so it wasn't going to work and the only dates available for a reasonable price in May was my mother's birthday or mother's day. =[ Wah. So then we began looking and none of the other dates really screamed at us.. but we decided we wanted a fall wedding because we just love the colors and the weather would be gorgeous. That's how we ended up with.... October 6th, 2012!
When we began talking about venues and such, David didn't really have anything in mind. All he wanted to have was a sit down meal and wanted it to be formal. I, however, knew that I wanted to be ON the beach or at least across the street. We began researching venues and started our site visits.
The first site we went to was The Palace in Somerset, New Jersey. The venue is gorgeous from the outside. But once we walked inside, there was NO way in hell I was going to get married there. First off, you wouldn't be the only bride there. I'm sorry, but the last thing I want to do on MY wedding day is run into another bride. So that was one mark against them. Then as soon as we walked into the ballrooms all I saw was the tacky old Victorian decorating. It's fine for other brides, but not for me. I'm more modern. I like clean lines, bright colors, and NO GOLD. So I was extremely turned off. The only good thing about it was the pricing was AMAZING for what you got. Everything custom to you. Amazingness. But not enough for me to book it.
The next venue we went to was Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, NJ. I was IN LOVE with this venue and so was David. It wasn't on the beach, it was on the river but it was absolutely gorgeous. It was extremely modern and chic. The venue was big enough for my guests. The hotel rooms were absolutely gorgeous. But once I saw the pricing, I almost died and my dreams were shattered. =[ Womp. Womp.
We went to a few other venues plus I had been searching online. Everything I found and fell in love with was out of my price range. Or at least I THOUGHT it was out of my price range. My father and mother were giving me a certain amount of money (that was to be decided once we booked) and I honestly knew that David and I couldn't afford to add too much to it. Plus, I think it's ridiculous to pay over $140 for a person to eat at your wedding! lol. So we searched and searched until we found our venue.
We visited Merri Maker's at the Water's Edge for a bridal show one Saturday afternoon. David came along and so did my mother. When we pulled up I loved the large circular window on the top floor. It looked like an enlarged beach cottage, but I was worried it wouldn't be formal enough (still kinda am?). Once we got in I thought the cocktail area felt amazing! It was open and you could see right out to the ocean! Beautiful. The food was great as well! We then walked upstairs to the ballroom. Once I saw the windows up there I thought it was so unique and different with the big circular windows up there! I sat down with one of the coordinators there and went over pricing. I told her I'd like to bring my father back and have him do a walk through with me. It was honestly the best bang for our buck. The pricing was amazing for what we wanted. It was on the beach. The windows were great and would make for some awesome pictures. It was ONE wedding at a time. The only downfall is that it wasn't as formal as I would have liked. But it's all about compromise right?
We went back a few days later and booked. We mentioned to the woman that we had a 200 person guest list. The venue's limit is 210. So, let's hope we fit comfortably! lol. ;D We booked that night and the date thing was one of the biggest concerns. I was also excited that we were able to have a beach ceremony! I was very anti-church wedding, David and I are of different religions and I did NOT want to sit through a lengthy ceremony lol, plus beach weddings are just GORGEOUS. So that was one of the first things that I told the woman. Which automatically put our date of November 4th out of the window. They stop doing beach weddings October 6th. We then looked at May, the 30th wasn't on a weekend so it wasn't going to work and the only dates available for a reasonable price in May was my mother's birthday or mother's day. =[ Wah. So then we began looking and none of the other dates really screamed at us.. but we decided we wanted a fall wedding because we just love the colors and the weather would be gorgeous. That's how we ended up with.... October 6th, 2012!
All pictures of the venue were taken by ME. Please don't take without
giving credit.
Foyer when you walk in
The Bridal Suite
The Bridal Suite part 2
Part of Cocktail hour area
Stairs
Upstairs ballroom
Sweetheart table area
Bar area upstairs
Outside garden area from Bar area
*will be taking pictures here*
*notice the cute colored bungaloo doors?!*
*will be taking pictures here*
*notice the cute colored bungaloo doors?!*
Monday, January 9, 2012
Are you sick of my face yet?
After our Disney session, we decided we definitely wanted our engagement photos to really reflect our personalities. I had the genius idea of incorporating David's Harley in the pictures somehow, after all that was our first real date. So we started brainstorming where we wanted to take photos. We came up with a few different ideas and my photographer gave us her input and such. We ended up going to Asbury Park near an old concert hall and run down casino that they're working on refurbishing. Our end results are below. =] Enjoy!
We also brought along some props! ;D
We also brought along some props! ;D
Please, give credit where credit is due. If you use ANY of our pictures please link back to me
and my phenomenal photographer, Susan Anderson of Something Blue Wedding Photography.
and my phenomenal photographer, Susan Anderson of Something Blue Wedding Photography.
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