Ring Pictures!

***Warning - Picture heavy post ahead***

I didn't think I would have time to post before we left, but I am procrastinating! I don't want to pack and I don't want to finish the laundry!

So I showed you my e-ring, but that was before I learned how to take good pictures of jewelry! Anne at Anne Ruthman Photography posted this on Weddingbeepro on how to take amazing pictures of your ring!

I wanted to see how creative I could get, so I tried out her tips last night. I got my ring back last night from it's bi-annual cleaning and polishing, so it was all pretty! I also wanted to show you my wedding band! We bought it at the same time we bought me e-ring (the deal was way too good to pass up). So, now you can see both! My wedding band is called a wrap or guard. So my e-ring is placed in it and it looks like one ring.

So, here are my pics. I took all of them myself and haven't done any editing, mostly because I don't know how! Thanks to my props...my fake gerbera daisies!

First up - my e-ring by itself.

Second - my wedding band/guard/wrap by itself

Lastly - my two rings...together as one!

I can't wait to be able to wear my rings together! It's be really hard to not wear my wedding band already, but I have to wait! I did wear it around the house on Monday night (after Mr. 2SB went to bed..hehe), but it hasn't left the house on my finger...yet! And it won't until May!

Were you able to get some good pics of your ring(s)?

Read more!

Not much to say

Besides making appointments with all of our vendors, I haven't been doing a lot of wedding stuff! I know, I'm a bad bride, but I don't think there is much for me to do right now! Here are some tidbits of loose ends I'm taking care of.

1. We have almost all the addresses for our STD's. I think we have less than 15 left! Some people (aka Mr. 2SB's friends) might not get one. Since they say "Happy Holidays", I'm mailing the last batch before we leave for MN on Sunday. Done and done!

2. I've been looking at tons of jewelry. Some for me, some for my BMs. I found some earring for my BM's but I'm still waiting for the price to go down. Mervyn's is going out of business and they have some really cute earrings that would look great with the necklaces. The original price is $150.00 and when I went on Monday they were marked down to $40. Great deal right, but it's still a little more than I wanted to spend, but my co-worker went back today and now they're down to $30. I might head there on Saturday, just to see. Mervyn's will be closed by the time we get back from MN, so if I don't buy them before Saturday, the hunt continues. I can't find a picture of what they look like, but if I get them, I will definitely show them off! As for my jewelry, I'm also sticking with pearls. I was talking to my aunt this weekend and she was telling me about a pearl bracelet she makes with some crystals. She was more than happy to make one for me, so I'll confirm with her over Christmas! I also asked for some earrings for Christmas from Santa (Yup...he still comes to our house!). They are no longer on the website where I found them, so you'll have to wait for those too!

3. Our first gift was delivered yesterday. I was wrong in my previous post, it wasn't a shower guest. One of my FMIL's friends ordered on accident. I don't know the whole story, but it was supposed to ship later not right away! We got our first shower gift on Tuesday. My aunt and uncle were in the area and my aunt and I went shopping. She went a little crazy and bought most of the bedding we regsitered for. It will be from a few of my relatives, but no shipping is required! We can't use it b/c we need to get a new bed first, but at least we have the bedding for when we get the bed! Here's the collection we registered for!

Source

It looks way darker in person, but I like how neutral it was, but not boring.

I think that's about it for now! My posting will be really light to non-existent until we get back from MN (which is on January 3rd). I will have a ton to tell you about though! Some things to look forward to hearing about - my first dress fitting; hair trial; food tasting at reception venue; guys attire; and much, much more!

See ya on the flip side!

Read more!

Do you think it's to early to...

start registry stalking?!?!?

If you do, well, too bad...I already started!

The invites for our shower on the 26th went out this week. When talking to my aunt, my extremely intelligent father made sure to tell her that people should ship gifts directly to us or give us gift cards/cash! I love him, I love him!

I know I still need to tell you about our registry experience at Macy's, but our first gift has been purchased off our registry!!! I'm so excited! I haven't even told Mr. 2SB yet! So what is our first gift going to be?!?!

Source

Martha Stewart Collection Square Stainless Steel Spice Rack, 20-Piece Set

Yeah! I'm so excited to have this on my counter! I guess I should order some Thank You notes, huh?!?! Dang it! Why do all good things come to an end?

Did you stalk your registry? What was your first gift?

**Side note...I have made a ton of appointments for when we're in MN over Xmas, but otherwise, I haven't done too much wedding stuff this week! We're off to San Francisco and Napa this weekend. My sister/MOH is there with some friends, so I'm really excited to see her! I haven't been feeling that well this week either, but I think it's just anxiousness/nerves/stress. I'll hopefully be feeling better next week and share more before we leave for MN on the 21st!**

Read more!

Color me confused!

Source

I had to share this because I was so caught of guard, I don't know what else to do!

We're leaving for MN in under 2 weeks, so I'm trying to schedule appoints with vendors. The big appointments are set, so my next task was finding a salon in hopes of having a hair trial while I'm there. My mom talked to a family friend, who's daughter got married this last April. She recommended this particular salon, so I gave them a call. Here's the conversation.

Receptionist: "Name of Salon"
Me: "Hi, my name is 2SB and I am getting married in May and was calling to see about the possibility of me and my BMs getting our hair done the day of the wedding."
R: "Are you a regular customer?"
Me: "No, I live in CA, but the wedding is in Owatonna."
R: "Well, the stylists are all self employed so we don't take any walk in customers. I'm sorry, but we can not accommodate you."
Me: (so surprised, I have nothing else to say): "Ok"

This is when I hung up!

WTF?!?! I have never heard of such a thing! I was just at my regular salon this weekend and they are definitely feeling the economic crunch. I can't imagine that this newer salon in town isn't feeling it. I always thought that an appointment was an appointment. Regardless if we're going to come back!

I've posted reviews on websites already about what happened. Even if the owner contacts me and says they'll take care of us...NO WAY!

Have you ever had a salon turn away your business? Am I over re-acting?

Read more!

You should add this to your registry!

I still need to tell you about our registry experience from Election Day, but I couldn't help but share this item with you! I can not take the credit for finding it...my sister/MOH emailed the link to me last night.

If there is one item that's on almost every bride's registry...I think it's this guy!

Source

THE KITCHEN AID STAND MIXER!

I might be one of few, but this is not on our registry because I already have one! My parents are awesome is really the reason I have one! My sister had asked for one for Christmas a few years back, so they got us both one! Double score! I love this thing! I've made muffins, cookies, bread, mashed potatoes, milk shakes, and many other things in this machine! It is truly wonderful! I have the Classic version that is shown above. I will likely upgrade when we have a house of our own and have a color scheme, but the white is perfect for me now!

One of the things I don't like is the scraping of the bowl. I use the flat beater (the middle one in the picture above) the most. I usually mix a little, stop and scrap. Mix a little more, stop and scrap. See where this is going?!?!

So when my sister sent me this link last night, I was sold!

Source

A flat beater blade with Silicone edges (it's real name is Beater Blade)! No stopping to scrape with this awesome attachment!

From what I can tell, it's fairly new to the market. It's not made by Kitchen Aid, so I would assume that it would work with other stand mixers as well! The size I need isn't available on the website link I provided until next week. There is a Sur La Table store in my area and I believe we need to go there to get an Christmas present for someone, so I will be checking this out! Once I get my hands on one and use it, I will write up a review!

Here's a list of online stores if you want to purchase it. If you would like to buy it in person, go here. Crate & Barrel has it on their online store, so if you're registered there, it should be an easy add!

Do you have any gadgets on your registry that you are really excited to get?

Read more!

Centerpiece Cakes...Part 4

Previous Post in this Series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

When we left off in Part 3, I was done with our cake stands until post Christmas. Well, when talking to my mom a few weeks ago, so felt that the cake stands didn't look quite finished. The ends of the ribbon stayed down right away, but while in transit, they started to come up a little bit. Instead of using more adhesive, we thought it would look best to use a piece of the same black ribbon and put it vertically on the pipe. Since I didn't take pictures when I assembled the cake stand bases, I did take pictures this weekend while I prepared the black ribbon, using my Xyron, of course!

***All pictures taken by yours truely***

Step 1 - Cut ribbon in desired length. These strips are just over 5inches. They will be wrapped under and on top of the pipe.



Step 2 - Apply Fray Check to both ends. I probably didn't need to do this step since the ends will be hidden, but you can never be too safe!


Step 3 - Let Fray Check dry. I used an upside-down cup so the ends were in the air. I think they dry faster this way.


Step 4 - Trim the ends so they are straight. Again, this probably wasn't really necessary, but I'm a little anal on this little project of mine, so I want them to be as perfect as possible!



Step 5 - Arrange fabric strips on your Xyron. Turn handle until the opposite end makes it to the other side.



Step 6 - Follow the instructions on the back of the Xyron and lift paper to tear.



End Result - Ribbon Stickers! Once you are ready to use for your project, you just peel the ribbon off the paper, and the entire back of the ribbon is covered with adhesive!



Easy Peasy!

I love using my Xyron, what is your favorite wedding related "tool"?


Read more!

State of the Wedding Address

Now that the STD's are out, I feel like this is a good time to see where I'm at as far as my wedding planning goes.

Items that are done/booked
* Ceremony Location (including 2 priests)
* Reception Venue (includes catering, linens, table decorations, & DJ)
* Photographer (still need to blog about that)
* Florist (have to tell you about her too!)
* My Dress Bought (Mr. 2SB...don't click on that link)
* BM Dresses decided (they should be ordered, but I need to confirm that today!)
* Cake servers for each table (I'll tell you about these too...they're already in MN!)


To Do List while in MN
* Decide between 2 cake bakers
* First Dress Fitting
* Meet with both priests to discuss ceremony readings, music, etc
* Meet with ceremony musicians
* Meet with photographer
* Meet with florist
* Food tasting @ venue
* Reserve rehearsal dinner venue
* Apply for marriage license
* Decide on Mr. 2SB's & his posse's attire
* Hair Trial
* Get pictures for slideshow
* Book wedding night room for us
* Assemble cake stands

Other To Do's
* Reserve chair covers & sashes for reception
* Decide on and book honeymoon
* Order my accessories (veil, jewelery, garter, undergarments)
* Book transportation for wedding party (Youngest Brother 2SB volunteered himself for this, well the research part)
* Buy Mr. 2SB's wedding band
* Book airfare for the wedding & honeymoon
* Attendant gifts
* Invites (I've started to design them, but not sure if we'll go that route)
* Ceremony Programs

It looks like we have a lot to do, but I don't think that we do. Most everything is booked, we just need to meet with everyone while we're in MN to discuss details. I think I will be a lot more relieved once we get back and I can check all of those things off.

Is there anything that you can think of that I'm missing?
Read more!

I'm thankful for long weekends...Part 2

I already shared the one crazy thing I did last weekend, but the next wedding related task I did this past weekend, wasn't too crazy!

I assembled our Save the Dates!

The cards themselves didn't require any assembly, but getting the STD's ready to mail is definitely an assembly process! Mr. 2SB worked on Friday, so I was able to sit down and do this on my own. Although there were steps to complete the process, I think two people working on these might not have turned out too well!

***Warning - I didn't write out the addresses. My hand writing is sloppy and I didn't want to spend the money to have someone else do it. I used printed labels from our home computer. It's easy, cost and time effective, amongst other things!***

Supplies
* STD cards w/ envelopes - ordered from VistaPrint
* Sage green labels - bought at Paper Source
* White Avery labels for return address - bought at Office Depot
* Stamps - bought at Costco
* Angled Tip Moistener - I was not going to lick 200 envelopes! - bought at Office Depot

I also had our guest list printed off, so I could check off the ones I had sent and confirm the address on the list matched the label. I had all the labels printed previously, so I was off!

There wasn't much on TV, so I decided to watch Sweet Home Alabama while I assembled! The movie run time is 108 minutes. I didn't finish during that time frame, but I did after a few episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

So here are some pictures of my set up.

*All pictures taken by me. The labels are blurred and parts of the STD are also.*

All my supplies

The next three pictures are my view before I started. I assembled on our coffee table. I sat on a large pillow on the floor, so it was pretty comfy!

I forgot to list Diet Coke in my supplies list...but it was a must!

The first one assembled. I put the return address on the back because it looked too crowded on the front. I used holiday stamps since these are half holiday cards!

When all was said and done this weekend, I think I had about 160 ready to mail. I mailed 7 more today and we still need addresses for around 20 people.

Here's a picture of the bag of STD's before I went to the post office yesterday. The envelope on top doesn't have a stamp on purpose. It's going to Mr. 2SB's cousin in Ireland, so I had to pay for that one separately. It was $0.94 if you're curious!

And after...

And a happy picture of me!

I'm really relieved that a majority of these are already sent. I'm hoping the rest will be mailed out in the next couple of weeks. It was a surreal feeling yesterday because it made all this wedding stuff real! People are being officially notified of the wedding! YIKES! I know there are a lot more things to happen that will give me that "this is real" feeling, but this was my first one! I tried on my dress so long ago, that I don't think it had really hit me yet.

Here's a breakdown of my costs.

*STD's w/ Envelopes - $78.00
*Sage Green labels ($5.20 a pack- I used about 1.5 packs) - $7.80
*White labels - (12.98 for a pack of 500 - I used around 200) - $6.00
*Stamps - (100 packs @ Costco are $41.75 - I used 2) - $83.50
*Moistener (I will use this for the invites too, but it was cheap and useful) - $0.99

TOTAL COST - $176.29
Cost per STD - $0.88 (we're sending around 200, but I bought 250, but I averaged based on the 200)

With everything, including postage, I'm glad it stayed under $1.00! I'm happy with that amount!

Did you use a holiday weekend to get wedding tasks done? How did you feel when they were completed? Read more!

I'm thankful for long weekends...Part 1

I'm still not sure what happened, but once I was done working on Wednesday...I was ready to get back to getting stuff done for the wedding! I enjoy Thanksgiving as much as the next person, but I really like the 4 day weekend!

Thanksgiving Day started out pretty early...I was wide awake at 7:30AM! Maybe it was partially due to the fact that we were in bed by 9:30 PM on Wednesday, but I started my day early! The turkey didn't need to go in until 9:30, so we had some time to cook some cinnamon rolls and lay around for a while. Mr. 2SB had to run to work for a quick second, so I asked him to stop and get a paper on his way home. I've never been Black Friday shopping, but I LOVE looking at the ads!

I looked through all the usual suspects (Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, etc) before I paged through the Macy's ad. Low and behold I spotted something that I thought would be worth getting up in time to be at the closest Macy's by 5AM on Friday! I mulled it over while we were getting ready for people to come over.

When two of my girlfriends came over for dinner, the said that they were going to the local outlets at midnight for their sale. I pretty much brushed them off knowing that going to the outlets and to Macy's by 5, might be impossible. They both stated that they wanted to go to Macy's too. I'm not sure how they did it, but they talked me into leaving for the outlets at 11:30. We'd stay there until around 4 and then drive back to Macy's.

The time got moved up a little because we forgot to figure in the amount of traffic we'd run into. We clearly didn't factor this right! We got 1.5 miles away from the exit and traffic came to a dead stop. It took as 1 hour to get that 1.5 miles and there were 3 accidents (I love CA drivers!). Once we finally exited, there was nearly no parking to be had. We risked it by parking in a motel parking lot and were on our way.

The first section of the mall has a Coach Outlet. I was amazed to see that there was at least 300 people waiting in line....just to get in the store! We didn't wait in that line. We waited about 20 minutes to get in to BCBG. One friend and I decided to leave and check out the Polo store. Mr. 2SB had requested a few shirts and my friend wanted to go there too. So off we went!

Upon arrival we were given a 20% off coupon of purchases over $150. That's usually not too difficult to do at Polo, but it was somewhat of a challenge! We didn't have to wait in line to get in the store, but there were a lot of people in the store. We grabbed what we needed, tried clothes on over the shirts we were wearing (the fitting room line was at least 15 deep) and headed to check out. There were 2 check out lines with 5 registers each. A friendly associate told us which line was moving faster. I checked my phone and it was 2am. By the time we left the store with our purchases...3AM! Yup...I stood in line for an hour to buy 5 shirts! My total was around $145, which for that store, is pretty good!

The line killed what little motivation we had, so we grabbed our other friend and were out of there! My Polo sidekick bowed out of going to Macy's, which was completely understandable! My Macy's sidekick and I waited around for a while and then at 4:50am, she had to go because she wasn't feeling well.

So there I stood, the lone survivor, outside Macy's, waiting for 5AM and the doors to open. I was pretty sure that I was at a good door for what I needed to get. As the doors opened and I walked in, there were people running from every direction! It was INSANE! I saw the jewelery department, which was where I needed to go, and walked through the "costume" section, before I found out I needed to be in the "Fine Jewelery" section. I found exactly what I had come for and was trying to wait my turn. Such a beginner I am! When I saw one lady buying what I came for and there were only 5 left, I knew I needed to act fast!

Each sales associate can only help one person at a time, so you have to hound one. All the ones around what I wanted had 3-4 people waiting for them. I walked over to a different counter and saw a nice young man finishing up a watch sale and asked if he could help me next. He smiled and said yes! As soon as he was done, he asked what I needed. I pointed to the ad and said, "I need 5 of these!" He then asked, "Are there 5 left?" I said, "There was when I walked over to find you!"

As he was unlocking the case, I heard a lady say, "I want one of those if she (meaning me) doesn't take them all!" This is when I started to get nervous. He pulled the items out one by one. As soon as he pulled them all out, locked the case and we started to walk over to a "safer" counter, most of the people waiting by this item, walked away! There were at least 8 others waiting!

So, he rang me up and I ran out of the store! It was 5:30 and I had yet gone to bed from my 7:30AM wake-up time. I only got in a 45min nap after dinner, so I was running short! On my way home I realized that I didn't get one of these items for myself. I could have gotten it in a different color, but I was NOT going back! I was and still am a little mad at myself for not getting one for myself, but maybe next year!

So what was it that I got? Gifts for my bridesmaids! Well, part of it anyway!

***IF YOU ARE ONE OF MY BRIDESMAIDS....STOP HERE***
*


*


*


*


*

*** I MEAN IT...STOP NOW!***

*


*


*


Ok...I think we can proceed!

My pictures!

Black Pearl necklaces! I decided a while ago that I wanted to get these for my BM's, but couldn't afford the really nice ones and the cheap ones looked cheap! So when I was paging through the Macy's ad, these were on sale for $29...originally $90! DEAL! Do you understand now why I'm mad I didn't get myself one?!?!

Although they mostly look black, they pick up a lot of different colors depending on the light! They are really beautiful and I can't wait to give them to the girls! They will be hearing the story as well! There aren't many people I would do this for, but for those 5 girls, I would do it again!

Did you do anything out of the ordinary to get your bridal party gifts?

*** Up Next...My weekend wedding project!***

Read more!