While I’m fairly certain that custom designed Save the Dates are strictly out of our tight budget, how obsessed am I with these relationship timeline Save the Dates?

Photo via www.100layercake.com

Photo via www.adayinmay.com

Photo via www.minnadesigns.com

I feel like we’d have a good timeline, though I’d have to come up with a more tactful way of putting that Ritchie and I first met when he was putting the moves on my roommate in college.

I mentioned that last Friday Ritchie and I were headed out for an afternoon of registering.  I was really looking forward to it and Ritchie was kind of excited too.

Our first stop was Williams Sonoma.  We figured we’d get all our good kitchen stuff there and whatever we didn’t get there we’d find at Crate and Barrel.  Right off the bat I was a little turned off by the process when the clerk balked at us for not beginning our registration process online.  And here we had wanted to do it the organic way, but it would appear that it’s not preferred.  Then, I balked when I realized that this Williams Sonoma (we didn’t go to our usual WS, instead driving out to one that was right next to a Crate and Barrel) didn’t have any choice in KitchenAid mixers whatsoever and I would have to locate one in the catalogue.  As I was looking forward to scanning the mixer as my first item (photo op!), I was pretty disappointed.  This happened a lot with several things that I’d had in mind, and all in all, I found that WS was a bit of a let down in the registering department.  We found our biggest dilemma in cookware, as Ritchie and I couldn’t justify registering for one of the sets that cost nearly $1000 when we have another dutch oven on our list (Le Creuset) and decent saute pans at home.  All we really wanted were sauce pans, but individually they were over $200 each.  It didn’t seem worth it.  Williams Sonoma also brought about a rather heated argument over a bread basket that I liked and Ritchie hated, of which I am certain that those who overheard it muttered to themselves that we’d be divorced within a year (For those wondering the verdict, it ended up on the list much to Ritchie’s chagrin.  I liked it and as it turned out, we didn’t find a better bread basket).  To them I say, what’s a relationship without a little fire?  It happens.

At Crate and Barrel, my spirits were lifted.  It’s hard not to get excited with all the bright colors and fun things in that store.  The clerk handed us our scanner and we were off.  The fun lasted for a little bit until we ran into the dilemma of place settings.  There we debated over colors and found it hard to imagine what our non existent dining room would look like in a house that we don’t have.  So instead, we registered for a bunch of colors that kind of went together and figured we’d narrow it down/hone the look later.  Did anyone else have this problem?  Or do people actually research their place setting colors before they go?  I guess I was just thinking about pretty colored cookware and fun baking tools and therefore didn’t think about the rest of it.

By the time we made it upstairs to the furniture we were exhausted and collapsed on the nearest couch.  We halfheartedly scanned a few pieces of furniture not because we expect to get it, but solely so we can purchase it with our 10% off completion discount after the wedding.  We had toyed with the idea of going to Target on the way home, but we were so exhausted that we lugged our butts to Friday’s for some Jack Daniel’s burgers and a Brownie Obsession.

I brought a camera expecting to get cute pics of us with the scanner, ya know, engagementhood and all that jazz.  Instead I recorded the memories of us being effing exhausted and wanting it all to be over.

We ended up registering for this coffee table.

And almost this couch too (tad expensive).

Crate and Barrel Scanner + Ring = Only photographic proof we were there and registered.

So as I mentioned in my last post, I bought a dress at the LA Bride World Expo.  And honestly, I still can’t believe that I did.

After dragging my amazing and willing friend Shannon to the Expo, she insisted that I take a look at a few of the dresses.  I’ve been reluctant to go dress shopping as I’m not in a good place with myself in concerns to body image and all that, but I recognize that with less than 8 months to go until the day, it’s time I sucked it up and tried some stuff on.  So we flipped through the discount dresses in the back of the convention center with an occasional, “This is cute,” “Oooh, this could work!,” and so on.  My basic criteria thusfar for a dress was as follows:

• Non strapless.  While non strapless wedding dresses are few and far between, I know my body and I know that I’ve never looked good in a strapless dress.  My shoulders are broad, my posture is terrible, and I’m bound to get those gross rolls of arm fat (you know what I’m talking about).
• No train.  They look gorgeous going down the aisle of a church, but I’m getting married outside in a vineyard and just don’t like the thought of dragging my dress through the dirt and grass.  Come to think of it, I just don’t like the thought of my dress trailing behind me at all.  Just not my bag.
• Nothing too fancy.  We want a casual wedding and where Ritchie will not be wearing a tux, I do not plan on having lots of tulle/lace/craziness going on with my dress.  I want something simple.

And while we found a lot of stuff that met the criteria, I just didn’t feel the fire to try anything on, despite their deep discounts.  But there was one dress I kept coming back to that was the opposite of the criteria, yet it called to me.  It was strapless, long, and shiny, but somehow still remained simple.  It reminded me of everything that I adore about that Bride Wars dress (and someday I will tell you all about my unnatural obsession with that movie).  So with echos of so many people saying “Try everything on!,” I tried it on.

I want to say that I felt that OMGYES feeling that I’ve heard so much about, but it was more of a “Wow, this is a real wedding dress” feeling.  Up until that point I’d tried on a total of 2 gowns, one that I hated on me and one I kind of liked.  Both were more like white dresses than wedding dresses.  And I now recognize that trying on a real wedding dress is a totally different experience that can affect you in weird ways.  Here’s the thing: the dress was one size too small.  The convention center was closing.  But in the fact that it didn’t fit and being rushed through the fitting, I still looked at myself in the dress and saw that it was beautiful.  Shannon and the clerk were both telling me that it not fitting exactly was an easy and cheap fix, just a minor alteration of adding a corset, blah blah blah.  All I saw was that it was beautiful and I loved it.  I couldn’t leave without buying that dress because I would inevitably regret it.  So I did, and I put it in the trunk of my car where it remains today (What?  It needs to be altered and it’ll be steamed before the wedding anyway).

Is it the dress?  I don’t know.  After reading this fabulous post on A Los Angeles Love, I don’t think I necessarily believe in “the dress” especially since putting on any sort of wedding dress is enough to make even the most self conscience bride feel beautiful.  I will keep trying stuff on- I have appointments at a few different wedding boutiques and I intend to keep them.  But I’ll also go ahead and meet with someone about alterations on this dress, even possibly adding straps to see if it will flatter me even more.  It is possible that I have my dress already and it’s a pretty good feeling.

So for the curious, here’s the dress, behind a cut per Ritchie’s request (he’s pretty superstitious about this wedding stuff).

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I did something kinda crazy this weekend: I went to a Bride World Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  That’s right, one exhibition floor packed to the brimming with vendors, brides, and every now and then, a groom or two.  Basically my worst nightmare.

Photo via www.weddingwire.com

Let me back up a minute to December when I was flipping through an issue of The Knot magazine while on a plane en route to the east coast for Christmas.  “Bride World Expo – Los Angeles!” it advertised and I thought, “Hey, that could be fun.”  Then I saw it was downtown and cost $10 to get in and dismissed it.  Dishing out $10 plus another $10 in parking to drive all the way to downtown (traffic is awful getting down there!) and spend my afternoon with a bunch of brides and vendors didn’t sound like the ideal Saturday.

Then last Friday I received a postcard in the mail about Bride World.  Ever since signing us up on The Knot, I’ve been getting tons of stuff in the mail that I don’t need (kind of verging on wasteful, actually), but this card told me it got me and a friend into Bride World for free, plus I’d get some goodies: free wedding planner, bridal magazines, etc.  And I am not ashamed to admit that free stuff is my kind of Saturday afternoon.  So I recruited my awesome LA bestie Shannon with the promise of free cake samples and we were off to the LA Bride World Expo.

After scoring a spot in a $5 lot (yes!), we headed into a rather unorganized LA Convention Center, where I sadly learned that there would be none of the free stuff promised to me.  I think they ran out by the time we got there, but the guy that signed us in was clueless one way or another.  I did however get a nifty “Bride” sticker that I was constantly checking as it kept falling off and it had the added bonus of catching vendor’s eyes so that they would shove things in my hands like pamphlets, cards, brochures, and carnations.  Part of what I did not get were the fancy personalized stickers that would have allowed me not to fill a million info sheets out (even though I DID register online, hmph) and I was rather bitter about that.

We navigated our way through the chaotic display of flowers, photography, personalized gifts and favors, dance lessons, and, much to Shannon’s delight, several cake samples, only stopping at booths that either really caught our eye or the greeters were too persistent to ignore.  I made a couple of appointments at bridal boutiques in exchange for discount coupons intended for “the dress.”  I happily stopped at the Men’s Warehouse booth to make an appointment for Ritchie in exchange for a great promotional deal in which he gets a free suit since he has 5 groomsmen renting.  All in all, it seemed like it was worth a trip for the cake, coupons, and occasional flower.

Then a girl walked by with two gorgeous dresses in hand.  Shannon flagged her down, complimenting her on the great finds and she told us we should head to the back of the floor where we would find discount dresses.  As we headed back there, I told Shannon I saw no need to look- I had just made all these bridal appointments, and besides, I’d found a vintage place in Burbank that had cheap, gorgeous white and ivory gowns that would make lovely wedding dresses.  I was convinced that I’d find my wedding dress there when I was ready to start shopping.  But I wasn’t ready just yet.  I’d tried on two dresses in December: one I kind of liked and one I didn’t.  It was as far as I’d gotten and I was okay with that.  But we walked back anyway and you know what happened?

I bought a wedding dress.

More to come…

Ritchie and I had scheduled a date night last night in which we were going to register, go out to dinner, and catch a movie.  But I was so wiped from 5 hours in the salon that when I got home all I wanted to do was order Chinese food and watch one of our Netflix.  So we rescheduled the registering for this afternoon and I’m so freaking excited for it.

I’ve noticed a trend in the wedding blogs with registering: you either love it or you hate it.  Ritchie and I have lived together for a long time in a 2 bedroom LA apartment, so we do have a lot of stuff, however the 5 year plan involves purchasing a house on the east coast for which we will need lots more stuff.  Plus when we loaded up my Suzuki and drove cross country years ago, we didn’t have many nice things to our name and supplemented our furniture, kitchen gadgets, linens, etc. with garage sale finds and dollar store buys.  It’s only been very slowly in the last few years that we’ve begun to replace the old, falling apart things with real purchases.  A coffeemaker here, a TV there.  It’s been a slow process and I think that registering for some actual decent stuff will be helpful to us.  Plus, ever since I got my own kitchen and began to realize that I kinda love baking and cooking, I’ve been dying for the day I could register for this:

And this:

*Drool*  They’re beautiful.

So today we’re headed out to Williams Sonoma and Crate and Barrel to fire up our registries.  We will have a third registry as a budget option, since I realize that both WS and C&B can be quite pricey, but we’re torn between Bed Bath and Beyond and Target.  On the one hand, BB&B seems a tad classier to me, but it’s also kinda all the same stuff as WS and C&B.  Target is so tempting with the option to register for electronics, a BBQ, and toilet paper.  Because everyone needs toilet paper.

So we’ll see about the third place, but for now, I’m off to my two favorite stores.  I’ll be sure to let everyone know how the experience goes!