Now It REALLY Feels Official

It finally sunk in that we are getting married because OUR ENGAGEMENT PICS ARE UP! After rescheduling due to bad weather, we finally got to take our pics last weekend with the awesome Cesar Perez. We had a really fun time walking around through the Deep Ellum and Arts District areas of Dallas.

The teasers were posted today on our wonderful photographer's blog. Here are a few, but please visit the Perez Photography blog to see more (and some of their other amazing work)!

I can't wait to see them all!

Here's To Hoping The 3rd Time's A Charm

Tomorrow is our third attempt at engagement pictures. I know that I tend to do things in threes for this wedding, but I didn't mean for it to include my photos!

I decided since we had to reschedule two times already, I am not going to make a huge fuss out of this attempt. I'll do my own hair, I'll do my own makeup and I'll forego the professional manicure, just please, please, please let this forecast hold for tomorrow:



Hope all you Bees have a wonderful weekend! TGIF!

The Legal Stuff

The other day, while bored, I decided to look up exactly what I will need and exactly what the laws are to obtain your marriage license in the State of Texas. I ended up finding out about some upcoming changes to the marriage license process in the State of Texas. In June of 2007, the Governor signed HB 2685, which will benefit those of us who either chose, or were required, to take premarital classes.

Come September 1, 2008, the fee for your marriage license will increase from $30 to $60. However, the fee will be waived if you have participated in an 8 hour premarital education course, approved by the Health and Human Service Commission.

For those of you, like the Hydrangeas, getting married after September 1, you can read more about it and get all of the details here.

A New 'Zine on the Block

A few weeks ago, I received this in the mail:

I had completely forgotten that I somehow stumbled across their sister publication's website and noticed that they would be coming out with a bridal magazine soon. As soon as I saw the offer to go ahead and sign up to receive a copy when it was published, it was a done deal. It had been so long, though, that it was a total surprise to get it in the mail one day!

The magazine has beautiful pictures and resources, and their website includes a Marketplace to find local vendors and an Events Calendar full of bridal events going on around the DFW area. While it seems to be geared towards the more affluent bride, it's a great source to get ideas and find out about some hidden treasures for weddings in Dallas.

They also have magazines for Chicago, Houston and Atlanta and you can still receive your free copy for Dallas Brides here!

There Was No Singing In The Rain

Unfortunately, Texas weather is completely unpredictable. Saturday was on and off rain and, even though our photographer hung in there with us waiting on the weather all day, we ended up calling off the photo session. My hair was done, makeup too, but it wasn't meant to be.

We rescheduled for this coming Saturday, so everyone do a little no rain dance for us (our photographer said he'd already started)!

Oh yeah, and if you are wondering what umbrella we ended up choosing, it was this one:

Bubble Umbrella by Totes.

Simple, clear and cheap. Even though the session was called off, I'm keeping the umbrella. Gotta love Target!

Memory Books

The second part of my gift for the BMs was a photobook. I looked at many different sites to see which one gave me the best options, but then I stumbled across the Martha Stewart Collection at Kodak. Their adorable covers were too hard to resist, and I knew that I didn't want a huge book, just a small photobook that the girls could keep. Here is what I chose:


I wasn't thrilled that I had to download a program in order to upload photos for my book. Since this was my first time creating a photobook, I'm not sure if this is the norm. Also, Kodak lost my first shipment and had to resend the books to me. It makes me nervous to know that there is a possibility that someone out there could have these first drafts (and my BM's names are on the covers).

Overall, the girls loved the books, but I will most likely not be visiting Kodak again to create books.

And here is what everything put together looked like when the girls opened their boxes:

My Photographer Rocks

And this is why.

They occasionally put up photos of their adorable Goddaughters on their blog, but on Valentines they posted this great video:



By the way, this video was made entirely of photos. Over 1000 of them according to the blog. How freakin awesome is that!

Kitchen Attire

Through one of my many random Google searches, I came across this awesome site for those of you crafty Bees out there.

Montessouri By Hand was started by Meg McElwee, a montessouri school teacher. The site, and her awesome sewing patterns, combine her two loves of sewing and child development. What caught my eye about this site was this particular pattern:

If you sewed a backside on this sucker, I'd totally wear it as a dress, but how darn cute is this apron! Her messenger bag and baby carrier are also C U T E!

Check it out, and if any of you try one of her patterns, please let me know cause I want to see what the difficulty level would be for a beginner like me!

Under My Umbrella Ella Ella

So, after my post yesterday regarding the forecasted weather for Saturday, I was inspired by all of your suggestions to not postpone the pictures and have some fun in the rain (albeit cold rain). After reading your comments, I e-mailed our photographer, Cesar, and asked him his thoughts on a rainy photo shoot. I had a feeling he'd be up for it because he likes to try new things and get some cool shots, and, of course, he was. Barring floods and torrential downpour, our photo shoot is still on for Saturday.

To top it off, he is so awesome that he is going to give us another session at no charge when the weather is nicer! Since Mr. H and I were planning on a costume change (one outfit just wasn't enough for me), we are going to wear our casual clothes for the rain session and then get a little more spiffy for the nice weather pictures.

Now...I can't just have a photo shoot in the rain without a cute accessory, so I've been searching for a great umbrella. I immediately e-mailed my bridesmaid who is a fashion stylist in L.A. to ask her her thoughts. She had some great ones, and I found a couple other options online. I'd like to keep this relatively inexpensive since I don't use umbrellas all that often.

My only criteria is that is have green in it, specifically a Kelly Green color to match some elements of our outfits.

I found these cute Vera Bradley umbrellas on Ebay:

And, while none of these match our colors, Rihanna has a new umbrella line with Isotoner that is awfully cute (Isotoner, coincidentally, also has a Wedding Line that I had no clue about):

Finally, I found this adorable one at Anthropologie:

Anyone have any other suggestions for cute, green umbrellas? I'm in a time crunch as I need it by tomorrow at noon!

Receive This Ring

Just like Miss Canary, I received one of the wonderful ring holders from Paloma's Nest on Valentines Day. If you remember from my previous post, we have asked Mr. H's aunt and uncle to be our padrinos for the anillos (rings) and part of their duty is to bring the rings up to the altar.

Caroline at Paloma's Nest was so awesome. Apparently she and her husband are Hispanic as well, so she was great at helping me come up with ideas for what to put on our ring holder. I knew that I wanted to have something in Spanish since it will be a part of the Spanish custom when the Padrinos bring the rings to us. I also knew, after looking through all of her items on Etsy, that I wanted to have it stamped with the Milagro Heart. I have always loved this icon and Mr. H and I have a beautiful cross that we bought on our first trip to Mexico together with the same icon on it.

So here it is!

It's a little hard to read because I had to take a picture w/ my phone, but it says "RECIBE ESTE ANILLO" with our wedding date below it. Since we aren't saying our vows in Spanish, and I didn't just want to put I love you on it, I chose to put the vow that we would say, were we to have our Mass in Spanish.

Recibe Este Anillo = Receive this ring

Tada! I'm super excited and Mr. H loved it when I showed it to him last night.

What other unique ideas have you or will you use on your wedding day to deliver the bling?

Rain Rain Go Away...

Saturday we are taking our engagement pictures and I'm REALLY excited. I have a hair appointment, makeup appointment and have a couple of super cute outfits (one of which is inspired by our own Miss Tulip). So, what, do you ask, is the problem?

THIS:

Incase you can't see it right, Saturday is 42 degrees (cold by TX standards) and RAIN/THUNDER! Last weekend we were originally supposed to have the pictures, but because another couple really needed them done, we rescheduled our time. Last weekend was sunny and 75. Let's hope there is a weather miracle and we won't have to reschedule!

Has anyone else had to reschedule their photos due to the weather?

Honeymooning

When Mr. H and I began discussing our honeymoon, I figured we'd both be on the same page. Exotic, tropical and somewhere we'd never been. Boy was I wrong. Mr. H wanted to go somewhere that was exotic, tropical and familiar. His reasoning was that he wanted to relax on our vacation, and not spend the entire week being tourists.

I've always been a traveler, Mr. H not so much. It was hard for me to see his side of things until one night we made a mutual decision that warmed my feelings towards going to a familiar destination. We both decided that for the last few days of our trip, we would like our friends to join us to finish off our wedding celebration!

So, while I had only thought of new and foreign lands, I let Mr. H tell me where he would prefer to go for our honeymoon. Cabo San Lucas!

My parents have a timeshare in Cabo and I have been fortunate enough to go there for several week-long vacations. This past May, Mom H, Brother H, Mr. H and some of my other family went there for vacation. Mr. H loved it. Mojitos by the pool, cruises in the ocean, day trips and yummy food. So it wasn't a huge shocker that Mr. H had decided this was where he'd like to spend our first week as newlyweds.

We will be staying at the Pueblo Bonito Blanco in Cabo. Mom H was kind enough to gift us her timeshare for that week and I had stocked up enough miles that our plane tickets were virtually free.

As a twist (and compromise) to our honeymoon, we are going to spend one night in Todos Santos, a small town about an hour north of Cabo. It is an artsy town that is very Americanized but has, honest to God, one of the best Italian food restaurants I've ever eaten at in my life. It is quiet and secluded and I get to have my little bit of adventure for the week. We are scheduling the excursion so that when we arrive back in Cabo, our friends will be there to celebrate our last weekend of the honeymoon with us. We are still deciding on the hotel for that night, so more to come on that later (and suggestions are always welcome)!

Has anyone else included friends and/or family on their honeymoon? Was relaxing or exploring higher on your list of musts for your honeymoon?

A Chic Hostess Gift

While reading my other daily addiction besides WB, Daily Candy, I came across a perfect idea for a hostess gift. I know that my mom's best friends will most likely throw me a shower, as they do for all the daughters in their group of friends, so in the back of my mind I've been thinking of a neat gift to get them.

Today, Daily Candy Dallas introduced me to the Dayna Decker candle collection, particularly the Couture Candle. What got me so excited was the packaging. It is so modern and sophisticated...and black! Since our wedding is black and white, I thought this would be an awesome hostess gift:

After further looking into the candle, it's pricetag comes in at a hefty $65. I'm not sure this will fit into my budget, but man would it be great. I would really love to get something nice for the hostess' homes when I start to look for their gifts.

What have you all done for those who were nice enough to throw you a shower?

To have or not to have kids...

At the wedding.

Ah the controversial topic of whether or not to have children at the wedding. Let me preface this by saying that each couple has a different idea of what they want at their wedding. I'm all for kids being there, and I'm all for kids not being there.

Four our wedding, it will be the latter.

When we began planning our wedding, I told Mr. H how I really wanted a more intimate wedding. The only problem with this is that Mr. H has a gigantic family and we already had to cut a large chunk of his adult family off the list before we even began thinking about the kiddos.

We settled on 200 being our final count: 75 for his family, 75 for my family and 50 for us. As of right now, my parents have 75, his parents list has over 100 people and ours is 50 (mainly because we've added some of his family to our list). That's not including kids...even kids under 21. We are still working on this list.

We have already had a few family member meltdowns over the decision, but, in the end we look at it like this:

1) Our wedding is already twice the size of what I was hoping for.
2) Our reception won't even begin until 8pm, with dinner not starting until 9pm (which is late for kiddos).
3) Our venue isn't the most kid friendly, especially in the evening.
4) We want the adults to be able to kick back, relax and have a great time without any worries.

Because most of the people attending our wedding are local, we are not going to be providing babysitters for guests. We would end up having to find sitting services for nearly 50 kids if we chose to do this (and I don't even want to know what this would cost).

Our guests are more than welcome to bring their children to the church for the ceremony, but the reception will be off limits for the little ones. Since we chose to do this, we felt it was only fair that this rule be in place for everyone, so our cute nieces and nephew will not be able to attend the reception as well (which makes me a little sad each time I think of it).

It was an adjustment for our parents at first, but the deeper we get into planning this wedding, the more they are positive that we made the right decision for our wedding. As long as our immediate families accept our decision, we feel good about our decision.

Now, here's where I need your help. How do I politely explain on the invitation that the reception is only for adults? I would say "Adult Reception," but I'm afraid that might get lost in translation with some of Mr. H's relatives.

The Weight Game...or Gain

I am more then fully aware that in only weeks I will be getting infront of the camera for our engagement pictures AND only a few months until I take my bridal portraits. However, this does not seem to be motivating me to get my butt to the gym whatsoever. Maybe because it seems so far off that I keep procrastinating, or maybe I'm just lazy.

I tend to think it's getting up at 5:30 in the morning to take care of the dogs and get ready for work, followed by getting home late in the evening, taking care of the dogs and cooking dinner. By the time I make it to feeding the dogs, I’m already ready for bed.

My commute to work is a good 45 minutes to 1 hour trek each day, each way. I know that I chose to do this to myself, and, if I didn’t like my job, I wouldn’t have lasted with the drive I have everyday. The drive seems to take two hours of productive time out of my day and, by the time I get home, I’ve had an hour in the car to talk myself out of going to the gym.

I am one of those body types who has skinny times, and has very chubby times. Right now, I’m borderline getting to my chubby times again. After 26 years of having my weight go up, then go down and back again, you’d think I’d go out of my way to keep it on the low side…and I did…until Mr. Hydrangea and I became serious. Time spent going to the gym became time for going out to dinners or cuddling on the couch. After months and months of this routine, my motivation completely disappeared.

Recently I started tracking my calories on Spark People and it has helped a lot! Everyday I log what I eat and it automatically calculates the calories, and recommends how much I should eat in order to get to my fighting weight. It also has you track your workouts, has motivational articles, recipes and pretty much everything you could look for in a website...and it's free. I definitely think this has helped me get on the right track, and now I just need to get my butt to the gym as well.

Have any of you all had this happen to you? If so, what have you done to change your routine and make the time to workout? Any suggestions on how to get my butt out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to get in a workout?

Here She Is...

About a week and half ago I went for my first dress fitting. I was fortunate enough to have my measurements taken when they were having the Junko Yoshioka trunk show at Blush Couture. Because I have some curves, they decided to do custom measurements on me, which can cost up to $500, but they did it for free because the designer's rep was there. I couldn't wait until the dress came in so I could see how it looked on me (not just the one size too small sample).

When I first stepped into my gown, I almost started crying, but not out of happiness. It was big, I mean REALLY big. Custom measurements and this is what happens? I might have lost a little weight, but I definitely knew it wasn't that much. After much reassurance from the seamstress and the owner of the bridal salon, I calmed down. All will be fixed and it's much better to have it too big then too small. I just hope they can put some good padding in the bra because when Miss H loses weight, it comes off the top first :(

And here was my first fitting in my dress:

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MR. H GET LOST! You have to wait!
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I really am happy with it. The dress definitely needs some adjustments, and I need a little toning, but I can't wait to see what it is going to look like when all is said and done!

Picture Perfect - The Third Time's A Charm

The third time definitely was the charm for us when it came to finding our photographer. My first meeting was with one of the more popular photographers in Dallas, Andrea Polito(recommended by our planners, and definitely a good one). The second meeting was with another popular photographer, Gary Donihoo with F8 Studio (also awesome but, come to find out, expensive). Finally, I met with a photographer that I found one day while I was browsing wedding website after wedding website online.

The photographer(s) are a husband and wife team who are around the same age as Mr. H and myself. Their style is young, creative and non-traditional...exactly what I was searching for. The best part of it all was, when he handed me the pricing, the cost was spot on! The stars aligned, my budget was not over the limit and I was on cloud nine. So.... my photographers are Cesar and Tanya Perez from Perez-Photography.

I met with Cesar and we had a casual meeting at a local Starbucks and I went through some of his albums. We then talked about locations we liked, what I was looking for and his style when it comes to shooting. It didn't take me more then 20 minutes to realize that I wanted to book him.

Here are some pics from their blog:

Picture Perfect - Take Two

Picture Perfect - Part I

My second meeting with a photographer was with Gary Donihoo of F8 Studio. I previously posted about his photo booth company and how I really loved his photography. He didn’t do any disservice to that thought. His photos were amazing, his ideas were creative and his setup was professional all the way…unfortunately his pricing was about two times higher than what my budget allowed.

(Photos from f8studio.com)

I have to admit, I was really disappointed in this fact. After we spent over an hour talking photography, I was absolutely positive that I’d found my photographer.
What I didn't learn, until later, was that the two other photographers that work out of his studio have different price ranges. Their pictures are just as amazing so it would definitely be worth checking out, if you can't quite spend as much on Gary.

While his pictures really did say a thousand words, I knew that patience was key in finding the photographer for our wedding. I wanted the ideas, personalities and pricing to match…so back to the drawing board I went.

Our last meeting coming next...