Registries

The thought of registering is completely overwhelming to me.  Where should we register? What should we register for? How many things should we register for?

It would be nice to have all coordinating casual dinnerware and serving dishes, coordinating glassware, and coordinating silverware. 

I would love to pick a china pattern...but how often would we realistically use it?

We do need new sheets and towels.  But there are so many different thread counts, types of material and sizes.  I need to do some research.  It's too bad I can't call Martha Stewart up and get her opinion. 

According to Bed, Bath & Beyond, the most important feature of a towel is its fiber content. (Ok, so my mind goes straight to beans and Benefiber and Fiber One. And farts. I just can't help it.)  Most towels are made of cotton or cotton blends, and the quality of cotton is based on the length of its staple or fiber.  The longer the staples, the more luxurious, durable and absorbent the cotton will be.

The most common types of cotton are:

• Egyptian: A long staple cotton grown in the Nile River Valley. Highly absorbent cotton that is strong yet breathable.
• Organic:  A cotton grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
• Pima: Named after the Pima Native American Tribe.  High quality and long staple.
• Supima: Abbreviation for "superior pima."  The finest yield of long staple Pima cotton that is grown exclusively in the U.S. by certified farmers.
• Turkish: A long staple cotton grown exculsively in Turkey.  Often noted for its natural sheen and extra durability.
• Brazillian: A basic cotton grown exclusively in Brazil.  Has a standard staple length.

And apparently the way that the cotton is put together can differ greatly too:

• Terry: Means that the towel has loops.  Most absorbent towels are made of cotton with loops across the entire service.  The longer and denser the loops are, the more durable and absorbent.
• Velour: Fibers stand up on the surface like blades of grass and are identified by cut loops which make make the surface of the towel smooth.  Enables clear display of printed designs and is ultra soft, but not as absorbent as terry.
• Combed: Fibers of the towel are combed to create soft and strong yarns by removing short uneven fibers.  The fibers left behind are long, straight fibers that are even and aligned.
• Microfiber: Modal or Beech are woven with cotton to create an ultra absorbent towel that dries quickly.
• Zero Twist: Twist refers to the number of twists per inch of yarn, so the lower the amount of twist in a yarn, the longer the loops, leaving the towel extremely plush.  With long staple cotton yarn, low or zero twist fabric can be achieved.
• Two Ply: Double the amount of yarn is used in the manufacturing process for increased absorbency and durability.  Tend to have a densely woven pile and a substantial, weighty feel.
• Hygro Cotton: The yarn has a hollow core to allow air space at the center of the yarn to absorb water as it runs down the loop which enables it to capture more water. Lofts well (umm, what?) and becomes extra fluffy with washing.

Ok, well now that we all know more than we ever wanted to know about towels, I'm going to move on to sheets.

100% cotton sheets are the most comfortable and the most breathable because they are an all natural fiber.  On the other hand, a cotton/polyester blend will not wrinkle as much and is more reasonably priced.  However, polyester sheets will not breathe or absorb moisture as well as cotton.  (I'm already won on 100% cotton.)

Cotton sheets are made of Egyptian, Pima, Supima, or Organic cottons.  Other sheets can be synthetic, blend (cotton/polyester is the most common), modal (a fiber made from the pulp of beech trees), or bamboo.

The weave, manufacturing techniques and thread count are also important to consider.

Weaves might include:

• Sateen: Has a stitch of four over, one under, placing the most threads on the surface, making it extremely soft, but slightly less durable than a percale or pinpoint.
• Pinpoint: Has a stitch of two over, one under.  It is more durable than a regular weave, but not as soft as sateen.  Often will soften after repeated washings.
• Percale: Yarns are woven one over and one under each other to produce a strong, long-lasting fabric.  Can be finished to have a crisp or soft feel.  This weave allows air to pass through easily, so it tends to be breathable.  Will also soften after repeated washings.
• Twill: Yarns typically woven two over and one under.  It can be easily identified by diagonal lines on one side of the fabric.  These sheets hold their shape well, drape well and are somewhat wrinkle- resistant.

Manufacturing Techniques:

• Combed: Cotton fibers are combined to create soft and strong yarns by removing short short uneven fibers.  Leaves behind long, straight fibers which are even and aligned.
• Compact: A process that significantly reduces the amount of hairy stray fibers and weak spots in the thread.  Fibers are compacted towards the core of the yarn as they are twisted. Also enables fabric to be resistant to wrinkling and pilling.
• Flannel: Medium weight fabric that is soft and fuzzy and is usually made of cotton with a napped finish on one or both sides.  Napping is a brushing technique that provides a raised surface with a fluffy appearance. 
• Jersey: Feel like a t-shirt and provide a stretchy fit. Knitted and not woven.

Thread count is the number of threads per square inch of fabric, both vertical and horizontal. The higher the thread count, the softer and more durable the sheet.  Look for at least 200 or higher.

Now we have to make final decisions about WHERE to register.  Or else I will register at every store with a registry.

Please Excuse my Hiatus...

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind...a blur of weekend trips, summer school classes, work, and babysitting!  The wedding planning has been put on the backburner for a couple of weeks, but we have gotten some of the big stuff taken care of...

I found my dress!!! It's amazing, and I absolutely love it.  And that's all I am going to say about it because my fiance wants to see it soo bad.  He has been informed that it looks like this:

Beautiful, right?!

Shopping for dresses was quite an adventure.  My mom and soon-to-be stepsister went with me.  There were so many beautiful dresses, and it was completely overwhelming to start picking out dresses from the racks.  The girl who had an appointment at the same time as me new exactly what kind of dress she wanted.  When the salesgirl asked us what we had in mind, the other girl rattled off every single detail that she wanted from the neckline to the fabric to the waist line and designer. I'm fairly positive that I had a "huh?!" expression on my face. I had no idea what half of the words that she said meant.  Needless to say, I felt unprepared and silly even though I had looked at lots of wedding dresses and watched countless episodes of My Fair Wedding, Say Yes to the Dress, and Girl Meets Gown.

Even with all of my television preparation, I didn't actually believe that the dress stores only had one sample of each dress.  In sizes 10 and 12.  Now, I am well aware that this is the average size for women in the U.S., but, being somewhat smaller than that, the salesgirl had to clip my dress all over so that I could have any idea of what the dress would actually look like on me.  I was also unprepared for the salesgirl to dress me.  I'm really not very modest--I don't change in a bathroom stall at the gym (in fact, one of my middle school PE teachers wrote that I was "quite the exhibitionist" on my report card)--but even I felt slighly uncomfortable with a stranger (albeit a very nice one) helping me to step in and out of dresses and pulling them up over my head.  In reality, it was probably my choice of undergarments that day that made me feel uncomfortable--wherever I was standing there was a mirror behind me.  I guess she's probably seen worse. Hopefully. Anyways, I will remember that for my future dress fittings.

I had no idea how many other decisions I would be able to make once I had my dress!! I know what kind of flowers I want, what I want the cake to look like, and an idea of what I want the bridesmaids dresses to look like.  At least what I want at the moment.  Currently I love:

1.  Cala Lilies. 

Yellow for the Bridesmaids

White for the Bride

Boutonnieres

2.  Simple cakes

I love the dots!

3.  Monograms

On cakes!

Bride's bouquet

Wedding favors

Dance floor projection

Pickard Monogrammed China

Engagement Pics Take 1.

I am so grateful that Adam was able to get the photographer that he does a lot of work with to take some pictures for us! We got some great pictures, and we definitely have some choices for our engagement announcement.

On that note, it was not exactly the most enjoyable experience.
**Warning, I am about to whine.

We were at the park by 8 o'clock this morning, but it was already so humid out that I felt like I was swimming.  The park was very green and made for an awesome back drop, but after twenty minutes I had so many bug bites on my feet and legs that I wanted to cry.  About this time my hair was starting to frizz, and I'm pretty sure that my makeup was melting off of my face.   As we walked down the rocky "steps" to a bridge in my completely inappropriate hiking shoes,  Adam said, "I bet there are so many snakes out here right now!"  (Cue excited, 8 year-old-boy voice.) Great, so I had to focus on not falling AND not stepping on any snakes.  We wrapped up shortly after that as it is hard to pose and smile when one is much more concerned with slapping the legs to kill bugs and avoiding snakes...and this was about the time that I decided my dress made me look preggers.

Although the actual event was slightly less glamorous than I'd imagined, we still managed to get some decent pictures.  Here are a few of the "low res" images:

Soo...we got a few decent pictures.

And here are a few pictures that are more "us":

I think this picture would be more appropriate if I had my finger up my nose.

Eeeehhh...

Awkward...who us?? Nooo

How does my handsome hubby-to-be manage to look so good in every single picture?!

Engagement Pictures!

Just found out that we are doing our "first set" of engagement pictures Saturday morning! I am very excited, although slightly nervous. I have serious issues keeping my eyes open in pictures.  I either look like I am on drugs or like I have bug eyes. Argh.  I have a feeling that Adam and I will be practicing our poses and smiles in the bathroom mirror tonight...we enjoy watching ourselves make faces.

Now we have to decide what to wear! I think that we are going to stick with a "blue-ish" theme and make sure that we look like "us." This could be challenging... and I guess I should probably change my orangey-red finger and toenail polish?! HELP. I will most likely break out from stressing out, fantastic.

Anyways, I am super excited. We are going to a park near our house early in the morning, so hopefully the lighting will be good and it won't be too hot out yet.  Our goal is to be as "uncheesy" as possible. Again, this could be challenging.

On that note, here are a few engagement photos that I have stumbled upon...

"The Serious Pose"

(Soo angry!)

"The umm, Spiderman Kiss Pose"

No thank you.

"The McCheesin' can I have a side of Cheese

with my Cheese Pose"

"The One-with-Nature Pose"

...just a little bit too "Twilight-ish" for me

"The Sensual Pose...?!"

Seriously, there are so many things wrong with this that I'm not even going to start.

On that note, I hope to have some of our own engagement pictures on here soon!  Please send positive picture vibes our way for pretty smiles and open eyes.

***I sincerely apologize for any stress that I may have caused to your eyes during this post.

Our photographer.

Finding the perfect photographer was very high on our list of priorities. We wanted a photographer that we felt comfortable with (they really are with you more than anyone else on and before the big day!), and who we were confident would do an amazing job capturing the basic and unique images that we can treasure for a lifetime.

It's good to be comfortable with your photog

since they are going to be all up in your biznaz on your wedding day!

Here are a few tips that I found to ensure that you find a photographer that suits all of your needs:

-First of all ask yourself: Will this photographer capture the wedding day the way that the we want? Will they create unique and emotional memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives?

-Book early! Wedding photographers' schedules fill up quickly, and you want to be able to have your pick of photographers.

-Get references from friends and family. Your best resource is people you know.

-Choose a studio that does their OWN developing and printing. Your film is less likely to be lost or damaged, and you will likely have to wait less time to see your pictures.

-Check out the albums that they offer.

-Meet with the photographer(s) to ensure that you feel comfortable working with them and having them around you for the majority of your wedding events.

-Try to negotiate the cost of your wedding package. Combining extra services with packages might be the way to go.

-Have a clear, concise, written contract

Now that we have that out of the way, I am confident that Adam and I have found the PERFECT photographers!!!! My mom had heard about the photographers, so we looked at their website and decided to e-mail them.

I can usually tell a little bit about someone's personality by their emails. If they write like me--with lots of enthusiasm and the occasional smiley face (generally not very professional, hah)--I know that we will get along. It is an awesome way to figure out if this person is someone you might want to work with. When I emailed with the mom of a family that I babysat for three years, I knew that we would be a perfect match. Luckily, this has also been the case with our wedding coordinator at the Cardinal Club and with our photographer.

Enter Jamie and Richie Staggs!!! They are the owners of Jagg Photography, and we were lucky enough to meet with them at a Starbucks about a week ago. Not only are their pictures beautiful, unique, and creative; but they are so much fun and a great match for us. We are so excited to work with them (and just to have them around on our wedding day!). They had all kinds of great ideas, and they were also up for whatever we wanted to do. I love that the husband and wife team are recently married, and that Jamie can hang with the girls while we get ready and primp and Richie will be with the guys while they are "getting ready" slash doing whatever it is that they do :)

The wedding albums and prints that we saw are absolutely stunning! Jamie and Richie are going to do our engagement photos, a bridal session, our rehearsal dinner, and all of our wedding day festivities. We are also going to rent a photo booth for the reception from them.

They are an adorable couple, and it is obvious that they are very much in love with each other and with what they do. I think that both of their photography styles differ just enough that we are going to have an incredible variety of pictures that will compliment each other. I am so jealous that they get to work and travel together!

Latest updates...

We have gotten a lot done in the last week, but I still feel like we have so much to do!

Last weekend we had a great cookout with both of our families. It was so nice to have everyone together--we talked babies and weddings, watched some soccer, and ate waaaay too much food. We had ribs, we had chicken, we had Boston butt. We also had strawberries and dip, chips, chips and salsa, potato salad, pasta salad, regular green salad, baked beans, key lime pie, cookies, and peanut butter/chocolate/caramel pie (my personal favorite!). Big success. (And by big I'm not just talking about my belly after the meal.)

We have also had big success on the wedding front.  We were able to take Adam's parents and grandpa to see the Cardinal Club before the cookout, and it was all set up for a wedding ceremony and reception. Seeing the chairs set up for the ceremony and the tables with linens, dance floor, buffet area, gift table, and cake table set up for the reception, made me even more excited (like "can we get married next weekend?!" excited).  I have had all kinds of ideas running through my head now that I have seen the club all set up, and Adam's mom and I did some serious flower talking.  Adam has already upgraded the room for the groomsmen from the normal room to a much larger room with floor length windows and an incredible view of downtown.  Apparently there are plans in talk for a PlayStation 3 in the room.  I think I'll just let them do their thing.

So, we have booked the ceremony music, sent in the deposit for our photographer, set up consultations with two different florists, and we are meeting with a DJ tomorrow night.

We booked Arioso Strings to play before and during our wedding ceremony.  Adam worked with the strings ensemble for a political commercial last year, and they sound amazing.  Their website has music samples--it was hard for me not to get teary eyed when we listened to the different wedding marches last weekend.  (Squeeeee, so excited!)  We decided that the violin and classic guitar sounded more like "us" than the cello or trumpet.

I am both excited and nervous to meet with the florists.  I absolutely love flowers, and I would really like to have tons of flowers all over our ceremony and reception, but I know the flowers are going to be a HUGE expense.

Shelly, our wedding coordinator at the Cardinal Club, highly recommended Mel at Dogwood Tree Floral Designs .  I am so excited to see what he can do for us.  Here are a few pictures from his website:

I know that I want lots of yellow and white flowers, but we are also talking about doing as much as we can ourselves. So, we'll see what the florist can do for us!

We are also meeting with a designer from the English Garden . She asked me about our colors and what ideas I had so far, so I can't wait to see what they can do too! Here is a video of some of their arrangements:



We are really excited about meeting with the DJ tomorrow--we have already assembled quite an extensive "play" and "do not play" (YMCA, chicken dance, electric slide, etc.) list, so I will keep you all updated!

*Oh and please let me know any other recommendations for the "do not play no matter how many times the song is requested" list. It would be much appreciated.

bRiDeZiLlAs

Bridezilla (term)

"A bridezilla (a neologistic portmanteau of bride and Godzilla) is a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride who leaves aggravated family, friends and bridal vendors in her wake. She is often called greedy, selfish and spoiled; not caring about the people that she hurts to get exactly what she wants on her perfect day."

Much like the proverbial bigfoot, I honestly believed that these so called "bridezillas" only existed on TV. I learned very quickly that I was completely and utterly wrong.

I never really understood all of this "my day" stuff. Yes, it's true, girls dream about and plan their weddings many years before they meet their prince charmings. And, yes, I have already been told, "whatever you want," several times by my sweet fiance. Luckily, my fiance wants to be involved, and, so far, he has been with me every step of the way. I don't give him "tasks or assignments," but, together, we are planning OUR wedding. Last night we sat on the couch for three hours finalizing the wording, colors, and sizes for our save the dates, invitations, RSVP cards, thank you notes, and envelopes. Thankfully, when I started looking at readings for our ceremony (I have an incredibly short--wait where's my Diet Coke?), Adam took over. Adam's practicality and decisiveness complement my spaciness and inability to finish things in a timely manner quite nicely.

But, I am still unconvinced that this is MY day.

I want it to be OUR day. It is OUR so-called "fairytale." (I'm sorry, but really, "fairytale"?!) I believe in happy endings and soul mates, but I can't get in to all of this fairy tale talk... I'll save that for the stories Adam and I will tell our little girls (or boys) at bedtime. But, instead of fire-breathing brides-to-be, our stories will be about fire-breathing dragons and beautiful princesses.


Isn't it all about us...about the joining of two families and about our vows to love and honor each other for the rest of our lives?

Without each other there would be no rings, no colors to pick, no venues to reserve, and definitely no plans for babies and for growing old together.

Now that I have encountered "real life" bridezillas and watched way too many hours of Bridezilla marathons on WE--I mean I have to get ideas somewhere ;), please explain to me what is with the talk about ruining "my" day or destroying "my" fairytale?! (Yes, Adam, if you don't show up on our wedding day, you will ruin MY day.)

I already have more than I ever dreamed I would have--my soul mate and best friend to build a family and grow old with, and our families and friends who support and love us unconditionally. What more could I want??