Sep082009

Vegas Hotels

I feel like, even though it’s over a year away, I am at an impasse with our wedding plans. I’ve been price checking hotels with random hypothetical dates since booking for October 2010 hasn’t been opened yet on any website. I asked Steve yesterday if he cared where we stayed. Of course not; I expected nothing less from him. =)

I had looked into the Sahara, the Stratosphere, and a handful of others. Lately, I have been scouring the Treasure Island website and Googling pictures, etc. For not much more than the cheaper hotels, we can stay in a really nice room at Treasure Island.

Granted, I can’t price check airfare yet, but figure it’ll be roughly the same next year. The current plan is to fly out/ check-in on Saturday, October 9th – and head to the court house depending on the time we arrived – and to fly out/ check-out on either Tuesday or Wednesday (12th or 13th), hopefully late in the day to give us more touristy time.

My requirements, in no real order:

  • On the strip
  • Within a few blocks of transportation (bus, monorail, tram)
  • Won’t break the bank (preferably around $600)
  • Pretty room!

The pretty room thing is weird, I know, but I’m thinking we might have the wedding ceremony IN the room then travel somewhere for the rest of the pictures in our wedding package.

Where would/do you stay when heading to Vegas?

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Sep032009

Bridesmaid Hair

This past weekend I tried a new hairstyle. Well, of course it’s new, I never style my hair! But anyhow, I always pull my hair back at work and rarely wear it down. When I was searching for hairstyles, I kept coming back to similar looks.

I was mostly pleased with it. She did an amazing job keeping it loose enough that it moved, even with tons of bobby pins and about 2 gallons of hair spray. My only compliant were the sheer number of bobby pins underneath. They kept getting stuck in my dress zipper and hook&eye closure. Before the wedding even began, I was pushing them back in constantly.. and throughout the entire day.

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Sep022009

This Thing Feels Real Now

Our impending marriage feels really real now. It wasn’t the reservation with SLVW. Or the confirmation email stating our wedding date. Or the flowers and Etsy stash stockpiled in the family room. Or even all the design work I’ve been playing with for invitations. Nope, not even having the wedding dress in my closet, or attending Kim and Matt’s wedding this weekend. What made it really real and gave me head to toe goose bumps was when my mother-in-law told the waitress at lunch on Sunday, “This is my son and future daughter-in-law.” I can’t even write that without tearing up.

What made it real for you?


Also, this picture will adorn our wedding announcements. One day. Are those sent out after the wedding or before? Since we’re going to Vegas with about a dozen people and having the reception after the fact, can I include these with the reception invitations? Or send announcements and invitations later? We honestly haven’t got a clue when the reception will be so I don’t want to delay announcing things. Whatcha think?

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Aug302009

PA Wedding: A Few Pictures

i haven’t uploaded most of our pictures yet, but here’s 2 of my favorites from this weekend. does anyone else see a use for the first one? like say on engagement announcements or thank you notes? cuz i totally do! 😉

i have loads more pictures, so there’ll probably be lots of random picture posts in the next week or so. the wedding was absolutely gorgeous and Kim and Matt looked amazing! yes, i totally cried during the bridal march even though i’d spent the entire morning with Kim and even laced up her gown. goosebumps and tears. plus, i couldn’t look at Steve or i’d have lost it even more. <3

Us at the rehearsal dinner

The Bride and groom on their pastor’s motorcycle at the reception
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Aug232009

the last 24 hours: the amazing and the horrendous

the amazing
last night after checking times and temperatures, i reserved our wedding date. yep, it’s official, we are getting married on 10-10-10 at 2pm in Las Vegas. next, we need to pick locations. well, here, this is the wedding deets copied from SLVW‘s site…

Las Vegas Strip, package 2 – $399

  • Get married in any hotel suite, room, or condo. Ceremony and some photos will be done at one location.
  • Minister – traditional or civil ceremony
  • Professional Photographer – minimum of 30 high resolution pictures on a photo CD
  • DVD of the Ceremony (High definition widescreen 1080i video quality and Slideshow of all photos added to DVD with ceremony)
  • Witness, if needed
  • Option to get married at the world famous Las Vegas sign, hotel suite, room, condo, or select public locations on the strip
  • 1 additional public location on the Strip for 25 of your 50 photos (a minimum of 50 photos)
  • A small hand tied 6-rose bouquet for the bride
  • Groom’s boutonniere
  • Courtesy Limousine transportation to and from the ceremony for the bride and groom and up to 6 guests

We are also getting 20 extra pictures for not using their flowers, and 30 extra pictures for entering a contest they have. so, a total of 100 photos minimum.

this morning, we slept late and then, as usual, he raced to work. i putzed around the house, showered, walked Lola, and prepped the steak and potatoes for dinner tonight. then at like 2:40 i headed to the Y for belly dancing class.

…and the horrendous…
we were walking out of class and my friend Carrie said something along the lines of “what are you doing here?” and i looked, and my heart sank. i knew immediately something was wrong. it was Steve. Steve who raced to get to work by 1pm. Steve who doesn’t get any breaks at his crappy job, and certainly not enough time to come all the way back to Chapel Hill to sit outside my class and read the New Yorker. yeah, *sigh*

we went out to the parking lot and he told me what happened. after a few near misses with boxes flying out of his GM’s hands and getting up close and personal in his face yelled at, he just handed in his keys and walked out. that’s the very concise version of it. hopefully he’ll have something new soon!

so now instead of the steak and mashed potatoes with lemon cupcakes just as a meal, it’s a celebration of sorts. he’s not going to be beat down at work anymore and can actually come with me to Pittsburgh in 3 days. yes, even 3 days away, his GM was still dragging his feet even though Steve’s been constantly asking for the time off for the last few months.

and no, we can’t afford our life on my salary. we can’t even afford my half of our life on my salary.

i, for reals, hope that all y’all are doing better!

Both image sources

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Aug222009

Booked!

It is official…. 10-10-10 @ 2pm.

No other reason for the posting. <3

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