wedding

Aug132010

Craigslist Makes Me Happy

I posted a few ads on Craigslist South Florida with a simple request and a decent pay range. I felt I would be fortunate to receive 2 or 3 responses to it. 9 hours after posting, I am up to 14 responses. Sure, not all of them are what I am looking for and some are way out of our price range, but they are all insanely talented. Sometimes I forget how talented people are. I think I take for granted that I live in (ok outside of) a bustling metropolis chock full of insanely talented and vibrant people.

Sure, I could have scoured CL for what I am looking for and taken a lot of time to muddle through it, contacting who I was interested in… but I took the easy way out and posted ads. And I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

I’ll keep you posted on how these pan out.

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Aug112010

Do you Groupon?

If you like photo books like me, you aren’t going to want to miss this one! The deal of the day for Toledo, OH (yes, I went digging to find this deal) is $25 for $100 worth of photo books from Picaboo. Seriously, I just looked at their prices and they consistently have good reviews, so I snatched up my Groupon deal for the day. Heck yeah.

Do you want the link? I’m sure you do! I won’t make you search all of Groupon like I did, so here it is: $25 for $100, Picaboo

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Aug102010

August 10 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib after finally settling on wedding dress #3, i’m rethinking my jewelry. at least i wear the necklace i bought all the time so it’s not wasted. http://bit.ly/9CYcIn

The neckline of my dress is fairly low, as I learned when I tried on undergarments last week. My favorite and best fitting bustier stuck over the top of the dress by at least 1″. The piece I have is royal blue with a brass setting and chain. My dress is champagne, and my hair piece is silver with clear rhinestones and crystals.


Necklace source: etsy

Now I am totally rethinking what I want to wear. I have a bunch of Swarovski pearls in Powder Almond and Copper that I was planning on making for my bridesmaids until our bridal party was taken out of the picture. Anything I see on Etsy with pearls I can remake easily. Yes, I’m that good. 😉 I love the look of a simple necklace with a large show piece off to one side. My concern is would that show piece stay off to the side? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Something like this:


Tweet: @msrib totally putting my married name on my new business cards cuz holy smokes, i’ll be Rebecca Fletcher in 64 days! http://twitpic.com/2ccxod

So.. yeah, I decided to put my married name on my new business cards. I sat there staring at the screen trying to figure out what to do and then it hit me… in exactly 2 months (since it’s 8/10) I will be a wife! It also made me contemplate the whole do I change my name internal debate. I have 2 brothers and thus, my last name will remain. I’m just happy to have a much easier to pronounce last name to give to my children. For the last nearly 34 years, I’ve had people mispronounce my last name and it’s getting annoying.

If you’re on any of the above websites, feel free to add me!

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Aug102010

Food for Thought… Delish Recipes

Any bakers or chefs out there? Totally amateur, I mean, I don’t expect any professionals to be reading this. We have a brand new kitchen and so far I’ve only made a few meals and one pound cake in it. Do you have any tried and true recipes that you just love and that are always a hit?

I would love a recipe for chimichurri and tzatziki and other fun ethnic sauces. Have you made them? Sure, there’s tons of recipes out there, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily amazingly delish.

This afternoon I decided that I wanted to find a recipe for garlic chips. I found this one, that looks super easy peasy, but I’d add some salt or maybe oregano to them.

My french toast casserole

My favorite recipes:
Individual pies in a jar (got rave reviews and several people asked for the recipe)
Elaine’s Dump Pound cake (always a hit – I make it in a bundt pan with homemade buttercream icing)
Butternut Squash Soup (good hot or cold and definitely one of my favorites!)
Turkey Pot Pie (one of my favorite dishes, but the filling was overflowing the pie crusts like crazy. Almost could’ve made 2 complete pies with it.)
French Toast Casserole (This was SO good that we seriously ate the entire thing on and off during a single day)

Oh yes, it was a huge hit!

Recipes on my list to try:
Lemon Shaker Pie
Cookies in a Jar (well, the recipe itself, not just putting them together)
Garlic Wings
Peanut Butter Cups
Risotto
Homegrown Potato Chips
Paula’s Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Joy the Baker’s Apple Pie
Red Velvet Cake Balls (OMG i so totally need to make these soon!)
Key Lime Pie (This was a total staple growing up in Miami since we had a few key lime trees on our property. It’s on my “to try” list since I haven’t tried this recipe.)

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Aug082010

IKEA as a Wedding Supplier

Today, Steve and I took a trip up to the IKEA in Sunrise, FL. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore IKEA and could walk around and enjoy all the pretties. Before we moved back to Miami, I would scour the catalog and envision how our home would look and our future children’s rooms and everything else. Naturally, I turned to their little accessories for reception ideas.

My vision for the reception is very loosely based in Asian design. Our invitations have orange and blue bamboo trees and leaves. I am toying with ideas of lucky bamboo or fortune cookies as the favors. A recent idea was little bamboo steamers or baby take out boxes filled with candies. The party will be really low key, but for centerpieces, I’m picturing lots of vases with floating candles and submersible lights. Today, I took the following pictures for inspiration and potential future purchases:

White round paper lanterns can have lights inside or not

Blue vases, 3 different sizes, for centerpiece groupings

Plant pots for low centerpieces. Since they’re white, I’m not sure how to use them.

White pots that are just super cool looking, centerpieces maybe?

Clear vase, 1 per table for rocks or shells and floating candles or something.

all images taken by me inside IKEA

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Aug032010

August 3 TMW Post

Tweet: i really need to make my hair appointment at the @LuxorLV salon. for a 2pm ceremony, do y’all think 10 or 11am for a simple updo?

Tweet: anyone out there have good tricks for DIY hair updo’s? yes, i’m being conservative & doing my own for the wedding.

I am completely shocked at how much hair stylists charge in Las Vegas. Seriously, for the hairdo I want to get (a simple updo) I am getting quotes upwards of $90, with $120 being from inside the salon at The Luxor. The majority of the quotes do include travel to our hotel room. I had a simple updo done with much longer hair for a wedding in Pittsburgh and it cost me $50 plus a tip. This afternoon I took advantage of the amazingness that is the WeddingWire vendor search and shot off a short email to about 25 stylists in Vegas.

Good afternoon,
I am getting married on October 10th at the Luxor hotel. Could you please tell me what your charges are for hair (no make-up) and if you are available in the morning around 10 or 11am? Please include any travel charges and other fees.
Many many thanks! Becca

Easy peasy and straightforward, right? My only response so far is a quote for onsite hair and make-up for $200. Didn’t I specifically say no make-up? People that don’t pay attention enough to read my super short email don’t deserve my business. Oh wait, nor does a price that high!

Am I crazy to think upwards of $90 is expensive for a simple updo, no make-up in the convenience of my hotel or hotel room? Until I sent out the mass of emails, I thought $120 was the lowest price. Yeah yeah, you get what you pay for, but well, I suck at doing my own hair.

What would you do?

MOH Hair, from my Facebook page

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Aug012010

Do the… ‘Do (ha!)

Ok ladies, I need some help. We are on a crazy tight budget for our wedding and I’m planning on doing my own hair and make-up for the ceremony. Since it’s a Vegas wedding, it’s very low key. I am forever putting my hair up, no matter how it’s styled, so I figure best to start with it up. Also, I want an updo as I have knit my wedding veil and want to wear it hooked below the ‘do.

Tonight I purchased Spin Pins and a ton of bobby pins. Can you suggest your favorite easy to explain updo?

After a quick search, I like the following styles, but I don’t know how easy they’ll be to replicate or if they’ll look good with my veil…

Image Source


Image source

Link to source, which is actually a tutorial for her hair

And as a treat, what my hair looks like with the Spin Pins and my gorgeous hair comb.

2 above pictures courtesy of my terrible iphone cam

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Jul292010

Not Such Pretty Underthings…

Back to the drawing board… none of the lingerie really made me happy. I now have a better idea of what I need and have to keep cup size in mind. Here’s why…

The long line bustier, while the best fit and shaping under the dress, stuck up about 1″ over the top of my dress. Honestly if I had a reason to keep it, I would! I ended up ordering the correct cup size but went one size up on my bra band. I can’t tell if the band increase was a problem or not as I loved the overall fit. It certainly coulda been tighter.

The waist cincher didn’t do a whole lot for me, even though it was the correct size. My waist is an odd number and I ordered the even size below instead of above as they suggested. It was actually a little loose right under my bust.

The ruffle panties were omg too cute… on the model. The front and back have the same rise and it was much farther than I feel comfortable wearing. Not only that, but the sizing was way off. According to the size chart, I ordered the correct size, but on my body they were just too big. I was really hoping to love them.

With the strapless bra, I really only have one complaint. I want to know who thought it was a good idea to have only 3 hook & eye’s on a bra with cups over DD. Especially those that are way over DD. I hate my boobs. Seriously hate them. I fear getting pregnant cuz I know they will only grow when all I want is for them to shrink! What, tangent?

My bad.

I’m starting over again. Keeping the strapless since I will need it for something one day. Do you have any suggestions of sites I should check?

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