Airbrush Makeup Trial

I had my makeup trial with Toni Acey today and it was pretty awesome!

I've never been airbrushed before and it was suprisingly relaxing. It's very cool on your skin and practically weightless. I loved the way my eyes turned out and was really happy with the fake eyelashes, though it was a little hard to get used to them on my eyes. I HATED the color that my lipstick turned. When Toni put my lipstick on at the salon, it was a beautiful berry color, but 20 minutes later it had turned into a bright pink monstrosity. I also felt like the eyeliner on my bottom lids closed up my freakishly tiny eyes even more than usual, so I'm hoping that the day of, we can change a few things. I'm so excited though, because I'm really happy with the way the makeup lasted and didn't "fall" off my face, even after a long day. I'm so excited and I'm super confident about my choice.

My Christening Bonnet

So, when I was a baby and had my christening (baptism), I wore a white baby gown and a white bonnet edged in lace. This was no ordinary bonnet. This bonnet was also to be my wedding handkerchief if I ever got married.
So...a month before the wedding, my mom began what would become the tedious task of converting my christening bonnet into my wedding handkerchief. She sat down with a pair of scissors and some good old elbow grease to get the hundreds of threads out that created the original bonnet. Mom said she waited 27 years to do this and she was so happy (and of course she cried).


















I wasn't sure how I would carry my handkerchief because I knew I didn't want to carry a clutch the day of and I didn't want to "tuck it in" anywhere and I wanted to have it with me as I walked down the aisle instead of having Al hold it for me. In the end I decided to wrap my bouquet with my handkerchief to have it near me at all times. It worked out perfectly! I'm hoping to make this another family heirloom that I can pass along to my children and I might have to develop some sort of sewing skills so I can return the handkerchief to it's bonnet state.....hmmmm....

The Rehearsal Dinner

We finally got confirmation that the rehearsal dinner will be taking place at Parker's on Ponce which is a steakhouse.

That is all I know.

http://www.parkersonponce.com/

Wedding Day Transportation

So after many months of going back and forth and budgeting, we've decided against booking the Georgia Tech Ramblin Wreck as our getaway car. We've decided to go with a vintage 33' black classic Buick also known as FDR's limo. The car was recommended to us by my photographer Shari. She had worked with Rob from Charisma Coach on many different occasions and the car is her FAVORITE!!! It's gorgeous and super roomy which is awesome for my big poofy dress. I can't wait to ride in it.
We're booking the car so that it will take me and my parents to church and then take me and Al from the church back to the reception. I CAN'T WAIT and I'm so excited to see the car in person.
When I contacted Rob and told him that I worked with Shari, he was thrilled to work with me and also gave me an industry discount. How AWESOME!!!!

I'm so excited that I've been able to get some great discounts and been able to save money on planning the wedding of my dreams!!!!!

The wheels on the bus go round and round....

So I've decided that as a favor to our out of town guests and our bridal party, I would book a 35 passenger bus to transport us back and forth between the church and the hotel. I figured it would be so much easier on our guests to not have to drive into downtown Atlanta and worry about traffic, directions or car issues. Also, in an effort to keep everyone together especially the bridal party, I thought it would be good to provide a way for us all to travel together.

So, I ended up calling in a favor. I booked a bus with Cooper Atlanta. I met the Crowders (husband is a DJ and wife is a Cooper Atlanta account manager) at various industry events and from working with Ted on quite a few weddings. It was one of the easiest decisions to make and I had no anxiety about how our experience would turn out. It was also the most hands off thing. I made the choice, booked the bus and had my coordinator confirm.
I even was given a discount! Yay!
Ease and convenience for both us and our guest....can't beat it.
Another check off my list....WOO!

A meeting of the Music minds

I got a chance to chat with Kris from our band to go over the music plan for our reception.
We had an hour long conversation about the type of reception that Al and I were going for. I told him that for our wedding we wanted to think mostly outside of the box, but have a few standards. I have a definite DO NOT play list that Al and I agreed on that I'm hoping will be adhered to. No Brick House, no chicken dance, no electric slide and NO country of any kind even if it's requested. We also were kind of clueless as to specifics for the cocktail hour and dinner. So I told Kris that we just wanted some chill music, Sinatra style. He told me "I got you" and I believe him. I think this is going to be the best party EVAH!

Al and I had been going back and forth on music but never really set anything in stone, so I made the executive decision for specific songs for certain "events".

Bridal Party Intro
Eye of the Tiger

Our Intro
Ramblin Wreck

First Dance
Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Mother/Daughter Dance
Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Middler

Lyle and Me
Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses

Cake Cutting
Italian Leather Sofa by Cake
Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leopard

Dad Dance
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

Bouquet Toss
Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Garter
I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred

Conga Line
You can Call me Al by Simon and Garfunkel

Guest Last Dance
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

Our Last Dance
All I Want is You by U2

As of now, Al still hasn't chosen a song for the mother-son dance. I told Kris that I was still waiting on a decision from Al, and I had no idea what it would be, but hopefully I would know soon. We shall see.

Al's Band of Gold

Al finally chose his wedding ring and it arrived May 18, 2009. I'm totally excited that he finally decided on this band as it took FOREVER for us to find it. We went to several different jewelry stores and always came up empty handed. Al could never find anything that he really loved. I have to agree, guy's wedding bands tend to be super plain and boring. It's all about the metal and no embellishments. Another thing we ran into was the lack of rings available in yellow gold. Almost EVERYTHING in men's rings are white gold (or tungsten or another type of metal) and sometimes the occasional two tone ring with white gold being the primary metal.
We ended up ordering the ring online at www.raru.com which specializes in celtic rings. I was kind of shocked when Al chose this ring, because of the diamonds and the pattern. It's completely opposite of a normal men's wedding band. I'm so glad we were able to finally find his wedding ring and check one of the last BIG checks off our list.

Carniv-AL 2

I was so excited that we had our engagement session at Lullwater Park in the fall, but I really wanted to do something outside the box and asked Shari if we could do a second engagement session. Our second engagement session was done at the carnival, so we did some research and
found a carnival that was up at discover mills mall. Al, Shari, Steven and I went to the carnival one night after work and hung out, rode some rides and threw in a photo shoot for good measure.....good times! It was so much fun to hang out and just be a kid again. We went through the funhouse, rode the carousel, hit up the mini rollercoaster and capped off the evening with cotton candy.
We had so much fun and the photos are awesome!
Check out our slideshow here:
http://www.sharizellers.com/carniv-al2/

The Invites are Out!!!

After many months of guest list drama, printing issues and a night of assembly, the invites were ready to go out. Big thanks to Lindsay for lighting a fire under my butt to just DO IT and get it done. Lindsay came over and she, Al and I set up an invitation assembly line and knocked it out.

I'm so glad to have this part done and off my checklist. I took them to the post office, kissed them goodbye and took the following pictures:

Finalizing the Cake

Yay! I finally buckled down, designed my wedding cake and chose the flavors. After being subjected to countless options via all my wedding websites I settled on a simple yet elegant design. Since we decided against using fondant, becuase frankly it tastes like crap, we were limited to design that could be done in buttercream. So we ended up with 3 tiers each being a different shape and a different flavor. The top tier is round with a dot inverted swag style (that looks like an arch created by hundreds of dots). For the flavor we chose strawberry cake with milk chocolate mousse. The middle tier is a hexagon flavored with chocolate devil's fudge cake and ameretto mousse. One of the flat fronts will face out and will showcase our monogram. The monogram will be in cursive script (APA) that will be done in gold lettering and set on a fondant oval. The other sides will be decorated with a dotted fleur de lis pattern. The third and bottom tier will be square shaped with a french vanilla cake, white choclate mousse with grand mariner and raspberry glaze. The bottom design will be an all over pattern of heavy (elegant) scroll and dots. Each tier will be lined with a deep purple ribbon at the bottom of the tier.

After months and months of searching for the "perfect" cake topper, I've decided to just go the flower route and call it a day. It's not for a lack of creativity, just the simple fact of not finidng just the right one. So.....the other day while making my monthly trip to Michael's, I found these HUGE large single blooms of deep purple flowers. The first contender looks very similar to a dahlia but has "spikey" petals. I think that might be the one that ends up on the top of the cake. The second contender is an oversized peony on steroids. It's HUGE.

Both flowers are the perfect deep color purple and just the right size to pull the cake together to make it look "finished". I'll make a final decision soon (probably the day of the wedding), but I'm leaning towards the dahlia.

Yay!

Another check off my list.
I also paid off the balance on my cake, so it's exciting to have that taken care of.

The Bridesmaid's Dresses are in

Thankfully the Bridesmaid's dresses finally came in. After many promised dates of delivery I finally got them in my hot little hands. I ended up shipping Shania and Laura's dresses to them because it was just easier. Erin ended up picking up her own and I picked up Lisa and Lindsay's dress to hold them until they could do alterations.
I'm totally happy with the decision. The color is a little paler than I expected it to be, but I'm cool with it going along with the pastel color palette of the ceremony. I'm thrilled about the style though and I can't wait to see all the girls. I'm hoping alterations won't be too costly. I was pretty successful in keeping the cost as low as possible for all my girls.

Bridals....a Day of Trials or a trying day....

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Today was my bridal portrait session. Yay!!!
After obtaining permission from Agnes Scott to shoot on campus, I was psyched for my photo session. Because my makeup artist and hair person were not available that day, I couldn't do a trial with them, so I was kind rushed to find someone last minute.
I ended up going with Halo salon in Roswell. I chose them because they were available and because they had the cheapest trials......sad I know.

I also called Irena to check on the status of my bridal jacket that I dropped off over a month ago and was told it would be ready in time for my bridal portraits today. Big shock.... it WASN'T FINISHED!!! She seem stunned that I was just a little upset. I'm SO glad I decided NOT to take my dress to her. Ugh! I'm so over Wedding Angels and everything associated with them. So ready to be done with them. Between the debacle with my dress and the bridesmaid's dresses and the jacket.....it's a never ending battle that I can't wait for it to be over.

Sooo....
I started out my day by driving to my mom's house to pick up my veil, show her my dress and drop of some samples of cake for her to try.

I then drove to the florists house to pick up my bouquet and Al's boutinnere. I almost cried! I LOVE my bouquet. It's huge and gorgeous and textured and everything I wanted. Sorry for the picture quality....it's a little dark.




















From there, I drove to the salon to get my hair and makeup done. I went with a few pictures of hair and makeup that I pulled from different websites. The stylist was moving a little slow and seemed completely perplexed by my hair.My hair was not cooperating, so it took a lot longer. In the end, I ended up really liking my hair (except for that one rougue curl) and it actually lasted, even though it was a loose style. When I first came out of the salon, my hair seemed even on the top and sides, but I think it fell flat as the day progressed and I put various things in my hair. These pictures were taken 9 hours after getting them done.
I was pretty happy with my makeup throughout the day, but it definitely "fell" as the evening progressed and my eye makeup seemed to disappear. I'm hoping that the airbrush makeup will stay and not slide off my face. So, I ended up getting onto ASC campus around 2:30 to meet up with Lindsay and Shari. Lindsay agreed to come along and help out. She was my "stylist" and helped me get dressed. We immediately went into Main so that I could change into my dress. Despite us being told we couldn't take pictures there, we decided to bend the rules just a little bit. I got dressed quickly and we snapped a few photos in the sitting room and the hallway. Then we called to get an escort over to the library. We went into the Courtyard and it looked like I was standing in front of a castle. SOOOO cool! From there we went to the lobby of Presser and took some of my favorite shots of the day underneath the chandelier. We then headed over to theGazebo. Lindsay headed out and Shari and I went down to the other places we had previously scouted. The front of Main (stairs and tower), the arch "gateway" to ASC by the train tracks, the staircase behind Alston (where I first revealed my purple crinoline) and the lawn in front of the brand new chapel. On the way out we stopped again at Main to take some photos by the white column porch. From here we decided to go to one other location (previously scouted) because I wanted to get some edgier bridal portraits. So, Shari loaded me up, dress and all, in the back of her SUV and we drove to downtown Decatur to the mural on the wall of Johnny's Pizza/Raging Burrito. It's amazing what being in a wedding dress will get you. They let us into the parking lot without paying and we were able to block off some parking spaces for shooting space. So, I changed my jewelry and traded my veil for my feather headpiece and we took some photos in front of the crazy mural wall. It was an AWESOME experience.
After 5 hours, we called it a day and I took Shari out for a well deserved drink and dinner.
I can't wait to share my bridals (after the wedding of course)!

Finalizing the Flowers

I met with Georgia one last time to finalize my order, give her the flowers for my bouquet and pay off my balance. We chatted more about my vision for the altar arrangement and I gave her all the materials to put together my bouquet. I can't wait to see it and she promised to have it ready before my bridal session so that I can use it for photos! YAY!!!!!
I feel so good about hiring Georgia and I can't wait to see what the final product will look like.
I'll update with pictures after my session.

The Dress has FINALLY arrived!

So....after 8 months, my dress finally came in. I'm so excited and I couldn't wait to see her.
I drove to Wedding Angels to try on my dress for the very first time. As soon as I laid eyes on her, I remembered why I made the decision and I was so VERY happy to put her on. Standing on that platform and looking in the mirror, it became real. This is totally happening. I'm a bride!
I can't wait!
So, after trying my dress on, I decided that I would need to alter it just a bit. Thankfully the hem was perfect and the only alteration needed (wanted actually) is a corset. Yay! I get to have the best of both worlds.
I am absolutely in love with my dress. I love the soft ivory color, the gathers of the skirt and they beautifully beaded bodice. I was so worried that after 8 months and a total submersion in the "wedding world", I would somehow end up not liking my dress as much as I did when I first found it. I know it sounds quite silly, especially since I was the never the girl who dreamed of her wedding dress, but I actually cared. It shifted in my mind as what I would remember wearing the day I married my best friend.

Music makes the world go 'round

I was lucky enough to meet with the church organist, Jeffrey, during the evening to sample some possible options for the ceremony music. It was a surreal experience to be in the empty church with just us and the organ. AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC!!! After Jeffrey and I chatted about what we had planned for the ceremony and little bit about what I was looking for in wedding music (think outside the box), he pulled some music and played for me.
Soooo cool!
We went through the ceremony and settled on all the music. It was fast and surprisingly easy to do this wedding task. I'm so excited that I will not be having Cannon in D, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring or Here Comes the Bride anywhere near my wedding. Wooo!!!

The making of a Ceremony

So I had my final meeting with Father Henry about the ceremony and the "meat" of what this whole hoopla is all about. He gave me a skeleton template, a booklet to read for choosing readings and prayers and a certificate that allows us a discount on our marriage license. I'm so excited to pick out the readings and choose our vows.....awwww.
Of course it has to be difficult. I think we'll be "building" our vows out of the various choices we were given. I can't wait to start to put this together. I'll update on the final choices.

The Countdown begins

At the 30 day mark I have decided that I will no longer post dates, because frankly, I've just forgotten. So the posts that will come leading up to the wedding are in no particular order (unless I happen to blog about it the day it happens).
You have been officially notified.