AZ in August: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

(Wedding) Clutter Closet

So does anyone else's closet closely resemble chaos?

With our wedding less than 2 months away the "wedding" is slowly creeping out of it's designated closet and into our living room...

And into our treasured office with a mock up of our "guestbook"...

For self-professed neat freaks this is quite alarming. When did your wedding take over your house? Are we the only ones sharing living space with unfinished DIY projects? What project of yours takes up the most square footage?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Veil

So very exciting news to share, another thing I got for my birthday this week was a gorgeous hand-sewn custom veil from my Future Sister in Law/Photographer! And I have some pictures to show off! Today is my 2nd dress fitting and I fully intend on taking many pictures of me in the dress/veil/shoes/and earrings so you can get a full sneak peek!

But for now, more veil teaser...

Right now it's sitting in the scary wedding closet de-wrinkling. But later today it's going to be on my head! I can already feel more bridal! What attire or accessory completed your "bridal look" and made you feel like a real bride?

Monday, June 28, 2010

RSVPs

There's nothing like opening up your mailbox to find little shimmery azalea colored envelopes. I wanted to share with my readers some of my favorite things about my RSVPs. I love our little rudimentary filing system for the RSVPs...

I also love our RSVP by date. You see my Abuelita who passed away last year would have been 80 on 7/17/2010 so I wanted to honor her memory in a small way on our RSVPs. No one was supposed to notice but I got a lot of happy-tear phone calls from my family thanking me for it. Just looking at her birthday gives me the warm-fuzzies....

Moving onto more funny things... we got some wacky write-ins. Now, we had pretty standard/formal invitations so you wouldn't really expect anything more exciting than "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and then the number "2". But here are some highlights...

The last one is extra special funny, because I had asked my mom on SEVERAL occasions to send me her list. Well she never did, despite my constant pestering. My mom decided to invite her best friend Elena without telling me, and then called me to say she had invited Elena and would that be okay? Oh Moms!

And of course they wouldn't be complete without our secret code....this is what you see....

And this is what we see...

Did your RSVPs make you cry, laugh, and smile like mine did? Or am I crazy?

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Thrifty Thursday

A somewhat comprehensive list of giveaways for the week!

Attire

3 Bridesmaids Dresses via Project Wedding
A Pair of Vineyard Vine flip flops via A Wedding Story
Win a Hand Crafted tank top via Dear Lillie
A Eden's Bouquet Surprise Saturday Market Package for a girl or boy

Dear Lillie

Jewelry + Accessories

Win a Hand Crafted Veil of your Choice via Brenda's Wedding Blog
Customized parasol by Weddings by Kristin via Happy Hour with a Housewife
Win a $20 GC to Sadie Olive via The Ardent Sparrow
Win a $100 GC to Eden's Bouquet via The Chronicles of Windy Ridge
Win a $50 GC to Vibrant Vows via The Indie Bride

Vibrant Vows

Photography

100 Layer Cake is giving away a wedding photo package and engagement session with Jen Rau

Misc.

Tie for My Guy Giveaway via Thrifty in White
$60 GC to CSN Stores via Sandy a la Mode
$50 GC to CSN Stores via The Candid Reviewer
Win a Banner and 4 Gift Bags via Bridal Gown Blog
$40 GC to CSN Stores via Saving Mom's Sanity
$60 GC to CSN Stores via Frugal &Fabulous
$50 GC to CSN Stores via Gabby, She Wrote
Win a Honeymoon via SnapKnot

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Birthday Fun

Well it's my birthday! I wanted to share with you some funny pictures from our joint FathersDay-MyBirthday-MyNiece'sBirthday-MyFFIL'sBirthday Celebration from this past weekend.

Our Niece and beautiful flower girl got a Disney Princess Dress Up Kit and Matching Shoes because Me and Mr. AZ are suckers... look how cute she is....

Anyway! I also got some stuff.... like amazing family portraits...

Me, Niece/Flower Girl, FSIL/Photographer, Nephew/Ring Bearer #2, FBIL/Photographer, Nephew/Ring Bearer #1

Mr. AZ, Me (in mid-sentence), Flower Girl, FSIL/Photographer, Ringbearer #2

Dawna, my FSIL and photographer and the lady sitting next to me, got me these amazing towels, why? Because they are our most hotly anticipated wedding registry gift and I got one for my birthday! As Douglas Adams says "If you want to survive out here, you've got to know where your towel is."-Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.

Have you received any wedding gifts for other occasions? How happy did it make you?

*Towel Day is celebrated every May 25th in tribute to Douglas Adams the author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Mother of the Groom

This weekend myself, our photographer aka FSIL #1, our DOC aka FSIL #2 and their mother aka my FMIL went out shopping for MoG dresses. How's that for acronyms? Anyway we looked at a few dresses for our important Mother. Here were some contenders...

Dillard's

But then she went off the beaten path to Maya Palace in Tucson... this is a very, how shall I put it nicely... "eclectic store" and some of the outfits are straight out of Madonna and the 80s, some even scream halloween. But our Mother of the Groom found the most amazing outfit. Down to shoes, jewelry, and clutch...

Personal Photo

Stunning AND sophisticated! When she came out in this her 3 year old very girly grand daughter said her nickname with awe: "Buuuuubuuuu, pwetty" And that my friends solves that. A beautiful gown in an unexpected place.

Did you venture off the beaten path when looking for outfits for your Mothers?

Friday, June 18, 2010

Post-Wedding Christmas Cards!

So yesterday I decided to take a distraction from my troubles and my cares to review Minted.com's Holiday Photo Cards and I found some AMAZING ones! Take a peek at my favorites for Newlyweds...

holiday photo cards - peaceful flurry

holiday photo cards - Winter's Woodland

holiday photo cards - Contemporary Hanukkah

holiday photo cards - Merry Marry

holiday photo cards - Merry Candy Stripes

holiday photo cards - Gifted

holiday photo cards - snowfall

holiday photo cards - mistletoe kiss

holiday photo cards - Joy and Love

I know it's only June but this is typically when me and Mr. AZ bust out the Christmas music, I don't know why. We always do... but between it being June and Minted's Holiday Design Challenge, we're already in the Spirit of the Season... our season just lasts longer.

Do you all start celebrating early? Do you want to use these gorgeous photo cards post-wedding? Which one is your favorite? Psst...Mine are the 1st and Last ones!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Unanticipated Guests

Well readers, all I can do is siiiigh. Please do not interpret this as a rant, this is intended to be therapeutic to me, as i know this isn't the end of the world. I get that not everyone understands wedding etiquette...

Emily Post's Wedding Guest Etiquette

Almost all of our guests understand this very important principle, but there have been one or two who have added a plus one to their single selves. I would however like to correct Miss Post by saying I would LOVE it if I were asked about a plus one, chances are I would say yes, but when you just tack one on I have to scurry around in a tizzy because my venue has a hard and fast 45 seated capacity.

Wedding Chaos

The friendship of these people means a lot to me, hence why they are on our very small guest list. So of course my newly coupled friends can bring their dates, but there's still a tiny bit of me that's afraid it may get out of hand. We can only seat 45 people, I know I've said this already. But our anticipated guest list is already at 59, including 7 who will be on the altar, leaving 52 guests in 45 seats.We haven't heard from everyone yet, so my fingers are crossed that it won't be a musical chairs for the chapel seats.

Have you had to take a deep breath when dealing with wedding planning and just hope that everything works out okay? If so what are your techniques for dealing with the stress? I'd love to hear them!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Review: Neutrogena UltraSheer*

When planning a wedding the question "So are you getting that pre-wedding glow/tan/sunkissed look?" comes up more frequently than you would think. I tan very well, but am generally opposed to the idea of skin cancer. I also live in the dessert of Phoenix where we have sun and we have a lot of it. I have, for the four years I've lived here, tried to find a sunscreen that is sheer enough to not cause break outs and doesn't have that "sunscreen smell." You all know what I'm talking about. So when Tidal Labs started advertising for people to review the Neutrogena UltraSheer Liquid Daily Sunblock I leaped at the chance.

Well after a few weeks of use I was quite glad I had....

Yes that's my no-makeup face because I love my readers and I "keep it realz". Anyway back to the point at hand, it was in fact very sheer to apply and layered wonderfully under my makeup. It does have a bit of a "sunscreen smell" but after it dries you hardly notice it. I would also like to stress you MUST let it dry before applying your makeup or else you will have streaky makeup. It takes about a minute to dry and it's really faired well against the Phoenix Sun. If you want to try out Neutrogena's There is a $2 coupon available for friends & readers at http://www.neutrogena.com/suncoupon

Are any of you avoiding the sun before your big day to ensure you don't have icky tan lines or a bad burn?

Would you like to review products, too? Then go to http://giantwavepool.com !

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the product mentioned above for free for review purposes from Tidal Labs. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Ever-Evolving Guestbook

Well you may have heard about my guest book ideas here and here. Well, if you don't remember our last idea was to take photos from items around the house to mimic what the Letter Keepsakes company does for you.

Letter Keepsakes

I just didn't like the photos we got to use for our last name, so after getting some Weddingbee inspiration in the form of DIY Friday, I tried again this time using the restaurant logos. The results I'm pleased to say are much much nicer, take look! Here are the letters in no particular order.

All of the letters pictured above are from little restaurants, pubs, or unique local shops here in Phoenix. Mr. AZ and I spent about an hour or two driving around central Phoenix and the surrounding burbs taking these pictures and talking about why we loved them. So we hope to use it as a talking piece once it's framed and hung up in our home, after the wedding. Once we get it matted there will be pictures of the completed project, we anticipate it being done by late June, well before our July deadline. Are you adding a local flair to your guestbook? Have you taken on this project with your significant other.