Yeehaw!

Alrighty folks! I am packed and ready to go for our 6:30 am flight tomorrow morning.  I cannot wait! I LOVE traveling and I have never been to Texas...so excited!! Not only will it be great to visit with future family but this will be my first wedding since being engaged.  I feel like I will see this wedding differently than other weddings I have been to...I will now notice how linens are arranged, how food will be served, how speeches will be given, etc.  I plan on taking mental notes of what works and what doesn't.  This is going to be a great learning experience, I can just feel it! Did I mention I am super excited?!?  I plan on reporting back to you next week! Until then... so long partner. 

Image via Photobucket

Bridesmaid Buzz

Hello again! As I was getting ready to write a post yesterday afternoon, I received a Facebook message from one of my bridesmaids.  She was pretty much just checking in asking me what’s new in my life and how wedding plans are going.  It was then that it dawned on me…I have been horrible about keeping my ladies in the loop!! I just thought I was doing them a favor by keeping them out of the mundane details of hiring a DJ, photographer, etc.  But I failed to realize that all while this time, there have been a TON  of little details that are floating around as well (such as planning a dessert bar, having a vintage-y theme, and so forth).  If I want any of their input (which I do! They are all so talented!), I kinda need to keep them up to date with these things!! So I was trying to figure out the best way to handle this.

I have seen a couple of people create a bridesmaid newsletter on WeddingBee.  I loved this idea but I really wanted to create an interactive atmosphere where we could all chat together. Plus I wanted to share some of the pictures I had for inspiration. So I happened to stumble on a website someone created for their bridesmaids.  Perfect!! So I went to wix.com and created a website last night! I tell you what, I have never heard of Wix before yesterday but I must say they are fabulous.  The program is so easy and common-sensical (yea I made that into a word) and I think all their templates are pretty darn classy.  I wanted to make one that was not ‘wedding’ looking so I found this cute template that was actually used for an online clothing store.  Yay! Who doesn’t love polka dot flats?

So I created five pages: Home, Inspiration, The Wedding, The Look, and How Can I Help?

The Home page I kept simple.  I just added pictures of all the ladies with their names (all of them know each other, except one…who knows no one! So it was more for her sake).

On the Inspiration page, I simply put up just a few of the plethora of pictures I have as inspiration so the ladies would know what look and feel I was going for.  Hopefully this helps so they can give more specific suggestions, keep an eye out for similar ideas, and give them a heads up on what sorts of projects I will eventually sucker them into making!

{Trust me...there are more pics that the 3. This is a slideshow}

On the Wedding page, I just put up a blurb about some of the basics like our venue, photographer, and DJ.  I also put a bit on the groomsmen since they will have to deal with them for a solid day or two.  I also wrote some ideas of what we wanted for our ceremony. I hope to add to this page as time goes on.

{Blurred for privacy}

Then I added a The Look page specifically for how they will be dressed.  I posted some of my inspiration pictures (including a picture of each: real flower bouquet, button bouquet, and fabric bouquet. I’m still undecided on what to do so I wanted to see what they thought!) along with a picture of their dress. I will add to it when we get more components put together.

{Spoiler alert! You are seeing their dress!}

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, I put up a How Can I Help page.  I know these gals are so eager to help me out and I hope to put up projects on here as time goes on. At this moment, I am more asking them for ideas but it still gives them something to think about.  I also added a comment box on this page.  I thought it would be a great place to suggest ideas where everyone can be involved.

So that’s what I did last night instead of posting here! I am really curious to see if this website will actually be beneficial…

Did anyone else make a bridesmaid newsletter or website? What other things could I add to the website that would help my girls out?

All photos are personal images

Sweet Treats

Ok I am finally getting around to writing about those desserts I made last week! Let me start with telling you why I decided to make them. 

Last year (around this time actually) it was my grandpa’s 70^th birthday.  To celebrate we decided to have all the family come together for a fun-filled weekend.  Now this is a big deal for this side of my family.  We are not like most families where we get together for the occasional reunion. To put it in perspective, my great aunt flew in and my mom had not seen her in over 20 years. I was ‘reintroduced’ to a cousin my age that I haven’t seen or heard of since I was 8. Yup that kind of family.  So let me reiterate, this get-together was a BIG DEAL. Which means my grandpa needed a ‘big deal’ kind of cake.  I volunteered to make one.

 

Now I dabbled in amateur cake making here and there before but I always just used a box cake mix.  Of course, I wanted to step it up and make delicious homemade cakes for the party.  I had tried once before to make a cake from scratch and it was horrible.  It was sour and dry and extremely embarrassing to serve. I was not going to make the same mistake so I baked cakes the whole month before the party to try different recipes.  And I got some really tasty flavors! But my poor mother claims she gained 10 pounds that month from all the cake we had to sample.

 

And just because I know you are curious, here is the cake…

{Bottom tier: Red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting made to look like a suitcase with stickers of some places he's traveled. 

Second tier: Vanilla cake with a vanilla buttercream frosting with all the faces of each grandkid.

Third tier: Deep Dark Mocha Torte with a Mascarpone cheese filling and a chocolate ganche glaze with a little man fishing on top.

Top tier: Pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

And a Rice Krispy chicken on top :)

The eggs were made with vanilla and pumpkin spice cupcakes topped with molded white chocolate}

Personal Image

Now fast forward 8 months.  Mr. Dizzy and I are now engaged and making plans for our wedding. When it came to cake, we decided to jump on the cupcake bandwagon after seeing pictures like this:

Image via Wedding Wire

{Mmmmm Red Velvet}
Image via Wedding Wire

{I love the rustic feel!}
Image via Wedding Wire 

Adorable and way less of a hassle when it comes to serving time. But time passed and I saw people serving pies at their weddings.  

Image via The Wedding Cottage

And then it hit me…wow, I am a horrible person.  Mr. Dizzy is pretty indifferent about cake, but he LOVES pie.  Why the heck are we not doing pie at this wedding?!? So then I saw weddings that had a little of everything! (Amazing what you notice when you are actually looking for something!) 

Image via Wedding Planner

{In gray and yellow no less!}
Image via Hostess with the Mostess

Perfect! So it was decided…we are going to have a dessert bar with cupcakes AND pies and other little tasties.

Nothing more was discussed on the subject until about 2 weeks ago.  It was my mom’s turn to host a Bunco party which meant she had to also supply dinner, drinks, and dessert.  So she asked me if I would make dessert.  Of course I agreed and I asked what she wanted.  And that’s when she dropped it:

“I know you are planning on this dessert bar for the wedding which is a great idea but I really think you need to try your recipes now so I am not eating every dessert imaginable the month before the wedding.  That is not a good time to gain weight. But if you make some desserts now, we can feed them to the Bunco ladies instead.  Plus you might want to put a couple in the refrigerator and freezer to see how they hold up. You don’t want to be making desserts the day before your wedding.”

Isn’t she smart? Yes I think so too (hence the nickname ‘good idea mommy’ that she’s had since as long as I can remember).

So thanks to Pinterest (and a shout-out to my amazing MOH for introducing it to me) I found some amazing recipes that I just had to try.  Now, giving you a heads up, I had every intention of taking awesome pictures of all my desserts.  Unfortunately, the camera did not work that night for who knows what reason (Murphy ’s Law perhaps?).  So I didn’t get pictures of all the nice looking desserts. Instead I had to take mediocre pictures the next day of ‘the uglies’ (the ones that tasted fine but I messed up on aesthetically hence not being served the night before). So I apologize for that.  But I at least got proof that I made them.

{Horrible picture I know}
Personal Photo

{A bird's eye shot of the lemon tart, brownie, and part of the cream puff and raspberry pie pop (along with the filling expolsion)}
Personal Photo

{Cookies are so cute and tasty!}
Personal Photo

A list of the yumminess produced:

Pie Pops (apple and raspberry)

Salted Fudge Brownies

Sugar Cookies

Lemon Tarts

Tiramisu Truffles (not pictured)

Cream Puffs

 Red Velvet Cake Pops (not pictured)

Now I am going to share with you a little bit about what I thought for each dessert.  And because my camera failed me and the pictures above are the only shots I got, I will post the inspiration pictures with each dessert.

Pie Pops

{I used their apple pie filling recipe}
Image via Our Best Bites

{I punched out a heart for the raspberry pops}
Image via At Humble Abode

Pros: They were adorable and got a lot of complements.  They are bite-sized and easy to eat.  They were very tasty with just the right amount of filling. They were pretty easy to make and would be a breeze if I had an extra set of hands.

Cons: I did not seal them tightly the first round so the top crust separated from the bottom.  On the raspberry pops where I cut out a heart, the filling overflowed on some.

Grade:  Visual: B (if I seal properly and figure out filling spillage, it will get an A+!)

Taste: A

Prep: B

Verdict: Absolutely making these. Might try a Huckleberry filling though…

Salted Fudge Brownies

Image via Tasty Kitchen

Pros: Surprisingly easy to make with simple ingredients.  Lots of complements (salt and chocolate seems to be the rage right now).  A “fancy” version of a staple dessert…perfect for a wedding.

Cons: Make sure you let people know there is salt on them. Delicious when you are expecting it, weird tasting when you are not.

Grade:  Visual: A (I don’t know how you can mess up how a brownie looks!
Taste: A

Prep: A

Verdict: Expect these on July 2^nd! They were a hit!

Sugar Cookies

Image via Bee in our Bonnet

Pros: Very fun to make.  Prep should not be hard in an assembly line fashion. Very cute and can be customizable. Everyone likes a sugar cookie.  Easy to store (the frosting dries firm so you can stack them).

Cons: Frosting can take time.

Grade:  Visual: A+

Taste: A

Prep: C

Verdict: These will be there as well!! They are just too much fun to make!

Lemon Tarts

Image via Kelly Neil

Pros: A fruity option for the dessert bar.  Got many complements on the real lemon taste.

Cons: The crust was a bit sticky.  It was hard to eat.

Grade:  Visual: C

Taste: A-

Prep: B+

Verdict: We probably won’t make these.  Even though they tasted amazing, the crust was soggy so we might have to tweak the recipe.

Tiramisu Truffles

Image via Not So Humble Pie

Pros: Bite-sized. A way to include our favorite dessert without having a full tiramisu cake that needs to be cut and served.

Cons: Used alcohol that was not cooked. Weird texture (would have been better if we coated it in a hard chocolate shell).

Grade: Visual: A-

Taste: B- (Liqueur was very strong)

Prep: B

Verdict: Too much time to create something people we not very impressed with.  I suppose there is no substitute for real tiramisu!

Cream Puffs

Image via Bee in our Bonnet

Pros: Everyone wanted to try one.  They looked professionally made.  Extremely easy prep and cheap ingredients. Delicious.

Cons: Honestly…none.

Grade:  Visual: A+

 Taste: A+

Prep: A

Verdict: No shocker here.  We want these to be there. The only question is, can we freeze them?

Cake Pops

Image via Wedding Paper Divas

Pros: Very cute. Bite sized.

Cons: Could not finish because had difficulty with the chocolate (not liquid enough which lead to me burning the chocolate).

Grade: Visual: N/A

Taste: B

Prep: D

Verdict: Not sure if these will be making an appearance.  Since we are having cupcakes we may just skip them.

And if you skipped through all that info about the individual desserts (which I probably would have, not gonna lie) here is the general idea.  The pie pops, salted fudge brownie, cream puffs, and sugar cookies were a unanimous hit.  Everyone loved them.  The others…not so much.

I can’t wait to eat all them again when we pull them out of the freezer! Hopefully they hold up!

What desserts have you seen at wedding dessert bars? Did anyone else use a party as an excuse to use people as taste testers? 

I 'Mustache' You to be my Best Man

Image via JillandKate's Blog

Yay yay yay!!! I PASSED! Oh my goodness I am so excited.  And let me tell you…that test was HARD. The other two were a piece of cake compared to this one.  I just about cried 4 times while taking the test because I was sure I was going to fail. No joke.  Ok they had those really evil questions where they give you 7 answers and you have to pick “the best” combination. Like I said, evil.  When I got my score back I honestly didn’t really understand my score until the testing lady smiled at me and said ‘I’m throwing confetti for you!’ Only then did it set in that yes I passed, and not only passed, but got a distinguished score.  Apparently I am a good guesser.  Not to say I didn’t know the material but I had to guess on so many of those evil questions!!!! How am I supposed to know what you think is the best combination?!? Anywho, my tests are complete and now it’s the fun game of waiting, paperwork, and waiting.  I am ok with that though.  I can now read books, watch tv, and hang out with people without feeling extremely guilty.  Such a relief.

Ok so two wedding related things happened this weekend.  One, which I told  you about, was our bunco party aka wedding dessert sampling crew and another was about my future brother-in-law’s wedding.  I will write to you today about the latter. Being his only brother, Mr. Dizzy was selected to be FBIL’s best man.  Their relationship is weird….not that I really blame them.  They have a pretty big age gap between them (8 years) so if you think about it, FBIL left home to go to the Air Force Academy when Mr. Dizzy was only about 10.  That’s not much time to get to know each other on a grown-up personal level.  In addition to never seeing each other as adults, they have very different personalities. So needless to say the brothers are generally pleasant with each other the one time a year they MIGHT be together but nothing much more. When FBIL asked Mr. Dizzy to be his best man, Mr. Dizzy flat out told him ‘It’s ok if you don’t want me to be your best man. I know you have other friends you are closer to. I just don’t want you to feel obligated just because we are brothers.’ But FBIL insisted and we thought that this might be a good chance for the two of them to grow closer.  So taking advantage of this opportunity to build a relationship, Mr. Dizzy returned the favor and asked FBIL to be his best man as well.

As you may recall, their wedding is on October 1^st which is in exactly 2 weeks! Not hearing from FBIL, Mr. Dizzy was planning the speech and bachelor party on his own.  The bachelor party was going to be tough.  First, we are on a budget so Mr. Dizzy could not afford to do anything outrageous.  Second, Mr. Dizzy wanted to keep it classy.  None of this stripper or ‘last day of freedom’ nonsense. Third, Mr. Dizzy has never been to Corpus Christi so he didn’t know what there was to do in the area.  And fourth, Mr. Dizzy and I are going to be showing up Thursday afternoon for a Saturday wedding soooo there was not much time.  Told you it was tough. Mr. Dizzy had a brilliant idea though- deep sea fishing.

{Looks like fun, no?}
Image via Link

 He was planning on doing this for months.  The perfect low-key stress-free guy’s trip. Awesome.  But as soon as we started looking into it, there were a few problems.  First was our timing.  Unless they wanted a Friday morning trip, it wasn’t going to happen.  And then there was the issue of cost and space.  Mr. Dizzy had no idea how many people wanted to come.  If too many people decided to show up, there would not be enough space.  If too few, Mr. Dizzy would be spending the big bucks.  So we went to good ol’ Google and searched ‘unique bachelor parties’ or something of the sort.  And that’s where we saw a few scavenger hunts.  If you are an average human being like us, you would automatically think “wow…aren’t scavenger hunts for 12 year old girls?” And then you would see this YouTube video (and this is not the only one). 

No, scavenger hunts are not just for tween girls and yes, those are grown men giggling at a door bell ditch.  We loved it.  Cheap good clean fun.  We imagined the younger guys splitting off from the older guys as teams (couldn’t you just imagine 50 year old men on a quarter machine ride outside a grocery store?), having a list of random things to do with each item being worth a certain number of points, and then everyone meeting up for drinks to reminisce, share pics/videos, and give out ridiculous and awesome prizes.  Man bonding…love it. So I set about to making an invitation to email out to all of the guys.  Wanna see it? Of course you do. Here it is. 

{Name and email blurred for privacy}
Personal Image

I was quite proud of this baby.  So I got this all done and Mr. Dizzy called FBIL to set the time and location.  And cue the sad trombones.

I guess FBIL planned a bachelor party trip earlier in the week and he wasn’t going to tell Mr. Dizzy about it because he couldn’t come.  Is that not the saddest thing ever? I know FBIL didn’t want to hurt feelings but honestly how would Mr. Dizzy not find out (I mean planning a bachelor party is the best man’s JOB).  And I don’t know about you readers out there, but when I have a bachelorette party, my main priority would be to make sure my maid of honor could make it.  Maybe that’s just me. But Mr. Dizzy is a tough dude and he acts like it doesn’t bother him too much.  Men. 

Did anyone else make plans for someone only for them to have made different plans without you knowing? Do you know of any men who went on scavenger hunts for their bachelor party?

So Long Sweet Summer...

Welp I hate being the bearer of bad news so thankfully this is only kinda bad news.  As you probably know, I was not very good about posting last week.  And I am here to tell you it will happen again this week.  At least I’m giving you a heads up!! Here’s why:

I signed up for an online alternative certification program to get my special education teaching credential.  This program normally takes 9-15 months to complete.  Being the young, fresh-out-of college individual I am, I decided to see if I could cram it into 3 months.  I worked for the school district last year which meant I didn’t have to work during the summer, but I still got paychecks. Bingo presto. So I went at it.  And let me tell you what…this has been the most depressingly boring summer ever.  I literally studied all day either reading from a textbook or from my laptop.  My still very pasty legs are a testament to my obvious lack of sunshine.  The only thing keeping me sane was this thought: “I am giving up this summer so I can have summers in the future.” Anyway before summer was through, I successfully passed 2 of the 3 tests I needed.  Yay me! Unfortunately, this final test was going to be the hardest.  The program did not provide study materials so it was up to me to figure out what to study.  I don’t know about you but I consider Special Education a very broad topic.  So I freaked and bought about 8 books from their huge list of recommended readings.  I decided I would need more time on this test that the others.  So I gave myself two months to study instead of one. 

Currently I am one month in and I can tell you right now the time extension was a mistake.  I hardly study (I’ve only read 2 ½ books) and I find other things to do with myself.  I STARTED A BLOG FOR GOODNESS SAKES!! I am the queen of procrastination…which I think is ok because I tend to perform better under a time crunch.  This morning I was talking to Mr. Dizzy about how not motivated I am for this test as compared to the other ones. He suggested rescheduling.  Why I never thought of that, I’ll never know, but I sprinted up to my laptop quick as a bunny.  Low and behold, there was ONE date left with ONE time left this month.  So I rescheduled.  

When is it? Next Friday. 

Yup, that’s 6 ½ days away.  Yup, I have 5 ½ books to read. Yup, I am making desserts all day Monday for my mom’s Bunco party (taste testers for wedding desserts! More on that next week!!).  Am I crazy? No.  I am actually quite relieved.  I can handle a book a day. And it’s so nice to think IT WILL BE DONE in less than a week!! Once I finish this test (and hopefully pass! Keep your fingers crossed) my life can start again.  I can look for a second job, I can read real books, I can relax on a weekend without feeling guilty, and most importantly…I can start working on wedding stuff!!!!!! So until next Friday I will be doing this:

Image via Kidikadi Pulse

Wish me luck!!

Does anyone else purposefully procrastinate to motivate themselves? Did anyone else have a “wasted summer?”

Yeah, uh huh, you know what it is...

I am sorry for not posting this past week!! In addition to Labor Day (and I mean who ISN’T busy enjoying the last of beautiful summer weather!?) school started this week and I was not expecting to be a substitute this early in the year. I was always told that the availability of sub jobs was going to be slow until around October, but apparently that is not the case when dealing with Special Education! I’m not complaining…more moola for me! (Oh and I suppose more job experience and school, staff, and curriculum exposure… NBD  :^]).

I have a lot to catch you all up on in regards to this wedding.  I hope you don’t mind if I skip around a bit.  I hope to post about earlier topics and current topics in no apparent order.  Bear with me! But there is one topic I feel like I need to discuss with you before I post about anything else…color scheme. 

I am going to be honest with you... I knew my colors before I was even engaged.  Yup, I was one of those girls who knew she was going to be engaged soon so I started my planning before Mr. Dizzy even popped the question.  And where did I go to find my colors? Why good ol’ Google of course.  Gotta love those “best wedding colors” searches.  Here is what I found:

The Red and Black Wedding

Image via The Bridal Boutique

Ok I was very naughty when it came to picking colors. This was one thing I did not do as “a team” with Mr. Dizzy. And it was all due to this color scheme.  Mr. Dizzy loves these colors.  He loves the classic look, the incorporation of black and white, and the color red (it’s his favorite).  Unfortunately, I could not be the caring and compassionate bride I should be and I just laughed and flat out said no.  Horrible right? But I had my reasons! First of all, it was too boring/traditional for me. I feel like everyone plus their cousin and their cousin’s cousin has had a black, white, red wedding.  Then there is our theme.  Even though I didn’t know our theme was at the time, I did know that I didn’t want a fancy wedding.  And these colors scream elegant Hollywood to me.  So not us. And my third and final reason: it reminds me of a black widow. No joke.  I am sorry but I cannot think about a nasty venomous spider that kills their mates after breeding at my wedding. I hope you understand how this simply cannot be. Luckily, I have a flexible and understanding fiancé. So the search continues….

The Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown Wedding aka Fall Wedding

Image via Project Wedding

LOVE these colors.  I always wanted the red, orange, and yellow colors combined but unfortunately these are very much fall colors.  And even though fall is my favorite season, I did not want a fall wedding.  Again, there are reasons: 1) Mr. Dizzy’s brother decided to propose to his girlfriend not even a month before we were engaged so they got dibs on their date.  They chose October of this year (they live in Texas.  A fall wedding is essential if you don’t want to melt away from heat).  So if Mr. Dizzy and I wanted a fall wedding, it would be in 2012, a whole year and a half away. Ugh. No thank you.  2) We decided on a summer wedding due to the fact that many of our family and friends are either students or teachers.  So red, orange, and yellow are out.

The Pink Wedding

Image via Prima Donna Bride

I’m not gonna lie, I do love me some pink.  And I have seen some adorable pink weddings. But it was just not us.  I could not imagine poor Mr. Dizzy and his guys being forced to wear pink.  And light pink would wash me out completely and dark pink would be too loud for our simple vintage wedding. Moving on…

The Green Wedding

Image via Santa Barbara Chic

I loved green weddings as well! There is something very clean and relaxing about this color.  But I wanted more pop and pizazz.  I need a color besides white that it could be paired with and I simply could not find one I liked. Next…

The Blue Wedding

Image via Muslim Bridal Wear

I feel like blue is very overdone as well (As I reflect, hasn’t every color been overdone?? I mean really, how many colors can brides choose from lol). And it reminds me of the ocean. Eh not what I’m looking for.

The Ivory Wedding

Image via The Wedding Wire Blog

Very, very pretty in my personal opinion.  But I am not a girl who can pull this off.  I am white, white, white, and I need all the help I can get to not look like a ghost on my wedding day. So goodbye all white.

The Purple Wedding

Image via HoHumCards

I’ve got to tell you; purple is my favorite color at the moment.  So of course I love these purple weddings.  But I know myself too well.  If you will refer back to that first statement, you will notice the phrase “at the moment.” Yes I change my favorite color quite frequently.  So even though I love purple now, I do not want to look back at my pictures in 20 years and say, “Really? Purple? What the heck were you thinking? I don’t even like purple.” Onward…

The Rainbow Wedding

Image via Belle Amour

I would LOVE to do this.  Seriously how rad would it be to have the girls dress up in rainbow colors? And I love rainbow cakes! Too much fun!!! But I didn’t have the guts to go through with it.

The Gray and Yellow Wedding

Image via Wedding Chicks

And then I found it.  You are looking at the EXACT picture that made me swoon.  This picture was complete perfection to me (maybe it’s because I could relate to the blond hair bride…surprisingly there are not too many blondies out there on the inspiration boards). Anyway, I searched for more gray and yellow weddings.  And I found these beauts:

Image via Chez Wedd

Image via Groom Sold Separately 

Drool worthy for sure.  And that was that.  It was decided.  The perfect combination of subtle and pizazz, ideal for a vintage wedding, and it hasn’t been seen at every wedding! Woot woot gray and yellow!! And now Mr. Dizzy sings ‘gray and yellow, gray and yellow’ all the time to the chorus of this song (instead of black and yellow). I bet your wedding colors don’t have a theme song :^)

What wedding colors did you decide on? Did you associate certain colors to bad images (please tell me I’m not the only one!)? Did anyone else completely disregard their fiancé’s opinion on colors?