The 72 paper fans that I ordered arrived from Koyal Wholesale and I spend one evening last week tying pretty ribbons and tags on them! The tags are going to say "Stay Cool/Baby It's Hot Outside", and we'll have them in a couple of galvanized buckets that we bought at Ikea last weekend.
We finally asked our ring bearers and flower girls to be in the wedding! Henry (age 5) and Duncan (age 1.5), my cousin Traci's little boys, are going to be the ring bearers, and Celena (age 8) and Loren (age 5), Jacob's cousin's little girls, are going to be the flower girls! We got them the cutest little books- "10 Cool Things About Being a Ring Bearer" and "10 Neat Things About Being a Flower Girl", and I sent Henry and Duncan's off to Minnesota and we asked Celena and Loren at our engagement party last weekend. Needless to say, everyone is very excited! Celena even drew me a picture of what she wanted her dress to look like (I'll scan it in eventually because it is just so cute!), and informed me that she thought my color choices of pink and brown were "just beautiful". Loren also asked me if she could wear her Sleeping Beauty dress and bring her bunny rabbit to the wedding... luckily her mom, Carin, warded that one off by explaining that bunnies don't really like weddings. Ha! I think that they are definitely going to steal the show, and we're in the hunt for cute flower girl dresses and ring bearer outfits. We'll see if Duncan is going to be old enough to make it down the aisle! I'm sure he'll be so adorable! Traci read the book with Henry and he's pretty excited also!
So, a few weeks ago I read on Wedding Bee about some "activity boxes" that the kids would have to keep them occupied at the wedding. Now, we have a strict "no kids" policy, but we're making an exception for Henry, Duncan, Celena and Loren. So, Dollar Store to the rescue! I went and raided their kids section, and got a bunch of fun, non-messy, age appropriate things- crayons, slinkys, etc- and bought a beach sand bucket and puff painted their names on it. Hopefully it will keep them entertained (at least somewhat) through the night! It was a lot of fun making those buckets! I'm pretty sure Jacob thinks I'm crazy, because the wedding is still over a year away and I'm already working on details... but I have time to work on details now, so why not? Luckily our exchange student, Camille, is moving out in a few weeks so we'll have the 2nd bedroom to act as a wedding storage and craft creation room- ha! Right now it's taking over our entry way, so no one can really walk through it...
I also got a TON of fun props to use in our photo booth at the dollar store! Funny hats, Hawaiian leis & skirts, glasses, even a clown's tie! The photo booth is going to be so fun!
Jacob and I also made a trek down to LA last weekend for our engagement party and to tackle some things on our wedding list. I hate to say it, but I actually miss living in LA because everything is so convenient and cheap!! We got everything we needed in one day! We drove down Saturday morning, with the goal of getting Save The Date supplies, decorations, and centerpiece materials. We started off in Beverly Hills, hitting up Paper Source, which is my new all-time favorite store for crafty invitations and cute things. It has absolutely everything you could want! I'm making our Save The Dates, so I needed to get envelopes, paper, stamps, and other supplies. I also just wanted to check out the store, because I stalk their online store and it's the greatest thing ever. It was AMAZING! Talk about a crafty mecca! I had already ordered the invitation paper online, but I needed the right size envelopes, label paper, and other stuff. I got everything I needed in less than an hour! Once again, I think Jacob thinks I'm crazy, because I was so excited about all the different things they had... haha. Success #1 for the day!
After Paper Source, we headed to Chinatown, as the ladies on Weddingbee told me a few places to check out for paper lanterns and umbrellas. Our lighting design company, Bella Vista Designs, told us that they could provide the lanterns... for $8.25 each! No way! So we were on a mission to find much cheaper lanterns. Chinatown was definitely an experience... it seemed like a whole other country in the middle of LA. After wandering through a few markets and being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of "stuff" that was packed into these places, we found a great gifts and crafts store that had exactly what we were looking for- all the white paper lanterns and umbrellas that a girl could ask for! We ended up buying wayyy more than I think we actually are going to use, but I didn't want to have to make another trip back. We bought 60 lanterns, 20 each of the 12", 14" and 16", and 20 paper umbrellas. The lanterns are going to be strung up through the courtyard, and we're going to provide the umbrellas as a break from the shade. The umbrellas are going to have ribbons and tags that match the paper fans, and will be in a couple of galvanized buckets that we also got at Ikea. We were able to bargain the price down and got a great deal! Beats the $8.25 that the lighting company was going to charge us!
After a yummy lunch & our first experience eating dim sum at Empress Pavilion (check it out if you ever want a really authentic Chinese meal!), we headed over to the Burbank Ikea, with goals of buying everything we needed for centerpieces and to re-floor our house. Unfortunately, only one goal was accomplished (centerpieces!) because going to Ikea on a Saturday afternoon is not a good idea. Lots of people had told us that DIY centerpieces was a great way to save money, and Ikea was the place to get all our candles and vases. We didn't think that our site needed lots of flower decoration, so we were leaning towards using lots of candles and creating a romantic atmosphere that way. I had seen some super cute lanterns on the Ikea website and had some ideas on how to create centerpieces from them, so I wanted to check them out. I have to say that Jacob was SUCH a trooper, because I know he hates Ikea and crowds with a passion and still went with me with a smile on his face. We got to Ikea, and checked out the lanterns- and they only had orange and green ones left! Boo! I wanted the white ones! We decided to forge ahead and attack the Ikea crowds with a vengeance. 3 hours and 2 very cranky people later, we emerged without any flooring (no more room in the car), but with enough vases, tea lights, and votive candle holders to decorate 30 tables. We ended up deciding to do a centerpiece with a vase in the middle, flowers around the outside, and votive candles decorating the table. We also got enough votive candles to spread around the site, on the walls and such. I think it will look gorgeous! It was also such a steal- everything we needed for less than $500! Woo for Ikea! I guess it was worthwhile braving the crowds and Ikea's sneaky way of trapping everyone in the store until they've gone through the whole thing.
After Ikea, we finally headed to our hotel in Santa Monica. We stayed in a Doubletree right off 3rd street, which actually ended up being a two room suite! Woo! We were lucky enough to be able to meet Hanson, Matt and Mike Kiyoi down on 3rd Street for dinner and to hang out, which was so awesome. Those guys are so great, and we had a fun time eating at Johnny Rocket's, and watching the street performers. They have the YUMMIEST milkshakes! There were some crazy guitarists playing , and we hung out and watched them for awhile. It was so fun catching up with them! Hanson is graduating, pursuing his dream of an acting career, and Matt and Mike are finishing up their degrees next year.
After crashing in our hotel room for the night, we got up the next morning to get ready for our engagement party, thrown by Joel and Audrey, Jacob's aunt and uncle. I treated myself to getting my makeup done at the MAC store, and met my parents on 3rd Street and shopped around.
We found some great things to register for at Sur La Table!
I can't wait to register! Who knew that you needed all these fun gadgets!!
We then headed over to Joel and Audrey's house, where we had a fantastic afternoon hanging out with all the extended family, and everyone got to meet everyone else. Heather and my Aunt Mary came all the way down from Santa Cruz, and my Aunt Carol came up from Laguna Beach. Jacob's Uncle John also came from Northern California! It was so fun to see everyone! We got some wonderful gifts, including a beautiful Tiffany's cake cutter from my parents, and Tiffany's toasting glasses from Jacob's parents. Sorry, I don't have any pictures right now, but I'll upload some later. We also got some lovely wind chimes from Jacob's aunt and uncle:
and a Hummel from Jacob's grandma, that she is passing down to us. It was such a great afternoon! We also asked Celena and Loren to be our flower girls, and they stole the show :).After the party, we hauled everything and everyone back to Santa Barbara, completely exhausted from the weekend. But it wasn't over! Bren, Mom and I went back to Mary Linn's Bridal to try on dresses! I was able to have a full consultation, and tried on about 15 different dresses- we were there for almost 2 hours! There are so many choices, and I found 3 that I really liked parts of, but I wish I could combine them together to make the perfect dress! The lady that helped us was so nice and understanding about what I wanted and what looked good on me. After lunch, Mom and I headed over to Anna Maria's Bridal, the other bridal shop in town. The lady there was pretty grumpy, and wasn't too helpful, but I found a couple dresses I really liked that are on the "maybe" list. But Mom hasn't cried yet, so we haven't found "the" dress yet! We're planning a girls weekend next weekend to go to the Corona Del Mar bridal row, where there are about 6 or 7 bridal shops that apparently have a great selection. It's amazing how early you have to order a dress- Dale ordered her dress in January for an August wedding, and it just arrived this week- almost 6 months later! It sure puts the pressure on looking early and finding the dress asap.
On a personal note, I have finally taken action and joined Weight Watchers! I know it sounds like an old lady thing to do, but I am really glad that I did it and it's helped a TON so far this week in figuring out what to eat, portion size, and healthy options. I go to Studio Fitness for Women at least a couple times a week, but I am stepping it up. Jacob and I are trying to exercise at least 30 minutes everyday (most days it's 45-60 minutes), and are making significant changes in how we eat and what we eat. It's really amazing how much junk you eat when you're not watching! WW is great because you can eat what you want, within limits. It's not a "diet", but a change in lifestyle. You get a certain number of points per day, and can earn points for exercise. It's great because you have to eat the # of points that you are given, so it prevents you from eating TOO little also. Sometime that's my problem as well, that I limit myself so much that I'm not getting the nutrition that I need. It's a great guideline and teaches you proper eating habits! So hopefully the combination of learning to eat right and exercising more will help both of us reach our wedding goals- me 35 lbs, Jacob 20 lbs. I also bought myself a new bike yesterday! We're really trying to either walk or ride our bikes when we go downtown or over to a friend's house, because 1) gas is SO damn expensive (I paid $4.59/gallon yesterday! OUCH!) and 2) it's healthy! We're going green!
Weddings are a really great motivator to make positive lifestyle changes!
I have tons of pictures on my camera, and I'll add them later this weekend after I've had time to upload. Yay for wedding stuff!
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