Wedding Inspiration Blog List

I started following a million wedding blogs during my year-long wedding planning process. I now need to take them off my Google Reader because I hardly ever read the posts anymore. Not that they stopped being awesome, but my interests have shifted somewhat and my Google Reader needs a thorough review to eliminate unnecessary blogs. But I definitely want to give props to these bloggers and provide an all-in-one place to find awesome blogs for those of you in the wedding planning process. So brides-to-be, have at ‘em & enjoy!!!

2000 Dollar Budget Wedding

A $10,000 Wedding

A Backyard Wedding

A Farmhouse Wedding

A Practical Wedding

Bridal Buzz

Budget Savvy Bride’s Weblog

Classic Bride

Green Wedding Shoes

Lo & Co. Blog

Lovely Morning

Mason Jar Bride

Offbeat Bride

Once Wed Blog

Pearls Events

Snippet & Ink: Daily Wedding Inspiration

Something Old, Something New

Style Me Pretty: The Ultimate Wedding

The Bride’s Café Blog

The Bride’s Guide

Tying the Knot

VintageGlam Weddings

Weddingbee

Weddingbee PRO

With This Ring...

T minus 2 months!

First of all, Feliz Aniversario to the love of my life! Today we have been together for 2 years and 8 months. I love that we still count by the months as it allows us to appreciate the small things in life. We may not go out to eat or buy each other presents on a monthly basis for our aniversaries (or monthaversaries)...but just remembering is enough.

And seriously HOLY COW....the wedding is exactly 2 months away and there is oh so much left to do. So if you really really don't hear from me for the next two-three months, you will know why. I am working on getting a list together of everything we have left to do and it is pretty long. Eeeekk!!! (Oh, but we will have to plan a happy hour or something before I leave in May for those of you in Chile!)

Which ring to do you like best?

I'm at the stage where I need to be ordering my wedding ring. I had mentioned it a while back, but some things happened, my mind changed and now I need to pick a new ring. I've found a few that I really like, but I'd like your opinion on what you think will look best with my e-ring. Here's a collage of some photos that Christian took when we had recently become engaged in Dec. 2007. He had just bought his camera and didn't know how to use it all that great, so these are definitely not his best work:

From Rings

Now, the wedding bands that I like are the following. Which one do you think will look best with my e-ring?

(Keep in mind that I have to order it online, have it special ordered to my size 4 finger, and won't see it until approx. 3 weeks before the wedding)

From Rings

No. 1

From Rings

No. 2

From Rings

No. 3

From Rings

No. 4

From Rings

No. 5

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Big Ticket Spending

This week is gonna be one of investments…wedding investments that is. First of all, I can’t believe how freaking expensive weddings are. I’ve been trying to make ours as affordable as possible, and it is still quite expensive. I guess if you look at the wedding day itself, perhaps we are doing good on the price of everything…but when you add in the bbq and brunch we want to have, the flights to the US from Chile, honeymoon flights & resort costs, plus travel and health insurance…we sure are spending a damn pretty penny. But I know it’ll be worth it.

We’ve gotten a great start on booking the big items--we have already put down the deposit for the caterer, cake, photographer, rental items and tent. This week, I’ve got to get the following done:

Put the deposit on our honeymoon & book travel insurance ($$$)
Order our invitations ($$)
Order our rings (we know which ones we want, so why wait?) ($$$$)
Order fabric for table squares ($)
Research health insurance & possible purchase it ($-$$)
Grand Total: $$$$$$

I also have to finish designing the address labels and putting in everyone’s addresses, then send them to get printed and cut. I’ll also have to order the envelopes, but I don’t think I’ll get to these two things until next week. See, this week is already quite crazy.

Tonight I’ve got a meeting with the travel agent to put down the deposit and discuss the travel insurance.

Tomorrow I will be leaving straight from work and going to Viña to see Juanes at the Festival Internacional de Viña del Mar!!! I am so pumped! It is going to be a long night and I know I’ll be dead on Wed. at work…but it’ll be worth it. Juanes is amazing en vivo (live). I was lucky enough to see him in April 2008 when he came to Denver. My mom and I loved the show!

Wednesday is Christian and my “month-versary”—almost one year married (next month will be 1 year). So we’re planning on going out to eat, but nothing fancy, just a normal dinner out. We are saving the fancy dinner for next month. (P.S. If you have any suggestions of nice restaurants in Santiago, please let me know! We’ve been to El Giratorio, which has good food, but I’d rather try some place new.)

Thursday we’ve booked massages at a place Heather recommended. I have been in need of a massage for over a month now. My back is full of knots and they are causing my injured leg lots of pain. Unfortunately this massage place was closed for two weeks for vacation (as was like everything in this city) and thus the massage has had to wait for quite some time. If it doesn’t end up helping my leg, I might have to go see a chiropractor.

And as I mentioned, in between all of these things, I will be taking care of our “investments” listed above.

Next week will be arts & crafts week as I have some wine corks just waiting for me to hot glue them together!

Houston we have a HUGE problem

Remember when I asked you to keep your fingers crossed for the approval I was waiting for at work? Well, let's just say that last approval that I was waiting for did not come.

Yesterday at work my boss said she wanted to talk to me before I left for the weekend. I kind of had a bad feeling about it when she wasn't all smiley when she told me this. So we met. And she said when her and our other boss presented the proposal to the department boss, he just about flipped his lid. Not cool. I won't get into the details and reasons that he wasn't ok with the plan, but in the end I guess they were in talks all week about the situation and came up with the following proposal to present to me:

10 days of my accumulated vacation time
5 days of my unaccumulated vacation time (this would use all of my vacation time for a year)
10 days of no salary
-----------------------
5 weeks in USA


Now, let's remeber what I had originally asked for (and received A LOT of positive support for, thus making me believe whole-heartedly that it was going to work):

2 months of long-distance work (my job is all over the internet, so really it shouldn't matter where I am)
10 days of my accumulated vacation time
10 days of no salary
---------------------
3 months (or 12 weeks) in USA


Unfortunatly there is a HUGE difference between 12 weeks and 5 weeks. And now I'm in a sticky situation where I have BIG and difficult decisions to make.

Maybe you wonder why I need so much time......well, think about all the little details that have to be taken care of, not to mention getting my dress fitted, and then after the wedding there's that thing called the honeymoon....which we are so trying to coordinate with my cousin's wedding in Mexico on the 27th. So the month of vacation time (paid or not) is something I'm not really willing to budge on. And then with only 5 weeks off of work, that would mean I would only come to Colorado 2 weeks before the wedding..........seriously, would it even be possible to plan your wedding and get there 2 weeks ahead of time?

I suppose I could look at it like a destination wedding. Like my cousin, we are getting married out of the country.....only I have never been to the ranch where we will be having the wedding, and it is impossible to do crafty DIY projects in Chile--both of which seriously hinder my planning. Plus all of the people helping me plan (with the exception of Christian) are in the States.....so you know that awesome feeling of getting together with your bridesmaids and doing crafts, or having a bridal shower, or whatever.....ya all of that would be g.o.n.e.

I know I should be thankful they are even saying 5 weeks. BUT I did come to this job being frank about the time I needed off and they said they would totally work with me on it. Plus my previous job was guaranteeing me those 3 months off of work if I had stayed. SO yes, I am HUGELY disappointed. I arrived at my house in tears yesterday, with visions of my wedding being flushed down the toilet. There are all million thoughts running through my head and emotions pumping though my body. I don't know what to do. There are so many variables that come into play that it is hard to make any sort of decision. Luckily I have my husband and my parents and my friends who can help me see straight and make a well-thought out plan. Although I am very logical, when things are emotional (and weddings are HIGHLY emotional), I do what my gut says and I take no pity on those in my path. Whether or not that is the right thing to do, that is how I work. Luckily I kept my composure very well yesterday and didn't say anything. I think I was in shock. I couldn't really even react.

And I wouldn't call this post a reaction either, more just an explanation of what is going on right now...and perhaps a call for advice from my few friends who read my blog. I will not publically go into more details as I don't think I should speak too soon about my choice, or what I think my work will decide. I just had to get a little bit off my chest.

Part 1 of Invites--Check!

Remember how I said I ordered part of our wedding invitations? Well they got to my parent’s house already! Within a week of ordering them! My parents said they look awesome and that the colors are perfect….I am S.O. freaking excited! It’s kind of like a nudge of motivation to get the other parts done and ordered just so I can see my visualization come to life. I have loved designing them! I keep trying to think of ways to incorporate the design into other aspects of the wedding, and I’ve got a couple ideas up my sleeve. But it’s all on the down-low unless you are in the wedding party, in which case you probably know everything already. :)

In other news on the wedding front, I am working on getting approval for the trip to the US and some time off for the wedding and our honeymoon. I’ve got approval from one boss, and now we are waiting on approval from the Controller. If all goes as planned, I will be leaving Chile in April and working long-distance from my parent’s house for all of April and May, then taking June 6th to July 5th off of work for the wedding, honeymoon, and time with family. Keep your fingers crossed that I get the approval…!

Opinions Needed--Wedding Photographer vs. Videographer

So my husband and I have come to the realization that for our wedding in the States (which will be in June '09) we prefer to have our item of splurge be our photographer. I spoke about it with some girlfriends last night, and we all came to the conclusion that good money should be spent on a good photographer because really the pictures are what last forever.

As I began researching photographers in Colorado, I also came across several videographers, which are just as expensive as photographers. That would be double the already splurged budget on capturing our wedding day....but I kind of wonder if videographers are worth the money. I mean, they say pictures are worth a thousand words, and it's very easy to make a slide show, etc. with the wedding day pictures that will tell the story of the whole day....so it is really necessary to videotape the whole thing?

What do you guys think?????

If you had a certain budget to stick to, would you pick:
1. an awesome photographer (& spend all your money there), or
2. get both a photographer and videographer with the same money (meaning the quality might not be the same)?

Vacation Recommendations?

Christian and I are starting to think about honeymoon locations and we want recommendations from people who have been to these places! We are thinking about Mexico, the Caribbean or Central America. Neither of us have been to any of those places and we would like a nice beachy place and warm ocean waters to enjoy. We’d like to know about both the all-inclusive resorts and the not-so-commercial places to stay, price ranges, food, etc. Some of the questions we’d like answers to:

• How was your stay in general?
• Were you at an all-inclusive resort? If so, did you find it worth the money or would it have been possible to spend less money staying at a nice hotel but choosing the restaurants, etc.?
• Where did you stay? (any links to hotels welcome)
• What kind of activities did you do? (snorkeling, diving, zip-lining, etc.)
• How long were you gone for?
• What is the best way to travel to that location?
• What time of year were you there?

We are planning our honeymoon for late-June 2009, so keep that in mind and we are on a budget, but we’re also not afraid to splurge on a wonderful vacation!

Here are some of the places that we have been considering (but are open to any ideas at this point!):

• Cozumel, Mexico--heard it is amazing, white beaches, snorkeling, and only 3% of the island is developed (theknot.com)
• Puerto Rico
• Dominican Republic

Thanks beforehand for all the advice!!!!