Less wedding, more life

I made it through my first year of undergrad!! (Can I get a hell yeah?!)

Now that I've had a few weeks to reflect before heading into my summer session I want these next four months to be like, I've come up with a few things:

I'm not too proud of the grades (although I did pass everything) I ended up with, so that's a major focus over the next four months. I want to achieve at least a grade in the B range in all my three courses. This means actually doing the readings, going to class, etc. You know, actually being a student, not just half-assing at being one.

One of the major things is I need, for my own sanity, to stop focusing on the wedding so. freaking. much. Yes it's fun to plan and easy to talk about, but gah. Enough already. I'm tired of constantly being on the look out for inspiration. I'm tired of talking about it - actually, its more like I'm feeling that, Jesus H. Christ, I am more than just a bride. I want to have ACTUAL conversations, and more than that, I want to stop my brain from constantly running on a loop about colours and centerpieces and flowers and whether or not to wear a veil and whether or not I'll change my name and and and and oh effing just shoot me in the face already!

Another huge, major thing is I need to get out of this plateau I've been stuck in for what feels like months. I fluctuate between 238 and 240; I'm tired of seeing those numbers on the scale. I've also really slacked off with the working out, AGAIN. One of my major stumbling blocks is I hate working out alone, but I gave up my gym membership (too expensive for something I don't use, and I'm fed up with their crappy customer service). I also recently found out I get a gym membership included in my tuition, so if I'm going to use a gym...well, I think you can figure it out, right?
I want to go for runs outside this summer; but I'm self conscious about it. I know I need to bite the bullet and just go, but working myself up to that point is proving difficult! I also need to re-start doing the Biggest Loser on the Wii, and actually stick with it for more than a week - and I want to pick up Zumba for the Wii and start doing that a couple of times a week.

I guess what I'm trying to do is be consistent with my working out. I get all fired up for a week or two and do really well and then stop completely, and then get fustrated with what the scale says, and then get all fired up again. It's an awful cycle!

And, of course, it's now summer. Which means fresh produce is in season again - and I want to take full advantage of that this summer! I want to ban bread for an entire month, eat more salads, more fish, less jellybeans. I'm already drooling thinking of steamed asparagus paired with a filet of salmon with some brown rice on the side. So yummy!

I hate setting goals that say - "I want to weigh xx by date", because it never ends up that way, and then I get feeling all defeated and discouraged, but what the hell. I'm going to put this out there.

I want to weigh around the 220 mark by early July. That's 18 pounds in 2 months.

Can I do it? Stay tuned to find out ....

indecisive bride reporting for duty

You know what I hate most about this planning process?

The fact that I am SO. FRIGGIN. INDECISIVE. ABOUT. EVERYTHING. I have not had a decision throughout this process that I've not re-visited and changed my mind about something. Most noticeably? The decor.

I know, I know, you guys. First I asked you about books. Then, about bowls of candles, followed by lanterns. And you have always been so supportive and encouraging about ALL my ideas, that I kind of feel like I'm beating a dead horse by blogging about yet another vision.

Even though the sale fell through, black lanterns are still the number one idea. With silver chair sashes around each chair, and orange pom pom napkin rings around each napkin to complete the tablescape. Perfect, right?

Except for one wiggly, tiny little voice in my head, saying "flowers. flowers are pretty. you love flowers. why not flowers? FLOWERS FLOWERS FLOWERS!"

Damn you, tiny voice in my head. You won't win, but I'll compromise. Deal?

I just sent an email to my florist, asking her what the cost would be for something like this: Isn't it gorgeous? I'm picturing it a bit lower and wider, and obviously orange. These would be on half the tables, with the black lanterns being on the other half.

And, of course, because I'm a crazy, detail orientated bride, I need to change the orange napkin ring idea - because in my crazy ass mind, orange flowers + orange napkin rings = too much orange. Of course.

So this is my FINAL IDEA. I mean it you guys! If I change my mind from now until October, you're going to have to wait for the pro pics! Here goes: on the tables with the lanterns, there will be orange pom-poms, and on the tables with the orange carnations there will be silver pom-poms.

I really can't wait to see how it all comes together at the end - the soft, romantic white glow from the lanterns mixed in with the ruffly texture of the orange carnations, with the napkin rings adding just the perfect amount of a lovely, creative, whimsical touch.

Or, in one word: MWAH.

updated look

You don't see too many inspiration boards of the colour combo I've chosen for my wedding (seriously, what is UP with that?.) So far during this process I've either felt totally alone, or as if I'm super crazy for putting these two colours together.

So. In the interest of maybe helping other brides out when they go searching for this colour palette, here's my masterpiece:

PS: Everything but the lantern (which will be a different style) and the grooms outfit (still to be decided) is actually being used in our wedding.

I gotta ask: how easy was it for you to decide your colours? Would you ever consider using a colour combo that may be considered a little 'wacky'?

The rest of the outfit...part one

Even before I knew what my dress was, I've wanted to wear this bolero:



Now I'm second guessing myself, because I'm not sure if orange right next to my face is going to look the best, seeing as I'm a fair-skinned blonde.

So now I'm thinking of maybe wearing this bolero instead:


I'm so torn. I've been in love with the orange one since the beginning, and am having a hard time letting go of the idea, but I'm really unsure of how it will look!

So what do you think? Which one should I wear - orange or silver?

swoon

I have my dress. I know. I'm still in shock myself.

And Keith says I'm not allowed post pictures, because he really, really does not want to stumble across it in the six months until the wedding. (Wait, SIX MONTHS? When did that happen?!)

I went over my personal budget, but my budget was set really low because I thought I'd be able to wait until July, go to David's Bridal in Toronto, and walk out with a dress.

I guess the big things are that Keith is okay with what I spent on it (even if I'm still struggling), and it was still fairly inexpensive as far as wedding gowns go.

I guess I could describe it, a bit? It's white, not ivory. It has a train, and I don't even mind. It's a corset back with a sweetheart neckline and it's edged in beaded lace.

Oh, and I look fantastic.

Seriously ribs? STFU.

So I went again. This time alone. I KNOW.

And I found a real contender. It's a totally different style than the ones I tried on Tuesday, so now, my lovely ladies, I need your advice.

Should I go with something like dress #1 (from yesterday):

Or this one? It's an 18, which is why its a bit tight around the waist, and you can't see it but there's little sequins sewn into the skirt that just sparkle like crazy. I kept imagining our first dance and how it'll sparkle and swirl. (Oh, and that's my bra straps, its not a spaghetti-strap.)

So I'm torn. And want your honest opinions, so PLEASE! Leave them below. :)

I think I broke a rib

I went dress looking today.

And now I'm sore and slightly tender to the touch because mamma mia, those fuckers are tight.

I tried on four dresses - all pretty similar to each other, which is unfortunate, but is probably due to a combination of things: I'm a size 20w in bridal (gasp! woe!), so my selection is already limited, and the saleslady picking out the dresses was a big fan of the bling. I mean I said I really loved lace, and not a single one had the all-over lace I was envisioning.

I did appreciate that I only tried on dresses that I could fit into. I've heard horror stories of bigger girls having to literally hold up the dress and envision how it would look. Um...how about no??

I learned that the colour of my dress will be ivory; that I need spanx, like, yesterday; and that my dress will have a corset back no matter what. Oh, and it'll have some sort of cross-rouching right underneath the bodice.

I tried this on this weekend at the bridal show. It was magic - fit perfectly, made my waist look tiny, simple, no pickups or random bling, and the fabric felt amazingly nice...by far still

one of my favourite dresses. Since it was a sample dress on sale, I'm fairly sure it's been sold to some other amazingly lucky bride, but we'll see. (crosses fingers)

This is the first dress I tried on today. It was decent (see what I mean about the spanx? HELLO), but I super hated that drapery on the side (which, of course, you can't see because my hands in front of it). But yeah, trust me when I say that drapery was butt. ugly.

The second dress on was my favourite of the day. It's very similar to dress number one, just no stupid drapery side thing. Not too sure on all the bling everywhere, but it was super sparkly when she turned out the lights....(also. forgive the wonky bodice in all of these. I'm going to alter whichever dress I do end up with into a sweetheart neckline.)

Third. Hated the bling on the bodice, loved the skirt. Can I marry top #2 with bottom #3 for the price of #1? I think that'd be my favourite dress.

This is a Maggie Sottero and I LOVED the lace skirt peeking out at the bottom. LOVED. It didn't make me look as small as number 2 did, but sigh.

Which one is your favourite on me? Least favourite? And because I'm vain, which one made me look the smallest? ;)