Deciding who will document the big day!

In late July, I drug the unsuspecting fiance to the Houston Bridal Extravaganza with a clear agenda in mind: 1) Find a photographer and 2) Find a linen vendor. Other things, like a limo company and a cake baker, we thought we would just find later. We spent a mere 2.5 hours going from booth to booth, talking only to the vendors we deemed worthy. (Sidenote: I attended this same show in January with my mom a few weeks after being engaged when I had no idea what I wanted and visited nearly every booth. Then, a sheet of stickers with your name, address, wedding date, etc. cost $1 per sheet. At the most recent show, the price was up to $5 a sheet! Print your own at home, ladies! You want to enter your name for every prize available, not scrimp and limit yourself like I did the second time around!) Surprisingly, Andrew didn't hate the show as much as I thought. We met several photographers and got TONS of information. At the show, we already had our venue booked and therefore were nearly forced to commit to one of five caterers (or else incur a huge fee- a story for another post). I thought I knew which videographer I wanted and I had a tentative DJ contract that included another vendor that I want to keep a secret. So, we tried to make this short and sweet. My main focus was photography. That really is the thing that will last forever and could potentially be my biggest regret. The show made me completely obsessed with magazine-style albums. Who wouldn't want to display their wedding day in all its glory for all eternity? I knew a photographer who offered these treasures was a must. I was also adamant on limiting the "cheese" factor in a wedding photographer. "Cheese" photos include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) groom laying across bridesmaids' laps 2) bride being held up by groomsmen 3) bride being intentionally dipped by groom (if that happens during the kiss, awesome. Otherwise, let's leave it out, k?) 4) pictures taken at awkward angles claiming to be artistic. These are definitely not my favorite things. I wanted to find someone who would take a fly-on-the-wall approach and capture what was happening. The little things I would never be able to remember. At the show, we narrowed our choices down to about six photographers, plus one who wasn't able to attend the show that I fell in love with online. I bookmarked all 7 sites and then asked for the groom's opinion. Each site was given a rating on a scale of 1 - 10 for its gallery quality by each of us. Being in either person's bottom 2 was an immediate kiss of death. We were able to easily narrow the range down to three. Unfortunately for one of the three, his prices were only in our budget if we booked him that day, and I wasn't comfortable with that kind of pressure (at the show we told him where we were getting married, and he said since he loved it so much, he would give us $500 off if we booked that day). So, we were down to 2 and we emailed each for quotes. They were both very, very similar. Andrew took a last look at both photographers and decided that he liked Lindsay Perry better than the other. I, in my typical indecisiveness, didn't know who to pick, but I was leaning slightly more towards Lindsay as well. Coincidentally, she and I attended high school together and are the same age: she is facebook friends with my cousin (yes, I stalked), so I think that being younger, she will be in alignment with what we want. We met with her, she sent us a contract, and the rest is history! How did you make your important wedding decisions? What are you looking for (or not looking for) in a photographer?

Milly Update

We didn't make it on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It's still a sore subject in the Perez-Martinez casa. (Wouldn't that be strange if that became my last name? Neither fits me, but BOTH? Seriously? No thanks.) Now that I am finally in the full swing of planning, I will hopefully update more. Today I told Andrew we needed to make good on our promise to make a video blog, so hopefully we will do that this week. I'm not sure how I want to do this as this blog will eventually be linked to our wedding website that guests will use to RSVP and I don't want the few people who care enough to read this to have NO surprises at our wedding... so we will see. I am really excited to share and to document all the steps leading to our special day!

Who Wants to be a Millionaire Houston tryouts!

When I heard that Millionaire (from here on referred to as WWTBAM since I am lazy) was holding auditions in Houston, I wanted Andrew to try out. He knows a little something about almost everything. Seriously, we will be watching a TV show and he will be able to tell you which actors have been in what else and the character they played. Honestly, it's almost a little annoying :). He remembers tidbits about history and geography and knows pretty much everything about sports a person could want to know, so his knowledge of crap is pretty immense. I wanted him to go to the audition and basically become my sugar daddy. Well, the tryout started early in the morning. It was pretty far from our house. So, he did not want to go alone. I managed to get out of going to work for the day (remember my awesome boss who let me leave to go get a wedding dress? Told ya she was awesome!) and I made the trek with him so we could go audition together for WWTBAM's "Play to Pay for your Wedding" week. We figured that there would be fewer people trying to get on as a couple and hoped our chances were good. We got up at 4:30 am to make our way across town. We arrived at 5:45, and even though no one was supposed to get in line until 6 am, there were at least 200 people in line when we arrived with over 100 more waiting by the time we found a parking space! Around 6:15, the doors opened and everyone was allowed in a ballroom, still in their line, packed in like sardines. Andrew and I were gifted with lovely WWTBAM magnets, numbered 374 and 375, as well as pencils for our scantron test. We were informed that everyone would go into the testing room in groups to take both the general test as well as the movie test for a special Netflix week.

Me and my magnet, ready to take the test!

The line started moving into the testing room around 7. Luckily for us, 400 people were allowed in, so we barely made it. The only bad thing was that Andrew got seated in the last chair on one row and I had to sit behind him and on the other side. The general knowledge test had 30 questions ranging from pop culture to current events to history to... just plain junk that you might happen to know. We had ten minutes to take that. I felt pretty good when it was over and thought I got at least 23 questions right. I stank on the movie quiz, but I knew that would happen. They killed time while they graded our tests by having people do impersonations to win WWTBAM t-shirts and then called our our numbers to tell you who had passed the test and would go on. They started calling, and the first number was 390-something, so my immediate thought was "Oh, crap." I soon realized that the numbers were random and heard "374" so I looked to Andrew to see he was looking back at me. A split second later, "375" was called and I was smiling soooooo big! We both made it!!!

The magical laminated pass that granted me admission to the interview.

About 30 people passed the general test and maybe 10 passed for movies. We had to stand in line for an application and to take a photo (like a mugshot) and were told to come back at 12:30 with the application filled out for interviews. They took pics of Andrew and I separately, as well as one together since Wedding Week was our ultimate goal. The application was kind of hard- we had to do the regular one as well as one that was engagement-related with questions about how we met, how we got engaged, our dream wedding, what we love about each other, etc. It was kind of annoying to have SO MUCH time to kill because we didn't want to drive home, but should we get on the show, it will be well worth it! I won't bore you with what we did in our down time, but we got back to the site around noon to wait in line outside.

Trying to keep cool while waiting for interviews...

The lady (I should really say "girl" because everyone working there was no older than 25) who checked IDs and collected passes came to Andrew and I and said "Oh, you're the couple, right?" and I told her yes and asked if there were any others. She said that no others had gotten through (both people had to be present and pass the test to be considered). We went inside, waited in another line, and were seated. We were told that everyone would be given a very short interview and then they could leave. Andrew and I were the first people called and we were called up together. We were asked how we met and how we got engaged. She then gave us yellow release forms to fill out to authorize them to record our audition! I was super excited about this because earlier in the day, someone asked about taped auditions and they said NONE would be conducted. We were asked the same questions as before, as well as about our first date, what we would do with money for our wedding, what we planned so far, where we wanted to honeymoon, stuff like that. We were on camera for about 4 minutes and I feel like we did as well as we could have. I have been reading online message boards about Millionaire auditions and most people have said that getting taped GREATLY increases your chances of getting on the show! Now all we can do is sit and wait... everyone who was interviewed will receive a postcard in the mail in 3-4 weeks letting them know if they are in the applicant pool or not. I found one girl who auditioned for wedding week last year and got a phone call before her postcard arrived in the mail. If we got that lucky, I would be ecstatic! For now though, it was a fun experience. I hope that something more comes of it and I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In line together... put us on the show, Meredith! (Don't mind my weird face... I was trying to make sure we were both in the pic!)

Wedding color nightmare

Colors are hard. I feel like whatever I pick I will have to look at for the next year. The easiest color combo for our wedding based on our tastes is light blue and brown.

Source (I especially liked this one for the macaroons and the "Lauren" placecard)

However, as much as I like these colors (they are everywhere in our house), I have some issues with them. Like I said, they are in our bedroom and living room, so I already see them all the time. That could be overload. Brown isn't exactly the best color for our June wedding. And, the blue is too close to Tiffany blue, which was my cousin's color at her wedding last summer. Since we have a large family who all attended that wedding, I don't want our color schemes to be near-identical. Pink is easy and something I would love, but the mister has already vetoed that one. Since I took those two colors out and I am not much of a red/yellow/orange person, I was left with two colors: purple and green. I really like the idea of purple, but dressing my BFFs in plum didn't sound so great. I can't find a shade of green that I like. So, I tried to start with a neutral. Grey is very "in" right now, although I can't say I am one to follow trends. I do like that it is a little bit different and that grey could also be silver if need be. So, I think we decided on that. Then, inspiration struck. Last weekend I went shopping at the fabulous new Forever XXI (or whatever the hell it calls itself now) and bought myself this:

Source

Mine is a bit blue-er, but I brought it home and showed it to Andrew and he said "That's nice. That could be a wedding color." So, I have looked up come royal/cobalt blue weddings and found some good wedding stuff...

Source

.... annnnnd, that's really it. There isn't too much out there in the way of dark blue weddings, but I think I can make it classy and reflect us. My only problem is the seasonality of it- is a dark blue too wintery? Are there colors I'm forgetting? I only thought I already had my whole wedding planned. Then I got engaged and that all went out the window.

Bridezilla Moment #1

It was bound to happen... I am far too picky to just brush things off. Oops. We went to book our wedding venue today with Andrew's dad and my mom in tow. The event coordinator totally irritated me to begin with because we were supposed to have an appointment. When I set it up, I told her "We really like the venue and we are ready to sign the contract." I would think that is kind of important. Someone is coming to give my company a nice chunk of money, and I would want to be ready. Instead, she greets us as if we have never been there (not like I expected her to recognize us, but at least remember my purpose!) and begins taking us on a tour. I stopped her and told her we didn't need one and Andrew walked off with his dad while I was with my mom. He called me into the back area where our cocktail hour will be held and said "You won't believe this..." I loved this room. It had icicle lights coming from the ceiling like this the last time I saw it: I wanted us to make our entrance down those stairs into the cocktail reception. I LOVE those damn lights... I'm sure you can see where this is headed... Andrew walked in that room, and the lights were gone. I would post a picture, but I think I was in some sort of denial, so I didn't take one. The ceiling looks sad, bare and industrial. This is where my freak-out began. I go to talk to the event lady, who, remember, had already unimpressed me today. I asked her what happened and she said that too many went out, so the owner took them down. I asked if they were going to be replaced, and she said maybe, but she wasn't sure if the plan was to put up more lights (although the lights are "annoying because they always go out") or something else. Apparently this is all the owner's doing. The lights are supposedly too hard to come by because it's not Christmas. However, a quick google search shows me that such lights are plentiful if only one looks. Argh. So, I got mad and almost didn't book the venue. However, a quick conference with my level-headed groom-to-be who has not been dreaming of this day for 24 years caused me to realize that this room was only going to be used for an hour. Although it sucks, it's not a deal breaker. We will just cross our fingers that the lights go back up this Christmas, or that something better takes their place. I did ask many questions of the event lady and express my displeasure, but what can I do? The venue is mine for 4.5 hours on June 11, 2010.

only a year to go!

I felt I had to commemorate this day. Exactly one year from tonight will be our wedding night. We are going to reserve the venue on Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited! Well, maybe I could be a *teensy* bit more excited... I wish I lived in Austin, or would have gone to UT, so I would have a reason to get married at the deliciousness known as Barr Mansion. (All images from their website).

I fell in love when I saw their ad in The Knot Magazine. It is super beautiful (this is just my favorite part- there are also beautiful gardens and a gorgeous Victorian style mansion on the property!) and also the only Certified Organic wedding venue in the U.S. I wish it were practical to move our nuptuals to Austin, but, it's not. That's okay. This is still amazing and will be even better when I get to incorporate US into it!

D. Jones Photo

I'm getting excited!

house update

The house is almost in order. All of the furniture arrived today and Andrew has already sorted through most of the boxes to see what we want to keep and what we don't. His dad has good taste in some things, so like he said, it was like Christmas, going through each box and choosing what we wanted to keep. This furniture switch has created a dilemma, though; now, we only have one nightstand. Our old nightstands are too short and too light-colored to match with what we have now. The new furniture is BIG. The dresser is on my side of the bed and the nightstand is on Andrew's. If I moved the nightstand to my side, his side of the room would be empty. If we get a second nightstand, my side will look too cluttered. The simple suggestions are a) getting over the loss of my nightstand (which I don't want to do- I need a place for my glasses, chapstick, lotion, charging cell phone, etc.) or b) switching sides of the bed (which for some reason, he won't do). So now, I am going to look for some nightstand alternatives, if such a thing exists... Enough of that. It's just so frustrating! I thought everything was going to come together and now there's something else to fix! As far as wedding thoughts go, I think I have decided to ask my cousin to do my make-up. I think she did her sister's, and although I didn't attend the wedding, it photographed well. We will see! Oh, and PS, on a TV-related note, I am so far LOVING The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! He is just irreverent enough to keep his old fan base thinking he didn't sell out, but typical-late-night comedic enough that my grandparents will watch. PPS- I watched the Diversity Day episode of The Office today for the billionth time and I still died laughing about twenty times.