Carnival!

Andrew is camera shy, so there are precious few good pictures of us together. I insisted we get engagement pics after the first of the year, and I want something a little different. It seems like the current trend in Houston is to go to Discovery Green (downtown Houston- there's a park, a mosaic wall, fountains, benches, and lots of other great stuff), and while it's pretty, it's not my favorite idea.

I was trying to think of something happening in Houston between February and April, and I realized our city's most known event, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, is in town from late February to early March. The rodeo has a carnival that accompanies it, naturally (yeah, I know this probably sound really weird and Texan to you non-Houstonians, but it's fun, I promise!). Anyway, my bright idea was to take pictures at the carnival.

I have so many fun memories of riding carousels as a kid!

 

Both the slide and ferris wheel pics can be found here. I love that the slide almost looks competitive!

 

I adore this nighttime shot with all of the movement in the background.

My favorite! Found here.

(Sidebar: because of my TV-nerdiness, ferris wheels remind me of The OC [Ryan was afraid of heights, but he got on one for Marissa] and Everwood [Amy and Ephram were riding one when she told him the Grover story] I think it would be a great inside joke touch to our wedding!).

Aren't these completely adorable? I love the idea. Andrew has already completely shot it down by saying he doesn't like carnivals. Who doesn't like carnivals? I am going to work on twisting his arm until I come up with a far more fabulous idea.

Where were your city-specific e-shots taken?

Shower me with... cupcakes?

Since we haven't even registered for gifts yet, a wedding shower should be the furthest thing from my mind, right? Um, well, no. Pretty much as soon as I got engaged, one of my wonderful aunts offered to host a shower for me. This aunt is amazing and can give Martha Stewart a run for her money- she can paint, sew, and craft with the best of them! Since I would presumably have her amazing talents at my disposal, I have been thinking of fun themes, and cupcakes are my current fave!

(Source - I couldn't resist- the kitty has the same coloring as Bauer!)

Yummmm... I don't think you ever outgrow cupcakes. Come to think of it, Andrew is pretty much the only person I know who says he doesn't like cupcakes... Although I have never seen him turn one down ;). They are pretty enough by themselves, or you can dress them up a little.

 

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I know this is a cake, but I think you could melt some white chocolate, spread it on a cookie sheet, cool it, and then freehand little shirts. Stick the little shirts in white frosted and papered cupcakes. Too complicated? Maybe. But I want it!

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And of course no party would be complete without fabulous decor. I know one is from a kid's birthday party, but I think you could replace the numbers with the married initial or a monogram and the party hats with vases of flowers. Cute-cute-cute! I love the sugar bowl so much I would keep it to use in my house after the shower.

Martha!

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And I can't forget this oh-so-creative presentation. Just paint some flower pots, get some foam, and there you have it... edible centerpieces!

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I had to cruise etsy for some cupcake deliciousness and I ran across this. I would have to wear it to go along with the theme to my own party.

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Seeing as we won't have a shower until at least this spring, I am bound to change my mind a million times. Is it too childish? I think it's fun, and I have never really been good at being an adult anyways :). Did you theme your own shower? What other fun things could I consider?

Dress Obsessed

If you know me in the slightest, you know my complete and utter obsession with the show "The Office." My dad got me hooked, I got Andrew's sister hooked a few years ago, and after hearing all of our inside jokes, Andrew finally came around and now loves the show. Our cat was *almost* named Toby, my old phone's ringtone was the theme song, and last year, we had the most awesome Office premiere party ever. So, you can understand my joy a few weeks ago when this lovely arrived in my mailbox:

I pretty much love Jim Halpert. I know he's not real, but that has not stopped me from swooning over his every move, from tracking down Karen't favorite chips to making Pam grilled cheese sandwiches to eat on the roof. Anyway, I got this in the mail and thought Pam (Jenna Fischer)'s dress was completely gorgeous! Andrew read the article before I did, deemed it entirely too spoiler-ish for my consumption, and made me wait until after the episode aired to read the article. It actually took me about a week to even open the magazine for the pictures.

Once I saw the pictures with the article, I liked the dress even more! It is a short dress, perfect for a reception. I read the teeny tiny print in the spine of the magazine and saw it was Vera Wang.

Uh-Oh.

Vera Wang would never fit into my budget. Never. Not to mention I already have a dress (which I may not be completely in love with... another post for another time...) But I kept thinking about the lovely sweetheart neckline, perfectly draped dress that looked up at me everyday from my coffee table.

I had to get it out of my mind. Prove to myself that I couldn't afford this dress. I went to Vera's website and couldn't find it! Since all of her bridal dresses were short, I clicked on bridesmaids dresses. Just to see...

What did I find?

 

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Meet Anna. Since she is a bridesmaid's dress, she doesn't come in white. Pam/Jenna also wasn't wearing the sash in the EW photos, so I'm hoping it's detachable. It is quite a bargain as far as dresses go (ahem, especially those by Vera Wang!). Even Andrew, the man who has no opinion on fashion, said it was a nice dress. He is telling me just to order it in champagne!

But, now I am torn. I can't try it on until it arrives. It's not white. And won't I want to wear my wedding dress for as long as possible? Help me out. What should I do?

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake, Part 2...

So, when we last left off, Andrew and I were bummed about our first cake tasting. No one watched Lost (his favorite show), prices were a little high, and we were given the hard sell.

Enter our wedding vendor BFF, WeddingWire.

I love reviews. Before I make any big purchase, I like to be informed and I will read any review I can find. This site is a buffet for my vendor review gluttony. My fabulous groom shares the same enthusiasm, so he took to WW to find us a baker.

One of the top rated bakers was Megan of nutmeg and co. We looked at her website (which she is redoing, so it's nonexistent right now) and fell in love with some of her awesome flavors- chocolate truffle, hazelnut, flavors with oreo buttercream, cakes with espresso in the batter, fruity flavors, a flavor with a toasted marshmallow filling- you get the picture. We were IN LOVE from a taste POV.

I looked at her portfolio, and it only got better.

(From her WW portfolio)

Her work was GOOD! It showed creativity, style, and fun. I was hooked. I immediately emailed her to set up an appointment.

After reading vendor reviews, my second favorite thing to do is facebook stalk people. So, I did it. I could tell this was a small operation, so I fb stalked the poor girl. And I liked what I saw- one of her favorite shows was Lost! I hoped she would be excited about making our cake.

We met with her and she had about 15 flavors of cake to try. We loved them ALL and didn't even get to sample some of the ones we are pretty sure we'll want. How can you narrow down around 45 amazing flavors to a mere five?

I also changed my mind on design. I decided my previous cake-spiration was too boring. I wanted a cake more like the one in the background of this photo.

(The always amazing Bride's Guide)

I love how each tier is different, yet it is still unified. I thought we could still incorporate elements from the invitation design as well as our color to make something more memorable. I showed this picture and the invitation to Megan, and she thought she could work with it. She also LOVED Andrew's idea about his Lost cake and threw in some thoughts of her own.

We left super happy. About two weeks after our meeting, Megan emailed me two possible sketches for my cake and one for Andrew's. He was beyond thrilled with his. As far as mine, it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. I think it is beautiful, but it doesn't have the "wow" I was looking for. (But isn't the sketch idea so fun?)

(Courtesy of Megan. Sorry Blogger doesn't want to center it for me!)

How do you correct a professional? I emailed her and resent her the Bride's Guide inspiration pic. She apologized for overlooking that in her notes and emailed me another sketch that I loved within an hour. There was no looking back. We had found our baker! As an added plus, Andrew is ordering me a birthday cake in my favorite flavor that I tried (chocolate truffle) for my birthday later this month. De-lish!

What led you to your dream vendor? What kinds of alternate research did you do to find them?

Our Wedding from A to Z!

I admit, I am a total blog stalker. I saw this on According to Nina and Miscellaneous Meredith last week and decided to play along- wedding style! Both blogs are great if you are a style-clueless girl like me who likes to live out the best trends vicariously through others! In thinking of things for each letter, I thought of a lot of questions. I would LOVE some input from people who are married, go to tons of weddings, or just want to put in their two cents! I added random pictures, because this is A LOT of text!

The ABCs of six.eleven.ten

A- A is for my groom, Andrew, who I love and adore and can't wait to marry!

(A terrible pic of us at the bridal show... it was the first one I found on this computer!)

B- I am not taking Bridal Portraits. We opted for an e-sesh instead. Will anyone really miss them? 

C- Our favors are going to be coasters that we are making ourselves. It sounds a little crazy, but I love how they have turned out.

D- We have yet to pick a first dance song, but right now I am leaning heavily towards one by Dave Matthews Band. Any suggestions?

E- E is for our looooong engagement... It didn't seem that long last December, but now I am ready to get down that aisle.

(Engagement night! Don't mind my lack of a dressy coat... it's a long story.)

F- By the time we get married, we will have been together four and a half years.

G- Our groom's cake will probably be the most-talked-about aspect of the wedding. It will be totally unique and completely Andrew.

H- I am almost more excited for our honeymoon than our wedding day! We have narrowed our choices down to just a few... but of course we are researching it to death!

I- I am glad our ceremony and reception are indoors. You just never know with Houston weather!

J- Johnny Mathis was playing when he asked me to marry him, and this song must play a role in our wedding! (I am pretty sure this is the exact fountain show we were at when he asked, BTW!)

K- Andrew's best man, Kevin, is getting married next weekend. They have been friends since their freshman year of high school and were roommates when we met.

L- This wedding makes me realize how lucky I am: I found someone I want to marry who supports this whole wedding shindig he could live without and we have family who is as excited about it as we are!

M- Once we get married, I will officially be in the Martinez family!

N- Our baker's company name begins with an N... I have yet to reveal the second part of that story, so I will keep you in suspense. Trust me, she's awesome.

O- We are keeping our guest list to as close to one hundred as possible so we can have our ceremony in the back room of our venue.

P- Paper lanterns are going to play a big role in our day! They have been my simplest DIY project yet! (Completely unnecessary tutorial coming soon. They were THAT easy!)

Q- I am keeping quiet about some aspects of the wedding for now... I do want people to be surprised!

R- My "Something Old" will be my grandmother's original wedding ring. She married my grandpa almost 54 years ago when they were 17 and they are a perfect example of a loving husband and wife. I am super excited to carry on this tradition!

S- I haven't found wedding shoes yet. These are the only ones in my inspiration folder so far.

Nine West

T- Teal is our wedding color, and the specific shade is impossibly hard to match!

U- I still have to look for some unmentionables to wear under my dress... I want them to be both cute and practical. Do such things exist?

V- Vivian is my lovely bridesmaid, fellow bride-to-be, florist for the day, amazing friend, and huge source of support for all things wedding related or not.

W- I love the personal touch that our wooden signs will add to the event!

X- It's time for me to eXamine our wedding budget. Funny how these things make money seem like no object!

Y- For a short time, I wanted our wedding colors to be royal blue and yellow. I changed my mind upon realizing that is the color scheme for Ikea and Best Buy.

Z- I still have a zillion more decisions to make in the next eight months!

PS- I had my blogger settings off so I never got an email when someone commented to me! Sorry if I seem like a HUGE jerk for not responding... fixing it now!

I've Been M.I.A.

So no, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I've been here:

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Unfortunately, not in the literal sense :(

I was scheduled to have four glorious days off work and we had nothing to do with them. Andrew suggested we do something that we have never done before: take a road trip. His sister lives in Atlanta, and it is "only" a 12 hour drive, so we decided to do it on a Wednesday and left on Thursday morning. His sister had no internet at her apartment (long story), so I wasn't able to read any wedding blogs. Of course I didn't bring mod podge or a paper cutter with me, so there was no wedding crafting going on. It was just five days (after my boss heard my plans, she encouraged me to take another day!) of doing nothing- including wedding planning! As excited as I am about the wedding and the marriage, it was nice not to think about favors, invitations, menus, or vendors for a few days. Now I am back and ready to reenter the blogging world! We did lots of wedding crafting today, so I am excited to share that sometime really soon!

Did you need a wedding break? What did you do to give yourself a vacation from the stress?

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake...

Or, like I love cake. I confess to having quite the sweet tooth. Needless to say, choosing a wedding cake baker was among my favorite duties. Although the big day is still more than nine months away, are you surprised to hear that we have ours booked?

As is my custom, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted...

But this definitely wasn't it!

I used ProjectWedding as my guide and went nuts. I found this one and I liked the design for the most part, but rather than what they used, I wanted to incorporate the pattern on my invitations (that I have yet to reveal!).

 

After reading many reviews online, it seemed to me that Houston's top cake baker is Who Made the Cake? However, after looking into her prices and comparing it to our budget, I didn't think SHE would make OUR cake. I would have loved to use her, but I knew we couldn't afford it. Her work is extremely beautiful; she was even featured on an episode of Platinum Weddings!

More research led me to Cakes by Gina. She was recommended by many of the venues we visited. Andrew really liked her because one of her promotional flyers featured a Beatles LOVE cake (their Vegas show- we have seen it three times and love it!) that he was hoping we could recreate. We tasted some cakes at an Open House and liked them a lot.

We arrived at the appointment and met with a consultant, who told us to choose six flavors out of about twelve or so to sample. I'll be honest: I wasn't super impressed with the selection. They were pretty run of the mill. However, we were given some truffles to sample, which were awesome! I gave our consultant the above picture for inspiration with an invitation sample, and she gave me what I wanted.

Andrew wants a groom's cake that is LOST themed.

 

(Hopefully it comes out a little better than this one!)

But, neither our consultant nor Gina herself knew a thing about Lost to help us create it. I give them credit for trying, though. They came up with a very rough outline of what they could try to do, but I worried it would lose authenticity coming from non-Lost fans.

So, we were given a quote that we felt was a little high. The cake was good, the designs were nice, and we even considered adding truffles as favors (something that definitely had not had a spot in our budget before). We were walking out when Gina approached us and gave us a hard line, "What will it take for us to get you to sign today?" I was pretty irritated at that. I mean, this was our first cake baker, and tasting cakes is F-U-N. I told her that. Andrew and I both walked out with a pretty bad taste in our mouths. I mean, there are other means of aggressive selling without coming off as a used car salesman.

We were both really put off by the whole thing. We didn't want to give them our business anymore. If they were the bottom line-lowest price, then maybe. But Houston had tons of other bakers to try, and we were ready to go after them. Luckily, we ended up finding our perfect fit. More on that another time...

Did you have any wedding vendors completely turn you off?