My wedding in review.

I was hoping to be able to post a blog reviewing my wedding and including professional pictures, but I'm not able to get them for another week.  So, I will do my review and use the non-professional pictures I have received.

THE GOOD

There were several good things that happened at my wedding.  I was really worried that it would go by so fast that it would be a blur to me, but thankfully it didn't.

1.  The weather - On October 3rd, we had wonderful weather for an outside ceremony.  It was perfect weather and the church custodian was able to get all of our chairs in the shade and no one sat in the direct sun.  It was exactly how I envisioned it! 

My daughter giving me away. (photo credit to Maria E.)

2.  The Florist - Orie and Evie, Flowers by Orie, did a wonderful job on our flowers.  They worked within our budget and was able to give us exactly what we wanted.  I love the aisle pomanders and the arch decor and they did a magnificent job on the centerpieces.  I loved my bouquet and my girls bouquets too.

Centerpieces with table numbers.

3.  Church Custodian - Billy is an awesome dude!  He understood the look we were going for with the layout for the ceremony and he did it the exact way we wanted!  He also had everything set up at the reception the way we wanted to as well.

4.  Photographer - Tonya, Moments to Embrace Photography, and her assistant Steve, were fabulous photographers!  Tonya was awesome with me and my girls and Mr. Teddybear raved about how Steve got the craziness of Mr. Teddybear and his bestman.  Mr. Teddybear loved how Steve captured their zaniness and Steve showed me some of the pictures.  They were pretty funny.  Steve took some pictures of me too and I loved how they came out.  I will post my favorite ones once I get the professional pictures back.  I'm excited and can't wait to see them!!!

THE BAD

1.  The caterer - Sal Gallardo, La Fiesta Taco Catering.  What can I say about this company?  They did not live up to their contract.  His employee, the chef, arrived 1 1/2 hour late than what was contracted and this led to a sloppy presentation of the food on the tables and our guests and Mr. Teddybear and I had to wait to eat.  I had planned to have the food served at 3:30pm, not 5pm.  Besides cooking the tacos, we were supposed to also to get quesadillas.  Well the chef never made them.  When Mr. Teddybear confronted him about it, he said that he offered it to everyone in the line.  Well we know for a fact that he never offered it to us, the bride and groom!  I have also asked several of our guests and they have all responded that it was NEVER offered to them either.  I have emailed Sal Gallardo giving him the details of what happen and requested a partial refund, but have yet to hear back from him.  I will also file a complaint about this catering company with the Better Business Bureau.  We will see how that turns out.  I will also be posting negative reviews about this company and their unprofessionalism on other wedding sites.  I would hate to have another bride and groom to go through what we did.  I was very embarrased and unhappy with the service from La Fiesta Taco Catering, their chef and Mr. Sal Gallardo gave us.

 MORE PHOTOS!

Here are more non-professional pictures:

CD Favor/placecard

Cake Topper

Winners of the Bethany 500 going down Marriage Lane!

Cutting our cake.

 

Me and my Dad!

Bridal Group photo!

Elena walking me down the aisle.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanard!!

My Mom, Brother with Mr. Teddybear and I.

Mr. Teddybear and his Grandma.

Mr. Teddybear and his Mom!

Well that's all folks!  As soon as I get my professional pictures, I will post our favorites!

Have a great Monday!!

My List of DIY projects for my wedding

Well it will soon be 3 months till my wedding and so far, I am on time for my DIY projects.  Here are my projects along with the original inspirations for each project where available.

1)  Invitations.  The first and foremost that needs to be done is the invitations.  Without the invitations, there will be no guests for the wedding.  So my inspiration came from Cards And Pockets.  I am using the Signature style of pocketfold invitations in a Bronze color.  I am also accenting it with cream and a bit of sage.  I should be receiveing these tomorrow....I can't wait!!!

2)  Favors.  Our favors are not just favors.  Our favors will double as the placecards.  Although I don't have a picture handy of my inspiration, trust me, its beautiful.  Our favors are music CDs with songs that are imporant to us.  The holder will list all the songs that are on the CD and will have on the front the guests names and the table they will be seated at.  The cd holder will be beautiful and will coordinate with my invitations.

3)  Envelope Liners.  I know that this should be under the invitations, but I think it deserves its own entry.  I got the inspiration from Rosey Little Things.  It seems a very easy project and I love the idea.

4)  Wishing Tree - Several aspects of our wedding are non-traditional.  Our wishing tree will be our version of the guest book.  My inspiration came from this picture:

The only difference will be that we will have one tree but it will still have several branches.  I plan on scrapbooking the tags into our wedding album.   This picture and instructions were found here.

5)  Bouquet Holders - I found this website when I was looking for florists:  Blume Box.  I went to their gallery and the ideas were zipping through my head!  I couldn't believe that these were so affordable too!

Again, the ideas were endless!!!

6)  Foam Hearts -  I came across this idea late in the wedding planning and I thought it would be a nice touch for the entrance into the reception hall.

The foam hearts that I make will not be made with red roses, instead it will be made with the flowers that will be in mine and the bridesmaids bouquet. I came across this idea at SavOn Crafts.

7)  Wedding Journey Display - Steve had a great idea by taking pictures of him and I as we went about planning our wedding.  We took pictures at bridal expos, shopping for my dress, Elena's dress, and his tuxedo so far.  We will putting up a display that will showcase our Journey from Will You to I Do.

8)  Last but not least our Wedding Programs -  This is something I really loved doing and designed myself.  Although I don't have a picture yet, I finished the design about 4 months ago.  I am just waiting to get the right color of cardstock which should be delivered with the invitations supplies tomorrow. 

As of next Saturday, July 3, 2010, it will officially be three months before my wedding.  I do not feel like I am running out of time or that I won't complete these projects.  I know my craft abilities very well and am confident that I will complete all of these projects well within my timeframe that I have set up.

I hope these inspire others out there to think outside your box, you can create beautiful things!

Wedding Planning Update

As of today, it is 4 months, two weeks and 6 days until my wedding!  Yikes!  I remember when we were telling everyone that it was over a year away!!!  Now is the time when things get nitty gritty.  Hehehehehe...I like this time.  I shine at this type of deadline!  ;-)

We haven't had layoffs at work, but Mr. Teddybear and I decided to change our venue to save more money and to be on the safe side.  Instead of having it at a golf course, we will be having it at our Church in West Covina, CA.  It should be approximately $2 -3K less than the golf course and we will still get to have it outside.

Tomorrow, Mr. Teddybear and I are looking for his tux and the tuxedos for the other men.  We have an appointment at Friar Tux's in Glendale.  I'm excited, I took the day off and everything!  We might be looking for bakers and caterers too, but we don't have anything set in stone yet.  We wanted to have a relaxing day too so we will see what happens.

I have a long list of DIY projects for the wedding.  I will be ordering the supplies for my invitations in a few weeks which will include invitation envelope liners, I also want to create our favors which will not only be the favors but also the tablecards as well.  When I am done with those, I will post pictures.  I also will be creating a wishing tree (our version of a guest book) and two foam hearts for the reception doors at the Church.  For all of my DIY Projects, I will be posting pictures and instructions as soon as I can.

So, although I have less than 5 months, I am confident that I will get these projects done in time for the wedding.  Wow...I can't wait till we get married!!!  :-D

FANTABULOUS!!!

That was my word for the day yesterday, but because I am still riding the happy high that I am on, I think I will make it my word of the month. Why a "happy high"?? Well let me tell you.

On Tuesday, Mr. Teddybear and I went to see a local golf course as a place for our wedding ceremony and reception. Now, there are some golf courses that are gorgeous and some that are pretty. The place we went to is pretty, but it wasn't how the place looked, it is the interaction with the people there that matters. So far we had looked at two other golf courses, the one we found on Tuesday, which is Azusa Greens Country Club and the San Dimas Canyon Golf Course. Mr. Teddybear golfs at both of them so he knows the guys there. He has a much better relationship with Azusa Greens than he does with San Dimas. So I took that into consideration. When we got to Azusa Greens, we met with the Banquet Manager, Espi. Right off the bat I felt like she was one of my Aunts. She was very friendly and very accomidating to our budget. She gave us money saving tips, ideas, and suggestions. She said if we booked by the end of July, she would not only give us a 10% discount, but also waive several of the fees (cake cutting, set-up/cleanup, and toasting fee). However, when asked to have till the end of the month of August, she said she could do that. But what the big clincher was when we finished the meeting. Instead of getting up and shaking our hands, thanking us for the appointment, she hugged not only me but Mr. Teddybear too!!! The thing was, it didn't feel awkward. It felt like I was hugging a family member.

So, I was happy and am still riding the happy high from finding a nice place for our ceremony and reception that has really good people running it!!!

I am fantabulous!!! How about you? Feel free to use my word of the month!!