Bridal Shower is next week

My bridal shower is a week from today!! yay..
Either people aren't RSVPing or hardly anyone we invited is coming. :(
My aunt was saying that she thought by sending back our wedding RSVP that she was also agreeing to come to the shower. umm. no. Hopefully people are just busy and haven't really called my Maids of Honor yet.. then again today was the RSVP date and I didn't talk to them today.. plus people will probably RSVP tomorrow too... or just show up... either or.

We got our set of dishes in the mail a few days ago. They are really nice.

Wedding bands!

Aaron bought me my wedding band today... and I love it. It looks really good with my ring.



So right now my engagement ring is at the jewelers, it is being resized because its too big. My wedding band is also being resized too.. one is going up in size the other is going down in size. I get to pick them both up on Wednesday! yay!

I can't wait to wear them both in September!!

Bridal shower costs

So I just had a conversation with flaky bridesmaid and here is how it went:

I just asked why she had called my cousin, and she said that she wanted to know how much people are going to give her for the shower.

I was like umm.. my cousin is on disability and has a 1 year old, I doubt that she can really afford to give you any money. If you need money, why not ask FH's grandma who is helping to host the shower at her house, to help buy some stuff if they don't have the money. My FH's grandparents aren't wealthy or anything but they do have money and love to throw parties.

I had talked to my MOH #1 last night and she said that they had divided the shower into 3 pieces and each were about the same financially. I was under the impression that each person was going to cover what they were given/accepted to do. I guess they gave flaky bridesmaid the job of decorations. I know flaky bridesmaid doesn't have a lot of money right now. I know my cousin has even less.

So basically I told her that from now on if Kerry and Rachel need money to have them call and not have a million people call.

She also said that they are all saving receipts and will send out bills at the end so everyone pays their fair share. What?!?!?!!!
Bills?

Anyways, so afterwards, I called my maid and matron of honor and asked them if the bill thing was true - its not. A few of them are keeping receipts I don't know why. I basically told them that I don't think its fair to just call and demand people contribute money. That they should at least attempt to get them involved first. Like ask if they want to do something for the shower - like buy something, or help do something. That way people aren't just expected to pay without really being involved.

I'd be kind of annoyed if they all doubled their budget and spent over what they were planning just because they assumed everyone else could and would be able to pay the same amount. Just because one person can afford to pitch in say $40, doesn't mean the next person is able to pitch in the same amount. I know for me that would be a good chunk of my paycheck considering I'm only working part-time. Now Aaron thats doable because he probably makes several times that in one day. I know I have to work 8 hours to make that amount. Considering I usually only work 16-20 hours a week, thats almost 1/4 my paycheck.

So hopefully they figure something else out. They should also try to include Aaron's Grandma because she has offered over and over to help. So why try to force someone else to pay when you have someone ready and willing to help out.

Drama

1. Flaky Bridesmaid turned weird

I have a bridesmaid that originally dropped out/kicked out because she was flaky and kept standing me up. So I let her back in the bridal party a couple of months ago after she kept bugging me. She's been pretty good so far. However at the invitation addressing party that I had, she up and left a few times for an hour and then the last time she just didn't come back. It was weird and my other bridesmaids were pretty stunned by her actions. I mean thats pretty rude to just up and walk out and then come back without telling me where she was going and why... but whatever.

what kind of stunned me was that they decided to split up the responsibilities for my shower and they gave her an even share. So basically they are trusting her to show up and do 1/3 of whatever they are planning in 2 weeks.

So today I was at my aunt's house and she called my cousin. So I thought it had to do with the shower so I didn't think anything about it. Until two of my other bridesmaids called me and complained about the weird phone call they got.

Apparently she is calling everyone asking people how much money they plan to give her to help plan the shower. Then she started telling everyone she should have been maid of honor..etc. She even told my maid of honor twice that she took her job. Apparently she has some elaborate story about how she was maid of honor first, and then we didn't get along so she quit, and then she all of a sudden was replaced by my ex-MOH. I know she doesn't really have a lot of money, but if she couldn't afford to do whatever third she got, she should give it to someone else, not demand donations from other people. So I told my MOH that my fiance's grandma wants to help, and to let her if my BM is having money troubles... or call me and ask me who might be able to give some money... not just call them. ugh.

So I don't know how to handle this, do I just pretend I don't know, or play dumb and ask like no one complained and just say I heard she called my cousin and was wondering why? Or just straight out confront her.

2. My mom and I don't get along. So I felt really torn about even inviting her. A few family members said they wouldn't come if I didn't, so I did. She just sent in her reply card that she was coming. Yay. <--sarcastic

So I thought i'd be nice and ask if she wanted to come to the salon with us to get her hair done. She just sent me an email back that said "no" thats it. So I have a fitting coming up so I thought I'd see if she wantaed to go to that .. another email "no". I kind of want to see her before my shower in a few weeks.. I dont know if she is going or not. She lied about even getting an invite. Which is a lie because my grandma saw hers in the mailbox with hers. She started telling my family who asked if she was invited that I didnt invite her, and then finally the invite magically appeared. *rolls eyes*

She made a scene at my sisters wedding because she felt slighted because she wasn't front and center. She won't be front and center at my wedding either. We aren't doing a family member processional (FH's dad is already best man) or flowers. Besides being sat in the front of the room, she isnt going to be mentioned in the programs, or speeches etc. She hasn't done crap to me this year except make me stressed out and annoyed. I don't think she deserves anything. I just don't know what to do. I don"t really want to ask her to do anything else. I kind of feel like I've tried to do all that I can.

Bridal Shower

My bridal shower invitations went out yesterday and people started receiving them. My aunt called me freaking out because "OMG how is grandma going to get there if my Mom doesn't go?!!!" because heaven forbid someone else has to pick her up

Honestly, I don't know if I can trust my mom in such a small space with important people. For all I know, she will arrive and she will sulk and be annoying the whole time or start to make a scene. My aunt said she would be responsiible for her... but I'm still kind of nervous.

Do I invite her? or not invite her? Honestly I'm still on the fence about inviting her to the wedding too.

wedding invitations

Yay! I got my first RSVPs back in the mail today!

So far that is 4 people attending the wedding... well 7 if you count me and my fiance and the minister.. :)

My aunt and uncle sent their RSVP back and my sister's best friend's parents sent theirs back too.

Yay!

Rehearsal Dinner options

I've been calling around to see where we could possibly have a rehearsal dinner because Aaron's Dad kept striking out at finding a place.

So I called around to some places, picked up menus and I think I decided on a place.

There is a new brewery in town - BJs Brewhouse- and the menu doesnt look too overly expensive.

The options are:

a) unlimited pizza (4 kinds - we choose) and salad
b) unlimited pizza (4 kinds), salad (caesar OR house) and pasta (spaghetti marinara/meat sauce OR fettucine alfredo)
c) unlimited pizza and pasta
d) unlimited pizza and salad and appetizers (3 kinds - probably potato skins, chicken tenders (because thats pretty much all my grandma eats..lol) and artichoke and spinach dip OR egg rolls?)

So which one sounds best?

I'm leaning towards A or D... I'm kind of thinking that D would be best and the most options for everyone.. but honestly A is cheapest. :)

B and C just sounds like ALOT of carbs.

Plus Bad Service -

I went to El Torito to pick up a banquet menu and I walked in and was helped almost right away, but as I read the menu, I had a question. So I walked back to the hostess station. As I arrived, the phone rang and she answered it. Then she had a 10 minute conversation with someone on the other end about nonsense - I know it was her friend. I kept clearing my throat and finally a manager walked over and she hung up really quick and the manager answered my question about rental fees and added gratuity. Its like geez... cant you tell your BFF you'll talk about that totally hott guy and the outfit you are wearing the party LATER?!!!

Registry!

Invitations went out yesterday...

People started receiving them today

AND

someone bought us something already off the Crate and Barrel Registry!



Tasteful taupe and cream come together in an elegant, classic tabletop. Durable dove white porcelain is rimmed with hand-painted iridescent taupe and cream bands, then outlined in gleaming silver.

I love love love these dishes because they are shimmery and sparkly. :)

I know I'm cheating

Hand Cancelling

So I went to the post office this morning to get my invitations hand-canceled and sent out.

I was kind of annoyed when I first got there and the woman at the counter said that its an extra 0.17 charge. The 0.17 cent stamp was ugly.. a big blue rams head.On top of my 0.59 cent stamps... thats a lot of money.

So I decided to try another post office before I gave in to the charge. The little one down the street from my house (I went to the main post office first), said that they would do it and didn't charge me anything.

So pffffffffttt to the first post office who tried to charge me.

So yay all my invitations are sent out.. well most of them. I'm still waiting for a few addresses.

Invitations are ready!

So our invitations are ready to go out. Yesterday my bridesmaids Kerry, Rachel and Tasha and my other friend Liz came over and we got the invitations ready to mail.

Here are some pictures:

Invites ready to go out:


Rachel with her Maid of Honor bag:


Tasha is boxing up the invitations as Rachel checks them off the list:


Tasha sealing the envelopes - which by the way, didn't work.. i had to use a sponge later to seal them..


Kerry taking a break from helping me hand address envelopes:


Liz taking a break from trimming down the invitations - some weren't fitting into the envelopes...


Rachel stuffing envelopes:



We started at like 1:30-1:45 and we were done by 5:00. Thats with snack breaks and we had to send Tasha out to get some index cards and a double stick tape refill.
Tasha was one person who kept annoying me to death.. She talked on her phone most of the time. She complained about everything. She kept leaving to go smoke. At one point she just left completely and came back an hour later. I was like WTF dude.
At 5:00, Aaron and I went to get pizza and left the girls to talk about bridal showers and etc. They decided on August 2nd when I came back. We are going to have my shower on August 2nd. The bachelorette party is going to be September 13th. Yay progress and dates!
My only worry is that the Shower is going to be in 3 weeks!!! Is that enough notice? I don't know. We'll see.

Mock hair trial

I'm thinking about doing something like this for my wedding day, what do you think?

FYI: This is just the hair stylist playing with my hair after she cut and styled it. This was not an actual hair trial or anything like that. She just put it up like that in a claw clip. I was just going for overall shape and placement:

Pictures:

Tuxedo Rentals

The other day Aaron, his dad and I went down to Mens Warehouse and picked out tuxes. They gave me some brochures to send out to the groomsmen. I made up a page going along with the brochure listing the specifics - like vest/tie color, tux, cuff link colors, shoes etc. I also included the pick up date, fitting date and etc. Plus price. If they aren't fitted by the fit by date, they have to pay $25 extra for a rush fee.

I sent that off to all the groomsmen. The other day I heard from Ray saying that it wasn't going to be a problem.

So this morning I received a message from my uncle asking if the price I sent him for the tux was to rent or to buy it because it was kind of high ($135 .. almost as much as my BM dresses).

So I sent him a message back asking if he wanted to find something cheaper and/or just not be in the wedding.

I can't really offer to help him pay for it because 1. I work at Starbucks (thus no money) and 2. I have a lot of other stuff I have to pay for too... hair/make-up/dress alterations..etc.

he sent me this message back:
Only my death will prevent me from going to your wedding and walking you down the aisle. In that event just put on my rented suit and lean me against a wall. We don't care about money, do we? In my travels I've noticed that the only time money matters is when you haven't got it. As you can see I am hard at work to shape up so that I don't need a suit from the lardballs section.

Pat
ha ha my uncle is hilarious.

Dancing Shoes!

This weekend was fun. I met my friend Jessica at the mall and we went to Old Navy. I got a bunch of flip flops. We are going to use them at the wedding if anyone wants to change out of their shoes and dance in comfort.

So now I have 20 pairs. That should be enough right? If not oh well, first come, first serve.

I went to Jessica's daughter's first birthday party on Sunday. I helped her BBQ the food. Shaun, Maya's husband, was there. He tried to pretend he didn't know that Maya and I weren't talking. He was like oh as far as I know we're still planning on going to the wedding but he didn't know if he was still going to be a groomsmen. So I talked to Jessica and she said he was a big liar because he knew what was going on with us and he didn't really like that I was going to be there. Whatever. He spent the rest of the time trying to avoid me. So at this point I dont know if I want to invite them to the wedding at all. I was hoping that I could just invite them and they would come and all would be well again... but maybe not.