Problems with David's Bridal

SUNDAY
I went to David's Bridal on Sunday with Aaron to pick up the bridesmaid dresses for my wedding. They had called Kerry on tuesday and told her she had to pick up her dress in 3 to 5 days. Which is really unreasonable for people to do when they live out of town.

So we get there and when they bring the dresses out they ask that I sign a piece of paper to state I received the dress. I told them I didnt want to sign before I see the dresses and make sure they are what we ordered.

So my fiance and I start looking over the dresses for damages..etc. I had recently read a post about someone having a pen mark on their dress and I just wanted to make sure everything looked okay before I signed for and took the dresses. After all its not my dress, its someone else's and i didn't want to say it was okay.. when it obviously wasnt.

Dress # 1 - size 10.

Looks okay. The zipper is starting to bulge at the bottom. Threads are starting to come out and the zipper is catching on the threads.

Dress # 2 - size 20

Looks okay. Same problem with the zipper. It looks bulgy at the bottom. Told that both dresses are okay and its just the way the zipper is tacked and would be easy to fix.

Dress #3 - size 14.

Really bad obvious threads pulling, making a big line across the bottom by the bottom of the zipper. The zipper is bulging at the bottom. Was told that they would have alterations look at it. I was walked back to alterations, saw the manager show the alteration worker, what I was complaining about, saw her write the problem in a book and we left the room and went back out front.

I was assured that all 3 dresses would be fixed and ready to go by Wednesday.

THURSDAY
I show up on Thursday with my cousin who is the owner of dress #3 that was the worst. I thought it was best to bring her incase they tried to do a "patch job' to make it look pretty like just iron the shit out of it. I wanted her to try it on and make sure it was really fixed.

We arrive and they can't find the dresses... because they are looking in receiving. I told them that they were in alterations because they were being fixed. They bring them out in a white bag and hand me the papers to sign for them. Of course I won't because I find it weird they are brought out in a different colored bag. When I tried to pick them up before they were in a clear bag.

So I start looking at them and they are ALL THE SAME. Nothing has been changed. When I try to tell them that they havent been fixed, they say that they werent supposed to be fixed, that they were only told to steam them. So I said that they needed to be fixed. She said there was no paperwork stating that they needed to be fixed, so they werent fixed. Like it was MY FAULT that there was no paperwork.

So they take the one that looks the best, take it in the back, press the hell out of it and it comes back looking okay but it still looks like its bumpy at the bottom. So I said that I thought that it was just a quick temporary fix and that I didnt want to sign for something that needed work to be done to make it look okay. She said No..no. Its fixed. It will stay like that. So i told her that ironing wasn't fixing it. I mean if you iron your pants, does that mean they will never wrinkle again? Seriously. Come on!!

Then the manager on duty says that they can get me a new dress but only for the one that looks the worst. The others are "okay" in her standards since they can be pressed so the flaws are only mininimally shows. What?

Then she goes on to say that since they are an "off the rack" dealer that the dresses are never new, that they might all have that same flaw ..etc. So I said well if I saw the dress before I bought it, I wouldnt have bought it like that. That the ones we tried on AT the store was not like that, I even pulled some off the rack and showed them that it wasn't like that. They said that there was no guarantee that they dress wouldnt come back looking like that... and it might take 6 to 8 weeks to get the dresses back.

So I said that I had 6 months to wait for a decent one.

Her reasoning was just dumb. Seriously. So what if they are an off the rack dealer. That doesn't mean I would go into macy's and buy a defective dress just because the dresses are off the rack. Either they can order me a new one (most retailers can call around to the local stores and see if they can find one in your size, or you can look online) or most places will give people discounts on defective merchandise. I know I've worked retail at two different stores.

It different when you buy your dress ahead of time and they send you defective merchandise.

Anyways, so after the manager on duty said there was nothing she could do. She basically kept trying to get us to take the dresses with us.. saying that they were all going to be like that etc. We left without the dresses and the promise that the real manager could help us tomorrow.

possible wedding invitations

Aaron and I have been looking for wedding invitations. We haven't found anything really that stands out that isn't A LOT of money. I looked into getting someone local make us some custom pocketfold invitations, but they were a little more than I expected.

The theme for most things I have encountered - People LIE over the phone or at shows. So you go in thinking its X amount of dollars and it ends up being XX amount of dollars.

Grrreeat.

So I looked around etsy and found this and liked it. I showed it to Aaron and he thought it looked nice too:

We can totally change the colors..etc. We ordered a sample to be sent to us.

I contacted some other people on etsy, but so far no one had really responded. I just don't want something ordinary. I can't find anything I really like. I'm just hoping that if we order from etsy that they turn out okay. It kind of worries me to order something from so far away.

One more bridesmaid?

since Maya quit (this seems to be a recurring theme doesn't it?), I told tasha that maya quit. So all of a sudden she wants to be in the wedding again..

So I kind of ignored the requests. Finally I told her I was concerned about her behavior and I really needed people who wanted to help and would help without being flaky... plus we already had even sides. Aaron had 4, I had 4. I told her later that she could be an usher if she wanted, or guestbook or something and she turned me down. Kerry, one of my MOHs, said that she wouldnt want someone as flaky as Tasha in her bridal party. I agree..

However, I was telling Aaron that Tasha had been bugging me about being a bridesmaid, but how she had already quit because she was flaky... and that I didn't really want her to be a bridesmaid because I didn't think I could count on her. I told him this because I said that she turned down my offer to be an usher.

He looked at me and said I was being mean and that if she wanted to be a bridesmaid, why didn't i just let her because why did it matter? So i said that it mattered because that meant an extra gift and an extra bouquet.

So he said well tell her she can be a bridesmaid if she buys her own bouquet.. lol.

So now I'm thinking, am I being mean? Should I just let her. One more bridesmaid is not a big deal....

Papapavlos

Our caterer just got a glowing review in our local paper...

4 star review

Papapavlo's may want to expand.

Sure, the Mediterranean bistro recently moved from its longtime 3,000-square-foot Pacific Avenue storefront to a 5,700-square-foot building in Lincoln Center. Still, the restaurant was packed on a recent Thursday night, and my dining partner and I had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. (Reservations are recommended.)

The wait, however, was well worth it. Our dinner at Papapavlo's was excellent, the wait staff was attentive and the atmosphere was intimate and relaxing.

We took the last two seats at the bar to wait. A diverse crowd surrounded us - on our right were two 30-somethings sipping drinks and dressed for a night on the town; to our left, a baby-boomer couple enjoying dinner.

Papapavlo's has an open kitchen adjacent to the bar, and glowing flames shot up from sauté pans as the staff worked. The restaurant is decorated in warm brown tones, which creates an intimate feel.

At the bar, we ordered hummos ($7.95), a spread of puréed garbanzo beans mixed with garlic and lemon juice. It was mild but still flavorful and tasty and accompanied by a basket of warm, soft pita bread.

Our waiter was quick to offer us another basket of pita bread once we were seated at our table. He stopped by constantly to make sure we had everything we needed.

My dining partner described him as "oppressively helpful." We didn't mind, but if you like to be left alone during dinner, it's something to consider before you check out the restaurant.

The menu is extensive and ranges from pork tenderloin medallions ($17.95) and grilled vegetable pasta ($14.50) to Mediterranean specialties such as moussaka (grilled eggplant casserole, $14.95).

Entrées come with a salad that isn't your typical pre-dinner pile of vegetables. It was a big meal unto itself that was highlighted by a tangy greek dressing and Kalamata olives. A small block of feta cheese topped it off.

My dining partner, a vegetarian, ordered spanakopita ($12.95,) a spinach-and-feta-cheese casserole served in a phylo dough pie crust. The portion was generous - two huge slices - the casserole was rich and the crust, crispy. We ended up taking home one of the slices.

I ordered the gyro plate ($15.95), which was a huge pile of meat accompanied by rice and tzatiki sauce. Gyro (pronounced year-o) meat is like Greek meatloaf; it's typically beef or lamb that's ground, mixed with spices and cooked on a rotisserie.

Since many Greek restaurants leave their meat cooking on the rotisseries throughout the day, gyros done poorly can be dry and jerky-like. The gyro meat at Papapavlo's, however, was perfectly hot and moist. It was still juicy when I ate the leftovers two days later.

Yet the main dishes weren't the best part of the meal for myself or my dining partner. We were both struck by the asparagus that accompanied our dinners.

They didn't seem like much, just a few grilled spears. But the asparagus had a phenomenal earthy flavor, as if it had been cooked on the world's best outdoor barbecue.

It was a small, simple thing that capped off an excellent meal.

Papapavlo's

****

Type of food:

Mediterranean/American

Centerpieces take 2

So Aaron did not really like my centerpiece attempt. He thinks that its risky to let a non-professional do the centerpieces and we should just add the centerpieces to the florist proposal before the deposit. That way we can always take them off, and we can have them as a backup incase something goes wrong with the diy ones. Like we can't get the flowers or something.

What about this for the centerpieces instead of my homemade centerpieces?
This was my attempt at a centerpiece:

Flowers as presented at the florist








When assembled from the florist they will be in a cube vase:


I took them home and put them in a vase of my own. The cube vase will have a ribbon around it too in that same color:

So what do you think? Does it look nice? or nicer than what i put together?

The only thing is my centerpieces cost about $5. The florist centerpieces cost about $35. I don't know if that is worth the added expense. I will add them in though and see what happens.

Caterers check...

Aaron and I went to our caterer tonight. We thought we were going to just meet with the owner to go over the menu and give them our deposit. I also made a reservation for dinner. We sit down for dinner and the owners aren't there yet. The hostess asks us if we are there to sample the food and we said no, we had already done a tasting...

Well apparently we got to do another one. They had our names down as a tasting and the staff just started bringing us food. It was good just to refresh our memory and make some changes. We got a plate of free appetizers, greek salad, grilled asparagus, oven roasted red potatoes, chicken and roast sirloin. We made some changes to our menu. The new items are in italics and the removed items are striken. We wanted to change things around but still keep the same price. We were able to maneuver stuff around and still keep it the same price per head.

APPETIZERS
Roma Tomato Bruschetta
Hot Artichoke Dip on Biscotti
Triple Cream Brie and Sautéed Apples Baked in Filo
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Spanakopita (spinach and feta baked in filo)
Fruit & Cheese Platter with Crackers

DINNER
CHICKEN ENTREE: Roasted Chicken Breasts with fresh herbs
BEEF ENTREE: Roast Sirloin with a Mushroom Merlot Demi Glaze
VEGETARIAN ENTREE: Mediterranean Pasta
Oven Roasted Red Potatoes
Mashed Red Potatoes
Sautéed Seasonal Vegetables
Greek Salad (dressing on the side)
Fresh Baked Rolls With Butter

DRINKS:
Wine (red and white)
Beer
Champagne
Sparkling Cider
Soda
Water
Coffee

DESSERT:
Wedding Cake
Maybe something else? pie? cookies?
Chocolate Fountain with various dipping items

All drinks will be provided either by our venue or by us. Our venue is serving wine, beer, champagne and cider at an open bar. We will be providing sodas, water, coffee etc.

203 days away!

So I randomly checked my wedding website this morning.. like I do sometimes. I don't really check it all that often because I know what it says :)

Anyways, So I randomly look today and the little countdown thing says 203 days away.

I'm kind of shocked because I'm used to it being 300 or 400 days away. Now its almost under 200 days away.

Right now we have a little under 7 months to go.

The time is going soo fast!

This weekend we are going to finalize our menu at our caterer and sign our contract and give them our deposit. We had already previously had them hold the date for us and we had them sign the proposal to us to guarantee the price.

Next weekend, We are going to Sacramento to talk to someone about invitations. While I'm up there I might see if we can go by a rental place up there and see about chair covers. I got a coupon from them and they seem like they would be pretty cheap. I just don't really want to pay for the delivery from Sacramento to Stockton. Since I have a few members of the bridal party up there, I might ask them to pick them up on their way down.

Also this weekend, we are going to give our deposit to the first florist I talked to.
We are going to get:
1 bridal bouquet (1 1/2 dozen roses plus freesia, delphinium and rhinestones wrapped with white ribbon
4 bridesmaid bouquets (1 dozen roses plus delphinium wrapped with green or blue ribbon
1 grooms boutineer (1 white rose plus hypercium berries and delphinium and rhinestones)
4 groomsmen boutiouneers (1 pink rose plus hypercium berries and delphinium)
1 boutineer for my uncle who is walking me own the aisle (1 pink rose plus hypercium berries and delphinium)
Rose petals for the flower girl and the aisle
Hair wreath made of baby's breath and delphinium for the flower girl
Cake topper made of freesia and green leaves
Delivery

all for $350

I got another quote for the same thing from another florist and it came out to be $800!!! Another estimate I got from another place was about that too.

I'm pretty sure that we can make the centerpieces. I just wanted something small and low so that people can see over it. We are also going to have little gems around it and candles.
This is what that looks like:


I got the little bulby things last night at Safeway, but then I called the wholesale florist and asked about cost this is what happened:

Wax Flowers - Bought at Safeway for $2.99 a bunch (that would probably do 3 centerpieces) ----- Wholesale Florist - 12.15 a bunch.
Thats over $9 more!

Daisies: Bought a bunch at Safeway - 10 daisies for 2.99 a bunch (that would do 3 centerpieces) ------ Wholesale Florist - $10 for 10 daisies! Thats as much as the roses from them!

Roses: Bought a dozen at Safeway for $10. They were on sale. They are normally 14.99 ---- Wholesale Florist - $25 for 25 roses. So thats a dollar each.

I am going to call the other florist and see how much they want for the daisies and wax flowers.

Does anyone know if its possible to order flowers from Safeway?.. I called but their manager won't be in until monday. If I can get the daisies and wax flowers from them for that price, that would be great!

DIY Centerpieces

So in an attempt to save money, I thought I'd attempt to do my own wedding centerpiece.

Vase: Free (my aunt has a bunch of these that we can use)
Roses: 1 dozen for $15 (they were on sale today for $10) (1.25 each)
Daisies: 1 bunch for $3 (25 cents each flower)
Wax Flowers: 1 bunch for $3 (75 cents each centerpiece)
Japanese Box Wood: Free from my yard

My total cost for this centerpiece:
3.75 for roses
75 cents for the daisies
75 cents for the wax flowers
Free = Japanese Box Wood

Total: $5.25 each centerpiece

Score!

Pictures of my handiwork..

So what do you think it looks okay?

Should I be a florist?? :) or should I not quit my day job?

Aaron's Dad also gave me a big box of those clear and blue gems. I don't know if I'm going to put them on all the tables or if I'm just going to use them on the other tables like guestbook table, cake table etc.

Florist check and Photographer

Monday I had a florist appointment to finalize what flowers i want to put a deposit on...

This is what I picked out:

Bridal Bouquet: 2 dozen lt pink and white roses, white freesia, blue delphium with crystal sparklers and wrapped with white ribbon and secured with rhinestone pins.

Like a mix of these two:

wrapped like this:

Bridesmaid Bouquets: 1 dozen lt pink roses, blue delphium - two wrapped with blue ribbon and two wrapped with green ribbon both secured with rhinestone pins
but without the green sprigs, lillies, etc. Just look at the pink roses with the blue delphinium.

This is the bridesmaid dress:

Groom boutineer: white rose, blue delphium, green hypercum berries and a crystal sparkler

Groomsmen boutineers: lt pink roses, blue delphium, green hypercum berries

Boutineers like this:

Flower girl hair wreath with baby's breath and blue delphinium:

A large box of rose petals to sprinkle down the aisle in mixed pinks

And a cake topper made of white freesia and blue delphium.

Like this but with the blue delphium too:

So we are getting
1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaid bouquets, 1 grooms boutineer, 4 groomsmen boutineers, 1 cake topper, rose petals for the aisle and flower girl basket, a hair wreath for the flower girl and all for under $350

yay.

Aaron and I did go there last year sometime and we got an estimate. The woman who gave us the estimate was gone. At first they said they would still honor our estimate, but then they talked bad about the woman..etc. Then when i asked about how many roses we would get in the bouquets because before it was 12 for the bridesmaids and 18 for me plus a lot of other flowers etc. she said it would be 5 for the bridesmaids and 12 for me. Which I thought was unacceptable.

So i asked to speak to the owner. He came out and said that before it was for a different arrangement etc. I said they were the same thing except I changed the color. So he decided to honor my original price of $40 for the BM bouquets and $80 for mine. Plus they kept everything the same price and anything that had gone up, was replaced with the original prices.

So I'm glad that all worked out. I didnt want to find someone else. I do like them.

Oh..

and we booked a new photographer. His name is Matt. He will be ther all day (not just leaving after the cake cutting like some people who say all day). We get:
100 4x6 proofs in an album
10 5x7
4 8x10
Plus a CD with all high resolution prints with a copyright release so we can print them

We met with him last night at a starbucks in Lodi. He seemed really nice and had some stuff to show us. Plus his prices are reasonable and his work looks nice.

No it doesn't look nicer

Apparently, they decided that the grass would look nicer and decided to just relocate the rose garden to another part of the property - by the bathrooms (how romantic). So either I can:

1. Move the wedding ceremony to the gazebo - which I didn't really like that much
2. Keep it where it is and they can put some flowers in barrels behind the arch to kind of hide the grass
3. Or just leave it where it is and how it is.. because they think it looks nicer.

The owner said, "well don't you think it looks nicer?"
I said "honestly no, I don't. I think it looks like my backyard."

So again, before:








After ...





But the kitty is cute though... :) His name is Zen. He followed me around today.



I don't know why they moved the roses to by the bathroom..



The rose garden is in the bark area. The other stump like things in the back are the vineyards in the winter... just plain with no leaves. She said they are starting to bud and probably will be in full bloom in april. Of course they are still there and green in September. I checked last year. Unless they decide to rip those up too.

So yeah. Its not that the roses died or anything, they just decided that grass looked nicer. Since we only have 7 months until the wedding, There really isn't much we could do. So I guess in the words of Tim Gunn - We'll have to "make it work".. I'm just annoyed that they decided that the rose garden would look nicer by the bathrooms. They are also in front of the grooms room (the unmarked door next to mens bathroom is the grooms room, its actually pretty nice inside with couches, a mini kitchen and a bed. They also have a door into the mens bathroom on the inside so if I'm outside they don't have to go outside. The brides room is inside the tasting room. The grooms room is a separate building.

Anyways. so I think when we go in for a meeting before we give them more of a deposit, I think I'm going to try to get them to lower the price a bit or something because I really feel that its not the same and we'll have to decorate more now... and honestly I don't like it. I booked a place where I could get married in front of a nice pretty rose garden, not a lawn. I would move it over to by the new rose garden .. if it wasn't next to the bathroom... because thats just even worse than the lawn.. haha.

Maybe the gazebo, I don't really like, would be a good option... because honestly the garden is gone. Thats the only reason we picked the arch.









Why must everything not turn out the way its supposed to?!?! Hopefully it all works out. I mean my fiance and I and only a handful of guests will have seen the rose garden and will have had no idea that there was ever one there.