Field Trip!!!

I had a fun day today with Elyssa! We went to David's Bridal and I tried on Wedding Dresses! I found the dress that I absolutely love a lot. I tried that one on plus several others, but you know, the first one is always "the" one! I am a little disappointed though because I have such a bigger shoulder / upper body / arms due to swimming/diving in my younger years. So...... needless to say, I looked like a linebacker in a wedding dress! : ) LOL. I will not post any pictures here and scare you

I was going through some fellow Knotties on the Destination Wedding Board on The Knot, and I've seen several Knotties whos weddings are AFTER mine, however they have a lot more accompolished than I do. I guess that means I need to get my butt in gear!

9 months, 3 weeks and 1 day to go! : )

On track!!!

So... I haven't been too diciplined on keeping up with this blog on a daily basis, however, we did take a vacation last week, so yeah... that's my excuse! : ) We've finally decided on our STD's. It's a definate, done deal! No changing minds! So, with that said and done, on to really planning all the details! Need to make sure we have the Cruise information all outlined on our wedding website. Since there seems to be alot of Brian's famiily and friends really interested in going, they are asking for specifics... so... I'd better make sure I get everything in there!!!

I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to do the MIB invites or pocket folds. Hmmm that's a decision I need to make in the next couple of weeks! Along with looking at dresses. Whew......

Make up my mind!

Well, well, well.... just when I thought everything was finally figured out, Brian tells me "Don't rule out Hawaii". Grrrrrr. What exactly is that supposed to mean? It's either Hawaii, or the Cruise. Simple as that. The only good thing out of this is that no matter where our wedding is, we're still having two receptions, one in Minnesota, the other in California, so, all of my brain storming for those events are safe at least! : )

In my honest opinion, I think we're going to stick to the cruise thing. It's waaaayyyyy less expensive than Hawaii for our guests, and that's what is important to us.... having close family members and friends share our moment with us. So, with that being said...... let's cross our fingers!

Planning resumes!!!!

How fortunate am I to have such an understanding boyfriend?!? We have a "hiccup" in our planning and we realize how much we jumped the gun, so we put all of our options on the table and viola ~ we come up with something better suited for us!!! We've decided on a Destination Wedding Cruise. It's not too far or anything like that, but it works for us! We're going to be sailing aboard the Carnival Elation on a 4 day cruise to Baja, Mexico. We'll be departing from the port of San Diego on Monday, a fun day at sea on Tuesday, Port in Santa Catalina Island on Wednesday, Port in Ensenada, Mexico on Thursday, then back to San Diego on Friday!!! Woo hoo. What is more amazing is that I was able to get a group discount rate at a VERY reasonable price. It is more affordable for friends and family to be able to come cruise with us versus traveling to Hawaii, paying for their lodging, paying for their food, etc. It's a win win situation all the way around! : )

What's even more amazing is the fact that I put together m own "Boarding Pass" Save the dates! Woo Hoo!!! Didn't think I had it in me to accomplish something like this, but low and behold I did it!

Now to get to the rest of my check list of over a gazillion things to do!

Operation: Change Destination

Where shall I start??? I was so excited yesterday when I checked my P.O. Box and what did I receive? My 100 free Save The Date Postcards from Vista Print!!!! Woo Hoo!! I love the mail man! But what happens last night??? Well, we discuss the feasability of the whole Hawaii thing. The reason we chose Hawaii is not only the fact that Brian's not been to Hawaii, and he's talked about a beach wedding shortly after we met, should I ever decided to get married again! : ) But also because my grandma's 89th birthday party is being planned for April 2010 and since we were planning on going, we decided what a great opportunity to have the ceremony there! We sorta jumped on that right away without really thinking things thru. So... after discussing our options, one of which was to still do the whole Hawaii ceremony, but we also discussed maybe the Bahama's or Jamaica ~ however it would be tough with all my children (granted two of them are adults... or practically so...) So, I thought about a cruise. I looked at the Carnival Cruise to Baja Mexico... I've been on one before and enjoyed it so I thought we could do the one that leaves San Diego, goes to Catalina Island, Ensenada Mexico and then back to San Diego. So I also did some research on Catalina Island as far as Beach ceremonies go.

Guess What!!!! The cruise itself as of right now is only $174 per person!

That's on the Early Saver Promotion, and so wow. I believe it's totally reasonably priced and may be to the point that many of Brian's friends and family in Minnesota may even be able to join us! So, if this is the case, I'm gonna have to chuck the 100 FREE STD Postcards that I created and re-do some, or change up altogether and come up with something BIGGER AND BETTER. Lol.

Stay tuned for more........ who knows..... maybe more changes?? I hope not!

Decisions, decisions, decisions......

Woo hoo. I've accomplished a very small amount of things that need to be done for this lovely adventure. Let's see.... I've created the STD's and ordered them thru Vista Print. They're postcards and was "free". I was able to get 100 standard size post cards along with 25 brochures for free, all I had to pay was shipping. Not bad. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use those STD for sure or not and we figured that if it's not what we want to use after all, we're not really out any money. Not a bad idea huh? Also, one of the other ideas that I wanted to use for either STD's or for the actual invites were these cool looking "Boarding Passes" ~ they're a real hit now a days and I was fortunate enough to have a friend of mine help create these. However, Brian is a huge fan of the MIB (Message in a Bottle) for the invites. He is sooooo in to the planning aspect of this wedding, it's cute. For our ages, it's weird, but hey.... you're never to old to have fun planning your wedding! : )

This is what the Boarding Passes looks like.....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Very creative huh? I think they're cute, but unfortunately we're not going to use this idea. Maybe for something in the future we can use this idea!!!

Let's see.. what else have I "accomplished"?? Oh... I did manage to order and have since received a "sample" set MIB products and stuff...... it came with a plastic bottle & cork, a glass bottle & cork, sample portion of beach sand and sample portion of tiny shells along with a snippit of raffia. Oh, and a mailing box to mail them in. Very cute!!!!

Well, that's it for now.. I'll be back on here in a little bit! More planning is underway!

Welcome to Destination Wedding Planning!!

So, as I venture into this new journey of mine, I decided that I needed a place where I can vent, collect my thoughts, and also share with others (who are interested) what a person like myself, goes through on a daily basis in the CHAOTIC ways of trying to plan not only a destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu, but two, yes, TWO "At Home Receptions"~ one in Minnesota, and one in California.

Let's just say that where to start always seems like an easy task, but let me tell you it's rather difficult. I've joined the Knot, a very versitile website for brides to be that has a wealth of information along with "Boards" or chat rooms if you will, that tends to consume the majority of my day!! I enjoy reading all the posts as it contains valuable information!!!! So many helpful bride to be's and very addicting as well.

So, as I continue with my planning process, I will definately be updating this blog as I go along. Come enjoy this journey with me!!! : )