The Day of Play

Wednesday was perfect! The highlight of my week. Oh wait. ALMOST perfect. ;-)

7:30am ~ my alarm went off. I got up shortly after and took a shower before the sun had reached that peak to blind me through the bathroom windows. I checked on my package on UPS to see if had arrived ~ it came in 9 minutes after my alarm had gone off! Looking at traffic on google maps, it seemed the longer I waited, the better the traffic would be...and the great thing is that I would be taking the 405, headed north, which I never take, and NO ONE ever takes!!! Thus equaling NO TRAFFIC! Woohoo!!! Would not be the same headed back home, though...so, of course, I stuck to surface streets on the way back... and ended up following a weird, older man, in an open convertible who refused to keep a constant speed, or actually GO when the light turned green...

But rewinding back to my trip to UPS in Van Nuys...I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant experience! Absolutely no line, a sweet man greeted me and helped me out; and also gave me the tip on how to address my label next time I hold my package for pick-up. Fantastic! Oh, and in case anyone was wondering *which* package was handed to me...it *was* the one that I had ordered next-day delivery. The other one had gone out for delivery around 8am (again, not arriving till the evening, of course). The dress was great, and everyone who saw it, loved it!

Once I got back to Studio City, Andrew met me at the car wash at our Ralph's shopping center. We dropped off my MINI Cooper, as he was going to be a part of our photo shoot later that day! I grabbed a Jamba Juice, and Andrew drove me back to my apartment, so I could get ready for my hair and makeup artists from B.L.U.S.H.

Brenda, the hair stylist, arrived first, and what a doll she is! We had a fabulous chat about our love for New Kids on the Block. Unbelievably, she was also at the last Vegas show in July! An hour and a half later, Leona, the makeup artist, joined our little party. Not only was she also sweet (and an NK fan, as well), but a fabu makeup artist to boot! And I loooved what Brenda did with my hair. We started with a style that I didn't quite have in mind, but I thought was great! Then Leona suggested a variation to go along with my Disney princess idea. Yes, yes, yes! That was totally it!!! and I'm not going to give it away...let's keep it surprise for Andrew; not to mention, for our guests. If you happen to be on the same message boards as I am, be on the look out for posted pics! Anyway, after playing with my hair and makeup for the wedding... we had to play with my hair and makeup for our "Nod to Mod" engagement photo shoot! The pic to the right was the result.

By 3:45pm, we were on our way to Malibu for the shoot. We arrived to our friends home shortly after 5pm, unpacked my car, and set up in one of the guest rooms to change. Our photographer, Jill, came in about 10 minutes later. We showed her around, then talked about what shots we would be doing, and she gave her input on the clothes we could wear for each shot.

So, as I was getting ready, I peeked over at the mirror to check on my makeup, only to find that my curls had fallen!!! It was so hot in the house, and the sun was beating in on the guest room...it's no wonder. :( Fortunately, I was able to steal our friend's curling iron...but I had to curl my hair every time I changed! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my hair looks decent in our photos.

We did a whole lot in the almost 3 hours that we had with Jill, starting with some shots of me singing and Andrew playing the piano (mod style), shuffling around in our friends' ultra-modern home to snap pics by the marble encased fireplace, lounging around the sofa... then we went outside to take a few around the pool, and finally, it was off to the beach to catch the sunset! And boy, was it windy!!! Talk about my hair being IMPOSSIBLE! Keeping my fingers crossed... :-[] The most I got to see was this polaroid snapshot (and okay, one shot on her camera). To wrap up, we took shots on the putting green at the house and around the fire pit.

I can't wait to see the proofs, which I think should be coming in in the next week ~ it will be sneak peek...then, in the following week (I think), all 200 photos will be sent to us. From there, we get to pick 50 pics that we want to add to our photo album/guest book, which will have Jill's artistic touch.

Now that that's over, and I had a day to rest, ...and our customized stamps just came in over an hour ago, we'll back on the invitations this weekend!!! Can't wait to send them out!

Play Time!!!

Oh my goodness!!! TOMORROW!!! = Big Day!!! Okay, not THE "big day," but it's a "big day"!

Tomorrow morning, to start off, I will be driving to the UPS Customer Center in Van Nuys to pick up my dress for...tomorrow's engagement photo shoot!!! I can only hope and pray that that all goes smoothly! Because what follows that is a trial with my hair and makeup artists from B.L.U.S.H. at noon! I gotta be back here with plenty of time to spare before they get here.

Tight schedule, I know! But that's how I do it... ;-) No, really...the story is this: I ordered a FABU dress from ModCloth for our shoot. Really, the dress is perfect! Come Thursday of last week, I tracked my shipment, and it turns out that it's arriving *the day of the shoot*! Now, if UPS delivered my packages in the morning, there would be no problem... but UPS constantly delivers my packages in the evenings...anywhere between 5pm to 8pm. That's no good. Andrew and I will be heading out to our location spot at 3:30pm. What's a girl to do?

After discovering that I wouldn't be able to pick up my package from the center until after UPS's first delivery attempt (in which case, doesn't matter because the delivery guy always leaves the package at my door or on my patio), I re-ordered my dress (and had 3 lovely chats with ModCloth's online representative), shipped it Next Day Air and had it sent to the UPS Customer Center. Sadly, because of Labor Day, it's delayed my order... in fact, it's why my original order is also coming in tomorrow...and of course, I will be returning it.

Here's the kicker... I just checked in on my original order...it's in Vernon, CA. 15 miles from here. Really??? Kills me...it's so close, and STILL, the delivery time is for tomorrow. It would be a heavenly miracle if the dress happened to show up in the next hour!

*sigh*

Moving on! It's been non-stop. This past weekend, Andrew and I shopped for tons of accessories for our engagement shoot, then went back to his place to gussy up our invitations, and we browsed through the endless options of wedding stamps. This morning, I faxed off our Banquet Event Order (finally!) to Traci, and printed out my contract with B.L.U.S.H. This afternoon, after walking over to the Pack-n-Mail to weigh our stuffed invitation envelope, I came back home and ordered two sets of customized stamps. Then it was off for the most relaxing mani/pedi I've ever had in my life at Oasis Nail Spa on Magnolia in Burbank!

And now I have tomorrow to look forward to! I'm so excited to meet and work with the ladies of B.L.U.S.H. and with our photographer, Jill Thomas! Andrew and I have some fun ideas for the shoot, and I cannot wait to post the pictures!!!

P.S. It is now 12:12am...I just took another look at my two ModCloth packages... the one coming through via Standard Shipping was scanned in in Van Nuys at 8:18pm. My "next day air" one is in Louisville, KY ~ scanned in at 12:31am (9:31pm my time). Hmm...I wonder if they'll hand me my original order when I go there tomorrow morning...

Photographers and Downtown L.A.

Man, it's felt like a long week! And my computer cable (that Andrew gave to me) got FRIED...so, I've been "working" off of my iPhone the past few days.

Our photographer meetings were interesting...and good. In the end, we chose Jill Thomas. As I mentioned last time, Amoré just didn't seem to match our style as we had originally thought...and the connection with the photographer just wasn't there! While he seemed like a nice guy, he was a bit stand-off-ish and didn't really seem to even try to connect with us.

I emailed my contact, Candice, at Amoré to voice our concern. She replied apologizing for the lack of connection, and assumed that perhaps he was nervous since his boss (Candice) was right there. She went on to explain her reasons for matching the photographer with us. Those reasons being that he had the most experience shooting nighttime weddings -- especially coming from the east coast. Funny that we never knew he was from the east coast, because when he asked about us, we told him that we were from the east coast. That could've been a good way to connect with us, but he didn't take it.

In contrast, when we video chatted with Jill, we made that connection that we had both lived in the D.C. area! Okay, I was the one to butt in and say that I used to live in Arlington, but that's what meeting people is all about ~ making that connection. The conversation was open and honest, and she was very easy to talk to.

The only question we had for Jill was getting copies of the raw files, along with the jpgs. Once we chatted again yesterday, all was set straight, we were on the same page, so we hired her! We're even going one package above from what we planned, but it will be well worth the extra money! She's going to be a blast to work with!

Funny enough, while we were on the phone with Jill, Father Brian from Good Shepherd Catholic church called. We returned his call to let him know that we will schedule a meeting with him when Andrew returns from Europe. Till then, he has our wedding penciled in! From the brochure we received, with information on the church and Father Brian, and from talking to him, he seems very personable. I can't wait to meet him!

Friday was my first trip to Downtown L.A.! I joined my friend, Rita, who was shopping for her baby shower. It was a long day of checking out the many types of AMAZING fabrics, buying spools upon spools of ribbon (Cinderella blue for ME!), perusing several floral shops, and hitting pretty much *every single* bridal store that carried tiaras! I found my tiara at the very first store we visited. Murphy's Law, isn't it? Well, my tiara had an original price tag of $129, it had been priced down to $99, and they sold it to me for $80. Woohoo!!! And it's gorgeous!

My other great find was some Cinderella glass slippers! I thought they would be great as table decor, but I may use them for my place cards. Rita had a great idea as to how to set them up in a great little display involving shoeboxes, fabric or cardstock, ribbon and/or crystals ~ it'll be fun to put it together!

Lastly, I'm looking at makeup and hair services. I've had quite a few offers...the last being friends of a friend. I was asked to email them with my info ~ wedding size, etc. One week later, and I haven't heard back. So, I checked out a place that Disneyland Brides have been raving about: Something Blue Stylists. Their online portfolio and the photos I've seen from Disneyland Brides have been great! And the prices...wow! From the preview to the day of, it totals the cost of JUST getting my makeup done by other makeup artists!

Oh, and did I say that we officially decided on using Brian Bosche as our designer/florist? Check another off the list! :-)