Wedding Mumbo Jumbo Volume 3

Greetings and welcome to the third installment of my adventures in planning this wedding! For those who don't already know we are not doing a traditional wedding. We've both been married before and opted to do this a little differently. We are basically just signing the papers and then having dinner with family and friends after. Then the next day we leave on our honeymoon. I actually never had a honeymoon previously. If you think about it weddings are really more for everyone else than the couple anyway. :p We are both happy with this arrangement. You can read more about what's been going on in the first two volumes of this. I'm actually adding a "wedding/honeymoon" tab here so you all can follow along more easily. :)

Anyway on to the updates!

The other day my fiance had off of work so we did some wedding errands. It was actually nice to spend time with him. He's been working so hard lately trying to get enough money together for everything. I haven't gotten to see him much.

First we headed out for breakfast and from there we stopped at a local fabric shop. The other day he was in the area on a job site and he saw they were having a sale. He knew I needed material for my dress so we stopped. I did end up getting the underlay for the dress there. I almost got the lace for the overlay also but they didn't have enough. It's kind of a good thing I didn't get it because as it turns out the lady making my dress already has that exact lace. lol I actually ended up changing my mind about the color scheme a bit which is why I was going to get that particular lace. Now I don't have to. :)

The satin underlay fabric for my dress.

The underlay fabric with the lace overlay.

After we grabbed the fabric we headed to the bakery which was right across the street and got the cake ordered. I'm so excited. I'm sure they will do a great job with it because they are one of the best bakeries in the city. Probably one of the more infamous of them for sure. We didn't do a tasting there because we would have had to schedule it. We didn't really feel like having to go back and we know their stuff is amazing. So we just picked what we knew we would most likely enjoy. We opted for silver cake with pineapple filling. I know pineapple is tricky because the cake may slide but I'm sure they will be careful. We were going to pick it up because there is a $50 delivery fee. However after thinking about it I voiced my concerns to my fiance. I think it would be better to just pay them to do it. The streets where the restaurant is and on the way there aren't great. I would have nightmares of the cake meeting disaster before it even got there. At least if they ruin it we aren't responsible for it and can get some sort of compensation. If we ruin it...well we're just out the $$ and the cake. Plus they are just better equipped to move something like that than we are.

This is what the cake will look like.
(Not my photo. I can't find the original owner to credit. If you know who it's for please let me know.)

After the cake was handled we went to the Irish restaurant where we are having our dinner that night to reserve the room. We actually will probably end up with the larger room they have than the first one we saw. That one seats about 25 people but we have 35 invited. I'm sure not everyone is going to come but we'll see. Either room is nice. I just think it would be a little more roomy in the larger one. We got everything squared away with that though. They even gave us a really great deal on everything. I have to make little place cards so that they know who ordered what since we are doing plated meals. My fiance came up with the clever idea to put a fish, a cow or a tomato on the cards to signify what they ordered. This is because our menu options are beef stew, fish & chips, or we also have a vegan option which involves a stuffed tomato. I thought it was cute. I'm sure we will still have to figure out the details though because there are other things such as salad, and soup on there.

Once the restaurant was taken care of we decided to take some time for ourselves and we stopped at the New Orleans Museum of Art. It's actually something we'd been talking about doing for ages and just never seemed to get there. Since it wasn't far we figured why not? I had not been since I was very young, and he had never been. After that we went to have some lunch, stopped to grab a few things at the store and came home. It was a very nice day and we got a lot accomplished.

We're not far from having everything done now. Just have to order and pay for a few more things. Wednesday I'm meeting with the dressmaker for a fitting and to go over the fabric and details. In a couple of weeks I'm going to get my hair dyed. I'm finally getting it the color I've wanted for AGES! I have dyed my hair red before but it never turns out like this because it's so dark. My hair would have to be lightened which I can't really do myself. It takes me three hours just to dye it normally. lol Plus I'd be too afraid to miss a spot or whatever that I can't see. It's really something I need someone else to do. I never went to a salon because it's so expensive. I have a lot of hair and it would probably be over $60 if I had it done there. Fortunately I have a friend who is willing to do it at a reasonable rate. It's going to be so fun! Getting my hair done, and hanging out with her! She's giving me some toner to take home also so that it won't fade as bad before the wedding.

Getting my  hair this color.
 (Not my photo. I'm trying to find the original source again but not having much luck. I will update once I find it.)

Well, I think I've rambled enough for tonight. Until next time!

Wedding Mumbo Jumbo Volume 2

Hello, hello!

Well some updates on the wedding situation. Things are finally moving along instead of being at a stand still.

Tomorrow we're going to order the cake and turn in the confirmation form to reserve the room in the restaurant. The problem with the restaurant was resolved. They are actually giving is a really good deal.

Next week I'm meeting with the dressmaker so she can measure me and I can pick out the fabric for it. I got my hair pins today. I actually picked out a second hairstyle as a back up plan. I know the lady at the salon said she can probably do the first one but I like to be prepared. Especially for something that important. I've attached photos of the new hairstyle and the hair pins for you to look at. :)

I also found out the information I needed on my business as well. Since I am changing my last name I had to figure out what if anything I needed to change my last name on. It looks like I just have to do it with the secretary of state and the parish for my occupational license. (A parish in Louisiana is the same as a county elsewhere.) I can do the secretary of state one easily enough because by the time the wedding happens and I get to change my name it will be about time for me to do my annual report for them. So I can just make any changes then. As far as the parish it won't be long after we return when I have to renew my occupational license with them so again I can just kill two birds with one stone. I probably have to change it with my registered agent also. My tax consultant said I'm not required to do it with the IRS or LDR.

It's nice that things are finally going a little bit more smoothly. Hopefully it stays that way. I was about to pull my hair out last week. lol


**Disclaimer**
The hair photo is not mine but it was found on Pinterest with no link to the source. The hair pin photo is mine. 

Wedding Mumbo Jumbo - Volume 1

Clip art found in a google search for free wedding bell clip art. http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freedownloads/ig/PSPTubez-com-Free-Sampler/Wedding-Bells.htm

I've decided to keep a small journal of the events leading up to the date. Then when we get back from our honeymoon I'll do more.


My fiance and I have both been married before. I however never had a honeymoon. So for this we decided just to go see a friend who is a judge and sign the papers instead of having an actual wedding to save some money and headache. We are having a dinner for close friends and family after however. Then we leave on our honeymoon the next day.  Despite the simplicity of the concept I've run into numerous issues already.

First it was the cake. I had the hardest time finding a bakery that wouldn't rip our eyes out and was actually open the day of the wedding. (It's on a Monday which I realize is unusual but it's the only day we could do it.) Still I think it's odd that so many places are closed on Monday. Fortunately we did finally find one. We're going to order it this week. Hopefully there are no more problems there.

I'm not sure of where this photo came from originally. I found it on Pinterest and there was no link back.

Then there was the manicure issue. For some reason there is not a single nail tech/nail salon in the area that could do what I wanted done. I wanted to get a gel manicure because it lasts a long time. It should last at least 2 weeks if not more. Which is ideal since I didn't want to have to worry about taking off or changing polish on the honeymoon. I just wanted to do the manicure the day before the wedding and then not worry about it for a while. Well, the problem is that even though most of the salons offer gel manicures almost all of them do not do nail art. There was ONE that said they could do it but they don't have the best reviews in the world and I was concerned about the job they may do. I considered going in and having a "test run". However by the time I would have paid for the test run and then the actual mani for the wedding/honeymoon I could have just bought my own gel kit and done them myself. Sooo... I did. Problem one solved. (I'm actually doing a series of blogs on the kit itself as well. Sort of a review on how it works as well as the journey to find the right mani for the wedding. lol)



Then came the hair situation. For some reason nearly every salon I went to gave me crazy looks and didn't think they could do the hairstyle I selected. (I showed them a photo.) I really don't think it's THAT complicated. It's just a fancy braid. I've actually done something similar to a friend. However, I cannot  braid my own hair like this unfortunately. It's just too hard to have to reach around to do it. Especially when I can't really see that way, even with mirrors. The lady at ULTA was probably the worse. Not only did she give me the crazy look but she acted as if I asked her to hike to a foreign country or something. She made a huge deal out of it and kept saying how intricate it was and that she didn't know if she could do it. She even suggested I come in for a test run, which of course I would have to pay for that also. Umm considering it was going to cost over $50 to do the hairstyle that's a big no. I'm sorry but I'm not going to pay to do a test run just because she isn't sure if she can do it or not. Last I checked they teach braiding in beauty school. All this hairstyle really would be is a sort of a cross between a french braid and a waterfall braid. Hell, I figured it out just by watching you tube videos. She went to school and got licensed. She should know how to do it. I really didn't like the way she spoke to me either. Anyway, I think I found a place that can do it. The girls there seemed a little more confident in their ability to do this. So *fingers crossed.*

I'm not sure of where this photo came from originally. I found it on Pinterest and there was no link back. I tried to find the source because I wanted to learn how to do the hairstyle but there were several pages with this photo and I have no way of knowing which one was the original.

I got these pretty cherry blossoms to go in my  hair instead of the roses.

Now the restaurant is being a pain. We basically just wanted to make a reservation for our group. That way no one has to wait an hour to be seated and it makes it easier for the restaurant also. Everyone was going to pay for their own meals.

They did show us this room and we were going to try and reserve it. However I think they totally misunderstood us as they were trying to sell us on some package where we have a minimum to meet. Umm, no... We can't and don't want to be responsible for paying the difference if some people don't eat or show up. That's why everyone was going to be in charge of their own bill. I thought I explained that the day we met with her but I think they got confused. So I explained it AGAIN. Now we're waiting to see what they say.

Sheesh... This was supposed to be a simple  thing but everyone else is making difficult. It's insane how even the most simple wedding turns into chaos.  We thought the hardest part would be to save up for the honeymoon but we're already mostly there. Crazy...