My flight into the Cleveland airport landed at 2:37 on Monday.
At approximately 2:48 my bags were in the MOBs car and we launched ourselves into wedding-ness.
So let's recap:
We began by searching every floral warehouse, dollar store and craft palace (p.s. avoid the flower factory at all costs) for cylinder glassware for the pillar candles. Mission not accomplished.
The obsessing continued late through the night with mom and I next to each other on the couch, each of us with our own laptops burning a hole in our thighs.
Today we met with our florist and probably left his shop more confused than when we entered. We basically went over everything from our first meeting and tweaked a few things... and realized that the centerpieces I wanted would be quite *ok, VERY* pricey. He also let us know that the prices we found for glassware for the pillars online were super crazy cheap - good to know from someone in the business. We spent about 2 hours with him... 2 hours!
MOB and I left the flower shop, got pretty stinking lost, and with a dying GPS system somehow managed to make it to our linen designer. And no one was there for our appointment - the place was empty. Lucky for us, the laundry lady was in the back and heard me pounding on the door in a near-bridezilla moment. Not long after Laundry Lady let us in and the owner showed up.
Let me back track for a minute: I'm picky, but not unreasonable. I know what I like. But I really know what I do not like. Examples of things in the Really Do Not Like category are:
Floating candles. HATE them and really couldn't tell you why.
Twinkle lights covered with tulle.
Chair covers.
Head tables. Especially when covered with tulle and twinkle lights.
"Bridal shoes"
Now I am very obsessed with chivari chairs. Toally in love. But sadly in my budget, there isn't much wiggle room for an extra $9.00 chair (per person!) for a butt to sit in. Leaving the chairs at the reception location bare is totally unacceptable. You should see these things! Keep in mind the place is still nearly brand new - it's only a year old. One would think that a new venue such as this every expensive country club would invest in some better looking chairs... but no. They are dark, flowered/pasiley and vinyl. VINYL. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. I want my guests to have fun at our wedding, not spend time peeling their asses off of vinyl seating.
I've come to the realization that my reception was going to have, by default, chair covers (barf.) I've seen some really nasty looks, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles chairs below:
The ties totally look like the TMNT bandanna things. You can't deny. You know the theme song is playing in your head as you look at "sashes." I was completely dreading going to look at linens because what I really want (damn chivaris) I can't have. Unless I want to return my dress. Ha. So we played around with some different options... and finally had ivory table linens and ivory chair covers with a satin champagne sash around the chair, and a satin champagne napkin. And it looked super pretty! Then Linen Lady totally stepped it up a notch by adding in a brushed silver charger plate - and it was perfect. So use your vivid imagination and picture the table dressed and set, and a gazillion pillar candles (ok, about 11) on every table. Ivory, champagne, a hint of muted silver, and candlelight. Yes?? Yes.
I hate to admit it, but I'm very excited about my chair covers. Never thought I would say that.
Moving along to the issue of shoes... I've been crushing on these from Nordstroms for way too long:
I went to Nordy's today to make the purchase and they only had black and bright red... sadly, no gold. Of course I came home and scoured the internet for my Nina Culver's with the 2 1/4" heel (perfect! ugh.) and no one has them! My perfect gold shoe... gone from my life forever. Until (you are all going to die) I found them on shoebuy.com... and they are Dyeables.
I kid you not. I just purchased a pair of DYEABLES. I can't believe it either. But they are the exact shoe I wanted, they just happen to be color-less. Now I suppose the sky is the limit... I could easily rock out with some royal blue wedding shoes via Payless 1989... although I'm thinking about going with more of a blush pink/champagne.
On the agenda tomorrow: 2 cake tastings. We are meeting with West Side Bakery and Flour Girl and I am soooo excited. I can't wait to plan Aaron's groom's cake - I'm almost more excited about it than the wedding cake. I'll be back with a full report. Wish us luck.
I did tell my mom that she is only allowed to buy this smashing ensemble if she posed like the model while lighting the unity candle. Anyway, keeping the peacock/leopard monstrosity as a back up, MOB tried on nearly everything in the store that wasn't white. Because Matina's was pretty pricey, we were reluctant to make a purchase. Until one of the sales ladies (who had her wedding last August at the Ritz. She made sure to tell us...) brought out a sample MOB gown that was on clearance. (Translation: still really expensive at 50% off.) It was the most beautiful gown she tried on! This sample Amsale was a size 10 and Mom is a size 2 on a fat day, so we will have it altered big time. Seriously, this dress is amazing - non-matronly, the most flattering lines, and a fabulous color. I'm so excited about her dress, hopefully she is too!
I love it! I actually found this cake in an InStyle weddings from 2001... and I've been saving it for my wedding day! Anyway, I've loved this cake for so long and the bakery has this exact cake in their repertoire which was amazing. They are also going to take care of Fiance's Texas Longhorn grooms cake - wahoo! I'll admit that I was tempted to have them create the following masterpiece:
It's a little on the phallic side, but how can you go wrong a castle, 2 fountains and that AMAZING veil? It doesn't get much better.
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