Accesorize me please!

One of the really fun things for me about my wedding is all of the shopping I get to do. Let's see, dress, shoes (X3), Honeymoon shopping, lingerie shopping, new house shopping, window shopping (registry), arts and crafts shopping, reception (decoration) shopping, etc. I already have my wedding dress and shoes, and Ms. B gave me an ADORABLE white halter dress for my birthday that was exactly what I had been looking for for my shower! But I am still missing things for all of my other events.

Today marked my first day to begin looking for accessories and outfits! I need something to wear for my bachelorette party and something for a potential second shower with my FMIL and Mr. Scott? I need a new bathing suit and some honeymoon things. I still haven't decided if I am going to change into a "leaving the reception" outfit or stay in my dress. (Thoughts Anyone?) I definitely need more lingerie. But today we will limit it to my bridal accessories for day of.

How about a classic lace garter?

Or maybe a fun black and white polka dot?

(Can you tell I liked the polka dots?) Maybe one with fur?

Some classic elegance...

Or maybe I'll show off my patriotic side? (YUCK!)

When I started looking at earrings and bracelets (I won't need a necklace with my dress) I ran into a snag and stopped looking right after I started...do I go with diamonds or pearls? Hum...?
Photos Courtesy of Etsy.

Wedding Woes

I will return to my hopelessly optimistic future Mrs. self tomorrow, but for today...here are some of my wedding peeves:

Top Ten Wedding Peeves of the Moment:

1) Unity Candles - whoever decided that this was the perfect addition to a Christian ceremony that HAD to be done...was on crack. I actually hate it. So you light a flame together...how on earth does that unify you under Christ? ridiculous...Also, I used to think sand would be cool only because you could keep it somewhere in your house afterward. Mr. Scott reminded me of several verses regarding the folly of sand and have henceforth linked sand ceremonies with unity candles....ridiculous! :)

2) Cheap wedding favors - NO ONE likes them or keeps them unless they are a hobbit...Such a waste of money

3) Crunchy wedding hair - you do not need to use a gas mask while doing your hair to be beautiful.

4) Wedding Junk Mail - You go to one bridal fair and your weekly contribution to global warming erupts

5) The fact that when you say the word wedding, all I see is $$ in people's eyes.

6) Bridesmaid dresses - have never, will never, like them. Period. I like mine, but even then part of me feels that I picked just to get it over with. I think being a maid too many times may have made me bitter.

7) People who do no RSVP - while I have yet to encounter this, I am sure it is coming...

8) Wedding Website - people not checking it for information and it not working properly sometimes furthering people's reasons not to check it.

9) Marriage pessimists - people who tell me not to get married, constantly mention high divorce rates, bathe in their singleness reminding mine is coming to an end. So annoying because I haven't been single for awhile now and frankly, Mr. Scott are making this for life...so there!

10) PREGO COMMENTS - we prefer (God willing) not to have children for a MINIMUM of five years. So start rooting for us and not against us!

Sorry, maybe I'm on wedding burn out. Ill be happy and back tomorrow! :)

Birthday Time!!!

I have always enjoyed my birthdays. I do not understand people who say "I hate my birthday" because I don't. I think it is in large part due to the fact that growing up, birthdays were the one time we were allowed to spend that extra dime we didn't have. My mother had a knack for making our birthdays incredibly special without spending too much money and ever since then, I have always loved my birthday. I thought for awhile that it was selfish to celebrate the fact you were born. But I have come to realize that it is a celebration of life and all the good things life holds.

I have always imagined that my Golden Birthday would be a huge bash with lots of gold. I imagined my gold outfit and my gold shoes as 50 of my closest friends wined and dined. Once I met Mr. Scott, I had visions of a gold and silver party (his birthday is only 5 days after mine and he was going to be 25). Lots of friends and food and gold and silver! But since we have gotten engaged I have had neither the time nor the energy / motivation to plan such an event. I realized this is because I will be having the coolest bash ever already this summer. My wedding! So my original sadness of no golden birthday turned into excitement for my birthday. I won't bore you with too many details, but it was FABULOUS! and here are some highlights:

* My WHOLE family called me to sing (often alone) me the birthday song.

* My co-workers tricked me into thinking I was in trouble before bringing me to the conference room for cookie cake and fun

* Mrs. E (one of my Bmaids) drove from the westside to share a crepe with Mr. Scott, myself, and our two friends

* Mr. Scott made me the best birthday card ever! It was gold for my golden birthday and listed all things gold in my life (I take the gold line metro, Omar Vizquel is a gold glove winner, etc). He also gave me a beautiful golden bouquet of flowers. So sweet!

* I have a great crepe at a wine bar

* Scott surprised me with AMAZING sushi at the Geisha House in Hollywood and had my sister and her boyfriend come along. I hadn't seen them in a long time so that was awesome!

* One of my Bmaids and Mr. Scott's groomsmen threw all the April birthdays a BBQ at their place. SO FUN!

* I got a gift certificate from Grandma Mrs. Kelsey to BB&B hence showing me she discovered our registry.

* And when my birthday highlights are all done...Mr. Scott's birthday is Tues April 29! Yay Taurus!

90 Days and counting!!

Ok so its really 89 and counting but this weekend marked the big three month mark. We still have have so much to do and so far to go but there is still some excitement over the fact that we could get our marriage license if we wanted hooray!!

Yes, Please!

I popped open my registry today after realizing we were going to need a drying rack for laundry that cant be dryer dried, and low and behold look what I found!

I was so excited to learn that I got my super sweet mixer to allow me to bake all sorts of goodies for Mr. Scott. J I didn’t register for a stand mixer (much to many women I know dismay) because I didn’t feel I baked enough things that warranted a stand mixer. Not to mention the fact that I thought the money someone spent on the mixer could go toward to many other things we needed. (I did however make Mr. Scott promise that if I wanted one in a few years, he would get it for me for Christmas and my birthday) This in turn, made me check our Macy's registry instantly to learn that someone bought us 8 of our 12 5 - Piece place settings in our China. Can you believe it? I can't! And to think we almost didnt register for wedding china. I am already amazed at people generosity with us. My maids have been good enough to spend a pretty penny on the dress of my choice, Mr. Scott’s Men will be renting tuxs, our parents and my FILs (Future In Laws) are helping us financially and mentally, and here I run across a few brilliant gifts!

The fun thing about registering for Mr. Scott and I is the fact that we get to start from scratch. Both of us have had the opportunity to live with brilliant roomies who just happen to leave our apartments fully stocked! So while it meant we had to register for a few less “fun” items because we need so much, it did give us a chance to really envision our new lives together. Could I see us sleeping on these sheets or do I think a higher thread count is better? Will we hate an earth toned bathroom after a few weeks or love it for years to come? Our friends warned us that it would be our first big “engaged/wedding” fight, but it has actually been one of my favorite parts of the planning process. Some things I loved and Mr. Scott hated. Other things he loved and I said absolutely not. But we laughed at disagreements and always found a middle ground. We felt special walking around Macy’s and “shopping” for our new life. Bed Bath and Beyond was amazing to us as they all said a truly heartfelt “Congratulations!” and “Do you need anything?” as we walked around the store. They even let us stay past closing to have the store to ourselves. It has become our favorite registry place to date.

The most amazing part of all, however, has been this new gift. While I haven’t received it yet, I am so honored someone spent the money on us. We were told when we registered to “Register for anything you want! Don’t feel selfish or greedy because people really do want to buy you things! And sometimes, even expensive things!” I didn’t believe them really and it has hard for me at first to not feel guilty for registering for things. However, I love shopping. So getting something I “window shopped” for is so fun. I have no idea who got these for us, but I am so excited!

Photos courtesy of Bed Bath and Beyond

Bargains ands Dilemas

So lately I have had a few fun wedding finds, but have most stumbled upon a few dilemmas. Most involving which DIY projects to do myself. I didnt make my wedding dress or bridesmaid dresses because I was concerned about time. I didn't do my invitations because I wanted them to be pretty and didn't have the motivation to really throw myself into that project. I do not regret any of those decisions. However, now I have entered into the questionable state of "what is my time really worth, and what is really worth my time?" dilemma of DIY projects.

My first find was in my veil. I found my veil a few days ago and I am SO EXCITED about it! It ended up being extremely simple and cheap ($60) because I found an Erica Koesler outlet in North Hollywood. Who would have known my dream veil was a "classic yet vintage style"...pretty much sums up what every vendor has told me about my wedding. :) Anyway, I, being in a very bridal mood, drove home and tried on both my dress and my veil at the same time. I was amazed at how well the veil I had just blindly bought fit with my dress...fabulous!

I also went to target where I found my $5 white flip flops I intend to wear for the reception. Couldn't be happier about that find. :) Starting thinking if I should purchase a few extra sets of flip flops to put out on the dance floor for people to use during the reception...hum....extra work or worth the extra?

Also started, insanely I am told, thinking about DIYing my flowers. Crazy? Maybe....need a lot of thought about this one. I am going to start my flower porn hunt tonight and see what I come up with.

Also DIYing my escort cards, menus, and programs. Want to start on those projects as soon as possible. Have already found some inspiration but now am on the hunt for the right materials. I could be crazy...

Don't like the idea of a unity candle. Like the idea of sand ceremony...but mostly because I would want to keep the sand somewhere in the house as a reminder of our vows. Mr. Scott reminded me of the verse that talks about not building your house on the sand but on the rock...hence decided against the sand. Don't know what else to do, but trying to get creative...

I haven't figured out what I am walking down the aisle to, but really want to try to sort through the music. I really like the idea of musical soundtracks as the idea of walking down the aisle to the Wedding March gives me visions of marching away from my groom not toward him. So, yeah...I'll need to work on that too...

So many dilemmas and I am realizing so little time. :) Tonight it's off to watch Mr. Scott's genius on the computer as he tries to mail merge our addresses onto our our envelopes. In the meantime, I'll keep you posted because apparently I have a long list of things to think about...

50 Years of History and Rivalry...

Today is the day we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Giants coming to San Francisco. I feel like everyone should be celebrating in the greatest city in the world, but I am unfortunately stuck in Dodger territory. However, birds are chirping and I can feel the spirit of SF within me. All creation seems to be cheering for the Giants as they beat the first place national league team (D-Backs) yesterday. (it gives me a glimmer of hope in a season that promises to be one of the worst in our history). With the Dodgers in last place, what more do I need to celebrate the Giants? Everyone should celebrate them...it's what Jesus would do...

Lance the Gay Crusader

Lance. The name itself reminds me of rainbow flags. J Our story begins on summer day…

Roomie and I were still looking for an apartment and Mr. Scott had graciously agreed to come along for the ride since he knew the area well. We found an apartment on Allen and after viewing it and deciding there was no way in hell we would live there, Mr. Scott and Roomie were basically on their way out. Not wanting to be rude, I waited at the stairs for the landlord to lock up. Our conversation went something like this:

“So what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a law clerk at a firm downtown. I’m in the process of applying for law school.”

“Oh my son is an attorney! He went to Pepperdine Law. VERY CONSERVATIVE SCHOOL.”

“Oh really? I applied to Pepperdine. What firm does your son work for?”

“Well, he used to work for a big firm and hated it. So he left and started his own firm, and now he fights for the gays.”

…silence because I am trying not to laugh….

“My other son is an attorney too and hated where he worked too. So he also quit his job and joined my son’s firm and now he fights for the gays too.”

I muttered something and left before I lost it and started laughing. We got in the car and I relayed the conversation to Mr. Scott and Roomie who promptly started laughing. We had visuals of this woman’s son with a long stick with a point on the end and a rainbow flag attached to it as he prance….er…marched around waving his flag. Honestly, who uses the term “the gays?” We tried to come up with a name for him and decided he was “Lance, the Gay Crusader.” Realizing we had no name for our beta fish, we named him “Lance, the Gay Crusader…the fish.” So that is how Lancey Pants got his name.

R.I.P. Lance….

Margarita Movie Mondays and R.I.P.s

So after my Bridal weekend, I got home Monday tired from work and my wonderful roomie was home! I commented that now that the writers strike was over, I felt like I didn't spend enough time with her. So we decide a movie night was in order. This of course led to movie snacks (chips and salsa) which of course led to margaritas. Hence the naming of the night "Margarita Movie Mondays". We love it! And decided that the "Margarita" could change weekly...maybe to "Mimosa Movie Monday" or "Martini Movie Monday" or "Midori Sour Movie Monday"...you get the picture. We were going to watch "Bridget Jones Diary" until I realized it was the second one, and until I realized roomie had never seen "When Harry Met Sally". This of course gave me the opportunity to give her a "WHAT?! How have you never seen this??!!" which I love doing to a movie buff like her. :)

Tuesday night, we wandered over to Mr. Scott's Aunt's house to discuss cakes. :) Mrs. Scott's Aunt is a genius when it comes to anything cake and has graciously offered to make our wedding cake for our wedding. It was a great night and really fun! We talked about some of the biggest cakes she has made (one for 1,000 people!) and some of the funniest. We talked about how when Scott was little he always wanted dark colored frosting the joke each year became "What color should I tell the parents their children's poo will look like from the frosting?". And we heard a little bit more about their lives and stories. Mrs. Scott's Aunt lived in Alaska for awhile while her husband was a court reporter for JAG. We got to look through their wedding album and discuss how Mrs. Scott's Aunt made both her wedding dress and going away outfit by hand. And, Mrs. Scott's Aunt also has Mr. Scott's Grandmother's crystal. It is a BEAUTIFUL antique pattern...much prettier than anything we found in the store. She told us that if we wanted it, she would finish the set for us as wedding gifts, Christmas gifts, etc. It is honestly beautiful and I felt so honored to really start "becoming a part of Mr. Scott's family".

As we were leaving this fun night, I got a text message from my roomie, "Lance is dead." I was heartbroken. There is a very funny story about we got Lance and decided to name him that I just lost motivation to write (though maybe I will later), but the bottom line is that Lance was like our child. Lance, our Beta fish. So I got home and roomie and I played "Circle of Life" as we gave him a proper porcelain burial. Poor little guy. He had a good life. I will miss coming home to him.

Other than that, this week has been a slow week. I made some more progress on our bridesmaid dresses by finding a few styles I like and calling a few salons to see if they have them in stock. But really I have been waiting for the weekend where I hope to get most of our invitation stuff out. I'll keep you abreast of any new developments.

Bridal Breakdowns

So this weekend I went in for my first fitting. It was a disaster. First off, my dress is a little tight. Not too tight, but I am definitely going to pop out a bit if I am not careful. Second of all, my bridesmaids (two different ones) had different things come up last minute and weren't able to come with me. I shouldn't have gone alone and I have learned that now, but I did. Finally, I got quoted more than the cost of my dress for alterations. Ridiculous! So I was on the verge of a breakdown. :(

Here's the background on my dress, I bought my dress for cheap. It's beautiful and I love it, but it was bought as a "mass appeal" bridal gown. From the first day I bought it, Miss B warned me that what I was sacrificing in price was potential quality. I listened intently but in the end, decided it was still worth it. Anyway, as I said, I loved my dress and still do. I think my issue Friday was that being alone and made to feel like a fool when they told me the cost of alterations was the first time my dress felt cheap to me. It hadn't before that moment but it did in that moment. So I got depressed and began to feel ugly and depressed that I wouldn't feel beautiful in my gown. Needless to say these are all things no Bride wants to feel in her gown.

So I drove home all upset and called Mrs. Mom. I explained everything and she made a few really good points: 1) Be thankful to God that your dress arrived so early! You will still have plenty of time for alterations. 2) Be grateful you live in LA near the fashion district where it shouldn't be too hard to find a seamstress. 3) Realize that you are doing some hefty alterations to the gown and that it is going to feel totally different when you are done with it. This made me smile and feel OK about the whole situation. So I went home and lounged on the couch cuddling for the rest of the night with Mr. Scott and feel much better about the whole thing.

But then my weekend get better! Our invitations arrived! So we spent most of late Saturday afternoon watching UCLA lose in the final four while drinking a glass of wine and assembling our invites. I am actually very excited about them! Above is the assembly process! Below is our names...they turned out much better than either of us expected.

Below is the actual invitation. Not as crafty as if I had DIYed them, but I still love them!

We also took a much needed break from wedding planning and went to the last LA Kings game of the season. They played the ever hated Anaheim Ducks. I have to say though, I love any sport where the mascot is allowed to make fun of the other team and people chant things like "F*** the Ducks!" It's a great sport and we (I) really got into the game. :) While we didn't get too much done and the quest for my bridesmaids dresses feels like it will never end, it was nice to get in a fun break. For now, the hunt continues...

The Grass is GONE!!!

It wasn't really until last weekend that I became really bridal. My sister and MOH took me thing called "Soolip Wedding Faire". Now my sister kept pronouncing it "Sal-o-pah" which in French is the word for a dirty slut. I later learned the correct pronunciation is "Sue-Lip" which made me feel much better. Anyway, Mr. Scott and I had been to a bridal fair before and hated it. First, I felt awful for making him go with me. Second, all the vendors where pushing their services so strongly it was almost overbearing and awful! It was almost as if the organizers said to themselves, "Here! Plan your whole wedding in three hours!". Yikes. Finally, everything about the fair was so cliche and "Bridal". There was pink and tulle everywhere! And I did not see an ounce of creativity in the building. I have respect to these vendors that I am sure run a wonderful business, I am just not the type of person to hire a pushy person.

Anyway, Soolip was much different. Maybe it was because tickets were so expensive (my MOH got a GREAT! deal) or because it was the creme-de-la-creme of Los Angeles, but I left feeling very beautiful, the good kind of girlie, and very "bridal". It completely inspired me. As these vendors already make so much money, it was more about showcasing their work, talent, and creativity than it was about trying to get hired. Miss B and I got our names written in calligraphy, got a mini makeover by Aveda, ate a lot of H'ordervs, drank a few mimosas and glasses of champagne, watched a Caroline Herrara show, and ate a lot of cake! It was serious so much fun though. I posted a few pictures below.

Miss B and I in front of the "Bridal Bar" booth. They were handing out Mimosas all day! :)Miss B waiting for her closeup...er...makeup!

Waiting for my makeup!

After our makeovers!Talking with vendors...

At the cake tasting...though not surprising I did most of the tasting! :)

Waiting for the Fashion show to start...

Then it started!

This one was Miss B's favorite!

This one was both of our favorites!

Anyway, after that, we wandered over to a discount store to begin rummaging for good finds. While there, I ran across these black lanterns that I absolutely LOVED! I decided that the best way to use them was to line the aisle and to then move them to the reception. I'm going to place one on the bar, one near the guest book, a few on the patio outside, etc. I am actually so excited about these as I did not want to do a runner, but couldn't think of another way to create an aisle. I also found some great fabrics for our doorway and as a backdrop for our photo booth.

Then! As if my weekend couldnt get any better, I went to our venue to talk about a rehearsal dinner which we promptly decided was too much money. However, while there I learned two things. 1) We are allowed to use sparklers! This was one of the things I really wanted for our wedding and didnt think I was going to get to use, but we are!!! And 2) while there my coordinator informed me that "the grass is gone." I looked at her, completely confused until I realized she was referring to the Astroturf! One of the things about our venue that greatly concerned me was that there was Astroturf out by the gazebo. I was petrified of what it was going to look like as my stark white dress reflected the glow of green carpet. But low and behold, they tore it out because "it was too much of a pain to fix and repair". Praise the Lord!

Overall, it was a great weekend that really got me excited about the wedding and planning all that is wedding. I realized that while we still have A LOT! to do, things are coming along. One of my BM's (though I am sorry because I cannot remember who) told me, "Kelsey you have only been engaged for just over two months now. Think about all you have done, not all you have to do!". That has definietly kept my head above water. For now, I will be scanning my wedding bible, continuing my hunt for BMaid dresses, and attempting to sort through the rest of this mess they call wedding planning. Thank goodness I am organized! :)

Let them eat CAKE!!!

I had a very productive weekend last weekend and one of things we talked about was our cake! :) Mr. Scott's aunt is a cake maker extraordinaire! so I am lucky enough to not have to hire a baker to do it. She has generously offered to make us a cake for our event as a gift to us. SO AWESOME! The next awesome thing is that since I have been to so many events with Mr. Scott that I have tasted her talents and they are goood! :) The only thing she asked for was more descriptions of what we wanted on our cake. So with that request, my hunt for the perfect cake has begun! Hence...cake porn!


This cake looks so real I didn't even realize it was a cake until I read the caption! So fun!

I liked the one on the right much more than the one on the left. For some reason the waves completely caught my eye...

All I can say is that I do like chocolate! Yum...there's already a rumbling in my tummy!

I loved the ribbons on this one and the subtle pearls around each base. Thought it was very chic!


I liked the simplicity. Granted this is a mini cake and ours would need to be much bigger...

I LOVE April Reed cakes! This one is beautiful...except I wouldn't have blue frosting...not my thing.

I like chocolate (above) and considered it for wedding colors for awhile and this is such a fun black and white cake that I had to put it up. I want to use black as more of an accent color so this got the ax. After looking at all of this though, I realized that I wanted something beautiful yet simple. So here are some of the finalists and some of my favorite details!
So it may look pink in the picture? Maybe it's just my monitor, but it is white. I like ribbons (obviously you can notice the trend) and I REALLY liked the bow ties!

Cake by Martha of course! But I loved it! The flowers are sugar and inspired me a lot!
Hence more sugar flowers. I saw these and thought "Sweet and homey yet classy" instantly.

The roses on this cake are beautiful and I thought the design on the ribbon added a rich look to the cake. I thought the design was amazing! It has a few too many roses for me though.

Cake by April Reed. This is my FAVORITE! Just enough detail yet still completely simple. Please share your thoughts and opinions on your favorites! I would love to know!

Some of these cakes are from people such as cakepower, the cakegirls, fayeandgreer, marylin's in the UK, and Judy Uson in Manilla. I tried to find the names of the artist to give credit but couldnt always find it so my apologies....