progress: the good and the bad

emeejeeayen

Thought I'd share some of the goings on lately. I haven't had much to share since I did the bulk of planning back in August when I was still in CA (I live in DC with FI now), but we've had a burst of progress this week. 

Mom's friend threw us a shower last Saturday in CA since we won't be back in CA again until the wedding. It was fun, but I think we've realized she might be crazy. I'll let my mom deal with that one  

Had our tasting the next day. I was so nervous the food would be awful, but it was REALLY good! I'm very excited. My FI's parents flew in for the shower and tasting, and FMIL said the best I could expected from FFIL was silence, but he actually said he loved the food. (So much so that he apparently offered more money to FI so we could upgrade some things.)

Hair test and makeup test were AWFUL. Horrible. I spent 45 minutes afterward trying to fix my makeup, which I was mildly successful at doing (she gave me lopsided cat eyes?), but the hair was beyond help. We had our engagement photos after, and I have yet to see more than 2 photos, but at least FI and the backgrounds look great. My hair looks acceptable from the back, but INSANELY BAD from the front. I told FI that if it had been our wedding day I would be in tears. So, now I need to find someone else for my hair, and I'll just do my own makeup. I'm pretty sure anyone who knows more about makeup than I do would be out of my price range. At least the trial wasn't absurdly expensive? 

And we found a florist we like. 

So, all that's left is possibly booking a honeymoon and ordering our invitations (already know which ones we're getting). And let's not forget panic. Lot's of panic. 70% of our guest list is coming from NYC, and I have this feeling that either no one is going to come or everyone will. I can deal with either situation, but neither is ideal  

How's everything coming for everyone else? 

RM1982

Ugh! Sorry about your hair and makeup. That sucks.

I'm going to do my own hair, but I have no idea what style yet My cousin is going to do my makeup and I trust her. She's a makeup artist in L.A. But I won't really have a chance to try it out before hand since I'm in Baltimore!

We signed the contract for our venue and caterer last week. I ordered my dress and we have a cake tasting next week. I'm feeling really good about our progress.

Ashelton09

Im sorry about your make up and hair! That sounds so frustrating.

My best friend/MOH is doing my hair for the wedding. She's a cosmetologist and I wouldn't trust anybody else with my hair. My sister in law is a make-up artist so she is going to do my make-up. I think, either her or I'll just end up doing it. 

We've been crazy busy with vendor appointments and last month we nailed down our florist, baker, registery, and invatation desinger. We are now setting up all the details at our venue! 

teachmegs1

I'm sorry to hear about your hair and makeup mishap. I am hoping to get a trial on both of those things within the next month or so.

I am pretty much settled on all areas of the wedding except for reception decor, we are making a lot of it ourselves. The reception is in a pole barn, so I am going for a rustic/vintage theme.  It has beautiful wood rafters and this nice, country kind of feel.  I always joked around with my fiance before we got engaged that we were meant to get married because my dad is a caterer and has owned his own business for over 20 years, and his mom is a pastry chef who has been making cakes and other delicious treats for over 20 years too.  My uncle also runs his own DJ business on the side that has been going on for about 20 years too. I totally lucked out. I can't say thank you enough to my dad, FMIL, and Uncle for what they are doing for us. Only bummer is, we don't get to act like a paying customer and sample any of the food or yummy desserts. =P

I have ceremony stuff to sort out; readings, music, and so forth, the guys still need to do tux's and I'm looking into other small details; nail salon to go to, accessory shopping, and finalizing honeymoon flights and payments.

My shower is at the end of March.  It's a little sooner than usual, because I have a BM who is a teacher out of state.  It will be her spring break at that time, and she's making the trip home for Easter that week to be with family, so It saves her a lot of $ from booking an additional flight to come home end of April/beginning of May.

Hope everyone else's plans are going good!! I said the other day to one of my friends; "I finally realize what everyone says when they tell you to enjoy this time, it's one of the happiest times in your life." I feel like I am glowing! Planning this and getting towards the home stretch is just awesome. I can't wait for the day to finally be here. 

RailWayWife

Yikes good thing you had your trail now and didnt end up with awful hair for the wedding!!

Glad to hear the shower and food tasting went so well

linnyv27

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_august-2013-weddings_progress-the-good-and-the-bad?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:0c4df628-5c86-4382-8f99-5d75e3f57aa4Discussion:9d43155c-f1d9-4e57-b766-ed79212dbcc8Post:66a281b2-f7fd-4009-95bc-a3260e2e5882">progress: the good and the bad</a>:
[QUOTE]Thought I'd share some of the goings on lately. I haven't had much to share since I did the bulk of planning back in August when I was still in CA (I live in DC with FI now), but we've had a burst of progress this week.  Mom's friend threw us a shower last Saturday in CA since we won't be back in CA again until the wedding. It was fun, but I think we've realized she might be crazy. I'll let my mom deal with that one ;)  Had our tasting the next day. I was so nervous the food would be awful, but it was REALLY good! I'm very excited. My FI's parents flew in for the shower and tasting, and FMIL said the best I could expected from FFIL was silence, but he actually said he loved the food. (So much so that he apparently offered more money to FI so we could upgrade some things.) Hair test and makeup test were AWFUL. Horrible. I spent 45 minutes afterward trying to fix my makeup, which I was mildly successful at doing (she gave me lopsided cat eyes?), but the hair was beyond help. We had our engagement photos after, and I have yet to see more than 2 photos, but at least FI and the backgrounds look great. My hair looks acceptable from the back, but INSANELY BAD from the front. I told FI that if it had been our wedding day I would be in tears. So, now I need to find someone else for my hair, and I'll just do my own makeup. I'm pretty sure anyone who knows more about makeup than I do would be out of my price range. At least the trial wasn't absurdly expensive?  And we found a florist we like.  So, all that's left is possibly booking a honeymoon and ordering our invitations (already know which ones we're getting). And let's not forget panic. Lot's of panic. 70% of our guest list is coming from NYC, and I have this feeling that either no one is going to come or everyone will. I can deal with either situation, but neither is ideal ;)  How's everything coming for everyone else? 
Posted by emeejeeayen[/QUOTE]

Yikes, sorry to hear about the bad experience with the trial! Your profile says you are from Northern California - is that where you are getting married? I am from Northern California so I'm going to suggest my stylist if you'd like to check her out. I'm using Maggie Runner (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://glammface.com/" target="_blank">Glammface</a>.com). She's from Redwood City but can travel anywhere in the Bay Area. I just had my trial with her a few days ago and I LOVED it! I was originally only going to use her for hair. I'm a photographer and a lot of make-up artists that I work with have done my makeup for fun, but I've never liked the end result. When I told her I would be doing my own makeup, she asked if she could do it anyway during my trial so I could see the "complete" look. I ended up loving it and booked her for both. Her rates are reasonable and the $100 for the trial go toward the final pricce of the wedding day if you book her. Good luck!

Edit- You can look up Glammface on Yelp as well and it's all great reviews.

linnyv27

Thankfully I have most of the big stuff done so now I just need to take care of some details.

The latest checks were finally finding a bakery to for cinnamon rolls (instead of cake), ordering my band, and booking video. We've also started buying most of the decorations and since I won't be using too many flowers, I just have to go talk to a local flower grower for prices. Thankfully we're not going on our honeymoon until January 2014 so I don't have to worry about that yet.

I'm nervous about my band though...my engagement ring is a vintage ring so I need a curved band to match it. I finally found a great band from a vintage ring store in another state - it even has filegree detailing like my engagement ring. But there is a chance the curve won't exactly match. My jeweler says the curve of the band should be able to be adjusted, so we'll see when it gets here.

I'm also nervous about my girls finding their dresses. I just picked a color and length (it can be different shades), so it's up to them. We've gone shopping together twice now and they still can't commit - I think they are having way too much fun shopping! I've given them the absolute latest deadline of March 20th, so we'll go order the dresses together then. We've also decided to let the groomsmen use any shade of gray suit - whether it's already owned, bought, or rented. Hopefully that goes over well and doesn't become a mess!

Have your ladies found/ordered their dresses yet?

emeejeeayen

The pictures came out well! Thought I'd update. Ha.