My fiance Mike and I are both Arizona natives. Mike’s family heritage is Hispanic and mine is German so We are hoping to incorporate both of our cultures into our special day. I was the little girl making sketches of her wedding dress and dreaming of what her big day would be like, and now that day is finally getting closer, as we are planning our April 2011 wedding!
The day of our rehearsal (April Fools Day) was an incredibly hot day! It was the first day of the year to hit 100…this was incredibly worrisome for our wedding the very next day. Our coordinator and fill-in officiant were great though and kept things moving quickly.
After running through rehearsal, everyone headed over to Tia Rosa’s restaurant in Gilbert for dinner (and shade).
We wanted the rehearsal dinner to be more casual than the wedding and since we were having it at a Mexican restaurant, we went with that theme. We hung up paper banners, made paper flowers in El Pato cans for centerpieces and used limes for the name card holders. My dad brought in red linens and we used Mexican blankets as table runners. Everything looked great thanks to my Mom and Mike’s tia Holly who managed the setup.
Our bridal party, close family and out-of-town family was invited to the dinner, so we thought it would be a great idea for them to get our “guest book” started. We ended up doing a wedding tree instead of an actual book – everyone seemed to love stamping their fingerprint on the tree! More to come on that project.
The food was delicious! The manager, Clay and his team did a fantastic job of serving drinks, making sure the food was ready in time and cleaning up. We had a Mexican version of meat, potatoes and corn – it was a hit!
After dinner, the staff brought out my wedding gift to Mike – a Phoenix Suns groom’s cake! Mike loves the Phoenix Suns, basketball and cake so I thought this would be the perfect gift. A friend of mine from high school made and delivered the cake. She did such an incredible job, everyone was so impressed with it!
We also made speeches at the dinner honoring our bridal party, parents and grandparents. Both of our parents got up and said a few words about us along with Mike’s friend and groomsman Ryan. We felt so blessed that night to have such great and loving friends and family around us. This is the night our wedding became real…we almost couldn’t believe we were getting married the very next day!
Hi! I'm the editor and publisher of EAD. I live in Chicago with my hubby and my puppy, and I am passionate about all things beautiful and crafty.
This sweet little Chicago wedding showcases so much of my lovely city! From the portraits on Wacker Drive to the reception at Fulton’s on the River, Andrea and Rob chose locations that reflect the best of Chicago, and Jessie from Simply Jessie Photography captured all of the images with her always amazing eye. Fluffy white flowers and navy blue accents from Fleur complemented the view of the water from Fulton’s, and Greatest Expectations made sure the day ran off without a hitch. Andrea is stunning in her classic Marisa gown and mantilla veil. Oh and there is a pup - I love pups in weddings!
The following Chicago vendors contributed to Andrea and Rob’s wedding:
My fiance Mike and I are both Arizona natives. Mike’s family heritage is Hispanic and mine is German so We are hoping to incorporate both of our cultures into our special day. I was the little girl making sketches of her wedding dress and dreaming of what her big day would be like, and now that day is finally getting closer, as we are planning our April 2011 wedding!
We are completely emotional over this video – Loren and Lex from Brinton Films did an incredible job! It is so amazing to watch the best day of our lives unfold in a beautiful video. They truly captured the love and emotion we were feeling that day.
We also received a sneak peek of our pictures from Davis Photographers. I can’t wait to share more with you all and tell you about all the details!
Mike and I keep saying that we had the “dream team” for photography and video. These two husband/wife teams are absolutely incredible…and a blast to work with! We just want to give a HUGE congrats to our photographers, Merek and Brittany – their wedding was a few weeks ago!
I'm a little bit brainy and a whole lot creative. I love writing, nature, sewing, handbags, fresh air, hula hooping, trying new restaurants, baking, crafting, pedicures, books that teach me something, and--of course--my fiance and my two furry kitties. I adopted Nashville as my home 6 years ago and I hope my wedding will embody some of the spirit of this city that has captured my heart!
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ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT DRESS SHOPPING I DIDN’T LEARN FROM T.V.
an explanation…
A few weeks ago, my mom was finally able to come to town to help me shop for my dress. She only had a weekend, but I definitely wanted to have her there for this important occasion. I made arrangements to take a day off work, booked a bunch of appointments, and waited for the “big day.” But with the excitement was a bit of nervousness. You see, neither my mom nor I had any experience with wedding dress shopping beyond that infamous wedding dress shopping show. We were going in blind, and hoping for the best…
What I learned is reality TV isn’t always reflective of reality (surprise!). In my quest for the dress, I visited local bridal boutiques, non-bridal boutiques, a discount gown store, and even the great white chain store (you know the one). Here are a few tidbits of wisdom that I picked up along the way:
1. The consultant doesn’t always magically find dresses for you.
At the first boutique, I was prepared to give the consultant a description of what I liked and for her to pull dresses that would be perfect. Instead I was shown a fitting room, given a quick tour of the samples, and told to pull whatever I wanted to try. Um, what? I didn’t know what I wanted at that point, so I grabbed every non-strapless dress they had (a grand total of 5) and got naked…
2. Strangers most likely will NOT see your undies
Frankly, the idea of a consultant (and a camera crew!) seeing me in my undergarments is enough to give me the willies. Fortunately, the first store just gave me a room where my mom could help me in and zip me up. Phew! Every other store let me step into the dress on my own and then the consultant zipped me in, with the exception of the great white chain store, which gave me a full length slip to wear. Hurrah for no peep shows.
3. Sample sizes aren’t as scary as I feared
Okay, this won’t be true for everyone, but I lucked out with the sample sizes in my shopping trip. As a gal that normally wears a size 8/10, I was worried that the bridal size 10 would be super small and I’d be stuck squeezing myself into dresses all day. This sounded like pure torture. But the dress gods were smiling on me, as every dress zipped right up and usually didn’t need additional clips. This made the experience much more fun, and I could have frolicked around in wedding dresses all day.
4. Wedding dresses are a tall girl’s dream
In true “grass is always greener on the other side” fashion, I have been jealous of my petite/average height friends as nearly every formal event in my life. You see, I’ve worn flats with every formal gown I’ve ever owned. Sure I save money on hemming, but finding dress flats can be a pain! I wanted to wear at least a small heel to my wedding, and had resigned myself to buying extra length in whatever dress I chose. Much to my surprise, that would be unnecessary. Wedding dresses are long! It was the first time I didn’t feel like a little kid wearing too-small hand me downs when dress shopping, and I loved it!
5. No one asked what my budget was. Ever.
The collective wisdom says that you shouldn’t try on dresses that are out of your price range. I call bull on that (see #7 below) unless you have problems with impulse control or something. Frankly, I had no idea what my budget should be going into this excursion. I knew what I was comfortable paying, what was possible with some scrimping, and what was absolutely out of the question. What I didn’t know is what kind of dress fit into these categories, as prices are notoriously difficult to uncover. I really wanted to know what I could get for the price and what the difference was between a budget dress and a high-end dress. Thank goodness I had that opportunity, as I was never steered away from trying on a dress based on my budget.
6. Price wasn’t a mystery concept
I don’t know if those tales of hidden brand names/prices before purchase are all an urban bridal myth, or if the stores I visited were an exception, but every dress was clearly labeled with designer, style, and price. A welcome relief, and also an interesting psychological experiment—I usually knew the price while trying on a dress, but my mother didn’t. I admit I was swayed by price, not wanting to fall in love with something out of my price range. Her reaction, however, was more pure (and let’s just says that she has great taste!)
7. You get what you pay for…and sometimes that really matters.
I went into dress shopping with the firm rule that I wasn’t wearing a strapless dress. I feel like they make me look like a linebacker, plus I didn’t want to be tugging at my top all night. Unfortunately, that eliminated a lot of dresses. At our second stop, a super fancy-pants boutique, I ended up pulling a couple of strapless dresses just because the fabric was so beautiful. One of those dresses was an engineering miracle, with an amazing amount of internal structure that made it fit like a dream. I could have lived in that dress (at least until I saw the price tag!). Alas, it was not going to happen for me, but at least I knew why some dresses cost so much, and what I might be giving up at my price point.
8. You get what you pay for…and sometimes that doesn’t matter at all
In my favorite neckline, the V neck gown, I found that even the most expensive gowns didn’t have to have all that internal structure to fit beautifully. In this case, most of the difference seemed to be in fabric and embellishments. In some instances, I could tell the difference. In others, I would have been totally fooled by an inexpensive dress. Thus I ended up being very comfortable with the quality of dress I got for the price I paid.
9. Not all places forbid pictures, so just ask!
I can’t imagine buying something without taking a picture first, as this will be the most photographed gown I’ll ever wear. Unlike my TV-influenced assumptions, not all bridal shops prohibited photographs. I ended up getting pictures at every shop but one, and only because I didn’t speak up and ask there because I had been brainwashed by the telly…
All in all, I had a great time dress shopping that didn’t live up to my expectations at all—in a good way!
