Countdown to Bridesmaid Luncheon!

So the big day is almost here and I am feeling...exhausted! Don't get me wrong, I'm excited but there are still a few things to do and this past week has been eventful to say the least. Note to self: request a day off from work the day before ANY event, no matter how informal it may be.

Last night I put together the swag {I love this word} bags for the ladies. The day before, I received a very special package via UPS that I ordered for the ladies. All that's left to do is buy the food, prepare it, and have fun. Seems simple, but I'm in dire need of one of the mimosas from above.

Today I will be taking my grandmother shopping because she is making her lovely pineapple coconut cake from scratch. It is so good that it will literally make the most non violent person want to reach out and hit someone. LOL. Mr. Golden will not say "I DO" if I don't learn the recipe, so I will be getting my share of Domesticated Wife 101 this evening!

So I will be back on Monday, hopefully with lots of pictures to show you all. I wanted to hire a free lance photographer for the event, but the guy who my family usually uses is going away this weekend for superbowl {arg!}. But not to worry because I've passed the job on to Mr.Golden {he should be quite the happy one}!

Next time you all see me, I will be all Mehndi'ed up {is that even a word?}, and a few thousands poorer since I have to make a drop off deposit at my reception hall on Sunday. Excuse me while I barf. {lol}

Have a great weekend everyone!

oohh, p.s.

I have a huge announcement to make next week. I'll give you a hint {dreams of fish}!

Trash the Dress Anyone?

Ok so maybe not to the extremes of the picture above, but my awesome photographer will be doing a trash the dress/ day-after shoot of me and Mr. Golden. I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with this, but it is basically where you get to take some artsy, out of the norm, pictures that you normally wouldn't dare to do on your wedding day for fear of ruining your dress.

Unlike the name, these photo shoots are not literally taken the day after the wedding. It is usually done after the honeymoon. Some people use their real dress, but I have been warned by Golden Mom {who's paying for my dream gown}, that only when hell freezes over will I be able to trash my gown {her words exactly}!

Sooo friends, I will be on the search for a second wedding dress {not to be confused with changing into a second dress at the reception, because I won't be doing that}. As some of you already know, my real dress is going to be custom made. For my second dress though, I want something already on a hanger. And of course, I will NOT be showing my real dress to anyone before the wedding, but I'm willing to share what I have in mind for a second dress.

I want something completely different from what I would normally go for. I love mermaid and fitted gowns but would never consider them as real options because I personally do not feel like a bride in them. But they are perfect for what I would need them for:

Images seen on: Project Wedding

So now I am on the quest for a beautiful but inexpensive second dress. Still to come: inspiration pictures of day after shoots.

Is anyone else considering trashing a dress?

Bedroom Wars & Truces

I've been blessed with a man that doesn't snore {applause}. But, he is however, the ultimate sheet hogger. Leave it up to him, he'd say that I hog the sheets but since this is MY blog, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We also have very different sleep rituals. I like to sleep with the top sheet and blanket. That's the way it's supposed to be! He on the other hand, will toss the top sheet and only sleep with the blanket. I need complete quietness to go to sleep, he likes to let the T.V. watch him doze off.

What's even funnier is that we're both cuddlers but the side that we find comfortable to fall alseep on is different so we usually fall alseep in opposite directions. Married life should prove to be interesting once we're living together on a full time basis.

I'm thinking that the solution to these things is to have extra blankets handy to keep me warm, give Mr. Golden some wireless headphones so he can have the t.v. lull him to sleep, and I'll compromise by investing in a good ol' eye mask. After all, I would hate for us to have to come to this:

Ahhhh, the yoys of marriage!

The Wedding of the Year

I apologize for my absence yesterday. My weekend was ridiculously busy. Saturday I attended an event called The Wedding of the Year (TWOTY) hosted by Long Island Weddings website. It is basically a mock wedding featuring a newlywed couple from last year who reinact their wedding. It is quite the production to attend since brides-to-be like myself get a chance to see vendors in action {although that didnt' help me very much since all my major vendors are booked}.

Nevertheless, it was also a great opportunity to win some fabulous prizes. Prizes included everything from free engagement pictures, DOC, jewelry, and a huge flat screen television. Yours truly wasn't fortunate enough this time to win anything although I really had my eye on a basket filled with kitchen-aid appliances, but there's always next year!

I had a really great time and enjoyed the company of a few great friends I have come to know really well off of cyber world. Here's a few pictures of the centerpieces provided by Crystal Willow Wedding Trees by Lisa Marie. I wish I had taken more pics, but I was too busy dancing and having fun most of the time!

On the way out they gave bride and groom cup cakes. They were delishis. I devoured them in the car on the way home. This picture was actually taken on my lap while waiting at a red light {I know, I'm horrible!}

I had a "moment"

I knew it was sure to come, every bride goes through it at some point. I'm talking about bridezilla moments that keep us up until 4a.m. {true story}. Wanna see the culprit that made me loose sleep? Here it is:

Now let me explain. It wasn't the food that made me stress out, in fact, the food looks delishes. But if you look ever so closely at the trim on the plate, you'll see it's......dunnn dunn dunn dunn...RED!!! These are the plates at Westbury Manor {my reception hall}.

Can someone tell me why this red trim had me re-guessing my whole color scheme and wondering if my tablescape would be thrown off. Instead of going into calm planner mode, I literally freaked out!

I called my colleague and asked said:

"I am totally going crazy, do you think I should incorporate red into my color scheme. The plates have red trimming!"

"Absolutely not!"

"But"-

"NO"!

Losing that battle, I called Mr.Golden frantically and said:

"Babe, the plates have red in them."

"What are you talking about?"

"The plates at Westbury Manor have red trimming. I want gold chargers, it's going to ruin it!"

Silence...

"Do you think we should have an accent color?"

"You are out-of-control!"

Long story short, my colleague and fiance are right. I was bugging to the tenth power. There will be no color scheme changes. Mr.Golden made me realize that I hadn't even noticed the red on the plate when we went to a wedding there this past summer and the color scheme for that wedding was pink! I guess I'm entitled to a few crazy bride moments but I have to limit myself. I've vowed to never be one of "those" brides- and by "those" I mean this:

{one of my all time favorite episodes!}



Have a great weekend everyone, I'll see you all back on Monday!

Honest Scrap! I've been tagged!

The oh so kewl Katie over at Tripping Down the Aisle tagged me for the Honest Scrap award. Thank you Katie! *Hugs*

Here are the rules of the award:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself

So here's 10 random things about myself:

1. I have five tattoos {none of which anyone can noticebly see}.

The secret places are my lower back, stomach, upper left shoulder, and my eyebrows.

2. I never make my bed in the morning, but I always HAVE to make it at night just to get in it. I hate sleeping with crooked sheets.

3. If I could have any other career other than event planning, I would be a dolphin trainer. I even researched the criteria, but was not willing to start another degree.

4. I love to dance and have a habit of learning all the newest dances that come out. I thought I would grow out of it but...no! In fact I'm currently trying to learn the "single ladies" choreography. I will dance anytime, anywhere!

5. I've been working since I was 15 {some of my teen jobs were Pet Land, grocery store, Claire's Accessories, and the Gap}

6. I'm deathly afraid of pigeons. NY pigeons are the worst!

7. My mom couldn't hold me until I was 3 days old because I swallowed fluid when I was born and had to be put in an incubator.

8. I coached my mother during the birth of my twin bother and sister. It was so beautiful!

9. I try to wear something gold everyday {even if it's just a bag or scarf}

10. I tend to be very territorial because I was the only child until I was 16 years old, but I'm learning how to let go...lol.


Now I'm supposed to tag seven people, but I want to open it up to anyone who wants to participate!

Table For Two Please...

Flickr

I am a long ways from thinking about the seating chart for our guests, but I do know where Mr.Golden and I will be sitting on our wedding day. Although there are so many variations of where the bride and groom can be seated, I am really fond of the sweetheart table.

Besides wanting to be the center of attention for one day {lol}, I like the sweetheart table because it will give me an opportunity to look at everything going on in the room.

Source

On top of that, I want to be able to steal golden moments with my new husband, like holding his hand...

Jasmine Photography

And sharing an inside joke or two...

Jasmine Photography

That will make me burst out with laughter and lean over him and say, "Oh honey, you are so silly!"...

Jasmine Photography

His leg may brush up against mines as a way of saying, "I adore you"...

Amy Raab Photography

And maybe we'll steal some sweet kisses here and there...

Seen on: The Knot

Have you figured out your seating arrangements yet?

A Sneak Peek!

My upcoming bridesmaid luncheon has been the attention of quite a few of my threads. I've posted here , here , yet again , another , and another. As you can see, I'm anticipating it to be a really nice {but laid back} affair. The way I see it, this luncheon will be pretty much kick start the activities of my wedding.

Now that the invites have been officially put in the mail, I can finally share them with you all!

Each of my special ladies will receive a gold pocket sleeve envelope:

It'll be addressed to them personally:

They will pull it out of the sleeve:

Each card states: "Golden moments make golden memories"

I can't wait to see what kind of memories we will make at this event! Special thanks to my partner Eliana at By Your Side Events for helping me with my design concept! More fun details to come soon!

To Be Loved!

Yesterday I was tagged twice for a fantabulous award. I want to send a big thank you to Sony over at Bridal Bliss and Kiana over at Dot the I Wedding. You ladies are awesome and I enjoy reading your blogs as much as you enjoy mine! *Hugs*

Alrighty {that's my favorite word}, so I have to tag 10 other booming blogs. {aaaaah, the pressure!}

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (You can highlight the photo and text of this post and copy/paste wherever you need to...start your highlight from the bottom up to get the photo)

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

Well, here it goes: {I know some of these people have been tagged before, but I just wanted to show some love to their blog!}

1) The Buckeye Bride

2) The JTA Experience

3) That [Engaged] Girl

4) A Tale of Two Brides

5) Authentically U! A "Diamond & Sapphire" Bride

6) Confessions of a Scatterbrained Bride To Be

7) My Dream Ring

8) Relentless Bride

9) Wedding Peephole

10) Tripping Down The Aisle

11) A Small Town Bride

12) Once a Bride

Wheww! I definitely should have grabbed a snickers for this post!

Assessing Your Hair Accessorie Style

I first posted here about being torn over how I would wear my hair for my wedding day. Then I posted here after I came to a final decision. I'm so glad that I've narrowed the choice down. Now, all I have to do is decide on the perfect hair accessorie.

I'm not really a tiara or head band type of girl. They look pretty on other people, but I just don't think it fits me. I am more of a hair broach, hair pin, or hair comb type of girl.

This is one of my inspiration pictures:

Pictures 1-4 courtesy of Project Wedding

And here are some pretty hair accessories I've found that I will be on the hunt for:

If I had decided to go with an updo {which I no longer want}, I think these hair pins would have complemented the look gorgeously:

Pictures courtesy of White Aisle

So what type of hair accessorie bride are you?