Fatty McBridebutt

Between my family (which includes Boy) and I, this is the nickname of the devil bride who floats above my shoulder and tells me to eat a sleeve of thin mints.

She tells me that girl scout cookies are so yummy. Oh, and since I skipped breakfast at the house, I should totally swing by McDonald's.

Thankfully, she is being thwarted by the angel bride on the other shoulder. She's not skinny. She's not a size two. She is me, looking hott, in the size I should be.

I know that many brides go all out about bridal fitness, trying to squeeze into a size they really aren't. I haven't been a size two since I got hips in eleventh grade. And I shouldn't be.

But I would be lying to you guys if I said that I didn't want to be a bit more svelt.

So, what to do? My first step has been cutting out fast food. It's yummy, for sure, but it's definitely not good for me. I'm one of those Catholics who only participates in Lent (yay, hypocrisy!) so I gave up FF for Lent. That extra bit of guilt and pressure will hopefully be just what I need.

I'm going to be going on a big eating binge on Saturday though, at the first bridesmaid's lunch! I am so excited that I can barely contain myself. And I simply cannot wait to hear their opinions on a bridesmaid vs groomsmen rivalry... those boys are sooo going down!

On that note, I think we should split the ushers 50/50 to keep things fair, in which case I totally call Hags for team bride. I mean, his FW is a bridesmaid after all!

The wedding and the LBD

Besides our date and venue, the only other major decision Boy and I have made so far is on bridesmaid attire. As you know, I am in love with bridesmaids in black dresses.



Don't all the ladies look fantastic?

I'm very excited about the diversity of girls in my pack, and so I really don't want to go down the "everyone wear the same dress" road. What I'm hoping is that each girl can find a LBD that she feels awesome in. This might just be my retailbitch experience coming in (I'm a barely reformed AT salesbitch), but I really think every girl needs a LBD that makes her feel like the hottest girl in the room.

I was thinking that each girl should be in a floor-length gown, since Boy and I are going for a formal feel, but now I'm not sure. Really, only a couple of my maids will need a floor-length gown in her closet. The rest would then either have to get the dress shortened or only wear it on Very Special Occasions.

So after reading Miss Stilletto's post over on Weddingbee today, I smacked myself in the head. Of course, White House Black Market! Why didn't I think of that? And, with a location near to Mamma and PappaSez's house (hence Jo, Becky, and CFD), it marks the perfect spot for a shopping trip.

Here are a few of their options. The prices are between resonable and steep, depending on whether you can catch a sale or not. But if it were me, I'd rather shell out the bucks for a dress I would definitely wear again than a pink taffeta nightmare.






The lengths could be different, and I think that I'm ok with that. I know I don't want a pack of clones running around our wedding! Plus, they have some adorable and understated prints that would look Fantastic on Becky (who really rocks a graphic black and white print) and designate her as teh most awesomest Maid o'Honor.





Adorable.

And by the way... rehersal dinner dress, I see you hiding there...


Swoon!

My lips are sealed

Ahh! I'm going crazy because I simply can't blog about what I've been working on.

We are fast approaching the date of our first official bridesmaid get together: next Saturday Feb. 28th. We'll meet for lunch and some light shopping, then do whatever else the day or night demands. While the event itself will be mostly chill and just checking in with everyone, what I'm most excited about is what I can't talk about.

But I want to. I sooo want to.

So since I can't talk about my own, here are some other cute "will you be my bridesmaid" gifties that I've seen around the intertubes:








So cute!

Want.

So, now that we have our reception space, I need to come to terms with a couple of things.

It is, as I said, quite basic and will need a lot of gussying up to look fancy. One of the things that I loved about the NLI ballroom was its beautiful chandelier.

Which leads me to my current problem.

Chandelier envy.

I don't know if it's even possible to rent a chandelier in the State College area, or if I can purchase one on the cheap at an antique store to fix up and later have in the foyer of our home. But I want one.
Take this one, for instance. She's totally rustic, but still delicate. Not our wedding style, but still beautiful.



This is a very modern and totally awesome design by jGoodDesign. Love it, but not quite right for permanent use. It would be great for a wedding with a modern industrial feel.


But what I really lust after is something like this girl here. She is ornate and princessy and does not care who knows it.

Like I said. Want.

The big 100

I looked at my blogger dashboard yesterday and noticed my post count. It said 99.

Which would make this my 100th post.

And I wondered, should I do something special? Should I commemorate this auspicious occasion? What can I talk about that is important enough?

And the truth is... nothing.

I'm working on my bridesmaid goodies, which will be given to the girls at our first lunch coming up. But since I know most of my girls read this-- I will not be spilling any secrets here. Just know that etsy rocks. And Michaels. That's all you're getting!

And Boy and I are finally taking some time to relax on the planning. We have our venue and our date, so we don't really have anything to do until we are one year out.

At which point we'll be having a massive party.

Ooh! I'd better get started on the invites for those! I wonder if I should emboss them or just use glitter. I bet I can get a great deal on Vistaprint and do them for cheap. OOh! I should make game cards for the groomsmen vs bridesmaid box race. Should I make t-shirts? What about a video ph? Yeah, I'd better get started on that. And Ooh! What about...

So much for relaxing :)

Quickly

I'm just playing around on colourlovers, which is finally allowing me to look at color the way I want. Here is my first go:
What do you think?

Talking it over

As we pulled up to the Penn Stater, we saw a normal looking hotel. MammaSez said that it didn't have as much of a Penn State feel to it, which is true.

And that's when it hit me.

A few months ago I made a PSU wedding inspiration board and I hated it. I did it all out- blue and white color scheme, Penn State location, and I thought I would love it, but I didn't. And now I realize why.

I don't want a Penn State themed wedding.

Getting married at PSU does not mean nittany blue bridesmaids dresses to me. It means that Boy and I want to thank our friends and families for supporting our four year courtship by introducing them to our second home.

The place we met, twice, when the first time didn't sink in. The place we met our other soulmates: our friends, who will stand up with us. (as I tear up)

Our wedding will be about so much more than the reception. It will be about the bar tour taken on the Thursday night with the bridal party and VIPs (You're not getting out of this one, PappaSez). It will be about the little map I've been dreaming up that showcases the hotspots around campus and town. It will be about hanging around our chosen venue/hotel with the people who mean the most to us.

Here:

What is, in essence, a conference location makes a perfect spot for our "home base" during wedding weekend. The reception room (Dean's Hall) is huge with very high (semi-drop) ceilings that fade to black with proper lighting.

It's a blank canvas. In the end, that is what made the decision for me. Because we are so far away from the wedding, and I don't know if I'm going to like the same colors or any of that stuff by the time.

I can work with this!

So that's what sold me. Meanwhile, Boy was sold by the guest rooms that he and his awesome groomsmen can lounge in on the day of and PappaSez was sold by all that was included in the price tag. MammaSez? She'll support what we like, which is awesome.

Major decision? No problem. Big ups to Hope, who was really fantastic in showing us around both properties and put up with all of my silly questions. And to Mamma and Pappa, who carted Boy and I up to State College. Oh, and Becky... who can't open doors.

So get ready kiddos. Becuase the weekend of July 3rd, 2010? It's gonna rock.

Choices

So many choices to be made!

Even though it feels like we've only been engaged for a few days, we are making some big decisions about the wedding.

Why?

Well, we want to do early summer, so that means that we need to book venues and key vendors far in advance to make sure that we get what we want. Since we settled on a location for what I like to call our mini-destination wedding, we needed to get cracking!

Which leads us to this past weekend. Boy, the parents, and I took a trip up to good old State College, to visit the PSU wedding sites. We stayed at the Nittany Lion Inn, and I was fully prepared to sign on the dotted line for a reception there. I worked there when I was in school and knew exactly what the space looked like all decked out for a wedding.


Easy, right? Wrong.

Apparently, you cannot reserve the ballroom at the Nittany Lion Inn if you are having a small wedding (read: less than 200 people). Are you kidding me? I was tres dissappointed. After a longing look at the ballroom all set up for a gala event, we headed downstairs to the Boardroom: the NLI's only possible site for a wedding our size.

MammaSez loved it, PappaSez liked the bar, but Boy and I were both underwhelmed. The carpet has been redone since this photo and it's now a distinct Nittany blue. The walls are beige and maroon with mauve accents. The ceiling... I really don't want to talk about the ceiling.

Basically, it's a perfectly fine space that just didn't seem us.

Less than happy, I headed back upstairs to join our catering contact and tour guide (we'll call her Hope) for some tea. She seemed nice enough, but had come off a bit chilly in our initial minutes becuase she got right on with the tour after some very short introductions. The sit down really helped. She went over everything in detail and took the time to get to know all of us and what we really wanted from our wedding.

Like I said, it really helped. Because I had been feeling a little blah about the whole thing. We were going very quickly, and she kept saying things like "and this is where the bride and groom usually stand for pictures..." that just made me feel like we would get wedding package C. Talking helped that.

We wrapped up our tour of the NLI with a quick look at a possible rehersal dinner venue: the Alumni Fireside lounge.


It's a nice space with wood paneling, a large lobby, and an open terrace where guests could enjoy a light buffet or heavy snackies with cocktails. Bingo. Plus, MammaSez gets the historic grandeur of the NLI for at least part of the wedding. The picture above is of a different courtyard of the NLI, but you get the general idea. (salute)

Great, one decision nearly made. Up next: we hit the road in search of the Penn Stater. Hopes are not high... but can Hope change our minds?