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I am a little dog obsessed. Okay okay, that is not an entirely accurate statement… I am a lot dog obsessed. I did choose to be Miss Dalmatian after all! You may recall when I introduced you to the two most important pups in my life. Bailey lives up in Chicago with my parents and is my family’s dog, so while I love her infinitely, she will not be included in the wedding festivities. Echo, on the other hand, lives here in Nashville and belongs to Mr. Dalmatian and me. He is a huge part of our life as a couple (I don’t know what we would do all day if we couldn’t sit around and admire his cuteness). So I knew from the beginning I wanted him to somehow be involved in this crazy process of getting married.
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| Personal Photo: A ball of cuteness. |
After creating a second version of the table numbers that made me happy, it was time to put together some stands to hold these table numbers. I had decided a long time ago that I was going to use wooden spools as the base for these stands. But I also needed something to attach to the spools to hold the numbers.
Enter the Nashville flea market. I thoroughly confused MOH K when we walked into the main building of the flea market last month and within about 30 seconds I had purchased a drum picture frame. When she asked if I had started some sort of bizarre drum memorabilia collection, I laughed and explained that I in fact planned to detach the drum and use just the picture holders that had been sticking out of it. Between the drum frame and one other that I had found at an antique store, I had enough to take on my table number holder project!
I had a bag full of wooden spools that were ready and waiting. I had these thanks to Mama Dalmatian, who kindly unrolled all of her decorative ribbons from Sundance and placed it into baggies so that she could send me the lovely wooden spools they it had come on.
When I think of our Valentine’s Day dinner tradition, my mouth waters. Not because we go to the fanciest restaurant in town or share a plate of fine cuisine, but because I love a Frosty. Yes, a Frosty—as in the milkshake deliciousness offered by Wendy’s. Yes, Wendy’s—as in the fast food restaurant that has the girl with the red pigtails. Because every year on February 14th, Mr. Dalmatian and I enjoy a meal of cheeseburgers (with bacon for Mr. D), Frosty’s, and fries if we’re feeling crazy!
So how did this start? Well, the first Valentine’s day that Mr. D and I were officially dating I had planned a big dinner that I was going to cook him in the kitchen of our dorm. Things didn’t exactly go as planned. That afternoon, we were running some errands and our Sam’s Club trip took a little longer than expected. We were both hungry and tired, so we decided to grab dinner at Wendy’s instead of taking on the challenge of a very dirty and very old dorm kitchen.
So how did Wendy’s become a tradition? Well, that goes back to the first day that Mr. Dalmatian and I met. On move-in day of freshmen year of college, we went to Wendy’s for lunch with a group. This group consisted of me, Mr. Dalmatian, Bridesmaid E, and another guy that lived on Mr. D’s hall. Now, I can’t exactly argue that it was love at first sight. In fact, I didn’t even remember that Mr. Dalmatian was one of the boys that came with us until Bridesmaid E reminded me years later. But regardless of how oblivious I was, it was still the day we met. So in addition to sinfully tasty fast food, convenience, and affordability—Wendy’s also has just a touch of romance!
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I realize that at this point, with the wedding only three months away (eek!), I am supposed to be steadily checking things off of my to-do list. For the most part, I have been doing a good job at this. However, there have also been a few things on which I have moved in the wrong direction. What do I mean by this? Well, there are a few projects that I thought were checked off my list until they managed to sneak their way back on.
Now, I have no one to blame but myself for this. You see, in some ways I consider myself good at going with the flow (OK, this may not be my strongest point, but I’m working on it!), but in other ways I am a perfectionist. So, when my table-number project was not settling well with me, I felt the need to redo it. I was still totally in love with the vintage flashcards, so those would definitely make it into version 2.0. The backings I had painted for them, however, had to go. I did not have a problem with the backings in and of themselves, I just know that we have a lot of different details that will be going on the tables (more info about these details still to come), and I was worried about things crossing the line from bright and whimsical to busy and overdone.
Luckily, among my extra flashcards I had almost every number I needed to create another full set, and was able to pick up the couple I was missing from EmmyLucy on Etsy. After a quick trip to Michaels for a piece of paper-thin wood, a decorative corner punch, and little tiny pearls courtesy of Martha Stewart crafts, I was ready to go!
Step 1: Trim the cards a little and line them up to make sure the piece of wood is big enough. (Mine was just barely!)
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Last week I thought to myself, “Hey, I bet we are getting close to the 100-day mark,” and I headed over to our wedding website where Mr. Dalmatian so helpfully included a countdown. Lo and behold, when I went to check there were 99 days and 20 hours! I swear I was a good blogger and snapped a screenshot at the time, but unfortunately I was not such a good computer user and there was a box over poor Mr. D’s face in the picture. So here is a snapshot from today—we are now down to the 96-day mark!
Isn’t he handsome? You can see why I wouldn’t want to deprive you of a glimpse at that gorgeous face!
I told you about our honeymoon wish list. I told you about the unbelievably smooth booking process through our travel agent. But I have not told you about one minor detail…where are we going?
Since I have already made you wait this long I will not drag it out any longer… we… are…going…to…(ok, I lied, but I’m done now, hehe)…SECRETS MAROMA! It is an all-inclusive resort on Maroma Beach, just south of Cancun in Mexico.
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| Image via Google Maps |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
While I had casually browsed beautiful honeymoon destinations soon after we got engaged, it was a Sunday night when we decided it was time to kick our butts into gear and start making some decisions. By Tuesday night we had everything booked and ready to go. Yes, that’s right, in a mere 48 hours we were able to complete the entirely stress-free process of arranging everything that needed for an amazing honeymoon experience! How is this possible, you ask? The answer, my friends, is simple: A travel agent.
I had never used a travel agent before but we have a family friend who has planned many trips for many different members of my family, including MOH A’s honeymoon last May. So I decided to take a chance and shoot her a quick email. Best move ever. Here’s why:
They are all-knowing: We had no preference in terms of location other than that it be warm and sunny (see our honeymoon wish list). Even when narrowing it down to all-inclusive resorts, there are still about a bagillion options throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. You can do lots of browsing online, but the fact is they all have websites with photo galleries so appealing that you want to book immediately. And even if you find one with good reviews, how do you know that there isn’t one out there with better reviews? How do I know which one is the best? The fact is, I didn’t know. But our travel agent did!
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| Too many choices! Image via AstraMatch.com |
I realize that my posts lately have been a bit all over the place, but in all honesty, that is pretty much where I am in the planning process. We are getting close enough that I have transitioned from trying to think of things to add to my DIY project list to trying to cross things off of said list. But we are far enough out that we are still dealing with nailing down some of the bigger ticket items, including… THE HONEYMOON!
As I sit here on this cold January night wrapped in a fleece blanket, sporting a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and using Echo as a 9-lb canine heater, I cannot think of a more appealing topic to discuss than our honeymoon plans.
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| Not my most attractive look, but a pretty typical scene here in our apartment. |
When Mr. Dalmatian and I discussed our honeymoon, it was a very quick and easy conversation - a welcomed anomaly in the wedding planning world! To sum up our want list:
1) A Vacation, Not a Trip: This has become an important distinction in our relationship when it comes to travel. The issue came about a few summers ago when we were on a cruise. I was forcing Mr. D to get out of bed to do things like go swimming with dolphins or take a walking tour of Key West. According to him, the presence of alarm clocks and itineraries contradicted the concept of a vacation.
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On the eve of our wedding, Mr. Dalmatian’s very generous parents have offered to host a dinner. Many people would call this a rehearsal dinner, and I admit that most of the time I take the easy route and do this too. But technically, we are not having our rehearsal until the day of the wedding. This sounded scary to me at first, but the lovely ladies at our venue have assured me that it will go smoothly (and quickly), and given the number of weddings they have successfully pumped out I have decided to take a chill pill and believe them. So when we arrive at Cedarwood, everyone involved (minus Mr. D) will run through the ceremony. Then, as I am sliding into my gown (Eek! So excited!), they will take Mr. Dalmatian and run through what he is supposed to do.
ANYWAY, back to the not-really-a-rehearsal dinner. While we will not be rehearsing the day before our wedding, we will be doing something very exciting… attending Mr. Dalmatian’s business school graduation!
So where will we be celebrating? To answer that, let me tell you a little back story:
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After posting about mismatched vintage dessert plates, I noticed a lot of discussion about renting antique china, which got me thinking: What a brilliant idea! While there are some unavoidable purchases, there are a lot of wedding things that we need to use but we don’t need to own. The smaller price-tag that would come with renting is very appealing because even when I close my eyes, cover my ears, and hum a happy little tune, that darn budget just won’t disappear!
One website out there that gives people a renting option is called RentStuff.com. But wait, there’s more… their current promotion is for brides!
Bees, it has been WAY too long since I have completed a DIY project. Between starting a new job and the holidays (yes, I realize it has been almost a month since Christmas but I am still recovering from all of the festivities), my craft cabinet went a freakishly long time without being busted into! But no need to worry—the disturbing drought came to an end this past weekend.
In an effort to dip my toes back into the DIY pool instead of cannon-balling, I decided to take on a smaller project that I could likely complete with a quick turn around. The project that fit the bill: table numbers!
During one of my antiquing escapades, I came across vintage flashcards with basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems on them.I knew these were perfect for us because I have a nerdy love for doing basic math in my head, and Mr. D has a nerdy love for giving me math problems to do in my head and seeing how quickly I can do them (you don’t have to tell me, I know we’re cool). When I got home, I finished off my collection with an Etsy purchase of very similar cards.
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| Vintage Flashcards by paintedpony99 on Etsy |
I have shared with you what my lovely ladies will be sporting, but what about the handsome gentlemen standing on the other side of the aisle? It didn’t take us much time or discussion to decide that they will be looking dashing in black tuxes, white shirts, and some sort of tie. But what sort of tie? That was the question.
I started here (hint: this will not be the last you will hear about my love for Liberty of London):
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| Claire-Aude Liberty Print Tie by Liberty of London |
This floral tie was quickly dismissed by Mr. Dalmatian.
At this point I have discussed desserts until I am blue in the face, but there is an important question that remains unanswered: what dishes will our cake be served to our guests on?
You may not have realized that this is an important question, and if you asked me a year ago I myself would not have given a second thought to the topic. But alas, the wedding planning vortex has sucked me in, so here I am writing a post about dessert plates.
Within the giant wedding planning vortex there are many mini vortexes into which brides-to-be can easily get sucked. I will openly admit that I have fallen into many of these including, most recently, the mismatched vintage china vortex. And oh what a glorious vortex it is!
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| Image via Prairie Perch |
One day, I was Googling my wedding dress for fun. In the results, I came across the usual assortment of pictures that I had seen on many prior occasions. Yes, that’s right, I Google my dress for fun on a regular basis - please tell me I am not the only one?
But on this particular occasion I also came across an article that caught my glance. You see, the image that went along with this article was not the standard model shot of my dress, nor was it any of the shots of real brides I had gushed over already.
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| Article from VWonWeddings / Image from Anna-be.com |
In the article, Vera Wang explains her design inspiration, and the above picture is her sketch of the dress. Maybe I’m crazy, but I thought it was so cool when I came across this!
I have shared my love for ruffled wedding cakes, my admiration for Martha’s cake designs, and my decision (by that I of course mean “our decision” - I love you Mr. D!) to have an ombre wedding cake. Now I think it is time for a little something to top things off! Okay, that was a stretch…I’m talking, of course, about cake toppers!
What will be atop the mountain of frosting at our wedding? This:
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| Personal Photo |
Not only is this is vintage design, it actually is vintage (if you consider the 1970s vintage). And not only is it vintage, it has very personal meaning to me.
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Miss Dalmatian, Nashville, TN Age and Occupation: 23, Pediatric Nurse Fiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Computer Engineer and Entrepreneur Engagement Date: April 13, 2011 Wedding Date: May 2012 Venue: Historic Cedarwood About Me: I am a Northern girl from Chicago who is planning a wedding filled with Southern charm in Nashville, Tennessee. I love dogs, the White Sox, Full House reruns, and anything with ruffles on it. Mr. Dalmatian is my computer-genius problem-solving fiance who is constantly teaching me new things and making me a better person. We live with our adopted pup Echo, who is very excited that his parents are getting married!
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