Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Well, where we last left off, Mama Espresso was out trying to find visuals of the descriptions I gave her, and I was at the house trying to calm and organize my crazy mind. I started looking through the magazine pictures I’d torn out over the past nine months and the millions of blog pictures I’d saved on my little hard drive. By the time I had made it through half of them, my mom had come back with the treasures she’d found at various stops.
Here is a look at the first round of potential centerpiece vessels:
Below we have various types of small candle holders, and even some stemless wine glasses she found on sale at Pier 1. They were cheap and the candles looked great in them.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
We’re less than a month away from the wedding, and we just decided on the centerpieces today. Part of it has to do with the fact that I’m a procrastinator, but I’m also terribly bad at making executive decisions on our wedding decor. I’m a visual person. I would like to see everything set up, and then how it will look with everything else at our wedding. As I’m sure all of you know already, that doesn’t really happen all that much- unless you have a planner who’s done it before and taken pictures. We have no planner. And we’ve never planned a wedding. So my mind has nothing to go off of, except what I see on all the awesome blogs… and then I just like everything.
My mother, seeing me fall to procrastination, indecisiveness, choice overload, and the inability to delegate, decided to take some initiative and get me on track again. She wrote down the ideas I was deciding between and then took off out of the house.
One of my ideas from the beginning had been tall glass vases filled with green apples. I hadn’t really thought about them much in the last few months, but this had been my mother’s favorite idea.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
There are 3 reasons why the guests at our wedding will be eating local. 1) We wanted to support a local business, 2) The food at Sweet Basil Bistro is phenomenal, and 3) the closer the caterer to our venue, the less likely we are to have problems (or the quicker we will be able to fix them).
Chef Sally at Sweet Basil has been a dream to work with as well. From arranging the meal options to fit our budge,t to offering us one amazing and filling tasting - every meeting has been great. And now that our menu has been finalized, I can’t wait for our guests to enjoy her food as well.
Grilled chicken wrapped in prosciutto and served with a Chardonnay sauce, Creamy Pesto Pasta, Grilled Asparagus, Various types of Bruschetta, Mista Salad with Chopped Pistachios and Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette, and much more! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
Did other factors besides taste go into your catering decision?
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
When I drafted our first guest list in December, the total head count (rounding up) was 150 people. Mr. Espresso and I both come from very large families, so a big wedding was a given. But the week before we did our invitations, the guest list suddenly jumped to 244. Say what?! Our ceremony only has room for 150 (if that)… how the heck would we fit 244! So after a lot of stress, a crying breakdown in the kitchen, and some sweet words and hugs from Mr. E (who didn’t even know what was going on or why I was stressed until my kitchen episode)- I was back in the game.
Everybody is also RSVP’ing “Yes”, but instead of fretting (anymore) over who will get a seat and who will be standing in the cheering marathon line before I even get to the aisle, I’m taking a step back. This is a blessing. Repeat. This is a blessing. Our friends and family want to be their to celebrate with us; and we’re dang lucky to have them!
So come on in. Just over this bridge we’re getting married. Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
A few days ago, I had my first make-up trial for the wedding. Now my bridesmaid/make-up artist/amazing friend Kristie told me forever ago to start saving examples of what I wanted. So… I tore out two pictures from a magazine before she got to my house and showed her those. I even had trouble finding them once she arrived. Scatterbrained has definitely become one of my major characteristics in the last few months. Thank goodness she’s a great friend and didn’t care. Instead she asked me what I liked about the photos I picked, and they all came around to the same qualities: I wanted something soft, simple, and romantic.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Yesterday I made my way up to Big Bear to tie up some loose ends before the wedding. Stop #3 on the to do list: North Pole Fudge and Ice Cream Co. (Posts on stop 1 and 2 to come).
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Because we’re planning our wedding at a venue that comes with virtually nothing, we’ve had our fair share of phone calls and e-mails with vendors. But never did we think that this would be one of them. Last week, we booked our boudoir, and oh, how I wish it looked like this:
But it doesn’t. It looks more like this: Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Monday as I was about to leave for work, I received a text from our photographer saying our engagement photos were ready and up on her blog. What?! Spend the last 10 minutes doing my hair or looking at our pictures? Um ya- I went to work that day without even running a brush through my hair… but the stray strands and knots were totally worth it. Our photographer, Sandra Salisbury, is so awesome. She’s a redhead, she drinks coffee like a woman after my own heart, and she totally knows how to rock a camera. And she’s affordable. We love her.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Escort cards have to be one of my most favorite design elements of a wedding. Since they’re one of the first things you see, they’re a preview of what’s to come. And I find it so interesting that such a small piece of paper can play such a large welcoming role.I’ve never been to a wedding with non- standard escort cards (which may be why I’m so intrigued)… so hopefully my first attempt goes ok. Here are the ideas I’ve come down to.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
We’re less than 50 days away from the wedding and we just booked our entertainment. Who’s been procrastinating? But in this instance, we had to wait in hopes of getting our top choice.
You see, back in June, I was researching entertainment and came across the musical awesomeness that is Mike and Brian. I emailed them immediately requesting a quote and their availability, but the price came out to be way over our budget. Insert frowning Espresso faces. I emailed them a couple times afterwards trying to figure out how we could cut the cost down and herein lies why we had to wait. Brian informed me that if I could wait a little over a month, and if nobody booked them for that date, he would perform at our wedding as a soloist and for a much cheaper price. So we waited, and waited, and waited. We wondered and prayed. Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
A couple of months ago, I gave up the hope of having wine barrels as cocktail tables. I stashed the thought away in my “if we had more time and money” folder, and haven’t thought of it since… until Wednesday, that is.
Mr. Espresso called to tell me about his day (he was on a surfing vacation near Pismo with friends) and started talking about how they had just gotten back from picking up empty wine barrels for one of the guys. What?! I’ve been looking for those! Where did he get them? How much were they? Could we get some?
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Time for the big reveal. I’ve kept my dress a secret until now, but here we go- let’s just get on with it.
I went to 3 bridal stores before finding, “the one” as my mom likes to call it. The first store was too expensive (but Jenny Lee I loved the way you fit!). The second had nothing I loved. And the third… was Marry Me Bridal in Orange. I went there determined I wasn’t going to find anything, and I ended up buying the very first one I picked out.
Mr. Espresso I don’t think you’re reading, but if you are, STOP now. Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Let’s see, where did we leave off? Oh that’s right- I was staring at my box of invitations thinking, “I could polish this off tonight.” Muahahahahahahaha… oh contrare.
In fact, I dedicated every night after work to them. And my workspace quickly transformed into the mess that is this.
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
This past week, I had the option of getting nothing done and blogging about how I was getting nothing done (probably would have been a bit repetitive and very boring), or not blogging and getting a lot done… so I chose the latter and now we have something to talk about (hopefully it’s still not boring :)).
As you may or may not remember, I ordered my invites from Wedding Paper Divas. Of course I drooled over letterpress for months, Contemplated Gocco, and then even started researching different homemade routes made of brown paper bags (thank goodness I didn’t dive into that mess!). But in the end, Wedding Paper Divas offered me the most affordable option for the time I wanted to put in.
After perusing through the different options multiple times, we chose the Dandelion style in Lime. We had always wanted green invitations and the addition of the dandelion gave the invite a whimsical and youthful touch. Plus I loved the look of the dandelion being blown across the RSVP and Thank- You cards.
Here they are stacked and out of the box: Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
And not the bathing type either … but I did take one of those too.
Yesterday I had my first (of two) bridal showers. And it was AWESOME! My bridesmaids definitely made it as personal as possible and took to heart my love for travel… which they made the theme.
They scattered vintage suitcases everywhere and hung maps on every wall. My MOH’s father also went out the morning before the shower and bought tons of flowers to decorate the house with- so pretty!
Here’s the dining room setup before everyone got there. Read more…
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big BearAge and Occupation: 23, Community Services SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance TechnicianEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 25, 2008Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear LakeAbout Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
Unique Wedding Favors
