Weddingbee

Well, Mr. P and decided why the heck not. We would check it out, sit quietly for 90 minutes and see if there was any legitimacy to the free vacation. The demonstration was put on by American Prestige and it was fairly awkward. We were in a small room in a rundown hotel here in Pittsburgh with a bunch of other couples. After an hour and a half of bad jokes and whispered chuckles between Mr. Pineapple and I the demo was over.

We were then told what a great deal the cookware was and why we should spend a large chunk of change that night. We didn’t have to actually buy anything to get the free vacation and we didn’t. Our choices were either 2 nights and 3 days in one of several hotels across the country or 2 nights and 3 days in one of 4 all-inclusive Caribbean resorts. Both very short stays considering we would still have to pay for airfare.

Mr. Pineapple and I had already planned on going to Florida to visit my family this Christmas. Since the Bahamas are just a hop skip and a jump from Miami we went with the Caribbean stay. We have not decided if we will extend the vacation beyond the free days. Other than a $40/night fee for taxes it seems to be legit and there are no blackout days. We will obviously look into it further before actually buying our plane tickets and giving anyone money, but I think it will be a nice short get away before all the craziness of the holidays.

Here are some photos from the Viva Wyndham resort where we would be staying:

Has anyone actually gone on one of these free vacations or known anyone who has?
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Ok, maybe I am biased, but is he not the cutest puppy you have ever seen? We got him from a rescue. His mom is a mini schnauzer and his dad is a yorkie-poo. So, that makes him a Shorkie-Poo or a Schmutt for short.

We are amazed at how good he has been. We thought with such a young pup we would have a lot of work to do. But he is already crate and house trained at 9 weeks. He sleeps through the night, and even the cats are warming up to him.

Now all we need to complete our dream registry is a tulip farm, a fancy camera, brake rotors, season tickets, and cooking classes with Alton Brown… but I don’t think that will be happening. Which is a-ok because we have A PUPPY!!!!
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Then after I created my collage I thought, oh gee that looks like Miss Candy Corn’s wedding! Lots of brown and blue and birds. Putting together the collage was fun, I love getting the big picture view of all the little details.

Anyone else run through your registry without any sort of plan in mind?
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Miss Cupcake wrote a lovely post on the rehearsal dinner photographer at her mother’s wedding. The images really are great, they are so relaxed and natural. Our rehearsal dinner will be the immediate family and our bridal party. Having a photographer present would be a great way to get shots of these VIPs without all the extra wedding hubbub.I posted earlier about the wonderful Charlee Brodsky who shot our engagement photos as a gift to Mr. Pineapple and me. Well, she is at is again. One of Charlee’s students, Mingwei Tai, mentioned that she would like to build a wedding and event photography portfolio. Charlee suggested Mingwei contact us about the possibility of working at our wedding.

Mingwei sent me a link to her online portfolio. She photographs a lot of events at Carnegie Mellon such as Spring Carnival, fashion shows, commencement and the Dancer’s Symposium. I really wanted to give her the opportunity to grow her portfolio. I know what is it like to be a student dying for some “real” work.

Unfortunately, We had already booked our photographer at this point and she had an “exclusive photographer” clause in her contract. So, we would not be able to hire Mingwei for our wedding. We also did not have it in our budget to hire another photographer. I explained all of this to Mingwei and discussed with her the possibility of coming to our rehearsal and dinner. Lucky for us, she thought this was a great idea.

Mingwei also told me that she didn’t need to be paid, that she would love to do it either way, just so she could have the experience. I, of course wanted to give her something for her time, so Mr. Pineapple and I have been fiddling with our budget to find a little wiggle room.

I am very excited that we will have images of the night before the big day and that we, like the Gingerbreads, were able to give this opportunity to a student. Mingwei doesn’t know this yet, but I am going to talk with our photographer and see if she wouldn’t mind Mingwei being at the wedding as well. Our photographer is very sweet and I have a feeling this may work out.

Anyone have any suggestions on how we could quickly turn around the files and create something cool for our reception?
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On the seventh floor we set up our registry and were mesmerized by the carpeted walls.

The associate helping us get everything set up was very helpful, maybe a little too helpful. Being the salesperson she was, she kept pointing out things that were “fabulous.” She was kind, but a bit over the top. Just let us start playing with the scanner for goodness sakes. Here she is instructing Mr. P on how to use the scanner. For the most part I left all cooking related items and small appliances up to Mr. P to choose. I took over when it came to baking and more decorative decisions.This photo documents the one and only time Mr. P allowed me to use the scanner. His past as a stock boy was really shining though. (Hey look! There is a weddingbee on my t-shirt! How’d that get there?)

Mr. Pineapple saddened that the giant wooden dragon would not scan.

Our next stop was at Target the following morning.
I love Target. Many of the same items we registered for at Macy’s we ended up re-registering for at Target because the prices were so much better. I may have been overly worried about the price of the items we were picking out. I shot Mr. P down a couple of times when he wanted to register for something I didn’t think we needed (like a counter top cereal dispenser). For the most part though we agreed on what to add and what not to. We also took turns picking out essentials that neither of us were really passionate about. At one point, I was looking at the digital SLRs considering adding one to our registry so we could get the extra 10% off after the wedding and Mr. P said “I wouldn’t worry about registering for a camera.” I didn’t push the issue, but I sure hope he means what I think he might mean!

The only thing I am disappointed about is the lack of puppies for sale at either store.

Did you find it hard to register for fancy items that you normally would not buy for yourself?
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If you already have a primary color selected and are looking for some complements, there is a side bar where the palettes are sorted by color. Daniel updates the site everyday and currently has over 1600 palettes posted.

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Other great sites for color palette inspiration:
Adobe Kuler
Colour Lovers (the site Daniel uses to build his palettes)
Color Palette Generator (using your favorite photo)
Sherwin Williams

Where do you find unexpected inspiration?
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Short. I love the look of a short dress, I think it is so fun and adorable. But, I didn’t go short for a couple reasons: 1. my wedding is in the fall and I didn’t want to be cold and 2. I was worried I wouldn’t feel like a bride (whether or not I would feel this way is debatable).

{ St. Pucchi 9298 }

Slightly Outrageous. This dress is wonderfully unique and breathtaking. Could I pull it off? Questionable. Could I afford it? Laughable : )

{ Pattis Bridal 1327 }

Mermaid. Nothing is quite va va va voom like a mermaid gown. (Seriously, check out Miss Cookie - everyone except you Mr. Cookie.) This one is particularly girly and pretty with the lace and light ruffles.

{ Maggie Sottero Fiorenza }

Red. Bold and passionate with a whole lot of wow. Red gowns are definitely stunning, but if were to walk down the aisle in one my family might not have been able to recover.

{ Carolina Herrera 35806 }

Country Bumpkin Chic. I adore this dress. If I were getting married outdoors or a warmer time of year this would be the dress for me. Plus, I could totally rock my cowboy boots in this gown.

What dress would you have chosen if you could have thrown all caution to the wind?
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