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.
Hive oh my gosh! I have so many things to say and so many emotions running through me right now that it’s crazy! Life is hectic. Life is wonderful. I’m getting married tomorrow! I’m miserably sick! I’m going to live the rest of my life with my sexy hot man! I haven’t even had time to move my stuff over! I can’t wait to have our wedding outdoors in the mountains! Cold weather is moving in on our day and they’re predicting rain and 30 degree temperatures! Ahhh!
Like I said… it’s a bit crazy, and yet… we’re just kind of laughing about it all right now. There are so many variables and built up emotions involved… that it’s all you can really do. And honestly, I really don’t care anymore. Because I’m marrying my best friend tomorrow. I am so, over the top, swirling around, jump to the stars from a trampoline Happy! And I never told you all this, but Mr. E and I have never had sex. We’ve saved ourselves for each other, and after 6 1/2 years of the worst temptation ever… I’m skipping out on my reception early to go have some fun. So rain and snow- you can come over to my day- because I’m leaving to go be with my man!
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.
Here’s the story: I put on Made of Honor, started making my seating cards, and by the time the main character was meeting with her pastor for the first time, I was done with them! Now I realize for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, that means nothing. So let me elaborate… I’d say half the movie, maybe not even that far, I was done making the seating cards. So niicceee.
I decided to go with the seating cards around the tree idea that I talked about in August. Here was my inspiration:
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.
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.
I’m so so so excited!! We finally received our flower girl dress in the mail. Since before I started writing on Weddingbee, I’ve wanted to get her dress at Monsoon. I saw a Real Wedding in a Martha Stewart Wedding magazine and loved the dresses the bride found at Monsoon. They looked like girls playing dress up, and that’s exactly how I wanted our flower girl Madison to feel.
One problem - they only ship to the United Kingdom… leaving this Pacific Ocean girl sad. So what did I do? I scoured e-bay for a Monsoon dress to my liking, in good condition, and in our flower girl’s size for 6 months!!! A little obsessive I know. My friends and family told me to give up about 3 months ago, but I loved the Monsoon dresses, and the prices were really reasonable for how beautiful they were. Well my loves, my wish came true 2 weeks ago, because the dress finally went up for bid and I won!
Check out our gorgeous flower girl dress. Oh, and the final price with shipping: $38…
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.
As we’ve started receiving gifts in the mail, I thought it was about time I wrote about our registry. We’ve registered at four places total, and until last week, we had “too little on our registry”. We’d only registered for things that we “needed”. But with our large amount of guests, I guess we needed to give them some more options. So, we’ve added some stuff to the list and everything is so purty! Here are some of our favorite things from our first registry at Crate & Barrel.
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. Cookie, DenverAge and Occupation: 25, Nonprofit Fundraiser/Theatre DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Financial AnalystEngagement Date: September 2007Wedding Date: September 2008Blogging Since: May 8, 2008Venue: Ten Mile StationAbout Me: With a degree in Theatre I never realized that planning a wedding was a lot like Theatre Management, until I started planning my own. I am a coffee addict, especially Starbucks' Grande Mochas, yummy! I love to cook (especially chocolate chip cookies for my honey), travel to exotic places, and be creative. As a couple, Mr. Cookie and I are extremely practical, down to earth, and children at heart. We live in a cozy abode with our adorable Pomeranian, and love to play board games and watch movies into the evening.
Mama Cookie has not been too insistent on many of the wedding details, except the need for an aisle runner. At first I wasn’t too keen on the idea, after all we are getting married outdoors. But after Mama Cookie showed me this fabulous blue linen she found at Joann’s on sale for $2 for the aisle runner, I was sold. Although Mama Cookie made the aisle runner, I wanted to add a little extra something to it, so I decided to add a “C” — as C is for the Cookies ;). 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.
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.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
