Guestbook (Check)

(Paperlust)

So our polaroid guestbook is arriving this week! Thanks to Amanda, who is the owner of Paperlust, she sent me some photos of it. I wanted something unique and fun and I think she nailed it. We started looking for my colors first (deep chocolate and deep pink) and really could only find a couple that I liked. Then I decided that I just loved this paper too much to not use it. Any type of retro flowers - I am all over it. Of course, to tie it back into our wedding - I used our lovely logo.

(Paperlust)


(Paperlust)

To Do List

Ok, so projects are getting done and I am seeing some light. I actually took off work today to just get things in order wedding wise, because next week I will be so busy with work.

We struggled to get the last of our 3o RSVPs in but now we are set to do the table assignments. I actually dreaded it, but it really has not been that bad. I actually got it done last night. Can you believe it? I had so many folks tell me that they hated doing these, but this was pretty easy...or was it too easy?

So here is a question for you guys, I am ready to do the escort cards. After googling and research, I can't seem to find the best answer. Do you do formal names - Mr. and Mrs. John Smith or John and Erica Smith?

Oh - and if folks saw this post on our photographer's site. Yup, that was him talking about our scouting trip. Our venue has live animals, 10 peacocks to be exact. I actually became quite alarmed but was told by our coordinator that they really don't bother the wedding guests. How I missed this on our first tour through Meyer's, but I did! Of course, Jeremy thinks we will get some great photos out of this!

BGB Jewerly Giveaway

Please, please check out Beautiful Garden Boutique's blog - I am absolutely in love with their jewerly. They also just announced that they are doing their first ever Bridal Jewerly giveaway and you have a chance to win a $250.00 gift certificate.

Brides must first visit the Bridal Jewerly Collection at The Beautiful Garden Boutique. Then go to their blog and leave a comment about their favorite piece. They will be picking the winner at random and posting the winner on their blog on Friday, May 16, 2008.

An A-to-Z Tag

I was tagged by one of my new favorite blogs - Semi-Hipster Homeowner

A - Attached or single? Engaged
B - Best friend? Am I dork right now if I say my fiance?
C - Cake or pie? Cake.
D - Day of choice? Saturday
E - Essential item? Lipstick (a close second - Carmex)
F - Favorite color? Fushia
G - Gummy bears or worms? Bears
H - Hometown? Wooster, Ohio
I - Favorite indulgence? Coldstone Creamery
J - January or July? July
K - Kids? Ah...some day.
L - Life isn’t complete without? My new puppy
M - Marriage date? 5/25/08 (I just peed my pants)
N - Number of brothers and sisters? Two sisters
O - Oranges or apples? Apples
P - Phobia and fears? Not a big fan of beetles or cockroaches...
Q - Quote? "Winners never quit and quitters never win." - Vince Lombardi
R- Reason to smile? No traffic on the Kennedy
S - Season of choice? Summer
T - Tag three people: With This Ring, I thee Obsess, A Windy City Wedding, For this Instance
U - Unknown fact about me? I was in ballet for 12 years (unfortunately, you would not know that especially after seeing me trip twice today leaving my place)
V - Vegetable? Corn
W - Worst habit? Talking on my cell phone in traffic (illegally)
X - X-ray or ultrasound? X-ray
Y - Your favorite food? Italian
Z - Zodiac sign? Leo

Bridesmaids Dress Drama II

• So what can folks learn from my bridesmaids dress drama?
  
  1) Research, research, research. I didn't even think of looking at the yahoo or google comments, etc., until I started having problems. My feeling is you may have one bad rating, but when you have about 300...that tells me there is a problem.
  
  2) Even if you feel rushed to make a decision and the salesperson was nice to you - take your time. They are like car salespeople - they are going to tell you anything you want to hear.
  
  3) Read the contract. I was told first week of March. After reading the contract, it of course said a minimum of 18 weeks, so of course that was what I was constantly told whenever I asked after the 18 weeks where the dresses were.
  
  4) Even as they try to blame the designer (mine was Jim Hjelm) for the delay - they are still at fault, because they promised they would have the dresses.
  
  5) Lastly, don't ever go to Eva's Bridal in Orland Park. Just don't do it. They are rude and the dresses took forever to get here - more than 18 weeks, which they promised they would be here by the 12th week.
  
  I decided last night after writing the first post, the owner was hoping I would follow every other bride who has had a problem and wanted to blast them. She would scare us into believing she could stop us. Also - I even started going, well...I did get the dresses. But still - they had horrible customer service and I don't want anyone to go through the stress I had to go through.

Bridesmaid Dress Drama

So recently, I alluded to some drama over our Bridesmaids dresses. I would like to say that we did receive the dresses last week and have since been delivered to my bridesmaids. They are beautiful and I am thrilled with my decision to go with this dress. To give you a little history, I was "late" in ordering these dresses, but they were still ordered way over 20 weeks ago. I was assured that I would have them by the first week of March (around the 12 week mark). Rather than rehashing the whole story again, I will just say that I was pretty much at my wits end, because I found out last Tuesday that they would not be arriving until this week and they couldn't even promise me if they would arrive then. (Hello - Our wedding is less than 30 days away).

Part of the problem I had with them is - fine, we will wait for the dresses, because that was all we could do - but please treat me with some respect. They never called me back (and I mean - they never called me back.) I have been in this wedding planning process for quite some time, so I am use to vendors not calling me back, but this was ridiculous. Even better yet when I did talk to someone, they constantly cut me off and would tell me something new on the delivery date and then state to me like i was a child - "we will call you when the dresses arrive!" At first I took a step back and thought maybe it was me, but I had never seen such a lack of customer service in my life. I didn't even get bridezilla or anything, they were just rude from the beginning...wait a minute - they actually became rude when I started asking questions about the dresses.

I finally talked to someone who was nice and she assured me that she would do everything to get the dresses in last Friday. It was the first time I was actually treated nicely by these people. In the meantime, I got a call from the owner (she maintained that no one had ever given her a message from me until that day before. Whatever). She was probably even worse than her sales associates. And that was when I went Bridezilla on her. I finally had it with the lack of customer service. I told her I was definitely going to make an issue on this. I said I was going to rip her on every Chicago Bridal magazine site, blog, website, etc. Ok - Was I dramatic? Yes - But I had been dealing with this for over two months now. It was actually the first time I just layed into someone over anything with this wedding.

She finally apologized for my issues with their store and I think we finally resolved all issues. Even though she informed me if I wanted the dresses here by last Friday - I would have to pay for the rush delivery. Again...Bridezilla temper peaked again and she backed off that.

Now - here is the interesting part. I think they are horrible people. Just not nice, but I actually was warned by the store owner that they are seeking legal action about negative postings on wedding sites, blogs, etc. and my feeling is the owner is watching very closely to see what I do here. Not that I ever talked about this blog to her, but I have a feeling they are watching me, just because the last conversation she made sure to tell me this. So is this just a scare tactic by her?

Etsy Find of the Week

(paperlust)

So the polaroid guestbook...to be honest, I felt like it has been done before and not really exciting, but every time I brought it up to family and friends, they seemed really into it (I forget that they are not keeping up on all the wedding blogs like us). So after searching endlessly for something unique, I buckled and bought a camera and film on Ebay. Please make note - this is not a cheap venture. Especially now that they are not making polaroids anymore. I got the camera for under 25 bucks, but the film is expensive.

Adesso Albums sells a guestbook that is specific to polaroids (but I was not loving their album), so I went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby and did not find anything either. I ended up searching on Etsy and found Paperlust. I did not want to spend more money than I had to, but I loved (or lusted - get it!?) for her guestbooks. They look so vintage with the kraft paper and she works with you to customize the book. So after debating for a week, I made my purchase yesterday and Amanda has been wonderful. I cannot wait to see the finished project! (I will make sure to post it once I get it)!

(paperlust)