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the renegade bride

“the wild, wacky adventures of a bridal industry insider +newlywed + new homeowner and (in practice)renovation-maven. Whee!”

Category Archives: Pending Decisions

August 25, 2011 Las Vegas, Baby!

One of my favorite places in the world is Las Vegas. It’s up there in my top five, which follows:

1. Kona, Hawaii (clearly)

2. Las Vegas, NV

3. Cancun, Mexico

4. Yosemite National Park

5. Manassas, VA

Those are the top 5.  Las Vegas is also special since it’s where Don + I spent our first vacation, and where I asked him (albeit a bit drunkenly) if he planned to marry me one day (he said yes, and look, he clearly did! Thanks, Las Vegas). We have lots of happy memories there.

The last time we went, we stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton. Home of Elvis. Pluses: cheap, a little off the street, directly in route to our favorite place on the strip (more about that soon) and pretty cheap resort rates.

The Hilton also has the Star Trek: the Experience exhibit/thing at the Hilton. We were too poor (thanks, Grad school!) to go to that then, but we had fun looking at people who were going there:

The biggest splurge of our trip was that Don took me to The Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio for the best meal of my life. We had pate, a crazy expensive bottle of wine, and some amazing food. Imagine dining in a spot surrounded by priceless pieces of art, getting amazing service, drinking delicious wine…ahh, heaven. That’s my idea of heaven, people. Beautiful surroundings + amazing food + man I love = perfect, heavenly day

I still have the rose from our dinner table tucked away in my keepsake memories box. Aww, right? So sweet! I know, I know!

ANYWAY, so this upcoming March, my husband is turning 30!! I am really excited for him, and I want to make it a big deal. Now, let me give you a little backstory here– Don does not like making things a big deal. Especially birthdays. I am the kind of person that thinks a party with fanfare and confetti is appropriate for all of life’s amazing moments, ESPECIALLY birthdays. On my 3oth birthday, it was the first year my studio was open and consequently my first mother’s day, and I was slammed crazy busy. I worked something like a million hours, and I was exhausted. Some friends had us over to dinner, and I brought chocolate covered strawberries and about passed out from drinking a glass of wine. TOTALLY LAME. Worst birthday ever. Well, not the worst, but one of the worst. I didn’t care for it. I have a few rules about my birthday– 1. Don’t work (i’ve broken that rule three times and regret it more every time I do), 2. Do whatever you want, 3. Make a big deal out of it, because it is a big deal, 4. Eat cake the next morning for breakfast. Pretty simple rules. If I can manage it, I find a way to sneak in drinking a margarita and having Mexican food.

But for Don’s birthday, he never wants me to make a big deal. Now that I’m his wife and can do whatever I want (evil laughter), I feel like the only way I can get him to make a big deal out of his thirtieth birthday is to get him outta dodge. And by getting him outta dodge, I mean Las Vegas.

It’s a pretty brilliant plan if you ask me. The last time we went, we made all sad poor people decisions about where to go and what to do. We did very little gambling (even though I love, love, love roulette) and mostly at Circus, Circus, where they have penny slots (woo!) and $1 chips, and you could get a coupon for a $2 subway sandwich. We spent a lot of time there. Like, a lot of time, a shameful amount of time:

I have no doubt that for nostalgic purposes (and cheap Subway sandwiches) we will go back there.

It looks really nice from the street, but believe me, it’s not that nice.

Sooo….Las Vegas. Right. I was looking at places to stay, and I have come up with a few picks that I am debating over. One is the new place on the strip, the Aria. They are running some really great rates  and the place looks really cool– kinda like a crazy futuristic  spaceship hotel:

Hello, fancy hotel!

But at $200 a night with the stupid resort fees + taxes, I think that maybe breaks my bank some. So I went onto my pal, travelocity, to snoop around at some other options:

The Signature at MGM grand is running a great special– stay 4 nights, get 1 free, and it seems pretty swankity: “The Signature at MGM Grand lets you revel in the luxury of Signature Deluxe Suites and One-Bedroom Balcony Suites in three 40-story towers. Located next to MGM Grand, The Signature’s separate entrance brings you into this secluded enclave near the heart of all the action. Many suites boast a private balcony with view. All suites offer pillow-top beds, lavish bathrooms featuring Jacuzzi tubs, upscale linens, kitchens or kitchenettes with refrigerators, sinks, and microwaves, and HDTV flat-screen TVs with DVD/CD players. Additional amenities: 24-hour in-suite dining, an exclusive heated pool complex, personal check-in/checkout, 24-hour concierge, fitness center, business center, and more.”

Look, this picture of this random lady says “I am having fun here, it is really nice!”

The rooms are pretty awesome:

But I’m not totally sure. We could save $100 a night staying at Bill’s Gamblin Hall + Saloon (yes, that is the real name)

Or for the epitome of luxury, we could sell everything we own and use all our credit cards and rob a bank to stay at the Four Seasons Las Vegas– for 72,000:

Luxury!

Crazy fancy bathroom!

That is still the hotel room!

That’s the pool. Kinda meh for 72K for a week.

Well, that’s the extent of my research for now. I welcome your thoughts, Vegas fans– tell me where you’d stay if you could.

EDIT: I found out that was some kind of glitch on the Travelocity website saying the Four Seasons was a bazill. Well, I am sure that was for a suite or a special floor or the rooms with a luxury panic room and a butler. We could actually stay in a Standard Room (still really nice) for $247 a night– a little spendy, but there’s nothing like the Four Seasons….

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August 1, 2011 I need a lil happiness.

Well, plumbing is all fixed, ya’ll, and it ended up being a cracked pipe caused by pressure + tree roots from the neighbor’s massive bastard tree. Refinished hardwoods in the kitchen budget later (Jen, what is up with the refinished floors = plumbing budget) we are the proud owners of …working toilets. Whee.

To celebrate (or mourn) the loss of this money, I feel like there’s nothing better to do than spend more money. Not really, but considering that I make hair appointments 10 weeks apart it makes sense that I should NOT cancel the one I have for tomorrow.  Haircuts make you feel happier, and I am in dire need of some happy. I started a Pinterest Board on hairstyle  with some ideas. Apparently, I want to cut it off. I have had it long(ish) for too long, and now I need the diversion of something different. Does anyone else get this urge?

Here’s some of the “big contenders”

I like that haircut a lot, and i like this one, too (which is super similar but also cute)

But then I get the anxieties about what if it’s too short? Too bold? too “young looking.”

I could always fall back on a “Jennifer Anniston” haircut, or let my stylist do whatever she wants:

But it seems like if i were to pick something, I’d suddenly have all this greater control and thus feel happier and better and like I mastered the universe. I dunno. Stupid Hair.

 

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May 18, 2011 Cake stands

My current obsession    project is finding the perfect cake stand for our sweet little cake. It’s 8 inches at the base and 6 on top and will look an awful lot like this when it’s done:

Yummy! But the cake stand. The damn cake stand.

My favorite is this one from Etsy. I don’t know if i think the base being square would be a strange contrast and/or issue with design:

It’s also a little beyond my budget at $69.

I found this little gem on Amazon, a cool $30, and at half the price it’s cute enough:

and this one is not so bad either, and at $25

And I did think of making my own, yes, but I have a few of these lingering DIY projects I’m already behind on.  Hm. so, should I splurge on the etsy one or get the amazon cheapie and call it a deal?

May 3, 2011 Hair. Teeth. Etc.

Update on the teeth: I used a 7 day whitening kit and I had to reduce it from 30 minutes to 20 minutes each session, but my teeth are definitely whiter. I think I am going to do 1 more round pre-wedding in about 2 weeks. I have 5 weeks left til THE DAY so I think that 2-3 weeks from now, another round will do me well. Has anyone ever done the multiple treatments? Thanks so much for all the tips on products and the sensodyne— life saver, ya’ll. Totally worth it, my teeth look way better and I feel far less self conscious about them!

Update on the Hair: doing a hair trial on 5.9 as a gift from future mom in law. I am having a slight hair dillema, though: all of my time outdoors has lightened my hair considerably. The problem stems from the fact that I’m a natural blonde. My hair grows in a really drab, mousy, dishwater color and then as it hits the sun, it gets lighter. I went in for my color about 3 weeks ago and had a base of a rich brown and then added in some more hightlights and lowlights in shades of blonde and caramel and a bit of red. The sun, coupled with my intense use of biotin– made my growing in hair turn a pretty bright blonde, and the rest of the top of my hair has lightened up. The ends are still darker. As a result, I look a “hot mess” of hair color.

I am trying to decide what to do— knowing I’m going to be spending lots of time outdoors pre-wedding, I think this lightening issue is only going to increase. So, do I not fight nature and when I go in for my hair trial, do some more blonde and light shade highlights, and then when I go for my last pre-wedding haircut (scheduled for 5.31–11 days before the wedding) do I do more highlights and hope it all looks good?

Ugh.

To put it in perspective: here I am with my post WNTW shade, a rich chestnutty brown with some auburn:

Pre- WNTW A few years ago, my hair will get this blonde if I let it, but It’s always really brassy:

So I started thinking, maybe a blend of these two…

But then I couldn’t visualize how I’d look, so I went onto the makeover website, Tazz.

Here’s me with Jennifer Anniston’s hair and a bit of a tan:

Or with a darker brown and some heavier highlights (BTW my hair will not be this long…it’s right below my shoulders IRL)

And one with lots and lots of light highlights and more of an ash tone:

For fun, here I am with Kyra Sedgewick blonde hair:

So, what do ya’ll think? What’s your fave look?

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March 14, 2011 Place setting idea: Little Compasses

I am aggresssively striving to accomplish as much “wedding stuff” as possible in the next few weeks before April hits and brings along with it wedding season and house renovation season. So, expect a lot of wedding-y posts tempered with home-design posts.

I found these little darling compasses from Laura Hooper (whom I love) and I thought to myself, oh, perfect…

But instead of a table assignment, I’m thinking maybe the date or something— thoughts, guys? I think it would be cute for each compass to sit at the actual plate of the guest:

Imagine, if you will, the following: silver chargers on charcoal gray linen (probably pintuck, not crinkle taffeta):

I am debating using white linens just for contrast, but I’m thinking most of our flowers will be white on the table. I am still tweaking my ideas for the tabletop, it really depends on how many guests we end up with at the reception:
with yellow napkins with a ruffle I am thinking of making:

My challenge now is A)finding those little compasses so that I can customize then, and B) making the napkins. Yay, fun!

 

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February 28, 2011 Bridesmaids, Shoes, etc.

Now that it’s (holy S!) four months from my wedding, I thought perhaps I ought to get motivated to find some dresses for my bridesmaids. So far, I have one for sure (yay, go Jessica!) and maybe a second one (yay, sister!) but sis is still trying to find a magic money tree to make the trek to “The Isle of Gold and Diamonds” as I now affectionately call Hawaii (yes, it’s ok to bitch about how expensive the place you chose to wed is, and not at all hypocritical or insensitive to your guests. In fact, guests: I feel your pain, and I apologize that we decided to be married in paradise. Paradise, turns out, is expensive. But I’m on good authority that paradise is so, so, so worth it, so hang in there with me, and we can all go rob that bank together) That was a long parenthetical aside. Apologies.

Ok, so I digressed there a lot. Anyway, I have been looking for the dresses. I keep on going back and forth on what I want for my lovelies to wear. I am wearing ivory (clearly) with a deep charcoal colored sash. And I originally thought that my ladies should wear deep gray because a)gray is cool, and b) yellow bouquets look fabulous against gray.  But finding the perfect gray dress has proven quite challenging, and thusly here are the main contenders in my book.

Taffeta Amsale in Granite. I like the shape, I don’t like the shiny:

I like this Chiffon number in Charcoal (yay, right color!) and I like the how light and airy it is while still being feminine:

Another chiffon Amsale– similar feeling, but long and greecian and flowy:

Issues with these are that they might not end up being available in time (eek, 4 months) and they may be beyond an ideal price range for my ladies. I also don’t know if they feel too formal.

Now, the other day Kristin sent me a pic of some shoes from BHDLN that she thinks are perfect wedding shoes for me, and I must say, I agree…

Yummy yummy yellow, platform heels, bows….gah I love bows.

Those are the hotness. Anyway, so I fell on in love with those, and then I thought “I’ll look for some lady dresses here” and I happened upon this little gem:

The color is “Sunshine” and I really like this temp of yellow against my charcoal:

I honestly love everything about it, I’m just not sure that I want for the girls to be in yellow. I don’t know if it will be *too* yellow.

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January 31, 2011 Little White (Rehearsal) Dress

I’m working on travel details and a new save the date, and It’s only 7:57 and I already need a distraction. Distraction: FASHION. Namely: I want a cute white dress to wear to the rehearsal dinner. We’re not really doing a rehearsal, but I think we’re doing a luau or something with the peeps that make the big adventure to the big island o’fun. I’m hoping that Anthro’s wedding dress line will maybe have a short,cute, flirty dress that will fill my short dress need for the day prior to THE DAY. I count down the hours til 2.14. I can’t decide if I should wear white to this occasion or yellow…but I’ve found a few possible dresses that I like:

I love, love this dress– but I don’t love that it’s $400:

This one is cute, but I’m not sure about the belt/sash:

Source: Nordstrom on both the above

I’ve got a love for 1950s and 1960s vintage-y dresses, and I found this site :
http://www.unique-vintage.com/wedding-dresses-short-wedding-dresses-c-102_167.html
 which has some adorb. stuffs:

And this one is pretty darn adorable, too:

Ahh, decisions, decisions…

January 26, 2011 Thank you, Knot, for all the reminders: Cake

Ah. If you will, remember the holidays. A few blissful weeks of nothing but love and being lazy and drinking champagne and eating bon-bons. The Holidays– my two-week period of total indulgence, of work-free blissdom, of everything magical and good and right. The time where I took long bubble baths and ate Wich-Which sandwiches and looked at Holiday crap at stores.

I remember the holidays, and I remember the onslaught that follows: back to work, back to the craziness, welcome to Engagement Season. Meetings and fun times and  gatherings amongst friends to discuss meetings and brides and other people’s weddings. It was all consuming for like three weeks. And then, last Thursday, I had an epic two hour phone call with The Wedding Planner, and now I feel pressure.

As you know, we’re marrying in Hawaii. I thought to myself, “dude, this is going to be crazy easy. You just send them a PDF of all your plans, with your shipments of goodies for tables and chairbacks and the like all perfectly labeled and with diagrams, and you don’t have to do anything but anticipate”.

Uh, no.

You have to do other things *. I mean, I knew that.  I knew that I was going to have to do things, of  course, I just thought I could totally procrastinate on those things. Like deciding on an officiant, and a cake style, and the type of musicians and the menu, and if you want $1200 string lights <– highway robbery, but neccessary for my soiree –> and enter the dragon of stress. Stress because everything is crazy expensive (like, you think I whine here people, but for the love of all that’s good and holy, a freaking COKE is $7.)

What kind of put me over the edge is the stupid Knot. They sent me one of those “friendly” emails about how I have like, no time before June and I’m gonna die in a wedding apocalypse of stress and anguish and pain. I know they want to help, but it just makes me feel like a freaking zombie. So I start digging into cakes. And I sent the cakes to the wedding planner, so I’m hoping that one of these will work. It’s going to be a two-tiered simple cake, round (on a eyelit lace pedastal, thank you) and one of these designs:

See all these pretty little sugar thing dottikins? They’d be in shades of gray with yellow and white centers. Possibly some pearl action, I love some pearls. White eyelit lace pedestal. Darling!

If that won’t work, option II:

Imagine the lace in dark charcoal gray with yellow accents. Not sure how yet– I think all the lace in gray, flowers in yellow.

Third option if all the other options don’t pan out:

Note, all the images are from the Knot, where they love to make me feel stress and pain.

I await news on the cake. I have many other updates to share, as I’m trying to plan a bunch in a short period of time. I’ll update you soon. I promise to quit my negligence :)

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