YAY! Transportation, BOOKED!

Despite the rain and thunder the SF Bay Area had this past Friday, there was no way it was going to stop Ramon and I from booking our transportation that day. We hopped in the car, filled up the tank and drove about 45 minutes to Santa Clara where we would finally get to test our our soon to be wedding day transportation! This was one of Ramon's duties and I think he did a great job at picking the best.

Check out our fun experience capturing it all in this live video reel!.

Pretty cool, huh.

We decided on a 2009 stretch H2 Hummer. BLACK! And of course, everyone had to put in their two cents in on why they thought black was inappropriate for a wedding and white would be a more better fit. Yea, whatever. lol. So I guess it's a good thing that Ramon and I aren't like everyone else, huh? We prefer black because it has a more defined look. More sleek. More fashionable. Although I do like the white H2, I'm going to have to side with Ramon on this one.

ugh, can't you see why? :p

We decided to book our wedding day transportation through Le Grande Affaire Limousine Service and can I just tell you that this has been our best vendor experience by faarrrr. We enjoyed their services so much, we lost track of time and ended up talking with everyone for two and a half hours. HA! We even got to book our very own chauffeur! Shout out to HERM! Can't wait to work with you!

Chris from Le Grande Affaire went above and beyond his services. He is such a down to earth kind of guy. If it weren't for Chris and checking up on us every week, we probably would've never booked with them. He made our experience pleasantly hilarious! Shout out to Chris. You da man!

The hummer was booked as an all inclusive package. Roses, 3 bottles of champagne, red carpet, balloons, personal message on window, chauffeur, gas, mileage ect. {Hence, we did not move forward with the balloons and message :/}

This additional will sure to be a hit for our bridal party. After all, they do deserve the very best!!

Making RSVP life easier!

Invisible ink pens?...

Yup, that's right. When I first started planning my wedding, I saw a post on Project Wedding that raved about how useful an invisible ink pen can be for RSVPs. We've all heard the horror stories RSVPs can bring. Guests adding more than initially was annotated on the RSVP card, guests forgetting to write their names on the RSVP card, unable to read the guests hand writing and the list goes on and on. So I decided to take my friends advice and move forward with purchasing a "spy pen"

Here's how it works.

On the back of your RSVP card, simply write the invited guests name indicating how many seats will be reserved per RSVP. Guests will fill in the blanks accordingly {hopefully} and mail it back. Once you receive it and the information isn't properly filled, just flip the card over, see who this RSVP belongs to and make the next move.

IE: if you can't read the names your guests filled out, you'd have your handy dandy invisible notes available at hand!

I purchased 2 INVIS-ID via ebay for $19.99. And that includes shipping!! You can purchase your very own spy kit from this eBay seller.

As you can see in the image below, it comes with one spy pen, one ultra UV black light, 3 extra batteries and a case for your storing needs. It also comes with 5 stickers to post in your home, car, office ect to notify any potential robbers that all items have been securely marked.

Here is a sample of a marked item not being exposed under a UV black light.

And here it is with the markings revealed.

Not only will this tool be a life saver in the event of receiving our RSVP cards, it will also be a fun addition as to assembling them. {At least for Ramon it will. It'll keep him busy;)}

The extra plus of owning a spy pen is that you can mark all your valuables without anyone ever noticing. If by chance you get robbed {knock on wood} and the police find your belongings, they will scan each item with a UV black light to see who it belongs to and BAM, your identification information will be seen. Just make sure you write your name and telephone number.

Hope this helps for anyone who wants to play it safe for the "just in case" moments of handling your RSVPs.

My Bridesmaids Hair Candy!

Another Etsy love. Goodness gracious, I can never get enough of that place.

I've been searching for double gold headbands for my bridesmaids for quit some time now. I was actually starting to get a little discouraged because they were either too expensive, the band was too small for their heads, not the right color or it just didn't look right. So I turned to a sight that I've never disappointed me. Of course, Etsy was the sight who saved my headband escapade. And Gem Drop's Jewelry was the shop to deliver the goods.

I love how you can change up the style by crisscrossing the bands

These headbands are made of satin and silk. Each band measures out to be a quarter of an inch wide and has a silk covered elastic band to keep it from slipping.


For my ladies hair, I am going for a soft grecian feel. Up-do of course, soft curls adorned with these beauties. I'm using this picture as inspiration.

My Maid of Honor and I are going in for our hair and make up trials this Sunday. I'll be sure to recap with tons of pictures.

Engagement Encounter: Second Session

Again, so sorry for the absence of my being. I was sick with the worst case of "stomach flu" ever imagined. But now, I am happy to say, I'm 100 percent back into the blogging game.

Believe it or not, a lot of wedding stuff has happened since being sick. {i know, right?} So let's start at day one of my sickness.

Last week Wednesday was our second session of marriage prep and I must admit, I was not my "happy go lucky self". I was sicker than a dog. This was my first day of the stomach flu and I refused to miss my second session of marriage prep. I would just hate to be labeled "that couple" who doesn't show up to class. lol

So I went, in pure utter grossness. I felt like crap. Literally. But some how some way I made it through the night feeling like a better person.

Any who, this class was all about communication. How our communication was, is and how we hope it will be.

Our instructors directed each couple into our own private area throughout their home. We were given this booklet to work from.

Each of us had to carefully read each message, fill in the blanks and discuss each answer. Being that Ramon and I have been together since high school and were raised pretty much the same, it wasn't a surprise to hear a lot of the same answers we had. It was actually a relief. However, there were a few answers that both of us disagreed on and had a few deep discussions about. Such as: what would we do if we had a mentally challenged child? What would we do if one cheated on the other?, would we stay and work it out. Would we stick to our sacramental promise to our Lord; For richer or for poorer, for good or in bad, through thick and thin till death do us part? There were some toughies but we seemed to have made it through the night.

In between the readings and discussions, Ramon helped himself to our instructors treats. They served us cold water and cute little heart shaped cookies. I snaked on my home brought Canada Dry Ginger Ale and Fat Free Crackers. {<- was a must. Don't know what I would've done without it}

I was so proud of capturing a few glimpses of Ramon taking all seriousness into this course. To me, communication is the key. And to see him having such an open mind to our little discussions on each topic really gave me a sign of relief.

While he was able to stay on the straight and narrow, I found myself taking little breathers in between. At some points, I just felt like I was going to explode.

All in all, we finished the night feeling better as a couple. Feeling like we accomplished another chapter in our life. No wonder why the church requires these courses. Its filled with tons of information that a couple rarely ever speaks of. It really opened our world to something we've never considered. For that, I am grateful!

CAKE! Done, Done & Done!

This past weekend, Ramon and I booked our baker, signed the contract and PAID IN FULL for our oh so delicious wedding cake.

We decided to go with Gala Bakery, a cakery located a few cities away from us. We decided to book with Andrea {owner of Gala Bakery} is because she's a down to earth kind of gal. Not only is her cakes amazingly moist, not too sweet {plus for us} and always pleasantly presented, we basically booked because the chemistry Ramon and I had with her. She seems like someone that will deliver what we're asking for. We have seen many cake disasters and we refused to be on that list! For us, the cake says a lot and we were determined to find the best baker around. But of course, having a guests list consisting of 275, we were limited to the bakers in our price range :( Not to fret, Gala Bakery made it all worth while.

Our second meeting with Andrea came with a second tasting. Yuuummmm!

And as you can see, we were not shy to dig in the mouth watering display. hehe

Ramon and I chose three flavors for our guests to indulged in.

1. Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling {I'm the choco lover}

2. Red Velvet with a Cream Cheese filling {Ramon's fav}

3. White cake with strawberry mousse filling topped with fresh strawberries

We are also serving a surprise 8 inch mini cake for my grandparents. They're very simple and only wish for a chocolate cake with no frosting for every occasion. Weather it be for their birthday, a holiday or just any old regular day, that is what they desire. So since my grandparents mean the world to me, I decided to make them feel special by surprising them with their favorite cake. Nothing more and nothing less than your simple chocolate cake.

The cake will be served to them on this tray provided by my baker. It is a cream rot-iron cake stand adorned with hanging crystals.

With the cake being such an important aspect of our wedding, we decided to incorporate our cake as the centerpiece of our cocktail hour. It will be displayed on this round granite table top located in the bar area.

GETTIN' DOWN TO THE DESIGN!!

This is our cake! Each tier will be 6 inches high, smoothly covered in an ivory butter cream frosting finished off by a thin layer of a shimmery dust.

In the center of each and every rose will be adorned with one of my DIY crystal accents.

Hanging swarovski crystals will hang on a 20 gauge gold wire over the top tier. It will be placed like the image below.

The cake will be sitting on top of a thick blanket of ivory and cream rose petals.

phew, i really hope it will turn out to be everything that I'm hoping it will be. eeek!

Engagement Encounter: First Session

First, I want to apologize for being MIA to the blogging world. Life has been a little hectic for us lately.

Any who, Ramon and I had our first Encounters of the Engaged night. Ramon and I are Catholic and are getting married in a church. One of the church requirements are that we either go on a religious couples retreat {just for a weekend} or that we take a 6 week class with other engaged couples. With the cost difference in effect, we decided to venture out in the 6 week course world.

Last Wednesday was or first session.

Fist things first... the compatibility test. HA!

They made of the couples split up and go in different parts of the house to take the "Focus Test". This test is a fill in the bubble type test consisting of 187 personal questions. Some of the questions I would have preferred to leave blank, but the instructor reminded me twice that i had to chose one :/ So I did {yikes}

Ramon was being a bad Catholic boy and interrupting his test time to capture a few snap shots of me taking my test.

Our instructors {John and Jan} were so welcoming. They made homemade cookies for us to nibble on.

The glass water pitcher was cutely displayed with matching tumblers.

and they also provided us with a little assortment of fresh fruit. {pls don't mind the browning bananas. Jan instructed us not to touch those because she had plans on making banana bread with. lol}

After the test, all the couples regrouped and did a short introduction about us as a couple. One couple met on e-harmony another met at work. When it was our turn to introduce ourselves, I started off by saying we met in the 4th grade. They all laughed. {{whatever, I thought it was cute. lol}} So then I proceeded with "We HAVE NOT BEEN TOGETHER SINCE THE 4TH GRADE, we just met in the 4th grade". All of a sudden we heard a sigh of relief. {HA! Again, whatever} And then I smacked them with "we are high school sweethearts and have been together since my junior year and his senior year. Approximately 8 1/2 years of good lovin'. They seemed so shocked to hear our long history together. I'm guessing it's because we are the youngest in the class with the most time under our belts {but for the third time, whatever!}

After the introductions we all had the chance to mingle with one another. This was an exercise to get us all comfortable with one another before we start digging up the real deets within the next 5 upcoming weeks. This, by far, was my fav part of the night. Just call me your social butterfly =)

To say the least, I love our instructors. I love our fellow engaged couples. I can't wait to see where this class will take us mentally, physically and knowingly.

MY DIY Table Numbers!!

Going off the same style as our wedding invitations {soon will be revealed}, I decided to carry on the same motif in our table numbers.

I purchased these lovely rot iron old gold easels from both Beverly's and Burlington Coat Factory. $4.99 each, was a bit of a splurge for table easels, but I couldn't help myself. I just had to have em.

The back splash shimmer gold card stock was yet another splurge hitting at $6.99 for a pack of 10 - 8x11 sheets. Again, I couldn't resist. Paper Source gets me every time!

You can buy this "Sparkle Satin Gold" ribbon at JoAnn's. A full spool measures in at 3 inches wide and 3 yards long.

The crystals were left over from my invitation supplies. {again, my invites will make their premier sooner than you know it!}

*** If you like this DIY project and decide to use it and post about it, please give me credit with a link directed back to this blog. Thanks a bunch!! =)

My Vases are here!!!

Today was yet another exciting wedding day. I finally have my dream vases in hand!

I have been drooling over these vases for about four months now and to finally have them in my procession is such a relief. {{exhale, now I can breath}}

These will be gracing our guests tables as one of high/tall centerpieces.

Five high arrangements will be presented in these beautiful over sized hurricane vases adorned with a ball of ivory and cream roses and accented with crystals peeking out of each rose.

{I just love the stem detail}

I am getting so excited to see all my wedding plans unfold. I can't wait to see it in action!

Look What I Just Got!

feast your eyes on these beauties!!! Who would've thought cake stands would be such a treat to look at? From the intricate details, to the metallic old gold finish and the dripping crystals will surely be an eye catcher at my wedding. Made by one of my favorite couture home decor shops, Opulent Treasures has outdone themselves once again. BRAVO! But truth be told, always wanted them, never could afford them until.... dun dun dunnnn, TJ MAXX graced their shelves with these mouth dropping, oh so fabulous cake stands!

I'm thinking of using them at our cigar bar. Maybe we could display our custom made matchboxes on one and a pretty little floral arrangement on the other.

{with no flash. Just her, in all her natural beauty}

So tell me, if these were yours, what would you use them for?

DIY: Crystal Hanging Votives

Gah! How many candles can one wedding have?

I just love the romantic feel of a candlelight summers night. And that is one thing I definitely want to accomplish. Candles, candles, candles!!

I always knew I wanted hanging votives but didn't have any trees to hang them from. So I had to get creative to find a way to incorporate these gorgeous hanging flames.

And I think I've finally found the perfect spot.

Out on our balcony there are about 5-6 black rot iron patio sets that are covered by beautiful ivory umbrellas. They look like this.

You see those stick like things that are meant to support the umbrella? Yup, that's where they'll hang! =)

I also knew I wanted more than your typical hanging votive. So I decided to add a little somethin' somethin' to give it that extra umph. So I decided to use CRYSTALS!!

During cocktail hour, we will be floating small half bloomed cream roses sprays. They will almost look like this. The only difference is we'll be using smaller roses.

And when the sun goes down, we will then replace the roses with mini ivory candle pillars.

I am so excited about this project. I can't wait to see it in action!

*** If tou like this DIY project and decide to use it and post about it, please give me credit with a link directed back to this blog. Thanks a bunch!! =)