When You Just Know

I always thought it was pathetic how brides write about their weddidng gown testimonials on how they found the dress of their dreams - like it was love at first sight. How can one fall in love with a dress when there are so many to choose from?

I fell in love with a dress but my heart didn't skip a beat. The wedding gown of my dreams, the one I fell in love with is displayed to the right. The fabulous gown is designed by Maggie Sottero, called Artia. As much as I want to wear that for the wedding I took into consideration the impractical $$$$$. Beautiful and unique but oh so expensive.

But today after looking at millions of gowns - my heart skipped a beat. POOF!!! I turned into one of those pathetic soon-to-be brides who is writing a testimonial on her perfect dress. Because I finally found a dress that I KNOW I'm going to wear - and it's within my budget! :-P

As far as the rest of the wedding planning - our planner, GINA, is wonderful. She's so supportive and on the ball - never late (I LOVE THAT!!!). I'm so glad we decided to hire her as our planner.

Marriage counseling isn't bad either. Since the first meeting to the second, Dre and I actually learned a lot about each other. Kudos for that.

Transitions

After much thought, we (dre, me, mom) all decided to hire a wedding planner. Basically it boiled down to stress levels during the wedding day exceeding boiling point inside a pressure cooker. In other words, none of us wanted to hate each other throughout this whole charade.

Good for me because I don't like planning this wedding at all. There are some brides who cant wait to pounce on the whole planning process. I - on the other hand - want to run away from it.

If I had my way, Dre and I would be married already. Small private ceremony... with the saved money going towards a business venture!!! Could you imagine!!! Start-up capital to add on what's already there!!! The entrepreneurial's dream come true!!! But this wedding isn't just for the bride and the groom. It's for their parents as well - so might as well give the parents what they want - their dream wedding vicariously through their children. lol.

When we were just "boyfriend & girlfriend" status - we loved hanging out with the singles - now that we're engaged and almost married - we started being comfortable around the married group. Whereas before, we both felt out of place. Before, we promised never to abandon our single or "not married couple" friends - now we're turning into the, "Let's hang out with the married people" group. WOW!

But I still love my single and not-married-couple friends - and yes, I live vicariously through them at times. ;-P So enjoy your freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it amazes me. What really irritates me is how much I started to enjoy talking about raising a family. Say what? Eleanor - the independent, Eleanor the non-domestic, workaholic, diva is actually thinking of being a business woman/soccer mom? Gag me right now! But it's true!!! Who am I!?!?!!??! lol. Still... I'm amazed of who I can become in the future - because I never dreamed of me being like this.

Belle of the Ball

One of the high points of wedding planning is actually trying gowns on - which was what happened today with my mother.

Today the wedding officially became a reality. It was extremely exciting for me - at the same time, it felt absolutely divine - a significant day of my life.

My gown consultant brought out dress after dress and I twirled with every single one. The lovely consultant, who had the feeling of "fashionable-sweet-grandmother" made me feel like the most beautiful bride in the world. She made me feel as if every event unfolding will be perfect - she made me feel calm and relaxed.

As I stood on the step she kept fixing me up, my tiara, my veil, the dress trail; she let the dresses flow and then made me admire myself in the mirror. She smiled and whispered, "Beautiful."

I'm finally wearing a weddidng gown! I never thought I'd see the day I'd wear one - wow. What an experience.

I wanted to keep all of them. Everything seemed to be perfect - except that they didn't have the dress of my dreams in stock... which was insignificant because the dress costs a lot of money. Kind of impractical.

But it was an amazing feeling. What was more amazing was my mother - she was actually supportive. :-) Wow.

So I have 3 months to make a decision on which gown to wear. Out of 15 gowns, only 5 passed the final stage. As for the winner, I'm still deciding. :-)

State Fair & Wedding

Dre and I went to the Mississippi Valley Fair last night. I had fun but poor Dre was too tall to get on the rides. They should make these things for tall people too. I won a little sheep stuffed animal - cute. very cute.

As for wedding planning - Dre is on vacation next week and we're going to look for apartments and then we're going "Wedding Invitation" shopping. My mother is nagging us to get our engagement pictures taken. I think it's way too soon for it but to shut her up - we'll just do it. GGggrrr. I think I've decided on a wedding dress. It's nice - a lace halter top with a built in choker (eastern influenced) - open back - with an A-line skirt. Very unique, I haven't seen any bride wear it before. Absolutely classy and stunning. But we'll see how it fits on me. :-)

What Happened?

Wedding planning. Hey what's that? It's been left on the shelf for a while. I already signed a contract with the baker and the photographer, yet I haven't had time to fully sit down with them and tell them what I want. I still need to find musicians, a string quartet, a singer, and etc. All others seem to be taken care of.

Brief Post

It's our Pre-Year anniversary. At around the same time next year, our relatives and close friends will be gathered at the banquet hall at the casino - celebrating the fresh hours of marriage of Dre and moi.

Okay, I cant wait! Everything seem to be set up properly a year in advanced. We need to find musicians and some other vendors. I already know the design of the invitations but not sure if it's doable. Hopefully we'll have everything set by December 2007. We have a lot done, but there's a lot more to do.

No worries for guests, there's a ton to do in the area which I will outline in the wedding webpage soon. :-)

My only concern are "no-shows". My friend's maid of honor no-showed an hour before her wedding. She was crushed. I trust my girls, but at the same time, I get a bit concerned.
Anyway... this is just a brief post of what's going on. More to follow later.

To Russia, With Love

Dre's parents cant speak english well. It makes my heart melt when they try their best to speak to me via telephone. They're so so adorable. It means a lot that they LOVE me even though they have not met me.

It's such a kodac moment the way Dre looks at me when I'm trying my hardest to speak to his parents with the little Russian I know, "Da" (yes), "Nyet" (no), "Prevet" (hello), "Speciba" (thank you). It's one of those "I'm crazy about you" type of looks. It feels good. But I cant wait to meet the future in-laws.