We're Married!

Enjoying a post nuptials twizzler

We did it!  I have soooo much writing to do now, lol.  I think I can keep this blog going for another month or two with all the recaps and sharing of things I was keeping secret for surprise sake, lol. 

Let me just say, now that it is over.  The days leading up to the wedding were stressful and so so busy, but in the end we had a complete blast.  Everything turned out better than I ever hoped it could and I think everyone had a really good time!  I am dog tired though, so I just need to get through these last two school nights and end of the month here at work and I will fill you guys in on everything!



An Open Letter to Wedding Vendors

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Before I get on my high horse here, I am not intending to imply at all wedding vendors are guilty of this.  I personally have had beyond fantastic experiences with a lot of my vendors and they continue to exceed expectations.  Others leave something to be desired...and that is who I am talking to.  And stress is the silent killer, so I am worried about the well being of myself and others like me.  lol.

I want to share with you a novel concept which can really help you when dealing with stressed out brides.  This can be used across any industry, and will no doubt appease even the most horrible of customer and give you good word of mouth reviews to boot.

Ready for this gem?

Underpromise and overdeliver.

It is so simple and can do wonders for your business and the sanity of your customers.

Tell me it will be ready Wednesday when it will most likely be done on Monday.  Then when you call me on Monday saying my order is ready to go, I am thinking you are a rock star, and my schedule doesn't have to be disrupted.  I will tell everyone who even breathes the word wedding how wonderful you are and how they would be fools to go to any other vendor.  Fools!

But in reality land, the opposite happens.  I am told things will be ready Saturday, then when I call Friday to make sure Saturday is good to go, I learn that actually it wont be ready until Monday.  I am en route across town to pick something up, only to learn that something that is someone else's fault pushed the schedule back a day or two.  In normal life I am very accommodating and understanding.  In wedding mode, I am on edge because I am trying to get 15 things done in a lunch hour, and I have 5 different people changing the plan on me at the last minute.  Adopting this underpromise and overdeliver method could really make strides in the whole 'bridezilla' problem I am sure you deal with frequently.  I make plans to get things handled, then they get rescheduled and I don't have Monday free to deal with you, then I get scared that I am one phone call or email away from being screwed over by one of these people I gave a non-refundable deposit to.  You could take responsibility for your contribution to the problem and try to be better.  I am not saying brides are innocent.  Certain people need some help getting it together sometimes, I get it.  I am not perfect either.  I am bad about contacting people at the last minute about things, but I think I am pretty decent at responding in a timely fashion and always being polite, and not needlessly changing my mind constantly.  (at worst, I give Katrina an ear full about how incompetent I find you)  I want our interactions to be easy just as much as you do - I want to give you money for whatever you are selling and trust that in your experience of being a 'wedding person' that it or you will be there looking fabulous with no problems. 

I don't doubt that your intentions are anything but noble when you tell me a date or time that is reasonable or even fast.  (You can have my dress altered in 3 days, wonderful!)  But I don't know if you guys realize how damaging it can be to your reputation when I get the disappointing news that you can't keep your word.  The fact that this situation has played itself out in my experience from more that 3 people I have dealt with in this process, I can't imagine that some weird fluke is happening and I am the only one who gets dates pushed back, or expectations not met. 

I took one marketing class years ago in college - not too much stuck with me, but this little tidbit did because it has proven to be true among me and everyone I know.  If you have a bad experience somewhere, you will tell 14 people (on average).  If you have a good experience, you are likely to tell no one.  Sad but true.  I think the numbers could be skewed for industry or whatnot.  In the wedding business, word of mouth and reputation is HUGE.  Even with the Internet age - I may not know any Houston brides-to-be that need to be warned about someone, but you can bet in a heartbeat I will chime in if someone on a forum somewhere is looking for a florist and I know someone who jerked me around and caused me a bunch of stress.  If I ran across 2-3 people saying don't use so and so I am going to think that so and so must be an incompetent clown.  For the amount us brides are overcharged on everything I expect to be dealing with pros.  Maybe you sell $1500 wedding cakes 5 days a week and lose sight of the amount of money that is because you aren't a billionaire.  I can pay two months of rent with that money, or go on a week long cruise to Mexico, but I am buying flippin' cake.  So if you are giving me the run around or not emailing me back, what do you expect?? 

Underpromise and overdeliver.

In closing, I would like to thank you for your time and I would like to thank the wonderful people I have dealt with whom none of this applies to.  And thanks to fellow brides for helping me stay sane and laughing throughout this crazy process!





Wedding Dress Blues...

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So I got my dress back from the tailor on Monday and tried it on yesterday.  It is hemmed and bustled and ready to go, it just needs steaming!  I wish I liked the way I looked in it better, I just really don't think poufy white dresses are my most flattering look.  The dress is beautful, don't get me wrong.  Just me in it is kinda meh.  And then the fact that I will be photographed a billion times and looked at a bunch while looking meh is making me feel queasy.  Maybe if I just look really happy it will make the dress seem better?  Happy people always look good in what they are wearing.  Maybe this is some weird version of cold feet I am getting?



Something that made me smile today

My friend and co worker Ryan and his wife are having a new baby girl in a couple months, and sadly their baby shower is scheduled the day after the wedding.  Since we are going to have loads of family and friends in town and will no doubt be exhausted, we had to decline our invite.  I got a gift for them and was just going to bring it to work on Monday for them to open at the shower.

Yay for babies :)

And since it will be the day after the wedding, I got to sign the card Aaron and Natalie Hinkley. :)

I am a dork!

Seriously. :\

First the weather, now this...


Hi Natalie~
I have some bad news.  There are NO light pink peonies anywhere in the world  for next week.  Sometimes this happens due to weather.  I don't know if you might like garden roses in light pink instead of the peonies.  I think that the garden rose would give you the closest look to the peony.  Or another option is to group carnations into bunches.  I'm so sorry about this.   I wish I could control everything, but I have to remind myself I can't.   Just let me know how you want me to proceed.  If you do want the garden roses then we need to know as soon as possible. 
Thank you and again I'm sorry!


I know it is no one's fault, but it is still disappointing. 

The poor man's peony.

Weather Update.

Oye, I have been waiting for today for over a week now.  Today the wedding date will be included in the 10 day forecast on www.weather.com.


It doesn't look good.

Although the forecast is hardly super accurate at this point...

I thought we were supposed to be in a drought?!

Aaron makes a good point - they are often wrong about tomorrow's weather, so I shouldn't put too much stock in this.  Everyone do some anti-rain dances for me!

Hair Trial!

I had an appointment this morning for a badly needed hair cut and a practice run for my wedding hair do!  I went to the salon at Beauty Brands and met with Jaime.  I basically just gave her a few pictures of things I liked and left it in her capable hands.  I think she did a really good job, and I love it!  Here is how it turned out:

If I look tired, it is because I am.  lol

Pretty!

Houston Flower Girls

What's the deal with the flowers, you ask?  Well my cousins are making up 20 beautiful centerpieces for the reception and traveling from Austin with them before the wedding.  I know they will be just stunning!  As far as the bouquets and corsages and boutonnieres, my Mom has made these before and I have watched several youtube videos on the topic, so we are certain that we can tackle this on our own.

So we needed to find a place that would sell us flowers at a reasonable price.  I found this really great wholesale place that isn't far from us called West Side Flower Exchange.  They are wholesale only (no wonder their prices are so good!) so they wont sell to us common folk.  I was referred to Houston Flower Girls by the people at west side when I called.  Well they hooked me up with Mary Ann, and she is just wonderful!  We met with her Friday - her office is inside WSFE- and her concept is totally unique and awesome!

She offers classes on how to make bouquets, flower arrangements, or anything you need - and once you take the class, you can buy what you need from the West Side people.  OR if you don't have time or need for the class, you just have to buy $250 worth of flowers.  Such a neat concept!  We opted to pass on the class for now, but my Mom and I totally want to go back sometime after the wedding and take some flower arranging classes!  Mary Ann was really really nice and cool and helped us compile our order.  We got to go into the giant refrigerator and see every flower they sell, which was helpful when you aren't a florist and don't know every flower out there.

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After seeing all the different flowers they had, we decided on pale pink peonies (my favorite, so of course!), white roses, and freesia (which smells fantastic!) for mine and the gals bouquets.  I think for the boutonnieres we are going to do freesia and roses.  We also got a boatload of babies breath for this idea we are doing for the church pews, and some white orchids that my Mom plans to string together to hang from a tree in the entry, which I don't know what that is about and just learned of this idea when we were there.  

We had the funniest conversation about corsages.  Mary Ann and my Mom both connected over their anti-corsage ideas.  I am in agreement and don't care that much about corsages, I just want everyone to be happy.  But wrist corsages are pretty but sort of seem more appropriate for a gal going to the prom.  Pin-on corsages get smashed when you hug people, they make your dress hang or pull weird in some situations, and a lot of times fancy dress fabric does not lend well to things being pinned on it.  My Mom's dress has a really pretty neckline and she didn't want flowers to deter from it's prettiness.  Understandable!  So we think for the Moms and Grandmas, we are just going to make a mini bunch of flowers for them to carry when they walk down the aisle at church, then they can set them down and be done with it.  Everybody wins!  Our total order ended up being right at $250 dollars, which was perfect!

Peonies

Freesia

Roses

White Orchids

Marriage License

We got our marriage license!  It was easy, we just went to the courthouse to see the Harris County Clerk, gave them $72 dollars, and promised that we weren't married to other people, have been divorced in the last 30 days, or were related to one another (lol!).  

We aren't cousins, lets do this!

And we celebrated by getting lunch at the really good chicken fingers place.  Yay!

*Side note, if you are a Houston bride, you can get your license at any of the 9 satellite offices, you don't have to go all the way downtown, which is awesome!

Just an update

Hi Everyone!  We are officially 17 days away from Aaron and I's big day!  After a few bridezilla episodes from last week, this week has gone pretty smoothly.  I am actually feeling quite zen, despite a still semi-lengthy to-do list.  I think I had a light bulb moment over the weekend or something.  I really want to look back at my engagement in a positive light.  The wedding is just a few hours of my life, but my engagement has been over a year of my life.  I don't want to think back and shudder over the amount of stress I went through, I want to remember being excited and happy.  I am of the opinion that all of these wedding TV shows feed into our minds that if we aren't over the top stressed, we aren't doing it right.  It is easy to get caught up in the hype.  I have basically surrendered to the idea that everything will be beautiful and fun, and I need to just trust the people I have hired or family and friends helping out and let it be.

Total Zen. 

Ok so I am in a happy mood for a change, so that is nice :)  I have a bunch of things coming up this week that I am looking forward to.

This afternoon (weather permitting) Aaron and I are taking professional engagement pics to display around the entry table at the reception.  (Better late that never, right!)  If these don't get done today, then Monday will be the back up day.  It rained a crazy amount in Houston two days ago and flooded much of the city.  It has since drained off, but it is still muddy in some nature places where our photographer usually shoots.

Tomorrow Aaron and I are going to go get our wedding license on my lunch break.  It is just getting me eager for the wedding, I want it to be here already!

On Friday, my Mom and I are going to meet with the wholesale florist to see what flowers we are going to need.  My cousin from Austin is the mastermind behind the floral elements of our centerpieces - a gift from my Aunt Gloria and Uncle Howard.  But since they are coming from Austin, and that is going to be tricky enough, my Mom and I are going to handle making the bouquets and corsages.  We also are going to make some really simple pew decorations for the church.  So our flower needs aren't huge, but we want to check out what we like, etc. 

Saturday morning I have an appointment for a badly needed haircut, and my hair-do trial for my wedding 'do!  I am excited to see how it turns out!

Over the weekend we will be assembling wedding programs and working on a seating chart because we have gotten all our RSVPs in.  I must say, I am really proud of my guests for responding.  I only had to call or email a handful of people out of the nearly 300 that were invited!  It looks like our guest count is going to be right at 200, and I am so glad that many of Aaron's family from all over the country are making the trip to Texas for the wedding.  I can't wait to meet them!!  I am also over the moon excited to see some old friends I haven't seen in a good while and having all my extended family together for a happy occasion.  Life is good :)

Everything is really falling into place just like everyone said it would :)

Cake! from Alphorn Bakery

I have not talked about cake in quite some time, and that just doesn't seem right!

So in order to not use all of my vacation days in the first week of the year, I made an appointment to meet with our cake baker at 7 in the morning last Friday.  I am glad that bakers start their days so early!

I had talked about some rough ideas when we first met with Peter at Alphorn Bakery but that was ages ago at this point.  It was also my first wedding cake consultation, so I didn't know what I was doing or what to expect.  Now that I have been around the wedding cake block about 4 times, I felt more able to convey what I want.

When I started this wedding process, I thought that for the most part I would find things that I like and have it turned into a cake.  Well, it turns out I like almost everything I see.  So trying to incorporate 7 different cake concepts into one cake is ridiculous.

So what I ended up doing is bringing in our cake topper, which is a miniature version of our wedding crowns, and explaining our theme and colors, and then left it to the professionals.  All the cakes I have seen are gorgeous, so I am going to trust the expertise of the bakery that mine will follow the same trend.  I did leave a few pictures of things I likes for a jumping off point, but the finished product will be a surprise to me!

And our idea for Aaron's grooms cake is really cute, and very Aaron, and I am excited to see how it turns out as well :)

Here are the inspiration pictures I left with Peter, so our cake could possibly look something like these:

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Checking the cake off the to-do list!  Yes!

 

Wedding favors are done!

I won't go into details because I don't want to blow the surprise, but this is what 200 wedding favors look like...

I am tired!

Wedding Dress Bustles and Alterations

I took my dress in for alterations today, otherwise known as zero hour.  I was told that it will be ready one week before the wedding (eek!).  For all you brides out there who haven't gone through the alterations process, be forewarned:  if you have a big poufy ball gown with a long train, alterations are going to be pricey!  I opted to find a tailor on my own due to negative reviews online about the price and quality of alterations done by these big wedding dress stores.

I went with the place closest to my home - Ann's Tailor & Alterations (not to be confused with Ann Taylor).  I figured it would be less expensive and I would get my dress back fairly quickly.  Ann is a lovely little gal and her little tailoring operation has been in that shopping center for 20+ years I think - so I trust her sewing expertise.

So my Mom and I head to Ann's, I get my dress on and she is getting ready to pin the correct length.  Then she starts counting the layers of this dress.  It is 11 layers.  And wouldn't you know, my dress has this gorgeous detailing on the hem, so basically she is going to unsew the whole dress and take it up from the waist.  The thought of my dress in a bunch of unsewn pieces makes me slightly panicky, but I am trying not to think about it...

Then we had to figure out a bustling situation.  I was only concerned with it being secure to hold through the evening without it making my back end too big.  I already have enough junk in my trunk!  I didn't get to see the bustle due to my dress being on my body, but my Mom was oohing and ahhing so I assume it is fine.  The train has a bunch of detailing on it too, so this was the best way to show it off.  It is just a basic over bustle like this:

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I thought I wanted an under bustle when I first came in because I thought the look was cool, but I think it really depends on the style of your dress to determine what will look best.  This is an under bustle aka French bustle (can also come in double and triple too!)

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Then there is an Austrian bustle, but I don't really get it...  It looks pretty though!

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So that is my short bustle lesson, lol.  My alterations ended up costing $230 for the hemming(which is a way bigger job since she has to do it from the waist of the dress) and a bustle.  It was about what I averages, but I thought I was overestimating.  Can't win 'em all!  I can't wait to see the finished dress, I am sure it will be perfect and wonderful.  One other word of advice I will give - get your dress into alterations sooner rather than later!