Under Pressure

This past weekend Mr. Warbler and I took his parents on a Harbor Cruise around the Port of Long Beach. They're huge boat enthusiasts so we knew they'd have a good time. If you've never been on the cruise, it consists of a few landmarks, some sea lions but mostly container ships. For miles. At least that was my experience. I'm not complaining, but really how many times can you feign excitement when you see one of these?

What happened to the sea lions?

(Source)

After the cruise (and probably to stir me from my boredom) we went to The Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. Yay! Mr. Warbs' parents had never been there before and were excited for the change of scenery. I wanted cheesecake. Once we were seated though, Mother-in-Law Warbler revealed her secret identity as The Riddler. The wedding grilling portion of the day had begun.

I adore my in-laws. They're amazing selfless people who have showed high levels of compassion and concern for me. To accommodate for my weariness around animals, they make sure to keep their pets away when I come visit. Even though I'm sure they must think I'm a bit uppity, they welcome me with open arms anyway.

MIL Warbler began with asking when I was going dress shopping, a question she asks every time I see her. This led to the type of dress I wanted, wedding colors, bridesmaid dress colors, rehearsal dinner and bridal shower plans. All of my answers were vague "Um...I'm not sure yet." and "We're going to tackle that later." Even though the wedding is 11 months out, I felt like a slacker for not having concrete answers. I know MIL Warbler was just trying to help, but I ended up feeling like this:

Image via Zazzle.com

I didn't expect to feel this level of anxiety so soon. I understand Mama Warbler's interest in knowing EVERY detail of the wedding. But really I just wanted to take her hand and say "Shhh, shhh in due time. I promise I'm managing my time wisely." And I am. With so many things on my plate though, the added pressure from inquisitive helpers is weighing down on me.

Is anyone else feeling THE pressure?

Bridesmaids Daze

I picked out the bridesmaid dresses! Ha, just kidding ladies!

Image via Thecinemasource.com

Lately I've been getting a bit ahead of myself. There's tons of stuff I need to take care of like registering, lighting, flowers and, um MY dress - but this week I've been stuck on bridesmaids dresses. And when I say stuck, just know that I mean obsessing.

Shortly after getting engaged my sister asked me (for the hundredth time) what my wedding colors were. She then scrunched up her nose and asked, "Red and gold?" I asked what's wrong with red and gold. She said, "Too bright." I was immediately on the defensive and grabbed the nearest laptop to prove her wrong. "No no no no no...see? These are the shades I want. That's not too bright, right!? Its more of a deep red and subtle gold. Subtle!"

After I'd gotten her approval (and my mother's) I put away the computer and relaxed. But my dear sister asked this one little question: "Can I pick out my own dress?"

To be honest, I was fine with the idea of my BMs picking their own dresses. In fact, I liked the idea that it would take some of the stress away from me. As long as they were the same color and fabric, I didn't mind if the girls wore different styles to compliment their figure.

I WAS fine with it until later that night when I fully came into my bridal fever. "Different dresses?! What if I don't like the dresses they pick? Can I ask them to choose a different one? Is that going back on my word?"

After that night I became dress crazy. The next day I broke my rule about dress shopping. You remember when I said I wouldn't step foot in a bridal salon until Summer? Well, I visited Alfredo Angelo to get a look at what kind of dresses they had to offer. I wish I hadn't because I didn't see any dresses that I liked which further discouraged me. And I caved and wandered over to the bridal gown section, but more on that later :)

Online I fell in love with these beauties:

Image via Morilee

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Image via J. Crew

Image via Mrs. Jellyfish / Photo by Cliff Brunk Photography

I am seriously coveting the J. Crew dress and a few similar ones in the same shade. The problem is I'm trying really really hard to keep all of the dresses under $100 and all of those dresses are over the limit. Bummer. For a moment I was sad that I wouldn't be happy with the girls' dresses and pout about in later when looking at my wedding album. But then I saw pictures like these:

Image via Something Blue

This photo was taken at our venue!

Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Drew B Photography

And I thought I could be OK with different shades and different styles. My BMs are paying for their own dresses so they should be able to wear what they want to wear. It limits everybody stress across the board and eases my guilt over making them buy dresses. Phew! Letting all of that out feels good! I feel like going for a run. Or eating way too much Korean BBQ. Wonder which one I'll choose...

How do you feel about mismatched bridesmaid dresses?

In Which We Search for Musicians

In my last post, I expressed my dream of having a friend officiate my wedding and Everlong (acoustic of course being played as I walk down the aisle). Well the officiant is taken care of (woot!). Now we move on to the music!

First of all, Mr. Warbs and I are only having live musicians for the ceremony and cocktail hour. That's right. No band or DJ for our reception, we're going the DIY route.

No turntables for our wedding!
Image via Turntable DJ

Here are a few reasons why we're not having a DJ. Cost. Some of the quotes we got from local DJs were ridiculous. A lot of them started at a grand. As in a grand for the bare minimum. And if you've ever been to a party with a DJ the majority of them use iTunes or even their iPod. I figured why should we pay somebody upwards of a thousand dollars to do something we could do ourselves?

Hey, I have one of those!
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But we want live music for the ceremony. At first I wanted to have a string quartet. Classical, romantic and visually awesome. But cost wise, it didn't make sense for our budget.

Sorry quartet!

Image via Cliftonmusicanddance.org

Instead we opted to have a solo musician. It made sense cost wise and it would serve our small wedding. There were a few sounds we knew we didn't like.Violin was a nice, but not as nice when accompanied by another instrument like a guitar. We also knew we didn't want a harp.

Classy, but not for me

Image via Boston Wedding Harpist

In the end we decided to go with the guitar. Most of the ooey gooey songs I love are acoustic covers: Everlong, Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez and Thirteen by Elliot Smith. So far I've found a few solo guitarists who seem to be reasonably priced. And more importantly, have good samples of their music.

So to recap, for the ceremony and cocktail hour we'll have live acoustic guitar playing. During the reception, we'll have our own hand crafted playlist to rock our guests' faces off. The playlist is currently under construction, but shows promise for an awesome time! iTunes reception, here we come!

Are you going the iTunes route?