LA Meet-Up

On Saturday, a few LA members met up for brunch at Elements Kitchen in Pasadena. We had an amazing turn out of eleven members! Thanks again to everyone!

(Left from front to back: Miss Mole, Mrs. Cotton Candy, meowkers, birdredbird, Mrs. Spaniel)

(Right from front to back: Mrs. Barrettes, mrsdooks, Miss Warbler, Miss Ticket, Mrs. Parasol, beignet)

Conversation topics ranged from venues and proposal stories to Kim Kardashian. That woman is unavoidable, I swear. It was great to hear about everyones wedding plans, share some food and to see that we all have the same frustrations. If anything, it was like group therapy, only better: DRINKS.

I had a blast and can't wait for the next get together!

Sink or Swim

I've been putting off this post for a while because this subject is embarrassing for me. I can't swim. Now when I say I can't swim, I don't mean that I can't swim well. I mean I cannot swim at all. A lot of people get confused on this point. Let me make myself clear. I can't doggy paddle. I can't even float. People give me a weird look when I tell them that. But it's true.

Most people learn to swim when they're young. I've stories from people who brag that they were thrown into a pool by a relative when they were a kid and swimming just came naturally. Well, I was thrown into a pool when I was a kid too. My uncle threw me into the deep end when I was eight years old. I did not instinctively learn to swim. I thrashed for a bit, took in some water and sank to the bottom of the pool. The only instinct I had was to crawl across the pool floor until I reached a level where I could stand up. I was probably underwater for less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity. After that day, I was absolutely terrified of the water. I didn't get back into a pool for nearly ten years and by that point I was afraid to do anything other than just stand in 5 feet of water. Many people have tried to teach me, but I just tense up.

For a long time I didn't regret not learning how to swim. Neither my mother or my sisters learned how to swim. We never had a pool growing up. Trips to the beach were just to play around on the sand and play chicken with the waves. A couple of years ago, we went to the Bahamas and other than walking in up to my waist in the water, I spent the rest of the trip lounging around and sight seeing. Now that I'm going to Hawaii in about six months, however, I'm starting to regret not learning how to swim. Sure, I don't need to learn. I can wade in up to my waist and wear a life vest when we go snorkeling. But, out of nowhere, I want to learn now. I want to be able to swim with my husband on our honeymoon. I'm really freaking scared, but I figure Hawaii is probably the best motivation I'll ever get. So, for the next few months in addition to planning a wedding, I will be learning how to swim. Here goes nothing!

Does anyone else have any phobias? Aquatic or otherwise?

LA Meet-Up This Saturday!

Do you find that your family and friends roll their eyes when you talk about your wedding?

Do you wait for someone else to mention it so you can go into detail about floral arrangements and the difference between Freebooter Script and Albemarle Swash fonts?

Have you resorted to telling your pets about your wedding plans?

Do you live in the Los Angeles area?

Then get your booty moving to La Grande Orange (LGO) in Pasadena this Saturday October 22nd at noon for an LA Meet-Up! We will be sharing laughs, brunch and yes, wedding plans! This is open to members and Bees, engaged and married. If you want to come, please reply to the thread located here, so I can count you in for the reservation.

I hope a few of you can make it! See you Saturday.

Adventures in MOB Shopping

Now that I have a dress and my bridesmaids have their dresses, it's time to talk about the other two women: Mama Warbler and MIL Warbs! Both of these lovely ladies have been way too in regards to the dress. Every time I see one of them I get the same questions: "What color dress do I have to wear?" "What style should I wear?" "What do you want me to wear?" Even though my answer each time is basically: "Idk. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in, I guess?" they inevitably ask me again. I think it's the same situation as the bridesmaid dress search, even though they may want the freedom to choose, they want guidance more.

Last weekend, Mama Warbler came to town so we could shop for her dress. I quickly realized that our ideas of how the day was going to turn out were completely different. I thought we would browse a few stores, she would try on a few dresses in each store and it would be an easy decision. And at the end of the day we'd both feel like this:

Fun and flirty we were not / Image via Health.com

Since Mama Warbler moved to Seattle a couple of years ago, I have forgotten what her SOP are during shopping. Instead of thinking about what style she wanted to look at beforehand, she just wandered around each store waiting for something to jump out at her. She kept saying, "I don't have to look really hard. I'll see the dress and just know." Now, that's not how I operate at all. Hell, many of the clothes I do end up buying I wouldn't normally buy if I hadn't tried them on just for fun. We hit up all of our favorite stores: JC Penny, Macy's, Express, New York & Company and a few more that I can't remember now. At the end of the day, we went to David's Bridal as a last resort. Up until this point she hadn't tried on a single article of clothing and I was getting pretty frustrated. Didn't she always make me try on a ton of clothes when I went shopping as a kid? I wanted payback!

I tried to get an idea of what kind of dress might "jump out at her". I held up dress after dress and she shook her head at most of them.

Me: "What don't you like about it?"
Mama Warbler: "I just don't like it."
Me: "Yes, Mama. But what don't you like about it?"
Mama Warbler: "The whole thing!"

I swear we could have been on a TV sitcom.

After much teeth pulling, begging and a lame attempt at reverse psychology, I finally got her to try on three dresses. I was beyond ecstatic, even though she wouldn't even come out of the dressing room with the first two dresses on. Seriously. She finally came out for about 30 seconds in the third dress to see herself in the mirror. I took this opportunity to jump into the dressing room with her so that I could grab a quick photo. Sorry for the weird camera angles, I was on a mission!

Personal Photos

While I thought the dress looked great on her, she wasn't happy with the way it fit. By this time we were both tired and starving so we decided to throw in the towel and grab some Korean BBQ. She's coming back into town next month so we're going to try again. I never thought that we would have more trouble finding her dress than mine, but you gotta love my mama. I probably get my stubbornness from her. It was a fun day, but I hope next month we'll both be better prepared. 

How was your experience shopping for MOB dresses? Was it easy or more difficult than you thought?

Video Killed the Photo Booth

The most random shirt ever. Please don't buy this. / Image via Zazzle.com

We've been flip flopping on the wedding lately. Mostly because I haven't been able to get the idea of a wedding video out of my mind. Everywhere I look, I see awesome wedding videos around the web and of course, from the Bees. Who doesn't want their wedding day immortalized with a sentimental indie song playing in the background? Mrs. Giraffe's awesome post about why you need a videographer finally convinced me. Good job, Mrs G! After drooling over a zillion wedding videos, Mr. Warbs finally saw that even though I was trying to hide it, I wanted a video. But first, we had to cut something else out. And that is how we dropped the photo booth from our wedding.

RIP photo booth idea. / Image via Brian Kelm Productions

Out of everything we want for the wedding, a photo booth came dead last. That's not to say we changed our minds, a photo booth would still rock the socks off of our wedding. We just want the video more. After the New Year, if the opportunity presents itself, maybe we can squeeze a photo booth in there somewhere. If not, that's fine too. For now, we are content with how super awesome our video is going to be.

What cuts did you make in the wedding planning process?

Thank God for Chevron

...or whichever deity you like to give thanks to. I'm flexible.

Don't worry, this post isn't about gas prices! As I mentioned in my introductory post, Mr. Warbler won a "Create Your Dream Vacation" Sweepstakes through his job at Chevron. He simply entered the raffle and won a few weeks later. Out of seventy thousand employees! The prize included an airline gift card and a Marriott hotel gift card. Our options limited us to a few different airlines and Marriott hotels. We immediately decided to choose Hawaiian Airlines, because neither of us have been to Hawaii. This was a few months before he proposed, but Mr. Warbs was already planning our honeymoon out in his head! Now that we're six months out (thanks for the reminder, Mom) it's time to put those gift cards to use.

The airfare was simple enough. We decided to visit two islands: Oahu and the Maui. As long as we fly coach, our gift card will take care of all the airfare. Even though airfare wasn't as expensive as we originally thought it would be, this has been a HUGE help. I was afraid this was going to eat up the majority of our budget, so I am extremely happy we don't have to worry anymore.

Since our hotel gift card is exclusively for Marriott brand hotels, we decided to stay at a Marriott in Waikiki Beach since they were cheaper than the Marriotts in Maui. The hotel isn't right on the water, but with the money we saved we were able to upgrade to a suite. After the gift card, the difference ended up being $150. Not bad for a suite! We booked an ocean view condo in Maui near Wailea for under a thousand. No gift card this time though!

All together (activities excluded) we ended up spending around a thousand dollars for a 10 day vacation. With our tight budget, I honestly don't think we would have been able to have a honeymoon without those gift cards. So thank you Chevron for fronting the bill! And letting us get a slice of this:

Image via Enjoy Hawaii Vacations

Image via Travel to Hawaii Reviewed

Image via about.com

Yeah right!

Image via hawaiimagazine.com

Did you get a little help from the honeymoon fairies?

The Proposal That Wasn't

Our engagement story doesn't involve flash mobs, rose petals or candlelit dinners. But according to Mr. Warbs, it almost did. Sort of. During the weeks leading up to the proposal Mr. Warbs started dropping not so sly hints. Whenever he has a surprise for me, he'll ask a "discreet" question. When my iPod broke, Mr. Warbs called me to ask which model it was because he wanted to buy one for his dad. His dad who can barely use a cell phone, let alone a mp3 player. Riiight. So even though the actual proposal was a surprise, I saw it coming from a mile away.

The week of the proposal, Mr. Warbs suggested that we go to a Christmas boat light show in Naples the following Sunday. Lights, music and a spectacular show on the water? Sounded like the perfect scene for a proposal to me. That and the fact that he kept asking questions like "How would you want me to propose?" was a dead give away.

Image via Naples Island

Little did I know, the event had already taken place the previous Sunday. Right about now, you're probably commending Mr. Warbs on throwing me off the scent. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Warbs is not that sneaky! He got his Sundays mixed up. Unless he could find a flying Delorean to take him back in time, the Christmas boat light show proposal would not be happening.

So I was thrown completely off guard when on Tuesday December 7th (a day that will live in a different kind of infamy) Mr. Warbs proposed to me in our bathroom. Yes, you read that right, in our bathroom. We had just finished having a late dinner at home and after cleaning up I went into the bathroom to wash my face and wrap my hair up. Out of nowhere, Mr. Warbs came into the bathroom and got down on one knee. Now Hive, half of my hair was wrapped and the rest was falling all over my face. I was completely caught off guard. When he got down on his knee, I screamed and backed away. After I got over my shock, I walked back over to him and he said "I had a better plan, I promise. But I got the ring today and I just couldn't wait." He was sweet, but I almost said, "You couldn't wait until I got out of the bathroom?" Just kidding, Mr. Warbs. I said yes! Duh!

I love him for planning everything out, but I'm pretty sure if things had gone according to plan he still would have proposed as soon as he got the ring. It must feel like you're holding a bomb, it could go off at any moment. I know I wouldn't have been able to keep that secret! Here is my lovely ring, by the way.

Sorry for the poor image quality! That was a wine induced photo!

Personal Photo

So, I never imagined that our proposal story would include a bathroom, but a proposal in itself is a grand romantic gesture. Who cares where or how it happens? Besides, now I can tease Mr. Warbs about it for the rest of our lives. Ha! Was your proposal unconventional? 

Engagement Teaser

On Sunday, Mr. Warbs and I had our long awaited engagement session. We were both super nervous, but we got over that pretty quickly. The one hitch was that our photographer stepped in dog poop. Whoops! Since it will be a while before we get the finished result, our amazing photographer sent me her favorite photo to tide us over.

Photo by Nataly Lemus Photography

Ah, I can't wait to see the rest!