Cake Boss

I am so excited to share that this last week, a dear friend/ knower of all things wedding/ and owner of Belle: The Magazine, Alex, asked me to take part her upcoming event: The Wedding Show: El Paso's Only Luxury Bridal Show. 

My task? To serve as a judge for the city's upcoming "Cake Design" competition.

Umm... yes please!

Now, not only do I have a major sweet tooth, but I also have serious wedding fever. I can't wait to see what El Paso's cake artists and master bakers have in store for us. I am so thrilled to be involved in selecting El Paso's "Ultimate Cake Designer."

The Wedding Show: The Ultimate in Bridal takes place in El Paso on Sunday May 22, 2011 at Butterfield Trail Golf Club. If you are interested in attending, the show will also feature competitions in Bridal Tablescape and Photography which I can guarantee will be OMG-inducing.

So much to do, so little time...

Between working full time at Western Refining, running TSM with Jessica & Farzad, writing for What's Up, working on my MBA and trying to stay in shape, getting to the grind on wedding planning has become extremely difficult. Luckily, though, having sweet friends like, Melissa Armendariz, keeps me excited and focused. She shared this adorable bouquet on my Facebook and I'm in love. Something like this in a blush or lavender color would be amazing.

My Pending To Do List: 

1) Have my engagement ring appraised & insured 

2) Attend "Before You Say I Do" classes at Abundant Living Faith Center March 4, 5 & 6 

3) Select location & schedule engagement photos with Shutterbug Photo

4) Engagement Party: Set a date, draft a guest list, and order the invitations

5) Visit Kara's Bridal- the owner contacted me via Facebook and invited me to come visit her boutique. She seems amazingly helpful and professional. I can't wait to go discuss some wedding details with her. 

Hanger Update #2

As I previously mentioned, I was finally able to locate the custom wedding dress hanger that I fell in love with early in my planning. While the site noted that the product was sold out, the seller wrote me an e-mail to  let me know how I could score the little touch that I can't live without. Look below for a copy of her note to me, and if you are interested in purchasing one of these hangers as well, visit her shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lilafrances

SUBJECT: Custom Wedding Hanger

Hello Amy,

Thank you for your interest. This week's supply of The Original Silver Lingerie, Wedding Dress Hanger has SOLD OUT. The hangers will be made available again each Monday at 10 a.m CST on a first come, first serve basis. Just a friendly reminder that there is an 8 to 10 week wait from the time the items are purchased until they are completed and shipped, so please plan accordingly as we are unable to take pre or rush orders.

Thank you!

All the best,

Anna

Hanger Update

Thanks to two friends of mine, Cassie Bloss & Liz Sergel, I found out where I can track down one of those custom bridal hangers that I mentioned I love. It turns out that one of our sorority sisters, Emmelie Pickett,  had one made for her wedding. Here's a picture of hers, it reads Russ <3 Emme - so precious.

There's only one slight hiccup to this good news- the hangers are sold out! I've e-mailed the seller though to see when they'll be available & I'll keep you posted as per her response. Here's the link in case you are interested: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lilafrances

P.S. Thanks Girls!

Russ & Emmelie Pickett

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Over the past few weeks I've had the chance to check out two local flower shops- Angie's Flowers & Debbie's Bloomer's. Visiting the shops may have seemed a little premature, seeing as how we still don't have a official date for our wedding, but I still wanted to get a rough estimate of how much I would need to set aside for our floral budget.

In addition to getting a feel for cost, I also wanted to meet the vendors to see who I like & who I feel that I can trust with "our big day." While both vendors I have met so far were extremely nice, I was shocked by the news that one quoted me at almost double the price of the other. I'll leave which one ended up being the pricier option up for guessing...

At the end of the day, I don't know if I will end up choosing either of these florists because I still haven't gone to visit Fiori Flowers, with whom, you may recall, I fell in love with at the Bridal Show.

As long as we're on the topic of flowers, though, I've been thinking that I would love to have a purple colored bouquet. I've been looking around and the photos pictured above are a few of my favorite choices so far. Any early favorites?

Bridal Show

On Sunday, January 16th I went to the Days of Remembrance 21st Annual Bridal Fair at the Convention Center. My mom, Marc's mom and my friend Christian tagged along to help me hold all the fliers. Overall, I'm glad I went. It was a great opportunity to see (almost) everything that El Paso has to offer in the way of wedding vendors. At the same time though, the way that most of these vendors present themselves was somewhat disappointing to me. I don't think that I've ever seen more poorly designed fliers and handouts until this event. I'll admit that ever since I started dating Marc, co-owner of Ghostlight Creative, I've become somewhat of a "graphic design snob" (haha thanks Marc!) but to me, I think the impression that your printed materials give off is HUGE.  If you aren't willing to spend the extra dollar to present yourself & your business well, then why would I expect you to put in the extra effort to present our wedding day as nicely as possible?

But despite those minor letdowns there were still a few local companies that presented themselves to be really high quality.Here are the links to a few my favorites vendors from the show:

Fiori the Flower Studio- The guy at their booth he was so full of energy & nice plus he loved my idea of using manzanita branches in the centerpieces.Their blog showcases a little bit of their work and I can't wait to see what they can suggest for me.

Mod Creative Events- Super cute lounge furniture and sugar bars. Plus, they're blog is one of the cutest local wedding blogs I've seen yet.

Kara's Bridal- I absolutely loved all the dresses they had on display. Just one caveat- the model/ representative was flirting it up with some guy the whole time that Christian and I were waiting to talk to her. I ended up walking away with no info. Womp, womp...

Elite Events- They had some really stunning cakes and table setups on display but the guy wouldn't give me any information or ranges on prices. To make matters worse I came home to find that they don't have a blog, website, or Facebook. Looks like I'll have to book an appointment to get even the slightest bit of info...