Flora

These arrangements effortlessly exude elegance and the perception of perfume-like scent. The colors don't match my palette but something about the spirit of these flowers makes me want to explore the idea further...

Images Courtesy Style Unveiled:

My Flower Hunt

After much delay, I have finally made an appointment with my dream florists, Fiori Flowers.

We'll see how everything goes in person after meeting/loving them at the Bridal Show in January and drooling over their pretty floral designs featured on their blog in the month since. Here are a few of my latest floral inspirations that I can't wait to share with them.

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. 

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...

Inspiration Board

Today, I visited TheKnot.com and made this cute little inspiration board. It was a fun project & the layout turned out pretty nicely. I would say however, that the site didn't give me much flexibility in choosing my "inspirational categories." For example- the fake groom was a necessity, mine is much better looking haha.

I'm loving the color combinations though. I'm thinking lots of crystals, accompanied by light shades of blue, cream, and lavender would look fresh and elegant- especially if we decide to go with an outdoor wedding...