Wow!

Seriously, I cannot believe that I have not blogged in a month. Things have been a little crazy, between the holidays and weddings and international trips. But, I do promise to get back on board with blogging after the final grades have been entered for the class I'm teaching (this Friday! woo!). Thanks to anyone still checking in!

Song of the Week

Sarah McLachlan has one of those voices that can make you feel enclosed by the feeling in the song she sings. I love the live version of her song "Ice Cream" mainly because FI introduced it to me - and because it is a fun song that makes me think of all the light-hearted moments that are part of being in love with someone. Enjoy! And then go get some ice cream. You know you want it.

Budget Customized Stationery

As most of you know (and some may not), I am a crazy-obsessed-online-bargain-shopper. I blame the fact that I am trained as a researcher, but truly, I have a difficult time spending hard-earned money on a product that I know (or believe) can be bought anywhere for less. While this principle does not always apply, I do try to examine and often exhaust my options before making a final purchasing decision.


One Example: I tried on wedding gowns at 3 different salons over a 2-month period, including one stop at the Brides Against Breast Cancer charity event in Denver. With the wedding so far away, I didn't feel pressured to buy anything during those visits. However, when we decided to have our wedding in Mexico, I looked back through the hordes of photos we took at each salon and found the dress that I loved, but felt was too 'beachy' for our original wedding idea (Hollywood Movie Premiere). In a random chance of luck, I found said dress on Ebay. It isn't overly romantic to buy one's dress from Ebay, seller of all things (including used underwear...ew...) but it was 50% cheaper than I found at the local store. It was my size, my color, and just so happened to be located at a bridal salon in Arizona - where we still have many friends. I emailed the seller, asked if my friend could come and look at the dress - they said yes, and she did - it was in perfect condition, a floor sample they wanted to sell - they pressed the dress, boxed it ever so carefully (including the optional straps and extra buttons), and sent it to me in just 4 days time. A completely insane experience, but am I glad I got this dress for 50% off? Hecks yess.


In a similar fashion, when it was time to send out Save the Dates (STDs), I chose to work with my ever-reliable holiday card printing source - Vistaprint.com. They made our 60 cards and 60 magnets for only $30, and did a great job. Until a few days ago, I was dead set against using them for our formal invitations, mainly because they do not carry thick enough cardstock/paper to suit my requirements for the wedding invitations that I thought I needed. The past few days have brought some reflection to this notion, and I have started to change my mind about using Vistaprint for our invitations. Not only can I make the invitation exactly what I want (with some limitations, paper weight and font choices being two of them), they will cost a fraction of what other 'wedding invitation' printers charge. And after all, a wedding invitation is an announcement of your wedding - something that most people will eventually throw in the trash (save for moms and other sentimental friends). Most couples have wedding websites, and have used Save the Dates to announce their big days, minimizing the traditional purpose of the wedding invitation. Plus, if I can spend $80 as opposed to $280, why wouldn't I put the money toward something that is part of the experience in the day itself, such as a live band, cooler OOT bag gifts for the guests, or even part of another night for the honeymoon? I suppose it's a matter of priorities, and I feel mine changing somewhat constantly since this whole thing started. I'm torn between "I will have no regrets and will have what I want" and "It's just one day!" Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did you do to sort it out?


Here is an example of an invitation I made on Vistaprint - see the "Coral" invitations below from whiteaisle.com for a comparison (and about 3 times the cost).

Mexican Wedding Traditions...

Every culture has its own traditions that accompany a wedding celebration. Certainly, the FI and I have both talked about various traditions from our respective cultures (Swedish, Norwegian, and Korean) and how we might incorporate these into the festivities. For example, in Norway, the bride might wear a crown of silver jewels and bangles that make noise to ward off evil spirits. In a traditional Korean ceremony, hand-carved wooden wedding geese are given to the bride and groom as a symbol for a long and happy marriage. I thought also to look at some traditions from Mexico. Some of these traditions include: the guests at a Mexican wedding have a lovely old custom of forming a circle around the couple in the shape of a heart, and the newlyweds will then dance their first dance together within this circle of love; a rope (sometimes a rosary or wreath of orange blossoms, fertility symbols) is wound around the couple's heads in a figure eight as they take their vows; the wedding cake is usually a fruitcake soaked in rum; and, the couple may hit a pinata during the reception, which then showers gifts of candies onto the guests. With all of these options, how does one choose which elements to incorporate?

Song of the Week

Wow, it's that time again! I've been in Washington DC for my birthday weekend (made it through another year, phew) so the blogging has not happened quite as much. But, I intend to make up for it as best I can. This week's song is one I found when Christopher went to Korea two summers ago. He brought back a few Korean pop CDs and I really liked this singer (Baek Ji Young). Two of her most popular songs are in this video - the first is my favorite and the second is Christopher's favorite. There are also some random subtitles in English along the way. Enjoy!

Song of the Week

This week, the featured song is one you have probably heard on our website. "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz came out around the time we finalized our Mexico wedding plans, and it felt so beachy and lovey that of course it became part of our wedding soundtrack. I just found a fabulous live video of Mr. Mraz doing this song on tour in Korea - check it out! I love it!

TTD (Trash The Dress)

Any recent bride or bride-to-be has likely heard of the latest cultural rage in the wedding world - the Trash the Dress (TTD)photography session. This photo shoot is typically held the morning after the wedding night, and although the name implies that harm will come to that expensive dress you spent months looking for and pining over, the purpose of this new-tradition is not to trash the dress. Instead, it is an opportunity for the bride and groom (and their photographer) to take photos in interesting poses and locations that would not be as easily done on wedding day (when the bride is trying to keep herself clean). The focus of this shoot is typically the glamour and artfulness of the photos, and usually the work is relatively candid in nature, so it gives the bride and groom a chance to naturally move together and see what happens. At first, I was not a huge fan of this idea, but the more I read about it - and quite honestly, the more photos I see from these types of shoots on or near the beach - the more exciting it seems. Is it creating 'just another opportunity' for a bride and groom to have pictures taken of themselves? Probably. But the possibilities the day after the wedding, when the stress has diminished and the properness of the day are gone...that is appealing to me.

So... we will do a TTD session the day after our wedding in Mexico - very exciting! A&A Photography has agreed to partake in this crazy activity with us. I plan on donating my dress to an awesome organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer, so I will very likely buy a less-formal, and less-expensive gown to wear for our TTD session, and I thought it could be cool for Christopher to wear an all-white cotton or linen shirt and pant set - but we shall see about that. There are so many websites that show amazing examples of TTD photos, so here are just a few to whet your appetite (credit is given directly on the photos).

Trash The Dress

Wedding PhotoJournalists Association

SolTaMargo Photographer (Mexico)

A&A Photography (Colorado)

Found: Very Elegant Destination Invitations

Some days I feel like I keep up on certain wedding-related blogs all for naught. Other days, like today, I'm SO PLEASED that I take some time to read about what other brides are doing with their destination weddings. This is true today because I may have found our invitations. (I know! So exciting!) I started out the invitation search by doing the usual Google searches for 'destination wedding invitation', or 'topical wedding invitation,' and although I found a few that I do like, all of the samples I have ordered so far have been...less than impressive upon arrival. To quote the FI (fiancee), "I could make these myself." That is never a good impression when you are looking at spending over $100 for paper products that ultimately will be discarded (except for by the Moms, no doubt). Today then, I finally found invitations that I am *crossing fingers* hoping will be the invitations to end all other invitations. They are by White Aisle and they are, to be frank, FABulous. I love how chic and simple they are, while still conveying the obvious message that one is having a tropical destination wedding. You can change the colors of both the text and the image to your liking, and of course you can mess around with the fonts as well. You can even choose the size of the card! Here are my three favorite designs from this lovely merchant - I will post another entry as soon as I receive a sample in the mail. These three are called (from left to right) "Mexico," "Miami," and "Coral." Give me your thoughts in a Comment (just click below).

Falling Back...and more of SMB

Hooray! We just gained an hour! Why am I still awake?!
Here are a few new photos from SMB - looking better by the minute.

(from left to right - a swimout room, morning yoga by the pool, the wedding gazebo, and the view from the water to the resort)

Boutonnieres - Alternatives to Flowers

I found it! Inspiration!! It caught me off-guard because I was actually looking for invitation ideas, but I LOVE the lastest posting on the Style Me Pretty blog that details how to make your own starfish boutonnieres. Very rarely do I drift toward the phrase DIY (do-it-yourself) in the bridal blogs that I read - in fact, it is usually quite the opposite (run screaming away from it). I have always been somewhat of the mind that if other humans out there have creative skill sets and are willing to sell me their products, I would rather buy from them than try to make them myself and end up with a lesser product. Plus, it keeps the spirit of a free marketplace alive and well (in my head).

Backing up just a moment - I do not have anything against floral boutonnieres, but I do have something against paying $36 per boutonniere when my wedding is set in a tropical location (where native flowers SHOULD be cheaper). My own little crusade to buck the system and not pay anything extra to the resort has led me down the road to floral alternatives, both for the bridesmaids and groomsmen. I came across a photo of shell boutonnieres in a magazine, and then when I saw this one I thought, okay, perhaps these aren't as chintzy as I once thought. Plus, you could add greenery or a ribbon accent pretty easily and make them less stark.

The original inspiration came from Blooms Design Studio. And just to show the wide differential in cost, the starfish run about $.60 each (available at various online stores), and the backing pins are $5.95 for 144 (any craft store carries these). Ribbon is available in so many places, but I found one I like at RibbonsGalore. You could also do something similar with sand dollars.

Shoes

Another element of the wedding that most people do not think too much about...but a Bride often thinks A LOT about...is the shoes. As weddings become less cookie-cutter and more personalized, the shoes are just another thing that brides can customize to their every whim. It is no longer expected that a bride will wear white or ivory shoes; in fact, many wedding-style gurus insist that a pop of color underneath a white/ivory dress is just the ticket to liven up a wedding (and looks fabulous in pictures). So, instead of saving the purple and navy colors for only your table settings, why not wear shoes of either color? Or both? Or a pattern that incorporates white, navy, and purple? And then...you can purchase shoe ornamentation. Shoe clips/pins are coming back into style (they were last 'in' in the 40's or so) and you can find hundreds of autions on EBay selling pretty clips and pins that are meant to sit right on the toe of your shoe. You can also pick up sparkly crystals with sticky backing, and place them on the underside of each shoe - in a heart shape, your initials, your significant others' initials, or the date of your wedding. Oh what a wonderful age we live in - it seems that the multi-billion dollar wedding industy certainly knows how to make brides spend $100 on shoes they might have normally only spent $60 (before accessories or dyeing, of course). AND - another trend of late is to purchase 2 pair of shoes - one for the ceremony (gorgeous high-heels that you can only stand to wear for 30 minutes), and another for the reception (comfortable shoes to dance the night away). Make that $150-200 spent. On shoes. Learning from the example set by one of my bride-friends (37 days!), I too now believe that perhaps spending a good bit of money on wedding shoes is not a bad idea altogether - but you might only do it if you are able/willing to wear said shoes again. Sure, buy two pair - but think twice about wearing them just once. Especially in the case of a beach-wedding, you may actually 'need' a pair of flats or flip-flops to take photos in the sand or on the rocks near the ocean. Just be smart about it, and the money you spend on that one day will go a bit further.

I created a very fun inspiration board of all of my favorite shoes - so far. I love the idea of wearing aqua-colored or persimmon-colored shoes - or, perhaps just silver so I can be sure I will wear them again after the wedding. Click to make it larger. {I'm not sentimental enough to let them sit in a box for the rest of my life, only taking them out on my anniversary to pine. Ew.}

Song of the Week

I struggled a little bit coming up with a song this week - I think I was putting too much pressure on finding something 'different.' So I settled for a random video called "I love Spanish Music" - hee hee! Enjoy!

Song of the Week

I chose this week's song because I think there is something very sweet about a harmonica and an acoustic guitar. I'm not overly poetic, but here are a few verses so you can get a good picture in your head as to how this song is structured.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod, If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug, And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug.

All I want is you, will you be my bride, Take me by the hand and stand by my side

All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

All I want is You by Barry Louis Polisar

"Our" Photographers won the Best of Denver!

I am so excited to announce that the photographers we have commissioned for our wedding, A&A Photography (Angie and Andy), have won the Best of Denver wedding photographers

this year! I have pasted a screen shot of the winning news here, but you can also visit their blog at http://www.a-a-photography.com/blog/ if you want to see their latest and greatest work! Congratulations to Andy and Angie - we are so pleased to have you involved as such an integral part of our wedding team. (Apparently we have good taste - even Denver says so!)

Flights: Check!

The latest news from our end of the world is that we have booked our flights to Cancun for the wedding. (I guess now that means we HAVE to go...hmm...) But we're very excited because although we are not going first-class, we are going non-stop from Denver to Cancun! Frontier Airlines offers about 3 flights per day non-stop from DEN to CUN, and we were the first people to book these flights for August 6-13, 2009 (Thursday-Thursday; we were going to do Wednesday-Wednesday but it didn't work out that way). So anyone coming down from Denver - get on the party plane with us at 10:35am on August 6th, 2009! Mexico, here we come!

Luggage for International Destinations

...not that you need special luggage to travel outside of the United States (or whereever your home country might be), but there are some fabulous options out there at all different price points, so that you might be stylish no matter your budget (if, of course, you want to be stylish). I will be writing on this for the next few days, since there are so many categories to cover! We'll start with some options for the Guys (although obviously luggage is not necessarily gender-specific).

The first bag is a retro-style Lacoste toiletries organizer from Zappos.com ($55). I love it mainly because of the style and design, but also because it is different than the typical black carry-all for guys.

This second brown leather duffel is from Diesel, called "The Night Warrior" Jinn. I found it at Zappos.com for $240 - you might be able to find it elsewhere for less, but I love the look of it so I had to put it up!




This chic 3-piece set from Traveler's Choice ("Rome") is on sale right now at Overstock.com for $149.99 - and it's incredibly lightweight, so you don't have to worry about paying extra fees to your airline when you are coming home with a ton of souvenirs in tow.

I love this next piece (and kind of want one, because I think it looks very functional, yet very 007. The Heys 4WD CompuEZ Hard Business Case fits in the overhead compartment on most airplanes, and is outiftted with durable wheels so you don't strain your back walking across the massive parking lot and through the massive airport (I'm thinking of DIA here people). You can find it at Zappos.com for $154.

Finally, this is such a simple looking bag with so many possibilities. The Victorinox Zip Around Lifestyle Travel Kit ($59 at Zappos.com) holds an incredible amount of toiletries (and cigars, a flask, anything else you might need) and still is compact and relatively deceiving in its appearance (no one will know you have your hair gel hanging out inside).

Some SMB Specifics

I checked out the TripAdvisor website again, and more people are writing about their experiences at SMB so I wanted to share a few things that might be different or helpful. You can always check out the full reviews at TripAdvisor.

The Journey...

• The road to the resort is, yes, bumpy, to say the least. We didn't mind at all. We knew about this ahead of time from Trip Advisor. It was an adventure.
• The road in to the resort is like a little jungle safari. It's a one lane, dirt road with many potholes. If there's more than one car the other driver has to pull over to let you pass. We didn't mind this, it was like a mini-adventure for us.

The Small Things...

• I enjoyed having a large shelf-sitting area in the shower so I could shave my legs easily without falling over :)
• They provide you with Gilchrist and Soames toiletries which were quite nice. We had a sewing kit, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and a bottle of SPF15. All of it smelled really nice.
• Can't say enough about how gorgeous our room was. All marble floors (slippery when running in from the swim out to the bar fridge for another Corona so be careful!) Bathroom was all marble with separate little room with toilet--nice for the openness of the room. Loved how the tub was open to the room. Someone didn't think there was enough privacy but it is an adults only, very romantic resort so privacy wasn't an issue for my fiance and I.
• The bed was heavenly. My fiance didn't want to leave it. On the firm side which we loved. Bedding very cozy--all white.

The Rooms...

• Loved the Secret Box for room service. If you put your red light on they see it outside and know not to disturb so place your order in secret box and give a knock and leave. Very private. Never have a mess in your room cause all dirty dishes and bottles go back in the secret box and they are picked up regularly.

• 
  • Swim out suite was very worth it. Main pools close at 6pm so when u feel like lounging in pool after dinner or through dinner and order room service to your room to enjoy dinner while in pool, the option is yours. Very much enjoyed the late night dip.
  
  

  The Food...

  • I agree about asking for your steak to be cooked a little more than u would ask for at home. I always get medium but medium steak there was too rare. No problem though-they took it back and brought me a new cut done perfectly then I knew how to ask for it.
  • (We) had our private little candle light dinner for 2 on the beach--highly recommend booking this. We asked our concierge on the 2nd day about it and he got us booked in for the Tuesday evening at 7pm. It was unbelievable. We walked onto the beach to find a little candlelit path guiding us right down to our table. Only 3 tables set up and 1st couple was finishing as we arrived and 3rd couple arrived as we were finishing. Very romantic dinner under the stars with a lovely breeze and the sound of the ocean and our feet in the sand. Two waiters took care of our every need. It was the most romantic dinner we have ever had. Food was surprisingly very hot too. I recommend everyone booking this. It comes included with a swim out room. It costs $200 if u do not have a swim out. Ours was included but we tipped nicely.

  The Activities...

  • There is an Avis car rental desk in main lobby. Was overcast first couple of days so we thought we would rent a car. We used our internet in our room and went online to Avis at night and made a reservation for the next morning. They didn't have any compact cars available, which is what we reserved so they upgraded us to a jeep at no extra cost. Our rental cost $36 per day. We rented for 3 days and drove ourselves to Tulum and Xel-Ha.
  • (We) don't recommend a bus tour to Tulum. Very hot and just stone structures to look at. Only cost $7 entrance fee and saw it in 20 minutes, much faster with our car.
  • Then we went snorkeling in Xel-Ha. Loved it there. You have to make the time and go early. Everything is included in the entrance price of $75. Towels, unlimited buffet and drinks, snorkel gear--brand new mouth pieces in plastic for each person. You can tube down the river and jump off the cliff. It's on the must see and do list for sure.
  • I heard mixed things about renting a car in Mexico and going off on your own but we felt very safe the whole time--mind you we never ventured into any bad areas. I recommend renting a vehicle and doing your own thing for a day or two!
  • I thought building 26 was a little noisy as it faces the back of the pool bar and the pool, it was OK though as we only used the balcony in late afternoon and evening and everyone clears out by then.
  • • Scuba diving - we booked with Aquaworld down at the pool for both Cozumel and cavern diving - the package was a good value, they had good equipment and good dive masters. We liked the cavern dive better than the Cozumel dive. It was a smaller group and such a unique experience!
    • Activities pavilion - there is a fun pavilion with ping pong, foosball, and a pool table (the pool table is NOT level!) along with a TV and a bar that is open only part of the time. We ended up spending time here watching football and baseball and playing a lot of ping pong.
    • The drinks - they really do have a lot of top shelf liquor. We aren't big drinkers but it was a lot of fun to have a pina colada or mojito. Most of the drinks were too sweet in my opinion but the bartenders were very nice about following my instructions to make the drinks to my taste, which I really appreciated.