Seven Months Ahead

February was very eventful this year, including Mardi Gras, my father's 60th Surprise Birthday Party (I added to the surprise by surprising him from Florida), and of course, Valentine's Day.

Check out me and my smokin' date at Mardi Gras! We got lucky enough to be able to take time off to drive to Mobile, Alabama (the birthplace of Mardi Gras!). Not only did we get to hang out with Michael's family (and talk wedding dets), but we got to catch beads at the parade and get dressed up for the Mardi Gras Ball!

I got to let my creative, DIY side run wild for Valentine's Day. All of the things I made and put together were just things I had lying around the house, so I didn't even have to spend any money on decorations or presents! And the best part...I'm going to use some of the elements I used for my Valentine's Day decor for our wedding! See if you can guess what I'll use :)

Talking wedding planning, we are almost done with February, but not before I can explore this month's To-Do List in THE BOOK, my wedding planning bible. We are well into Chapter 6: Seven Months Ahead, which focuses on Flowers, Cakes, and Other Embellishments. It features the following To-Do List:

1. Engage a florist.

2. Shop for the wedding cake.

3. Select Sweets.

4. Shop for favors.

5. Champagne toasts.

Thanks to my dad, #1 was taken care of almost immediately when he recommended the florist whose warehouse was located basically across the street from his work. He was well acquainted with one of the designers at Prime Source, Valerie, as this is where he used to buy my brother's date's corsages for high school dances. All the beautiful creations he would bring home for my brothers were almost a third of the cost of other places, because he would get everything at cost. I was able to meet with Valerie in November when I was out in the Bay for our Engagement Party. Michael and I were able to share our vision for our wedding, and I was able to show her photos (love the Pinterest App on my iphone) of the flowers I imagined for our ceremony, reception, bridesmaid's and bridal bouquets, all of which Valerie said she could make happen. Thinking sticking with traditional White bouquet for me, while using the soft pinks of our color palette for the bridesmaids, like the gorgeous flowers below.

Lucky for Michael and I, my mom's older brother is married to an awesome baker, and when I thought about #2 back in the early moments of our engagement, I knew I would ask Carrie to bake for our wedding! After seeing her creative creations on her facebook page, I requested her skills, and she more than delivered during our taste test, AKA our Engagement Party.

We were able to tackle #3 in November as well, and if you had to luck of being at our Engagement Party, then you got sample some of our selected sweets in the form of Carrie's delicious cupcakes. Cant wait for everyone to taste the cupcakes we chose for our wedding, including but not limited to the tasty classic of Red Velvet (keeping with Michael's Southern Heritage) and a refreshing Lemon Blueberry. Check out and "LIKE" her beautiful culinary skills at her Facebook Page, Bolinhos Doces, which means Sweet Cakes in Portuguese (a nod to our Brazilian heritage). You'll be seeing our Wedding Cake (also created by Carrie), Cupcakes, and other tasty treats on a desert table similar to the one posted below.

My mother is my best secret weapon when it comes to keeping this wedding on budget. Our mutual love for all things affordable, and her keen ability to sniff out a bargain has been so helpful in this wedding planning journey. When discussing possible wedding favors, I told her that we didn't want anything cliche, but instead something that guest would find useful and not something to dump after the reception. Since I don't want to spoil our wedding favors, just know that my mother has come through, founding the most untraditional favor ever, at a great price, and despite it's oddity, it will prove to be the most useful favor, especially when it comes down to our ceremony location (totally a hint right there!) I know that if I got these at a wedding, I would be stoked, thinking, "YES!! Something I can use again that doesn't have someone else's name all over it!"

Champagne Toast?? Umm that's so 1990. It's all about drinking what YOU want to drink, not some cheesy (and expensive) Champagne, that half the guests probably won't even drink! When addressing #5, I think you can guess our stance on that listed item, and would rather have our guests enjoying their fresh tapped beer or refreshing wine while saluting good tidings to us ;)

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