The Registry

I was browsing The Knot and came across an article that asked 'What is your Registry Style?" Asking this question before Clayton and I registered would probably have been more productive but I was intrigued by the article and wanted to explore.

I would say my "registry style" is classic and traditional. I like things to be simple, clean and elegant. I have always thought that white dishes are to your kitchen what the little black dress is to your closet. You can use them everyday and for all entertaining purposes. Add a splash of color with a napkin, linen or salad plate and presto! an entirely new tablescape! Clayton and I love our essential white place settings from Crate and Barrel and cant wait to use them!

Polyvore is a super cool website that allows you to make your own collages. Here is a look at our wedding registry collage:

Planning a wedding is a challenge, but the registry, well that is what I call fun! I think registering is probably the only reason that I would ever plan a second wedding! Registry is like a drug. It is slightly addictive. Crate and Barrel seduced me on their website and forced me to spend hours in front of my computer finding the perfect serving dish and learning how to have the most exquisite holiday mantle. Crate and Barrel is a genius.

Clayton and I enjoyed our day of registering at Crate and Barrell and Bed Bath and Beyond. We chose items we knew we would use and love in starting our new home together. It was a great day of picturing our life as a married couple!

I must admit I did get a little too excited during the registry process and had to be reigned in. I was overwhelmed by all the items to entertain with and the angels were singing! When I began registering for items that we would need for our child's 5th birthday party, Clayton took away the scan gun! Here are a few photos from our day of registry!

My Bridezilla Moment

I thought that I might be able to avoid having a "bridezilla" moment but unfortunately, even as a seasoned wedding planner I am not immune.

For those of you who do not know the term 'bridezilla', here is the definition according to Wikipedia:

A bridezilla (a neologistic portmanteau of bride and Godzilla) is a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride.

Webster goes into a littel more detail:

Horrific, bulging-eyed bride prone to screaming spells and spontaneous fits of hysterical rage. Bridezillas are known to drop blows over seating charts, get bug-eyed at the mere mention of carnations and view hurling champagne at their wedding planners as a form of hazing.


And you can't help but enjoy this description from Bridezilla.com

Exceptionally attractive, confident women who know what they want and can’t be bothered to sugar coat because they are obviously on 100 calorie- a- day microbiotic diets and can’t even sneak a pack of Splenda if their life depends on it. Bridezillas are both blessed and cursed with a higher vision of perfection than most mediocre, David’s Bridal wearing, Gerber daisy carrying mortals and have no choice but to impart this vision exactly to the masses. It is this motive that drives them to demand nothing less than excellence from their staff-err, wedding party.

In college I was an art minor with a focus on graphic design. I decided pretty quickly that I was too much of a perfectionist to be a good graphic designer. To make any money, you have to get projects out quickly and that seemed impossible for me. I would spend hours trying to find the perfect font or the exact matching color. These skills of perfection do come in handy as a wedding planner but as a bride but it has also been a curse.

I was searching for the perfect script font to use on my wedding invitations and came across Bickham Script. While researching this font to see how it looked in different sizes and letters I stumbled upon Burguess Script. I fell in love with this font immediately and knew this was the one. The flourishes are breathtaking and I could loose myself for hours admiring the playful yet elegant swoops and swirls.

After spending hours and hours searching for a download for Burguess Script, I called upon one of my bridesmaids, who is also a wedding planner, and enlisted the help of her mother in law who is the queen of fonts. I met my bridesmaid at her mother in law's home and she began a search through her catalog of many fonts and online. We had no luck in finding a free download and only a few websites offered you the font at the price of $100. Yes, for only one hundred dollars this beautiful font can be yours. After a relentless search, I felt defeated and extremely frustrated.

I wanted this font. I needed this font. I had to have this font! (Hello Bridezilla!)

My bridesmaid, and fellow wedding planner, could feel the disdain and see the ever haunting 'horns' creeping upon my head.  She pulled me aside and said, "Chelsey if you had a bride that was stressing this much over a silly font what would you do?" I reluctantly laughed as I told her that I would tell my bride to relax, that we would find something else that she loved and to not fret over this simple thing. She responded with, "Yes. Exactly. Let's move on."

I went home and was still upset about the font. I did not want to spend $100 of our already tight budget on a typeface. It seemed ridiculous and unnecessary.  However, after countless hours of searching and hundreds of fonts later, I finally just broke down and bought it. I absolutely love the font and when I saw it printed on our Save the Dates, I had no buyers remorse. They were perfect and exactly what I wanted.

After my 'bridezilla' moment I ran across a quiz "Are you a Bridezilla?" on WE TV. I decided to take the quiz out of humor and here is my assessment:

Well you've almost got a spot on team Bridezilla... but not quite. You're sort of like the water girl - you're supporting the team and you're learning a lot.

Clayton may disagree, but as of now, I am not on team Bridezilla!

It's Personalized

The wedding is just around the corner and traditionally Save the Date cards are mailed out about six months prior to the wedding. Logically it should have been something I skipped because of the short timeframe and for budget saving reasons however, as a bride, I wasnt thinking logically.

I finally got them completed last week! I have always had a passion for great fonts and calligraphy. I truly enjoyed seeing my friends and family's names in the beautiful script font I picked out specifically for our wedding stationary. (There is a humorous story on this particular font but that will be another post!) Although they were simple, I loved them so much and it was hard to put them in the mail!

I enlisted Clayton to help me stuff the envelopes and in return each Save the Date has a "personal" touch. I gave Clayton the stack of Save the Date cards and the matching envelopes. I had two cards, an Accommodation card with a list of hotels and the Save the Date with the our wedding information.

I explained to him that the larger card went on the bottom with the smaller card on top. I showed him how to put them in the envelope facing up so that when guests receive them, the writing is facing up and they can easily pull out the cards and read them.

Clayton reluctantly agreed to assist me but he took the cards and began putting them in the envelopes. As he handed me a completed stack so that I could seal them, I noticed that they were all the wrong direction. I showed him again the correct way to insert the cards. As I watched him place each card in the envelope, he was still doing it wrong. I tried to correct him but he quickly showed me the problem and and gave me his excuse for continuing to do it his way. Clayton is left handed.

When I realized the problem, we both had a good laugh as he insisted that now they all have a personal touch even though they are all facing the wrong direction! So for those of you who respect etiquette, please excuse our improperly stuffed Save the Date cards, for everyone else, we hope you can appreciate the "personalization".

A special thank you to Barb at The Station House for helping me print these last minute. I originally had planned to do something else but I was running out of time and had to compromise on a more cost efficient option!

It's Game Time

Last night I decided I was going to sit down and decide on my ceremony music. I am having one of the best string quartets playing at the wedding and I am so grateful they are available! The only CD player I had access to was the one in the kitchen - Clayton was playing video games in the living room and refused to listen to 'Canon n D' while on his 'black opps mission.'

I pulled a chair from the dining room table and placed it in the middle of kitchen. I put in my CD and had the list of songs on a piece of paper so I could mark down my favorites. The first song is "Canon n D". My first thought is how beautiful this song is. It is one of my favorites and I am considering walking down the aisle to it. The second thought is the feeling I get every Saturday when this song begins. Traditionally this song is played for the bridal party entrance so when it starts its kinda of like my "game day" song. I am a sports fan so I relate it to "the" song that every team has that is "their" song right before they run out on the field or court. I love the feeling when I start sending the bridal party down the aisle. It is like the day is finally coming together and is starting. "It's game time!"

The next song is the "Bridal Chorus". This invokes the image from the movie the 'Wedding Planner' right before the bride walks down the aisle and every Saturday that I get the privilege to lead a bride down her aisle. Although I love the moment when I start the bridal party down, my favorite moment is when the Bridal Chorus begins to play and I bring the bride to the doors. It is a beautiful, quite and peaceful moment. The doors open and the bride and her father take their first step down the aisle. I lift the back of her gown and watch as the air catches it ever so lightly until it falls perfectly in place and glides down the aisle behind her. Followed by a deep breath, the hard part is done and the ceremony, the reason we are here, has begun.

I am sitting in my chair in the kitchen looking quite awkward and I catch a glance of Clayton staring at me, humorously smiling at my contentness as I listen and sway to the music remembering so many memories as each song plays and envisioning my own walk down the aisle.    

I may have to find a song that I don't have previous feelings toward but I also love the idea of having songs that are so familiar and with fond memories from many brides that have walked before me. I will keep you posted on what I decide!

Marriage Tool Belt: Compromise

Marriage Tool Belt: Compromise

Ring shopping started with a fight but ended with a compromise. Because of the fight we allowed ourselves to dig deeper into our relationship and discussed what we each wanted not only out of our marriage but out of our lives as a family in general.

Fighting is never fun, but when it ends in learning more about your relationship and making a compromise with each other, that leads to growth and even makes the fight worth it. Our ring shopping experience was not what either of us expected, but we did learn a lesson. It brought us closer together and we made a compromise that works for both us which I know will be a great tool in our marriage tool belt.

Marriage Tool Belt

As a wedding planner I have learned that planning a wedding is truly preparation for marriage. Couples have to make decisions about budgets, style, priorities, and it can lead to a fight or it can lead to learning more about each other. During the planning process, bride's and groom's put together what I like to call a 'marriage tool belt' - things they learn during wedding planning that are 'tools' for their marriage.

Over the course of our planning, Clayton and I are building our own 'marriage tool belt'. I will be posting the 'tools' we have been learning over the next few months. Hopefully they will be reminders for me and other brides preparing for marriage that there is more to this 'madness' than just the shade of pink or type of flowers for the centerpiece!

Sharing the News

I had breakfast with my mom, sister, and grandmother a few days after the proposal. It was fun to show them the ring for the first time and tell them about the proposal. My mom teared up a bit and it was an emotional experience. It was a great moment of three generations of women celebrating!

Clayton and I wanted to tell my other grandmother in person that we got engaged so we planned a trip to the big town of Bowie, Texas. On the way, we stopped in Decatur and joined my parents at church and then lunch at Sweetie Pies on the Courthouse Square with my parents, brother and cousin Jared. It was the first time my Dad and brother had seen the ring and the first meal we had as an engaged couple with the family. I think this is always an interesting moment for brides. I think everyone knows a change is happening and there is happiness and sadness all in one emotion.

We got to my grandmother's house and it was so much fun sharing the news with her. She welcomed Clayton to the family and was so excited for us. She told us the story of her wedding day and all the things that went wrong. It was one of the biggest floods in Ft Worth and she barely made it to the church because of the rain! She wanted to call it off because of the weather but her mom said no! She told us that marriage was the best thing that happened to her and it was an amazing blessing. Hearing the story of her wedding day gone wrong but with a marriage that lasted over 50 years until my grandad passed away last year, was a great reminder of what a wedding day really is. A day of two lives joining to become husband and wife and the start a journey of life and love together. A reminder that in my world of extravagant cakes, luxurious linens, and over the top menus, it all ends with a marriage and that is what truly matters.

On the way home, we stopped by one more family members home to share the news! We enjoyed sitting and chatting with my Aunt Shelly and Uncle Johnny. I love how you can tell your engagement story to a hundred people and I still get excited to share the details! We were excited to share our story with them and they told us about their wedding too. They got married on a Tuesday at a small chapel in Denton. Yes! A Tuesday! It was the only day available for another year and my aunt really wanted to get married in that chapel. As most couples do, they both said they didn’t remember much of it. I was really young when they got married and don’t remember the wedding but I do remember playing house as a little girl and I was the beautiful bride Shelly and Russell, a cousin my same age, was uncle Johnny the groom! Even as young kids we dream of love and marriage! (Russell I wont tell anyone! I promise!)

The day was filled with love and sharing. Even though we were telling everyone about our engagement, I think we enjoyed hearing their stories even more. It was a great way to start our wedding planning with the reminder that it is just one day and at the end of it we will be married. I hope that we too, can one day tell our grandchildren and nieces about the wonderful day we got married, the things that went wrong and how most of the day was a blur but that marriage is a true blessing and we are grateful for each other and the life we have shared.