#16: Modern...Couple?

Claire and Phil Dunphy.

The names sound familiar?

If you've ever seen Modern Family on ABC, then you know who I'm talking about.

I just finished watching an episode and after the several I've seen, there is no doubt in my mind that Phil and Claire are J and I in 10 years.

Phil is funny. He cracks me up. He tries so hard to be cool and seriously falls short. I can see this being J when we have kids.  That's not to say that J isn't cool though.

Claire is a perfectionist. She wants the best for her three kids and desperately tries to prevent them from making the same mistakes she did.  J said she's uptight and controlling (to which he also said I'm not JUST like her).

I think Claire and Phil make a great team, as does J. He said it's a good combo, to have a dumb goofy guy and a controlling woman. Sounds good to me. 

And with that, I leave you with a clip.

#15: White Out

I've been to weddings with ugly flowers, no flowers, colorful flowers, but never to a wedding with all white flowers.  That is, until I attend my own wedding.

My all-time favorite flower is the red rose. I don't think J has ever gotten me any other type of flower (he's good). Oh wait, there was our first Valentine's Day (my least favorite holiday) and I told him I didn't want a big fuss and I didn't want him to get me a bunch of red roses.  So what did Mr. Smarty Pants do? He got me ONE red rose and some other flowers. Smart man. And super funny too.

So anyways, when it came time to figure out what flowers I wanted to do for the wedding, I couldn't get the picture of me carrying a huge bouquet of red roses down the aisle out of my head. The only problem is that red is not one of our colors, nor does it match at all.  And not to mention, it's a little cliche. So I nixed the red roses and decided to go with an all-white scheme for our florals.  

I googled "white flower meanings" and got this definition: "white signifies purity and perfection and can represent a successful beginning" (source).  How fitting. Perfection. Now comes the hard part: which flowers to actually use.  As far as centerpieces go, those are already taken care of with the fabulous silks we found (read that story here). The rest of our flowers (bouquets and boutonnieres) will be real. 

White roses are a given. They're sturdy and last for up to a week. Done. (Source) Isn't this bouquet breathtaking?? Simply gorgeous.

Other flowers that I'm pretty certain will be used are:

Peonies: I love the softness of them and they're also rather large, so just a few make a huge impact.  And who doesn't love that they signify a happy marriage and a happy life?! The only downside is that these beauties cost quite a bit more than other flowers. (Source)

Hydrangeas: I love the fullness of these as well. I was originally against using these, but my mom convinced me.  They're commonly used in weddings and you definitely get a bang for your buck because only a few stems are needed to make a statement. (Source)

Ranunculus: These flowers are gorgeous! I feel like they have a modern look to them, which is so me. They have a fullness to them (can you sense a trend here? I apparently like big flowers!) (Source)

I'm sure my mom will add in other fillers and greens to make them look more gorgeous, but these are the four flowers I have my heart set on.

What do you think? Have you ever been to a wedding with all-white flowers?

Til tomorrow...

#14: Bridezilla

On any given Sunday at 9pm, you can find me in my pjs watching Bridezillas. It is hands down, my favorite show! I usually watch it in disbelief, but I like to tell J and my parents that I watch it for tips ;)

I do agree with all of these nutty brides, a wedding is about the bride....to an extent. A wedding also includes um...the groom. And of course, I think it's also about two families becoming one.

"Look at me, because it's about me" is what the bride from tonight's show just said. I don't even know how they have friends to pick for their bridal party! Most of the brides on the show have what I would call "revolving bridesmaids." They kick bridesmaids out of their wedding left and right and sometimes pull random people in to fill the gaps. I'll tell you, I picked my bridesmaids because I love them, not because I wanted six gorgeous servants (more on my amazing girls in later posts). These girls have been with me through thick and thin, one of them for my whole life, one of them for her whole life, and three of them for 12+ years, and the sixth for over four years :)) That's a lot of combined years!

All bridesmaids have duties, but they're not very extensive and usually don't extend far past the actual wedding day. Buy a dress and shoes, throw a shower, occasionally help with a project, and be there to lend an ear if I need to talk or vent. Sounds pretty simple to me. Bridezillas tend to think bridesmaids duties also include: personal lip gloss applier, housekeeper, general overall servant, water bottle babysitter and/or dog-sitter. I understand that everybody has their own lives and I intend to respect that.

Do any of you watch Bridezillas (it's ok,no one here will judge you!)? Do you know a Bridzilla? Have you been in a wedding of a Bridezilla? share your stories!

Til tomorrow...

#13: Decent Delectables

We just finished with the tasting at Old Hickory Golf Club. There were only about 7 or 8 couples and a hand full of parents on hand to eat some grub. They had a handful of vendors, including three bakeries, one florist and a couple DJs. My mom and J's mom went with us and it was really nice to spend some time with them! We tasted a variety of appetizers and three entree choices. We were definitely more impressed with the appetizers than the entrees. Among the appetizers that we sampled were bacon wrapped scallops, crab in filo with a roasted red pepper sauce, lamb shank, coconut shrimp with a honey apricot chipotle glaze, and chicken satay with a peanut sauce. Our top favorites were the scallops, the crab and the coconut shrimp. If you know me, you know I don't do seafood...needless to say, I was seafood-ed out today!

The entrees we tried were salmon in what tasted like a butter sauce (J and I aren't huge fans of salmon, but I put on my big girl panties and took a bite), chicken breasts in a mushroom type sauce and a beef brisket also in a mushroom sauce. None of us were truly impressed with any one entree, but we deemed the salmon and beef brisket passable. Luckily for us, we are able to change up the menu and let the chef know if we'd like to change anything. He'll let us know what's possible and, if applicable, any additional cost per person.

The three bakeries provided cake and cupcake samples. The first one had red velvet, carrot and white raspberry cakes. I wasn't a fan of the first two (I didn't try the raspberry one), but my mom liked the carrot cake (I thought the icing was way too sweet and was too much for the cake itself. A second bakery had two cakes to sample, one was chocolate on chocolate (pretty dark good and chocolatey) and another white cake with a sweet icing. The last bakery we tried only supplied cupcakes. J and my mom chose a white cupcake with white icing and boyyy was it was NOT good!

Turning our attention to other sweets, we headed over to the chocolate fountain. The fountain had a sweet Belgian chocolate and we tried strawberries, rice krispie treats and cake pops in the chocolate. Yum! Although we like he idea of a chocolate fountain, we have better and more fun uses for our money.

Well, that was a long post for today, so I'll leave you with a question: what is the BEST food you've ever had at a wedding?

PS: This entire post was written on my iPhone!

#12: Young Blog Love

I'll be honest. I almost forgot to post again today.  So here goes another late night one for ya:

A couple nights ago, I was googling (as I often do) a project I wanted to do for the wedding. And not only did I find several great pictures of how to do it, I also came across my new favorite blog.  Let me introduce you to John and Sherry Petersik of younghouselove.com.  John and Sherry started this blog about three years ago after they bought their first house.  They have chronicled every project they've ever done on this house, and let me tell you, it's A LOT of projects.  They are budget-conscious, never buying something until they've saved up the whole amount.  What started out as a blog to update their friends and family on their daily happenings has turned into a full-time job for BOTH of them! They have a gorgeous baby, Clara, and an adorable little chihuahua, Burger.  They've been on numerous TV shows and in quite a few magazines and currently write a DIY column in Better Homes and Garden's Do It Yourself magazine. 

Oh, and did I happen to mention that they held their wedding in their own backyard?! I'm in love, I tell you. L-O-V-E.

What I've found that I love most about the Petersiks is their design style.  I drool over about 95% of the things that they have posted.  They're all for clean lines and neutral wall colors, with lots of accents and accessories.  They do it all without it looking cluttered (which J and I are all for!).

So instead of reading me go on and on about these people I have never met, but who just HAPPEN to live in Rich city, go check out their blog for yourself!  I'm sure I will refer to their blog more than once over the next 240 days :)

Let me know what you think! What's your design preference? Are you like me and J? Or do you prefer furniture with more embellishments or bright wall colors?

#11: Greedy, Greedy Little Bride and Groom

I could probably write a whole book on the topic of wedding registries. I would have chapters titled "Why You Really Need that $300 Stand Mixer," "Did You Really Put THAT On Your Registry?" and the nonchalant "Our 400 Item Registry List." Other chapters might include "What People Can Tell About You Just By Looking At Your Registry" and "Do You Really Think 16 People Will Eat Off Fine China In Your 2 Bedroom Apartment?"

I've always felt that a wedding is pretty much the only time in your life when it's acceptable to be greedy (within reason of course). People want to buy you presents for showers and your wedding, especially if you're just starting out. J and I practically own no furniture of our own. I recently wrote down a list of all the furniture we will need, including a bed (I don't have one and J sleeps in a twin), a dresser (again, I don't have one) and a complete living and dining room set.

On the other hand, I've been collecting kitchen supplies in my hope chest since I was 15 years old. It quickly spilled out of my hope chest and I now live among boxes of place settings, crystal platters, and other breakables. I have 8 storage bins full of smaller items like decorative pillows, candles, pitchers, assorted gadgets and knives from Pampered Chef and Cutco, and of course my prized chick flick collection. Needless to say, we still need a lot for our first place.

J and I were surprised by the number of different choices we had when we went to register. I had no idea there were so many toasters and coffee makers! I let J pick a lot of the items on our registry, and does that boy have good taste! (I, on the other hand, in my classiness, picked this out.) We share the same design/decor ideas: clean lines, minimal fuss, no clutter/knick-knacks and nothing girly! It makes it easy for me to pick out things when J isn't around, but I have a feeling our apartment will look more like a bachelor pad than a lovers' nest. And that's just fine by me.

Tell me (especially married people!): What is one thing that should go on a registry that you wouldn't normally think of? It can be something that was on yours, or something you wished you had put on it!

Side note: Just hit 500 views! Amazing :))

#10: Music Makes the People Come Together, Yeah

Yeah, you know you were humming that song as you read the title. Don't lie. While I'm not a huge Madonna fan, you have to admit she has a point (or at least her songwriters do). I can't remember the last time I heard an upbeat song and not felt the urge to dance, sometimes in a room full of people I don't know. Our wedding reception is going to be one huge dance party.

Every time I think of weddings, I think of the movies 27 Dresses and The Wedding Planner. I love The Wedding Planner for Jennifer Lopez's character. She's so put together and organized when planning her clients' weddings, and I hope to be just as organized for mine (so far, so good). I love 27 Dresses for the overall story but also for 2 specific scenes. I love the upbeat beginning of it, with everybody dancing and Katherine Heigl's character, Jane, running back and forth between two different weddings she's in. The song is Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and is just one of the those songs that makes you wanna dance, even though I know your dance moves don't really compare with Michael's.

The other scene I love is one that J laughs at me about. I'm ashamed to say when I saw this scene for the first time, I didn't even know who sang the song! So ashamed. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6MSlDoHJU4&feature=related

Yes, friends. That is THE Elton John's song. Like I said, so ashamed. But every time I hear this song, which is quite often since I just downloaded it onto my iPhone, I think of this scene and get the urge to sing along and dance on a bar. One day, I'll get to cross it off my bucket list. If you mention this to my parents, you can leave the "dance on a bar" part off. Unless you would like to accompany my dad to the ER for an anxiety attack.

I've been thinking a lot about the music for our wedding lately. I want to have a good mix of Motown, oldies, rock n' roll, and maybe a little of my country mixed in (nothing about dogs, shotguns, or mamas, but I can't guarantee nothing about beer or drinking). I'm not the kind of bride (as of yet) that doesn't want the Macarena or Chicken Dance at her wedding, I think they'd be kind of fun! (Side note: just googled "wedding dance songs" and those two were on most of the "Do Not Play" lists...oh well).

J and I are actually compiling all the music for the wedding ourselves. DJs are out of our budget and frankly, not a top priority for us. Good music is, just not the overpriced, loud-booming-voice-that-you-usually-can't-understand-because-they're-talking-so-loud-with-their-mouth-touching-the-microphone-so-what-you-hear-sounds-similar-to-an-adult-in-Peanuts. We will most likely have a friend man the iTunes playlist for us and act as our MC (the non-yelling kind) for the night. So what we need is your help!

Tell us the songs that make you want to get up and dance, and help us compile a good dance mix for the reception!