Mr. Cola and I are following in the steps of several bees, and will be renting a charter bus for our wedding guests. Considering the hotel is a half hour away, and our venue is at the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains, up a curvy, car sick inducing road, I consider it money well spent. No guests of ours will be getting DUIs or in a wreck on account of our wedding!
Here is a peak at a mock up of the map I made for our invitations inserts, showing the windy roads--we even caution guests again to take advantage of our bus (click the map for a larger view):
But just because we consider it a necessary expense doesn't mean we didn't shop around for the best price! However, it proved to be more difficult than anticipated; gathering charter bus quotes was hard work. I initially contacted companies directly through their online quote systems on their websites, but only one company responded. So I then found a third party company that I submitted my info with, and that site sent out the quotes for me, resulting in a bunch of responses.
For 50-57 passenger charger buses, the ranges we got were from $500 to $1300 for a 6.5 hour rental, most in the $750-$900 range. Since I couldn't find a website or any info on the company that provided the $500 quote, we instead went with Peninsula Tour, for $775 + driver tip for a 57 passenger bus. Incidentally, they were the company who was the only one to respond to my first round of quote requests, giving them even more points in my book.
Our guests will be able to ride in luxury in this bad boy, and won't have to worry about taking full advantage of our open bar:
Of course we are asking our guests to RSVP for a seat on the bus, since it only holds 57 people. But I'm guessing that those taking advantage of it will mainly be those staying at the hotel, which equals about half of our 100 person guest list. So it should all work out nicely!
Mr. C and I won't be on the bus though, we'll have our own transportation, a regular old limo. I really didn't want to pay for this expense, but in the end we decided it's for the best, since neither of us want to drive, and I couldn't easily get in a regular car without wrinkling my dress anyway. So about 2 1/2 hours before the ceremony, Mr. C and one of our photographers will ride to our first look location from the hotel together, and I and our second photographer will ride in the limo. We'll then have an hour for our first look and pictures, after which Mr. C and I will take the limo to our ceremony/reception location, being followed by our photogs in their car.
At the end of the evening, a half hour before the reception ends, Mr. C and I will sneak out and be taken back to the hotel, giving us enough time to change and set up for the after party. Luckily we were finally able to find a limo company, Limo Bee, who wouldn't make us pay for the hours of sitting in the parking lot during our ceremony and reception. Most of them wanted to charge $800-900; even more than the charter bus! But with the company we've booked, it's $225 for the first part of the day (3 hour minimum), and then $100 for the transfer back to the hotel at the end of the night. Not bad, right?
And now we at least won't have to worry so much about squishing my dress into a small car, or, god forbid, something like this:
For years now I've been annoyed with the skin on my face. I have combination skin, with an oily T-zone and dry cheeks, and an occasional pimple or two. I've spent who knows how much money trying out different face washes and moisturizers, as well as different makeup to help cover the shine, but still ended up looking like this every time:
I decided I needed a change, since I didn't want to have to worry about reapplying my L'Oreal True Match pressed powder 10 times on my wedding day (yes, my nose needed about 10 applications of powder a day!). So I dug up this post from Mrs. Peep Toe that I'd bookmarked ages ago, and decided to bite the bullet and invest in more expensive skin care than the drug store brands.
I went to the Origins store at a nearby mall on my lunch break, and bought them out! After a couple weeks of use, I've already noticed a big difference in my skin, it's so much more even--my nose and forehead much less oily, and my cheeks aren't dry anymore. In fact, I noticed a difference after doing my new face regimen the first time; after using my new products the first night, I woke up the next morning and my forehead wasn't even oily like it usually was!
So, want to see my new regimen? This is what was recommended for combination skin. Twice a week, exfoliate with Modern Friction (follow the product links for image sources).
Twice daily wash your face with Checks and Balances. I love this cleanser, you only need about a pea sized amount to get your face squeaky clean, and it's really nice and frothy too.
After washing your face twice a day, you tone your skin with the United State balancing tonic on a cotton ball. It really gets deep into your pores, and after a long day it's amazing to see even more dirt come off your face after scrubbing it with the cleanser! And this toner is great for sensitive skin too, which I have.
After my skin can't get any cleaner, I use Youthtopia age-correcting serum with Rhodiola, in my quest to prevent wrinkles. I really like the smell of the Youthtopia products, sort of like cinnamon oatmeal.
Finally, I end my twice daily routine with Youthtopia skin firming lotion with Rhodiola. You could also use their other lotion that has an SPF, but my pale Irish skin needs all the wrinkle prevention it can get, so I opted for the firming lotion!
If I do have a pimple, I use a little dab of the Spot Remover. It works so much better than the Clean & Clear Advantage stuff I was using before, I can actually feel my skin tighten upon application (and the oil being sucked out to the pimple)!
And of course, I'm also doing my daily cleansing and moisturizing routine on my neck. I don't want to end up with a smoother face and wrinkly neck like this!
Another step I've taken to improve the look of my skin is to try a new pressed powder (I don't wear foundation on a daily basis). For the past few weeks I've been using the Laura Mercier Mineral Pressed Powder with SPF 15. It costs about 3 times as much as the L'Oreal powder I was using, but works about 10 times better, so I'd say it's worth it!
So to recap, I've changed all the cleansers and moisturizers, as well as the pressed powder I'm using on my face. And the result? After a few weeks I've gone from an oil slick T-zone that needed powder applied about 10 times a day to keep it under control, to a mostly dry and balanced face that I only apply powder to about 2-3 times a day (and the applications are mainly to my nose; my forehead has improved more than my nose).
The only facial skin product that I'm still using from before is the Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets. They really do work great for removing shine before you reapply your powder!
What steps will you be taking to get your face wedding day ready? Got any product tips for the hive?
As I mentioned a week or so ago, Mr. Cola actually got his wedding band before I got mine. And you've already seen it; he ended up getting the one from my ring inspiration post, the $99 BOMANI Tungsten Carbide Carbon Fiber Ring. He really liked it (well, as much as he was going to like any piece of jewelry) because of the fact that it has carbon fiber in it, which apparently is "really cool."
So we decided to order it, since there was only a small restocking fee if he didn't like it. But he did, and so he never had to step foot in a jewelry store, much to his relief.
And here it is, he wore it all evening the night it came in the mail to get a little used to it.
I swear, I think it's about the sexiest thing I've ever seen him wear! I'm so looking forward to the day he'll wear it forever, since I really love the meaning behind wearing wedding bands.
Has your guy gotten his wedding band yet? How did he pick it out?
Sorry, I couldn't think of a good title for my music post that hadn't already been used, so I'll just let you all use your imagination! :)
It's finally time for me to do the obligatory music playlist post, which I hope you all will enjoy. I know I read every one's playlists I could find before creating my own, to find the best reception music ideas out there. But then, I kind of a "Top 40" girl, so making the playlist wasn't that hard for me!
We aren't really doing much to appease the masses (read, the older guests) with our music selections. 'Sweet Caroline' or 'Brown Eyed Girl' will not be making appearances at our wedding, because, frankly, I'm just not that into dancing to a lot of older tunes. Don't get me wrong, I love classic rock, but I just feel that not a lot of the songs are that great to dance to. And we will have full control, because we're doing all the music ourselves!
Yep, we'll be doing an "iPod Wedding," or actually, using my laptop! {Source}
Our ceremony musician (and also my MOH/Sister's boyfriend) will be monitoring my playlists throughout the night, making the transitions at the appropriate times, and of course, we will have a back up MP3 player on hand, just in case. This is a huge budget saver for us, and also, I'm happy I won't have to give up any control over the music, since I'm always in control of our party playlists at home!
I'm still tweaking our wedding playlists, and probably will for another couple months (you never know when a new song will come out that will be a perfect addition!), but here is my list so far, with song lengths. I tried really hard to find songs for the cocktail hour that are "lovey" but a little more upbeat, then "really lovey" slower songs for dinner, and good dance songs for the rest of the reception. We want everyone feeling energized and like partying for the dancing portion of the evening, which is why I've left slow songs off the last list.
I will need to reorganize these into a better mix at some point, since they're alphabetical right now, as well as weed out some of the less important songs and re-arrange them to fit in the allotted times. I've noted the song importance in my song list as:
Must Have = duh, it must be played OK to Have = could be cut if needed to accommodate must have songs Not a Must Have = will probably be cut unless I need it to fill the time
Cocktail Playlist - 70 mins - 5:20pm to 6:30pm 1, 2, 3, 4 - Plain White Ts - 3.18 - OK to Have All You Need Is Love - Beatles - 3.47 - Must Have Fell In Love With A Boy - Joss Stone - 3.39 - OK to Have Free Fallin' - Tom Petty - 4.18 - OK to Have I'm Yours - Jason Mraz - 4.3 - OK to Have Jack & Diane - John Mellencamp - 4.17 - Not A Must Have Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer - 3.17 - OK to Have Lucky - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat - 3.1 - OK to Have Marry Me - Train - 3.25 - OK to Have
Marry Me is such a sweet song, check it out if you haven't heard it before! "You wear white, and I'll wear out the words I love you...and you're beautiful."
(all videos in this post are from Youtube)
Smile - Uncle Kracker - 3.22 - OK to Have Something Coming Over Me - OAR - 3.59 - OK to Have Wonderful Day - OAR - 4.31 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 43.33
Dinner Playlist - 60 mins - 6:30pm to 7:30pm All My Life - K-Ci & Jo-Jo - 5.32 - OK to Have Amazing - Josh Kelley - 3.46 - OK to Have At Last - Etta James - 2.59 - OK to Have Belief - Gavin Degraw - 4.27 - OK to Have Better Together - Jack Johnson - 3.3 - OK to Have Bubbly - Colbie Caillat - 3.16 - OK to Have Collide - Howie Day - 4.09 - OK to Have Come Away With Me - Nora Jones - 3.18 - OK to Have Crazy Love - Van Morrison - 2.35 - OK to Have Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg - 4.32 - OK to Have I Do - 98 Degrees - 3.46 - OK to Have I'll Be - Edwin McCain - 4.27 - OK to Have Lets Get Married - Jagged Edge - 4.23 - OK to Have Like A Star - Corinne Bailey Rae - 4.03 - OK to Have Look After You - The Fray - 4.27 - OK to Have Say (All I Need) - OneRepublic - 3.51 - OK to Have The Book of Love - Peter Gabriel - 3.37 - OK to Have The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson - 2.15 - Must Have Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden - 4.37 - OK to Have Wherever You Will Go - The Calling - 3.29 - OK to Have Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clatpon - 3.45 - OK to Have You and Me - Lifehouse - 3.15 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 79.59
First Dance Song - 7:30pm Can't Help Falling In Love - Ingrid Michaelson - 3.14 - Obviously a Must Have
One of the best songs of all time, made even better by my girl Ingrid! "So take my hand, and take my whole life too..."
Dancing Playlist - 150 mins - 7:30pm to 10:00pm (I will save the less appropriate songs for later in the evening) 1-2-3-4 - Coolio - 3.34 - Not A Must Have Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera - 3.49 - OK to Have Atomic Dog - George Clinton - 4.46 - OK to Have Blister In the Sun - Violent Femmes - 2.25 - OK to Have Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas - 4.12 - Must Have California Love - 2Pac - 4.45 - Not A Must Have Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners - 4.15 - OK to Have Crazy In Love - Beyonce - 4 - OK to Have Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen - 2.44 - OK to Have Don't Stop Believing - Journey - 4.1 - Must Have Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna - 4.27 - OK to Have Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz - 3.41 - OK to Have Float On - Modest Mouse - 3.28 - OK to Have Forever - Chris Brown - 4.41 - OK to Have Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper - 3.58 - Not A Must Have Gold Digger - Kanye West - 3.28 - OK to Have Good Life - Kanye West - 3.27 - OK to Have Here I Come - Fergie - 3.21 - OK to Have Hey Ya - OutKast - 3.59 - OK to Have Hot In Here - Nelly - 3.48 - OK to Have I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness - 3.36 - OK to Have I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas - 4.49 - Must Have Ignition (remix) - R. Kelly - 3.06 - Must Have
Ignition is a kind of silly/not-that-appropriate song to include, but it's the first song Mr. Cola and I ever danced to, so it has to be on our playlist! "Sippin' on coke and rum..."
I'm A Believer - Smash Mouth - 3.03 - Not A Must Have Just Dance - Lady GaGa - 4.02 - Must Have Let Me Clear My Throat - DJ Cool - 4.5 - Not A Must Have Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi - 4.13 - OK to Have Low - Flo Rida - 3.51 - OK to Have One More Time - Daft Punk - 5.21 - OK to Have Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry - 4.59 - Not A Must Have Poker Face - Lady GaGa - 3.57 - Must Have Pon de Replay - Rihanna - 4.09 - OK to Have SexyBack - Justin Timberlake - 4.01 - OK to Have Shake It - Metro Station - 3 - OK to Have Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb - 5.33 - Not A Must Have Single Ladies - Beyonce - 3.13 - OK to Have Smooth - Santana & Rob Thomas - 4.56 - OK to Have So What - Pink - 3.35 - OK to Have Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold - 3.26 - OK to Have Surrender - Cheap Trick - 4.14 - OK to Have Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 4.45 - OK to Have That Was A Crazy Game Of Poker - OAR - 8.43 - Must Have
Admittedly, this OAR song isn't the best dance song, but it's one of our all time favorites by our favorite band! (Skip ahead to 1:05 in the video for when the song really gets going)
The Seed (2.0) - The Roots - 3.51 - OK to Have The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani - 4.06 - OK to Have They Don't Want Music - Black Eyed Peas - 6.47 - OK to Have This D.J. (edited) - Warren G - 3.24 - Not A Must Have This is How We Do It - Montell Jordan - 3.59 - Not A Must Have Wake Me Up Before You Go - Wham! - 3.51 - Not A Must Have What Is Love - Haddaway - 4.3 - OK to Have Yeah! - Usher - 4.1 - OK to Have You Got The Right Stuff - NKITB - 4.1 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 200.68
And to help ensure we remain in full control of our music the whole night, we will have this sign I made on my laptop, with the screen closed. No chicken dance requests would be possible anyway, since that's not a song already on my computer!
How much control do you plan on having in your reception song selections? Anyone else going the iPod or laptop route?
Now that my shoe obsession has been properly established, you can fully appreciate the story of how I found the perfect wedding shoes that weren't.
Upon getting engaged last March, the shoe search began. Around the same time I also began looking for wedding inspiration pictures, and looked at everything tagged "purple" on TheKnot.com. This was how I first found these gorgeous purple and champagne beaded heels. The end all, be all shoes. The. Must. Have. Most perfect shoes ever!
I was head over heels (pun intended!) in love with these shoes. And let me tell you, I spent months and months trying to find them. I set up Google and eBay alerts, using any and all search terms I could think of. I scowered the internet looking everywhere. I think I spent probably 100 hours altogether trying to find these or similar shoes, without any luck.
By the end of last summer, I'd all about given up hope. I didn't think I would ever find the perfect, magical shoes, and started looking for other options. I even went so far as to try to imitate the shoes, like in this PhotoShop mock up I did on random purple shoes I found on Zappos:
I bought some inexpensive purple heels and some lace appliques, intending to try to duplicate the shoes (with the flower on the toe removed), but later decided it was a fool's errand; they were never going to look as good.
Another month or so passed. I found and placed the order for my wedding dress. I continued to search for an alternate pair of dreamy purple heels, but time and time again went back to the picture of the beaded ones on The Knot.
Finally, in mid October, genius struck (or crazy internet stalkerness struck, whatever you want to call it)! It occurred to me to e-mail the photographer of the shoes, to see if he had any idea where they were from. He, of course, did not (and probably thought I was an insane bride for asking...uh, yeah, I am! Why do you think I spent my entire last post establishing how much I love shoes?). But I then thought to Google the bride's name, and that's where I hit pay dirt!
It turns out, the bride works for her family's photography business, which was about the third Google result. I quickly filled out the company's Contact Us form on their website, saying that I knew it was a long shot, but did anyone have any idea where the featured shoes were from? And guess what? Her mom responded, saying they were actually the bridesmaid shoes, not the bride's, and her other daughter just happened to still have the shoes in her closet, and would be happy to sell them to me!!! This bride's mother didn't even think I was silly for contacting her and was very happy to find a home for the shoes.
I was so insanely happy that I seriously thought I might die! Who cared if the shoes were a size and a half too big? Padded inserts and the ankle strap would make it work! They were in the mail and on their way and I HAD THE PERFECT WEDDING SHOES!
That was, until I actually received the box in the mail and opened them and.....they were not purple! I was completely crushed. My heart was torn out and stomped on and pierced with the stiletto heel of these shoes. My mom had always said that the picture of the shoes didn't look purple on her computer screen, but on my home laptop and both monitors at my work, they were definitely, undeniably purple in the picture. And, I'd found them by looking at purple tagged wedding pictures on The Knot.
So, want to see what they really look like? They are still very pretty, but not purple! More of a bronze/green shade, with bronze beads.
And a side by side comparison of the actual color and the pro photo color:
I was seriously crushed, but my mom suggested I wait until after my wedding dress came in in mid February, and decide what to do once I could see the dress in the gold color I ordered. In the meantime, I considered using fabric pens to turn the shoes purple, which I tested on some scrap fabric.
The fabric pen in the last picture above worked the best, but it is quite dark, and might just blend in and make the shoes a darker color of green/bronze/purple. And the beading would still be bronze. :(
So I'm pretty much at a loss, and I need the hive's help. These are really pretty shoes the way they are, and they do go with my gold dress, which I finally just got to pick up (but still need alterations). But it just breaks my heart to not get to wear purple heels on my wedding day, and plus, the shoes really are way too big. And if I try to change the color of the shoes, I'm afraid I might just ruin them forever, which would be a shame too.
So please help me! What should I do?
A) Just wear the beaded heels as is, even though they're not purple and 1 1/2 sizes too big
B) Attempt to make the heels purple, and maybe end up ruining them
C) Find a different pair of purple heels to wear on my wedding day, and after the wedding, sell the beaded ones to someone who they will fit and who will love them as is
D) Some other solution that I'm obviously not thinking of because I'm admittedly way too obsessed with shoes (please specify in the comments)
Lots of people collect something, are obsessed with something, or have something that is their "thing."
For me, it's shoes.
I have a shoe problem. It's undeniable. I obsess over, online stalk and collect shoes. It's even mentioned in my blog profile!
I've always enjoyed shoes, but my like turned into love after graduating from college and entering the world of pumps and peep toes to wear to work. There are so many more possibilities when you go from wearing flats to walk around campus to 3+ inch heels because you sit at a desk all day! Steadily, my collection has grown, and I now have quite a store of cute shoes (all purchased on sale and for low prices too, I'm proud to say! I love to shop around for sales, since about the most expensive range I'll pay is Steve Madden or Nine West prices, but prefer under $30.).
So, now that I've set the stage for my obsession, let's take a look, shall we? Here are a few of my favorite shoes from my closet. In my wedding planning, shoes have always been way more important to me than the dress; plain wedding pumps weren't going to cut it. I love high stilettos, unique prints, and fun details just too much!
Do you believe me yet that shoes are a MAJOR part of my life? So it's no surprise then that I started searching for my wedding shoes about 30 seconds after getting back from the vacation that we got engaged on.
But before I go into the long story about the wedding day shoes themselves, let's look at the other shoes I've purchased for the wedding events:
(purple and white heels for the Wedding Party Welcome Event)
(purple strappy heels for the Rehearsal Dinner)
(purple bow heels for the After Party, picture from Amazon, since they haven't arrived in the mail yet)
(white strappy heels for the Sunday Luncheon)
(awesome, but uncomfortable, purple jeweled heels for the bridal shower that I've decided I don't want to have)
So, now that my shoe obsession has been properly spelled out for you all, you will be better able to understand my insane, stalker-ish wedding shoe hunt, which I will save for tomorrow's post.
What wedding detail do you/did you obsess about the most?
(unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by yours truly)
I got my wedding band! (and the Black Eyed Peas song 'Ring-A-Ling' was playing on the radio on my way back to work from the jeweler's, how perfect)
Because I'm the nicest future wife ever, I didn't make Mr. Cola go wedding band shopping with me. Originally we were going to go pick our bands together, but he ended up getting his before mine (which I'll share in a future post), so I didn't want to bore him with an hour or two of me drooling over sparkly things! So instead I made an appointment to pop into Steve Padis on my lunch break.
I posted about a month ago on wedding band styles I was eying, but was having trouble visualizing how they would go with my e-ring. This was my favorite ring from what I'd found online:
I took all my inspiration pictures in with me, and even looked at some similar bands, but as I'd suspected, they didn't really go with my engagement ring all that well. I didn't want to take away from my e-ring, and this style with more diamonds was just too much; it competed with my e-ring.
(unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by me)
The jeweler then called their rep at Verragio, to find out what they recommended to go with my e-ring, and came back with a print out of one that had a matching pave band, with 4 larger diamonds on the top....for $5,700! Uh, my e-ring without the center stone was almost that expensive, and that was way out of my budget (I was looking closer to $2k). So I gave up on the more blingy wedding band idea.
We then found another Verragio band, that had just the matching pave diamonds, and a line splitting the paves down the middle, that matched my ring perfectly. I really liked that the paves lined up to circle half way around the band exactly like on my e-ring. Except it was a little wider than I liked....and $3,700.
So, moving on, the jeweler and I decided that as long as it went with my e-ring, it didn't really matter if my band was a Verragio, and we looked at some less expensive bands by other designers.
And it was at this point that I decided if I didn't get an eternity ring, the band spinning around on my finger was going to drive me crazy for the rest of my life. Until this point I'd sort of thought eternity bands were a waste, why put diamonds on the bottom where nobody would see them? Well, the answer is (at least for me), put diamonds on the bottom, because the bottom will become the top, and you won't have to constantly readjust your band to have the diamonds showing!
We then found this eternity band that I really liked; it didn't overpower my e-ring, it was decently low profile enough to not cover too much of the side view my e-ring (the whole reason I picked this e-ring in the first place), and the price was right at $799. However, the price was right because it was only in white gold, and I didn't think it quite matched the platinum of my e-ring. But it was a step in the right direction at least!
On we continued down the jewelry case, looking and trying, when about an hour and a half in, she found it! The perfect split pave band (almost identical to the $3,700 Verragio one), but a bit thinner, and it was an eternity band! I didn't have to debate long with myself to go a tiny bit over budget....it was perfect! Ok, fine, I went $575 over my budget, but I still think it was a steal considering it has .7 total carats (in a size 4), which is over twice the number of diamonds as in the very similar Verragio band. And so here it is, my wedding band!
It even looks great by itself, another one of my criteria.
If anyone is looking for more details, it's #106819 by Precision Set, and it usually has .75 total carats, but mine has less because it's a smaller size. You can find it here.
I'm so ecstatic! I can't wait to pick it up in about a month, and finally get to wear it in June!
How did your wedding band search go? Did you have to try on a lot of styles to find the perfect match, or were you lucky enough to get an engagement ring that came as a set with a matching band?
I have a deep love for shoes, anything with garlic on it, and all things DIY. Just a West Coast chick adjusting to life in the South with my husband and 3 kitties. To pay the bills I'm a marketing communications professional, but my true love is crafting and working on decor projects. And now that we are homeowners, I love taking on bigger renovation projects side-by-side with my husband, as we strive to make our new house a home.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to The Handcrafted Hitching Post with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Posts
