Flower Girl Dilema

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about my just-turned-one, soon-to-be niece flower girl.  My first problem is trying to decide what I want her to wear.  I have a few ideas in my head (thank you pinterest) and they're all so cute that I can't choose just one!

This Belle inspired tutu is so adorable and I smile every time I see it!

I love the tutu idea!  It just seems so fun, cute, and comfortable for the flower girls and I just love the look!  However, my mom brought up the fact that it may be too casual for a royal themed wedding. 

My other idea was to buy a cute Disney inspired Belle costume from the Disney store and have my flower girl wear it down the aisle.  But...when I was in California back in October we went to Downtown Disney and had Amelia try on the dresses and they were either too tight or too long.  And to be honest, it's just not my favorite.  It may be great for a royal themed wedding but I'm just not sure.

So...any suggestions on which one to choose?  What do you think works better for a royal themed wedding?  Oh...so many decisions and I'm having the hardest time trying to choose!  Any help would be greatly appreciated!   

Professional Engagement Pictures

A high school friend of mine just recently started her own Photography business with her neighbor and was so excited when Chris and I got engaged because it was her chance to do our photos.  We planned to do our photos in Washington DC near some of our favorite monuments.  The main attraction was that two days after we started dating in 2009, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival and toured the city.  Chris, my mom, Sam and I went around to numerous monuments and had a great time doing it.  So..when Chris and I were deciding where to do our pictures, there was no question.  DC was the place to do it!

We were hoping that the leaves would start changing in mid October, so Ashley and Gail met us at our apartment and we all drove into DC together.  Unfortunately, only some of the leaves had changed so mid October wasn't the best idea but the pictures turned out great so we can't complain!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day!

I don't know why but I absolutely love this photo!

I love the chalkboard idea for pictures!

What a great picture of the ring!

                                                  

 

 

This is my favorite picture.  <3

Chris doesn't like his face in this one but I love it!  :-)

Ashley and Gail thought it would be cute to do a reenactment of the proposal.  I was acting a little over dramatic but it was fun!  You could hear a lot of people say, "She's not even crying!"  or "Is this for real?!"  haha

Destination Weddings (part 2): Choosing Your Bridesmaids

The wedding party is such an important part of any wedding.  The people that are selected are those the bride and groom feel closest to and those people should mean the most to them.  If you're having a normal wedding in your hometown, it's easy to choose who you want because 99% of the time, all the people you ask can make it.  It's much harder to choose when planning a destination wedding because the venue may have a low number of seats available, or it could be too expensive for a lot of people to come.

Chris and I found that our biggest problem was the number of people Disney allowed us to bring along with the package we purchased.  The limit was 20 (including the bride and groom) so we had to make sure we had plenty of room for our family before we started picking people for the wedding party.

The big thing other brides should consider when choosing their girls is whether or not they'll take the supportive or controlling role.  If you've had a friend that was married and turned out to be bridezilla you may want to think twice about asking her to be in yours.  Chances are, girls that are extremely controlling will also want to control a lot of the aspects of your own wedding.  Always choose people that are going to build you up on your wedding day, not tear you down.

Another thing you'll want to remember is that you do not have to choose someone just because you were in their wedding.  Never ever choose someone out of obligation.  Even if you made a pact with a girlfriend at a young age that you would be in each others wedding, it doesn't mean that if you grew apart over the years that you still have to ask them!  Always choose people that mean the most to you and your groom!  Those are the people that you will cherish for years to come.

Destination Weddings (part 1): Invites

Today I want to write a post on planning a destination wedding.  Chris and I got engaged on August 20th, 2001 and are getting married on April 20th, 2012 (four months exactly from today!!), so I've had a few months to start getting things done.

The first thing we had to decide is where we wanted to get married.  The decision was easy for Chris and I because not only do we love Disney World, but we also got engaged there and immediately knew we wanted to celebrate our wedding there as well.  The reason we chose Florida was because my family lives in Virginia and Chris's family is in California.  We didn't want our families to feel as though we were choosing one side over the other if we got married in either state, so we settled for something in-between.  Chris and I also knew that in choosing an in-between state, we would upset a lot of people because not everyone would be able to come due to cost and we are also limited in the number of people we could bring with the Disney package we wanted.  We quickly realized you can't please everyone.

With our Disney wedding package, the guest list can include no more than twenty people (including the bride and groom).  We knew that picking and choosing who we wanted to celebrate with us would be extremely hard, but were ready for the challenge.  We quickly decided which family members would be invited and then decided we'd use the remaining number of seats for friends.  The hard part was that people were upset we said only husbands and fiance's were invited due to the limited seating at the event.  I quickly realized that picking and choosing was going to be a much more difficult process than I had originally thought.  Chris and I really had to start picking our battles when it came our family and friends because the stress just wasn't worth it.  You always hope that people understand it's your wedding and won't be upset and cause you stress, but with Chris and I that was not the case.

I think the one thing Chris and I figured out along the way is that no matter what you do and how hard you try to accommodate everyone, there is always going to be someone that is unhappy.  I know that it's much different dealing with a destination wedding than a hometown one because everyone wants to celebrate with you and for a lot of people who have to travel, it's just not possible.  The one thing I constantly tell myself, (because I hate hurting other people's feelings), is that this is something Chris and I really want and are so excited for!  Would we like more people to be able to come?  Of course!  But this wedding is literally a dream come true and I wouldn't trade having it at Disney for anything.  We're happy and that is the most important thing.  :-)

If there was any advice I could give to brides planning a destination wedding, they would be:

• Even though you and your fiance have probably saved for a while for your destination wedding, a lot of other people probably have not.  Take that into consideration when deciding on who to invite.
• Some places (like Disney) have a limit on how many people can be at the ceremony.  Be aware who counts and who doesn't (for example: for Disney kids under the age of two don't count) and also make sure you know birthdays in case a child ages up before you get married.
• Make lots of lists!  I've utilized Microsoft Access and Excel a lot throughout this process and found them very useful when needing to refer back to certain things.