Rock the reception

So I was on youtube looking for cool wedding videos.

I came across some fun videos as part of TLC's new show "Rock the Reception". What makes this pretty cool, is they have SYTYCD's Napoleon and Tabitha as 2 of the choreographers.

Makes me think more and more how I will rock out at my reception. Hmmmm ....

Here's one of the dances I was most impressed with:

I can't see you! Are you melting away?

... HELLZ YA!!

So this morning was the final day at Best Body Bootcamp with my instructor boyfriend, Kyle. To get me geared up (AKA a kick in the ass) to look HOT in my wedding dress, I found this bootcamp 5 min from my place. No, this is not a bridal bootcamp (I can't deal with so many brides 3 x a week!! ... no offense).

Anywho, my results ...

Start date: June 2, 2008
End date: June 27, 2008

> Measurements
* lost 5.3 lbs (losing 2.3% fat and gaining 3.1 % water)
* lost 14.75 total inches

> Fit Test
* more than doubled the # of push ups in 60 sec
* almost tripled the time to stay in the V hold (hold to failure)
* doubled the time to stay in the squat hold (hold to failure)
* gained 7 cm with regard to flexibility (distance from toes)

And my personal greatest accomplishment
* I took of 13 sec on my timed run lap. When I started 4 weeks ago, I was at the back of the pack, now, I'm with majority of the group. Those who know me, know I HATE to run!!

I didn't take a before and after pic, but I will for sure next week. When I DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN!! I can't stop now!

See, just cause I'm not loosing oodles of weight, doens't mean I'm not getting in shape. Sure, with WW I lost 40 lbs in 2 years. I keep this up until the wedding, not only will I lose the weight, but I'll probably be in the best physical shape of my life!

So for those of you riding me about making sure I lose weight ...



So you now what this means? Another month spending time loving/hating my 23 year old boyfriend Kyle

140 days to look HOT

"Looking good and feeling gorgeous"

Mom: "So Alison, what are you doing with you hair?"
Alison: "Well, I was thinking of doing this" (hairstyle #1)



Mom: "Why not wear it up? You're hair may go flat and loose the curl"
Alison: "Well, Marleen (my hairdresser) may have hair extensions for me to wear, so it will help make my hair more full"
Mom: "I think you should wear it up"

See, I have a tattoo on my upper back. I love my tattoo, but for the day of my wedding, I was thinking I'd like to hide it. So, I found a hair style I thought would be perfect. It's off my face, hides my tat, but still stunning.

However, to entertain my mother, I showed her this, which she liked much more. (hairstyle #2)



I have to admit, I LOVE this hair and normally this would be my first and only choice. So I guess it comes down to the tattoo (ya ya ya mom ... if I didn't get it in the first place :p)

So lets do a poll!!

Hairstyle # 1
OR
hairstyle # 2

Crap, I think I'm leaning toward #2 (sans flower cause I have my wicked birdcage veil). Hmmm ... I guess we'll see the day :)

Next on my list, MAKEUP!!

Love the pinup girl look. Red lipstick .. don't think so, but I love this overall look.



and this too



Any thoughts? suggestions?

I've read that a few months to go before the wedding and you start double guessing. I STILL HAVE 5 MONTHS!! Ahhhhhh!!!

142 days!!

DIY 101

DIY = Do It Yourself

The funny thing about DYI, is the fact I have taken on a few DIY projects myself. Why is this funny?

1 - I have 0 patience.
2 - I am horrible with detail.
3 - I have been banned from painting walls from: Jeremy, Robin (at least a few times), Cortney, Jillian .. the list goes on.

However, I think my peeps who have me on their banned list will be shocked. Without giving away too much (and risk another comment from my mom telling me to stop giving everything away) here are a few things I will be doing (insert Joe Cocker's a little help from my friends) here.

*** DISCLAIMER: if you're coming to the wedding and want to be surprised, don't read further! ***



Our Invitations. I found a design I love on Uniquity Invitations. Jer hunted down the image I wanted, Kelly lent me her CD of 101 fonts, Robin will be hooking me up with some bling, Heather (friend from the states) let me have my cardstock sent to her from Paper Souce and me, I will be putting them together. Again, all with helps from my peeps.


Our Website. Hours and hours went into My Rockstar Wedding. I had mom, Cortney and Kelly (a girl from frugal bride) spell check for me. Still waiting for boy wonder to get me his "stuff" to add to it. Hopefully, by the time we send the invitations, it will be perfect. NB: There is a login /password required so you'll only get to the home page.

Centre Pieces. We have everything we need for these and have done some trials. I think we have it finalised, but I'm sure something will change between now and the wedding. This picture is one of the first trials I did. This has been slightly modified but the general idea is the same. At each table we will be placing an old photo.



Wish Tree. Jer and I have been back on forth on this. Do we want a guest book? yes. But not a traditional "sign our guest book". Do we want pictures via Polariod? Yes, but .... film costs WAY too much money. Plus, I saw this and knew I needed to do something like it.



But, Jer was set on the polariods. It's important to him that he has a picture of EVERYONE at the wedding. OK, fine, polaroid guest book it is. We even got a wicked template from Jen (AKA my saviour I found on FB). But, then I saw this used for seating.



GAME OVER!! I was getting my wishing tree using this as my inspiration. Now, we will still get a pic of everyone to make boy happy, but come on!! This is way too cool to not do!!

Robin introduced me to John Bead. We have a shopping date planned for late July/early August to pick up some fancy (but frugal) bling

The wish cards .. Vista Print offers free business cards. I found a design I can work with so I just need to get them ordered. Or, I'll find cheap 2 fold cards (which actually is more ideal).

And the branches. I've recruited a few of my country friends to pick me up some. Reminds me, better followup on them.

Misc. Here are a few other things I saw that I may try and incorporate into the wedding. At least use them as inspiration for something cool.





Fav DIY websites. Here are a couple of website where I find great ideas:

Style Me Pretty
Etsy
Project Wedding
Martha Stewart

If you have any more websites I should be looking at, please leave me a comment!!

147 days until I become a Mrs!!

Tradition, Schmadition ...

You've all heard the saying:
" Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe."

A bride on frugal bride was asking for ideas for "something old". That led me to realise I haven't really thought much about it. Also made me think, what's the deal with the tradition, and do I really care to follow it?



So I did some research. My hard research (aka the first website google brought back) took me to WeddingShowerGifts.com

~ "The "old" item represents something you are leaving behind or something that is being passed down to you."

OK, something I'm leaving behind. Well, since I'm assuming the boys surname, that would mean I'm leaving my wicked cool surname "Currie" behind. So .. my tattoo!! DONE



~ "The "new" item represents something you are adopting through your marriage or something that is unique to your new union"

Hmmm. adopting or unique to the union. Does combined debt count? Well, since we lived together that pretty much happened 2+ years ago. This is hard. I think I'll need to come back to this one.


~ "The "borrowed" item should be symbolic of something you respect or admire about someone or something."

Frig, so picky aren't they? Symbolic, respect. So if I did borrow Kelly's boustier, does that mean I'm respecting her boobs? Interesting. Oh I know!! How about BrOla's wedding? Bruce and Ola got married last April at Berkeley Church. Jer and I turned to eachother before the ceremony and said "this is our wedding. Bruce and Ola are showing us what we want for our wedding!". It was spectacular and the major inspiration for our "Rockstar Wedding". So there, our borrowed item is the Berkeley Church from BrOla




~ "The "blue" item really has no symbolism that we can think of - it simply rhymes with "new." Try to select something hidden and small that only you (and later on, your new hubby!) know about."

So basically they're saying bra, undies or garter. BORING!!! Besides, everyone who knows me, knows that even if I went that route, chances are everyone would see :) So, yet another thing I need to work on.

As for sixpence in my shoe? don't think so!

Or, I screw it all together and see what voodoo spell will be cast upon me if I don't worry about such details.

My Newest Love... Etsy.

I love Etsy. I have bought a LOT of stuff for my wedding from Etsy. Here, I will show you some of it :)


*** If you are coming to the wedding and don't want to ruin the surprises, then stop reading here!! ***



1) My first etsy purchase: my veil
NOTE: This isn't it, but it's by the same girl and it's very similar. The price : $70 including labour, materials and shipping. In total 2 weeks from order to it landing at my door
Shop Profile



2) My jewellery
NOTE: She just sent me this. Seriously!. Total price - $42.75 (my budget was $75)
Shop profile





3) Kalen's ROCK N' ROLL JACKET (work in progress). Can't wait to see my little guy rocking this out. Price including shipping!! $52
Shop Profile



4) My bouquet. These are way too cool for school. Here is the pic which drove me to get these done. This won't be what I get, but you can imagine how friggin cool they will be!! Total price for bouquet, boutonniere - $65
Shop Profile




I also ordered my bridesmaids gifts and in the progress of getting made custom address labels. However, I want these folks to be surprised and don't want to ruin it for them by posting the pics.

Go to Etsy and see why I'm obsessed! But be careful, or you too will become addicted!

ahhh!! why did I try to change my format!!

so in trying to post my most spectacular post to date (was going to show off my etsy purchases) I screwed up my board (ugh). In trying to make it such a way that you'd have to click to expand the message (so my bridesmaids, mom etc couldn't see unless they made an effort) I made a mess.

So, until I get this fixed, I apologise for my crappy looking blog.

Hopefully I'll get it fixed in the next few days and post my "I love esty" blog


** UPDATE ** Ramani saved the day!! YAY Ramani!!

If you have a blog and need help, check his blog: http://hackosphere.blogspot.com/

Flyaway boobs!

Without saying too much about my wedding dress, I need to find something to tame the boobs. However, this task is not as easy as one would think.

My good friend Kelly offered her bustier. A great, white, lacy, front zip (very convenient) bustier. However, it's too high cut in the back (boo).

So, I thought I found one that would work.

I present, the flattering me bra (with strap options)



















Looks nice, but tried it on and I don't think it will work.

Perhaps I need to look at getting support cups built into the dress? Need to contact Mrs Cassidy on this one.

Sigh ... why can't the boobs just stay put??

If anyone knows of any front zip, low cut (front and back) bustiers, be sure to email me.

DIY maps

So after some thought, boy wonder and I decided to toss in a map detailing the hotels and venue with the invitations. As much as I'd love to go the lick and stick method from google.maps, I decided I'm going to be crafty and attempt and a do it yourself (DIY) map.

The place, Wedding Mapper . They tell you that this is what you can do ...



sample:

BEFORE:











AFTER:





Looks nice huh? So I started to work on mine, when I realised how much fun it WASN'T!! Those who know me know I have 0, zilch, notta patience for anything that requires such detail.









So, here's a sample of what my guests should expect:




Sure it's not as "wow, did they do that themselves?" as the hand drawn one, but come on!! Do my guests really care that much?

"It's raining men ...

..hallelujah! It's raining men, Amen"

so I was on one of my regular wedding websites where one bride was talking about the rain and how she's hoping for the rain to lay off the day of her wedding (although she did admit that she's seen amazing wedding pics done in the rain). This led me to think about a couple of things (AKA being proactive)

1) what do you do about pics?
2) what do you do about your feet?
2) what do you do about your hair?


Here's what I found:

Here are some pics I found while googling images. Love these!!










I found these boots at What a Pair!. I'm a huge fan of wild of crazy rainboots!

















Now after spending endless hours finding the perfect hairstyle to go with our perfect dress, the last thing us brides need is mother nature attacking our hair. So, we need umbrellas. Try googling wild and crazy umbrellas. It's not easy!! Here are a few I enjoyed (some more practical than others)
















How about you? Any websites you can recommend to help give me some ideas?

157 Days!!!

The Wedding Cake

The wedding industry is an interesting one. As soon as you mention "it's for a wedding" it's amazing how much a person's rate will go up. IE, take a band. No bar in their right mind will pay more than $1000 for a band. However, you ask that same band how much they will play for a wedding, and all of a sudden it's $2,500. But it's not just bands who do it, it's every wedding vendor. Why? Cause we'll pay whatever it takes to make our wedding perfect. Sigh ...

A fun video that is simply "so true". Enjoy!!



159 days!

Averaging 15 K a day ...

So boy wonder (AKA Jeremy) rode the ride for heart on Sunday. Since he rode the 75K, he continues to tell me how he averages X amount a day. So now, he's down to 15K. Don't forget his music recital is coming up on June 21st, so be sure to email him or me for tickets!!

As for me, I started by boot camp through Best Body Bootcamp, After day 2, muscles I didn't know existed are letting me know of their existance. Totally kicks my butt. Hopefully by the time this is done, and I continue to be active, I'll look smoking hot in my dress. Which by the way we picked up last week :)

So 162 days until "Our Rockstar Wedding"!! Sure is coming fast isn't it?