Dress of my Dream

A few nights ago I had a very odd dream. In my dream, I went to a bridal store to shop for my wedding dress. The store was huge, full of wedding gowns. But I looked, and looked, and looked, and I could not find the dress. I had done my homework, and researched their website for the ones I wanted, but none of my favorites were in the store. They had countless modern and strapless dresses, but they did not have my dress. The dream cut off in the middle of me searching for someone to help me.

Source

When I woke up, I was a bit surprised about the dream, but I may have an idea as to what brought it on. We are seven months away from the wedding and I don't have a dress. I have not tried on a dress and I have not gone dress shopping. I haven't even made an appointment yet. I know, I know, you must be wondering, What is she thinking!? Sometimes I wonder the same thing too. My original plan was to start dress shopping in December. December and January have come and gone, and I have yet to set foot in a bridal store.

Now, don't get me wrong, I want to get my wedding dress, and I know what I want and don't want. I definitely don't want anything strapless (remember my dream with the store full of strapless dresses?). I want lace, I want it to have a vintage feel to it, and I want it simple. I have plenty of inspiration pictures, and a list of dresses to try at the store. So, why haven't I done this yet?

In all honesty, I'm intimidated and scared. I'm intimidated by the sole idea of being surrounded by hundreds of dresses (okay, so maybe not hundreds, but you get the idea), and having to choose one. I'm scared of the trying-dresses-on part. I'm more than scared, I'm terrified. I don't go shopping for clothes often mostly because of the way I look. I know there are many girls out there who are not comfortable in their own skin, and I'm one of them. I didn't use to be like that. For me, it happened sometime after high school. My college experience was exhausting. A lot of late-night studying and spending endless nights and days at the lab working on team projects meant a lot of junk food and fast food to survive. I gained a lot of weight, weight that I have not yet been able to shed. Due to this, there are a lot of types of clothes that don't look good on me, and I'm terrified that the type of dress that I love won't look good on me either. Or that I just won't be able to find my dream dress that looks good on me.

Perhaps I'm being silly, or maybe there are a lot of other brides out there who feel just like me. More often than not, my silly (and sometimes irrational) fears get the best of me, but, deep down, I know the mister will think that I look beautiful in whichever dress I choose. And I know I have my awesome girls (my MOH and my BM) to help me push through this and find the dress of my dream.

Our Venue

After seeing three venues, our choosing the venue adventure is finally coming to an end. The first venue that we saw was beautiful, but the ballroom I fell in love with was completely beyond our guest list and budget. The lovely grounds at the forest preserve were immediately scratched from our venue list. And, although I was apprehensive about looking into the third venue (it just seemed expensive), I was definitely glad we had checked it out.

So, which one did we choose? (I feel like I'm in a wedding edition of HGTV's House Hunters!)

....

...

..

.

We chose Venue #3: The Country Squire

Personal Photo

It wasn't difficult for us to make this decision. We both knew the Country Squire has great food, as we have dined there before. The ballrooms and the grounds were absolutely gorgeous. Their guest minimum was completely doable. Their wedding package was very reasonably priced, not to mention it includes food, drinks, and wedding cake (among other things). It's only 10 minutes away from our church (just a few miles down the road). And, as an added bonus, there's a hotel right next to it (they even have a trail connecting the two!), which is extremely convenient for our out-of-town guests.

Of course, me being me, I had to first crunch out all the numbers in my handy Excel spreadsheet before making any decisions, and it just made sense. This has been one of the big wedding decisions that I have not second-guessed at all! Pretty impressive since we decided it eight months ago, and in less than that time I've changed the color scheme more than once! Not even with our little "Sunday wedding date" incident (more on this later) made me second-guess the decision, it only reassured it even more!

Which "big" wedding decisions have you made? Have you chosen your venue yet? Have you second-guessed your choices/decisions?

Choosing a Venue: Part 3

In our choosing the venue adventure, the mister and I had checked out two venues, Concorde Banquets (Part 1) and Independence Grove (Part 2). We scratched Independence Grove completely off our list, but Concorde Banquets was kept as a possible venue. While brainstorming for other possible venues to check out, the mister suggested a restaurant he loved.
Venue #3: The Country Squire

The Country Squire is a restaurant and banquet hall in Grayslake. The location was great, only 20 minutes away and just down the road of the church (I know I haven’t posted anything about our church yet, but I will, I promise). It was originally a mansion built in 1938, with 17 rooms, 8 washrooms, and 4 fireplaces.

The mister has been at this restaurant many times before with his family, and I’ve also been there with him. We both knew the food was good, but I had only seen the restaurant side of it. When talking about it with my MOH, she told me she's been to events there and that it was a really good place. Again, the mister took the lead and set up an appointment for us.

It. Was. Beautiful!

When we first walked in, we saw this cute double staircase. Great spot for pictures, isn't it?

 

 

It has two beautiful ballrooms that mirror each other.

Look at the chandelier!

Besides being beautiful on the inside, it was beautiful on the outside as well. The mansion/restaurant has gorgeous grounds that I'm sure will still look stunning in early September.

 

  

Like the first venue that we saw, the Country Squire offers different packages. For a wedding, they offered a Dinner Banquet and an Ultimate Banquet. The difference between the two is that the Ultimate Banquet includes four hours of open bar, and for the Dinner Banquet you pay for the actual alcohol consumed. Both packages include dinner, wedding cake, as well as table cloths, chair covers, and linen napkins.

When we left, we left with a packet full of information and excited at the possibility that this could be our venue. Before making any decisions, I needed to crunch some numbers in my little Excel spreadsheet.

How many venues did you check out or do you plan to check out? What tools (i.e. Excel, calculator) did you use in making a decision?

Note: All pictures in this post are personal pictures.

I'm Still Alive!

I know I've been gone for a little over a week, but it's been crazy on my side of things! Last week was extremely busy at work. I had a phase of a project due on Friday, and little things would pop up here and there, so you can imagine. I've also been going to the gym after work, so that's been taking about two and a half hours from my day (no, I'm not working out that long, I'm just adding commute time to the gym, getting ready, and driving back home). And to top it all off, I started getting a headache on Wednesday, which eventually turned into a migraine that's still bothering me today.

Now that I've explained my absence, I come with cute things to share with you!! I tend to be in the kitchen a lot, I love to cook and bake, and, while I don't love doing dishes, they still need to be done. I don't like taking off my e-ring (engagement ring), but more often than not, it's quite necessary for me to do so when I'm in the kitchen. Now, I tend to forget many things (just ask the mister) including where I put my ring. I usually put it in it case back in my room, or in a funnel on top of the microwave (not the prettiest ring holder item, but definitely convenient since I already own a funnel!).

I'd like to buy a proper resting place for my e-ring for when I'm in the kitchen. After all, such a beautiful ring deserves a beautiful holder. I was doing some screen-shopping (the internet window-shopping equivalent ;-) on Etsy, and look at the beauties I found!

Just how adorable is this one with two little birds?

Source

So simple, but I just love the pattern on this one.

Source

I love how cute this one is! It reminds me of grade school, scribbling initials in the back of your notebook.

Source

How about these ones?

Source

I absolutely love butterflies, so I had to include this one!

Source

And last, but not least:

Source

Source

My absolute favorites are the last two! And, for the price, I might just gift myself one of them!

Aren't all of them cute? Which one is your favorite?

Choosing a Venue: Part 2

In Part 1 of our choosing the venue adventure, I talked about a gorgeous ballroom that I fell in love with, and how seeing the pricing was an eye-opener experience. If you haven’t read Part 1 and want to catch up, go ahead, I’ll wait ;-)

The adventure in our second venue was… well, short. I’ll call it the venue that never was. And, before I continue, I need to give props to the mister, as he did the legwork on this one!

Venue #2: Independence Grove

Independence Grove is a gorgeous forest preserve in Lake County. The grounds are breathtaking! I’ve visited the preserve on weekends with the mister, and also for a few work-related events. However, I really hadn’t given it much thought as a possible venue. Not until someone at work suggested it, since a family member had held a wedding there.

Now, I’ve never been the outdoorsy type. Yes, I enjoy a walk here and there, and yes, I appreciate a beautiful landscape. But, I’m a girl of certain comforts, like air conditioning, and not having the wind mess with my hair (car door windows are always up in my car, drives the mister nuts!). The mister, on the other hand, loves the outdoors, loves camping, and loves driving with the windows rolled down. Knowing how happy a wedding at Independence Grove would make him, I decided to add it to our list of venues to check out (he was ecstatic!). I looked at their website, seeing they offered indoor and outdoor spaces, I knew we could come to a compromise: having an indoor reception with the opportunity to step outside to enjoy nature. Plus, the pictures would be gorgeous!

I wish I had pictures to show you, but here is a beautiful slide show of weddings at Independence Grove. Go right ahead to see them, I’ll wait :-)

The mister offered to make the necessary calls, and he did (who says grooms can’t be involved in wedding planning?). A couple days later, he received all the needed information in his e-mail. I have to admit, I was excited at the possibility of holding the reception there but, by the time I was through reading all the information, the possibility completely faded away.

The information included the cost of renting the venue (no problem), table cloths and linens rental (that’s fine), and the $8,000 food minimum for that evening by a specified caterer—wait, WHAT!?!? All dreaming of a wedding at Independence Grove came to a screeching halt and, sadly, the mister and I decided to immediately scratch it off our venue list.

Do you dream of an outdoor or indoor wedding? Do you foresee a compromise between the two?

Choosing a Venue: Part 1

We began looking for a venue last summer. At the time, I had no idea how expensive a wedding could be, and this was a real eye opener! At one point during this journey, I faced the mister and asked, “Where do poor people get married?” I don’t think either of us knew the answer to that one! In the end, it wasn’t as gruesome as I originally thought it would be. Since the wedding will be in Illinois, I didn’t want it to be too far from where I live. Living an hour and a half away from Chicago, a city wedding was definitely out.

So, where did we start looking?

Venue #1: Concorde Banquets

They’re located a bit further away than I would have liked but I may have been overreacting (really, 45 minutes can’t be that bad, can it?). However, the beautiful ballrooms completely made up for it!

When we walked in, this is what we saw in the reception/lobby area.

Source

And a peek at one of their ballrooms

Source

And how amazing is this spot for pictures?

Source

The venue was gorgeous! They offer several different packages, but we looked at the Traditional Package. Some of the things in this package include dinner (complete with appetizers, salad, and sides), the wedding cake, four hours of open bar, linen napkins, and floor length tablecloths. All in all, not a bad package. Who am I kidding? It was awesome!

The set back? Their guest minimums ranged between 100 and 150. Well above our total guest list of maybe 70! I fell in love with their ballroom (like the one in the picture), unfortunately, the minimum for that one ranged at 140-150. They did have another room that could accommodate a smaller guest list, but it just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t like it, the ballroom had stole my heart!

So, with a packet of information in one hand, and the mister’s hand in the other, we left our first venue. When I got home, I promptly jumped on my computer and started crunching numbers in Excel. And that’s when it hit me, my first eye-opener to this still-new wedding-driven industry: if we really wanted our wedding to be held there, we’d need to shell out anywhere between $7,000 and $10,500 for it!

How did you begin your venue search? Was it an eye-opener or had you been mentally prepared?

Where to Get Married

One of the decisions that we made early on was where the wedding was going to be held. Not where as in venue, but where geographically. See, I’m originally from Puerto Rico. Don’t know where that is? It’s a tiny, little island in the Caribbean.

Source

What? You mean you can barely see this 110x35 mile island? Let me help you out!

Source

I moved to Illinois in August, 2008. That’s a whooping 2,000 miles!!

Source: Google Maps (edited by me)

My lovely fiancé is from Illinois, so his family is here. And where is my family? In Puerto Rico, and New Jersey, and some scattered among different other states. I knew that my family would want the wedding to be in PR, but I knew that would be a logistical nightmare. I wasn't too keen on the idea of choosing a venue that I couldn't see, a caterer that I couldn't meet, and so on. Or in transporting favors, centerpieces, and a wedding dress (among a million other things, I'm sure) from IL to PR. My mom lives back home, but I couldn't spring wedding planning on her. She works Mondays through Saturdays plus goes to school at night!

With these things in mind, my FI and I decided that having the wedding here in IL would be the best way to go for us.

Are you and your fiancé from two far away places? Did you have to decide between two different locations? How did you decide?