three times a bridesmaid

I haven’t posted in over a month. Last time I disappeared on you, I came back with big news, my engagement. This time I have even bigger news. I found out I was pregnant on Easter Sunday. Which means my wedding which was scheduled for fall of 2010 is now this fall, I’ve been beyond busy.

We found a place near my hometown in Fort Wayne, Indiana called the Lakeside Rose Garden. It’s gorgeous, and cheap at only $40. We’ll be rushing this and skipping some traditions and keeping only those we both really like.

On top of everything else, I am incredibly tired and without about 11 hours of sleep, I can’t function at all. I’m going to be in my second trimester come early June and am hoping to work like crazy to get things done then.

The 1980s were such a good inspiration for all things ugly in bridesmaids dresses. I’m glad I was only 9-years-old when the decade ended so I wasn’t subjected to one of these…

I can’t decide if her pose is sarcastic, or if she actually feels comfortable and confident in that dress. Yuck. It looks like she grew a scaly tail. All of these pictures I’m finding are making me feel guilty for complaining about the bridesmaids dresses Bride No. 1 picked for us. I still haven’t found any photos of those to share, but we were all a different pastel. I was lavender. The worst part about them, is no matter how many fittings we went to, they didn’t fit any of us decently. And, her mother insisted the bouquets had to match so we ended up with a multi-colored pastel nightmare for bouquets.

I can’t remember where I found this. I’m thinking it was flickr creative commons find like most of my dresses. But, if you know what site it’s from, let me know so I can give you credit.

Anyone have an ugly dress they’d like to share to purge from their memories? Send a photo to threetimesabridesmaid@gmail.com. I’ll blur your face so you can deny it’s you to your bride if she stumbles upon it.

A few weeks ago I shared my excitement at opening my mailbox to a book I ordered to review on this blog. In typical me fashion, it’s taken a couple of weeks to get to the review. But, to anyone feeling the effects of the recession on wedding plans, or just hoping to have a super customized wedding, the book and the review are worth the wait.

“The DIY Bride: 40 Fun Projects for Your Ultimate One-Of-A-Kind Wedding” by Khris Cochran is my newest bed time read. I’ve always wished I were crafty and plan these big elaborate projects, but something always seems to go wrong. The book includes step-by-step directions that seem detailed and easy to follow.

I also liked that there were multiple examples of different projects, for instance, more than one save the date cards were included. This means there is something in the book for probably everyone. I liked about 80 percent of the projects, and the others just weren’t my taste.

Another cool feature was the comparision between the DIY price and the store bought price. Sometimes in my limited crafting history, I felt like I was spending more making something than simply buying it. This break down will motivitate me to do more at home.

While writing this post, I check out the DIY Bride Web site and was excited to see an upcoming workshop about using Photoshop to create your own invitations. I’ve been shocked at how much invitations run, so I’ve signed up for this one and will let you know how it goes.  Registration for the workshop is free and is a self paced course.

And, to tie into my original theme of being a bridesmaid, I definitely hope to hook my bridesmaids into helping me with some of these projects.

What were some of your favorite DIY projects?

A few weeks after bride no. 2 got engaged, I remember her coming to me and venting. Apparently, she’d woken up in the middle of the night to her first ever panic attack, couldn’t breath the whole works. At the time, I was supportive of my friend, but in the back of my mind thought, “Can planning a wedding really be that hard? Find the man, pick a spot, and just do it.”

After being engaged for about a month, I now understand.

The relationship part of being engaged is awesome. I still love using the word fiance. But, everything else is too much. Too many decisions. Even starting to plan is too much. I’ve found about a bazillion wedding sites with planners and can’t settle on one because I like aspects of all of them.

I’m glad we aren’t getting married until probably fall of 2010. My family couldn’t understand why I was waiting so long. Saving up the cash was my main concern. But, now I’m glad I have the extra time to plan. (Or try to plan. Planning isn’t my strong suit).

My game plan for now is to find a few sites and stick to them. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

I found a great wedding checklist at Offbeat Bride with the basics.

I’m using Wedding Wire to save stuff I like in their binder, do a budget and guest list and build a wedding site for my guests only.

I started a personal Word Press blog to share ideas with my bridesmaids, who I haven’t asked yet. They live across the country so I need an easy way to get help. Besides not being able to plan, I’m also indecisive.

I found a site with about 20 planning templates for the super organized. Because my wedding isn’t going to be traditional, I’m debating using them. I’m afraid my wedding will become too cookie cutter and not use, but on the other hand, I could use some planning help… Hey, I said I was indecisive.

My first contest closed last night and midnight and I just headed over to random.org to pick the winner.

Congrats to Michelle M for winning the $25 Target gift card.

I was blown away by the response to my contest, there were a total of 315 entries. Michelle blogged about my contest and subscribed to my feed, so it went to show those extra entries were worth her time. For anyone interested in my methodology. I kept a spreadsheet with each entry, as there were multiple ways to rack up entries. I then used the widget at random.org that chose luck number 261, which happened to be Michelle. I just wish I had more gift cards to give away.

Thank you to all those who subscribed to my feed during the contest. I hope you’ll keep your subscription A. because I keep you entertained and B. because I’m planning another contest within the next month or two.

Any other wedding bloggers want to jump on board to team up for a wedding blogger giveaway? Or, if you sometimes blog about anything wedding related, I’d love to join together. I have a couple of ideas in mind about how to set this up, but would also be open to other ideas.  Send me an email at threetimesabridesmaid@gmail.com if interested.

Prepare your self for another dose of hideousness….

I’m sure these looked just beautiful in the 1980s. I can’t say it enough, avoid trendy dresses so you don’t look back on your bridesmaids dresses with horror. The whole matching thing is over the top. Blue dresses, blue flowers, blue headband thingy, seriously.

I bet there are a lot of these types of dresses floating around. Do you have any ugly dress you want to purge from your life? Send it to me at threetimesabridesmaid@today.com. I’ll respect your privacy by blurring the faces like those above.

Now that I’ve disgusted you with an ugly dress, why don’t you enter my contest? You could win a $25 gift card from Target. Use it to by something not so ugly! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the amount of entries so far, and have enjoyed everyone’s comments. One person reported being a bridesmaid 13 times, and I thought I had it rough. For full details on how to enter, visit the original post. I received many entries that didn’t quite follow the rules, please skim to make sure you’re entries count.  It’s been such fun I’m planning another contest soon, so do check back for that.