Lots of Wedding Planning

Today two of my friends and I went to two different reception venues and to a local dress shop.

The first reception place was a complete disaster-I wasn't sure how they stay in business. The woman was a fruit loop, the house was a mess, and she didn't want to give me any sort of prices. I could not wait to get out of the place. I was really dissapointed, because the place was the closest place I'd found  to the ceremony location so I had high hopes.

After our appointment with the venue from hell, we went to a dress shop. The lady who helped me was so sweet and offered several alternative venues that I'd never thought of. She picked out a lot of gorgeous dresses and I fell in love with  the first one she picked out, although it wasn't the first one I opted to try on. And it didnt have any red on the dress which I went into thinking I really wanted.

We checked out one of the suggested venues after the dress shop and fell in love. Bad idea. The rules are so strict and everything has to be cleaned up and out by 12am on the dot, which just won't fly for our dream reception. But its the best thing I've found so far. We have another appointment tomorrow but its further away. And it just occured to me to consider renting out my college's gorgeous dinning hall. And I'm starting to think I fell in love with all of the places to take pictures outside of the venue and not the actual venue. I could take pictures there for free though.

This afternoon we played with my hair, and even though its really far in advance I think we settled on a style!

Tonight we went to Hobby Lobby and "made" bridesmaid and bride bouqets. We also looked into making the table centerpieces. I could make the flowers for all of the bridal party for $100. I haven't priced a florist yet but I'm pretty sure Hobby Lobby is on the cheaper side. I also bought the ribbons I wanted to braid into my hair, because they were on sale for less that $2.

Magnolia Bride Bouquet Idea:

Bridesmaid's Bouquet Idea:

Food Table Centerpiece Ideas (in a bud vase):                                                                                                             

After Hobby Lobby we headed to PUBLIX to check out wedding cakes. Yeah, you heard me the grocery store. They had a few on display and they were gorgeous. They even made me rethink "my cake" idea in my head. To make sure the cakes weren't too good to be true, I bought a slice of chocolate cake for around $2 and split it with my roomate. It was rich, chocolatey and very yummy. I'm definitely going to talk to one of their decorators when I'm pricing cakes.

Here are the ones they had on display:

Did I mention I haven't booked a place for the cermony or reception yet? I'm planning on doing it this month though. Its so hard not to get sucked into all the other elements, especially since I know I'll be back in classes in February, and out of town for the summer.