This is iheartgalen's Black Wedding!

After a long grueling trek to pick and agree on a first dance song and we've done it!!!!

Galen is an amazing musician and made it hard to agree (especially since we have polar opposite taste in music) but after an oldies spark tonight we listened to Barbara Lewis with "Baby I'm Yours" it was between that and the cover of the same song by Artic Monkeys. We went with the oldies version since it was a little slower! I'm so very happy it's done!

One more thing checked off our list woo freakin hoo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPaUaFEXpaI

Even before we got engaged I knew the style dress I wanted and we just so happened across it at David's Bridal. Now I've said from other post that I hated my experience there looking for a wedding dress (I ended up going to a small boutique for mine) I found the maids dresses at David's. Not horribly priced, approx. $150.00 they are also something that can be worn again (Cocktail parties or as a Holiday dress)

My dilemma is 2 of my bridesmaids want to wait (1 had a baby a few months ago and one is prego) to purchase their dress. While I understand it how and when do I ask them to make the purchase without sounding like a bridezilla?

With my FH being a bass phenom he is UBER specific about music. Everything we compare is clashing. He wants something non-mainstream and I like all the mushy first dance songs. He is a punk/rock guru and I'm a pop girl so it's hard when deciding on that special song. "Our Song" is Landon Pigg's "Possibly Maybe" so after talking about it he's ok with that one but we were thinking of that as more of a ceremony song.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

We will be getting married at our home in Orange County, CA. We live in a luxury resort style community which is AMAZING! We have our own banquet hall (not your average rec room) that is great. . .one problem It has some decor that we can't remove that doesn't match the wedding.

I'm debating if I should just deal with it or try and cover it up. Our wedding is "Old Hollywood" & "Romantic" . All of the tables will be black linens with candles lighting the reception. Little accents of red and the black chairs from the ceremony will be brought in to the reception. The Room seats almost 100 plus all of our othe tables and for the most part is nuetral. Along the back wall they have 4 pictures that are 5'*3' and nuetral color(earth tones) of giant polka dots. I'm not sure they're "mute" enough not to notice with the lights dimmed. I'm worrying about them becoming an "eyesore" and not matching our theme. We thought about covering them but are wondering if anyone has an inexpensive ideas :)

Happy planning!

Since I've had time to sit down and actually start bloggin I wanted to post my dress. When I first started looking the David's Bridal sale was going on. I wanted to keep my budget down since we're paying for this wedding on our own. I went with my mom, grandma and matron of honor. The experience was HORRIBLE! Being an ex planner I had my list of dresses divided in the ones I loved, liked and then the ones I still wanted to try. Knowing that I couldn't possible try all on in one day I told my consultant that I was good going through the ones I had in my "LOVE" column. They did not have a single one I picked to try on. My consultant happend to be walking down the aisle in two weeks and was more excited telling me about her own wedding that it was a waste of my hour and a half appointment.

I read the review on YELP about another bridal salon in Huntington Beach but of course it got mixed reviews. I made an apoointment for the following week and went with my mom and grandma. We decided to go on a weekday and early afternoon. We got Nikki as a consultant and she was amazing. I told her what I wanted and my dress ended up being the second one I tried on. Since my make up, hair and veil are super dramatic the dress was perfect.

I find myself looking at when I'm on the computer! It's a Maggie Sottero and is the perfect fit for me! Unfortunately I ordered it a month ago and still have 3 more to wait! But what a wonderful Christmas present!

www.maggiesottero.com/ "Zannah"

I'm sorry I don't have the bride that put up a picture of a centerpiece that she liked but couldn't use (to give you credit). . . but I fell in love with them when I saw it but my man didn't. We ended up going to the store that carried them and found another style that would compliment the one I loved. We decided to do half and half. Our wedding is going to be in the evening and the reception will be dimmed lights with pretty much only candle light. We will have black tablecloths with red votive holders around these. Beautiful stemware and white square plates will be on the tables. along with scattered red rose petals. We are going for a "Vintage" "Old Hollywood" "Romantic" wedding. I'm very happy with the outcome. Not to mention when we bought these as centerpiece they were on sale for an additional 20% off. . . Talk about SCORE!!!!

When I got my ring I was able to pick out my engagement setting. A little untraditional but my wonderful hubby to be wanted me to be able to pick out my ring and be absolutely 100%in love. We went a while back and found the PERFECT style. The only draw back is I had to wait what felt like an eternity but in reality was less then two months. Don't get me wrong. . .I loved wearing the solitare for the duration but now that I was able to pick it up last week I am in AWWWW. I can't stop looking at it. It's a Scott Kay and the most amazing ring! We found a band for him but are still in search for the one he loves!

We're on a pretty strict budget and found out recently that my position at work will be eliminated by the end of the year and then the company depleted in our area shortly there after.

Our dilemma is that my mil to be is a professional photographer/photo journalist so we've gotten it from all corners how important our photographer is. I completely agree with everyone but have come to realize how expensive it is. I have connections all over the board but which direction to go is where we need some help. So many options but which is the smartest?

1) We have a friend who is new photographer. Starting out and does not have a ton of experience. . . very low on price.

2) A friend's wife who is starting out as well but her pictures back it up completely. We want to be able to get all the rights to the photos and every photographer I'm listing will not print for us but will retouch and give us the right to all the photos. Phototgrapher #2 is great but also starts at $1,250.

3) A client of mine and he has his own studio and does great work. Also an artist he can do everything. He typically charges $3k but for us with the rights to the pictures will charge us $1,500

4) Also a client, does good work. . .a little newer but her prices are the same as #3. She does a little too much photoshopping for me.

5) Has been a photographer I have worked with for a while. His pictures are amazing but he will not surrender rights and he is truly almost our whole wedding budget.

On;ly photographer #3 has his own studio and is a professional (Besides the uber expensive one that will blow our budget) #1,#2 & #4 are all hobby photographers.

I'm nervouse because besides the groom & the dress the pictures are one of my top concerns. We have done as much as possible on a DIY basis. . . .

Opinions please. . .suggestions or ideas!!!!