This is nyraglam's Purple Wedding!

Today is my sweetie's 31st birthday! He's been celebrating his birthday all weekend and tonight we are going to dinner and hanging out. Friday night his best friend flew into town and they went out for a boy's night and Saturday I threw him a barbeque where all his sister and nieces came in from Dallas and most of our friends came to help him celebrate.

So to end this quick post, I just want to say LOVE YOU Sweets! And I hope you enjoyed your day! MUAH!!!!!!!!!

Ok so I just realized that I did a blog about my checklist and what wedding stuff that I have completed and I just realized that I did not include pictures of the bridesmaid dresses that I picked out so I figured that I might as well do a quick post.

The dresses are on the dessy website and are by after six. The maid of honor dress is the color persian plum and the bridesmaids dresses are african violet.

Also today I went pick up my wedding dress. I wasn't expecting it to be such a big thing since I had already tried on the sample and i knew what it looked like on but when the salesgirl pulled out my dress I was grinning ear to ear while looking at it. My mom kept laughing because when I tried it on I kept shimming around and dancing, I just felt like a little kid trying on her Easter dress and just wanting to twirl around in it.

I haven't been updating a lot lately because it’s hard to find the time when you are planning a wedding in another city, working, trying to find a house, spending time with family and friends and spending time with the fiancé. So this is a little update of what i have accomplished so far.
- Finally met with the Priest at our ceremony location. We have been playing phone tag for a few months and luckily he understands that we do not live in the city and is willing to work with us, he’s just like whenever we come in town give him a call and we can meet up or if he’s in the Houston area he’ll give us a call to meet up.
- Booked the videographer.
- Booked the Limos.
- Booked the photographer. After a LONG search I finally found a photographer that does the style of pictures that I like and is also reasonably priced.
- Of course we booked the venue and since the football schedule has come out I can breathe again since I know that there isn’t a Saints game on my wedding day (if there’s a season at all).
- Took engagement pictures.
- Ordered my wedding dress (which I actually got a call on Friday saying that my dress is in).
- Bought toasting glasses and cake knife set.
- Bought undecorated guestbook, unity candle, and garter (which I am going to decorate to my liking).
- Bought cake topper and decorated it.
- Have DJ for the wedding.
- Meet up florists and narrowed down the one I like but haven’t booked as of yet.
I know I still have a lot more to do but I’m trying not to let myself get to stressed out about what is left to do, rather I am think about what I have accomplished.

So about 3 weeks ago , FH and I took a set of engagement pictures. I found a photographer on Groupon that was doing a special of $59 for a photo session so i decided to get it. Well on Monday the photographer sent me the cd of the pictures that we selected. I really liked the photos and the photographers is a husband and wife couple who are really nice, by the end of the shoot it felt like we were with friends rather than with people that we had just met an hour before.

To any brides who are in the Houston area and are looking for a photographer I would recomment Bryant photography. If our wedding was in Houston I would have used them to also shoot our wedding.

Ok so last month my best friend found out that she was pregnant and her due date is the day before my wedding so that means that she is no longer in my wedding. Of course I wish she could still be in the wedding but I'm okay with it. The funny thing is her mom has been making her feel bad about not being in my wedding. Her mom keeps making comments to her about not being there for me and other hurtful comments but I keep trying reassure her that I am okay with her not being in it but she keeps telling me how bad she feels for not being in it and if i want she'll still try to make it( I'm like umm no! you will be in a hospital giving birth). I keep telling her that "my wedding is only one day, your child is with you forever",I could see if she decided not to be in the wedding because she just didn't feel like it but she has a legitimate reason not to be in it. I understand that her mom is not completely thrilled with her pregnancy right now but I just wish that she keeps my wedding out of reasons of why her daughter is not ready to have a baby just yet. ( Mind you that this is a 29 year old woman- so it's not like her mom really has any say so in what she does). I just feel really bad for her because she's going through this big change in her life and her mom isn't being super supportive and I feel like her mom is trying to add me into the negativity and that's not me especially when I'm trying to be a good understanding friend.

Ok so last week my mom and I went to the store and I bought my dress. I had tried on the Alfred Angelo gown back in when I first got engaged but I didn't want to order it then because I did not want to buy the first dress that I tried on. About a month ago, I went try on dresses with my mom and a friend and I found a dress by Impressions that I also really liked. I sent pictures to four of my bridesmaids to help me decided between the dresses and unfortunately the outcome was a tie. Since I couldn't decided between the two and I knew my mom really loved the Alfred Angelo dress I went back there to try on the dress again and to also try on some of their 2011 coIlections. I tried on the dress that my mom and I really liked in both ivory and white and then I tried on three other styles and I realized that the first Alfred Angelo dress that I had originally tried on was my dress. The Alfred Angelo dress was $200 cheaper than the Impressions dress and they were also having a sale so I got $100 off the dress so my dress came up to $865 total.

I'm posting pictures of the impressions dresses that I tried on but not the one that I actually purchased- just in case FH runs across my blog.

I have asked all my bridesmaids and they all said yes. So I finally have my full bridal party. I was trying not to ask any by text message but with me living in a different city from all but two bridesmaids it was hard to ask everyone in person. So today I called the last bridesmaid and she said yes she will be in my wedding. My bridal party consists of 6 girls total. My maid of honor is my best friend Amettries, and the other five bridesmaids are my friends Nia, and Ashly; my sister, Hasahnee, and my two cousins Karen and Kenishia. FH has already asked all his groomsmen and every one said yes. Plus his niece is going to be the flower girl so the only thing missing is a ring bearer. I'm thinking about not doing one because I don't really have a little boy that is in the age range but maybe instead doing two flower girls (that part, I haven't decided yet). Anyway, I'm just happy everyone has agreed to be in the wedding, that's one less thing that I have to worry about.

Ok so last Monday, me, my mom, sister and FH went look at two possible reception sites. The first one I feel in love with it because it is super modern and the place automatically give the illusion of being a platinum wedding ( though I'm working with a sterling silver budget...lol). Its already beautifully set up so basically I would just have to incorporate a few personal touchs. The only drawback is that since it is incorporated with the N.O Saints so I can't officially book my date until April when the football schedule comes out to make sure that there is no home game on my date. The second place that we looked at was the wax museum which I loved as a kid and for the wedding the guest will have access to the museum. The problem with that place is it is kind of small and I come from a traditional catholic family so it is huge. I really doubt that the guests would fit comfortably in the room once you include the tables, bars, cake tables and everything else that is including in weddings. Plus my mom didn't really care for the place because she said it was too old looking ( which I told her the correct term is historic- since it is looked in the French Quarters), also another drawback is that the parking would be terrible, again since it is in the FQ, street parking is nonexistent and I was told that though there is two pay parking lots up the block from the venue they are not able to rent it out so my guests would have to pay for their own parking.

Okay I know I'm supposed to be paying for the big things right now but yesterday I purchased one of the groomsmen gifts- stainless steel flasks which I'm going to get engraved with their initials or name(haven't decided yet). This was a spur of the moment purchase because I was walking around Walmart while waiting to get my oil changed and I as I walked down the luggage aisle there they were hanging in the middle of the aisle. I checked the price and they were only $3.88 a piece which came up to right under $26 for 6 of them. The cheapest I found online was $19.99 for a set of 6 with 9.99 shipping on ebay so I figured the money saved on the shipping was worth getting them now since I wasn't sure if I would be able to find them if I came back another day. So yay me, now I have made two purchases that are officially wedding related.

Sorry I didn't update sooner but with the holidays and everything I have been super busy. Last month I finally got a job working at a bank. The people are really nice and I like it, though it isn't really in my field but I am just happy that I have a job. The only downside to my job right now is that we are super short staffed because in the two weeks that I have been working at my branch, the two full time people have left "to pursue other options". It's kind of a good thing for me because I was hired on as parttime and so now I am trying to switch to one of the fulltime positions. SInce we have MLK day off I am going down to New Orleans this weekend to meet up with some venues and churches so that I can make sure that my date is available. FH texted me last night that he is bummed that he can't go down with me since he has to work, he is worried that he won't be involved in the planning process.I told him not to worry that I will make sure that he is involved and that I will not make a decision on the venue or church without his input.

Also on friday my mom and I went down to Hobby Lobby and while we were there she found some cute little jewelry boxes that was on sale. She said I should get those for bridesmaids gifts since I am making their jewelry for the wedding. I told her that I would come back when I get paid and buy them and she said that if I really liked them that she would just buy them for me so I now have items that are officially for my wedding. YAY!