Our Wedding Pictures

As my readers know, I got married to my husband last year. It wasn't a huge thing, just a simple, tiny ceremony at the county courthouse, and a dinner at a fancy restaurant afterwards. I had a close friend who is trying to get into the photography business offer to take our photos. She took the pictures, but shortly after, she got incredibly busy with various events in her life. I didn't get the photos until last week. (But that's okay, I wasn't in a hurry to get them).

So, I'll share a few of my most favorites here. It was a really stressful day, I wasn't quite myself. I have trouble with being the center of attention, and having people focus on me, so I was extremely fidgety. Also, it was my wedding day, and I didn't have my family there, as they were still in  California, so it was also emotional for me. My friend photographer tried her hardest to keep my spirits up and she definitely did the best she could, with me being as (not) photogenic as I am.

She suggested this pose to me, and I was weary about doing it, because I swore up and down that he was going to drop me! But, it turned out to be my most favorite photo of all the ones she took. I love the way the dress moved, and it really looked like we were having fun! I love this photo, I definitely plan on putting an enlarged version of this on my wall.

Another one of my favorites. She had found a bench within the courthouse that was next to a window. We sat on the bench, and she snapped this one. I love this photo. I think it captures our happiness for that day brilliantly. I wanted to go around and get photos for my family, and his, and found out that this photo was definitely one of the favorites between everyone. Everyone wanted a copy of this photo. I agree with all of them, this photo is fantastic. I even ordered a print of this one for the husband to take to his desk at work.

Another sweet photo of us, outside the courthouse. By this point, my $3 shoes were killing my feet, but my friend kept me going, snapping photos the whole time. She really did a fantastic job at our photos. I don't know what we would have done without her, we probably would have had a lot of cell phone photos, really.

A full length photo of the two of us. This shows off our wedding clothing rather well. I really tried my best to match each other. I think I did pretty well, I had even tried to match my nail polish. Haha, I was completely obsessive over trying to get everything to match well.

Lastly, a solitary photo of me. While my photographer friend took fabulous photos, I find myself finding all sorts of flaws with me. I really wish that I had took longer to find a necklace that matched my hair piece better. A necklace probably would have made my chest not look so large. Should have gotten teeth whiteners, Should have put on makeup that day. I am probably the only one who feels that way about them, because I know that I'm the only one who focuses on every flaw in me.

Decorating Tiles With the Silhouette

Recently, I decided that I wanted to really make my apartment a little more like a home. We have been here almost a full year, and we have basically nothing on our walls, except for some spray painted letters. My apartment just doesn't feel lived in. So, I made the decision to really invest in some pieces to make it a little more home-y.

First on my list of things to have: coasters! Since I prefer to do it myself when I can, I went to our local Home Depot and picked up some of the cheapest kitchen floor tiles that I could find. I got four small 3x3 glossy ceramic tiles, priced at only .13 cents each. Then, purchased a design from the Silhouette store and used my machine to cut it out on permanent vinyl. I sized each design at two and a half inches, and adhered them to each tile. Lastly, I cut out little square pieces of white felt and glued them to the back corners, so they don't clink against each other, and scratch surfaces up.

They turned out great! While I had a couple issues - one has an air bubble that I can't get out, and another coaster is missing the dot for the "i". All things considered, they look fabulous. They look very formal, very wedding-like. With the white and the metallic vinyl, I couldn't have asked for a better combination. (Not to mention, these would probably make great wedding gifts!)

Next project, I wanted a tile just for a simple display. Again, a single, super cheap tile from Home Depot, and a small easel, made for a wonderful foundation to put a phrase on. The easel, I think they are most common for displaying plates, and I found mine at Gordman's. However, I did notice them to be slightly cheaper at Hobby Lobby with a coupon.

I added a different phrase, again purchased from the Silhouette Design Store, cut out in permanent vinyl. My tile was 12x12, and the phrase probably would have looked a lot better larger, but this was as big as my machine could cut. We do what we can, with what we have, right?

A good start to making a bare apartment a nice place to live, I think! It's been FAR to long since I made an attempt at decorating the place I call home.

One Year Anniversary

Can you believe that a little over one year ago, the husband and I were married at the courthouse? Seems like it was just yesterday that I was trying on dresses at David's Bridal, getting frustrated over the fact I couldn't find a hair piece I liked, and feeling like my feet were going to fall off as I tried to learn how to walk in high heels. Obviously, we have had our ups and downs, as they say the first year of marriage is the most difficult. But, we're still here!

A benefit of having our anniversary three days after Valentine's day is that all the "love" items in stores go on clearance, which make it fabulously cheap for our anniversary! (I didn't plan it that way, I swear!)

For our first year together, we decided to book ourselves a hotel room at our local Hilton Garden Inn, a treat for us, as we never got to go to our "Honeymoon," if you will. We did have a hotel booked after our wedding, but right before we were married, we got a call that an apartment opened up where we had applied to move to, and all money went to moving costs. So, unfortunately, our honeymoon never really got to happen.

We had a fabulous time, as with every time we visit the Hilton, the rooms are always clean, the sheets smell good, they have wonderful details in the rooms (like a Keurig!). We went with a special package that included a full breakfast for two in the morning, and champagne in the room.

You definitely can't beat a couple nights in a hotel room, a perfect vacation from my cats, who keep me up all night, and my super needy puppy, who takes up the entire bed every night.

Here's to the next year!

Repainting Brass Lamps

So, the wedding was on Monday. We are officially married, and our marriage certificate already came. It went really well, I didn't fall on my face with those heels, although my feet hurt like crazy afterward. His family took us out to a nice, fancy dinner afterward, and they even bought us a little wedding cake to cut during the dinner. It was nice. Now, Tyler is officially my husband. I did decide, however, that I will wait on updating my driver's license and stuff to my new name until we move - that way I can change it to the new address, and my new name all at once.

Anyway! The wedding is over, so now it's time to change my focus to other things. My mother is telling me to focus on getting through one day at a time, so that's my goal now. Wedding is past, so now I'm focusing on packing. And doing a few projects.

One of my goals for the new apartment: invest in it. By that, I mean... I'm making it my mission to really invest in furniture, decor, and little pieces to make it a home. With our current place, we still have a dresser and a desk that we received as hand-me-downs from his mother. I want to get better quality furniture of our own. At the same time, I'd like to do it on the cheap. That said, I've been taking inspiration from Pinterest, and embarking on a few small projects.

We've been taking small trips to the Goodwill, and Flea Markets in search of furniture and a couple random pieces for the new apartment. On one trip, I came across this lamp, priced at $4.

Normally, this lamp would have been so gawdy, that I'd bawk at it and move on. However, something stopped me. This lamp looks almost exactly like a touch lamp my grandmother used to own when she was alive. I loved the lamp as a child, just briefly touching it turned it on, and the hours of entertainment that it provided to me (and probably annoyance to my grandparents).... That simple memory of my grandparents sold me on it.

However, as is, I didn't want it in my new apartment. I decided to put my Pinterest reading to use, and I decided to spray paint it! I've never spray painted anything in my life, but this was minor enough to try on.

I wiped it all down with soapy water, and took it apart. And then set out to paint it! I chose a glossy white, thinking that it would probably go best with the things in our bedroom.

Ta Da! Looks so much better, I think! It has a few mess ups on it, mainly where I was too close in my painting... there are a few running paint drips, but for the most part - it looks awesome, all things considered. Not bad for a first try, right??

It was so awesome, that I decided to give painting another try. I took on a slightly more expensive project: a brass lamp, again from Goodwill for $7. This one, I think will end up going in our living room. I'll probably buy a more attractive lampshade for it eventually.

Truffles

We decided that we were going to get truffles for Valentine's Day. Instead of going to Target, or Walmart for them, we actually found ourselves at Palmer's Candy - an actual candy store. We wandered around for a while, looking for mainly a pre-packaged set. Couldn't find any. Eventually, we wandered our way to the back of the store, where all the gourmet chocolates were behind glass.

I boggled at how beautiful the chocolates were for several minutes, then saw the price. $3 per truffle. I was prepared to waltz out the same way I came in, but Tyler was determined. He wanted these truffles, and he was not about to take no for an answer.

We ended up with six truffles, that we picked out together. It was apparently buy 5, get one free, so we got six of them. They are rather large, and extremely tasty looking. I also managed to get a piece of fudge for $3, as well. To be fair, the fudge was really awesome, and was a small taste of home - my mother used to make fudge at Christmas, so it was actually worth three dollars to me.

While at Palmer's, we came across a very special truffle. It was specifically labeled "Wedding Cake Truffle". And you know what is coming up, right? So, we picked up two of these truffles. Since we won't be having a wedding cake, these will do just fine, I think!

For these, they gave us the option of little cute truffle boxes. They are cute, and adds a bit of special to them.

Wedding Jewelry

On Sunday, we went on a rather large spree of buying things we need for the wedding. The major purchase we did was the wedding jewelry. The jewelry isn't fancy by all means, it's just a few pieces from Claire's, but I wanted to make sure that I bought a headpiece of some kind.

Naturally, I picked out the headpiece first.I had originally wanted to purchase it from Etsy, and have it possibly custom made... but well, we have time constraints, and finances are quite small. This was kind of something that I wanted originally, so I picked it up.

It was a complete nightmare to find other pieces to match this. Other pearl items at Claire's were a different shade of white, or the metal was a bit shinier. I'm still not happy with the necklace, and I may not wear it in the end, but we will see how it plays out. This was the closest thing I could come up with that somewhat matches.

 

The bonus to the necklace is that it came with matching earrings. The earrings were probably the only reason why I picked up the necklace. If you read my blog a little bit, you know I love a good deal, and when it comes down to a necklace for $18.50, or a necklace with earrings for the same price... I'm likely going to go with the latter. Again, I may not even be able to wear these at all, because I'm still having issues with my ear piercings.

By the time I had went around and around, trying to decide on a necklace (I am an extremely indecisive person), I was at the point where I just wanted to be done with the whole thing. I picked up a bracelet without really looking too closely at it, and was on my way.

All in all, I think the pieces I picked up were okay. I do really love the headband piece, it was quite what I wanted, and I think the others should be fine with it. Now, this is the part where I realized... I was not a fan of Claire's. I try to stay positive on this blog, but there was something that irked me in that store.

When I was just browsing around after getting frustrated with finding my jewelry (maybe I was going into this situation already heated? I don't know), I had seen a clearance sign, stating: "10 for $10" placed over a display of earrings. Nartually, my eyeballs zoned in on it and I headed over there.

I clarified with an associate who told me that not all of the items on the display were for that special. Only certain ones, which were originally less than $10. (Signage was not displayed well at all, and associate was quite short with me when I approached her, confused).

Nonetheless, I purchased 10 clearance items, which were originally under $10. And while I am happy with my earring purchases, I am not amused with Claire's, in general. They were a good deal, and at $1 each set, that's even better than what I pay for earrings at work, even with my associate discount.

The big hoop feather ones originally had caught my attention, and for only $1, I'll deal with terrible signs, and a rude employee.

Tyler's Dress Shirt

Tyler has been wanting a "suit" for the wedding. He wants to go all out with buying the full jacket, pants, vest... the whole thing. It's been my mission this week to try to talk him out of it. They are expensive. and for our little courthouse wedding, a little too dressy then what I'd like to have done.

We came to a compromise of what to dress him in. We settled on a dress shirt that should match my dress, and a silver/white tie. I think the ensemble should look nice, paired with a pair of dress pants that he already has.

Also, a couple things. My ear piercings appear to not be doing well lately. They are swollen, really painful, and I think they may be infected now. I've stopped using the cleaning fluid they gave me at the Piercing Pagoda, and switched to a salt-water mixture a couple times a day. I think it might be making them feel a little better, considering they aren't throbbing anymore. So, hopefully I'll be able to leave them in for the wedding.

Thursday, early morning, we turned in our application and deposit for the apartment we hope to get into. we should be one of the next people on the waiting list, so maybe, we will hear a response soon!

Wedding Shoes

I have purchased yet one more piece of my wedding day attire. My shoes! I got off work last night, so Tyler and I decided to do just a little bit of shopping, and looking around at JCPenney and the rest of the mall. More specifically, there was a sweater I had been eye-balling all afternoon, and I wanted to get it if it was still there once I was off work.

It was still there, so I grabbed that and just took a walk around the rest of the store. We decided to take a quick look over at the shoe department to see if there was any kind of sales on shoes for the wedding day.

I found myself once again, checking out the clearance rack. But this time, something caught my eye. $3.97 shoes. High heeled shoes, in silver, just the color I was looking for to wear with my dress!

I nabbed them up.I normally wear a size 7 shoe, but these ran really, really small. The ones I have are a size 8. and are still really small. But, they did not have anything bigger. I still bought these, because I figured, if they didn't work out, I didn't spend all the much money on them anyway. After my associate discount and the coupon I used, I paid about $2.60 for them. Love it!

Also, in other news... I finally took my wedding dress in to be steamed. Shipping left it with all kinds of wrinkles, so David's Bridal offered to steam it for me. It will be ready to be picked up on Saturday. We have also decided upon a "honeymoon" destination. We'll be staying a couple nights at a nice, upscale hotel in town. This way, I can still be close enough to check up on my cats, if I get a little anxious.

Just think - the wedding is only 13 days away. We are already starting to join our lives together, early this morning, we went into my credit union and got him added to my account, to join our finances. Which, in reality is horrifying to think about, because I am a huge control freak with my money. But, if we will be married, we should share an account for bills and such, right?

Our next steps - We are planning on moving, and we have an apartment complex in mind. Unfortunately they have a waiting list on their one bedrooms, but this week, we will be going in to apply and put our deposit down. Hopefully we get approved, so that we can move before the weather gets warm! (Yay, central air conditioning!)

Wedding Dress Arrival

So it is not technically a "wedding dress", but it is going to be my wedding dress! It arrived early this afternoon, and after ripping off the packaging, I had to snap a few photos!

It's awesome. I love the color, the style. I think I might have to get a small strapless bra or something to hold my girls in place though, because it fits a little looser than what I remember. Spanx is still in order, considering my flab is not going to hide itself. But, the dress is just as gorgeous as I remember, and the color is just as beautiful.

David's Bridal did also offer to steam the wrinkles out, so I will have to take it back in to them to get the wrinkles fixed. Now that I'll probably be having photographs taken, I'll be needing to look as good as I can get myself.

Bonus was that it came with detachable straps! I have never worn a strapless dress before, so now I have the option to wear straps with it or not. Strapless makes me a little nervous, especially with how loose it fits, but I may try it.

This just means that I am one step closer to the wedding!

Wedding Rings

The rings for the wedding came on Saturday, and I've finally got a photo of them. Rings with me are tricky, because I'm allergic to some metals, and others.. my skin will eat right through them. So, finding jewelry is hard for me.

I'm also very nervous about losing things, so I did not want to spend a fortune on something that I fear I will lose. My engagement ring is titanium, which was allergy-free, and rather inexpensive. Added bonus was that it was simple, and not too fancy for this simple girl.

So, I decided to go a step beyond titanium and get a matching set of cobalt rings. From my research, cobalt is supposed to be strong, less prone to breakage, is more like a lighter color (as opposed to titanium, being grey-ish), and is relatively lightweight. They came, and I don't think I could be happier.

 

Please excuse my pride in that photo, I'm trying to learn how to use the Nikon D3200 that I got for Christmas, and this is probably the most awesome photo I have taken with it. Anyway, the rings are beautiful, I think. I purchased them on Etsy, and they were under the label of "Homemade" but... I'm not entirely sure they were.

Not sure that I care at this point, because I think they look nice. I guess a part of me wanted something "special" to us a couple. I tried to go the made to order route, but oh well. The prices of cobalt rings were expensive, so I was happy to get the pair at a cost that I would have paid for only one.

As you have probably guessed already, I love working at JCPenney for the awesome clearance things that I see come through. Once I got off work last night, I went shopping for a little bit before I came home, and found some cute little underwear for only $1.97. Plus the promotion that was going on - an extra 25% off clearance. Awesome!

I picked up 7 pairs of cute little underwear. After the extra 25% for clearance, these were such a good deal to pass up. I have honestly never owned underwear from JCPenney before, so I'm wondering if they are going to fit as well as my Lane Bryant panties - but am willing to try.

Can't beat that price, at all! So happy to have been able to get the panties I wanted when I got off. Usually clearance items are rather picked over by the time I get to them, so these made me happy.

Tomorrow, my wedding dress comes! So excited!

Clearances and Sales

Just like most people, I love getting a good deal. Obviously. Working at JCPenney, I see a lot of clearance items lately. It seems to be the season where a lot of items are going on really cheap clearance, and of course, it does not help my New Year's resolution to get out of debt. I am perfectly happy leaving the "sales" and more expensive clearance items alone... but when it comes to $5.97, $2.97 or even .97 cent clearance... I'm a sucker for them.

Well, JCPenney was doing an extra 25% off clearance as well. So... I had to buy some items. First, I knew I needed a coat, and had my eyes set on one particular coat for months now.

 

It was normally $200. When it went on clearance for $59.99, I was still holding out for a lower price. The extra 25% clearance sale helped a lot, and I couldn't hold out any longer. I bought it. And I love it just as much as I loved it on the rack. Once I came to Iowa, I noticed a lot of faux-fur hood lined coats, and I loved the look, so now I finally have one of my own. Am I officially fitting into Iowa now?

This is not something I'd buy for myself... normally. But at $5.97? I totally bought it. Honestly, if I'd have seen this for that price before I had ordered my city hall wedding dress from David's Bridal, I probably would have made this work. For now, I have no clue what purpose I would need a floor length gown for, but for that price.. I'll find something. It's not exactly shape forgiving with the material it's made out of, but I plan on picking up some spanx, anyway.

The JCPenney that I work at is attached to a mall, as well. So, from customers to co-workers, I hear about sales and promotions from other mall stores. That said, I was informed me that Victoria's Secret was having a rather good sale. Victoria's Secret doesn't really interest me that much, considering I can't fit into the majority of their things. But, I guess fragrance mist was one of the items on sale! I was like, What?!

It was rather picked over when I went, but I managed to grab two fragrance mists - Deep berry, and Forbidden Vanilla. Only for $1.99 each! Win! (I also figure that one of these fragrances, I should use for the wedding, so I have something "special and unique" for it). I also had a free trial size 3oz coupon for Bath and Body Works, a preview for their new spring fragrance that I found as a facebook offer. So I had to pick that one up. They are so perfect for stuffing in a purse or bag!

In wedding news, our rings have came in the mail today, I'm going to try and snap a photo of them tomorrow morning so I can blog about them. And, I got an email the other day from David's Bridal, telling me my dress has shipped, so it should be here on Wednesday! So nervous!

Wedding Preparations

As my few blog readers might know, I got engaged a while ago. There as been really no rush in getting married. I have been perfectly happy waiting for getting married as long as I can... until now. Due to health care issues on Tyler's check, there has been a huge hurry to our marriage. He had listed me as a domestic partner on his benefits from his work, and because of that, he had over $400 taken out because of taxes and everything for benefits. We were only expecting a little over $200. This was a huge blow to his paycheck, one that we couldn't afford. Especially when we are trying to have a baby, and move to a nicer apartment, at the same time.

We had two options: one was that he could go down to 30 hours a week for 4 weeks, and not accrue any paid vacation or time off for the next 6 months, and lose all that extra income that we need to live... or... get married. On our way home one day, we stopped off at the courthouse to see what kind of cost it will be and how to proceed. We found out that to get married, it would cost $35, and 4 days for the license to be valid. (And of course, ceremony, which is performed in the courthouse for free on business days).

So guess what? We are getting married... and soon! I've kind of wanted a courthouse marriage, because I don't like to be center of attention, and I honestly don't have anyone to invite. I have no bridal party, and my mother is in California. So this works out fine for me, Tyler was the one who wanted a big church wedding, and reception. I was so not into the big-wedding thing, that I was even going to purchase a bridal gown online. I searched on David's Bridal website for a dress.

I had two requirements: It has to be able to be worn again (like for a fancy dinner at Luciano's), and I need it to be low-cost, because this wedding is simple and in a courthouse in a few weeks. I couldn't find any actual bridal gowns that fit my requirements, but one look at this particular bridesmaid dress... I was in love.

I made an appointment last night to my local David's Bridal, and went in when they opened early this morning. They had the dress for me to try on, but didn't have either colors I was looking at in stock. I had fallen for the dress, but was a little undecided on the color they had. Tyler liked a red swatch they had, but once I tried on a different dress in the red color, I decided it wasn't for me. The other color I thought I liked on the website, I tried on in yet a different dress, and loved the color. Once I tried on a dress in the Malibu, I couldn't imagine any other color I would wear. I ordered the dress in Malibu color.

After I purchased my dress online with them (to be shipped to my house next week), they handed me a booklet of coupons, one of which was one to Helzberg Diamonds, for a free pair of earrings. Of course I went across the street to grab them!

While I'm not sure if I would use them, they are definitely pretty. Freshwater pearl earrings, and free. The guy who I gave the coupon to wasn't the friendliest, but hey, earrings! I wanted to go to JCPenney to find another piece of jewelry for my dress. Maybe a necklace that matches the earrings?

Checked out some pearls, but for some reason I couldn't decide on one that I would like with my blue dress. But I came across these bracelets. They would go absolutely perfect with the color of dress I chose! I am not the biggest fan of the gold of course, I prefer silver, but how often can you find a bracelet this perfect to the dress? The best part: these also had a clearance sticker on them for $6.97. JCPenney was also doing some kind of extra percent off clearance, and after my associate discount... I ended up paying $4.13 for the set. Can't beat that!

Dress is expected to be here next week, so be on the look out for photos of the dress!