And the Bride Wore Pink...

Ok ladies. I've been holding out. As soon as I got that other dress in the mail (the one that didn't work out) I went right back online to search.

And I found simplydresses.com

You can shop by dress color and I looked at the white section first, obviously. But then I looked under pink, just for fun, and I found the dress pictured above. I fell in love. My mom fell in love. My sister fell in love. My FI fell in love.

WHAT?!

Yes, I let him see the dress online. Big deal, lol. He won't ever get to see me try it on, though.

I ordered it, and got it in the mail less than a week later. The best thing about it... IT LOOKS JUST LIKE THE PICTURE and fits PERFECTLY. Thank God!!!! And I honestly love it. I don't think I even want a second reception dress because I love this one so much.

This dress is actually more in line with how I've always envisioned myself on my wedding day. I saw myself strapless, and nothing too poofy. The dress has material that lingers in the back, almost like it has a train. It definitely feels wedding-y, and the material is very soft.

There's a lot I like about this dress. It was under budget ($300), and its not like its a dress I'll see at a million other weddings. In the end, you just have to "do you." Some may think its sooo weird and a big deal that it's not white. I could care less. I always wanted to wear a beautiful pink dress, but never found one for both of my proms. (Where was this site when I was in high school?!). I'm definitely glad I said "yes" to the dress!

Cutting Costs (on Paper)

For you savvy pursuers of blogs, you may have noticed I added some new things to my blog, namely the Cutting Costs Lists and a Check off List. And a super cool countdown widget. We'll be a year away in a few days!

Anyway. I must say, I'm pretty proud of the ways we are deciding to save money. Some things didn't take much thought. Actually, most things didn't. I love paper products (stationery, journals, etc.) but it seems that paper is where we're skimping the most. For instance:

We won't have Save the Dates. All 20 or less of my family members that would attend the wedding know the wedding date because I have personally told them. I also have access to communicating with them over the internet to remind them. My fiance does not feel the desire to send save the dates to his side of the family (he even said he'd resort to phone calls if he really had to. I laughed). So, since he doesn't want to send them, and I don't need to send them, I honestly don't feel compelled to stress out over sending save the dates to people that are going to come anyway. He's the first of the "grandkids" of his enormous family to have a wedding, so I'm sure they'll show up anyway. They all live in Arizona or California, so transportation would be simple. Plus, what are invitations for, anyway?

Another thing we've decided to forego (well, I did- I doubt he really knows they exist) is programs. As much as I would love them, I know no one is really going to be interested in reading them. I don't feel like going through the headache. We're having a simple ceremony. I will probably make one as a keepsake for my scrapbook, though.

Menues. Again, maybe I'll make one for my scrapbook. But we're not having servers. The food will be buffet style, you can see it right in front of your face. No menu. Easy as that.

No Guest Book. My fiance went to his uncle's wedding two weeks ago and said NO ONE signed the guest book. That means they probably won't feel compelled to sign ours. I may leave some pretty paper out for people to write well wishes and drop them in the card-box, but no guest book for us.

Maybe hearing some of our reasoning behind cutting costs will help you re-consider or reaffirm some of your own decisions on what to include in your wedding.