Sample Bouquet: It's a Winner

My florist put together a sample bouquet for me a couple of weeks ago. I got to watch her put it together, which was definitely beneficial, as I realized I didn't love what we had originally planned. She quickly pulled some things out and put others in and ... viola!


We ended up with pin-cushion protea {planned}, red roses {planned}, flame/mango calla lillies {planned, although not the color I thought they were going to be} and hypericum berries {not planned}. We edited out the green kangaroo paw and bluperium.



I took the bouquet home and stared at it over the weekend, and I think it's a winner. {Unfortunately, the cats thought so too. I had to keep them away from it as some lillies are dangerous to cats.} I was originally not sold on the color of the calla lillies, but I think they go well with everything else that's in the bouquet.



Love to hear your thoughts!

Make-up Trial #2

I got my make-up done by another person last week. Overall, it was good, but I think the foundation is slightly too light and not blended enough around the hairline.

Check out the fake eyelashes! Aren't they awesome? Definitely a must for the wedding day.

I think I may have one more person do my make-up and see how that goes. What do you think?

We're in the News Again!

Our engagement announcement was in my hometown newspaper, the Winter Haven News Chief, on Sun., June 7. I was {pleasantly} surprised it was in color! It turned out nicely. I cropped it here, but below that you can see what else was on the same page. I think it's hilarious that there's a retired couple in a dancing pose next to us!

Also, click here to see it online. Hopefully the photo will show up soon.

Cheers!

Weekend at the Beach

Over the weekend, Robbie & I went to Longboat Key. One of his friends (and groomsmen), Chris, and his wife, Anna, came down from Tampa to visit while we were there. Anna is the owner of her own photography and graphic design business, AR Annahita, so we did an impromptu photo shoot on the grounds of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. What a beautiful place!

The grounds are full of banyan trees, bamboo, roses, etc. At the back of the whole place is the former house of John Ringling, the Cà d'Zan Mansion, and it sits right on the water. The architecture is amazing.

Here is a sneak peek of the photos. She is mailing me a CD of all of them this week. Can't wait!

Make-Up for the Big Day

For my make-up on wedding day, I want to have smoky eyes & nude lips and a bit of bronziness on my face. I totally just made up that word! I am inspired by Eva Mendes's make-up, so I took a picture of her with me when I did a make-up trial recently at Merle Norman.

It didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped, so I am going to do another trial with a different make-up artist so I can compare. The make-up in the photos below is a little too "pink," if that makes sense. What do you think? I am actually going for trial #2 today, so I will post new pics soon!

Engagement Announcement #1

Our engagement announcement was in our local paper, the Gainesville Sun, this past Sunday. Below is the proof along with the scan from the paper, which obviously isn't very good! It was fun to see it in the paper and have friends and co-workers mention they saw it. I guess people still read the newspaper! It's also supposed to be online but isn't yet.

Two additional announcements will be running this weekend in my parents' local papers. I will post them afterward.

Our Wedding Web Site: A Sneak Peek

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that I love The Knot. They have a lot of resources online, and their wedding magazine is my favorite of all wedding magazines. One more reason to love The Knot is that you can create a personalized wedding Web site. This is different from this blog as it allows you to post info about the proposal, wedding location, logistics and registry. I am in the process of creating mine and Robbie's, but here's a sneak peek! I will post the link when it's ready.

An Aqua Shoe Update

Sorry it's been several days since my last post! I guess I've been busier than normal. The good news is, I found a pair of shoes that I would love to be my wedding shoes. I ordered them, received them and tried them on. The bad news is, I think there's something wrong with them!

They are jeweled aqua sandals by Nine West with a low heel -- perfect!

But when I put them on, it's as though the actual thong part that goes in between your toes is too far toward the inside of the shoe - on both shoes. So when I wear them, my feet do not stay on the shoe.

Here's a picture so many you can see what I mean:

Can you tell?

I thought maybe they just weren't meant to fit my foot, so I wanted to have someone else with a different foot type try them on. The only person around at the moment was Robbie, so he tried them on! They did the same thing for him, and he and I definitely do not have the same type of feet.

I contacted Nine West to see if anyone has ever had this problem before, and they said no. I wrote them back to see if they will send me another pair so I can see if perhaps the pair I got are just defective. Man, why does this have to happen?! I will keep you posted ...