We are pretty horrible with keeping the blog updated.  I think we have a good excuse – our very own April is getting married next week.  It’s a destination wedding so not only is there a lot of wedding prep, but there’s a lot of travel prep as well!  More of my wedding recaps and hopefully April’s in the next coming weeks.  For now, stay chic!

As you all know, we limited our availability this year in order to concentrate on planning our own weddings.  In order to start the 2012 wedding season on the right foot, we have decided to extend our 2011 pricing on our coordination packages to the FIRST THREE weddings booked for 2012!

Hurry and book your initial consultation with us by emailing: info@simplychicevent.com.

For those of you who don’t know, Ginet and I had the same exact schedule our freshman year of high school and have been best friends ever since.  After high school, we both went to college (she’s the smartypants, she went to UCSD!!), we graduated and became engineers (as our day job) for the same company, moved out of our parents houses at the same time, got dogs at the same time, started a side-business together, and even got engaged around the same time (she was proposed to 2 months before me)!

This past weekend, her mom and us bridesmaids threw her a bridal shower.  It was a lot of planning and lots of stuff to prep, but it was totally worth it considering it turned out even more awesome than I ever imagined. 

Her sister, Marj, was an awesome MOH who really put everything together.  It was a tea party theme, so through the months, her sister collected a lot of the decor like the tea cups, cake/cupcake stands, etc.  Just check out the desert table (and BTW, everything was super yummy!):

The shower was thrown at her parents house.  They have a really nice house with a super nice backyard (complete with bbq grill, putting green, and all!).  We set the drink table outside with a couple of tables for people to eat, then hung tissue paper pom-poms:

Her mom supplied the food and boy, was there A LOT of it!  In the middle of the food table, we came up with a makeshift centerpiece using the boxes that the tea sets came in!  We added more tissue paper pom-poms:

 The favors were a super cute tea cup and saucer set.  I designed the thank you tags that were attached.  We bought fresh flowers and used it to spruce up the tea cups we had scattered throughout the house.  We also had an advice card station where guests filled out advice for the newlyweds on a scrapbook page then took a picture with Ginet.  We will print the pictures, then put the pictures in the scrapbook for her to keep for memories (and when her and her fiance need some advice)!

The games we played were really fun.  One of the games we played was The Newlywed Game.  We asked Ginet questions that we had Justin answer previously (we videotaped his answers).  After she answered, we played back his answers to see if they matched.  It was hilarious seeing him respond to the questions on video, so if you ever need a shower game, I would definitely suggest doing it this way!  (BTW, Ginet and Justin almost matched all their answers correctly.  Talk about meant-to-be!)

Now that the shower is over, it’s full-speed forward until the wedding in June!  Let me tell you… she is ON. TOP. OF. IT.  She’s pretty much done with planning and is in the stage of finishing up all the little details.  Love it!  She’s my wedding role model. Haha!

Happy bridal-shower-day (last Saturday) Ginet!

British fever has invaded America and the wedding blog world!  I didn’t stay up til three in the morning, but I made sure to catch the re-runs and recaps as soon as I woke up!  I couldn’t help but get caught up in the Royal Wedding extravaganza, especially since I’m also getting married this year.  It also brings special meaning because Prince Charles and Princess Di were married the same year my parents were married thirty years ago.  Of course you know all everyone is talking about is THE DRESS!  I LOVED Kate’s wedding dress made by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.  I was pretty convinced she would wear a dress from an English designer and brand.  When Kate’s dress was finally revealed to the world, one couldn’t not think of Grace Kelly’s wedding dress:

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That’s probably why I love Kate’s dress because I loved Grace Kelly and her dress.  Both woman represent natural and effortless beauty and confidence.  They say Kate’s the lucky one marrying a prince, but I surely think William is the lucky one.  Congratulations and job well done to Prince William and Kate!!!

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You would think after spending money on a dress I had made and I’m never going to wear, along with the wedding dress I actually will wear, that I wouldn’t even consider a reception dress.  Well, I didn’t until I saw pictures from Carrie Underwood’s wedding:

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I loved how it was so cute and fun!  I figured I’d get a short reception dress because I love to dance and I can’t really get down in a long dress.  I started to casually look, then I encountered this super cute number from Quail Bridal:

It’s called a Peony Dress – how perfect is that?  I also think it’s SUPER adorable how she calls these reception dresses “cake-cutting dresses”.  The studio is located in Long Beach so I made an appointment with my sister.  The day of my appointment, it was raining really hard and there was flooding around the studio so my sister and I ended up getting really wet!  Michelle, the owner and designer, and her sales associate Lauren greeted us and offered us hot tea (so nice of them).  Then we proceeded to try on some dresses.  I really liked the Peony Dress but I wasn’t in love with how the top part looked on me.  However, I really liked how the top of the Parisian Dress looked on me:

Michelle mentioned there’s a Dahlia Dress (these names are super cute, no?) that consists of the top of the Parisian Dress and bottom of the Peony Dress.  They didn’t have it at the shop but is available to order.  I decided that was perfect!  And my sister really liked the Marie Dress:

The rest of the bridesmaids are getting their dresses made by my local seamstress, but we wanted my sister/MOH to stand out so we thought this dress in gray would be perfect!  Michelle took our measurements and we selected our color preferences.  She was super sweet and I love how she’s living her dream.  We place our order a couple weeks later and received them in February!  The only issue I have with my dress is that it’s a dress size or two bigger.  I thought that was strange since she took my exact measurements.  I knew I had to get it hemmed and altered anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.  Since I’m not showing my actual wedding dress, I’d say it’s fair to show my cake-cutting dress.  I have yet to get it sized to fit, but here it is with a black sash to hold it up (because seriously – without it, the dress would just fall off):

The shoes don’t really go so I’ll probably wear a black pair instead.  I’m thinking the dress can be taken in on the sides and shortened four inches above my knee – I do want to feel sexy and cute on my wedding day!

So fellow brides – are you going with one dress or two or maybe even more?  Anyone else going to be calling a reception dress a “cake-cutting dress” from now on?