Hello, welcome to my BIO. I am a crazy, over-thinker, planning, got-to-find-the best-way kind of bride. I don't see myself becoming a bridezilla, but how many can honestly say they will be one. I want to plan my wedding to the detail and cast it off into the hand of the wonderful people that surround me who have offered their help and assistance.

I am beginning to realize how nice it would be to have a wedding planner or a mom or someone cloe enough to take charge when I need it, and to be able to make decision nowing what I would decide. Hmmm, must be nice.

I dont have family that lives close, I am a SoCal girl and have one set of parents in Arizona and the other in Las Vegas :-(

But, I do have a wonderful family (most would say that they're my friends) who have offered to be those hands and bodies I need.

I hope that I can offer some inspiration, ideas and advice to other brides here on PW and I know I will (as I already have) recieve much from you all.

So enjoy, and dont forget to say hello with a PM or a toast. Cheers to you and happy planning!

(here's the 1st picture me and my fiance took together when we first started dating)

My name is Jacque I am 26 years old, I live in Chino California and have grown up in the Inland Empire for all my life. I work at a church as the media director and have a natural niche with computers and technology. I love my job, because things are continually changing and I get to learn new things every day.

My I am from a divorced family and both sets of parents live out of state (Arizona and Las Vegas), as well as my two older brothers.

I have the most amazing finace, Rocky. who I absolutly cherish and can not wait to be his wife.

This is a picture of me, being silly :-)

Rocky and I met through a mutual friend, Joe (who's a groomsman) at church. A friend and I used to go watch Joe play soccer and Rocky played on his team as well. We were going to their games to hang out for a good 6-9 months. During that time Rocky and i began talking as well, and truly just as friends. We would talk on the phone or text message about situations in our lives that we truly could relate to one another. We know it was God's hands truly at work preparing us for what was ahead.

After a good 6 months of growing as close friends, we were both approached by different people (at about the same time). These friends of ours were askign what was going on and if we were interested in each other, before this moment neither of us really regarded the oher in that way, but once it was mentioned to us a flame was lit. Rocky then asked me out on a "real date" and we had a wonderul dinner, but left more confused than when we got there. We both new something was there, but neither of us reacted on it - but within a few days we made it offical and began dating December 23, 2007.

We had a wonderful dating relationship of 10 1/2 months. We got ot know one another, each others families, friends and social networks. We fell in love quickly and we are truly blessed. We have amazing schedules so we've been able to spend a lot of time together which allowed and continues to allow us to get to know each other better. We have decided to put the Lord first in our relationship, in physical purity, in love for one another, and He has blessed it!

It was Novemebr 5, 2008 that he popped the querstion (see the proposal for the cutest story on earth).

Whenever I imagined getting engaged, I knew i wanted to be surprised. I knew I wanted to be special and thought out and prepared by my fiance for me. And that's exactly what happened!

A little background is Rocky had this planned since who knows when! We initially were going to go to Hawaii with his family in October, we were planning this trip in April. But plans changed and Hawaii turned in to San Diego :-) But, he originally was going to find something specail in Hawaii. (Man that's a good 6 months of planning).

In August Rocky took me to get my ring sized, and man was i a stinker on this. I gave him such a hard time, just being silly and cute - but looking back I was a little stinker. All I told him was I want a diamond with diamonds on the side. For me in my non-jeweler talk that meant a 3-stone ring. Well Rocky was saving up and bought it and waited to pick it up, until Novemebr.

In September when we were in town visiting my dad, he asked my Dad for his blessing and permission to marry me :-) Of course my dad said yes! When Rocky talked to my mom she told him make sure you get pictures.

Than Novemebr 5th 2008, Rocky and I took a hiatus from our San Dego vacation to go to Disneyland. My favorite place on Earth! I thought the proposal was coming soon, soon as in, Christmas or New Years or something. Rocky kept throwing me curve balls, for awhile i was thinking on vacation it would happen, then as vacation got closer I thought no way, it must be later. And he kept throwing me curve balls getting me to think it would be a LONG time. So as we're walking from the parking lot I have NO IDEA, even though there's some signs that I didn't pick up on. He wasn't being himself.

As we walk into the park he asked me if I wanted to take a picture by one of the photographers that are always out front. I told him sure, but was thinking as passholders we never take our picture....but oh well. We stood to pose for the picture and Rocky started talking to me, in my mind  had NO IDEA what was going on, I was wondering why is he looking at me and talking to me when the photographer is taking out picture. I think the photographer got the picture before I did. Rocky started to quote scripture and telling me the sweetest most perfect things (I had to have him repeat it later, because I was still thinking "why arent we taking a picture") it was then the photographer started snapping shots, and Rocky reached into his pocket, he got the ring out and someone watching shouted "He's proposing" and I think that's when I realized oh my goodness, its happening. He asked me to marry him and of course, I said yes!!

See our planning website for all the pictures.

Actuallu FI nd I started counting days I think somewhere back in December. The cutest thing - he started it. I never forget getting a phone call and he says "Hey, 396 days." I didn't even know what he was talking about, what a sweet romantic I have on my hands.

My Photog/friend Jeret Slack designed this wonderful magnet.

I used vistaprint to print this onto a large magent. Vistaprint did a great job and matched the magnet perfect.

I will be placing them into black, A4 announcement envelopes that I got from envelopemall.com. 300 envelopes for $30, much better than Staples 10 for $4. Ha! What a joke!

I got Avery 8165 labels, they are a full 8.5 X 11 label. I am cutting them to 5.5" X1" for a wrap around label.

Final product and more pics to come.

STD Mailing

Material List:

275 Magnets - Designed by Jeret Slack. Printed by Vistaprint (Large photo magnet)

275 Enveloes - Purchased from Envelopemall.com (A4, Announcement envelope in Black)

275 Stamps - US Post office (I used the standard Forever stamps, I will use special stamps for our invitation).

275 Labels - Printed 16-up on the Avery 8165 labels and cut to size (5.5" X 1")

4 Dab 'n Seal Envelope Moistener - Purchased from Staples 4 bottles for $10 (this will last forever, STD, SHower Invites, Wedding Invites, THank Yous etc.)

4 wonderful helpful ladies!

How I made My Labels

I don't know how many of you ladies are familiar with mail merging but it is wonderful for so many things. If you are planning to print your envelopes make sure you know how to do this.What it does, is take information from a source like excel, and make a label, letter etc. from that information. It's how companies mass produce envelopes or letters with individual names/addresses and even custom information. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about PM me and I would be happy to help. It is such a lifesaver/timesaver especially if you have a large guest list).

I have my guestlist in an excel document that has each persons complete information. I am using this spreadsheet not only for names, addresses and contact information. But, for logging gifts and when invites or thank you's have been sent. It will be my brain regarding guests.

In Word, I first designed a label. I went to Tools>Mail Merge Manager, than i went to Create New Labels. In that window, instead of selecting a premade template I clicked New Label. and designed my label. I used a full 8.5 X 11 sheet label. I made, .25" margin top and bottom and 0" margin left and right (I allowed room in the design to not print on the edge). Label Height is 1" and Label Width is 5.5". I used the same numbers for the pitch. Vertical Pitch 1" Vertical Pitch 5.5".

**the options like margins and pitch are good if you want to print to the edge of a label and that's why most labele sheets/templates have gaps between labels to allow the printer to print to the edge of a label and onto the extra without ruining another label.

I then followed instructions on how to mail-merge my information onto the label. 

I used TrajanPro font. Standard formatting for the names and Italics and 1pt size smaller for the address.

Ready To Mail Out

I'm on the way to the post office now to drop off all 275 Save-the-Dates. And it's offically 150 days until I get married!!!

Colors

Red and Black

Theme

Spanish influence, a Mariachi and Flemenco....not fiesta.

So I know there's a big deal made about last names and what not being broadcasted on the web, but oh well. If you want to check out our wedding website. This is not just for wedding, but for Rocky and my future. We have a large amount of family and friends that live further away and we want to be able to share pictures and stories freely. So once the wedding is done this will become our family website. But for now check it out. Rocky and Jacque's website.

I went on a search for the perfect red shoe. I wanted a WOW shoe. Not just a nice shoe, or an okay shoe. But, one that was a statement and I found them.

They are the Marietta Ankle-Wrap Sandal designed by Guess by Marciano. The picture doesn't do it justice, actually I didn't like them when I saw them in a picture, but when I saw the same shoe in Blue, I realized this would be perfect.

I'm a little worried about the 4inch heel, but my FI loves it when I am tall, and we are close to the same height so we'll see - but I AM excited. I can't wait to see them on Thursday when they arrive.

4 months left to go and we did it! We picked and ordered dresses. I didn't care what my girls picked for dresses, I wasn't set on anything. I tried to get them all to pick something for months, but finally I got them to pick a few dresses they liked. We went to try them on and see which ones looked best and went together. All the bridesmaids like one dress and my maid of honor liked a different one, so they will wear different dresses.

The bridesmaids dress is made by Mori Lee and is from the Ava Collection dress #601. We ordered the dress in the color wine. The Maid of Honor dress is made by Allure dress #1183. We ordered this dress in rose. Both dresses are made from taffeta and the colors match really well (we'll see when they come in).

Bridesmaids                                       ;               Maid of Honor

(shown in the color we picked)                      (will be the same color as BM w/ black sash)

OMG: Update

So the bridal shop sent me the swatches of both the BM and MOH dress, yeah they DON'T match, the BM was a relly deep almost burgundy red (what I wanted) the MOH was a cherry apple bright red. So I got a little worried because I thought it was a dye lot issue and knew I would be stuck with it or loose my deposit and order again. So I rang up my friend at the bridal shop and she helped me out by contacting the designers - just so happens my  bridal shop never got the new swatchbook from the MOH dress designer. Ugh!! So they dont even make the color I want, but refunded my deposit and all my BM and MOH will wear the MoriLee dress, pictured above in red.

All in all, I am more happy about it. I really dont care to much what the girls wear but am glad we wont have to worry about clashing or slightly off colors.

My friend Tory did ad will be doing my hair for the big day. Originally I wanted a side pony, with curls. But, my hair DOES NOT do curls and I didn't want a solid hairsprayed mess. So she did this low updo and I loved it. I think it will be classic with my dress. I will have a few hair flowers/jewels for the right side.

I got two of the same garters, one to keep (red) and one to throw (black).

Here is the picture from Fredrick's of Hollywood Catalog

Here is a picture that I took at home of the red one I purchased.

With 400+ guests we have opted for the cupcake route. We also LOVE cupcakes and it allows us to have a wider vaiety of flavors and options for our guests. I am still deciding on what style and flavors but I got a cupcake tower from a friend that I will be able to use :-)

Our flavors will be sure to include: Red Velvet and we're going to do a web poll on our wedding website for the rest of the flavors.

I registered at Macy's for the Vera Wang Wedgwood "WIth Love" Giftware Collection

Here's the picture at home:

But here they are professionally from the catalog:

So the FI and I are what you would call "churchy" people. We both are Christians and strive to live accroding to the Bible. By the grace of God and by His power we have remained pure throughout our relationship. FI has had previous physical relationships before becoming a Christian and I have not So the Honeymoon tous is SUPER important and a major focus.

The First Night

The first night we will be staying about half-way between our reception and the airport we will depart (about 20 minute drive). We will stay our first night in a suite at The Pacific Palms Resort, in Industry Hills. I am getting a suite the night before. I will stay the night there and my girls will meet me there to get ready. Most likely FI and I will have our first look here on the Resort property, but that is not decided yet. We will have a seperate suite for the night of that the FI will take care of making it sweet and romantic. Here are some pictures of Pacific Palms.

This is a view from the Hotel (w/ No SoCal Smog):

This is a standard guest room:

The Honeymoon

We decided on Hawaii, because we wanted a place we truly could relax and wouldn't feel obligated to go out and catch all the sights because we may never come here again but we also wanted something really nice and romantic. Both the FI and I love Hawaii and have been there before. Both our parents are timeshare owners and said we could use their week if we found a place we liked. So with my mom's timeshare we booked a Studio Villa at the Westin in Princeville on Kauai. Since the FI and I have never lived together there will be a lot of new in our relationship and we want to enjoy cooking together and just beginning life with each other. So we will be making breakfast and lunch each day in our villa or at a BBQ on property and will use the evenings for a nice dinner. Kauai is a very mellow island, we plan to enjoy what the resort has to offer, do some snorkeling and hiking and maybe a round of golf. But we arent planning anything because we want to just enjoy the R&R with one another. Here are some pictures ofthe resort.

Studio Villa:

The Hotel Lobby:

The Front Desk:

The Pool (1 of them):

That is pretty much all folks!!!

At the beginning of my planning stages I swamped myself with Bridal magazines and will never forget clipping this ring bowl and deciding to use it in our wedding. FI and I do not have mch marriage tradition in our families. My parents are divorced and his got married in a courthouse, our grand parents have similar stories as well. So we want to incorporate items into our wedding that we can pass from generation-to-generation.

This is clay ring bowl is made by Lovegrowsbygiving

I just ordered ours to say "Love Never Fails 1 Cor. 13:8" I also asked for her to put a hole at the top so i can tie a ribbon on it to hold the rings. Mine should be arriving within a week or two, I will post it when it arrives.

NOTE: our ring bearer is 6 years old, he will be carrying the actual rings down.

Update: Ring Bowl Arrived

My ring bowl arrived and I am pretty excited to incorporate htis into the wedding and can't wait to see my detail shots of the wedding!

I'm looking for a Red ribbon to match our wedding colors, instead ofthe white one that came with it. The rings will be tied to the ribbon ends and resting in the bowl.

Invite Inspiration Board

I really want to go all out with my paper design, I believe its a great way to add detail, and personalization without breaking the bank.

Please feel free to comment on what i may be missing or a little detail you included that I havent thought of yet.

Here's what i got so far:

Invitation - Main Invite (done: desinged & printed)

Invitation - RSVP post card

Invitation - Map (done: desinged & printed)

Invitation - Accomodations (done: desinged & printed)

Invitation - Reception Card (done: desinged & printed)

Invitation Emblem (done: desinged & printed)

Escort Cards

Water Bottle Labels

Apple Cider Emblem

Reserved Seats Cards (Ceremony)

Reserved Seat Cards (Reception)

Coffee Label

Iced Tea Label

Lemonade Label

Sugar Label

Splenda Label

Sweet N Low Label

Creamer Label

Flavors Label (3)

Programs

Menus

Napkin Rings

Cupcake Table Sign

Guest Book Table Sign

Drink Table Sign

Bathroom Baskets

Grooms Suite - Door Sign

Bridal Suite - Door Sign

Flip Flop Basket Sign

Honeymoon Suite - Door Sign

So, I got this idea from a bridal magazine right when we got engaged. I knew it was something I wanted to incorporate into our wedding in some way. We knew we were going to do a Spanish theme from the beginning and maracas are a must. It became a better idea once we settled on plastic plates and plastic silverware, that we will never have the "clinging" of glasses. So we will add a cute little note on the back that says something on the lines of "shake the maracas for a kiss from the newlyweds" (we'll be much more creative, that's the FI job).

Our friend does airbrushing for a living and he has graciously offered to airbrush all our 500 maracas. They will be custom-made just for us! The maracas will be all black, with a little red on the top and bottom. Our initials will be on the front as well as our date Jan 2010 (month and year), and a little flourish as well.

I will continue to post pictures through out the whole process.

Purchase: Maracas From Oriental Trading Company

We are using little mini maracas for escort cards. We purchased these from Oriental Trading Company, $ 165 for 500 maracas.

Priming Maracas for Airbrush

We bought Kilz Original, from Home Depot. It is important to prime anything before you paint it, especially if it is a porous surface. With the primer, the wood of the maracas won't suck up all the paint from the airbrushing. FI helped with this project, but he likes to take the pictures. MAybe we'll post him up next time we do the rest of them.

laying out the maracas, this isn't even 1/3 of them.

I always have a need for a funny face.

Lesson learned: don't lay so many maracas out, with out a gap to stand pr maneuver around them. It made it awkward to cover the maracas in the center where it was hard to reach.

To be updated.

I wanted one of the amazing brooch bracelet all the ladies have been getting. But, I REALLY wanted to DIY. So I searched and search for an adequate brooch and couldn't find any - until I found the one from my inspiration :-)

Now I need to loo for the beads I will use as well as the clasp.

I've never gotten into Jewelery making, but am pretty excited to do this project.

Below you can see my inspiration for the strands, I really like the sarkle beads paced through out the strands seperating the pearls. I can't wait to see this with my dress.

After getting into using PhotoShop an otehr Adobe programs I decided I would design my own recipe cards to match the dishware we registered for and BedBathand Beyond. I love this paisley Pattern! I may change the blue and green I used on my Recipe Crd, to match a bit better. But, I'm pretty excited.

Here is the dish and mug:

Here is my DIY Recipe Card to match:

All of my design elements were designed in the Adobe Creative Suite Programs. Originally designed in Adobe Illustrator, than brought into Photoshop to touch up an add nice clen text. Than exported to a HighQuality PDF into inDesign to layout and print.

The main elemnt/motif was purchased from iStock and I changed the color as well as split it apart to create our monogram.

Monogram:

Invitation Card:

Map/Directions:

Recption/Information:

RSVP Postcard (Back):

RSVP Postcard (Front):

Final Product:

There are many amazing tutorials of how to do a DIY pocketfold, I have a very large guest list and had to make 300 pocketfolds, which I was looking for the easiest version but still obtain my desired look. I will describe to you how I did it. And below, I will add comments or notes from what I learned and what I would do different.

Inspiration for Pocketfold Envelope:

I wanted a 6"X6" pocketfold, which would require a 6.25"X6.25" envelope. I researched, and found out anything large than 6' in the USPS is considered "large" and would be charged more. So, I made a 5.75"X5.75" with a 6"X6" envelope.

Paper:

I searched high and low to find out the best way I could get paper for less. I wanted red cardstock and was willing to do all the cutting myself to save a good amount of money. I ordered from Paper-Papers, full size sheets (28.3"X40.2") of the Stardream Mars for $4.09/sheet (prices have gone up a little since I ordered), I got 9 pocketfolds from 1 sheet meaning they are 45cents/piece.

Cutting:

Unlike other DIY pocketfold tutorials I have seen. I did not use one solid piece of paper. One for the book part and one for the folder/pocket part. I did this because it was a lot easier to make the big/major cuts as rectangle pieces, than I hand cut the rest. I have access to a big cutter which made this part very simple.

Cutting Layout For 1-Pocketfold

Below is the Pocket/Folder Piece:

Below is the Book or Long Piece:

Layout On Full Size Sheet:

9 pocketfolds per 1 Full Sheet.

Putting It All Together:

The large cutter I have that made this much easier to do 300 pieces, can only fit page sizes 18"wide. So I made 2 cuts by hand, with a drafting table, large metal ruler, fiance's help and a sharp box cutter. I made cuts at 14.5" and 29" on the long (40.2") side.

I then used the large cutter to make rectangle pieces of the pocket as well as the long piece. So I had 300 pieces of 14.5 X 5.75, and 300 pieces of 6.75 X 3.25. I was able to use the cutter to make the tip on the long/book piece. I also, was able to use the cutter to cut the top notches on the pocket part.

Being able to use a large cutter was SO SO helpful, ask around and see if you can use one. I was able to stick the entire stack of 300 piece and cut all at once.

Here comes the hard work. 1st I used a FIskars cutter ($19.99), with the Scoring blade ($4.99) to make the score 5.75" from the right-side of the long/book piece.

I then cut the pocket piece, I used a ruler and a exacto knife. I changed the blades often which made it much easier. I also cut these by hand because they are cuts that will never be seen they are there to make the flaps fold over and lay flat. THe one cut I did carefully with a template and ruler was the "V" in the pocket. After cutting all the pocket pieces I used a scoring bone as well as a ruler to make 1/2" flaps on the sides and bottom of each pocket piece.

I used double-sided tape on the entire back side of the pocket piece (I did't want that sucker coming loose). I than placed it on the bottom corner of the book/long piece.

I folded the right side over and I made a mark just to the left of where the paper ended. (You don't want the folds to close to the edges, because of the paper's thickess it won't fold/lay properly. I then made the second score and fold the flap over to make a booklet.

Notes:

- when making your template use the same paper thickness, a few folds of thick paper can add up. My invitations "just" barely fit into the envelopes because the folding made them much thicker. About 5.75 tall and 6.12 wide.

- If you want a square pocketfold, I would make the right-side a little bit more narrow so your center part would be perfectly square. I printed the main invite part and cut it before I even made the pocketfolds. The center-portion of my pocketfold had to be a bit more rectangle (by 1/4 inch) for the paper thickness and folds. So there was a little extra room on the side of the invitation portion.

- Allow yourself more time than you would think!!!!

I wanted to hand address my 300 invitations. After a month of practicing my hand-writing it didn't imporve, I also had lack of time. I decided I would need to label my invitations. I had already purchased the black envelopes and you can't print on black in any way that would be legible. I searched out a way to have a label still have it be just as elegant as the rest of my invitations.

So I got a cuttlebug. Cute frame die-cut. Full sheet labels.

1) I printed the labels, using a data merge feature. The layout was 4-labels per sheet. I also put real tiny hashmarks to use as guides, these marks would be cut off anyways.

2) I cut the labels into individual squares.

3) I made a guide mark on my die-cut.

4) I ran each label individually though my cuttlebug to make my labels.

5) Placed each label on the envelope and finished it with a Queen & King stamp.

I became such a stickler for wanting things how I invisioned them. I had an idea for my unity candles and couldn't find anything close.

Shopping List:

3 candles (2 short, 1 tall)

3 candlesticks (2 short, 1 tall)

1 Spool of ribbon w/ wire

Double-sided tape

Final Project:

Here are the pictures my Baker took when she set it up.

I will post professional and more pictures as well, soon.

Roayalty Cakes

5236 D street, Chino CA 91710

909.628.8840

Flickr Site: Cakeladyam's