Our wedding day was quite honestly the best day ever!  I know brides say that all the time but I can't think of another day when I was happier, had more fun, or enjoyed myself more!  Having all my closest friends and family around me, seeing all my hard work over the course of a year come together, and most importantly, marrying the best thing that has ever happened to me was so incredible!  If I could, I would do it all over again exactly the same way! :)  Here is our day, as seen through the eyes of our fantastically talented photographer, Kristi Klemens (KLK Photography).  Enjoy the journey...I know I did!

(If you use any of these photos, please credit me and my photographer.  Thanks!)

The Venue (Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club):

DH and the guys before the ceremony:

Getting ready with the girls:

My MOH's delivering my Boudoir photo album to him moments before the ceremony:

Bridal portraits:

The ceremony:

Bride and Groom portraits:

Details:

Reception: 

The end......

    

I LOVE my ring! I had absolutely no part in picking it. He wanted no input from me...and I think he did an amazing job! :)  Below is a picture of my wedding band.  My e-ring has a matching band that would make a set, however I wouldn't be able to wear my wedding band alone so I decided to go with the simple, straight eternity band below.  I'm so happy with it!          

My fiance and I went to pick out his ring the other day.  He went with a more modern design with a bit of bling.  His ring is the design below, however his will be in satin, or brushed, platinum rather than the polished design below.  Hey, guys can have a little bling too, right?? :)                                               

Here are our bands together...

                                

Both the ceremony and the reception will be held at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo on October 11, 2008. We loved the feel of the venue as soon as we saw it. It makes you feel as if you're at a destination wedding at a winery, when really, you're just in OC!

                              

Can't wait to walk through these gates...

Cocktail hour will also be at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club between the ceremony and the reception.  This picture is of the patio where it will be held.  We will have an acoustic guitarist, signature cocktails, and appetizer stations, as well as tray passed appetizers.  Hope FI and I get to try at least some of them! :)

                             

This is the outside view of the ballroom at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club.

My FI and I have decided not to see each other before the ceremony...chalk it up to sentimental tradition!  So we'll be separated into two locations at Arroyo Trabuco.  My bridesmaids and I will be hanging out here in the bridal room, sipping champagne

while FI and his boys will be here, in the bar...of course :)

Chocolate Brown with Fuschia and Orange! :)

                                           

On my third attempt at dress shopping, I found THE dress! Elegant, modern, a bit sexy, all me...I love it!

I love the back of the dress... 
                                             

                                     

Love, love, love! I wanted a little bit of pizzazz under my gown...so fun!

                                  

So initially I was only going to wear my crystal drop earrings and my engagement ring on the wedding day, however....I fell in love! I saw this bracelet made by Mikan Designs on Etsy and the plan changed. I just purchased this as a b-day gift to myself. It's a bit of a splurge but it's so worth it. I can't wait to wear it!!

                       

                         

                  

These are hair styles I'm loving right now.  All of them have different qualities that I like but all have the same feel.   Ultimately I want a low, off-center chignon with some height in the crown and softness around my face! :)

With only a week til the wedding, I'm rethinking my low side chignon.  I'm now thinking more along the lines of a side ponytail.  I bought some clip in extensions to use since my hair is fairly fine.  Here is the look I might go for:

But since I'm wearing a veil for the ceremony, I'm not sure where it could be placed if I go with this style.  So if my stylist doesn't think this look will work, I'll probably stick with something along these lines:

I love the look of this makeup.  I'm hoping for a similar look...

At first I thought I wanted a veil.  Then I decided that I didn't.  Now, I want one again!  I know...typical bride.  I think I'm finally set on wearing one now, though.  I'll only wear it for the ceremony, along with the feather flower above, and then take it off for the reception.  I guess it's the only time in my life that I can wear a veil and get away with it! :)  I'll likely do a fingertip length veil with a plain, cut edge and no crystals, pearls, or beading.  Simple and elegant.  It is being made by my dress seamstress and will look much like this one without the beaded edging...

                                          

All the bridesmaids have ordered and received their dresses and they all love them! They are going to look stunning! 

FI and I went to pick out tuxes finally.  Here is what we think we're going with..

For the groom, he'll be in an ivory vest/long tie to match my dress:

And for the groomsmen, we're going with a subtle chocolate striped tie and vest:

We think we're going to do classic black for the dads:

                          

I love this dress that I found on www.cottoncandydress.com! My two flower girls will be almost 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 at our wedding and I think they will look so adorable in it!

And here are their shoes!

                 

My mom found her dress! It's this gorgeous dress by Tadashi. She's going to have it shortened to tea length since she's pretty short. The longer length would overwhelm her but a shorter length would be just perfect. She didn't want the typical boring jacket and long skirt that MOB's are expected to wear. She's going to look amazing! :)

I had my floral trial with Green Leaf Designs recently.  Shelby did a mock-up of both my tall and short centerpieces and of my bouquet.  Here is a picture of what my actual bouquet will look like on the wedding day...

Here are pictures of my tall and short centerpieces from my recent trial.  Both will be a bit fuller on the actual day and we talked about making some modications to them.

Tall - The actual ones will not have the stems of the curly willow showing in the vase...it will be just filled with water... and the vase will actually be square.  And the curly willow coming out of the top will not have the greening leaves on them.  The flowers will be more pinks and oranges and less green.

Short - The tulips on the actual wedding day will be parrot tulips.  And all three vases will be more full.  I'm not sure how I feel about the green spider mums but I don't know what I would replace them with.

                                      

We just had our cake tasting at It's All About the Cake...so good! We're doing this design but with only three tiers. The risers in between the tiers will be chocolate brown. We'll be doing flowers similar to this but more like the ones on our invitations below in pink and orange. And they won't be in a straight line but more randomly placed on the tiers.

For flavors we choose:
Tier 1: chocolate cake with cappuccino flavored pastry cream and whipped cream.
Tier 2: chocolate cake with raspberries and whipped cream.
Tier 3: chocolate cake with chocolate bavarian cream.

We're also doing off-white buttercream frosting rather than the chewy fondant. Yum!

Also, as a cute little decoration for when the cake is served to our guests, a small little flag will be put in each piece.  I found them on Etsy from seller Buttercreambee.  

Our design will look like this with a dark brown crystal at the top:

I wasn't originally going to do a cake topper but I really liked the simplicity of this mirrored acrylic monogrammed topper that I found.  It will coordinate well with the more sleek, modern aspects of our wedding and the font will match the monogrammed "C" on our menus as well.

We will be doing escort cards to guide our guests to their assigned tables.  I purchased tent-style place cards and put a flourish stamp and crystal on each.  Then I attached each card to a floral pick.  The guests' names and assigned tables will be calligraphied onto each card.  The place cards will then be inserted into a bed of moss.  They will look similar to the ones below, only in fuschia and brown...

I'm not the best at DIY so I ordered both our menus and our table numbers online...but for the life of me I can't remember from where! :)  Anyway, I added a crystal to both to continue the theme...

So I just completed my favorite DIY project of all...our card box!  It was really easy...box from TJ Maxx and other supplies like ribbon, silk flowers, and rhinestones from Michaels.  Easy and inexpensive and pretty awesome if I do say so myself!  I love it!

For our "guest book" we're doing a wish tree for our guest to write their good wishes, words of wisdom, and congratulations.  Our florist is going to construct the tree using manzanita branches and place it in a square box with moss and flowers at the base.  Here is the set-up that I put together to go along with it.

My mom put together a bathroom basket for the ladies room filled with all the necessities any guest could possibly need should something go wrong during the reception!

We have decided to have a small memorial table at the reception to remember those loved ones that have passed on.  We have seven grandparents and two uncles that will be honored by displaying their picture.  Our venue has a pretty side table on one side of the room that we'll use:

Our florist will put votive candles around the pictures and scatter some greenery around them.  We're also using more vintage photos for the grandparents which will add a nice touch.  Below are a few of the photos we'll use.  The person's name and relation to us will be written on the cards in front of each frame:

Here is a photo of what our table looked like at our reception:

DH and I had both been to countless weddings where the favors were left behind by the guests.  Knowing this, we didn't want our money to go to waste.  We figured that since weddings are, in and of themselves, an extravagance, we would do something more meaningful in place of the traditional favors.  Instead of giving our guests a small trinket as a token of our wedding, we made a donation in the name of our wedding and as a  recognition of our guests.  We both have family members that have either lost their lives or have been affected by cancer so we made the decision to make a donation to the American Cancer Society.  We did this through the I DO Foundation.  To inform our guests of the donation, we placed a tent card on each table explaining the donation and why it was made.  Many guests commented that they were touched by the gesture...especially my aunt that was recovering from lung cancer.  

Seating of the Parents: Harvest Moon by Neil Young 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMA-_ElvKsk

Bridesmaid Processional: Beloved One by Ben Harper 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usJgAwTVee8

Processional: Canon in D by Pachelbel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Sh9cKEDH0

Recessional: Better Together by Jack Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u57d4_b_YgI

Bridal Party Reception Entrance: Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t7xE8yovw4

Our Grand Entrance: Ball and Chain by Social Distortion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cf6k4yJyv0

First Dance: Stolen by Dashboard Confessional (acoustic version) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HSTA2ucYuc

Father/Daughter Dance: I Loved Her First by Heartland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXhJ3oCg3K8

Mother/Son Dance: In My Life by The Beatles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT3Q_BIIRJM

Cake Cutting: Sweetest Thing by U2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO4i8LX4zAE

Last Dance: Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye or The Best Is Yet to Come by Frank Sinatra???

We've decided to stick with just beer and wine for the majority of the reception.  However, for cocktail hour we're also doing two signature cocktails to be tray passed, one will be a cosmo martini and one will be a vodka tonic!  Below is the menu:

Also, to accompany the cigars we'll be serving later in the evening, we'll be offering our guests a glass of cognac or port to complement their cigar.

I thought that doing the seating arrangements would be a total nightmare.  But in order to keep things organized, I devised a good system.  I drew out the layout of the room on a foam board and put each guest's name on a strip of sticky note.  Then I grouped people by logical groups, like my friends, FI's friends, family, etc.  Then I put each person's name around a table.  I was able to better visualize the seating this way and it was easy to move people from one table to another.  It only took me about two hours total to do the seating!  Perfect!

My parents were married 40 years ago this year. Amazing! :) To honor their marriage and my mom, I've decided to alter my mom's wedding dress to knee length (with her blessing) and wear it to our wedding rehearsal. I can't wait!!

Here's what I've decided to do to satisfy each of these traditions:

Old - my mom has a box of antique lace that was hand stitched by women in my family many, many years ago. I'm going to have my florist wrap some of it around the handle of my bouquet.
                                         

New - my wedding dress! :) (Please ignore the weird, windblown model in the picture...)
                                         

Borrowed - I will have my florist attach the cross that both my mom and her mom wore at their wedding to the handle of my bouquet! You can see it in this picture of my mom on her wedding day.
                                          

Blue - cute panties! With a lucky horseshoe, thank you!
                                 

At the end of July, my wonderful bridesmaids threw me a fabulous bridal shower and bachelorette weekend.  We combined the two into one weekend to make it easier for people traveling from out of town.  First off was an awesome evening shower at an Italian restaurant.  Good food, wine, and great friends made for such a great night for me!

The next day, my bridesmaids took me to South Coast Winery Resort and Spa in Temecula for an amazing scrub/massage and some lounging poolside.  We also had a great lunch there with more friends that joined up with us and then did some wine tasting...

Later that evening, we headed out for some yummy Mexican food and bar-hopping, karaoke, and mixing with the locals in old town Temecula...

It was such a great time and I was overwhelmed with all the effort and love that my friends and family showed toward making my weekend special.  I'm truly lucky! :)

Now that the wedding has come and gone, I can safely post this section without fear that DH will snoop around! :)  As part of his wedding gift, I did a Boudoir Photo shoot with our wedding photographer, Kristi Klemens.  It was such an amazing experience - I left the shoot feeling confident and self-assured.  Later, I made a photo book on Shutterfly.  On the day of the wedding, I had my two MOH's deliver the book to DH about an hour before the ceremony.  I had our second shooter there to capture his reaction.  All he could say was "WOW".  He was more than pleased and told me later that it was such a great gift.  I would highly recommend that any bride do this at some point...it's an amazing experience and a memorable gift!  Here are a few of the more internet appropriate images from the shoot!

In addition to the boudoir photo album I gave DH as a wedding gift, I also wanted to give him something that he could use more often and actually show other people!  He loves music and plays guitar so I thought something related to that would be appropriate.  He also likes to wear cufflinks...so I found the perfect combination of the two.  I got him these sterling silver guitar pick cufflinks to wear on the wedding day.  He absolutely LOVED them and he has worn them several times since the wedding!

We finally got to go to the Orange County Recorder's office to get our marriage license today!  So quick and easy...strange to know that we can go get hitched tomorrow if we wanted to! :)

I had five great girls that I wanted to stand up with me when I got married.  Three close friends, my cousin, and DH's sister.  In order to ask them to a bridesmaid in our wedding, I bought these cookies from Weddingish.com.  I wrote each girl a letter expressing how I felt about them and our relationship and then had them open the cookie.  Three girls didn't live locally so I had to mail the cookie and letter to them.  But I got excited phone calls from each of them after they opened them.  It was so much fun! :)

I started out getting my bridesmaids a great Murval pink and brown large tote from Give Simple to carry all their necessities for the day of the wedding.  It's also so cute and functional that they could definitely use it again:

Then I got each of the girls a zippered pink travel jewelry pouch from Blitz Inc:

To wear on the wedding day, I bought the girls each a pair of smokey topaz drop earrings from Overstock:

Theeeen, I got them each a bright pink pashmina from Peach Couture to use during the reception, should the weather turn chilly as the night goes on

Oh, and lastly, I wanted them to have some comfort for their feet with all the dancing they'll be doing so I got each of them some Foot Petals:

Hopefully they will like everything! :)

I wanted to personalize my bridesmaids' bouquets a bit and suprise them with something cute at the same time.  I found these charms on Etsy from seller Bittyblock.  They are made from actual Scrabble tiles.  I had each girl's initial put on a tile and had half of them done in pink and the other half done in orange.  My florist then attached them to the handles of the bouquets.  They loved them!

My FI has received his fair share of flasks from being in weddings that he hasn't used since, so he didn't want to go the traditional route when picking a gift for his guys.  He wanted to get them something they would use...something most guys would appreciate.  He decided on getting each of them a stainless steel BBQ tool set in a great carrying case:

He's also giving them a great steak rub from Dean and Deluca to go with it:

We are lucky to have the two most adorable flower girls in our wedding.  To show them our appreciation for participating in our special day, we're getting them a few gifts.  For the rehearsal, they will be wearing these t-shirts:

And at the rehearsal dinner, we'll give them bags similar to these, although their's are little napsack-type backpacks.  I'm going to fill it with things to keep them entertained during dinner, like coloring books, etc:

I also made each of them a matching crystal bracelet with their names on it:

I wanted to give my mom and my FMIL a keepsake from the wedding...something small but sentimental.  I knew there would be tears that day (of joy of course!) so I decided to get them each an embroidered handkerchief from Felicia's Fancies.  These are examples of the two that I got:

FI and I shot our engagement photos out at the Salton Sea with our photographer, Kristi Klemens. What an awesome experience! Kristi is SUCH an amazing photographer and the photos she did for us prove that!  To top it off, her fiance Paul of Blue Sky Videos tagged along and videotaped our session.  He sent us the video he shot of that day. Such a great keepsake to have! :) Follow the links below to check it out... www.blueskyvideos.com > Enter site > Movie Gallery > Engagement.  And here is a link to our slide show: http://blueskyvideos.com/klkphotography/Michelle_Dave_ES/

FI and I will be staying at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point for our wedding night.  We booked an ocean view room with a late check out.  Our first night as husband and wife! :)

Here is the list of vendors that are booked at this point. I've had good experiences with them all thus far...

• Venue - Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club (www.arroyotrabuco.com)
  
• Dress (Mori Lee) - Jinny's Bridal (www.jinnysbridal.com)
  
• Tuxes - Friar Tux (www.friartux.com)
• Photographer - KLK Photography (www.klkphotography.com)
  
• Videographer - Sketch Images (www.sketchimages.com)
  
• Florist - Green Leaf Designs (www.greenleafdesigns.com)
  
• DJ/Lighting - Atmosphere Events (www.atmospheredj.com)
  
• Ceremony/Cocktail Musician (guitar) - Paul Lemire (www.twohatsentertainment.com)
  
• Cake - It's All About the Cake (www.itsallaboutthecake.com)
  
• Hair/Makeup - Natalie Buketov 
  
• Officiant - Gregg Max (http://orangecountymarryingman.org)
  
• Cigar Bar - La Habana Cigar Co. (http://www.lahabanacigar.com)
  
• Transportation - ULC Limos (www.ulclimos.com) 
  

                                  

We've decided to go to Thailand for our honeymoon! We wanted to go somewhere different from the norm...a little beach, a little adventure, a little culture! We absolutely can't wait! We booked through American Express Travel. So far, great service!! Here's where we're staying:

Bangkok (2 nights) - Royal Orchid Sheraton 
                                   

Koh Samui (4 nights) - Anantara Resort and Spa
                                   

Chiang Mai (3 nights) - Rachamankha Resort
                                   

Hong Kong - (2 nights) - Harbour Plaza
                                   

And the best part?? Our flights are free!! Gotta love frequent flyer miles!!

We had a great time at the wedding rehearsal.  Everyone met at Arroyo Trabuco to run through the ceremony...it only took two run-throughs seeing as almost everyone in the bridal party had been married before! :)  I wore my mom's wedding dress from 40 years ago that I had altered.  It was a hit!  Here are a few pictures from the day:

After a great rehearsal at the venue, everyone headed over to the Chart House in Dana Point for the rehearsal dinner.  We had about 35 people attend the tropical buffet-style dinner.  There were a lot of photos, laughs, fun speeches, and gifts handed out to the bridal party.  It was a nice way to spend time with people in a relaxed setting before the wedding the next day.