Marge; The Messinator; The Destructor; Mertle the Turtle; Tornado Butt; Margeit.  These are the nicknames that my fiance Chris has so passionately given me over the years.  I am messy (AKA I stpill things a lot), clumsy (hence helping me spill things a lot more), SLOW (according to him; mostly at walking, due to my short legs + the fact that I have a hip replacement), I wiggle around in bed a lot (A LOT, I guess), and Margeit, well that's a mixture between Marge and Midget.  How kind. :)  No really, it doesn't bother me at all; actually I find it quite intriguing and encouraging how well we get along with one another, even with the making-fun-of-me nicknames!  We're kind of like a mixture between... two little kids kindling a best-friend relationship, and two eighty year olds who have been together for three quarters of their lifetime. 

I am 23 years old, and am truly blessed to have the wonderful man that God has given me.  I have tremendous strenght through my faith, my family, my relationship with my fiance Chris, and through my friends.  All of these things have been like a life-support link for me throughout the last 5 years; through high school and college graduation, two major surgeries, our engagement, moving about twelve hundred times, and through my biggest obstacle in life - a hip replacement.  My best buds Chris and Ryan were there for my big surgery, along with my mom and dad.  After that, I met some new friends in college, at Saginaw Valley State University (rooming with my buddy Meag, and kicking some Seung-ni butt with Cassie), and strengthened some old relationships with some old pals from high school, mainly Heather.  I have stayed close with my cousins, who I played Monster with in their barn and went ice skating with on homemade ponds growing up.  My memories of childhood could never be any better kept than they are, as is.  I wouldn't have changed anything!

My parents have tried to give me everything in life that they possibly can; and they have done that on a tight budget.  Though my dad is a cop, most people don't realize that he works for the lowest paying police department in the entire state of Michigan.  And my mom had to switch careers at age 50, from court reporting to nursing, because of the lack of need and because of the growing technologies in the legal field.  But they've done everything they can to supply me with loving, geneorus, faithful, hard working morals, the drive to succeed, communication skills, and respect.  They have suppported me when I have failed, and even in my deepest darkest moments, stil had true, undenial pride in me.  They (for the most part) are the reason I am who I am today!

I am currently planning my (ok, OUR) wedding, which will take place on August 6th, 2011, the date of my late Grandma Margot's birthday (which we did not plan!).  I recently graduated with my BS in Medical Technology and Biology, and will be attending William Beaumont Hospital's School of Medical Technology starting in December of this year.

My life - no, my grown-up life - is beginning; I am TERRIFIED; I feel lonely and depressed, scared and apprehensive; and I am excited as hell.

:) :) :) :)

So a while back I went and looked for BM dresses with one of my girls, Meagan.  It's unfortunate that with 6 girls it's very difficult to get everyone to go to the same try-on date; in fact, it's hard for a few of the girls to get any days off to go!  So luckily, I got Cassie to go dress shopping with me a while back (didn't get to post the pics till now) and my other friend Megan came along and also tried some on for us. 

So the one's below are of Cassie and Megan.  Didn't find any that SUPER stood out yet, but sill, we tried on some funky ones for fun!!!!

By the way - our colors for the wedding are dark purple, black, and ivory!  (with a hint of silver maybe at the reception - because there's a little bit in my dress!)

Really liked this, but a little heavy material.

Love the look of the elegance of the long ones, but it's just gotta be so hot, with all those pickups!

This one was sooo cute!  Cassie was such a good sport she just HAD to try it on!  And it doesn't look too bad!  (But sorry girls, it reminds me a of some over-the-top cowgirl hoe-down or something... sorry!)

I didn't like this one that much in real life, but in the pic it looks very form-fitting and elegant.  Like.  I decided that I would like to go with a purple/plum/amethyst/eggplant (one or the other) satin material like in above.

Really liked this one, but I do think the pickups are a bit much.  Plus, this material is tafetta, which although light, doesn't come ever ever ever in the purple that I like; rather an irridescent shiny pearly purple, which I don't like.

Not my favorite, but if the girls wanted to pick this in purple I would be happy; it would be more fitted, so it would look tighter and better against the body.  If a girl wanted a formal but simple look this would be good for them I think.

This is kind of like the one above; simple, but formal.  The wasitband is a little thinner which I think makes the tummy look a bit smaller.

Didn't like this one; although Cassie does look pretty much good in anything!

Awwwww!  This reminds me of "Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet" for some reason.  Love the cupcake look Cass!  (Just not in my wedding lol).  If it wasn't QUITE so poofy then it would be cuter :)

Meg said this color usually doesn't look good on her; but I thought this dress looked great (as far as the color).  I definitely don't like the chiffon material; everything shows, and yeah, it's light and fluffy (which is nice, because they can stay cool in the hot weather on the beach for the ceremony), but I don't think it says elegant and formal like the satin dresses do.

Again, really cute style (this tea length was more what I was orignially going for), but hate the taffeta.  Plus the whole dress is cute but doesn't speak to me.

This one looked a lot more horrible in person than it does here!! Haha (no offense Meg).  But is def waaaay too heavy for an August wedding, too much in the design; but this is the color purple I really like!

Again, the color purple I like.  HATE the dress (no offense Cass!).  Just does nothing extra for the body.

This was prolly my fave of the day. Lightweight, though taffeta (yuck), but cute, trendy.  Still, didn't come in my purple, and I don't like the material anyways.  Was hoping for mooore.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hehehe... she had to try this one on for good times' sake!  The funny thing is... she liked it!!!! GODDD!! I hated it, but, whatever makes ya happy Meg!!! lol

OVERALL,

Didn't find the BM dress of my dreams yet.  At this point I was beginning to consider picking a brand and material and color and letting the girls try them on, but I knew I had to get a few more to try some on so I could get a better idea.

Meg (not Meag, my BM) and I went to try some on at Unique Bridal in Auburn, MI.  We found some I looove which I had Meag (BM) try on at a later date.  I do have pics of Meag, but not Meg. 

When trying on with my girl, I tried to be less general, and more specific, eliminate more things, be more picky, and pay attention more to comfort, cost, and material.

So here's Meag trying some on at Lola's in Saginaw:

This is one of the few tea length ones I absolutely LOVED on Meg in Auburn.  I had to have Meagan try it on.  She said it was comfortable, and pretty, but that's about it; she didn't feel like a princess in it.  I loooved it.  The only prob was this one is a Bill Levkoff, which runs around $200, I think a little bit expensive (though GREAT satin material).

LOOOVED this one.  She looked like a HOT MAMA!.  This one is also a Bill Levkoff, so again expensive, but super nice satin material.  But this one was a little form fitting and too tight for Meag; she especially needs a comfortable dress that's practical for her sitting in her chair.  There was one more black Bill Levkoff we tried on; it was long, and gooorgeous on her; pleated on the entire bodice, but then the pleating stopped right above the wasitline.  She didn't think it would be comfortable sitting in her chair at the reception the whole time.  (Plus the lady at the shop didn't help, talking her out of it the whole time!!! lol).  We both looved it, but knew it wasn't practical for her.  I still wanted her to be comfortable.

This one was cute, but no cigar.  It was eh ok.  I would be totally fine with a BM wearing it, though I think they could all have a bit more spicy dresses and more formal (more "bridesmaidy" as Meagan put it).  I believe this one, though, and all the following dresses are Alfred Angelo; right now I am in a dilemma between Bill Levkoff and Alfred Angelo (though I am leaning toward Alfred Angelo)!

We both loooved this one.  A little looser at the tummy so it gave volume and showed off curves, but with a little pleating and high waist to hide the tummy in a bit.  Plus, it has the sweetheart neckline like my gown.  We really liked this one.

OK can't really see this one that well, but it was GORGEOUS on her.  The color and the style were great.  It has a corset back, which means it can go super tight for the chubby-wasited girl, or give curves to the super-poley girl.  The pleats also give curves and make the tummy look tiny (even though you'd think it's the opposite; it really works!).  This is a style I'd reccomend for my girls.

This one is of the short version of the Alfred Angelo that Meag ending up picking for herself (see below).  Looks great sitting down, formal, gives nice curves, and is really lightweight, and satin!  Comes in grape and purple (which I like both!)

This is the one she looved.  She said she felt like a princess in it; and I think she looked like one! And it will look even better in the right color and fitted nice and tight to her body.  It is long, which will be a little tough in August weather outdoors, but she said she'd rather tough it out for a short half hour or so and look great than wear a short dress just to be comfortable and look ok.  Plus, she said this one was very comfortable, and lightweight material!

I think we're on the right track!

OK, so I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking over and over about this in my head.  At first, I was thinking of just going with Alfred Angelo dresses, long satin ones.  The girls could then choose the dress they please; I would recommend my faves (two of which are above, both with corset backs and pleating on them somewhere).  Then I was thinking, I remember looking at the Bill Levkoffs (which I LOOOVED) and saw that his eggplant color matched almost EXACTLY to the Alfred Angelo grapes in satin.  THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THAT is that I reeeeeallly love the other purple Alfred Angelo color (eggplant) better (it's more true purple instead of pinky purpley wine color), and Bill Levkoff only carries eggplant, which is more sort of wine colored. 

But still considering these things..... I know the ladies said not to mix and match manufacturers... but what if some of the girls absolutely looove the Bill Levkoffs and not so much the Alfred Angelo's (which I think is what the case will be)????  I already know that the Alfred Angelos are more practical for Meag and more comfortable, plus she looves it. [see:

Amd number 2 above, too, would look great.  I just think that the Bill Levkoff one's might give them some more options, and maybe they'd like them better.  Becasue there's not that many unique options (in long and pleated, and corset backs) on the Alfred Angelo website; sure there's some, but these two are my favorite.  The other long ones mostly don't tell you whether or not there is a corset back, leaving you guessing on most.

So we could either mix and match the two brands in grape/eggplant long, or long and short, OR do all black mixing the brands (with all long or with mixed long/short), which is still another option.  OR we could just pick EITHER all Alfred Angelo, OR all Bill LEvkoff.  See my dilemmas??

And I don't know about mixing longs with shorts.  I am not super into it, and I totttally love the long, formal look that Meag found in the dress above.  BUT I also reallly like some of the shorter ones by Bill Levkoff.  I'll post both longs and shorts of both brands for now so you can get a better idea.

First: Alfred Angelo:

The two styles below are my favorite Alfred Angelo longs. They both have belly pleating and corset backs.

My friend wore this dress dress and it looked EXACTLY like this on her!!!!

Another girl in the same wedding as my friend wore this one; she was a little more curvy, but it looked spectacular on her!

Below are some others that I do really like (but are def not my fave):

The ones below are my favorite Alfred Angelo shorts:

The ones below are ok (but don't really do justice on the girls' bodies; Meagan tried all of them on, and she just didn't feel formal and bridesmaidy enough):

This last one lookeed pretty good on her (though not good enough to take a pic).

K, so the ones below are the Bill Levkoffs I like.  I couldn't get the pics off the site due to the copyright, so I couldn't get the right colors.

This ones kind of, ehh.

LOVE this one; Meagan tried it on and it looked fabulous on her; just a little too form-fitting for her comfort level.

This one looks very flattering.

Eh, kind of prommy, but might look good on one of the girls.

REALLY like this one; I think Megan tried it on a while ago (though we didn't get any pics) and it looked great.

LOVE IT.  Meagan and Megan both looked great in this one.  But it was not my BM's favorite style.

This ones kind of, ehhh.

I think this is really cute; don't know if it'd go with my dress and all, but maybe it would look cute one one of the skinnier girls.

Meagan tried this one on in black (we forgot to snap a pic of it) and it looked stunnning; again, the sweetheart neckline would match my neckline on my gown.  But we decided the tight pleating that stops at the waste would be uncomfortable for her.  On another girl, it might be more comfortable.

I absolutely looove this one!  When Megan tried it on, didn't look that good (the bow was a little much), but maybe on one of the BMs.

I think this would give a skinny girl curves and tighten in the curves of a curvier girl.  Like it!

Kind of simple, but I like it.  When fitted right, it could look very sexy and elegant.

This one's hot!  I like.

Another one that would be good for different body shapes; really looks like it would hold ya in!

And this one, too.

Yeah, not so much this one, but still, it would be a practical option.

Check and done!  We heard of Trisha Tecmire (then Trisha Losee) of Trisha Lynh Photography through some other engaged friends of ours that booked her for their wedding.  I had been researching and comparing and contrasting all these "bargain" photographers from down here in the tri-city area; I knew I didn't want anyone from up north in Hick Town; no, I wanted someone who created quality, artistic, and creative photos.  And these "bargain" photographers were not really up to my standards.  Finally I found Trisha and bam - I knew she was the one!!!!  She is not the cheapo priced photographer from Saginaw; but she is definitely not expensive either.  One look at her website and you will love her too!  Here are some of her pictures from her facebook page:

I can't wait to work with Trisha and get REALLY creative!!!!!  Our engagement photos are on September 26th... sooo excited!

Chris and I have been together so long that far before the proposal we knew we wanted an outdoor wedding.  I am a very churchy girl; but we both just absolutely love the beauty of the outdoors, especially the beach.  But no - the first place we looked at for our ceremony was not the beach.  I wanted something bigger, better, and always came up empty handed. I found myself talking to our friends about how Chris and I grew up miles from the sandy shores of Lake Huron, how we had picnics there late at night, how we spent summer days there, and quick Subway or Dairy Queen stops to finish our yummy food together, and I was always excited talking about it.  So we decided to go look at the most beautiful setting along the beach in all of Alcona and Iosco Counties, that we felt could also make the greatest impact upon our guests.

This place, formerly the Holiday Inn, is now known as Tawas Bay Beach Resort in little East Tawas.  We fell in love with it!  And on the same day, we went and looked at the Community Center, which I had never been to, and fell in love with that even more!!!!

Here's the resort pics:

And here are pics of the East Tawas Community Center:

We are going to TAKE THIS BABY OVER and give it a new kind of makeover; it will be lile Extreme Makeover: Wedding Reception Edition!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!

So we got our engagement pics done this last weekend.  Can't WAIT to see them!  Trisha and her hubby Chris were AWESOME!  Very easy to get along with, down to earth, and super creative and funny all in one!

Will update asa soon as I get the pics!

EEEEEEEEEEEK!  Our photographer, Trisha, from Trisha Lynn Photography, posted a preview of our pics on her facebook page, here. Here are the pics::::::: SOOO EXCITED:::::

There should be more like the first "Save the Date" one; I think they'll definitely serve their purpose!!!!!! :)

Inspirations for Reception Table Decor:

Inspirations for Bridal Party Table Decor:

About our Wedding Theme:

FI and I are LOVE rock music - classic rock, oldies, rock, alternative, metal, heavy meatal - he is a total rocker (and a HOT one I might add).  He is a musician - plays electric and accoustic.  When we began talking about what we wanted in out wedding, the one thing we agreed on was that we wanted it to be the most fun and unique but STILL elegant wedding that our friends and family have experienced.  So I came up with the idea of having a Rock an' Roll / Music-Inspired Wedding - and FI was ecstatic!!!  So that's where it went from there! 

We planned on hanging up his electric guitars on the walls as well as some of his friends' guitars, albums and covers of famous oldies bands like the Beatles, and having tablecards say names of songs instead of numbers.  The ideas kept rolling out from there......  and we are SO excited!!!!!  Can't wait to entertain everyone in the biggest and most fun way possible!

It has been both a dream come true - and a complete recurring, never-ending nightmare -planning this wedding. LMAO!!!

I never understood the stresses that brides go through; now I understand why some of those girls on that show "Bridezilla" act the way they do! Because there is no WAY you can stay sane while planning this shin-dig!!!!

Hahaha.... I exaggerate. Not really. but truthfully, the wedding planning itself has led me to find new crafts and hobbies that I will continue to do that I never would have found otherwise. Making hair flowers out of fabric, for example, along with making fabric purses, designing invitations, etc.

It is not those things that make pulling the thing together difficult - it's the THEME. I thought it would be all fun and games - but it is actually very difficult to plan a modern, classy, elegant wedding that also incorporates hard rock elements, the past, edgy patterns and colors, edgy music, extra decor that normally would not be at a wedding reception - without it looking tacky. So, I guess we'll do what Tony Horton says in his P90X workout DVDs (which are AWESOME btw):

"Do your best - and forget the rest!"

Chris and I were debating over whether to get a DJ for the reception, or book a live band.  We really liked the idea of having a live band play as it went well with our theme, and we had had LOADS of fun at live band receptions before.  But we also don't want the entire night to be ALL rock and roll; we want it to be different generations of rock, rock and roll, alternative rock, and some other things slightly off to the side. 

SOOO.... we finally did it!  We met with DJ Robert Lawrence, who literally took hours out of his day to speak with us and get a feel for what we want.

He is also the owner of Uplights, a company which rents out their highly rated uplighting LED lights for decoration.  These lights cost about $100 a pop, and he is giving us 5 free for the head table!

DJ Robert Lawrence is sooo much more than that...  he is an entertainer.  And Chris and I decided that we want people to be ENTERTAINED at our reception and have the most fun ever!!!!  And that's what he is going to do.... he has surprises for the guests, surprises for us, and makes the event more personal than we can ever imagine.... hopefully he is as good as he talks!