I found some more books at work recently on the subject of non-traditional weddings, specifically Let's Elope. Granted, its a decade old at this point but it's still useful. For example, I had no idea what to do about engagement or wedding announcements, now I do. It also supplied more reasons for eloping, strategies for your parents, and information about places to go other than Las Vegas, which I had not even thought about, much less considered. I think we'll stick with Vegas though.

I spoke to Amy about the possibility of her making the wedding. I wanted to give her a lot of lead time because I know money is tight for a lot of us. She's my best friend in the whole world and she lives in Florida now. It'll be tough to plan everything without her. I really hope she can make it.

It would also be nice if my parents could make it, but I don't have high hopes. Much like Amy, there is work and funding to consider and they are not small considerations at all.

126 days left.

Kinda Sleepy

So, I managed to talk to my best friend Shelby last weekend for the first time in over a year or so. It was great being able to catch up. Turns out they moved back to PA cuz they were tired of running around the world and such, go figure. Anyways I told him and his wife Amanda about the wedding (I'm pretty sure they are the only two outside of me and Trista who know about it) and I'm pretty excited cuz they said they would do their best to be there! Which is awesome because I was Shelby's best man at his wedding and It'd be awesome for him to be mine, plus there's nothing cooler than hanging out in vegas right? Well wait I guess there is, getting married in vegas is cooler! Even better than that? Being married by the King of Rock and Roll Elvis himself in vegas! Things are starting to come together a bit, we looked into possibly taking out a small loan to pay for the whole shebang an it seems like something we can do easy enough. I think I might talk to my parents this weekend and let them know the big news. They have been pro-eloping ever since my brother did it, so I'll definitely want their opinion when it comes to moneys and loans and such.

That's all for now, more to come I'm sure!

Dress Crisis

I spent yesterday reading about how to talk to your parents after you've eloped and basically didn't find anything I didn't already know. Basically, everyone talked about how to involve them afterward, not how to actually broach the topic. So, at this point I might do the unthinkable and email... which is terrible I know. Thank goodness we've got time to plan a little better.

Anyway, I was looking at these articles and seeing all these normal sized brides in beautiful white dresses and I found myself questioning my decision to go short and red. I had a little bit of a freak-out on the drive home thinking about it. In the end though, I decided to stick with my original decision of a shorter bridesmaid style dress, but to possibly change the color.

Why? You only get one shot to wear whatever you want for your wedding, so why not big and white? But the trouble is, I'm not any good at dressing myself. I'd have to go to like a David's Bridal with an appointment, on a weekday (to get the best service) and try on dresses several sizes too small for me to see what they look like to get an idea of what isn't horrible. Then, I'd have to go home and remember this information and recall it later so that I can order the dress for way cheaper on Bridal Zoom.There are several problems with this, not the least of which is I don't get time off. My only vacation this year will probably be my wedding and that doesn't leave me with a lot of days left over. Another problem is what will happen if I buy a dress on the internet and I don't like it. It's been made to my specifications: I can't return it. I'd have to order another. It takes them a month to make a dress so by the end of all this trying on and ordering and ordering again it may be June. Then, what if I still don't like the dress? Boned. I'm certainly not wearing a dress I hate to my wedding. Oh sure, I could buy it from David's Bridal but I'm not made of money.

I told Johnny what I was thinking and in the usual fashion he said I'd be beautiful no matter what and left it at that but I continued to fret until about 10:30 when I made the decision above and then decided it was time for bed. Now, the issue is that of color, the main one being I can't really see the colors until I'm actually holding the dress. There's a teal sort of blue that I like very much, but the possibility is high it will clash with my yellowish skin and I'll look like a zombie.

Thank god we're not having a wedding wedding because I don't think I could handle having a crisis every day about what color china we're having at the reception, and losing my brains because the chargers don't mach the bridesmaids AND THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO!

129 more days, then it will all be over. So help me god.

Our Chapel?

We like the Little Chapel of the Flowers. They have a deal where you use one of their chapels (I like the Magnolia Chapel because of the archway) and it includes live wedding streaming and a DVD plus some photo prints, but then after your wedding the limo driver will take you to the Las Vegas sign where you can take personal photos. It's like a $600 package with almost everything we want included. Things are really firming up.


We also finally picked our hotel for the trip: New York New York Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV. Not only have I never stayed there, the theme should make for some pretty sweet photo opportunities while I'm still wearing my dress and stuff. Our total for just the flight, hotel, and transportation from McCarran International Airport is coming in at $1353.72, which totally doable considering that's flight both ways, six nights in an awesome hotel, plus tax and resort fees. The trick is we'll have to drive a total of nine hours by car to and from my hometown of Shreveport, LA to use our preferred airline, but we're still saving almost $1000 compared to flying out of Houston. In my opinion, well worth the gas money since we can spend the time together just enjoying each other's company.


I'm really starting to get excited and we've got 131 days to go yet.