New Year!

Okay - New Year - New Posting habits - I promise!!! 

First up - the dreaded wedding weight loss!!! Here's the background:

So in August, I decided it was time to take my weight in my own hands - on August 1, I weight 161.5 lbs, and was a solid size 12. I did my own "weight watchers" plan - using the actual WW materials, but without meetings or online stuff... I was kind of working out at the gym, plus was coaching the cheerleaders - so i was getting runs in there.

By October - I was down 14 lbs (!!) to 147.5... and fit into my first size 8 pants EVER! I bought two pairs, from two different stores to make sure it wasnt a fluke.... 

But then the holidays came (dun dun dun......) and I stopped working out, eating right, etc... so I gained a few pounds back - not a ton, but as of two weeks ago I topped out at 154.... 

So now, its back to the plan I had in August - Last week I clocked in at 151.5, today I'm back to 148.5 - woo hoo! I more lb to go before Im back on the weight loss wagon!!!

Honestly, I dont need to lose a ton more weight - If I could be in the 135-140 range - Id be totally happy - So as of right now, my goal is to hit 140 by the middle of February - If I can do that, then I will look to the 135 goal..

I dont want to be lower than 135 though - I start dress fittings on Friday - and dont want to lose too much weight!

...tomorrow's post - Invitations!

...More Catching Up

Alright -

So a couple of big checks since September -

DJ - Check! A great company out of Rochester - im paying a lil extra to have them travel to the Syracuse area, but its so worth it! I really clicked with them

Limo - Check! this has been my least favorite wedding-related task. Limos are overpriced, and really needless, in my opinion... but Nick wanted one, and he hasnt asked for much in terms of wedding day vendors - so here we are - $800 on a stupid limo.

I also found a supercute Jr. Bridesmaid dress for Jordyn! and a flower girl dress for Jaylee $50 for both of them combined at Burlington Coat Factory! woo woo - I love a bargain.

I also have finished the photo holders for the top cupcake in the centerpiece... now i have to add the wooden table number spot and we'll be all set - pictures will be forthcoming, once I have the centerpieces back from Nicks stepmom, Sue. Shes spraypainting them for me!

Centerpieces!

So I decided to save money on centerpieces to skip the flowers, due to cost. And I skipped the candles because I hate fire. So I decided on Cupcakes - and can now save money by not getting a giant cake! Cupcakes from Wegmans are under $1 a piece - and their bakery rocks! Then we can get a cute, small two tiered cake for us! 

But now what to put the cupcakes on??? I wanted to DIY it - and found this awesome site:

http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-a-cake-stand-for-cupcakes-or-mini-cakes/

with this great looking cupcake stand:

Except when i tried to make a mock-up stand of my own, it looked like a bad arts and crafts project! I tried using paper, fabric, ribbon  - with no luck. 

So I found these instead on ebay - 12 centerpieces - under $150 dollars! :

But mine came black - seeing as though our colors are brown - i am going to spray paint a few and see how they look!!! 

Bridesmaid Dresses

So I really wanted my bridesmaids to all have dresses that they really would wear again - and with chocolate brown as the color - this should be no problem, right? Brown is the new black, so they say. 

Well, all my lovely ladies are different shapes, ive got curvy, stick thin, very tall, very short, giant boobies, teeny boobies, etc. This is what happens when you have 7 girls... 

so picking one dress or even two dresses was out - i could see it being "unflattering" on someone... so then i thought - well, let me pick a designer and everyone could pick one dress from that designer in the dark brown/chocolate/espresso hue... except all the designers i loved - jim hjelm, namely - had dresses wayyy above the $100 price range i wanted to stick with. i cant justify a $200 dress for my BMs when I only spent $100 on mine!

which brings me to plan c - now my brilliant idea. im letting my girls all wear ANY dress of their choosing, from any store, as long as its a dark brown... even if the colors are a little off, everyone will be comfortable, wearing a dress they are comfortable in, something they each like individually, spending an amount of money they are comfortable spending.

So now ive been perusing all sorts of websites finding all sorts of great dresses - some of my favs - overstock.com, and victoriassecret.com. Also, there are some great dresses in the ann taylor line ( a lil pricey), as well as, lots of good ideas on nordstrom.com!

Wedding Updates

So not a whole lot has ben done since the last post over a month ago - oops... my bad. However, we are under a year until the wedding!!! Almost 11 months actually. Its kind of frightening. Lost of stuff needs to be done:

#1 - of the utmost importance - we need to find someone to marry us! our original minister had to back out due to a trip to South America with the chapel choir... So now we have two options - use another Hedricks minister, or get one from outside the chapel, which incurs another fee. What compounds the problem is that neither Nick or I are religious, so we dont have anyone to turn to. We went to church last Sunday, at Grace Episcopal, to hear the pastor there, Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows. She was nice, very open and friendly, so Im going to go again this Sunday, show her at least we are serious about having her marry us, and hopefully she'll agree to it.

#2 - Limo contract - I got the contract via email today for the limo company, I have to get the deposit out ASAP.

Changing my (our?) name

So Im pretty attached to my name. Victoria Teresa Alessandra (Insert Puerto Rican last name here ending in "ez") - (sorry folks, im not giving out all my info - there are some crazy online brides that will call all your vendors and cancel your wedding!) ... And Nick has a fabulous English last name... For tday we will call him Shir


But I dont look very Puerto Rican (except for my fabulous ghettobooty), so my last name is kind of my defining Puerto Rican characteristic... People say "ez? you dont look Puerto Rican!" and so then I go into wonderful detail over my Puerto Rican heritage... mostly I just say "oh my dad is from there"...

So, Ive debated a couple of options.... Definate option number one is eliminating the Alessandra.... Its my confirmation name, and I dont really think of myself as Catholic anymore, so away it goes.

Option # 2: Becoming a full out Puerto Rican English Girl: Victoria Teresa Shir

Option # 3: Keeping my last name.... not really an option though, because I love Nick and am proud to take on his name....

Option # 4: Hyphenating: Victoria Teresa Ez-Shir (clearly im abbreviating the last names again... keeping away the crazies!!! But if you know the real names feel free to insert the correct names in your head), but then what about the kids... dont want to worry about hyphenating the kids names, and then you have to deal with questions down the road "mommy, why do you and daddy have different names??"

Option # 5: Changing my middle name: Victoria Ez Shir - I like this option... but I'll miss Teresa....

which leads to

Option # 6 (and what im currently leaning towards): All new names!!!: Victoria-Teresa Ez Shir, Here I get to keep all my favorite parts of my name, and just give myself a hyphenated first name... everyone calls me Tori anyways, so it doesnt really matter to me if Im officially a Victoria-Teresa... and I get to involve the Ez in there too....

Lastly, Option #7: This has been voted out by pretty much everyone except me... I thought it was cute - to have Nick and I both combine our names and become a new family... the Shirez family.... well, needless to say, no one Ive polled likes this idea - most importantly, Nick hates the idea, so no go... oh well, it was a creative thought!

But I digress... its off to Vegas to a friends bachelorette party!!! Ill post details and maybe some bachelorette ideas of my own later...

Engagement Pictures!!!!

Nick and I took our engagement pictures last weekend at Onondaga Lake Park with Tiki (which was a giant pain - Tiki, not the whole picture session)... It was a gorgeous day and we used the side of the park near the Dog Park to take the photos... there was this great stone wall we sat on and used as a backdrop, and one of my favorite moments came when Vanessa (our photographer) told NIck and I to stare at one another, and Nick made a ridiculous face and we both cracked up... I think Vanessa got a few shots of that.

Anyways, we got the proofs emailed to us today!!!

If you want to check them out go to www.vfinchphotography.com, click on "order online" and then type in passcode toriandnick08

The sun is in our eyes in quite a few of them, but I love them nonetheless. My fav is #35.

Whats yours?????