It's Been A While...

At dinner with friends recently...

...since I last posted on this blog at least! I feel like I've been on overdrive the past few weeks, working late during the week and being beyond over scheduled on the weekends.  It's hard to complain about any of this really - being busy at work is a good thing for a small business, and its great that we've got lots of friends who want to do lots of fun things.  But I do feel bad that I've been neglecting the blog!

So...what are the latest updates?  Well, there aren't many - wedding planning is the first thing to go when we both get busy - but we've still made a little progress:

We met with a great florist, who does great work and had some really unique glass pieces that would be great for the museum.  I'm excited by her work and I really liked her, but we're going to meet with a few other florists just to make sure she's the one.  She charges a fee for her initial consultation, which makes it really hard to compare her to others, but I guess when you're a sought after florist you have the luxury of charging a price for your ideas.  I'm hoping that meeting with other florists will reassure us that this particular florist is going to give us the most bang for our buck and bring the most interesting ideas to the table.  I'll keep you posted!

I'd love to incorporate moss into bright, fun floral displays...

I bought my dress (!!!?!?!!).  I was really beginning to worry about the dress thing because I was LOVING every dress I tried on.  I mean honestly, I probably could have been happy in about 10 dresses, maybe more - they were all gorgeous and I loved each for very different reason.  But when I put this one dress on, I really did have that feeling - I just knew.  It was the only dress that really made me feel beautiful, and like a bride.  And I knew B would feel the same way.  We brought my dad in for the final decision, there were tears, and we celebrated with champagne after - it was great.  I can't wait to put it on again for my bridal portraits - c'mon spring!

We've got our save the dates and hope to have them in the mail within the next month or so.  We've actually had them sitting in our dining room since late July, but I've got to add the finishing touches and then address them by hand (ouf).  We also need to have our website up.  The save the dates are a little non traditional and didn't allow for a lot of text, so we put the date & directed people to the website for more info.  Thankfully we still have a lot of time, but I think they're so cool I'm eager to get them out!

We're also in the process of meeting with caterers.  I only bring this up because in the course of this process, we got the devastating news that we will not be able to have a french fry bar.  The museum won't allow a fryer.  Makes sense I guess...but devastating nonetheless.
 
Sorry for the laundry list...I hope to be back to more regular posting soon...

Say Yes to the Dress: NYC vs. ATL

I'll admit it, I LOVE Say Yes to the Dress (who doesn't?!).  I've been watching it for the last few years, well before I got engaged.  I may or may not cry during most episodes and I may or may not think most of the dresses are heinous, but I'm still obsessed nonetheless.

Neededless to say, I was pretty excited when I learned they were bringing Say Yes down south.  Hello Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta!  I don't watch a ton of TV so I missed the first couple episodes, but thanks to DVR I've been able to catch up pretty quickly and check out the new show. The formula for the Atlanta show is the same as the original, but for some reason I think this new version is so much better.

THE ORIGINAL:
The consultants in the original are hilarious - tons of personality - but also pretty rude.  I wouldn't want any of them helping me with my dress selection; they are all just a little too pushy.  It often seems like they care more about the sale than the girl or the dress.

The dresses at Kleinfeld's, at least the ones they show on TV, are pretty hein.  I didn't see a single one of the dresses featured on the show when I was shopping!  Also, why are the dresses on the show so expensive?  I can't remember exactly but I think one time they said dresses start at $3500 and most are $5K and up.  I don't really think there are regional prices in wedding dresses and I can count on one hand how many dresses I saw that were over $5K.  Then again I wasn't really looking at any dresses with a lot of bling, lace or expensive details.  Still...

The brides on the original...where do they find some of these people?  That said, I always appreciated that they found people with a unique story or touching background.  Those always made me cry the most!

THE ATLANTA VERSION:
So far, the consultants seem much more down to earth and actually interested in helping the bride - not just making the sale.  That said, the owner of the Atlanta boutique is a wackadoodle.  I guess one might have to have an extra dose of crazy to run a huge bridal boutique? 

I think the dresses in the Atlanta version are a thousand times better.  Not to mention that I tried on tons of the dresses that have been featured, which has been fun to see.  I especially love it when a girl hates on a dress that I kind of loved, or a girl loves a dress that made me look like a sausage.   I also appreciate that the dresses in this boutique start at $1500 and lots of girls have a lower budget.  Its much more relatable /realistic.

The brides on the Atlanta show are also much more down to earth in general.  Maybe that's because most of them are good southern girls ;)

I'll still watch the original when the next season begins, despite its flaws it's still good trashy TV.  But for now I'm glad the Atlanta season is in full swing!

Have yall seen the Atlanta version?  Which did you think was better?

(all images courtesy TLC)