Birthdays Vegas Style

Last Saturday was both my MOH and bestie, and my best guy friends birthday.  In the past we have celebrated by taking a trip somewhere up north in NM where we can rent out a cozy cabin and play in the snow for the long weekend.

This year we decided to save some money and do something a little different.

For about 3 years in a row we celebrated my birthday in Vegas.  We haven't gone for the past 2 years because everyone has been getting married and/or engaged and it's just too darned expensive.

Soooo, we decided that for Dig and Jay's birthdays we'd bring Vegas to US!

And boy did we!

Janean and Lauren ordered a TON of decorations and totally transformed Jay and Janean's house into a mini Vegas!  A whole room set up to look like a club (and one of our favorite clubs at that, The Rockhouse!).  Another room had casino games and the dining room table was converted into a poker table where the guys spent most of their night.

Dance Party 2013!

Each of the birthday kids got their own Vegas inspired drink and I made 100% totally homemade Vegas inspired cupcakes for each of them.

Dig's Vegas drink named after her favorite slot machine!

Jay had some purple ddrraannnkkk

Side note:  Super proud and boastful of myself with those damn cupcakes.  I made Jay a Guinness chocolate cupcake with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting, and I made Dig a white russian cupcake that was brushed with Kahlua and had a little vodka and Kahlua in the whipped cream frosting.  YUMMO!!!

Y-U-M

N.E.Wayz (did anyone else used to write like that?! Anyone? No?  MAN how annoying that is!) - we danced and drank and laughed the night away.  We also made it a potluck event so there was a TON of Vegas-y foods to get down on.

My love was a HOT PIECE in his suit! Ow Ow!!

 I'm pretty partial to my own birthday - but all in all I have to say that this is most definitely one for the record books.  As in one of the best parties that we've ever thrown and that says a LOT because several of us have been friends for like 15 years.

Dress Time

Growing up I would always think and dream about my wedding, but those dreams were always pretty hazy.  I didn't have a clue what my "perfect" dress would be, nor what I would want my girls to wear.  So when it came down to planning and picking things out I felt a little overwhelmed.  All the other details were pretty easy to come by - but I had my first mini meltdown when it came to picking out what my girls would wear.

Picking my colors was pretty simple.  I love pink, but a good friend had just gotten married and her wedding was pink and while it was absolutely gorgeous, it made me see that pink wasn't for me.  So after talking with Brian I decided to do red and black, with some silver accents. That gave me the start that I needed to get things going for the girls and myself.

To backtrack ... my Godmother offered to purchase my dress for me.  She lives out of town and I knew I wanted to have her be in the experience as much as possible.  So when I found out that she would be in town for a few days I quickly scheduled an appointment with David's Bridal and thought to myself "Eh, what the heck.  It'll be a quick trip and I can at least try on some dresses and get a feel for what I like and I can buy in a few months".

How wrong I was!

Salise came with me to my appointment along with my Aunt, Mom and Grammy. Salise and I got there a little early so I decided we should check out some bridesmaids dresses for the heck of it.  I didn't have a clue what I would want except that it should be short.  Our awesome consultant offered us some more of her time so that Salise could try on a few dresses along side myself in the gowns.  It was so sweet of her and really made me think about my choices.

The more racks we searched the more I knew.  I wanted the dresses to be short and black. The red they had was beautiful - but I didn't want the girls to carry white flowers because that's boring! As we looked at some options in black I was sold.  Black dresses, red flowers, red shoes, red accessories.  Simple but classy which is exactly what I'm going for with the whole wedding.

So our consultant pulled about 4 dresses for me to try on, I chose 3 for Salise and we headed off to our rooms.  Putting on that first dress was so surreal! I couldn't believe that it was actually my turn and that this was actually happening.  I totally had one of those geeky "I'm a princess!!!" moments and may or may not have jumped up and down a bit in my room.

I came out in the first dress and everyone got big smiles on their faces and gasped.  I knew it had potential!  I stepped onto the platform, looked into the mirror, and fell in love.  Every single detail was perfect. It was a ball gown, with tulle (which I thought I didn't like), and just the right amount of sparkle. I quickly tried on a few more but found myself comparing every one to the first one! Basically I walked into the store thinking it would just be a trial and walked out with my dress! Unfortunately I can't copy the picture and I'm not about to post one of me in it yet! I also got all my under things, veil and a tiara.  I walked out of that place in shock, that's for sure!!

As for the ladies, Salise tried on 3 and I liked them all.  So we made an appointment for the rest of the girls to come and try things on.  They all have a big range in body types so I wanted to find something that they would all feel comfortable in.  Right before the appointment Salise texted me with a link to a dress that I didn't even notice the first time we were there.  I didn't really like it in the picture but said I'd check it out.

Insert: Mini meltdown!!

It is SO hard to figure out what other people should wear!  I got there before all of the girls and pulled out all 4 dresses on the racks.  I walked between each dress about a million and a half times before they arrived. I was critiquing the crap out of each one and was about ready to put them all back and start from scratch!  Thankfully Salise showed up just then and helped me to calm my nerves.

Anywho...long novel shortened a bit, the 3 we had originally chosen turned out to be duds. A few of the girls have big ole T's and that eliminated 2 of them right away.  The third was a maybe but it just seemed too "blah".  So they all went back in their rooms to try on the 4th - which was the one Salise had texted to me.

They all ended up coming out of their rooms at about the same time, and I was in LOVE! It's this dress and I really wasn't in love with the material, until I saw it in person. It fit all of my girls in all the right areas big and small - and the most important part, they were all comfortable in it! SOLD!

I started this post in early December .... and then of course, life happened.  I'm in full-on wedding mode and I can't wait to talk about more details and see this all come to life! Less than 5 months away! WOW!!!!

The Girls

As we mingled with everyone at our engagement party, the questions started to fly.

"Do you know what date you're thinking about yet?"
"What about a place?"
"Who will be your maid of honor?"
"Do you want to get married in the church?"

It was SO overwhelming.  My go-to answer was "umm....no, I just got engaged 5 minutes ago I'm still trying to soak this in!"

But, being the anxious person that I am, I got to planning right away. Brian's mom used to be a wedding planner of sorts and she had already scared me to death by saying "You should get on things as soon as you can. Places book up very quickly and you want to have options to look into when you set a date!"  So, set a date I did and the planning began.

One of the first things I did was to form my side of the wedding party.  B and I talked about who we'd like to have and settled on the number. 7 Was the lucky number for both of us. That's right, our wedding party will be 16 (including the flower girl and our ring security). We just have too many darn friends and family!!

As a self admitted Pinterest addict ... I looked through probably hundreds of ideas about how to ask my girls to stand up with me at my wedding.  Everything just seemed too cheesy.  I hated the corny poems, and the little ring boxes saying things like "Now it's my turn to pop the question". Totally not me.

So I bought some simple monogrammed cards at good ole Tar-jay (kicking myself for not having pictures!) and wrote each girl a small but very personal note asking each of them to be my MOH/bridesmaid.  Without further ado - my ladies....

Salise will be my Maid of Honor.  She and I have been friends since the first day of high school. She lived with me for awhile back in those days as well.  She's been one of the few people in my life who has always told me things like they were/are.  Even if it may not be in the nicest of ways all the time, I've always appreciated her honesty. She's' been through a lot this year and it's made her an even better person inside and out.  She's going to be a great MOH!

Janean is my oldest friend.  We've known each other since our days in preschool taking naps together at  good 'ole Alphabet Junction. She married my best guy friend, Jay, a few years back and them being together has taught me so much about relationships and marriage. She is also the main reason that Brian and I are together.  She encouraged me to put myself out there and I am so so thankful that she did!!

Stephy came into our "crew" about 6 years ago. She was super quiet at first and I didn't think we'd ever have much in common. I was SO wrong. Over the years she has become one of the most patient, caring and understanding friends I've ever had. She's also about to burst with her first baby and I can't wait to squeeze that kid!!

Jess is Steph's sister and came into our group a little after Steph did.  Again, I'd never guess our friendship would turn into what it has. For many years there we were pretty out of control and we had a blast running wild together.  She was the epitome of a partner in crime and we have made a ton of memories traveling together for random concerts and also working together in the business she owns. Jess has got to be the most nonjudgemental person I've ever known and is one of the few people I can talk to about my deep dark scary secrets. She's quite a riot!

Lauren, oh, my sweet Chicky.  We had a rough start.  We've also known each other from high school but we didn't become close until the past few years.  We completely misunderstood each other and we needed some time to figure the other out.  Sad to say some super rough times brought us together, but I'm so glad that they did.  Chicky will give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it and she always goes out of the way to make sure you have everything you need.  I'm so thankful that we worked out our ridiculous drama and that she'll be up at that alter with me on the big day!!!

Jenny is Brian's sister which obviously makes her my soon to be SIL. She has been welcoming and accepting of me since day 1.  Brian is the baby so sometimes sisters can be overprotective and kind of mean to put it nicely.  That's not Jen at all.  I felt like a part of the family right away and she is an absolute blast to hang out with.

And last but not least, Valerie.  She's Brian's cousin and he debated putting her on his side instead, but I'm glad that he didn't! Val is pretty much Brian's second sister.  Just like Jenny, she was so inviting and welcoming to me when we first started dating.  She'll do anything for her family and I'm so excited to get to officially call her my cousin as well!

Oh!  I can't forget about my little munchkin Sofia! Sof is Jenny's daughter and my soon to be niece. She'll have just finished 1st grade when we get married and acts like she's 6 going on 17. She's creative, gorgeous, and has such a  big heart - especially when it comes to her baby brother Samuel.

That sums up my side of the par-tay.  Next up comes the fun details ... the dresses, the shoes, the veils, oh my!!