Moving to a new nest…
September 3, 2009 
Thank you to all my followers! I’m back and we’re married!!!
Oh, and I’m also moving to a new site – please follow me over to my new blog His Birdie’s Nest 🙂 Pretty Please!
Another reason I love our officiant…
Mr Frenchie is SUPER nervous about our wedding ceremony. He hates public speaking and being the center of attention (one thing we are complete opposites on). Standing in front of all 130 of our guests with all eyes on us is really stressing him out.
Last night we got together to run through our ceremony so he knew exactly when things were happening and when and what he was supposed to do and say. I’m really glad we decided to do this because I found a section of out service that didn’t sit right with me. At the beginning of the ceremony under “Welcome & Statement of Marriage” there was this paragraph…
“Marriage is a gift from God given to us as a holy mystery in which a man and a woman are joined together and become one, just as Christ is one with the church.”
I know this is common statement at weddings, but as a supporter of Marriage Equality, this just didn’t sit right with me. I sat there wondering if I should bring this up to our officiant or just let it slide. The more I thought about it the more I knew I needed to ask her to change it. I was a little nervous to make waves so close to our wedding, but I love Leanne, and I knew she would take my feeling and beliefs into consideration regarding this issue, whether or not she agrees with me.
So, I called up Leanne this afternoon and asked her if we could change it to read…
“…in which two people are joined together and become one…”
She was very supportive of my request and understood my reasoning behind it. I know I’m very fortunate to have an officiant who will let me alter our ceremony and I’m even more fortunate to have one that will let me change something to include Gay Marriage. That (among other reasons) is why I LOVE our officiant.
Were/are you able to alter you ceremony to more reflect your relationship and beliefs?
Five for Friday
206 – You handled the fridge “situation”
207 – You got really excited after we got our marriage license
208 – Your morning phone calls make me smile
209 – You give me little kisses on the top of my head
210 – You’re “not too shabby”
Simple and Perfect
Perfect and Simple are the two words I would use to describe my wedding band.
I had a hard time finding the perfect wedding band to match the gorgeous ring Mr Frenchie gave me when he proposed. James Allen, has a band that matches the ring perfectly, but it just wasn’t my style. I found it to blingy and I thought all the little diamonds overshadowed the beautiful center stone Mr Frenchie looked so hard to find.
I toyed with the idea of having just a plain white gold band, but I really wanted a little bit of bling on my wedding band. Elsa Peretti makes a ring for Tiffan & Co., that is a simple band with a single tiny diamond set inside.
Mr Frenchie and I went to Tiffany & Co. one day to check out the ring, but unfortunately it only came in platinum or sterling silver. I really wanted my rings to be from the same metals, so they aged similarly, so that was out.
I searched around Blue Nile, Robins Bros etc and got so discouraged I pretty much gave up for awhile. Until, Miss Stiletto blogged about Michael C. Fina and I saw this ring.
It was perfect, simple, yet still had some bling. I had to have it. Since this band was not available for online sale I decided to try and find the ring somewhere else.
Where did I turn, but Etsy of course. Searching around Etsy I came across seller singleBbeautiful. I fell in love with having a custom ring and loved that she used recycled metals and only conflict free diamonds. Justine, had this ring in her shop for just the right price, so I emailed her.
I made sure that I could get the ring in my odd 6.75 size, the width of the ring wouldn’t be bigger than my engagement ring and it would be made in white gold. Justine, got back to me right away and answered all my questions. I bought/ordered the ring the same day I discovered it.
Yesterday, when I got home my ring had arrived. YAY! Of course, I had to try it on to make sure it fit (and take pictures for all of you)!
I even wore it when I went to pick-up our dinner at Pick Up Stix because I knew I would have to part with it as soon as I saw Mr. Frenchie.
For now my ring is safely with Mr Frenchie in our new apartment… so I can visit it when he’s in the bathroom, I guess.
Did your engagement ring make finding your wedding band more difficult?
Five for Friday
Who knew when I got so close to the wedding things would get this crazy? Everyone but me? Yeah, so it seems. Anyway, a special thank you to for reminding me I have a weekly feature on Friday. I think with all the stress of wedding planning this is a good time to stop and remember this is all for my wedding to an amazing man 🙂 Thanks Jenna!
Since I missed a few weeks, I think I should catch-up…
191 – You let me register us for polka dot flatware
192 – You bought me the wedding ring of my dreams even though it wasn’t easy to find
193 – You understood I needed your help and volunteered to go to Tall Mouse
194 – You’re an excellent griller
195 – Although you think it’s red, you agreed to get a dark pink paint for our bedroom
196 – You often surprise me with how funny you are
197 – You said you would keep our apartment as clean as I wanted, you would take my lead
198 – You are super excited to use our new vacuum
199 – You bought plants for our new place
200 – You laugh at how much I am drawn to new bowls in stores
201 – You’ve agreed to watch Friends once we’ve moved in together (this may be a repeat, but it is HUGE)
202 – You said you’re favorite memory with me was flying to Northern CA… I can’t wait to fly with you again
203 – You humor my dire need to get us a trashcan
204 – You are horrible at doing dishes
205 – You were/are so excited to paint our apartment
2 Down, 1 More To Go
Early this week I went to my second dress fitting, I only have one more! I cannot believe the countdown to the French Bulldog wedding has entered the teens! EEEEE!
Monday, with about a half an hour left of work, something told me to check the card where my next appointment with Mahtab had been written. Thank God, I did, because it was scheduled for 5:30pm that day. (After my Bride Brain confession, I started taking steps to become more organized and I have written everything on a calendar at my desk, I got the card out to add her to my calendar).
*** Mr. Frenchie, with umpteen days left to go, I’m sure you can make it without peeking, No Lookie por favor***
After work I had just enough time to go home, grab my shoes and rush over to Mahtab’s house. Everything happens for a reason though, because if I had remembered, in the morning, to bring my shoes, it most likely wouldn’t have occured to me to bring my veil. I hadn’t been able to take any pictures of it since it arrived two weekends ago because I misplaced my camera.
So, the stars aligned and I remembered my appointment, grabs my shoes, my veil and my camera and drove to Mahtab’s. PHEW!
I wish the picks of my dress had some dramatic change from the last time, but if you remember, there wasn’t a whole lot to fix to begin with. Mahtab, took in the top of the dress so it lays flatter in my boobal area, added my bustle and took up the bottom a little. In the pictures, it looks pretty much the same as the last time I showed you. However, up-close the hem is AMAZING! Mahtab cut the lace detailing off the bottom, shortened the dress and is re-sewing it back on! I thought forsure I would just lose the lace on the bottom, but Mahtab is awesome and that is why I heart her.
Check out the goofy grin! Geez, I must love you guys for putting this on the internet. 
The bustle is finished… or should I say almost finished, we decided to add one more hook so I can take the middle of the bustle (below the bow strings) and pin it up just below the bow. It’s hard to visualize but I’ll take pics for you when I got back next Tuesday.Now, for the really exciting part, my veil. I had tried on a couple veils at a few different salons. I knew I wanted a shorter veil because I kept pulling the veil around my shoulders when I would try-on the longer ones.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do, but then I saw Miss Bruschetta’s post on veils and I feel in love with the look of this veil.
A lot of people suggested she contact Mrs. Sea Breeze who started her own business making veils, so I decided to take their suggestions and I emailed Kasia. First off, Kasia is a total sweetheart, and a absolute joy to work with. I sent her pictures of my dress and the picture of Miss Bruschetta and, although she had never made anything like it before, she agreed to try.
She put three layers of tulle – the top and bottom layers are a tighter weave tulle and the middle layer has a larger weave. I love that it’s a mix and I love that it’s poofy and short, but still covers my back a little. I’m so happy Kasia agreed to make my veil because I found nothing like this in my area… Canada is SO lucky!
Hello, Birdies!
Last week when I said Good-bye to my cute birdie place-card holders, Mama Frenchie and I tried to figure out a way to get some birdie goodness back in. Here is a sneak peak at what we’ve been working on.
Bye, Bye, Birdies *sniff*
Mama Frenchie received an email from My Wedding Favors on Tuesday saying that our adorable birdie favors were on backorder and wouldn’t be available until the Monday before the wedding.
I immediately called and asked what that meant. Did that mean the birds would ship on thatMonday? Because, then we would get them by Tuesday, which could work. Or, did that mean they would process my order again on that Monday? Because then I most definitely wouldn’t get them before Thursday, when I would no longer be in Orange County. Although, Michelle (with My Wedding Favors) was very helpful, understood my concern and apologized that it took them so long to notify me about the backorder. (I should have been notified 3 days after my order was placed, not 11, which is what happened), I still wasn’t confident that the order would come in time so I cancelled.
Mama Frenchie immediately sniffed around for other options. We really liked the photo/memo clip place card doubling as a favor idea. It was really hard to find plain memo clips.
Some of those would be really cute for someone else’s wedding, just not mine.
Luckily, Mama Frenchie found these on Displays2Go.
You may be thinking, “Bird clip! Miss Frenchie you should go with the bird clip!” Yeah, about that – I’m not a huge fan of the gold metal. I know I’m weird, it has a bird, it’s perfect… ish. We’re doing Birdie signs on all the table, coming out of the centerpieces, and the shaped of the those birdies don’t match the bird clip. (Mama Frenchie and I are working on that this weekend so I promise to blog about it soon). Mama Frenchie really wanted them to have a color and I wanted them to be more than just a cube and a clip, so we ended up ordering the Aqua Base with Heart Clip.
Now for the best part – Each birdie from My Wedding Favors was about $3.45/bird, it was pricey, but we liked them so much we went with it. The new favors are costing us $0.71/clip! 71 CENTS per clip!
Did a disappointment end up saving you money?
How I Found Our Photographer…
I recently received an email from a reader asking me about how I found our photographer and I realized I never shared the story with the Hive!
I started stalking photography blogs after the very talented Jessica Claire photographed my friend Tiffany‘s wedding 3 years ago.
My first stop in finding a photographer was the Weddingbee boards. I posted a thread in the Orange County Boards and the San Diego Boards and got a ton of great recommendations. I emailed everyone of the photographers that were suggested. Some were booked for our date, some were too expensive and some took too long to respond. I did find a couple possibilities, but none were local to San Diego, so I was also looking at a travel fee.
Then one day reader sal75 recommended her photographer, Melissa McClure. After looking around her blog I contacted her right away. Not only were her photos great, but I knew with her cherry watermark, we were kindred spirits.
Sadly, Melissa was alread booked for our date. (SAD FACE!) But, she offered to help us find a photographer. (HAPPY FACE!) She asked me to email her exactly what I wanted and what our budget was and she would email all her photography friends to see if anyone was interested. (SCORE!) So I did and she did. The next day I got an email with a list of everyone who had responded and a sentence (or two) of what she knew about them. As I was about to start looking at all their websites and blogs Melissa emailed me again with 2 more photographers. One of those photographers was Ohana Photography, who had done Melissa’s engagement photos.
Confession, I started to tear up, Ohana Photography was exactly what I was looking for! And, the extra bonus was that I didn’t have to email them and ask them if they were available the date of our wedding and get crushed when I found out they were booked because they already knew my date. AND, I didn’t have to fall in love with their images only to find out they were out of my budget, because they already knew my budget. I called David Baxter with Ohana that night and spoke to the nicest most energetic guy on the phone and I was sold.
I later found out that Melisssa had done all this for me the week of her wedding! In between getting married and leaving for her honeymoon cruise she helped me find a photographer. Who does that? Apparenly, Melissa and girl who “Tweeted” her wedding…
Now, Melissa is one of my Twitter friends and we’ve arrange an after wedding Bridal shoot. We’re hoping to talk Mr Frenchie into coming with a 6-pack of beer and I think it may work.
How did you find your wedding photographer?
Best Wedding Video EVER!
I know you all have seen the crazy wedding videos going around the web and because I love a good wedding video as much as the next girl (and guy) I wanted to share my favorite.
My friend (and fellow WeddingBee’r) Dana and her Husband Hunter did the AWESOME video for their wedding!
Lemme know what you think 🙂
Hisbirdie's Weblog 
