9 Months to Go, But Who's Counting?

Hello blog world! We've been super busy over here at Big Spoon Little Spoon and I have a big-ish announcement for you this week. But not yet ... this is what we've been doing lately ...

We booked our honeymoon and wedding night hotel this month because Orbitz was running a great Winter Sale and Discover Card (my credit of choice) was rewarding 5% cash back bonuses on travel and hotel purchases. Not to mention, I get another 5% cash back by using Shop Discover. Cha-ching!

The Hilton family of hotels is also running a January Sale. Since Big Spoon works in West End, he wanted did not want our wedding night to be anywhere near his office. We opted instead to stay half-way between our venue and home in the brand new Hampton Inn in Mt. Juliet. It might sound less glam than the posh downtown hotels, but we have an in-room whirlpool tub. So ha!

On Jan 17, I attended the big big bridal show with Hillary Capes of Your Day of Fairy Tales and two girlfriends who are engaged to marry after us (not each other). Much fun! Thanks again to Hillary and Jonathan Campbell Photography for my show ticket.

I've been collaborating with my FMIL to plan our rehearsal dinner. Gallatin, TN is smallish, so the variety of nice restaurants is ... limited, shall we say. We are looking at Monell's Gallatin and a new place in Hartsville, TN called Tully's Bistro.

*Just a word of advice while we're on the subject. Don't limit yourself to "in town" venues. An additional 20-30 minutes outside of Nashville might save you hundreds of dollars in venue costs. It certainly worked out that way for us and thank goodness we don't have to fool with the _________'s at Metro Park Services!


And there's more ...

Big Spoon got really great news this week: he’s been reappointed to his faculty position! Yay! (That means we don’t have to pack up and move right after the wedding.) I’m not ashamed to say that I cried a little I was so happy about it. He worked very very hard last semester to make this happen and I’m soooooo proud of him.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a bit-o-bling .... I purchased this on Etsy for our cake, but it’s a lot bigger than it looks. I’m wondering if I shouldn’t ask them if I can exchange it for another. Gorgeous, no?

HER Nashville Bridal Brunch

If you are a Nashville-area bride and would like to attend the HER Nashville Bridal Brunch featured on Ashley's Bride Guide, here is a promo code they sent me today for 50% off the ticket price!

Just go to HER Nashville, add tickets to your shopping cart and enter "scbridal50" below your contact information to received $10 admission.

You can thank me later ;)

PS. I borrowed the image from Ashley's Bride Guide and HER Nashville is not compensating me for posting this. I'm just being nice. Do I really have to put this everytime? 

The Dress - Part 3

I HAVE A WEDDING DRESS!



It is much sooner than I had anticipated, but I found "the dress" at the Elegance Bridal Gala in mid-August. I tried it on while I was there and loved it. I made a few appointments and planned to put a deposit down at a trunk show and order the dress later, however, Cherished Memories Bridal and Formal is closing its doors in October.

My parents came down today to go with me and after I was laced up, we determined that the sample actually does fit ... but a few more pounds won't hurt me. It wasn't dirty or worn, so I felt comfortable buying the sample. The dress seems quite easy to alter and I'm confident that my mother or aunt can do the alterations for me for free!

Hoping to get the dress for a bit more than 30% off, I asked about the Elegance Bridal Bucks card, which she will not honor now that her dresses are clearance priced. Just wanted to throw that out there for anyone going out to the shop to look around.

All of the above aside, Lisa is very nice and reasonable. I ended up offering her a cash payment in exchange for a small additional discount and took my dress home with me. However, she is still offering deposits/payments and short term garment housing.

Now my dress is hanging in an upstairs closet, waiting for our wedding day. Next year. 58 weeks. 407 days.

The Dress - Part 2

Elegance Bridal Gala was held in Mt. Juliet on August 13. It was my first bridal show (the big ones scare me) and I was invited as one of Ashley's (of Ashley's Bride Guide) Fab Five VIP brides.

I arrived early with my friend, JT. We went into the Cherished Memories Bridal and Formal room/booth first to look at the pretty dresses. All the dresses were lovely, but one caught my eye immediately. I told JT that it looked like a cross between the Pronovias and the Allure I liked at The White Room.

Throughout the night, I kept going into the room to look at this dress and before leaving for a quick bite before the fashion show, I asked the store owner about it. I found out that it is a little known brand called "Ella" out of Australia and it was $$$. Ouch. Not super ouch, just ouch.

I scheduled two appointments with them - once to try it on with my Mom and for their trunk show in September, at which I would purchase the dress for 15% off and order it closer to our wedding date.

And then, I put it on. And I loved it even more. Great! I was super excited about this dress, even though it was a bit more than I had budgeted for. It is a combination of all the things I loved about the others, but definitely more "me" than the one Mom & Dad liked.

And then, I got a hair up my arse today to check the bridal events on Ashley's Bride Guide. Thank goodness she is on top of everything in Nashville! The store is CLOSING.

CLOSING!?!

O-M-G. I called them immediately and they confirmed this, but they still have my sample and she has put my name on it. Not really sure if that's insurance, but its all I've got. The sample *almost* fit and the dress is a lace up, so I think even if I buy the sample, I'm in the clear.

Big gulp. Stay tuned for the next installment of "If the Dress Fits".