Mmmm, Massaman Curry

So school has started, and clearly I haven't posted at all. With everything being so hectic, I must admit the blog was moved to the back burner.

But NOW! I have a schedule, so hopefully this will lead to more regular posts.

Anyhoo...
D and I are finalizing our annual pilgrimage to NYC for Thanksgiving.

It started as a fun tradition when I lived there. Some of my dear friends were attending college or living in the city/ northeast and couldn't afford to fly home to TX because of work, or school, or just lack of money. So, one took the train up from Pittsburgh and we met in my one bedroom apartment for a feast of feasts. Ever since then it has developed into a bit of a tradition. One year it was in Queens-- with a remarkably larger kitchen and dining area. Last year, it was in Hell's Kitchen, on a tiny four burner stove and mini-oven. But we still turned out at 15lb turkey and enough food to feed 17 people.

Anyway, I digress. I have a point... or rather I'm posing a question to you bloggers, readers, LGBT brides and grooms:

I know many of you folks are in NYC or the surrounding area. Anyone up for a LGBT wedding blog meeting of minds? I think it could be fun! Putting faces to blogs and making new 'real' people friends instead of 'internet bloggy friends'. I'm thinking a nice meet up for an hour or so one evening over some martinis or Thai food (we just don't have good Thai here in TX).

Is this ridiculous? Or a good idea?

Comment or send me an email at toeacherown at gmail dot com.

The Best Advice I Can Give Today--

Take an Advil (or 3), bring some water and go to a major bridal show.

I know, right? Who the hell has taken over this blog?

Seriously though. Remember that BRIDAL EXTRAVAGANZA I went to? Well, I got these ticket things when we walked through the door that you could drop off into prize bins, plus most vendors had their own 'win your own prize' sort of thing.... It has been a few weeks and so far I have received:


2 free tickets to our state Renaissance Festival ($40 value)
Free '1st dance' dance lesson ($100)
Set of wine glasses--crystal (dunno how much)
Free spa party for 8 bridal party members (probably not going to do this)
Gift Certificate to David's Bridal ($50)


Now.... I am almost positive that these awards were given to anyone that filled out the win a prize thing at the vendors tables, but I mean-- $190+ of free stuff just for filling out some forms? Yeah, okay, twist my arm-- I guess I'll do that.


Sooooo there is a catch (there is ALWAYS a catch)
To get the certificate to David's we had to set up an appointmentto try on dresses. But if you keep the appointment, you get $50 off. We kept the appointment. and D got another $50 of her dress (and I didn't even have the gift certificate).

And, The last two, we have to sit through a demonstration in order to get the prize. So the spa thing-- probably not going to do. You have to have 8 people there... blah blah and I don't want to force my friends through that just to get a $50 gift basket and a facial.

But the free crystal wine set? Well, they give us a cooking demonstration-- so we will get free food *and* some free crystal at the end. And I can deal with pushy salesfolks for free food and crystal. D would be okay without the crystal-- she is excited about the 'gourmet' meal!


I mean, the extravaganza was trying at times. There was a lot of tulle and florescent lighting... but equipped with some address labels, bridesmate JoJo and our bridal brigadette it was a pretty fun day... of course we had to look at a lot of things like this :

I had no idea that brides could fly.

But of course, if I didn't go-- I couldn't have shared that beautiful image with you.

If you live in the Houston area, there is a show this weekend. You can check out information here and the Houston Weddings Showcase.

This isn't the same company's show we went to, but the site says they have tons of door prizes. Plus, there is a printable coupon on the site for discounted tickets. Happy Friday, y'all!

What.A.Weekend.

It was an epic adventure to David's Bridal, y'all. 8 of us went.

8. Ocho. Huit.

Too many? probably. Were the David's Bridal folks annoyed? Probably. Are there photos of me making some stressypants faces? Yes.

Was it fun? hells yeah.

We left too early and arrived early for the appointment. It is true, David's Bridal is not Kleinfelds. They aren't going to give you champagne (or water) and hand select dresses based on what you want. You gotta KNOW what you want.

And we knew.

Bridesmates? check.

We had four of them (FOUR!) try on the same dress, hoping it would look good on all of them and it did! Which is awesome. We have three colors we like, and they are all complimentary. So, we are thinking they will all wear the same dress, but in the color that suits them best. That way it is cohesive but not all one color on one side and one color on the other. I think it is pretty cool. It should look pretty!

And the dresses are, from what I can tell, pretty low/mid-range for bridesmaid dresses. We have to double check that that style isn't going to be discontinued and one of our 'choice' colors isn't available in the style, but we are flexible people. And as D's bridesmate Harmonious kept repeating all day 'you can just throw a cardigan over it and wear it again!'... Sarcasmo to the rescue! (but in my opinion, you totally could throw a cardigan on it and wear it again).

And D's wedding dress? Did we know what we wanted?

Yes. And we got it. D's dress is taken care of. And it was around the same price as mine thanks to some handy gift certificate and some special the store was running!* We ordered her size and it'll be in soonish.

Our friend and bridal brigadette, Sarah, who is a fabu photographer came along for the journey to take some photos. So, when those are all put together, I'll post some pics and info on the rest of the day.

What an epic week!

*Note to future brides going to David's to look at dresses-- they are always having some sort of sale.

I'm walking on sunshine!

Oh my folks! All of your comments about my dress have just made me feel like a rockstar beauty! Thank you so much! Thank you thank you!

No. Really. Thank You!

On Sunday, literally half of our wedding partay is heading down to Houston for an adventure at David's Bridal. We will be loud, excited and have a great time! It is going to be a big day! We are picking final colors, bridesmates will be trying on dresses, we will be searching for a dress for D. Actually, D already has a dress she found that she lurves, but it is a little over our budget. Yes, we made that terrible mistake of trying things on we can't afford. BUT in our defense, we just forgot to look at the price tag. We didn't knowingly decide to try something on $300 more that we are willing to spend!

I've been reading a lot of blogs and it seems that David's Bridal gets a lot of flack, as do the brides that buy their dresses there. I saw on one indie blog, a person who apologized for getting their dress at David's. Why apologize? I mean, we all know it is the Wal-Mart of wedding dresses. And yes, there are other people who will have your dress. And yes, it is marketing on the whole 'wedding industry'. But their dresses are cheap as hell. I mean, it is ridiculous how cheap they are. And I say GOOD FOR YOU! <-- look I yelled it even. You got a dress you love, and one that you feel beautiful in for a hella cheap price. You don't need to apologize; you need to pat yourself of the back and give an Andre champagne toast to your budget savvy ways. It seems sometimes that brides try so hard to be unique or special that they go almost full circle and conform to non-conformity.

Any comments?

Remember, when it comes to commenting-- snark is welcome, but rude people aren't.

When you least expect it...

You find what you are looking for.

I had this whole damn post typed up yesterday but blogger refused to post it for some stupid reason and then when when I went to edit the post today I realized that blogger only saved half of the dang thing. I'd be frustrated but I'm still on such a 'holy crap I found my dress' high that pretty much everything is okay with the world. I even vacuumed this morning.

SO-- Here's the cool story:

On a standard errand run the other day, co-worker/bridesmate/jackieofalltrades and I are a little bored and a little sleepy. We pass a new bridal store.

"You want to go in?" jackie asks
"I mean, I'm kind of set on that trip to Houston next weekend, but we can look at styles"
"Why not?"

So we go in. And the wonderfully nice woman, at this very new little store says hello and asks what I am looking for. I told her I was looking for a tea length retro 50s sort of thing. And she smiled politely and told me she didn't have anything like that. I mean, I wasn't surprised. Not in a bad way, but my town is very big on cupcake dresses. Anyways, she mentions that sample (read: cheaper) dresses are in the back of the store, and as a plus size gal I jokingly suggest we go look because sample sizes ALWAYS fit folks larger than a size 6. Always. Because the wedding industry and the fashion industry just LOVE ladies who don't look like they could keel over from lack of food-- (I could go on).

But you know what?! They had sample dresses all the way up to 24. And all the way down to 4. Now granted, they had tons of 4,6,8,10 and even a large amount of 12s and it sort of dwindled, but they had a few dresses in my size, so I went to try them on.

The first one was terrible. The rouching was in an awkward position. There was a bit too much bling. I wasn't a cupcake, but I was sort of a bisquit blob of fabric and ill proportioned awful.

But the second one? I put it on, jackie zipped it up and I looked at myself and I said "WOW".
WOW In a good way. Usually I say "WOW" in a bad way-- in a 'really-i-actually-have-this-terrible-thing-on-right-now?" But no. This was a "Holy-crap-I-Look-Gorgeous".

And I got all blushy and giggly and felt bride-y and I didn't want to claw my eyes out or punch myself in the face or cry because I felt so fat and how o how would I ever look decent on my wedding day.

I felt really damn pretty.

BUT (there usually is a but)-- it was strapless. and I don't like strapless. But I always like boleros so the nice store lady went and grabbed me a lace bolero to try on with the dress and then I said WOWOWOWOWOW. Wanna see?


See my happy jazz hands? Isn't it oh-so vintage glam? Just the right amount of sparkle, beautiful lace overlay. It is a champagne-y sort of color so I don't look like a freaky ginger child. And it is just pretty. Pretty. Pretty. (and slimming!)

And then we tried a dark blue satin 'bolero' and I said WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW. But I don't have a photo of that. But here is a close-up!

The best part? The dress is under $375. In fact, all of their samples are under $450. So, ladies in Texas! If you haven't found your dress, and you don't mind a bit of a drive, send me an email, because you may find your dress at this store.

Happy day!

You guys...

I found my dress.

I put down a deposit.

I'm so excited!

I feel like my little blog has grown up a little bit.

So I officially have a nice little email specifically for the blog. If you have a question, a comment or want to send me a cool ass picture of something you can email me at toeacherown at gmail dot com.

Also, I am big twitter kid and love reading other people's twitter (doesn't that sounds just a bit dirty?) but decided to start one for this blog to keep a nice privacy barrier up for my own personal account.

So if you want to follow me on twitter: toeacherown

Happy Monday!

Things I've Learned This Weekend

• Etsy has 372 pages of wedding invitations.
• It will take roughly 4-5 hours to look through all 372 pages.
• You can start with 30 invites you like.
• You will end up with 6 you REALLY like and want to order samples of.
• Letterpress invitations are pretty pretty pretty and $$$$$
• We will most likely end up DIYing *some* of the components of the invites.
• My love of etsy holds no bounds.