Another prime example of how not to plan a wedding

Its been awhile since I last posted.

Let me explain what I've been up to.

I booked a DJ for the wedding that my venue site said I wasn't allowed to use. How could THAT happen, you ask?  Well.... I was looking online for catering etc, but prior to that had been looking for dj's. I shot a few emails out to different companies trying to see if they were still available for my date.  One of them followed up with me since it had been several weeks since I first inquired about his availability and I decided we would meet up with him.
That was the first mistake.
Me and the hubby-to-be are very much gogogo right now people. We like to make quick decisions after we give some consideration to whatever we're thinking about. In this case, it was hiring a dj for our wedding since most of the ones I'd contacted were already booked. So after the 40 min meeting with him, the dj whips out a contract, and the hubby whips out his checkbook, and begins writing a $250 deposit. They pass me a pen and I sign my life away on the dotted line.
I should have given the decision more thought, but I am a very much "do now, ask questions later" type of person...
This was the second mistake.
I re-read my contract with the venue when I woke up the morning after signing the DJ (which was something I should have done before even meeting with the DJ). On the very last page, the contract stated no DJs, and I flipped out. I must have cried all day that Wednesday. Upon contacting my wedding coordinator and telling her what happened, she seemed genuinely pissed at me for signing a contract for a service I wouldn't be allowed to use.

Long story short, after 4 days of not knowing what would happen, the guy finally agreed to give our deposit back after speaking with the owner of our Venue. I have yet to get the payment back and it's been nearly a week, but I am hopeful it will arrive in the mail today.  Please let this be a lesson to everyone: NO HIGH PRESSURE SIGNING! DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING unless you've gone over it with a fine toothed comb.  In both the case with the venue and the dj, they both have clauses in there removing the right from the contractee to get deposits and fees back -- there is no buyer's remorse in the wedding industry. Please take your time and arrange a second or even third meeting with your vendors before signing with them, or you risk losing out on a lot of time, money, and sleep from worrying about it.

7 more months

Time keeps flying by.  And Every time I look up, there are more and more things I need to do that I don't know when I will have the time for it!  Makes me feel slightly panicked.

On the bright side, I will be getting a decent sized tax return, so there is more money towards the wedding for the crazy catering estimates I've been getting lately.

Today, I did a bit of research on catering and cakes again, and also went to the dollar store to see if I could get a decently priced solution to my centerpiece problems.
I am thinking of placing two cylindrical vases bottom to bottom-- that would create 7 inch height boost for the branches to come out from atop the vases, and give more clearance room for the paper lanterns. I figured out today that 8 inches is the size that I need for the little hanging lanterns.  I am currently trying to buy used lanterns and led lights from other brides trying to get rid of their reception decor.

Before bed, I want to try and set my invitations up correctly for printing so that when I get the paper (which already shipped) I can run some tests.  No laser printers print to the full edge of a page so I would like to set up borders around the invitations so nothing will get cut off when they are printed.

Centerpieces

I think I found what I would like to use for our centerpieces!  Now.... if I could only figure out where to find these. . . .

Thanks for the great idea, Meghan from weddingbee

What I would like to do, is line these will vellum paper that has the table number printed on it and maybe the menu for the evening. I would put an LED light inside to illuminate the glass.  Then I would use something like these inside:

40inch long cane sticks from here

And then suspend the lanterns from these poles like in the picture I love so much

Suggestions? Comments?

Decisions =\

I hate decisions. Why are they so hard to make?

I think it's the fact that decisions are so... final.

I'm trying to decide what to do about catering.  And there are always toooooo many choices. Too many companies, too many prices. Prices I can't really afford but will have to bite the bullet and pay anyways.  I'm afraid "it" will happen again.

It? What's "it"?
"It" was choosing our venue before really looking into other places.  Sunday weddings can be cheaper because they fall on Sundays.  If I had known then what I know now, I would have looked for a place that wasn't as restrictive as the place we've chosen.  The place I decided on is beautiful, no doubt, but there are a lot of restrictions that I'm not comfortable with now that I understand what I am looking for in a wedding.
The restriction on how many people can attend.
The restriction of how long we're able to use the property.
Restriction on alcohol.
Restriction on the DJ that can be used at the venue.
Restrictions on decorating.
=.=;;;;;;;

As soon as I signed that contract last May, I had already blown my chances of having everything I wanted, without realizing it.  For the small wedding we were initially discussing for 35/40 people, the venue I chose would have been just about right.
Now that the guest list is nearing 100, I feel like I couldn't have made a worse decision because our wedding date is 10/10/10 and EVERYONE ELSE IS GETTING MARRIED ON THE SAME DAYYYYYYYYY. You would not believe how many ppl are getting married on 10/10/10.  A couple months ago, I sheepishly called about 10 different venues to see if they had availability.  Of course nobody did.  So basically, I"ve made my bed, I need to lay in it. I'm gonna go pout some more about why making choices is so hard.

Late night musings o.o

I just got home from work.  And of course, all the coffee I had to keep me awake this long still has not left my system.  As such, I decided I would surf the net until I was a tad more tired.

I've been thinking about shoes.  Lovely shoes. I don't really own any of those, and I've started to dread coming up with a pair that will suit me and be comfortable. I may just wear my raggedy old Etnies if I'm not careful.

These pumps courtesy of Kitty's Boutique

www.shiekhshoes.com

These scare me because they're so Cheap

Christian Louboutin Dillian Flower Pumps Pierre Dumas shoes through PiperLime

I want something bright, and orange is my color. I totalllly would love this last pair but they seem to not be in production any more.  They were only 30 bucks, too. Damn.

I'll be honest. Every day I do a bit of browsing for the wedding. Be it pretty pictures of cakes, diy led glowie lanterns, catering, invitations... I am scouring the internet for inspiration. I often go to weddingbee.com or projectwedding.com to see what kind of pretties that other brides have recently posted about.

What has daily web scouring given me? A head full of ideas for projects and decorations... that I can't choose between =.=;

Again, I will be honest. Our wedding is coming up in just over 7 months and I have not gotten a solid idea of what I want this wedding to be.  I want origami, I want paper lanterns, I want good food, and to have a lot of fun! I want an asian themed wedding, but I don't want it to be cheesy. I want my family to enjoy themselves, but I don't want the price tag of our wedding to keep escalating.

How exactly could I pull this off? from weddingbee.com

look at these colors *swoon* -from theknot.com

cranes! (uhh forgot where this pic is from)

These are just a few pics I've stolen from around the internet to help me focus on what it is I want for the wedding.  

Official first post here

Hi to anyone that happens to stumble upon this! I hope to make this a collection of my wedding plans, where I can put all my crazy ideas together in one place. The reason for this? ...none really, just a memoir of the journey I've taken on the days leading up to our wedding. I hope it can serve as inspiration for some, and perhaps a heads up to others! Take care!