heel or no heel?

Since my dress should be arriving shortly and alterations will be starting, I've been thinking about what shoes I'll wear for the wedding. The ceremony is on the beach so I think I'll be barefoot, although I do want to put on some sort of shoe for dancing and pictures.  I can't decide if I should wear heels or not. I would love a bit of extra height, but I have to keep in mind I'll be walking through the grass during the reception.  

Here are some pretty pairs I've found tonight:

check your mailbox!

Our wedding invitations have gone out! I am so happy with the beautiful suite that Anna Hurley created for us, and I'm so excited for all our friends and family to see them too.  The stamps were found by searching eBay on a daily basis, but I managed to round up enough vintage Tropical Flowers to finally send out all the invites.  I love the way the stamps look with the color of the envelopes too.

I can't wait to start receiving the RSVP's!

you are beautiful.

I love this mural that was recently done right around the corner from our house in Santa Monica.  I'm dying to get our wedding photographer Jose Villa to town to do a shoot in front of it.  For now, our point-and-shoot self-timer shots will have to do.

Greetings!

It has been some time since we've updated our wedding blog.  Life sneaks up and gets a little busy sometimes, doesn't it?  We are currently less then 6 months from our big Day and the anticipation is building! Planning is coming along smoothly, since we've been dedicating each week to focus on a new task.  This week: Bridesmaids Dresses.  Choosing the dress, style, and color was the most painstaking decision of all since for some reason the only nice looking bridesmaids dresses are ridiculously expensive.  My goal was to find a beautiful dress in a fun color that each of the 6 girls will wear again, all for less than $200.  Sounds simple right?  Think again.

This was just a sampling of dresses that I was considering. I thought the colors were nice together, and each girl could pick the one she liked the best.  Decisions are never that easy though, and knew I needed to narrow it down.  Finally, after countless hours of searching and shopping, we have decided on 4 different styles of the same color dress from J Crew.  

                                             

I decided to go with the bright Blue Sapphire color because it was so fun, and really will lokk great against the white sand and the crystal blue water of the Caribbean.  What do you think?

invites. website. check, check, check!

303 days till the wedding. that seems like plenty of time to get things done, right? let's hope so. i have no idea what i'm doing other than following a generic timeline of tasks to complete each month. every time i make a decision or book a vendor i get to put a big check in a box, until hopefully the wedding day comes and everything is done and i haven't forgotten something that wasn't on the list to start with. that's my biggest fear. so far, the list goes like this:

book a venue. check. find a dress. check. order invitations. double check! not only did i order them, but the whole invitation suite, including our Save the Dates, has been custom designed by the fabulous Anna Hurley. she has done an amazing job and it's been the hardest thing for me not to show everyone what they look like. i'd hate to spoil the surprise for anyone who gets a sneak peak. they are being printed now, and i just can't wait to see how they look all printed up. 

i also got to put a big check next to the box that says "design a wedding website" because ours is finally done! i was adamant about not using the generic wedding website templates that are readily available and perfectly acceptable. in true Ashley fashion, i had to make life difficult and make one from scratch. after all, i am the same girl who wrote a 42 page itinerary complete with pictures, biographies, and local history for a weekend trip up the coast with friends. yes, i tend to overdo things. i digress. for the website i used the design from Anna's wonderful invitation suite and tried to put as much useful information up as possible. i know nobody wants to read a book report on St. john, so i hope i did a good job of editing down the BS. anyhoo, check out the site and let me know if i forgot anything.  don't forget to sign our guestbook too!

i'm getting married this year!

happy 2010! 

this is the year we'll be getting hitched... now that is pretty exciting!

and in other news....

i found my wedding dress! yay!! i must say it is a huge relief to not have to go wedding dress shopping ever again. for me, the experience was not all it's cracked up to be. i went to a few places and i wasn't keen on the snobby consultants, florescent lighting, getting naked in front of strangers, and row after row of pouffy, itchy dresses that seemed to be the standard at most bridal salons. where's the glamour and champagne? or at the very least flattering lighting and a friendly staff? thank goodness for the Erin Cole Salon in Costa Mesa! i am so glad i found that place because i just may have worn a burlap sack to my wedding if i hadn't. this place is great, and i absolutely love the dress i found there. what girl wouldn't fall in love with a Vera Wang?! yup, that's right! this bride will be wearing Vera. i am in love! my sister said that i'd have dreams about my wedding dress after i'd found "the one". she was right. i went home that night and dreamed about that Vera all night long. i can not wait to wear that dress! here is a photo of me ordering it...

can you tell i'm excited! now, do i really have to wait six months for it to arrive? 

on a side note, it never seems to get old that it's january and the weather in Santa Monica is this beautiful. i took this picture tonight on the pier with my parents, who are in town just for the night. 

i feel very lucky to live here and appreciate it every day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

my "working" vacation...

...Actually, it was just a good excuse to take a trip to the islands with my best friend, but hey, who cares?! My bestie of 11 years Mo and I decided we needed to do a little wedding reconnaissance work on the island of St. John. Seeing as I hadn't been to the island in about 6 years, and never actually been to the resort where the wedding will be held, I think it was a good call.  We had a such blast together and even managed to get some wedding planning done in between our pina coladas and naps on the beach.

These shots were taken from the balcony of our room when we first arrived. Isn't the view spectacular?

So, for those planning on attending our wedding, there are a few things about the island that I want to point out:

1) St. John is HOT! I mean, really hot. Even in the winter. But it's that good, island-y, tropical, sweet-smell-in-the-air type of hot where you're sweating all the time but still feel great. Note to self- try not to be a sweaty pig in the wedding photos.

2) St. John is super fun! I guess it's because I've only been to the island on family trips where I was under the age of 21, but I never realized what a fun place it is! The nightlife is great, and there are tons of bars, restaurants, live music, and great food around every corner of Cruz Bay. I can't wait for our friends and family to experience the island.

3) The trip there is quite an adventure, especially from the West coast. I hope this doesn't discourage anyone from coming to the wedding, but St. John is no easy place to get to. You have to fly into St Thomas (usually not a direct flight), then a very windy, hilly, taxi ride to the ferry dock, and then a 20 minute ferry ride to St. John. That's a lot for one day of traveling! But trust me, it is so worth it. I only want to warn people so that when you make travel plans, it is nice to stay for a week if you can swing it. Any less and the travel time catches up with you.

4)St. John has lots of interesting wild animals! Anywhere you go on the island, you are pretty much guaranteed to see donkeys, goats, chickens, iguanas, roaming around. Although, I hear the donkeys can be pretty mean when they are hungry, so I don't recommend getting too close.

This curious little iguana stole that orange right off my pina colada!!

Here are some shots of the beautiful Westin Resort, where the wedding will be held. I am so glad we chose this resort. I think it will be the perfect place for a beautiful, elegant wedding and a great spot for our friends and family to stay during their trip. 

The Westin is just a quick cab ride away from Cruz Bay and all the beautiful beaches. The resort also has its own private beach with jumbo water trampolines and other fun activities, although I do recommend checking out the other beaches as well.                           

And here's Mo and I out on my parents' friends' boat sailing through the Virgin Islands. That's my mom's dog Toby on my lap.

So, there you have it. My trip in a wee nutshell blog post.

And, sorry about the long lag, I promise to be more diligent with the posts in the future.

t minus one year

one year from today, we'll be on st. john, dancing the night away as a married couple. yippie! now, does that mean it's our negative one year anniversary? and for that matter, do we have to start the count over once we're married? tyler and i have been together for over 5 years now, but when we're married for a year, is it only our 1 year anniversary? seems a bit unfair to the dating years. 


oh well, it's still exciting! i think we should celebrate!


365 days to go...

the great dress search

I having been thinking a lot about wedding dresses today, so I'm trying to picture myself in all sorts of styles and shapes. Without trying anything on yet, it's hard to determine what is going to look good on me. Right now I'm loving etsy designer Sarah Seven's gorgeous wares. I wonder if I can swing a trip to Portland to try some on....

Engagement Party Slideshow

engagement party preview

happy birthday to me!

today is my birthday, and i feel so blessed. i am on to my twenty-ninth year, and i can only hope it's as wonderful as the last.

                                          
man, that's a lot of candles!!

hankies and undies

i knew the minute i decided who my bridesmaids were going to be that i'd need a clever way to ask them to be in the wedding. after all, it's a question i won't get to ask too much in my lifetime and i think it should be special. i originally bought each girl (and my one "bridesman") leather luggage tags that are personalized with a hot stamp monogram. not a bad gift, and useful since it's a destination wedding! but, i wasn't quite satisfied with plain 'ol luggage tags. i needed something else. so, i moseyed down to the vintage store near my house to see what i could find for inspiration, and it turned out that they had a huge bin full of beautiful vintage hankerchiefs. i had seen a gorgeous set of save-the-date hankies online, so i decided to reinterpret the idea into a clever way to pop the question. 

since i don't own a screen printer, and there was no way tyler was going to let me buy one just for this project (even though i tried to convince him that we'd use it "all the time"), i was at a loss. a brilliant plan, and no way to execute it... alas, enter my new friend reggie! our friend matthew introduced her to tyler that very evening and it just so happened that she owns a screen printer! hooray! 

she was kind enough to print all the hankies and the pair of undies too. i think they turned out beautifully! now, how am i going to decide who gets which hankie? 

let's get the party started!

only 6 days until our engagement party! 

we decided to kick off the celebration in '09 because, let's face it- we can't wait a whole year! i can't believe we've been engaged for over 6 months now! time really flies...

the party will be at the home of our dear friends, jennifer and mike crane. they are so sweet for wanting to host our party, and we are so grateful! they have an amazing home in pasadena with a gorgeous backyard. i can't wait to see the yard all lit up at night.

we have gotten our favorite local band, the leftover cuties, to play at the party. i am so excited to hear them live again, i have been listening to their CD nonstop since we first heard them at a party in malibu. i know they are going to be a big hit! if you'd like to check out the leftover cuties online, click here for their website.

i can not wait to see all our friends and kick off this celebration! i honestly don't know how i am going to make it all the way till next november.

this is the dress i plan to wear: what do you think?

location, location, location

it's official! 

we have booked a wedding venue! it took some fanangeling, because apparently st. john is a very busy place for weddings in november. but we ware very excited to announce where we will be getting married!

the wedding will be held at the westin resort & villas on the island of st. john. this is a gorgeous resort, and we think it will be the perfect setting for our wedding. we plan to marry at sunset, on the westin's private beach. since the beach faces west, it is sure to be an amazing view. then it will be on to cocktails, dinner, and lots of dancing on the grounds of the westin's beach garden. ah, i can hear the waves crashing and feel the breeze blowing already... i can't wait!

if you'd like to check out the westin online, click here to go to the website.

i heart jose

good news, we have chosen a photographer!
the photos are my favorite part of any wedding, so it was very important to me to choose a great photographer. in my mind, the choice was easy. i have been admiring one photographer's work for quite some time now. jose villa is an amazing fine art wedding photographer and i am so honored that he is going to shoot our wedding!
click here to check out his website and portfolio, and click here to view his blog.

these are some of my favorite images from jose's website: