Thursday, February 23, 2012

Yo Lemon, You Comin' to the After-After-After Party?

My friends and family like to party. Well maybe not like Tracy Jordan likes to party, but pretty close.


Our reception will end around 11 PM, but I can tell you that the partying will continue long after that. At BM J's wedding (my dad's sister), a majority of our family and the bridal party headed over to the after party and I'm proud to say that my family stayed out until somewhere around 2 or 3 AM.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hair-spiration

Even though I have a love/hate relationship with my hair right now, the beauty of it is that I'll pretty much be able to do whatever I want for the wedding day. And so every time I think about locking myself in the bathroom with a pair of scissors I browse purdy hair-dos instead.

I do this more often than you'd think, so I hope you're ready...

I love the look of elegant buns:


(I'm also super in love with her hair flower.) / Image via Updo Guru

 


Although a pretty hair clip works just as well! / Image via Bridal Beauty Salon

Then there's, well I don't know what to call it really. A messy bun? A loose bun? All I know is that it's purdy and I wish I could make my hair look like this everyday:
 
 


But then I think about the sheer willpower it's taken to not cut my hair. Shouldn't I show it off?

How about a side-do with pretty curls that flow over my shoulder? Although that would probably last about five minutes before it pissed me off and I pushed it back. Okay, fine, maybe I could tolerate it for the photos.

 Image via Lovehair

There's the classic half-up/half-down look:
 
Image via Woman Place

Or maybe I'll just let it all hang out with some loose curls.

Image via Lovehair

Sidenote: Her hair color is freakin' gorgeous!

So long-haired brides... Let's hear it! Up-do? Side-do? Half-up/half-down-do? Down-do? Monkey-see, Monkey-do?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Rapunzel, Rapunzel...

WHY do you have so much hair?

Hive, my hair is SUPER long right now. It's seriously out of control. I'm like the brunette version of this chick:

Image via Disney Wiki

I usually keep my hair shoulder length. My hair is kinda curly and frizzy and crazy and sometimes it can look like this:
(Personal Photo)

Yeah, I can't believe I just let the whole internet world see that. On the other hand, on a really good day it looks like this:
 (Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

Ohhhh, so pretty and curly and perfect!

Well, a little bit after these photos were taken I decided to try and grow it out a little bit. And then I got engaged and I thought maybe I'd try to grow it out a little bit more. And now we're four months out and it looks like this:

Photo Credit: Nancy Choi

Except, that photo was taken a few months ago now so it's really even longer than that. I just don't have a good photo because it's become such a pain in the ass to take care of that I just wear it up in a messy bun or ponytail like 99% of the time.

Anyways, the end goal is to hopefully have it look something like this:


(Personal Photo)

Yeah, my hair looked ridiculously amazing for BM J's wedding. 

It's getting harder and harder to resist the urge for a Pre-Wedding Chop, but I just keep reminding myself how freakin' awesome my hair will look on W-Day and constantly reassure myself that the second we get back from our honeymoon I will be free to take a pair of scissors to this crazy mop. 

Anyone else as excited for their Post-Wedding Chop as I am?!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

And the Paper Obsession Continues...

Did you guys really think I was done showing you invitations? I don't think you fully understood me when I said that I have been OBSESSED with paper. Since I'm still pretty sure we can't afford letterpress, I've been searching for some more affordable options:

I love the gorgeous monogram. / Image via ShineInvitations on Etsy

Simple and sweet. I think the lace adds a nice touch along the bottom. / Image via Storkie

Love, love, love this die cut invite wrapped with ribbon. / Image via TrendyTreasure on Etsy

Do I even need to explain? So beautiful. / Image via Minted / Designed by Beth Perry Design

Okay, I swear I'm done... For now. In the meantime I'm still debating if I should design my own or outsource it. It was fun to make our save the date and even my bridal shower invitation, but I'm thinking I might leave this one to the pros. There are still plenty of paper goods for the wedding day that I can DIY (programs, menus, escort cards, etc.) and the list seems to be growing longer and longer as the number of days til the wedding grow shorter and shorter!

Did you DIY your invitations or leave it to the professionals?

Adventures in Registering

A few weeks ago I talked a bit about how Mr. C and I started the whole registry process and how we even tried to do it all from our couch. Yeah, that was a giant fail. We decided that we really needed to get our butts to the store. Bet you can't guess what happens next!

First, we headed over to the Disney World for your home, Bed Bath and Beyond. And just like Disney, we knew we couldn't see it all in one day. The game plan was just go in and zap things with the scanner gun until we were too bored and/or tired to care about the prettiest design for our flatware (seriously, there are so many different types of forks in that store... WHY???).

Thankfully one of the employees just handed us the awesome scan-y thing and sent us on our way. We scored some serious necessities like a new set of dinner plates and a shot glass that helps you measure drinks. Okay, maybe not all necessities, but that shot glass was just too awesome to pass up.
Sango Roma Caramel Dinner Set / Image via Bed Bath and Beyond
(Personal Photo)

We already received the Mini Measure. What can I say? My parents like to fuel our drinking problem.

Once we hit the bedding section I started to crash. Instead of making life-altering decisions like which color comforter to purchase I deemed it more important to pet all of the towels and squeeze all of the pillows. Seriously, they are SO soft. Mr. C took that as our cue to leave.

Oh and if you remember my last registry-related post, yes, we did indeed register for a nutcracker. And not a sexy one. Just a nice plain boring one:

 Image via Bed Bath and Beyond

A few weeks later we headed to Macy's for part two. We had such a great time at BB&B that I think we started to get a little cocky. Don't worry, the universe quickly put us back in our place. It started the second we scored a sweet metered spot right near the entrance. If you live in NYC or any of the surrounding areas I'm sure you can appreciate how rare it is to find a parking spot, let alone one right near a store's entrance. Of course, it was only after we had already fed the meter that we realized it was one hour parking. DAMMIT. Okay, okay, no big deal, we would just zap some china and hopefully some bedding and/or towels before the meter ran out.

Yeah, like I said, we were getting cocky.

We ran inside and hunted down an employee. We explained we had already started a registry with Macy's online and that we just needed the scanner, but when she saw that we hadn't actually registered for anything yet she took it into her own hands to educate us on the ins and outs of registering. Meanwhile, the meter was ticking. Ticking. Ticking.

Now, I want to stop here and say that I have nothing against this woman. She was the sweetest, nicest woman around and Macy's should be proud to have her as their employee. Seriously! The lady knew what she was talking about and did her job well.The problem was we were on a serious time crunch. And we told her that. Multiple times. And she still. Would. Not. Shut. Up.

By the time she finally handed over the precious scan gun we were down to 30 minutes. And even as we walked away she kept following us yelling out things like, "Don't forget your bakeware! Oh my, you just CAN'T forget your bakeware! And your luggage! And..." Siiiiiigh.

At this point we just wanted to get something on our registry so the trip wouldn't be a total waste. We managed to zap about three pieces of china before the meter was up (literally). Although I will admit precious minutes were wasted because I allowed Mr. Coyote control of the scanner gun. Bad idea. He spent half the time trying to scan my boobs. They are not for sale Mr. Coyote, do you hear me?! NOT FOR SALE!

Anywho, we did manage to score some sweet China.

Mikasa Dinnerware, Platinum Crown Collection / Image via Macy's

Since we had been able to browse both stores we able to finish up everything else on our list from home. And so ends the Coyotes' registry adventures.

Parting tips from Miss Coyote?

1)  Give yourself plenty of time. We did that at our first stop, but foolishly though we could finish up round two in an hour.

2) On the flip side, don't try to do too much in one day. When you start petting towels it's time to leave.

3) Don't let your pervert fiance have control of the scanner gun at any point!

Tell me about your in-store registry experience! Did you make multiple trips to the store? Did you have an associate assisting you or were allowed to roam free? And who controlled the scanner gun?!