Planning for the Big Day !

Hey blog friends ! I have been MIA for a minute.  It has been a hectic few weeks since we got back from New Orleans making our wedding plans. First of all, we BARELY missed Hurricane Isaac, meaning if we had planned our trip for the following weekend it would have been a complete nightmare ! Secondly, once we got back to Houston my Fiance's Uncle's condition worsened and sadly, he has passed away. We will be traveling to the East Coast this week for the funeral so keep us in your prayers for traveling grace and for me to find ways to comfort him because they were very close and he is having a very hard time with this.

We spent a whirlwind 4 days of planning in the Big Easy & got quite a bit accomplished I must say. First and foremost the contracts are signed and the deposits have been made, so the official wedding date is set for Saturday October 19, 2013 !!!! I am so excited about having a Fall wedding in New Orleans far away from the heat and humidity and at the very end of Hurricane Season LOL. October is the month with the lowest rainfall, best temperatures and lowest humidity.

We have blocked a few hotels in the area for our guests at different price points. So we went to each hotel and met with the Managers so we could personally look at the rooms. We want to make sure that our family and friends really enjoy their stay. We actually stayed the Dauphine Orleans which is the hotel that is closest to our Reception Venue in the French Quarter. We had a great time, the service was great and the Manager actually sent up a bottle of Champagne on our first night !

Enjoying his coffee in the courtyard

Let's toast to love & happiness ! 

We had two food tastings with catering companies Pigeon Catering and New Orleans Catering and two cake tastings with Royal Cakery and Flour Power. They all went very well. So now we just have to make a final decision. We are both in favor of the same catering company( Yaaay for agreement ! LOL) and Mr. Mixologist is going to let me make the final call on the cake since the price difference is not significant at all & they both tasted extremely good.

We absolutely love the city of  New Orleans and have met some really great vendors, that have been very professional and provided lots of helpful ideas. Even though we are planning this from far away, they are all very responsive to emails and calls which makes this a lot less stressful than it could be.

We made a final decision on our Ceremony Venue, and I couldn't be happier. The one place that we were waiting for construction to be finished on, is just not going to work out. It was a beautiful venue, it's just not going to be big enough. However,  the place that we did book is going to work just fine. Our ceremony is going to be outdoors in a French Courtyard at a private home located in the French Quarter. The lady that I have been working with is the sweetest person, I have spoken to her since the Hurricane and everything is fine at the house. There were a few branches and some ivy that got damaged by the storm but by the time our date rolls around next year we should be good to go. It's called the Montegut House.

The red doors are the entrance to the Ceremony location.

Our Reception is going to also be in the French Quarter at the Musee`Conti  Historical Wax Museum of New Orleans.  They have a beautiful space above the museum and our guests will be able to tour the museum throughout the cocktail hour of the reception if they wish. The lady that runs this place has also been a dream, giving me great advice on other vendors and lots of helpful suggestions. I guess it's official and I do have "Wedding Fever" LOL.  We both actually are getting excited. By far, the vendor that I am most excited about booking is my photographer Studio Tran. Now Mr. Mixologist initially gave me a little push back on this vendor because they are pricey,  but I convinced him that your photographs are the only thing left after the wedding day is long over. He knows that I love pictures and this was very important to me, so he gave in & has since reminded me each.and.every.time.we have had to compromise on something since then LOL. Believe that, and I have compromised in other areas.  But that's OK, it will be worth it. They have lots of albums on their website, that are very impressive to me.

On Saturday Mr. Mixologist spent several hours at the Cigar shop, while I had a Bridal hair and make up consultation with two ladies. I was pleased with both of them and got some direction on what I need to do to get my hair where I want it to be by the wedding date and although I did like the make up consultation, it is clear to me that I most definitely need to get some pounds off in the next year so that I won't have this double chin in all of  my pictures, LOL !

Makeup Trial...just me naturally ! 

Hair Affair ! 

Of course while in town, after tending to the business at hand, we made time to have some fun as well.We hit our favorite spots on Frenchman Street and tried out a couple of  new restaurants along with our old standby's.  If you follow me on Yelp, you can check out some of my reviews. By far our greatest new discovery on this trip was a restaurant called Jacques-Imo's Cafe, you can read my review for more details,  but just know that the food and service were phenomenal. My cell battery died so I did not get any photos for the blog or to tweet or instagram, but my memory serves me very well. If you are ever in New Orleans make plans to check this place out.

I am glad to have so many big items off my checklist, so that I can spend the time I need this next year working out, changing my eating habits so I can lose some weight and working on a few DIY projects that I have in front of me. My sister and a couple of my talented Bridesmaids are going to help me out too. I am looking forward to the process. They say once you set a date, the time flies by, so we shall see.

A found this on Pinterest a few weeks ago.

Well said. I have promised my family & friends that I will not become a Bridezilla and I mean it LOL. So far things are coming to together just fine.


Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?

Beautifully Complex