If he's getting cold feet....

Over on Chocolate Lover's Confessions, Mr Milk talked last week about a joke he made that he might be getting cold feet.  I commented on his post about the little gift I am giving Mr Fix It on the morning of the wedding regarding 'cold feet.'  Since I had a couple blogger friends mention they want to steal my idea I figured I'd share the site with you all.

While I'm at it, maybe you can give me some feedback?  At first, I wanted to get socks for each groomsmen that would be personal to him.  For example, for Mr Fix It's surfing friends, I could gift them these:

For his brother who is an environmentalist nut, I thought about these:

For Mr Fix It himself, how about these?

The problem with that, was that getting different colored silly socks for each guy would not make for the greatest shot (in my opinion) that I was hoping to nab like this:

So I thought about it and decided perhaps argyle *IS* the way to go.  So which of these two do you think I should go for?  The classic black with the red in them (all the guys will be in black tuxes and shirts with red vests) or the bright fun red with grey?

I'd get the one on the left in red from http://www.tonsofsocks.com/ ($13.50 per pair)

These are from http://www.sockdreams.com/ and are only $7.00 per pair

So, ladies?  Which ones should I go for?  I am leaning towards the black ones just because I'll save half the money I'd spend on the Ralph Lauren ones.  But the RL ones are brighter and funner.  But the guys might actually wear the black ones again?

Anyway, the point is...once I buy them.  I will throw them in with their groomsmen gifts that we're handing out at the rehearsal.  But Mr Fix It will get his on the morning of the wedding (I'm going to have a brother hand them off to him while they're getting dressed).

And his pair will be wrapped in this cute little label that I found on this site

  

They have a different one that is very similar but with a little more color and a slightly different phrase as well.  The label is only $7.50 and they e-mail you a .pdf document to print it on whatever paper you want.  You could probably DIY but I don't have time at this point.  It says "For My Husband To Be -  For your potentially Cold Feet - From your loving Bride"

Cute, right?

And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free $25.00 gift certificate to MyWeddingFavors!  Click here

Look at me, look at me!

Ok, so there's been the big debate over whether or not the bride and groom should see each other before the big moment - the walk down the aisle :)  I think a wonderful post about whether or not to see each other before the ceremony can be found over on Budhoop's blog.  She offered some great truths about the reasons most people are for or against this idea.  And as she said, it's really a matter of personal opinion. 

For some, there is nothing like this moment:

Where the groom sees his bride for the first time that day...all dressed up in white with hair and makeup beyond beautiful.  Let's face it, a lot of guys cry.  It's pretty sweet.  And even if you don't want to see each other before the actual ceremony, there's still some fun ways to get some 'teaser' shots in before that big moment: 

Photo:  Rancho Las Lomas

Jenn over at a Bride's Brain posted about her First Look yesterday.  Check it out here.

As far as why we have opted for the 'first look'?  It's very simple:

1)  I don't want massive anxiety the first time I see Mr Fix It.  I will be all anxious and nervous and if he does cry or gets all emotional, no one will even notice because let's face it - everyone is looking at the bride at that moment!  Mr Fix It calms me down and seeing him several hours before our ceremony is going to put me at ease and keep me in a relaxed and fun mood.

2)  We can't stand having to wait for two (or more) hours for the bride and groom to show up at a reception before we can eat and get the party started.  A cocktail hour should be just that - an HOUR!  But when you have to take hundreds of photos after the ceremony, it's draining and keeps guests waiting.  I personally don't like it.

3)  We want to be a part of our cocktail hour.  We have hired a strolling magician to entertain guests during cocktails and we do NOT want to miss out on all the fun and tricks!  I mean since we are the ones paying him, shouldn't we also be able to enjoy his services?  Besides, the reception is already a difficult place to try to greet and chat with all your guests.  Having that extra hour in a relaxed setting during cocktails is a great way for us to get some extra time in with the guests.

Those are our main reasons for knocking out all of our photos before the ceremony.  Yes, it means that we'll have to start hair and makeup at 8 am for us ladies.  And yes, the guys will all need to show up about 4 hours before the wedding (but they'd have to be there an hour before anyway to greet guests and seat them anyway).  Besides, that 3 hours or so that we will be knocking out lots of photos gives us the chance to not feel rushed and enjoy ourselves. 

So how will we do our first look?  As Budhoop suggested, they are in fact staged to a degree.  Here you see the bride making her way to her groom who has his back to her so as not to ruin the 'moment' they turn to see each other:

Photo Robert Mullins Photography

In this one (and with our own plans) the groom will walk up behind the bride to greet her.  How amazing are all of these next sequence of shots that were taken by our own photographer Robert Mullins? 

The groom takes her hand as she turns to see him for the first time:

He takes in all her beauty:

Look!  He's even getting emotional!

And they get that one special intimate moment with just the two of them to embrace and just be in love:

I can't wait to share the idea we came up with for me and Mr Fix It's first look.  I won't go into all the details as you'll see it on video at some point in the next several months, but I will say that when I told my future sister-in-law about the idea, she started getting teary eyed :)  And yes, our first look will include our family to some degree....not just the two of us.

So, are you / did you opt for the first look?  What do / did you like or not like about it?

Diamonds are a man's best friend?

We started shopping for Mr. Fix It's ring about 3 weeks ago.  He was all over the place on this one.  We knew he wanted something different and not just a plain band.  And since he's in construction, he can't really wear his wedding ring all the time...not to work at all - it could end up costing him his finger if it got caught on something :(

So when we started hitting the local mall and some jewelry marts we saw price ranges from $100 to $1500 - of course.  I had budgeted a certain 'high' amount but it wasn't what I expected to pay because Mr. Fix It was leaning towards Titanium which is a little less expensive, durable and had some unique options.

The one thing I wasn't prepared for was the fact that he wanted diamonds in his ring!  At first I thought he was joking, but once he showed me some styles, I knew he was dead serious...and I didn't mind because I actually kind of liked some of them.

The search was on and these are some of the contenders:

   

We narrowed it down to two rings, this one:

And this one, which is actually my favorite! 

It's hard to tell from the photo but it has a two toned yellow gold tint to the 'elevated' part in the middle but we are going to have the entire thing made in white gold and then have the lower outside portion polished with a high gloss and the wider part of the band will be in a more satin finish so there is a contrast.  What I love about it is that it has 2 princess cut diamonds in it - the same kind of diamonds that are on either side of my own wedding ring :)  So we almost kind of match.  The good news is that we got the quote 3 weeks ago and had the owner write down the price on a business card.  I don't know if you follow the markets, but gold just shot up this week and so we are probably getting it for a steal right now.  We should be purchasing it this Saturday and get it in within 2 weeks!  Another thing to check off the to-do list!

Have you bought your groom's rings yet?  What was the experience like?  Did he go for classic and traditional band or for something blinged out?