SYTYCD: Frenchie Edition

This past Thursday Papa Frenchie and I went to our first dance lesson.  Papa Frenchie didn't really dance at his own wedding so Mama Frenchie still can't believe taking dance lessons was his idea.  My job was to find the studio and since I only knew of two in our area (Londance and Arthur Murray) I called the closest one, Londance. Pat (one of the owners) set us up with a free trial lesson to see how we liked everything and decide if we wanted to take more lessons.

Photo by Me. Sorry it's dark :-/

Papa Frenchie and I had NO CLUE what our song would be going into this lesson, we just figured we picked something we could dance to. When we arrived we ran into our teacher, Lisa, at the front desk and she had our song picked before we even hit the dance floor.

The Way You Look Tonight (Rema...

I'm extra happy we're using a Frank Sinatra song because it is definitely something our band will play well. SCORE! Lisa recommended this song because it's the song her sister and father are using for their dance in her sister's upcoming wedding and because it's Foxtrottable (my word, not her's). According to Lisa, your can foxtrot to any slower American song.

Lisa started us out with the basics. First up was a lesson in leading - like Ms Perfume, I have a nasty habit of trying to lead. Lisa had us face each other, put our hands on each other's shoulders and simply walk. We learned that the man should always start with his left foot and the woman with her right.

Lesson two was the basic swing, according to Lisa you can swing to any faster American song. The combo was really fun and even had a turn. 

Here's Lisa showing Papa Frenchie how to spin me around...

Photos by Me, again.

Lesson three was the Foxtrot. You may know this one, it goes - slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. (Name that 80's tune) Here we are mastering the new arm placement, I must have found it really funny.

Photo by Me, agian.

Lisa, described this dance as walking to music and it prety much is. We take 2 slow steps backward (or forward for Papa Frenchie) and then a quick side step together. 

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This diagram shows you going back the direction you came from, we didn't learn that last night, but perhaps we will at our next lesson. Yep, Papa Frenchie and I had so much fun he signed the whole family up for a 25 lesson plan. Now I can go with Papa Frenchie or Mr Frenchie, Papa Frenchie go with me or Mama Frenchie, and even Sister Frenchie can get in on the action. They don't normally let families share the same plan, but since it is a wedding Sean let us sign up that way because apparently, "Sean does what he wants" and we're not complaining. Another cool part is that because we signed up for private lessons we can go to any group lesson for free and we can also attend their Friday group lesson/dance party.

A Special Thank You to Miss Bruschetta for introducing me to Lala.

Has any part of  your wedding planning turned into a great family bonding activity? Are you taking dance lessons?

Clothes Good Enough to Eat

My Fruit Themed Shower is next weekend so of course I'm stressing about what I will wear. I purchased this blue dress after seeing it these posts by Miss Crab Cake.

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It fits great, but because I'm short (5'2") I need to get it taken up a couple inches. I could totally wear this and getting it hemmed by next weekend shouldn't be a problem. However, BM F, the shower host, is planning on wearing a SUPER cute apple dress she bought a couple years ago, to go along with the fruit themedness (still a word). I'm thinking if she's gonna match, I should too, right? So I did some fruit themed Google searching and only found one thingm this Apple Skirt by Made With Love by Hannah.

Wouldn't this look really cute with a cardigan or a cap sleeved shirt?

Hive what do you think I should wear? The dress? The skirt? (I'm also open to your finds)

Flowers: Take 2

Remember my post full of flower over-stimulation? This weekend the French Bulldog Clan (Mr Frenchie, Mama Frenchie, MOH/Sister Frenchie and I) is going to the winery for the cake testing (more on that to come) and our florist, Joyce, is going to have a mock-up of our centerpieces for us. Turns out is will look a lot less like this...

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and a little more like this...

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*Sigh* I've been absolutely IN LOVE with that daisy ball centerpiece from Amanda Auer and The Treasured Petal in a saw it on EAD Weddings in December, but I cannot justify the almost $25 more a centerpiece price tag. So I am happily and voluntarily (Mama Frenchie offered for the daisy ball) turning to option #2.
I've had a little crush on this style since Mr Frenchi and I went to his Step Brother's wedding almost 3 years ago. FSIL Frenchie won our centerpiece, but because I liked it so much she let me have it.

Photo by Me

I still have the base and use it to arrange gerber daisies all the time. However since we won't be using votives on the table our arrangement will need to a bit larger. I hoping we can do this by using globe vases...

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This also give the round shape I liked from the Daisy centerpiece. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Joyce has put together.

What have you scaled back on in the interest of saving money?

Happy You're-The-One-aversary

Boy am I glad Mr Frenchie and I decided not to write out own vows. I started to write about our 3rd You're-the-One-aversary and I'm finding it incredibly hard to put into words how I feel about Mr Frenchie. You see, three years ago on Memmorial Day Mr Frenchie and I drove down to San Diego for the day and while sitting on the grass on Shelter Island Mr Frenchie told me I was "The One". 

Mr Frenchie was the first boyfriend I had ever said "I love you" too, so the fact that we already knew this was "it" was a BIG DEAL to me. I (like I'm sure a lot of you) always wondered how I would know when I met the man I was going to marry. I heard from many a married (or engaged) friend, "you just know." You don't fully understand that until you met him/her and you "just know". That afternoon hearing Mr Frenchie tell me he knew that I was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with brought happy tears to my eyes and I will never forget that.
That's it... I've tried to write more but it all sounds elementary to me. If you met me I could talk your ear off, seriously I.HAVE.A.PROBLEM. I'm like the little kid in Jerry Maguire, "D'you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds?", I just have the hardest time writing it down and in a way that makes sense. So, we'll be relying on the same word many couples have said before. Part of me wishes we were writting our own vows and they other part of me is really excited to be going the "traditional" route. We'll be saying the same words our parents said and their parents said, it's kinda exciting actually. :)

Have you decided to write your own vows? or are you going the "traditional" route like us?

Kristen + Andrew = Married

Early this month Mr Frenchie and I went to the wedding of my dear friend Kristen to her best friend Andrew. Krissi met Andrew on Match.com a few months after I met Mr Frenchie. I like to think that I set them up in a way because my luck gave her that extra push to try Match.

This was by far the best wedding I have ever been too and the second one I've ever cried. It's true what they say - that the couple sets the tone for the wedding - Kristen and Andrew are so happy in love, you couldn't help but smile and have a good time.

Their fabulous photographer, Jeffrey Neal, posted some pictures from the day on his blog, here are a few of my favorites...

Krissi in her gorgeous Monique Lhuilllier gown

The part where I cried

Just Married!

On San Clemente Pier, where Andrew proposed

Most likey laughing at Krissi's sister/MOH's speach. It was hilarious. (That is me standing all the way in the back with the video camera)

Enjoying the Cotton Candy favor*

CONGRATS Krissi & Andrew! I hope you're having a blasty-blast in Costa Rica!

*When you get a drink (or two) in Mama Frenchie she get rather daring... there was a large dome covering in a table cloth at the back of the venue and Mama Frenchie had to go exploring. She then tracked Krissi down in the woman restroom and "helped her mother bustle her dress" which I took to mean she found he to ask her what was under the table cloth... it was the cotton candy machine.

Attention all Micheal's Shoppers!

Anyone need Cuttlebug supplies? or scrapbooking supplies, for that guestbook project?
Monday, May 25th, from 9am - 1pm bring in this coupon to get 20% off your ENTIRE purchase. Got that? THE WHOLE PURCHASE!

I don't even have to go on my lunch break, since Monday is a holiday! I.AM.SO.THERE!

But For Now

When Mr Frenchi and I first started dating "our song" was The Girl from Ipanema, interesting I know, but it seemed to follow us wherever we went.


Knowing that song would be an interesting first dance song, we talked on and off about our others options and always came back to something by Michael Buble or Jamie Cullum. Mr Frenchi said they reminded him of me because we listened to them a lot at the beginning of our relationship and I liked them because we used to dance to them in his apartment. I was suprised at how easily we narrowed down our choices to one song with so many great tunes to choose from. I think the conversation went something like this:
Me: Which song should we do?
Mr: I was listening to Jamie Cullum's yesterday and I really like that "let me say I love you song"
Me: Oh, "But For Now"? Yeah, that sounds good.

Ta-Da! We have a song!



"But For Now"
by Jamie Cullum

Sure I know you'd like to have me
Talk about my future
And a million words or so to fill you in about my past
Have I sisters or a brother
When's my birthday how's my mother
Well my dear in time I'll answer all those things you ask

But for now I'll just say I love you
Nothing more seems important somehow
And tomorrow can wait come whatever
Let me love you forever but right now
Right now

Some fine day when we go walking
We'll take time for idle talking
Sharing every feeling as we watch each other smile
I'll hold your hand you'll hold my hand
We'll say things we never had planned
Then we'll get to know each other in a little while

But for now let me say I love you
Later on there'll be time for so much more
But for now meaning now and forever
Let me kiss you my darling then once more
Once more

But for now let me say I love you
Later on I must know much more of you
But for now here and now how I love you
As you are in my arms I love you
I love you
I love you

What is your first dance song? Was it an easy or hard choice?

I Need THIS shoe

Dear J Crew,
I finally found the perfect shoes for my Bridesmaids to wear. BM J can wear the flat because she is 6'1".

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Sister Frenchie and BM F can wear the heel.

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The fabric is ADORABLE and I.AM.IN.LOVE! Hack, I want a pair for myself! 
So, why-oh-why don't you have the flat in a freakin' 10!?! I want, I need, I have to have!
Love,
Miss French Bulldog

Hive can you help me out? I need this shoe?

Tweet Tweet

When we first started discussing a wedding "theme" I brought up birds and immediately got shot down. Mr Frenchie thought it might be too "girlie" and Mama Frenchie just thought I was crazy. After this I started to see bird themed weddings all over the place, couples were using bird cake toppers or had birds on their invites and I.was.JEALOUS! 

But, after Mr Frenchie and Mama Frenchie saw how freakin' cute our Birdie Cake topper was they both jumped on the Birds band wagon. I'll admit I had become attached to our new Herbs table theme, but since it was becoming increasingly difficult to procure all the Herb packets without going severely into debt, I gladly went back to Birds. So far we're going to have birds on the cake, tables named after birds and these adorable place card holders.

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The cool thing is they double as favors! Done and Done! (or as my buddy D'orsay would say, "Huzzah!") 
I'm thinking that along with each guests name I'm going to clip on a thank you note. The note will explain the birds are their's to keep. I haven't figured out the wording yet, but I would hate for one to get left behind... gee that would stink if I ended up with extras *wink, wink*.

Based on the information and picture on My Wedding Favors.com, we were nervous about the quality of the birds, so I ordered a set to check them out. The arrived today and I was pleasantly surprised with how cute they are in person and how sturdy they are. Not that there will be much wind in Rancho Bernardo in August (no matter how hard I pray), but if a gust decided to blow these puppies would stay standing.

Here they are modeling on my desk...

Strike a pose there's nothing to it, Vogue.

Does your wedding have a "theme"? Did you change it mid-planning?

Madison or Anna II?

On our first trip to Macy's to register Mr Frenchie and I decided not to register for China, but to get a nice set of everyday plates. We didn't want to not get things we really needed, like everyday plates and a vacuum, because our guests decided to get us china. We decided on a casual china line by Wedgewood called "Eternity".

From the start we've known we wanted plain white plates, you know something that will go with anything, no matter what the theme... because we're always thinking "would this work for entertaining?"
After talking to Mama Frenchie, she convinced us (and I'm glad she did) that we needed Fancy China. Yes, we probably wont get the whole she-bang for our wedding, but this is something we can add on to over the years. So, back to Macy's we went one afternoon, just to find a china pattern.
FH liked the more eleborate patterns and I like the more simple patterns and somehow we ended up with a great compromise (at a reasonable price), with the Federal Platinum pattern by Lenox.

The very helpful, Bonnie, in the Bridal Department at the Macy's Home store at South Coast Plaza also pointed out to us that this pattern lended itself nicely to incorporating accent plates from other patterns. Such as these two from Kate Spade:
1 - Larabee Road

2 - June Lane


I'm leaning towards Larabee Road.

Now that we had "fancy china" we didn't need to spend (or ask our guest to spend) that much on everyday china, now did we?

Luckily we'll find any excuse we can to walk around Crate & Barrel with "the gun" and found ourselves there the following weekend. On this trip we decided on the Madison dinnerware line. We liked Madison for a couple reasons: 1) it's white; 2) it is cheaper than the Wedgewood; 3) it's not made in China (Mr Frenchie has been making an effort not to register for too many items made outside the US, especially in China) and 4) we liked it.

(Pssst... over here! This actually made me happier because, and this is between you and me, I never really liked the Wedgewood. What? it had weird Ws on it.)

So, done right? Wrong. This past weekend Mr Frenchie and I found ourselves at our favorite, Crate & Barrel, once again. We walked past the dinnerware and Mr Frenchie said he wanted to switch to these plates called Anna II.

The Mr scanned one of the plates and I went online this morning and swiched everything from Madison over to Anna II. Of course afterI switched them all over I noticed - these plates are pricey! Not super pricey, but pricer than the Madison plates. So, if we don't have a strong feeling one way or the other, shouldn't we go with the least expensive plate? I've left the decision up to Mr Frenchie.

Have you changed a an item on your registry more than once? Can you not put-the-gun-down?

Engagement Pictures

Okay, you've seen our lovely Sneaky Peak and you know you're all super jealousy of the Ugly Hug Face *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. So, lets move on to the less ugly more glamorous shots. 

All photos by the VERY talents folks at Ohana Photography and used with their permission.

Earlier this month Mr Frech Bulldog and I met David, Kimi and April of Ohana Photography at The Montage Laguna Beach, where you may remember Mr Frenchie proposed.

Here we are on that very bench.

Looking at the photos I am continually amazed with how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area.


Here are a couple favorites from their blog...






and the glamour shot...


Check out that SKY!
Thank you David, Kimi and April you've made two big time "blinkers" look pretty good :)

Did you take engagement pictures? What significance did your location hold?

Ladies Who Lunch... With Their Bridesmaids

About a year ago, or more... it was definitely before Mr Frenchie proposed, BM J's mom (we'll call her Auntie S) generously offered to host my Bridesmaid's Lucheon. Once it was decided that our wedding would be in San Diego, BM J and Auntie S started brainstorming where to host the luncheon. I knew the restaurant would be fancy because Auntie S doesn't mess around, just look at where BM J had her luncheon (more than 5 years ago)...

 

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But I had no idea it would this fantastic! Check out the the first place they suggested, Georges California Modern in La Jolla.

 

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Whether we end up inside or outside (we all prefer outside) this place is perfect for a lunch with all my ladies, FMIL Frenchie, FSIL Frenchie and out of town guests.

I know some people do the Bridesmaid Luncheon differently, since BM J's was the first one I went to I've always know it as an event hosted by a close family friend where you invite the BMs (of course), your future female in-laws and any female out-of-town guests that are in town. But, I know some Bride's host their own luncheon and just invite their BMs, I've also been to one of these and it was a lot of fun and very intimate.

Are you doing a Bridesmaid's Luncheon? Who hosts it? Who do you invite?

Blog Inspiration

Grey Likes Weddings posted this weeks ago and I've had it "kept as new" in my Google reader since...

Source The Love Shop

I held onto the post because I liked the picture (it's our wedding colors and it has a bird), but silly me didn't get around to actually reading the post until today. Grey, suggests using love taglines for the front of your programs - I LOVE IT!

What are your favorite blog for inspiration?

Guess Who Flew in Yesterday?

If you guested our cake topper by Etsy seller SueBeeHB, you're right! I received an email from Sue on Tuesday letting me know she had mailed the birds and THE NEXT DAY they arrived at home! Granted I only live about 25 miles from Sue, but I was still excited. They came in a cute box that reminded me of a Twitter question Sara with Stinkerpants Designs asked a few weeks ago regarding the packing she mailed her cards with and I stand corrected it is more exciting when something comes in a fun package.

I would still have been really excited to receive them in the just the priority mail box, but the special packaging made them seem more homemade and from the heart.
Inside the birds were nestled in safely...

You can see FH's birdie there on top.
and here we they are...

See FH's yellow bout! I can't get over how cute they are!
Okay, last one, here they are on their base...

What is your favorite wedding purchase so far?

Ugly Hug Face

You've seen Ugly Cry Face, Ugly Surprise Face and the more recent Ugly Laugh face. I bring you Ugly Hug Face...

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We got our Engagement Pictures back from our very talented (and a blast to hang out with) photographers, Ohana Photography. I'm going through a selecting some of my favorites to share with you, so this was your sneaky peak.

Engagement Party Invite DIY

Way back in December of 2008 Mama and Daddy Frenchie threw Mr Frenchie & I an engagement party. The idea of the invite started with a picture taken by the very talented Jessica Claire at the wedding of my very good friend Tiffany Michelle. FH and I had been dating about 2 months when Tiffany married her awesome hubbers, Dan, and Jessica caught this shot of us laughing on the dance floor.

It has been my mothers favorite phote ever since and she wanted it incorporated into the invite, here is what we came up with and how...

Supplies
Card Stock - I printed 2 invites on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock.
Matte Photo Paper - I printed several photos on one sheet. I chose matte because I just prefer the finish.
Envelopes - 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" (8.5" x 11" folded in half)
3D Dots - These are dots used to make stuff pop out. My mom bought them not knowing how much we'd need, but I'd figure 2 dots a popping thing.

X-Acto Knife - I guess a paper cutter would work for this also, I'm just used to using an X-Acto Knife for school.
X-Acto Knife safe straight-edge Cutting Mat - You know, so you don't cut your mother's dinning table pad.

First I cut the invite sheets in half...

Then I cut all the photos out, leaving no border...

Next Mr Frenchie put two dots on the back of each photo, one at the top middle and one at the bottom middle, and placed the photo in the top center of the invite.

Ta-Da the finished product!

How did you get your Wedding DIY feet wet?