Pet Peeve Time!

Still my favorite

As all of you know, I'm in the process of planning a wedding... Not just any wedding, but the wedding to the man of my dreams.  So I have been spending a lot of time online doing research on the usual wedding stuff. You know, venue, colors, dress, jewelry, gifts, invitations, etc.  And the truth is I absolutely love planning weddings. I'd love to plan weddings for a living. I just think that would be the ideal job--helping people plan the biggest day of their lives.

Non-Traditional Invitations

But I digress... This post is about on of my all time top pet peeves.  I've planned a lot of parties in my time, and I've sent out a lot of invitations.

So here is my pet peeve:   "Invites" is a verb!  "Invitations" is a noun!

Why do people insist on calling invitations invites?  I'm seeing it all over the place, even on websites that sell invitations.  Do you know that if you Google the word "invites" that Google gives you a list of places to buy invitations, and the only listings it pulls up that actually use the word correctly is the in the News section.  Incredible.

Maybe I am overreacting. It probably isn't a big deal, but it does bug me to see brides writing that they've sent out their invites or asking how many invites they should purchase. And the worst part is vendors, people who are supposed to be professions, do the same thing.

It just makes me want to scream, "INVITE IS A VERB AND IT WILL NEVER BECOME A NOUN BY ADDING AN 'S' TO THE END!"

So rest assured my dear friends and family... When and if we have a party to celebrate our wedding, you will not get verb in the mail or via email inviting you. You will receive an honest to goodness noun.

Okay... I feel better.

Wedding Jewelry

Jim and I had such a good time today!  On the suggestion of our friend Kim, we went to the Allegan Antique Fair.  It's a fair that I guess is held for one day every month during the summer.  We hadn't ever heard of it, but we're really glad we went.

We stopped for breakfast first, and it's probably a good thing we did. It kept me from eating an elephant ear that would have sabotaged the diet I'm on! haha!  It took us a little over an hour to get there, but the company was good, so that's not all bad either.

When we got there, we were a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of this place.  They had both indoor and outdoor booths, and even though Jim didn't know it, I was on a bit of a mission. I wanted to find a necklace to go with my wedding dress.

I found a beautiful one.  It's a rhinestone choker, and it's very sparkly. I held onto it for a long time, and finally I said to Jim "I guess I better put it down unless you're going to buy it for me."  He was so sweet, he asked if I really wanted it, and bought it for me when I said I did.

Rhinestone Choker

Needless to say, I was very happy.  I was also very hot, as we found the necklace at one of the indoor booths and there was no air circulation.  That's why we quickly found our way outside and got a lemonade.  We looked around a little while longer, but pretty much agreed we hadn't found anything we couldn't live without, so we decided to go home.

One the way home, we stopped at an estate sale where I found a beautiful vintage signed Lisner necklace and earring set. At the time, I didn't know the significance of the necklace being signed or of it being a Lisner. I just knew I liked it and knew if I bought it I would have a difficult decision to make... Would I wear the necklace Jim had just bought for me or would I wear the vintage one I had just fallen in love with.

Vintage Signed Lisner Set

It wasn't really a hard decision... I bought the necklace! My thought is that I can try them both on with my dress and see which one goes best. If I didn't buy it, I would always wonder.

Well, when we got home, I started doing some research into both pieces. Since the rhinestone necklace is not signed and doesn't have any manufacturing marks, I wasn't able to find out anything about it. But I found out a lot about the Lisner necklace.

Now, I'm kind of obsessed with Lisner jewelry. Yes, it's costume jewelry, but it isn't made any longer and it seems it is quite a collector's item... I know I'll be getting more.

Rhinestone Necklace Close-up

Both are so beautiful...

Lisner Close-up

I don't really think I can go wrong with either one!!!  And I know that no matter which one I end up wearing that Jim will think I'm beautiful.  That's just a little bit of Jim being Jim!

Jim's Wedding Ring

It took a while to find the perfect ring for Jim.  He didn't have the same vision of what he wanted like I did. I knew what I wanted for an engagement ring long ago. I knew I wanted an emerald cut diamond, I knew I wanted a three-stone ring, and I knew I wanted white gold.  Although, I will admit that it wasn't easy finding a three-stone emerald cut diamond engagement ring, but we did manage to find the perfect ring for me--even if Jim did wonder who was driving that truck that hit him after we looked at the first one!

Just to remind you what my ring looks like...

Anyway, the search for Jim's ring was not as simple.  At first he thought he wanted something plain. He looked at a white gold ring with a hammered finish that was very nice.  But then he thought that might not be a good idea. He's hard on his hands, and he thought he'd have it all banged up.  Very logical of him...

Then he thought perhaps a Tungsten ring. It's durable and wouldn't get banged up. The only thing was, it couldn't be cut off easily if by chance he needed it removed from his finger.  It also couldn't be resized.  A new one would have to be ordered if he needed a different size in the future.  We actually looked at several different kinds of metal, but ended up going back to gold.  Very practical of him...

Well, we looked at all kinds of styles, but couldn't find anything that was quite right. He wasn't interested in anything with diamonds. He didn't want anything too large or flashy, but he didn't want anything too small either.  He has rather large hands, and the plain gold bands just didn't look right on him.

Then the sales person at the jewelry store pulled out a white gold ring with nine channel set diamonds and said, "You deserve diamonds, too."  That's all it took. I could see it in his face when he tried it on that that was the ring for him, and it looked perfect on his hand.

Jim's ring

[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Jim's ring"][/caption]

Since he got it he has been taking it out and trying it on all the time. I get the impression that he really likes it. I'm excited to see how excited he is about it.  I asked him if he's looking forward to wearing it all the time, and of course, the answer is always, "yes."

I'm so glad we found a ring that he loves as much as I love mine!

Wedding Dress Shopping

My mom and I are going wedding dress shopping today!  I'm really looking forward to it for two reasons. One, I have been shopping online all week for a gown and I looking forward to actually trying some one, and two, I get to spend time with my mom. We'll probably do the shopping thing and the lunch thing... You know, the usual things that moms and daughters do together. It will be a fun day.

This one Jim gave a thumbs-up to

As I said, I've been doing a lot of shopping online looking for a dress that is perfect and reasonably priced. Although, Jim has told me I will have the dress I want, meaning even if it is a little more expensive than I've budgeted that I don't have to worry.  Isn't he the greatest?? Still I don't want to spend a ton, and by that I mean I want to spend VERY little and still have a gorgeous dress.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I stopped into a bridal shop just to see if I needed an appointment, which I don't, and I glanced around at some of their stuff.  As Jim would say, "Did someone get the number of that truck!" Wow! The prices for the dresses are exorbitant!  More than ten times the price of the exact same dress online!  Needless to say, mom and I will NOT be buying a dress from the bridal shops. I'll try them on and then order what I want online!

The only problem I foresee with ordering online is the alterations. I've been doing some research, again online (don't you just love the internet?), and I think I might have found a place where I'll be able to take my dress to have it fitted once I get it. The reviews were very good, and one even stated that they had done a fantastic job on the gown her daughter bought from CraigsList.  For the record, I've found the dresses on CraigsList to be a bit pricey.

So now I am drinking my coffee (from my lovely china cup) and waiting for my mom to call to tell me she's on her way. Then I'll finish getting ready, because it takes her about a half hour to get here.  Quite honestly, I thought she would have called before now, but then I imagine that's only because I'm so looking forward to trying on gowns!

By the way, this is probably one of my favorites, and I think if I were to choose right now, this is the one I would get. Even though the description of the other one says A-Line, it looks a little too Mermaid for me, and I don't know if I have the body confidence to pull it off. But this one...well, we'll see.

Wish me luck!  And I hope all of you have fantastic day.  I'll let you know how shopping goes, and share some of my day with mom with you later!