GapKids Casting Call!

Bloggy friends,

I need some help from you and your bloggy friends! My littlest sister Logan really wants to be in GapKids... just so happens there was a GapKids Casting Call and she entered!

God bless her she's six and just as precious as she could be! I'm not sure she has a fighting chance but I don't want her to just get 4 votes and feel terrible.

So I need a favor, if you could just go and vote for her I would be FOR-EVER grateful! You can vote everyday, once a day until Nov 17th!

The link is here. If you can't find it there go to http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall and her Member Name is MelLogGar.

I'll attach some pictures :) from of course our WONDERFUL photographer Shea Halliburton!

Thanks girls!! Posting and re-posting is a-ok by me...any help is appreciated! :)

Alright Girls (and possibly boys?)

Ok folks,

Step outside of your Google Reader...

And tell me what you think of my new blog layout?

Good, bad, indifferent? I need some comments ladies, I'm missing the blog love!

So this post isn't completely pictureless I'll share some of my favs before I start with the recaps!!

Can't wait to share the rest!

Uprinting Rolled Canvas Giveaway!

Bride on a Budget is hosting a giveaway of a Uprinting.com Rolled Canvas! Perfect for all those wedding and engagement pictures you may not have hung up yet! She also has a super cute blog too!

Visit her site and check out this awesome giveaway!

Booo on Halloween Candy (and a Curious Puppy Dog)

Thursday was quite a day...

We left Thursday morning to go to work like every other day. We always let Bentley have the run of the house downstairs and babygate the stairs so he can't hurt himself running up and down. We put up everything on the coffee table b/c he loves to grab things off of it. He chewed up my first Social Security Card and many other things... thank goodness I changed my name! ;) I filled up his water and food, took him to pee outside, and then left for work. Apparenly what I didn't do was get our massive bag of candy left over from our non-existant trick-or-treaters off the end table and put it in the cabinets.

By the time M got home, it was a disaster zone. Candy was everywhere, empty wrappers were all over our living room floor. Half eaten Blow Pops were stuck in Bentley's fur and M&Ms were EVERY-WHERE! M picked up every wrapper and counted how many pieces of candy had been eaten. Our little 7 pound Yorkie baby ate three mini Crunch bars, a Reese's cup, and lord only knows how many mini packets of M&Ms. He licked on about 5 Blow Pops that were stuck to our Oriental Rug underneath our dining room table.

Needless to say I WIGGED OUT. Chocolate for a doggy is bad news bears. I called our vet, who happened to be out for the day. I called my Mom to ask if she knew what to do and even posted my quandry on Facebook. I called my vet back and they recommended that I go to the pet emergency clinic to go thehis stomach pumped. Then one of our friends called, her Dad is a vet and he said to just look for warning signs of sickness like throwing up, peeing alot, and bad diharrea. All bad, gross things. So instead of spending a ton of money at the pet emergency clinic we chose to wait.

I watched him like a hawk all night long. He acted like a normal doggy but he was definitely amped up on caffeine! He spent all night playing with his toys instead of sleeping like he normally does. And I stayed up with him. I just couldn't sleep thinking he could seizure out at any time. So crazy little me stayed up... and he was fine. YAY! But we definitely learned that we can't ever buy chocolate again, ever!

Vendor Review: Fresh by CarryAnn

Fresh by CarryAnn may just be the single most helpful vendor I had on my side during my wedding. If I can give you any advice at all, make the drive to Mt. Juliet. I can guarantee that you will never regret it! First off, she is the cutest little thing you will ever see! Second, she was soooo much less expensive than any other florist we got quotes from and for the exact same thing! I was amazed when I got a $3000 quote from Enchanted Florist...and when I took the exact same idea to CarryAnn she got it done for $1600. Phe-nominal!!! She also was basically like the wedding planner, she got to Scarritt as soon as it opened, decorated EVERYTHING and then took it all down afterwards. She even transported things to 3rd aVenue from the ceremony (ahhh-mazing)! She decorated and supplied every decoration we needed for the reception and then came back at 1:00am to come pack it back up! She loaned us every single vase for our orchids so we didnt have to buy any (I'd say about 25 in all). Now this may be standard for florists but it sure made me feel special!

I even got a cute little mockup of my bouquet, even though I didn't have Bridal Portriats done!!

She also came in and set up my cake topper (which I sent to the Reception w/o any instructions apparently) and they contained NO FLOWERS! If it wasn't for her the top of my cake would have been naked!! She went out of her way to make sure that all aspects of my day were perfect and I didn't have to lift a finger... we kept all the orchids and the GORGEOUS floral arrangements that lasted for weeks! Seriously, they were still perfect when we came back from our Honeymoon!

The only thing I could even think of that wasn't just perfection was our billing, she didn't charge our credit card for the deposit. But that's it! We had a contract so I wasn't worried about it and as it showed, I shouldn't have been...she was one of the best decisions I made!!!

To book Fresh by CarryAnn you can visit her online at http://www.freshnashville.com/ and I promise you will not be disappointed!!! You'll even get a little surprise when you book her for your wedding! (I'll never tell but I promise, it made us feel very very special!!!)

A++++++

Teaser Slideshow!!!

Get excited!!! My wonderful, glorious, uber-talented photographer, Shea has put together the slideshow of all slideshows of our wedding!!

Check it out by following this link: http://byshea.com/mrandmrswilkins

Make sure you have the volume turned UP because the music is perfect!! It sets the mood and the songs are very near and dear to our hearts :)

Enjoy!!!

Vendor Review: 3rd aVenue South

How much did I love 3rd Avenue South?? LOTS!! It was in the perfect location for us! A block off of Broadway it really fit the bill for a fun, party place that we could transform into our own! You can view lots of pictures of the venue at www.nashvilleeventspace.com under View Local Venues or my previous post about it here. The venue costs include tables, chairs, linens, plates, food, bartenders, pretty much everything. The planner there, Laurie, really tells you like it is. She has a great view of what you want and how to make it happen. She maximized our seating for our budget (we did have to stretch it a little to get everything we wanted) and created gorgeous intimate spaces for the guests to be away from the hustle and bustle of the dance floor.

Laurie created multiple scenarios for us depending on guest count and set up appointments with the in-house caterer who I will brag on later! She does also offer her services as your full on planner and her prices are pretty in line with most other planners in Nashville. If I hadn't already decided that I wasn't in need of one, I probably would have hired her. She put everything together for us the night of the reception, drinks and food ready when we got there, she boxed up our to-go food, and quietly made sure we were happy...and we were, we really were!!

The cost of 3rd aVenue South is the biggest thing though, it's not cheap. When I originally called she estimated at least $100 a head, which was more than I wanted to pay for just the reception. We shopped around and really didn't find another place downtown that would be totally transformable like 3rd aVenue was...so I called back and said... "This is what I have, can we make it work?" She agreed at first, then called me back and said she had been thinking about it and it was going to be tight. She went over everything and it's cost and politely asked if I had any other funds we could throw towards it. I did, I had low-balled it bc I've worked in Sales for 3 years and knew how this would play out. When we agreed on the price, I signed in confidence bc I knew she would be honest with me and lay it all out. While it was still kinda close to the $100 a head mark, it was under and I got alot more than I could have wished for!!

So 3rd aVenue: A+, would recommend anytime!

Vendor Review: Scarritt Bennett Chapel

Almost every bride in Nashville knows about Scarritt Bennett! It's actually called Wightman Chapel at Scarritt Bennett but not many people remember it that way. Its one of the hardest places to schedule a date with and the workers who schedule those dates are very accommodating! I called NUMEROUS times to see when they had available dates and they were always very nice and never made me feel like "here's that girl again..." You can catch up on my booking it here!

Now after the fact was just a little bit different. I understand it's a busy place and they book back to back weddings/rehearsals but there was no need to act like they did regarding time slots. I'm almost always late, it's just my thing. Well the day before the wedding was crazy! I had to pick up my dress, get it to the hotel, get our nails done, etc...so I was a little late to the Rehearsal, well about 38 minutes late. The FIRST thing the coordinator for Scarritt said to me was "If you are not out of here by 1 minute after six, I'll have to charge you extra". These people LOVE to charge you for stuff... they threatened to charge me there, they did charge me to use microphones, if you want to bring snacks or drinks, all sorts of crazy stuff. For what they charge to use the place (a cool $1750 is the going rate for 2009, it goes up $50 every year) I should have been able to spend the night there if I wanted!!!

The staff also threw stuff away in the brides room, including my dress bag...so my poor little dress has no home. :( They just weren't that warming, actually pretty bitchy! Like I said, I get that they book stuff tight to make the most money, but there's no reason to be ugly to people. But they will continue to do it because the venue is GORGEOUS! Even with the experience, it's not enough to say that I would chose somewhere else. I couldn't have been happier with my choice!!

So chapel: A++++, Coordinator's attitude: D- Booooooo

Honeymoon in Hawaii: Part III

We did so much on our last full day in Hawaii that it needed a post all it's own!! The night before our last day we took part in Hawaiian tradition....a LUAU!!

They called M on stage to try and make noise with the shell... he lost to a little kid!! haha

And my fav...the flame throwers!!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to pack up and head to Pearl Harbor... I won't even tell you how long it took us to get there... we decided to get on the bus instead of a cab... worst decison of our lives!!! We were on athat bus for almost 2 hours and we saw EVERY PART of Honolulu/Waikiki!! It gave us something to laugh about to say the least!!! But when we finally got there it was worth it!! If you don't know the story of Pearl Harbor I would recommend doing some research...at the very least watch the movie with Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett! :) You'll learn something and see some hotties!! lol You can still see part of the ship where it sank and oil is still leaking from the engines...it really is unbelievable.

We then showered up and went shopping before catching our plane back to Nashvegas! We made a deal, if I got a new pair of Chanel sunglasses (I have a bit of an obsession, buying a pair has marked quite a few memorable occasions in my life...getting my first real job, going on a date with M, and now our Honeymoon!) then he could get a PS3! Buying his PS3 was the first thing we did when we got to the mainland...after taking a nap of course!!

So that was our honeymoon!! We had a great time and are already planning our next trip!! I can't wait to share with you all our AMAZING vendors! They really made the difference in our perfect occasion! :) I would recommend them ten times over!! And my glorious photographer has sent me 4 teaser pictures and I should have the rest by the middle of next week!! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!! Vendor reviews here we come!!

Honeymoon in Hawaii: Part II

And then we headed to Honolulu! (you like how I'm not addressing the fact I haven't posted in a month? lol) We stayed at Hilton Hawaiian Village which was BUS-Y. I've never seen so many people in one place, but it was gorgeous!! There was always something to do and this half of the trip we actually stayed pretty active! Before we even checked into the hotel we decided to trek up Diamond Head! Diamond Head is a dormant volcano that the US Troops used for lookouts during the war. The adventure is a .75 mile walk mostly uphill that leads you to a beautiful view of Waikiki/Honolulu. Whew what a walk!!

We went through the pathway...

Then stopped halfway to rest...and take a few pics of the crater!

Through the dark tunnel carved into the mountain...

And up these ridiculously steep steps...wow were my legs hurting after 2 sets of these!!

And then we were there!!

The way down was much easier!!

We then checked into the hotel and did some sightseeing around the hotel!

They even had little penquins!! How cute were they?

View from our room...

We had 3 full days of relaxation...

Whew...and it's not over yet!! Our last day was action packed, and it will be Part III!!