Hello! I just received today the event agreement and proforma invoice from the hotel where the ceremony and reception will take place (www.thecrane.com).  Everything was in there as we agreed, except for a couple of things I had questions on:

- They are quoting me US$600 for a projector and I checked it's not a typo, why is it sooo expensive? Does anyone have input on that? we would like to show a picture/video montage, you know to make people feel part of the wedding!

-Also did you ladies have both a DJ and a band?  The coordinator is recommending that.  I always thought I'd have one or the other but not both, I'm not sure how to go on this one...she says the band Rhapzody, is really fun and it would only be there for 3 hours anyways...the DJ would be there for 5.

-The photographer she recommended has very good reviews www.magicalphotos.net, so I'm excited about his work but the price quoted is US$750 for 2 hours and 40 photos, is that average, I think I should be getting at least 3 hours...

- The last thing she suggested, that Mr. Ice Cream likes is a Steel Pan Player during cocktail hour, I know it sounds cool but I don't think I could deal with an hour of Steel Pan banging :) what do you ladies think? I would really appreciate your helpul advice...here's a sample of what is like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMDpzf0crRg

You're ready to talk wedding dress? I looked at so maaany dresses to find that most of the ones online are not available at the stores to try on, for example the Dessy Destinatiion 1016 that I fell in love with when I first saw it online:

I just love the way the lace looks, I was bummed  I couldn't try it on anywhere, I called and emailed so many places in the LA area...so I decided to visit a few bridal salons close to my house and try on the ones most similar to the design I was looking for, that's when I went to Brides of California in Torrance and while trying on similar lacey dresses a super cute teenager that worked there, suggested I try on this one:

I present to you the Maggie Sottero Phillipa, I tried a golden color one they had, and it was awesome, sparkles everywhere and you feel like a million bucks, of course everything is not perfect!, it was a bit heavy because of all the beading and crystals and the zipper had those buttons that you have to loop each one individually, wedding night heLLO? but you can get it with the corset closure as shown in the picture which is a bit less painless to get out of. But the dress is gorgeous, it's fitted to the body and still has lace... It costs ~$1200, when I was looking to spend about $800, soooo I'd sacrifice because this was definitively mi pick, but my mom recommended I keep looking, so I did more googling since my search categories had now changed a bit to add sparkles into the mix, and that's when I found this one:

This is Dere Kiang model 1585, of course is to be found nowhere in LA to try on, but it does not look like it has the negatives of the Phillipa, normal zipper in the back, it looks lighter and it still has plenty of sparkles but not as much, which is a good thing too! the only negative is that is not as fitted around the hips as the Phillipa, but after talking to my mom, I decided that I can't just buy a dress ($1000) and not try it on before hand, soooo I was set to go with the Phillipa.  A couple of days later, I got an email from Tom's Bridal in Anaheim, with a very good offer, he was one of the people I had emailed about Dessy dresses, but he said if I went to his store to try on dresses, he might offer to order the Dere Kiang with no obligation...what a DEAL! so I headed over there (40 minute drive) and tried on some stuff, but it wasn't what I was looking for, so Tom's wife Michelle (both real nice) took my measurements and said they'd call me if they decided to order the Dere Kiang.  I told them my plan was to order the dress in January to have plenty of time for adjustments and fittings....so there you have it! oh yeah one more thing, in the middle of all this I fell in love with Ivory, a lot of the lace dresses look soooo much better in Ivory, you might want to look into that and give it a try just to see if you like it! I know to some white is very symbolic! but Ivory looks awesome! I'll let you know what happens, what do you think I should do, Phillipa or Dere Kiang?

Hello! So this is my first official post about the wedding, I'd like to be part of the WeddingBee family and this is my attempt at it! SO, I will name my fiance Mr. Ice Cream (he loves it!), since I think the food names are pretty funny.

Mr. Ice Cream and I have decided to have a destination wedding in Barbados in June 2009! The decision was a hard one, because Mr. Ice Cream is Canadian and I am from Venezuela, we met in Los Angeles at work. So, we thought about having the wedding in all 3 places but didn't want to favor one family or the other in terms of travelling so we picked somewhere in the middle, and Barbados was perfect because my future mother-in-law's mother grew up in Barbados, so they have extended family down there that are being great help for the wedding!

Is anyone else out there having a destination wedding?  I will blog tomorrow some more about the details...have a great day!