Flowers Aint Cheap

But then I knew that already. I went to the flower shop I was referred to at the tasting a couple weeks ago today to get a quote. When I originally did my budget way back when I was still searching for a venue I used $700 as my figure. Since then, I had dropped it down to $350 after running some numbers and taking into account the anticipated number in our bridal party and the fact that I will not be using flowers to decorate the venue or as centerpieces.

I would love to have flowers for centerpieces but I simply do not want to spend the money that it would cost to do it. My centerpieces will be DIY and each have one pink floating carnation. There is a beautiful elegant white arch with multiple columns at the ceremony location set against a wall of greenery that will be in full bloom with flowers in July so I have decided to leave well enough alone. I will only be dressing the arch in tulle that costs $100 from the hotel.

My price quote is $428.04 and includes the following:

• Bridal Bouquet $110.00
• Attendant Bouquets 4 @$40.00 each
• Mom's corsages 2 @$17.99 each
• Groom Boutonniere $14.99
• Groomsmen, Dad's, officiant Boutonniere 7 @$9.99 each

I feel just a little bit indulgent and excessive at the thought of carrying a $110 bouquet. I mean, do I really need a prop that expensive? One I will carry down the aisle then toss over my shoulder and send home with someone else. I did not order a "throw away" bouquet. I was hoping for $80 and do not feel that I have requested anything too elaborate. I don't like cascading. Good thing because they cost even more. I chose a round bouquet with all light pink roses and baby's breath throughout which I love. It will have some ivy around the edges for finish and a white satin ribbon around the stalks with white pearls running down it. And that's all folks. The range she gave me for the bouquet was $110-$140 so of course I asked for the lower end. However many roses $110 will get me should be enough.  The attendant bouquets have a lot more greenery and a few different kinds of flowers in it with names I can't remember, including Carnations in different shades of pink and will be tied with a black ribbon. One benefit of having a smaller bridal party-less flower expenses.

I didn't originally think about all of the extra corsages and boutonniere's for the mom's, dad's and officiant/friend but I want each of them to have one and as with everything else it just adds up. The thought has crossed my mind to try to do DIY some of it. I don't know if I am ambitious enough to do it all myself but if I throw the attendant bouquet's together myself I'm pretty sure I could do it for less then $160.

I have a co worker who does flowers on the side as a hobby. I might be able to have her do all bouquet's  and then I would only have to order the boutonniere's and corsages from Allen's which might save me money if she could do it for less then the $270 quoted. Fifty Flowers.com has some DIY Wedding combos I could play around with. I have also found some reasonable priced wholesale flowers online at Growers Box and Blooms By The Box but I will ONLY pursue this route if it will save me significantly more money otherwise I might as well save myself the time and worry and just leave it to the professionals.

We shall see. Either way I am still under my original budget and overall $428 for bridal party/parent flowers doesn't seem to be all that bad considering what it could be. I am really happy with my selections. The lady who helped me didn't seem pushy and it was not some high end boutique shop. After browsing online I think the prices are reasonably low and competitive.

Can't Miss Gymnastics

Rebecca Bross

"Gymnastics is on." I hear Mj yelling out to me while I am in the bathroom getting ready for my eye doctor appointment. Oh crap. How could I have forgotten about this? "I'm canceling my eye doctor appointment." Mj thought I was joking but I was serious. Without hesitation I went into the kitchen called up the doctor office and told them I couldn't make it and that I would call to reschedule. Then, I settled down to watch the American Cup for the next two hours.

I love gymnastics. It's my favorite sport in the whole world. It only comes on about 3 times a year and I wasn't about to miss this one. Mj has learned not to mess with me when my sport is on. He gave up the remote without me asking because he knew I absolutely would not tolerate flipping back and forth between channels on commercials.

Rebecca Bross won first place as expected. She may not have the artistry of Nastia Liukin but very few do. What she lacks in artistry she makes up in power, difficulty and consistency a la Carly Patterson. She narrowly missed being a World Champion last year and even though the Olympics is two years away she is expected to contend for the All Around title there. When you think about it she's actually next in line. In 2004 Carly won. In 2008 Nastia Liukin took the throne. What do these gymnasts both have in common aside from winning Olympic gold? Both trained at WOGA in Plano Texas and so does Rebecca. She is also trained by Nastia's dad/coach Valery Liukin. 2012 is really Rebecca's turn to win the Olympics when you think about the lineage of Olympic champions in her gym. She got to watch Carly and Nastia train their butts off, kick butt at the Olympics, and cash in on all of the wonderful rewards that come to those who win Olympic Gold. She probably wants it so bad for herself she can taste it. It seems as if it is her destiny to win it next and she is on her way. Carly and Nastia are among the many great gymnasts who have won the American Cup and now Rebecca is too.

So much pressure goes along with all that destiny but she is a solid competitor and if she stays injury free it can be hers. There are world class gymnasts all over the world training day in and day out for that very same goal. The competition will be fierce and destiny or not she will have to fight for it just like everyone else.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the competition even though I had to blow off my eye doctor appointment to do it. It's all about priorities.

UPDATE:  Rebecca Bross's Olympic Journey

Invites/RSVP's En Route & Website DONE

Hitting submit on my final order was a bit nerve wracking. Once I do this it's final. It's too late to decide that there should have been a comma there or a certain word should have been capitalized. Unlike my blog once I hit submit I can no longer go back and edit. That being said I am also glad to have it done because it IS so final. No more obsessing over the wording and whether or not everything is perfect.

After extensive research I decided on Invitations By Dawn. I immediately liked "In The Pink" online and knew it was perfect when I received the free sample. I could have gotten some cheaper ones but they would have looked that way too. It is a fold over design printed in raised black script on pink heavy card stock paper. There is a pretty black and a pink pearlized flower embossed on the front and our first names are visible from the front through a little cut away. They match our wedding colors, they look elegant and are of good quality. They come with outer AND inner envelopes. The cost is $121.80 for 100 invitations and $65.80 for 100 Response cards. We also got invitation tissue for $2.00 making the grand total $189.60. I was able to customize everything online. I was able to view a mock up of the invitation but not the RSVP. I did not order proofs. They were $15 each. I liked the invite sample and I proof read the invite so I think it will be OK that I didn't.

I also got to working on our wedding website because we are going to print the website URL on mailing labels and stick them to the outside of the inner envelope. This is the online digital age. There is a website for everything so why should my wedding be any different? We are using mywedding.com. Guests can RSVP and choose their meal here. They can view our wedding registry, city information, wedding and hotel information, view pictures of us , sign our online guest book, contact us, and find out a little bit about how we met. It's totally free. I LOVE the way it turned out and it was really fun doing it too.

I will plan on sending them out early March and request RSVP by June 1st.

Reception [Food Fest] Tasting

The tasting was less of a tasting and more of a all out food fest if you asked me. But, I am definitely not complaining. They offered passed hors d'oeuvres and wine or champagne while we were waiting to go into the tasting room. Once inside all of the food was set up buffet style and you could pretty much taste as much as you wanted of anything that was there. There was a lot to choose from! These are our plates just from round one.

We had Rosemary Chicken, Flat Iron Steak, Wild Rice Pilaf, Stuffed Shells, Mini Beef Wellington, Spring Rolls, dinner rolls, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and on and on. The provided a note sheet so we could take notes on what we liked and what we didn't. After tasting everything I think that we have decided that we like the Southwest Tri Tip steak. I originally figured I would just go for chicken because it's kind of generic and everybody likes chicken but this meat was so tasty and we both really liked it so beef it is. I am debating over if I want to put a beef or vegetarian option on my RSVP cards or not. Or, just tell them on our website that if they are a vegetarian to let us know? I think if we have dual entrees served then we have to provide menu cards and I am not exactly sure what that would entail. I guess I need to find out because I am planning on ordering my invites this weekend.

Southwest Tri Tip Steak

The reception package we chose is $55 per person [plus sales tax and 19% gratuity of course!!]and includes the following:

• One hour bar service including cocktails, beer, wine, punch, and sodas
• Assorted cheese & cracker display during cocktail hour
• Starter, served entree, seasonal vegetables, dinner rolls
• Champagne toast and coffee/tea service
• Cake cutting service

I think that should be enough but I really liked some of the Hors d'oeuvres. It would costs $150 per 50 pieces to add those on. It would be nice to throw in something extra but that would be $300 minimum. We want to add on alcohol too after the cocktail hour and Mj and I both agree that alcohol is way more important! The next package up would be $20 more per person and include 4 hors d'ouerves AND an extra hour of bar service but that would be pushing our budget too much.

They also had some of their vendors on hand for everything from DJ and flowers to mobile spa services and chair covers. The cake vendor said he could do a peanut butter 3 tiered cake that serves 100 for $275, which is under budget. I found out that one of the sample centerpieces on one of the tables was $100!! That's exactly why I am making my own. $100 X 10 tables is $1000 bucks! Even $40 X 10 is too high for me. We visited all of the vendors and turned in our little card to enter the raffle but did not win anything. I was REALLY hoping to win the $500 ceremony but instead it went to a girl who is having a quincenera and doesn't even really need it. Sigh.

Overall it was a wonderful and fun event. Free dinner and wine is always nice! Of course it made me want everything but I have to bring myself down to earth. The recent renovation on the hotel looks great. They really rolled out the red carpet for us and I am very happy that we chose it for our venue.

Under Contract, Now Where's My Loan?

It's funny how so many things in the home buying process are backwards. You can get pre approved to buy hundreds of thousands worth of real estate but nobody will promise to give you any money for it until you have already signed a contract saying that you will buy it. On a resale you fall in love with a house but it's only until after you have signed the contract that the home inspection is ordered that could ultimately break the deal if there are any problems. We've agreed to buy a new construction house that is nothing more then a pile of dirt with some stakes in it at this point. We don't know exactly when our closing will be because it's being built as we speak. We don't even know what our interest rate will ultimately be on the loan and yet we have signed the dotted line that we want the money. Even once we receive final credit approval an outside lender won't agree to the loan amount until the house is appraised for the purchase price which can't be done until the darn thing is mostly built and that likely won't be until April. We are supposed to be moving in May!It's backwards. And it's the way it's done.

We are almost 30 days out from contract signing and we still don't have financing in place. Not for lack of trying. Run back and forth with paperwork. Wait. Get pre approved. More paperwork. Submission to underwriting and more waiting. This is our 3rd time initiating this approval process for a variety of reasons. With less then a week before our 30 day time limit to secure financing we are told by the builder's lender that they will not offer us the loan we want. They are telling us if they don't get some type of credit approval for us in place by Tuesday we will be 100% denied from any loan at all with them. We don't want to spoil our chances completely but we also don't want to get stuck having to go with a loan program we don't want. We submitted a loan application to our bank Monday. It will be great if they approve us for what we want but that also means $6,700 builder credit towards closing cost that we were anticipating with use of the preferred lender is now in jeopardy. They might still give it to us but they might not depending. Did we officially get rejected? NO. Did we refuse their counter loan? YES. Or did we agree to their counter offer and get accepted but just don't want it? DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE. If we do, we may definitely stuck without the closing costs credit if we choose our bank and the loan program we want over theirs with the one we don't. That's a lot of money to just kind of not know if you are going to have.

Buying a house is not for the faint at heart I will tell you that much. There are variables and unknowns at every step of the process that could make or break everything. There is so much money involved and no average Jane could even begin to understand 1/2 of the paperwork that must be signed along the way. You are making plans to move in the not so distant future yet nothing is guaranteed until you go to closing and they put the darn keys in your hand. I've heard of people getting denied on a loan just 1 day before closing!

For the organized-plan ahead-like to be in control-type like myself this is a nightmare. I am so over it. I want this house but I also want off this wacky roller coaster ride of confusion and uncertainty.

 Cont'd: Look's Like We're Gettin' The House

HGTV Junkie

Hey, is anyone else addicted to House Hunters, My First place and Property Virgins on HGTV? I have to ask because if I find out I'm not the only one at least I'll feel a little bit better about my addiction. I can watch these shows for hours upon hours on end.

I love watching couples weigh out the pros and cons of one place over another and how much bang you can get [or not get] for your buck in the different housing markets. Location vs square footage. Attached garage vs back yard size. Granite counter tops in the kitchen vs an extra vanity in the master bath. I enjoy seeing the decor and layouts of different condos, town homes, row homes, duplexes, detached homes, and bungalows.

It's interesting to see what that couple with the $150,000 budget in Texas has to choose from. I gasp in dismay at the couple in San Francisco that decides to buy the tiny 980 square foot condo 2 bedroom/one bathroom and no parking space for $415,000. Then in the next episode, I drool over the 2,200 square foot home with the vaulted ceilings, huge back yard and finished basement that the couple in South Carolina managed to get below the asking price of $260,000. Every house in every housing market is unique in it's own way and there is always some advantage or disadvantage that even those with a high budget must weigh out before making a decision. It's fun trying to guess which one they pick!

Mj: We've seen this one.
Me: Maybe you have but I haven't.
Mj: You did see this one. Remember this couple got on our nerves because they were so anal and kept low balling everyone?
Me: Hmmmm...I don't know.
Mj: They are not going to like the busy street in the back yard.......Remember?
Me: Oh, yeah now it's coming back to me a little but I can't remember which one they pick.

[I continue watching]

This happens over and over! I don't think my interest is just because we are currently in the throes of the home buying process ourselves. It crossed my mind that I am finally getting to do what I've been watching on HGTV for months, but I have always loved looking at houses. I love looking at the different exteriors and architecture if I am driving through a neighborhood. I always want to check out the model homes just for fun if I happen to see the sign twirler on the corner pointing them out. I have always had dreams of owning a home that actually looked like a model home down to perfectly coordinated decor, stately furniture, and pristine lack of clutter.

Uh, how did I not know you could watch episodes online? I can only hope they keep cranking these out because I'm afraid I may be running out of new ones to watch! Oh, and of course I entered to win the HGTV dream house in New Mexico. I entered just about every day for two months. The odds of winning are slim to none and I'd have to sell the darn house anyways if I won it but I can't resist a good contest entry.