You’ll notice that I haven’t blogged for a few days.  I have been so busy with wedding stuff.  Stress has been a constant companion.  But Saturday was a great day.  And I’m not only talking about the weather.  Here’s a sneak peak…

Wanna guess what I was up to last Saturday?

Image from DefinitionOfWellness.com

I’ve heard a lot of brides not able to sleep the night before their weddings.  I witnessed this first hand when I was my cousin’s maid-of-honor.  We both slept at her hotel room before the wedding and she just kept turning unable to sleep.  I was very exhausted from my trip (NY to Philippines) just the day before, but I just kept waking up from her moving.

I love my sleep.  I don’t want what happened to my cousin to happen to me.  I wanna have a good night sleep before the wedding considering I’m waking up at 5am on my wedding day.  But I know I’ll be too anxious, nervous, excited, whatever to go to sleep.  So I was thinking of taking drugs.  Yup, I wanna drug myself to sleep.  I usually take Tylenol PM (for travel) to knock me out.  What do you think?  Is there a better and safe drug out there that I can take to help me get a good night sleep and not feel groggy early the next morning?

As the wedding gets closer, I’m getting more nightmares about it.  I guess the planning is starting to really stress me out.  So I decided that I need some pampering.  But it’s not cheap, so I just stick to facials which also help prepare my skin for the wedding.  Excluding the extraction, facials and the facial and shoulder massages that come with it are pretty relaxing.

I recently got a promotion from my salon… $50 for a 50-minute facial plus eye treatment (valued at $130) through Groupon.  Today at Groupon, you get 54% off dance lessons at Dance With Me.  Click on the video below how Groupon works.  It’s really cool and you get really great deals (in New York at least .

Click here to join Groupon. Membership is free.

This tip is usually for the groom.  But if you, the bride, are choosing your engagement ring like me, this applies to you too.

There are engagement rings with the prongs so low that it is hard to find a wedding band that will fit flush with the engagement ring.  The setting that I chose for my engagement ring had these prongs.  I tried a lot of wedding bands, even contour ones.  But they didn’t look good with my engagement ring.  The only way to go was to get my wedding band custom-made.  So do yourself a favor and think of wedding bands when shopping for an engagement ring.

I’ve been having problems looking at a distance.  And I have been in denial for a long time.  But John decided to take me to the Optometrist himself and I got my very first glasses.  Pardon the crappy picture.

I don’t like glasses and contact lenses, but I need them especially when I drive.  Then I thought about the wedding.  Contact lenses are out coz I don’t like how I see with them at a close distance.  So should I walk down the aisle with my glasses (that I don’t like) or just walk practically blind and not see John’s reaction until I get right to his face?  I guess that’s what our photographers are for… to capture his reaction while I walk blindly down the aisle!

Learn from my mistake, don’t tell people everything you’re planning for the wedding.  I was so excited in the beginning of my planning that I just kept talking about it to almost everybody who will listen.  Then I realized there’s almost nothing left of my wedding they don’t know about, they will no longer be surprised with all the details I worked so hard on.

Another regret was that I told somebody that he can bring someone with him to the wedding.  Now that my guestlist is getting out of hand, we’ve decided we’re not including an “and guest” for singles who know at least a few of the other guests, and he’s in that category  I’ve heard him trying to figure out who he should take with him and I don’t know what to do.

Believe me, you would be filling out a lot of forms (mostly contest forms / raffle tickets) when you go to bridal shows.  Take this tip from Miss Buttons of WeddingBee.  Bring pre-printed address labels with your name, address, email address, and phone number that you can stick on this forms. This will save time and wrist pain.

I have originally planned to do my own flowers.  But it seemed to cost more than I was expecting to spend… from all the stuff I need (vases, buckets, tools, etc) to take to Newport, to the additional vehicle we have to rent to lug all these stuff.  After talking to a few professional florists and crunching the numbers, I found out that the money I will be saving from DIYing wasn’t a lot.  It is not worth the hassle and uncertainty of DIYing all my wedding flowers.  So I decided to hire a florist.

Image from Getty Images

Below are the Rhode Island florists that I inquired with (price comparison at the bottom)…

Florals by Alisa

Allie & Lisa were very responsive.  They usually email back same day or early morning the day after (when I emailed them at night).  They were able to give me a price quote based on my description of what I want in just a couple of days.  I love how they described everything.  The flowers they have chosen were perfect.  They were right on.

We met with Lisa to discuss more about what I wanted.  She was very sweet and even admired my centerpiece mock-up made of tissue.  She has that enthusiasm I look for in a vendor.  I requested a centerpiece sample ahead of time so I can pick it up at our meeting and use it for our menu tasting at Belle Mer.  It cost the same as the price quote.

Golden Gate Studios

Jay of Golden Gate Studios was very responsive in the beginning.  He called me early in the morning the day after I emailed him, and he was on his way to a wedding.  He took the time to let me know he got my inquiry and to talk to me more about my wedding, knowing that he was going away that week.  Since I couldn’t go to RI soon, I asked him if I could email him the details I have in mind and he could email me the quote.  After that, I didn’t hear from him.

I followed up after more than a week via email and still didn’t get a response.  Thinking he wasn’t getting my emails, I contacted him via his website like in the beginning.  But didn’t get a response.  A week after, I got a phone call from him.  He said he was busy with work for the holidays and he prefers calls instead of emails.  His other clients said the same thing, just call him and he answers or calls back right away.  Since then I just called him and he either answered his phone or returned my call just a few minutes after.

We decided to meet with him and get a quote at the meeting.  He was very nice and took the time to discuss all the details of what I’m envisioning.  He wrote his notes and gave me a quote right there.  Before we left, he gave me a bouquet of flowers.  He was very sweet!

Toni Chandler Florals

Toni Chandler’s assistant handled all the email correspondence.  It usually took a couple of days before I get a response.  I didn’t get to talk to Toni until 8 days after my first inquiry.  The phone appointment was set up by her assistant.

As soon as Toni and I talked on the phone, I felt very comfortable.  We talked like girlfriends.  She got my vision right away and made excellent suggestions.  She offered a lot of advice regarding my venue as well.  The conversation made me very excited to see her work.  At the end of the conversation, she told me that she would be able to send me a quote in 2 days.  I didn’t get the quote in 2 days, so I emailed her 7 days after.  Her assistant emailed me back that same day with the quote.

Pricing:  I will not be posting specific prices, but I’m including the differences between the quotes from the three florists.  Click here for the Floral Price Comparison.

I live in NY and my wedding is in Newport RI.  So the two ways I usually communicate with wedding vendors are phone and email.  But I prefer email over phone for a few reasons.

Image from The Moxie Mash

• Whenever I think of something to tell or ask a vendor, I feel like I’m less intrusive when I just email them and they can respond to me whenever they can.  Unless of course I need an answer right away, then I call.
• I am able to gather my thoughts better in an email.  Sometimes I forget things I need to say over the phone.
• I can proofread what I wrote in an email and make sure I said things correctly and tactfully.  I am able to control my emotions better while writing an email than talking on the phone.
• And my number 1 reason… Using email, I have written proof of the conversation.  Unfortunately, I have had vendors or representatives of vendors forget (or pretend to forget) what they told me over the phone.

It definitely helps that I have access to my emails most of the time.  But there are other cases that I prefer phone over email, like if I want an answer right away or when the conversation requires quick responses back and forth.  Best Practices has a good list of pros and cons of using phone and email.

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Most of the best wedding ideas I found were from reading and participating in a wedding forum.  I get to connect with so many brides from all over the world!  A local forum is also best to get recommendations and advice for your wedding location, especially if you’re not very familiar with your location (e.g. destination wedding).  A forum is also a great way to get different opinions on a topic.  I had so many moments where I couldn’t decide on something (my fiance wasn’t any help) and my forum buddies saved the day!

My favorite wedding forums:
TheKnot Community Board
WeddingWire Wedding Forums
Best Destination Wedding Forum