Rachelle E.

Wow! I somehow managed to completely miss this while trying to catch up on the 1100+ posts over the last couple days! Thanks for bumping it up so I could see it Christine! :-) You girls are awesome!! Thanks for all the lovely congrats!! We did manage to take a weekend just for us. It was amazing! We took Friday off work and left town late morning. We spent Fri-Sat night at a Bed & Breakfast in Granbury (some of you TX girls may have heard of it - it's outside Ft Worth) a really cute little town right on a lake. The B&B was beautiful! I can't believe I didnt take tons of pics of it! We acutally stayed in a little guest house on the property...so not in the main house, but we LOVED our little cottage and still went up to the main house for breakfast in the mornings. The hosts were a great couple - so sweet. We did fun small town stuff...saw a movie at a drive-in theater, ate some yummy dinners, toured a couple local wineries (one of them was acutally really good...and the winemaker there was super entertaining) and I splurged and had a massage therapist come to our room for massages on the morning of our anniversay...it was a surprise for David and he loved it!! It really was an amazing weekend! Couldn't have imagined it any better! Maybe I can find a good pic or two on the camera (TammyM)...I'll check once I make it home today! Thanks again girls! I can't wait 'til you guys are planning your anniversaries...WAY less stress than the wedding and honestly, every bit as fun!! It's SO cool to look back, remember all the fun and emotion of the wedding, thinking about all the, "last year at this time we were. . ." stuff, thinking about how far you've come over the past year (for us it was buying a house, getting our fur-babies etc.) and getting super excited for the years coming up. (human babies!! Yay!! lol!) *sigh* I'm feeling all happy and lovey now!! Thanks for bringing it up ladies! You're the best! PS LOVED the part about how I could print this out as my traditional "paper gift"!! Perfect!! :-)

Congrats to you Sarah!! Happy Wedding day! Can't wait to see pics...AND can't wait to see what your man thought of those freakin' hot B-pics you took for him! If his face is even half as expressive as Andre's. . . Lol!! :-) Hope you're having a blast!!!!!!!

Had to chime in w/ everyone and say that you and all your beautiful attendants looked amazing and happy! :-) Everything just looks idyllic!! Lovely.... Oh! And could you BE more tiny, tan, blonde and adorable?!?!? Geez. . . lol! ;-)

Yay for showers!! It looks like yours was lots of fun. . .kudos to the SIL for the great cake! You looked very bridal and VERY adorable in all your pics...can't wait to see pics of you on you wedding day!! Almost time for Cabo!! Have fun!! Try not to stress too much about all that last minute stuff.

I think you girls are right on w/ the $$ suggestions. I know DH and I spent about $700 on stuff during our honeymoon. But we were at an AI AND were the laziest honeymooners EVER!! lol!! No excusions or tours for us. . .just massages and a round of golf. . .and lots of drinks.

Yeah, I saw this one earlier and couldn't help but laugh about it. :-) I sent it to Monica and her FI and had to tease them about the idea a little. Her FI has a little bro too...and he can be quite a handful sometimes! lol! But yeah, I see where you're coming from Sabina. I thought that was pretty rough. . .having your groom switched out on your wedding day. Eek...

All of those are REALLY pretty! Personally, I like the first and third ones best. I guess they just seem less formal or something....more natural and beach-y. :-) And definitely easy to do yourself if you dont have someone scheduled for makeup.

Lol! Yeah....no kidding!! Honestly I think the main reason my mom got reimbursed is the fact that they actually LOST all our paperwork...so we had no idea if it got thrown away, if someone had stolen it and was using it for identity theft purposes etc. That being said...they dragged their feet every step of the way and it literally took months to get the $$ back. I really feel for you with all this Tammy. What a PITA! On the upside...maybe you and Cain could have a nice dinner somewhere in Chicago and call it a "getaway"! ;-)

I know i'm a little late on this...but I just wanted to say I'm SO sorry for all this passport drama!!! You poor girls!! That's a bummer that you have to drive all the way to Chicago for yours Tammy. :-( but I'm sure it will be a relief to have it finished...in your hands once and for all!! Personally, I was jaded by the passport agency long ago! When I applied for my very first passport (I was 16). We submitted everything at the end of October for a trip I was taking in February, then we waited, and waited...and waited...and waited. We called to check on things are were told it's common for several weeks to go by without any news or status about the application. Finally, it's the end of January and still no passport and no news. As we're calling and trying to figure things out, we get a letter later that week saying (in VERY vague, diplomatic, "we don't want to take blame for this" terms) that the application I submitted was "lost/stolen and I will need to re-submit everything, sorry for the trouble, thank you very much!" WTF?!?! This was two weeks before I was supposed to leave the country! Why didn't they think to notify us before then? MONTHS have gone by!! Anyway, it was a mad scramble to try and get everything taken care of in time. My poor mother had to spend hours on the phone and in lines at the passport office trying to sort things out. We even had to get my grandmother to go to the office in Cali to get a new copy of my birth certificate (I was born in the Bay Area) - since they had lost the one we had sent with the application! (WHY do they make you send originals of all your super important legal documents?!?!) It was a nightmare. It also cost an extra $300 to have everything expedited etc. I finally got it about 3 days before I was supposed to leave. Even after all that, my mom spent the next 5 months submittimg receipts and claims to the agency to get reimbursed for all her additional expenses. Whew! Ok, so that was a LOT! But that's also the reason that I made David submit our renewals in March for Monica's Sept wedding! And why I insisted that we use priority mail w/ a tracking number for both the outgoing and return envelopes!! I want to know where those suckers are at ALL times!! So the lesson here for all you girls who don't have passports or know someone who doesn't have a passport. . .APPLY NOW! Lol!!! So what if you get it a year ahead of time...at least you'll have it and you can avoid all this stress!

Just got a chance to look at all this! Cute!! I vote for the dk blue koozie w/ the turquoise writing, like you had in your mock up (I liked the lime too btw...but the darker color is cute also, since you're letting Paul have a say in this one! lol!). . .also I think that color ink will look good on your blk and white koozies as well. So that's what I think! :-)

All the parents and attendants walked down the aisle to Canon in D. I walked down to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. We used O Mio Babbino by Pucchini for our unity candle and while the pastor said a blessing (not mic'd). Our recessional was the Concerto for Two Violins by Bach. We had two violinists (one of whom also played the piano) doing all our ceremony music...it was so pretty and the violins really made me want to keep a classical feel to everything!

Wow! Everything looks beautiful! Congratulations!! That dress of yours really is stunning. . .and that great tan doesn't hurt!! ;-)

I LOVE lingerie! You girls have some CUTE stuff!! I know it's pretty hit or miss who actually bothers to do all that the night of the wedding but I think you should at least give yourself the option. We did kind of a combination of things...for whatever reason he really wanted to help take off the wedding dress. (thank god!! It's a nightmare trying to get in/out of those things! lol!) So he got to sort of undress me. . .but then I wanted to wear the little nightie and stuff that I'd spent ages picking out, so I changed into that and we just kind of took things from there... ;-) Honestly, I wasn't sure if I'd bother with all that when I was planning and everything, but I'm glad a had the cute stuff with me 'cause it ended up being a lot of fun. Also, I'm thinking of taking that same nightie/outfit on our little weekend trip we're taking for our anniversary. You know, sort of ressurect it for "old times sake" lol! I think it will be kind of a fun surprise. So that's something to think about when you're shopping too...fun memories attatched to that stuff!

Quote: Hey Jill! For the real explanation we'll need Rachelle, here's my take... They pump some chai 'concentrate' into the cup and add water to dilute it, then milk. Without the water it will taste richer, even if you use non-fat milk... Lol! You got it! It's just super concentrated (brewed) tea and spices typically mixed w/ hot water, then hot milk. I honestly don't know why they (meaning Starbucks Corp.) even bother to have the water as a part of the traditional recpie - I would estimate that 8 out of 10 people I made that for specifically requested "no water". Or they'd request extra Chai. . .until they figured out the water thing! :-)

Quote: Rachelle - you are a very complicated girl! I rarely go to Starbucks, but when I do there is alway one of those bizzarro orders & I have no idea what the mean! Lol! I promise I'm really not! Just with my drinks! You know who I feel like when I place my order? Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally"! ;-) You know, when she's at the restaurant w/ Billy Crystal and how she orders some crazy ridiculous order with a TON of random stipulations and stuff?! That's one of my fave parts of the movie - totally cracks me up!

Awwww maaannnn. . .I haven't been to Tim Horton's in ages!! They don't have them where I live now! I'm jealous... ;-)

Quote: That's too funny Rachelle! I pull up to the SB drive-thru and they greet me with, "Good morning Paula, do you want your chai this morning?" I would really throw them for a loop if I tried to order mocha concoction! Oh yeah, and one of the girls there was the first to notice my engagement ring, (other than my family)! Yeah, it's pretty silly....lol! I actually had a lot of fun working at SB's...we had lots of regulars that we'd see everyday. I had a nonfat no-water Chai girl that used to come through my drive-thru too! Her name was Sierra and we saw that girl at 10am everyday...you could pratically set your watch by her! We didn't really bother with all the formalities w/ her either. . .although every now and then she'd throw us off and order her drink iced! *gasp!* lol!

I used to work at Starbucks...so I'm a total pain when it comes to my drinks! I'm one of those, " half pump of this...extra that....no whip, with foam blah blah blah" people! But that's 'cause I used to be able to make my own drinks...so it wasn't a pain then! lol! Anyway, I mostly drink water now. But when I want something hot I actually get a " grande 3-pump mocha, 1/2 pump vanilla, 1-pump cinnamon blended (means nonfat & whole milk mixed - pretend 2%!) no whip, with foam hot choclate." For real. It's ridiculous. Or when I'm feeling like more of a purist, I get a "grande americano with extra room" to which I add a pretty good amount of soy milk. ;-) When I want something cold, I get an "iced grande 1-pump vanilla non-fat caramel macchiato" Good grief.... lol!

Damn! You girls do some good shopping!! lol! Great finds!! Jamy - I really like what you got for your BM's! I know I would totally end up using those earrings all the time - I bet they will too!

Ooh, we actually have a Cozymel's here in Dallas (assuming it's the same one?!) And it IS really yummy. Not too expensive, great margaritas, good food. . .they have this one entree I really like, it's called a pork rotisado I think...like fajitas but w/ rotisserie pork all shreeded up instead of beef, chicken etc. SOOooooo good! :-)

OMG!!! I can't believe that girl was serious!! And even more shocking would be if any of those BM's actually signed it!! Holy cow.... It IS funny though. . .would be a great prank to play for sure. lol!

Thanks for the suggestions! Good luck w/ your Vegas wedding Jolene!! If I happen across any great restaurants while I'm there, I'll let you know! Also, since I'm attending a wedding while I'm there too, I'll be sure to post a "review" or sorts...although it will be from a guest standpoint. :-)

Cool, thanks for the info! I agree, great pics Tina!! I was laughing at the part where you mentioned your "hot cousin". My best friend and I are going out there together and meeting her "hot cousin" there! It just made me laugh that it seems everyone has their own resident hot cousin! lol! ;-) Ok, so this is actually going to be my very first Vegas trip...anything "must do" items I should know about? Reccomendations for late night eating, great brunch, shopping etc? Let me know!! :-)

Quote: LV Hilton - Nice, comfortable but off the strip. My family does a Ladies Trip and charter a bus every year so we always stay here since its affordable. I think we may be staying at this one in May. . .have any of you girls stayed here before? Not sure if it's the same one Amy stayed at. . . Hilton Grand Vacations Club® on the Las Vegas Strip Hotel

Beautiful! Great ideas! :-)