MY BIG FAT JAMAICAN WEDDING IS OVER...

Ladies (and perhaps gentlemen), thank you for joining me on this journey to planning the wedding that I never thought I'd have. Thank you for reading my rants...thank you for all the advice...thank you for your friendships. I tied the knot this weekend and now it is time to close this chapter and begin a new one.

Besides being a newlywed, I'm also moving back to New York as well as continuing to pursue my makeup artistry - there's still so much to share!

... we've come to the end of the road...being engaged was amazing, but being a wife is going to be a whole new challenge! Join me.


ps: I scheduled this post...I'm not blogging the day after my wedding...lol

I'M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW...

::THROWS UP::

3 DAYS TO GO | The final fitting

I meant to print my programs today...but I didn't...

I planned on doing the place cards today...but I didn't....

I did finally get my garter, card box and I am able to have my candy bar...

...some good news - my Daddy is getting us a limo! I wasn't planning or expecting to have one, so this news is unexpected yet super awesome!

I felt so stressed out today, there were so many errands to run and things to pick up. I started out very early and forgot to eat (believe it or not) so by the time I got home I had no energy and was starving...

I went home and stuffed my face only to remember that I had to do my final dress fitting. Who eats a ton of food before a fitting? I did ::slaps forehead::

I always have anxiety when I'm trying on my wedding gown because I always have this fear that it won't zip up on me. When it initially came in it fit me like a glove and when I tried it on again we realized that I had somehow (without being aware of it) had lost weight. It now had to be taken in a bit and when I tried it on today it was beyond perfect! I actually started to tear up a bit - it was amazing! I love my dress so much...

When I was going into the shop today I was greeted by this sign on the door...

...yes, yes...the shop is closing early for lil ol' me so that everyone has time to get dressed and make it to the wedding. I worked at this bridal shop for just over 2.5 years (my last day was last Friday) and so the staff is like my family - my co worker/manager has become one of my dearest friends and is one of my bridesmaids.

...it's all becoming real folks!

5 DAYS TO GO | Last Minute Shopping

My mission today was to pick up a few items that I'd forgotten all about until the last minute...

The first thing I purchased today was a brooch/clip for my birdcage veil to make it pop a little bit more, so many to choose from...

... they cost much more than I thought but in the end I had to go for the piece that was going to work out the best (I did manage to get a $10 discount). Since I'm now for my big curls and will probably be wearing my hair like that for my wedding, I needed something that wasn't going to look bland as was as bold as my personality...and hair (lol). I ended up settling on this piece:

(sidebar: I know you think my chipped black nail polish is uber classy...I apoligize for you witnessing that) I wasn't 100% sure on it, so I tried it on with my veil and it seems to be ok. Crisis averted! I also stopped by my florist and completly paid off my balance (thank you Jesus). Originally I'd paid in full when my fiance was here, but we decided that we needed them to do the Sweetheart Table as well so we threw that in.

At some point we ended up in Walmart and we made our way over to the wedding aisle. There I picked up

- the flower girl baskets (3 of them)

- the guest book and pen

- the Unity candles

- ring bearer pillows

...and some other stuff that I can't remember right now...by the way, if you or someone you know is on a tight budget for invitations, Walmart has tons of really pretty ones for just under $20:

...there are so many to choose from and they're really nice looking. But here was my favorite aisle:

...my candy bar may be scrapped from the wedding. Towards the end of the planning process you kind of realize what's really important to you...and I don't think this is so important to me...plus I'm broke...so that's pretty much the deciding factor as far as that goes...lol...

QUESTION:

How do you feel about garter removals at weddings?

Are you doing it?

{MY NEW BLOG} this is going to be amazing and I need you to be apart of it

It's hard for me to believe that this time next week I'll be a married woman. After all these months of planning, all the stress, the times I didn't even think I was going to be able to have a wedding...it's happening in 6 days - yes - I'm just 6 days away from being married!

There are going to be so many changes going on - getting married - moving to another state - searching from a home and tons of other things. I will continue to be here this week as I do my last preparations and share the rest of my planning with you, but wedding recaps and all my other interests will be documented on the new blog.

Lastly, I'm currently putting my blogroll together and if you'd like to be added please let me know - but please return the favor. Thank you to those who have been reading since the beginning and my newer blogger friends that I've picked up along the way....but I will say this, my new blog is going to be filled with tons of new adventures and lots of photos to document the process and so much more - IT'S GOING TO BE FIERCE & FABULOUS!!! It's basically a mash up of all the things I love and obsess over - FASHION, FOOD, MAKEUP & MORE

...please join me...

9 DAYS TO GO | {SNEAK PEEK} my wedding day jewelry

So many last minute things to do...one of those things being to purchase my wedding day jewelry. You would think I would have done this already - but no! Not me! Some brides have the opportunity to pick out their wedding day jewelry from places like Tiffanys and have sales associates pouring them champagne and bringing out piles of jewelry to adorn themselves with - not over here! I've been browsing the mall this week after checking out my options.

We got in some new accessories at my job today and while I was being nosey I found the perfect pair of earrings that I thought would look great with my dress. Yesterday I had found bracelets at another store but decided to sleep on it. The earrings cost me around $7 (so that was no brainer, I snatched them up right away) and the bracelets were around $21 (which was expensive to me...damn I'm broke) so I got the lady to bring it down to $17, lol. And there you have it, I got my wedding day jewelry for approx $24...

...I got exactly what I envisioned for much cheaper than I thought I was going to spend. I saw a similar pair of earrings at a bridal shop for around $100 - I was actually going to buy them because I thought "what the heck it's my wedding!"...but $7 - can't compete with that, and I actually like this pair better. The jewelry has a vintage/antique look that I was going for. I don't really need a necklace with the dress I'm wearing - but I might go for it anyway - something simple as I don't need much.

J.BRIDE TIP:

If you're on a budget for jewelry think outside the box - why not costume jewelry! Forever 21, Target even Claires has great costume pieces that will look just as elegant paired with your bridal gown. Just because you don't have hundreds to spend on jewels doesn't mean you have to go bare!

PS: Tomorrow is my last day @ work ... next week is strictly about the wedding! Wedding all day all night! Family is starting to trickle in as early as tomorrow - this is one of my favorite parts about this whole wedding thing - having all the people I love in one place - so excited - more to come...

11 DAYS TO GO | It's Our (5 Year) Anniversary

Boy does time fly! It's been 5 years since I asked my now fiance, "So am I your girlfiend or what?"... I had no idea how much that question would change my whole life. We've been through a lot over the past couple of years and I can't thank him enough for never loosing his patience with me. I can't wait to officially become his wife next Saturday. I'm looking forward to more times like these:

..lol...by the way, originally I was planning the wedding for this Saturday but someone snatched the date fromright under me - it's ok though, lol....I wish he was here with me right now - just one more week until we're together again...

13 Days To Go | THE PLANNING MARATHON

This weekend, my fiance flew back down to Florida so that we could file for our marriage license. Can you believe that we both completly forgot about it? I wasn't happy about the unplanned expense, but it needed to be done in order for our marriage to be legal...and I guess that's sorta kinda important, don't you think? lol...Anyway, I thought he was landing at the airport at 2am Friday morning, only to have him surprise me at home when I got there from work on Thursday. I screamed my head off...and of course I cried - I hadn't seen him in a whole month. We quickly got down to business and made our checklist for Friday with the marriage license being on top.We were in and out of the courthouse within half an hour...completly painless!

Afterwards we headed to the mall and purchased our wedding bands - that process also took about a half an hour...we also headed to our videographers to get an extention on our payment (him flying down last minute really through us off), luckily they were cool about it and everything was squared away within minutes. We then headed down to the florist so that we could pay off the balance...next was the tuxedo shop where fiance got fitted for his tux...

...afterwards we headed to more vendors and paid our balances - which felt so good. From 10am to around 6pm, we literally drove all around to our vendors and took care of business. I have to tell you that there's no feeling like when you've paid off your vendor...I can't tell you how much sleep I've lost wondering if I'm going to be able to pay for these things - but it has all worked out and all we have left is videography and the venue.

After our day long marathon we decided to have date night since we haven't been able to in a month - dinner and a movie! We ended up at Longhorn Steakhouse...

After all those errands...and all that food...we skipped the movie and called it a night, lol.

Fiance is now on a flight back to New York and although I'm sad, I know that once he get's back we're only going to be days away from our wedding. Hey, if I can do a whole month - I should be able to get through the next 10 days with no problem right? Did I mention that I'm moving back to New York with him the day after the wedding? It's going to be crazy around here! This is my last week at my jobs - I'm sad to leave the friends behind that I've made, but I'm happy to be starting a new life with my ::ahem:: "HUSBAND".

So tell me, what were you up to this weekend?

ps: when i switch to a 3 column template my blogrolls were deleted...that makes me sad :(