What A Fake

The same day that we booked the Monte Verde Inn, there was also a Bridal Expo being held in Sacramento. Our wedding coordinator gave me a fantastic and valuable tip. She told me to create another email account on the way there and give that out instead of my real email account. She said that often times vendors will sell your information to others which will result in excess junk mail. On the drive to Sacramento, I whipped out my iPhone and created another email account. Oh the joy of modern technology.This is by far among the best tips I have received so far in wedding planning. I'll tell you why later.

The Bridal Expo was very fun yet not very productive. All of the vendors there passed out a whole lot of pamphlets and information sheets that was not of much use to me. Let's just say I recycled a lot of paper when I got home. Even though we did not accomplish a ton, we had a blast being surrounded by wedding stuff. In fact the best part of the day was the free photo booth. Check it out, don't we look hot?



Now back to the email situation. The only time I gave out that fake email was when I signed into the Bridal Expo when we got there. Other than that, I never gave it out. Guess what? I currently have over 600 emails from Northern California wedding vendors in that fake email account. Can you believe it? Had I given them my real email, it would be overloaded and I would be frustrated. Haha, duped you wedding vultures!



I am so glad I took the advice of our wedding coordinator and created that fake email account at the last minute. I highly recommend that sneaky tactic to anyone who might be attending any type of function similar to a Bridal Expo. You still have access to it in case there is something you need, but it is going to a separate account and not the one that you use everyday.

We may not have had much success at the Bridal Expo, but at the very least we got a pretty cool photo strip out of it.

Does anyone have any secret methods that they use to

avoid being bombarded with junk mail, emails and phone calls?

{All photos are personal}



What To Shoe

There are many things that I could talk about today, but the winner is going to be shoes. You see, besides receiving a marriage proposal and an engagement ring for Christmas, Mr.Buck did not want that to be an actual Christmas gift. So, he also got me Christmas presents as well. Generous, right? One of them being a gift card to Nordstrom. I knew immediately what I wanted to buy. SHOES. Long ago in a far away land, I saw a pair of shoes at Nordstrom that were mind blowing. Yes, I am going to exaggerate that much because they were so fantastic. They were sparkly little things, and I said to myself, "Doe, Where would you ever wear these shoes?" The only place I could ever think that would need such incredible shoes would be my wedding. So sure enough after I was engaged and had a Nordstrom gift card in hand, I went and bought those shoes. It was my first wedding purchase, and I had them even before I got my dress.

{Personal photo}

Well being that I have a wandering eye for shoes, I began to notice other incredibly beautiful shoes. Come on, you do it too. Nothing had yet to make me second guess my shoe purchase until I came across these ruffled beauties.

{Image via SHEfinds}

I.am.short.of.breath. How much more girly, lovely, soft and feminine can you get? On top of that, the soles are blue. These seem to be the perfect wedding shoe. So what's my problem? I love both shoes. The ruffle shoes I think will look better with my dress, but the sparkly ones are just so eye poppingly fabulous. Also you won't exactly see my shoes under my dress, so does it really matter if it matches? What do I do?  It is a tough decision. Really, it is. In the wise words of Marilyn Monroe:

"Give a girl the right shoe, and she can conquer the world."

Help a girl out! The sparkly little things or the ruffled beauties?

My Love Affair With Details

I am a detail person. When I tell a story or reminisce of something, you do not get just the outer details from me. No, you get the whole sha-bang. You will know what people were wearing, eating, if they had a weird haircut, anything in the details that I might remember. I recently dug up an old letter that I had wrote to my mom and dad when I was away at a camp in sixth grade. The amount of detail from a 12 year old is seriously intense.

I mean really, who describes the material that their camp bed is made out of? Apparently I do. This is my personality. I love details. Except when I describe things now as a very mature adult, they are much more refined. I no longer babble about people having bad attitude problems. Right? Okay, i'll keep working on myself.

How does this relate to wedding planning? I am picky. I see things in such great detail. One of the first things to do when wedding planning is to create an inspiration board. I put this off for a very long time because almost every picture I looked at, I found a detail I did not like. I finally had to come to terms with the fact that this is just "inspiration." I need to find a common theme of things that I like....even if there are parts of it that I dislike.


Here is what I came up with:

First Row: Image via: My Fancy Style Dresses Blog /Image via: Etsy/

Image via: Style Me Pretty  Photo by: JAC Photography/

Second Row: Image via: Blooming Wedding Cake for Elegant Bride Pink Cake Box/ 
Image via: Project Wedding/Image via: Project Wedding /Image via: Etsy/
Third Row: Image via: Etsy /Image via: Project Wedding/
Fourth Row:  Project Wedding /Image via: Style Me Pretty Photo by: Megan Thiele Studios/
Image via: Project Wedding

What I decided to do when creating my inspiration board is to find random things I like for whatever reason. Be it colors, shapes, styles and so on.  It is not cohesive, it is somewhat random, but it is pretty.

As I continue along on this planning process I keep discovering so many more details that I love. They just keep piling up and I need to start deciding which ones are most important. I'll leave you today with this quote:

Details create the big picture.

-Sanford I. Weill

Who else has a love for details?

Do you find it to hinder or help in your planning process?

Green Is My Signature Color

The first time I ever remember hearing about wedding colors was when I was younger and I was watching one of my favorite movies, Steel Magnolias. This is when I understood the sheer importance of wedding colors.  

{Video via You Tube}

One of the first questions people seem to ask about your wedding is, "what are your colors?" Growing up looking at my mom and dad's wedding photos, their wedding color was something I always remembered. (80s mauve, if you were wondering.) It also sparked my own imagination, what would my colors be? 

Green is my signature color (a la Julia Roberts.) So naturally this was the obvious choice for my main wedding color. Apparently for every color of the rainbow, there are at least 500 different shades for each. There are way too many options, here are just a few:

There were many things that I had to factor in while trying to pick the right shade of green. How it would look in photos, how bridesmaids will like wearing it, its universal appeal, how it matches the right season, and so on. I was instantly attracted to the softer shades, I loved the natural look of it.


I also needed an accent color that would work well with a soft shade of green. I was eager to incorporate pink somewhere. I started my search for the perfect shade of blush pink. Again, millions to choose from.

So what are my official wedding colors? No, they are not just green and pink. Wedding colors must have pretty names, duh. Therefore my chosen colors are:

Sage Green and Blush Pink

What is your signature color? 

Did you have a tough time narrowing down the right shade?

{ Pantone Wedding Swatch Cards/ The Dessy Group }

The Green Mountain

For some brides, finding a venue is among one of the most difficult tasks. Luckily for me, it was easy and joyful. ONE WEEK after we were engaged (which happened to be new years eve,) both of us along with our parents had two appointments to go look at venues. The previous week I had scoured every Northern California wedding venue that existed.  We knew we wanted an outside venue, but we did not rule anything out. Therefore I had looked online at an array of venues: ballrooms, ranches, vineyards, hotels. Some were just too pricey...and some trucked in port-a-potties for bathrooms, not my thang. Well actually when discovering some outrageous venue prices, I started to consider the port-a-potty option. That is until my mom brought me back down to reality. As usual. After much research and reviewing many wedding packages, I had narrowed it down to two potential venues.

Our first stop of the day was at a winery near Coloma, CA in the Gold Country. First off, our GPS did not even know how to get there, and we had no cell phone service. That is a bad sign in and of itself. When we finally figured out how to get there, they were already marked off the list because we did not want our guests and vendors getting lost on the way to our wedding. Makes sense, right? However, the views were incredible. So much so that it almost made the remote location worth it. The main issue I had though was that the reception would need to be inside. There was only enough space outside for the ceremony. I felt pretty bummed out because this was not a good start! We thanked them for their time, and then quickly scuttled out of there.

Our next stop was the Monte Verde Inn located in the foothills near Auburn, CA. This was a semi-all inclusive venue. I could not stop talking about how "incredible" this place was...and I had not even seen it in person yet! Everyone clearly knew how I felt about it before we even got there. I started making silly and persuasive comments such as "Monte Verde is spanish for Green Mountain, and my wedding color is green. It is meant to be!" Or "The wedding coordinator and I have the same name, can you believe it? It is definitely meant to be." The excitement in my voice did not go unnoticed.

I was giddy with excitement as we pulled up to Monte Verde. The property was beyond what I could have expected and flat out gorgeous. It was official, I loved it even more. After the tour she sat us down and we got to view a short video, look over photo albums, pricing options, and she answered all of our many questions.

Picture the scene from Bride Wars where Liv and Emma meet with Marion St.Claire to book "The Plaza." Monte Verde Inn was my "The Plaza" and oh I wanted it so badly. That look that Anne Hathaway has on her face, that was me in a nutshell. Soaking in every word they had to say with a giant smile on my face.

{ Image via Monsters and Critics }

This place was it. From the lavish ballroom with the incredible chandelier, the beautiful bedrooms, the old Georgian Style house, the old red barn, the vineyards, the towering trees, the flowers, the fountain, the outdoor ceremony area... it had me at hello.

It was time to go, but I didn't want to leave. I was in Venue Heaven. I still had a few reservations though that this may not happen, was it within the budget? Am I crazy to book only the second venue that I saw?

When we got home we looked over the pricing and what it all included. Besides the fact that Monte Verde gets an A+ for beauty, what they include in their cost is outstanding. For a per person price they include: the site, linens, equipment, staff, catering, floral centerpiece arrangements, cake and wedding coordination.  I started pricing other venues that I *liked* along with catering, set up and clean up, china, beverages, cake, etc. and we were rolling in the same pricing ballpark as Monte Verde.

What did we do one week later? My mom, sister and I drove our happy little tooshies back to Monte Verde to sign the contract and pay the deposit. It was official, we have booked my dream venue. I got "The Plaza!" Ahem, Monte Verde.

For those of you are following and just realized that I booked the second venue that I saw, seventeen months before our wedding, re-read the excitement in my writing. It is true. Sure, I could have toured dozens of venues in person, but honestly I researched everything online. I knew location, pricing, and what they offered. If they were not in the budget, I ruled them out. If I got a bad vibe, I ruled them out. If they took too long to email me back, I ruled them out. Get my drift? I did not go into this blind. Sure, I only saw two venues. But the love I had for Monte Verde was huge. I have had zero regret about this, and I am just as happy about my decision today as I was the day we booked it.

Let's look at a few photos, shall we? Get ready to swoon along with me, it's hard not to. This place has it goin' on.

{Image via Monte Verde Inn Blog/ Photo by Ille Photography }

{Image via Monte Verde Inn Facebook / Photo by Lexigraphics}

{Image via Monte Verde Inn Blog/ Photo by Heidi Huber Photography}

{Image via A Day To Remember/ Photo by Jordan's Photographic Designs}

{Image via A Day To Remember/ Photo by Jordan's Photographic Designs}

{Image via Sharon Wharton Photography Blog/ Photo by Sharon Wharton}

Who else experienced love at first sight with their venue?
Did you book quickly, or did you sit on it for awhile? 

A Very Merry Engagement

I am a Christmas nut. I'm that crazy lady that you see out shopping who is buying up all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving has even hit. The Christmas holiday season is by far my favorite time of the year. They are some of the best memories I have ever had with my family, and traditions are abundant. That warm feeling you get in the month of December, I wish I could bottle it up to save for a bad day. The holiday season is different for everyone, but here is what it is to me.

The day after Thanksgiving is the day I get my tree. As much as I can appreciate and understand the artificial trees, the smell of real pine seals the deal with me. My house is small but I always pick the biggest and fullest tree that I can find. The decorating is a full day process filled with freshly baked gingerbread cookies for a snack and Bing Crosby, Burl Ives and *NSYNC Home For the Holidays hitting the airwaves. (What? You know you like it too.) Oh but don't you forget Feliz Navidad and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. I always felt like I had to apologize to my grandma for the intensity in which I love that song. Christmas movies are among my favorite-A Christmas Story (in my house it is called Red Rider BB Gun), A Christmas Vacation (Cousin Eddie never gets old), Elf, and of course the Original Christmas Classics. It makes me smile just thinking about those movies. Driving around town looking at Christmas lights with a thermos of hot apple cider. The incredible performances at church. Gingerbread houses that never turn out quite right but I love all the same. Baking lemon poppy seed bread to give to my neighbors and coworkers. Waking up way too early Christmas morning just like I did when I was 5 years old.

I could go on forever about what I love about Christmastime. My family has a vast amount of stories and I know there are many incredible ones yet to be told. Over the years Mr.Buck became increasingly aware of how huge this is in my life. Which is why he chose Christmas morning to be the perfect moment to propose. We typically do Christmas morning in stages. Together, then to my parents house and then to this parents house.

We had just finished opening each others presents and were getting ready to leave to my parents house. He said wait there is one more present I forgot about, it is in the tree. I thought this is strange, why did he put it in the tree. I got up to look and it took me quite awhile to actually find it between all of my ornaments. What I found was an empty red box. As I turned around, there he was proposing with the ring. It caught me so off guard and I was quite confused at first. Why are you on the ground? Get up, what you are doing? Why is this box empty? Until I realized exactly what was going on. To top things off, I had bought some mistletoe in San Francisco the weekend before that I had hung up in the middle of my living room. Which means he proposed underneath mistletoe. This was the perfect engagement for us.

He had talked to my dad on Christmas Eve, so he was expecting it. I did not know this though so I started crafting a plan. As excited as I was, it was still Christmas. I did not want the attention to be all on us when we arrived to my parents. We decided to announce our engagement after everyone had opened presents. I put my ring back in its box and stuck it in my purse. Do you know how incredibly difficult that was? Oh have mercy!

Once the presents had been opened, sweet bread and biscotti eaten and the gingerbread coffee had been drunken, I slipped my ring back on. We then announced the exciting news to my family. Cue the screams, excitement and laughter. Which made my dad feel much better because since he was expecting it, but we had yet to announce it, he figured maybe he decided not to propose. Scared ya a little bit, didn't we dad?

Next up was his parents house. Both of his parents had known he was going to propose for quite awhile. Therefore his mom already had the mimosas flowing. Now it was time for two more family functions that included copious amounts of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and so on. It was slightly overwhelming at first, but how awesome is it that we were able to share our engagement with family far and wide?

You've made it through this post so far, but I know what you really want to see. This wouldn't be a proper wedding blog if I didn't show you the goods. I wish we had more pictures of our engagement but it was such a whirlwind of a day that the camera just was not a priority. He did an amazing job designing the ring himself. I absolutely am enamored with the fact that he chose a three stone ring. It was completely unexpected and I adore the thought he put into it. We have a long history together, so this ring beautifully depicts our past, present and future.

Did anyone else get engaged on a holiday?
Were you able to immediately share this exciting news with your family,
or were you devious and decide to keep it to yourselves for awhile?

Almost A Decade

The story of how Mr.Buck and I met is fairly simple. My friend and his friend are twin brother and sister. Back in 2002 a big group of us went bowling together one day, and that is where our paths crossed. Our first words were super romantic. As a dramatic 90s baby makin' song came on the radio he said, "Oh yay, this is my favorite song." I responded with confusion "oh really? That's cool." He responded back "no, i'm kidding." And that was that, I don't think we spoke much the rest of the evening.

Okay so I may or may not have been exaggerating with our first words being romantic. They definitely were not. It did however give me insight into his dry sense of humor, which I love oh so much. If I could pinpoint one of the best things about our relationship, it is definitely the humor and laughter.

Approximately 1 month later he asked me out on a date. A real date as in I had to borrow my best friend's Abercrombie jean jacket and steal some of my mom's expensive perfume. This was some serious stuff. We went to see what was apparently the only movie out at the time, The Scorpion King. To this day I still have no idea what that movie is about. I obviously did not pay attention.

{Image via Amazon }

My mom picked us up in her mini van when the movie was over (both of us too young to drive), and the rest is history. Months turned in to years and years have turned in to almost a decade. We both are different but we balance each other out.

Here was the first photo ever taken of us, back when we were young'ins.

Here we are now almost ten years later, all grown up.

Do we have any other high school sweethearts out there? Let me hear your story!

{Unless otherwise noted, all photos are personal}