pretty things.

fiance and i had the pleasure of attending our first wedding extravaganza last weekend. when describing it to him, i made sure to call it 'wedding expo' since its actual title was

needless to say, i was afraid this would deter him, so i went with a considerably less feminine title and casually mentioned the abundance of cake that would be there. if fiance weren't hooked already, upon our arrival at weddingpalooza 2011 we were greeted by a beautiful 1958 bentley.

fiance looked upon this car as if it were a shiny metal puppy desperately in search of a new home. we were handed the rental brochure, and our previously non-existent transportation budget was out the window.


once we entered the pearly gates of bridal heaven, my eyes glossed over and all i could do was stare at all the lovely things that were waiting for me. we sampled $10 per bite hors d'oeuvres, ogled bridal gowns with conveniently misplaced price tags, and were courted by photographers who threw in a free 8x10 photo if you just purchased their $4,000 package.

i couldn't stop. i talked to bakers who would create a custom cake for $7 a slice. I spoke for 5 minutes to a woman from the local hilton who could help me make the perfect reception menu for $80 a plate.

fiance regained consciousness well before i did, and promptly pulled me to the side after i received my third sandals resort brochure and had been thoroughly briefed on how i could save 10% on my flight to aruba if i purchased 3 months worth of scuba diving lessons (no joke).

fiance reminded me that these nice people weren't necessarily here to help me. they were here to sell me things. things i couldn't afford. i knew that, but i'd been blinded by the excitement of my first real outing as a bride-to-be. i had an "i'm the bride" sticker and a hot pink rhinestone encrusted pen and there was no stopping me.

i regained composure post reality-check, and we decided to take a well planned route through the rest of the booths and pass up the things we didn't need. like porcelain veneers and cake insurance.

yes, there is such a thing as cake insurance.

 

the path we took, thanks to meticulous engineer fiance

 

path i would have taken if left to my own devices

(note the conspicuous lingering around the free food)

here's some fun pictures of pretty dresses we saw!

and pictures of me getting a free updo!

overall, fiance and i had a wonderful time. even though less than 15% of the vendors we saw were actually in our price range, it was a blast. 

so here's to the next 602 days.