For All The Ladies-In-Waiting: A Reprise

*We interrupt this wedding planning extravaganza to bring you this heartfelt message*

As I have posted before, I have been personally struggling with my own relationship for quite some time now, feeling the frustrations many a hopeful girlfriend has felt, waiting for the love of their lives to tell them they are their one-and-only as well.

With such a prolonged troubled state, I wasn't sure if everything was going to go alright, and it looked like for a while my sanity and patience would run out before my boyfriend would be given the chance to feel comfortable proposing.

Well on the millionth night I was thinking about the matter, lying awake in bed, I was yearning for the relationship we once had a couple years ago, happy, relaxed, wandering our way through college...

I thought about the possible mistake of moving in with him, thinking that it gave me so much stress because I thought it was such a BIG DEAL. Because in a sense, yes, it was a BIG DEAL, but not as much as I made it out to be.

Suddenly I felt pressures to be a "wife", a strong and put-together woman that would be worth marrying, partly because I thought that was the logical progression of things, partly in order to try to persuade him to see that proposing "made sense" and was the proper path for us.

The problem is, I was more of a mess at that time than I have EVER been, and failure to live up to my high standards was everywhere. As time went on and no ring came, I felt more uneasy about trying to fill a wife's shoes without any promise that I would ever truly be one.

Basically I couldn't relax around him anymore, which lead to daily stress and tension between us, which I have no idea how he put with...

But suddenly a thought came to me..."Why does it have to be husband and wife living together? Why can't he just be my roommate that happens to be my boyfriend?"

*pause*

My heartrate lowered, my mind stopped racing, and a large weight was lifted from my shoulders.


I realized I missed just being his girlfriend.


It all seemed so easy now, I thought "I can do this, I was good at the girlfriend thing." XD And now, even though it will still take time to truly be comfortable and happy again, I can enjoy my boyfriend more and more instead of fearing his rejection 24/7. And things are good.

I don't know if I'll have him as a husband, but I'm 100% sure I have his heart 100% as a boyfriend.

I figure all the stress that it has caused me has made me WANT to wait for marriage, made me realize I am more scared about the responsibilities of being a wife than I thought, and made me realize I do trust my boyfriend's judgement for when a "right" time would be. (He's pretty smart, he'll figure it out. :) )

Will the fears of measuring up to "wife standards" still be with me if he proposes? Yes.

But if one day he thinks I can do it, then I can give it a try. <3

How to Plan a Wedding in Two Weeks: Other Important Necessities

Miss Boa's big three, (venue, dress, and photographer,) were decided upon in a crazy short amount of time! This is one determined bride, lol.

But a few things were still needed...

1) Someone to marry them and make it official
2) Someone to get the party started at the reception
3) Something to eat for dessert
4) Something to invite the guests

The Officiant:

Finding an officiant in short notice was becoming similar to her photographer search, many were booked already and were simply out of the running by default! D:

One of the groomsmen mentioned a family member of his officiated weddings, Miss Boa had met him before and for a while was considering him to officiate, but she still had pending potentials at the time that she found on WeddingWire.

Finally, she received a reply that one of the potential officiants was free! She ending up going with D and J Ministry. They only book one wedding per day, and the ceremony and rehearsal cost $250.

Most important part of the wedding, (the actual marriage): check!

The DJ:

Miss Boa really lucked out on this one, because she used one of the best things in the wedding industry---a friendor!

A friendor is an awesome friend who does something wedding-related and is willing to help you out on your special day! Usually at a lovely, discounted friends-and-family-only price, lol.

After discussing the details with said friend from Blackrrock Sound Solutions, an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, he suggested that two separate systems be set up: one for the indoor party and one for the outdoors, so Miss Boa's carefully selected ceremony music could be played and so the ceremony could be heard clearly by all guests!

Always a tragedy when the most beautiful vows are spoken yet no one can hear them!

Usually this would have cost quite a pretty penny, given that Blackrrock Sound would need double the amount of equipment to make the event work, not to mention an extra employee to help with setup... But Miss Boa was given the wonderful offer of half the price of the whole package! :D

And this, my friends, is why friendors ROCK!

(Miss Boa plans to tip her pal handsomely for his generosity and hard work. :) )

The Cake:

Miss Boa know where she was getting her cake long before getting engaged!

The sweet confections of Dessert Deli has enchanted many a female in the Western NY area, including me! *sighs*

Their cakes are luscious and decadent, not to mention just plain gorgeous:

Some tasty cakes being offered this month that I have yet to sink my teeth into... *drool*
Miss Boa's favorite has always been their red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

So naturally she ordered a red velvet tiered cake, with alternating ivory and dark brown tiers. (fillings to be decided later) It will be decorated with climbing branches dotted with delicate teal cherry blossoms.

I haven't seen the design, but it will probably look something like this, except in the proper colors:

Ooooo, ahhhh! So pretty. :)

And there's an extra bonus too! If you get your wedding cake through them, you get 10% off all future cakes and cookies for life. o.0 So much cake...so little time! XD

The Invitations:

Getting her invitations was simple enough, due to the fact that they were the only thing she needed to purchase to obtain her fabulous wedding planner! As long as she purchased the invitations through her, Miss Boa would receive her guidance and assistance.

And surprisingly, there was a wide selection of price points, she ending up spending only $2 per invite for a invite/envelope/RSVP suite in her wedding colors!

Affordable invitations without the agony of printing, cutting, pasting, stamping, etc. over 100+ pieces of paper?! Sounds like a good deal to me!

She does plan on saving money on calligraphy by printing out the envelope addresses on her own. Very smart, I approve. :)

She mentioned that the design was hard to describe, so I guess I'll have to wait until I help her with addressing the envelopes...

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So by the time the holidays ended, Miss Boa managed to scratch off the following wedding to-do items:

-Wedding planner
-Venue
-Ceremony Site
-Food
-Rentals (included with venue package)
-Wedding dress
-Photographer
-Officiant
-DJ
-Cake
-Invitations

Whew! Makes me tired just looking at it! XD

A big round of applause please to Miss Boa!

She has done something I know I could never do, haha.

How to Plan a Wedding in Two Weeks: The Photographer

You can't have all this wonderful eye candy of a venue and a dress without someone to capture it! A photographer was desperately in order!

The Photographer:

The search for a photographer started out bleak. (i.e. Expensive!)

Her planner wanted her to hire the best of the best, Ayres Photography.

And you have to admit, their photos are amazing...

All photos copyright of Ayres Photography.
But not their $4,000 price tag... o.0

To be fair, Miss Boa realized that the package her planner was suggesting to her was much more than she needed--12 hours of coverage and a (rather pricey) wedding album was not necessary! The engagement photo shoot, however, was going to stay!

Still, $3,000 for their 8 hour package wasn't exactly affordable either...so the search continued!

The pricing of Kaz Photography appealed to her instantly, and the photos were just as eye catching!

All photos copyright of Kaz Photography.
The Premier Plus package sounded perfect, 8 hours of wedding coverage, a DVD of all images with copyright release, $100 print credit, and an engagement shoot for $2,450!

Sadly, Kaz Photography was booked for the day of her wedding :( So Miss Boa went on to the next contenders...

Since I may oogle at wedding photos that show up on my facebook feed from time to time, :P , I suggested Tess Moran Photography because those photos really stuck out in my wedding-crazed mind!

Great photographs...

All photos copyright of Tess Moran Photography.
...with packages that start at $3,000. Darn it! Nevermind then I told her, keep looking!

While finding photographs of the reception rooms in Templeton Landing, Miss Boa discovered Knight Studio Photography.

She liked their style of photography:

All photos copyright of Knight Studio Photography.
Their pricing was alright starting at $2,500, however to include the engagement photo shoot she wanted, the price would have to rise to $2,850.

Plus this company was also booked for her wedding date. XP

Needless to say she was starting to worry a bit about booking a photographer in time!

Determined to find someone who would fit their budget and schedule, Miss Boa did a very, very through search, considering eight other various photographers, all starting at $3K for what she wanted.

Till she found Robin Fox Photography!

*cue heavens parting*

All photos copyright of Robin Fox Photography.
Photographs that take your breath away, 10 hours of wedding coverage, DVD of images with copyright, 5-10 prints, an engagement session AND a wedding album for a grand total of $2,150.

o.0

I almost didn't want to tell you about this photographer so maybe Robin Fox would still be up-and-coming (and thus still affordable,) by the time I get married! XD

Being available for Miss Boa's special day, it was settled! The photographer was booked!

There still were some big elements still missing from Miss Boa's wedding, find out which next post!

Weddingbee is IMPOSSIBLE to Catch Up To

EDIT: Okay so Weddingbee hasn't updated their "Miss Bloggers" list yet. XD It appears that there has been a Miss Boa Constrictor since the start of the month! (How strange, at the same time pretty much XD) I've updated the post to reflect that!

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As a random detour, I have been reading Weddingbee posts in chronological order in my free time to catch up with all the lovely Bees that I had abandoned last summer for my sanity and wedding-less peace of mind.

(What? You gotta read them in order!)

S-L-O-W-L-Y but surely I got to the end of August, and realized they already had a boa constrictor icon:

XD

That's what I get for coming up with a new icon before I knew what existed!

Good thing it's "Miss Boa" and not "Miss Boa Constrictor"! Plus I like my icon better, tee hee.

At least no bride has claimed that moniker yet, but still I apologize in advance to anyone who gets confused. :P

So recap:

Miss Boa = my awesome engaged friend
Miss Boa Constrictor = one very lucky duck who will someday be is blogging for Weddingbee

Got it? Good :)

Now let's hope there's no "Miss Boa" the fashion accessory in existence XD

How to Plan a Wedding in Two Weeks: The Dress

While searching for the all important venue, Miss Boa went to track down a very important wedding purchase--

The Dress:

Now, to start off, I have been sworn to secrecy on the dress. Sorry guys!

(But, I'll be sure to post the stunning beauty the day after the wedding! XD)

What I can tell you, is the process Miss Boa went through to find the dress in just two appointments!

She first went to Alfred Angelo to give herself a general idea of what she was looking for.
She quickly confirmed that she didn't like over-the-top, billowy ballgowns...

Pretty, but not for Miss Boa
...but became a bit confused about what she did like, and who can blame her?! There are a LOT of gorgeous dresses out there!

The very next day, she went to Victoria's Bridal Shoppe, which was highly recommended, and by the end of our appointment, we could see why!

The women there were very friendly and warm, and after a few dresses they understood what Miss Boa was looking for. They pulled something that was just perfect for her!

The fog of confusion was lifted and the dress was purchased!

Next item on the to-do list...the photographer!

How to Plan a Wedding in Two Weeks: The Venue

Miss Boa got engaged in December, and set her sights on a summer 2012 wedding. She knew this did not leave her with much time, but with finals and projects coming due, wedding planning was simply not in the cards yet.

But, once the last page of classwork was complete, she set her sights on getting this wedding show on the road! (And onto vendors' calendars!)

The first things she went to tackle:

1) The venue
2) The dress
3) The photographer

The Venue:

Miss Boa and her finance's search for a Buffalo, NY venue evolved as they conducted their search, at first they were going for a sophisticated reception locale and an outdoor ceremony.

They visited the Delaware Mansion first.

They didn't like it.

While the building was charming, the interior was not their style. They didn't like that the dance floor was separate from the banquet room, and the couple could only have a sweetheart table, so this diminished the fun atmosphere they were looking for.

Tie in the high price tag and no tasting of the food beforehand...this venue was out!

Next was the Niagara Country Club:

Miss Boa loved the outdoor location for the ceremony, the look of the reception rooms, and the stunning view of the grounds! The price was reasonable and the food was good, BUT...

...they needed a sponsor from the Country Club in order to have their wedding there.

Apparently, not knowing too many golfers, :p their search continued...

Next stop on their venue travels--Pearl Street Grill and Brewery:

This one stood out from the other choices due to its more modern atmosphere. Plus the building had tons of character, outdoor patio space, and really tasty food!

But by this point Miss Boa snagged herself a wedding planner for a steal! (Cost of invitations through the planner plus $50/hour for day-of coordination! o.0) And with some discussion she and her finance decided that one location for their ceremony and reception was best for them and their guests.

And Pearl Street simply did not have a large enough ceremony space.

Her planner suggested Templeton Landing for their next consideration:

The venue was on the waterfront of downtown Buffalo, and had fabulous views of the water and pier!

A large dance floor was the center of the room, bringing in a cozy and mingling type of environment. The decor was tasteful with gorgeous chandeliers and stone facade on the walls.

The ceremony would be done by the water on the neighboring grounds:

Not to mention it had a really cute outdoor patio:

Then include reasonable pricing and great food, and it was clear. Miss Boa declared that this was it! She would get married at Templeton Landing!

(Can you believe she viewed all these venues in a 1 week timespan?!?)

Now she would cross her fingers, pray for good weather, and move quickly on to the next step: the dress!