Dress Fitting Number 2

Dear Diary,

 So tonight is the night for dress fitting number 2! Tonight we will focus on zipping, making sure my boobs fit and the bustle! haha I'm down two more lbs so we will see. Fingers crossed everything goes well.

I can't believe the big day is only 17 days away! I'm officially in crunch time. Making all kinds of calls to tie up loose ends and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Confirmed limo, band, videographer and just need to call photographer. Vases were dropped off at the florist.

Oh and we finally figured out who the mystery decline was. It was someone from J's family. We are also very excited to be way under our number for the reception. We were so worried we were going to be over our 310 number but it turns out we won't even make 290! So happy about that! The guy at the hall might not be but hey, what can you do. haha

Everyone survived Hurricane Irene and the hall is in one piece. Thank God. I said it can rain the next 16 days straight if it wants to I just need a little sun on the 17th:)

So i'll keep you posted on all updates and any craziness in the next two weeks.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

Cash for Gold! It really is true!

Dear Diary,
 J and I went to the jeweler on Saturday to pay for and pick-up our wedding bands. I was so excited to finally see what it was going to look like since the jeweler custom made it to fit with my engagement ring. The way he described it sounded so perfect. I had to drop it off over two weeks ago so I have been without my most prized piece of jewelry since then. I couldn't wait to have it back. I felt so naked without it.

Before we left on Saturday we remembered that the jeweler told us to bring any gold we may want to sell as the price is the highest it's been ever and he would give us a good price for it. So we gathered gold from relationships past and felt this was the perfect time to get rid of things we would never wear again nor pass down to our children. We suffered through those relationships, shouldn't we at least get something to show for it! haha
So we took our little gold filled box up to the jeweler with us figuring if we could like $400 or $500 for it that would be great!

So we already knew how much our rings were going to cost so we brought up that amount just in case we really needed it and our gold was crap.
It turned out way better then we expected! When all was said and done the jeweler gave us way more than we ever anticipated so we basically got our 14k white gold, custom made, diamond filled wedding bands for $350!
It was like hitting the wedding lottery! With so many expenses to pay for now so close to the wedding this was a very welcomed and much needed surprise.
So I do recommend selling gold right now if you have some to spare. That old broken bracelet you say you want to get fixed, or that charm from an old boyfriend you will never wear again all make great items to get you cash in your pocket.
We decided we will be putting that extra money we saved toward our honeymoon balances on the credit cards. Perfect!

I can't wait to actually wear my band in under three weeks! Yikes! It's soo close!


My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing bride To Be

Bachelorette Bliss

Dear Diary,
 I had the most wonderful Bachelorette weekend:) J was away from Tuesday so it was only fair I got to go somewhere too. haha My friend Tracy took me down A.C. to have a little fun. We thought it was a wonderful idea to drink 40s at the bar like we were 21 again! They were only $5 so why not! haha

We also just had fun making friends and being silly. We are good at that part. haha

Then on Saturday I had my hair and make-up trial for the big day but I'll leave those close-up pics out as not to ruin the effect for the wedding day. I loved the way I looked and can't wait to see it done again in a month.

Saturday night my bridal party took me out for my official bachelorette party and I had a blast!! They took me pole dancing! It was sooo much fun! Here is a pic of the group:

Don;t we look so sweet and innocent!

Here are few pics of the actual pole dancing attempts:

J's sis was the only one who could do No hands!

Then we had to cap off the event with an official bachelorette cake! Of course it was shaped like a penis! Thanks Tara!

Then we headed over to Silk City to dance the night away and met up with a few of my other friends to celebrate:)

Thank you all for taking time out or your busy lives to make my night so special. I had the best time with all of you and it makes me even more excited to celebrate with you all on the big day!  

Oh and for all of you stripper haters out there,  I would say don't knock it until you try it because it's one of the hardest things I have ever done and I have the bruises on my thighs to prove it:

My Dearest Diary,

 The Blushing Bride To Be



It's officially 1 month til the big day!

Dear Diary,
 I hope all is well. I'm so excited to finally say say it's only one month until the big day! I'm getting very excited! I just can't wait for it to be here. I know everyone says it goes by so fast but I have been looking forward to this moment for so long.

All the the big things are done. Now that I finally had my shower things are rolling along. This weekend is the big Bachelorette weekend! J left last night for his OCMD trip and I hope he has a great time with his friends. I'm looking forward to my night with my bridal party and friends. They won't tell me what we are doing so this should be interesting. The last thing they told me was we were Dwarf tossing:

I have been practicing with the Turkeys and Hams in Shoprite to prepare! haha

Can you imagine! Anyway, i'm sure whatever we do it will be a blast because I will be with my friends. We meet with the Band leader next week and in two more weeks I have my second dress fitting and then in three weeks we have the big Serenade followed by the Big Event! So I have plenty to look forward to over the next month.

Now if we can get people to send back their damn response cards we will be all set. hahaha

My Dearest Diary,

 The Blushing Bride To Be



May I present to you The President of The United States!

Dear Diary,
 I received the coolest thing in the mail yesterday. I had totally forgot about it until yesterday. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I'm a wealth of useless and ridiculous knowledge! haha This ranks right up there.

By sending an invitation, rules of etiquette require that a letter of congratulations be sent to you. I decided to test this rule and send an invitation to the President and First Lady of the United States. And sure as the sky is blue this is what we received yesterday in the mail:

For those who may have trouble reading it this is what it says:
Congratulations to you on your wedding day. We hope this special time is blessed with love, laughter and happiness. As you embark on your journey together, may your bond grow stronger with each passing year. Sincerely, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama

I was floored when I received this. It was the most amazing thing! So for future brides everywhere make sure to send your wedding invitation a few months in advance and just wait. You will receive a signed card from the President and First Lady! SO cool!

I'm going to frame it and display it at our reception. So exciting. J thinks I'm nuts but how many people do you know that have a congratulations card from the President!

I hope to have some more fun stories to share down the road. It's getting so close now:)

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

Showers of Happiness for the Bride and Groom

Dear Diary,
I had the best birthday on Sunday!It was not only my birthday but my bridal shower! My mom and the girls did an awesome job! It was so overwhelming walking in and seeing all 90 faces staring up at me! Yes, I said 90! I was so happy to see everyone there and still couldn't believe they were all there for me.

I immediately started to make my rounds as I knew I wanted to make sure I got to thank everyone and spend a little bit of time with each of them. Then it was time to eat course one so I went to sit at my table where I was greeted with the standard Italian sign for good luck at these events: Jordan Almonds or confetti as we call it:)

J's Mom Mom filled two tea cups with these almonds for me and then made little favors for everyone else. My mom also got these adorable manicure sets for everyone too:

They were awesome and I was so excited they matched and I knew all the ladies would appreciate a gift I knew I could use.

J's mom had candy bars made as well and of course we had way more cake and cookies then any human being could eat. haha


Then I looked up at the tables of gifts. There were so many presents. Thank God I didn't have to sit and open them all. My mom wrapped hers for me to open but we asked all the other ladies to not wrap them so I could spend time with everyone and we could have fun. My mom made me this awesome towel cake that looked so real. It was beautiful:

It worked out great. The girls had plenty of games to play for everyone and everyone seemed to really have fun with them, especially the toilet paper bride game! My personal favorite!

I'm still waiting for pics from the actual shower so as soon as I have some i'll post a few:) But I just want to say how lucky I am to have such a great family, great group of friends and wonderful in laws. I'm truly blessed.

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

Tan Goddess Time or should I say Red Lobster Time

Dear Diary,

 I have been contemplating the whole going tanning thing. I use the word "tanning" lightly as I rarely tan. I usually get red like a lobster, peel and fade back to my normal pasty white. haha I'm the worst Italian ever! My younger brother got all the dark Italian genes. I got the English, Scottish, Dutch ones. Lucky me! Here is a pic of me and and my fam so you can fully understand where i'm coming from. Everyone always thinks he is my boyfriend! EEWWW GROSS!

As you can see my mom is darker and my dad is very fair skinned. I am very fair skinned as well. Even after 30 years I still have that glimmer of hope I'll tan! haha

So I knew I couldn't get married being the same color as my dress. That would be very flattering. I figure some color (even if it is red) is better then pasty white. So I gave in and joined Hollywood Tans again in hopes to get some good color before the big day.

I know, I know I shouldn't be going to those tanning places because of the risk of skin cancer. I totally agree. I'm just doing this for a month for my wedding and then back to pasty white it is! Also, I bought the JWOW tanning lotion so that should definitely help me with my GTL routine! hahaha

Seriously here is a pic:

So after only one five minute session the lobster red color is well on it's way! Here's to hoping i'll actually tan this time! hahaa

My Dearest Diary,

 The Blushing Bride To Be

Scumbag Alert!

Dear Diary,
 There has been this ongoing situation that I did not tell you about. I wanted to wait until it was rectified until reporting my findings. So let me start from the beginning.

I met this guy one night while I was working at the bar. He was very outgoing, dressed nice, was chatting me up for a quit a while. Then he realized I was engaged and asked me if I needed a limo for my wedding. I had just booked one the week before but he gave me the whole "I'll take good care of you and beat their price" speech so he gave me his card. I went online the next day to investigate his company and see what they were all about. The company is called "Society International" and they are supposed to be a concierge service. The website was very professional and it looks like they publish a magazine as well.

I did the next logical thing and I went on Google and tried to find reviews for them. I couldn't find anything bad about them so I decided to contact this Christian Dougherty to see what kind of deal he was willing to give me. He was going to give me an extra hour for free, red carpet service, free champagne on the limo and a $200 discount on what I was going to pay the other company. I spoke with J about it and he told me if I felt comfortable with it to do it. We were trying to save money where we could so it was very logical to do this.

He was going to charge me $800 total. He told me he needed a $500 deposit and we would the pay the rest the week before the wedding. He sends this one page (homemade contract) that he said I didn't have to sign and should just keep for my records. This should have been my first tip-off. He also said he was going to send me pics of the actual vehicle we would be getting so I wouldn't have to drive all the way down to Delaware just to see it. I thought this was very considerate until I saw what he sent me:

This is obviously a stock image of a limo he took from the Internet. I'm not an idiot. I asked him for a receipt as well for the deposit charge and he said he would get it to me. I went online a week a later to my credit card account and saw he not only took the $500 deposit but took the $300 balance as well! I was furious!

I called him several times with no return call and also emailed. It started with "It's a misunderstanding. I;ll get your refund back on your card ASAP!" His version of ASAP nad my version of ASAP must mean two totally different things then.
This all started on March 7th and went back and forth until late April when I went back on the website to locate the address and it was gone! Then J finally took all three addresses we had for this place and personally drove to them. One was an open lot and the others we apartment complexes. This is when I immediately called the credit card company and J contacted the police!

This guy thought he was just going to screw over a dumb bartender he met one night. Little did he know my father, J and his father are all in law enforcement! He had another thing coming. I also said that i would get all of my money back if i had to pry it from his cold, dead hands! There is nothing like a bride scorned!

Once the authorities were contacted that's when we were told he had done this before and was arrested before! I made this my personal mission to get my money back and now make sure other brides know about him and his stupid little scheme. It's not like i have an extra $800 just laying around. Anyone knows how expensive it is to plan a wedding and you try to save money where can so this made me even more mad that he was screwing over brides and grooms on the happiest day of their lives!

So once he was contact by the police he magically returned $200 to my account and a month later I got another $100 but was still waiting on the the remaining $500. That's when the credit card company did their magic and realized he was a scam artist and today I received the remaining $500 back in my account!

Thank you Pay Pal!

So it has been a painful six month process but the good guy prevailed! So I ask all of my other friends and family to spread the word about this aweful, so-called "company" and what he's up to. We can't let him do this to any more unsuspecting people.

In the mean time the original limo company never canceled my reservatino so we do still have a limo for our big day. It all worked out in the end.

Go Team Justice!

My Dearest Diary,

 The Blushing Bride To Be