A bridal fair and a menu

Monterey hosts a bridal expo once a year and I, being a soon to be bride, am going to soak all this up while I can and not be the weirdo going to bridal shows for fun. What?

In January we made the trip down to Monterey and got to hang out with my parents for a bit. In talking to our caterers, Grapes of Wrath, we found out that on the same day...they were holding an open house and tasting! YEEHAW! I get to taste the food and make sure this is what I want for our big day! Two birds...one stone! Efficiency at it's finest. Awww, logistics!

Moving forward, we go to the expo and try to cover some bases we had yet to address...ya know, cake, hotels, DJ, food, decor...um, basically the wedding. We walked around with my mom and tasted approximately 400 different cakes, it was fun. After we finished with the expo, we headed home to pick up my dad and head back out to the open house. Once at the open house, we were greeted with an AMAZING spread...like it's own mini little bridal expo. In addition to a full spread of food, there an open bar, a cake baker, a photographer, and a DJ all on premises to kind of give you a feel of how they work with everyone. Everything was really well put together.

After registering and letting them know that I already had a contract on file, we all separated and went to the stations we really wanted to visit. Honestly, I was so tightly wound that I didn't even go get food. Seriously. This was the point right? I wasn't interested. I just found a table and looked around. Finally my mom, dad, and dude came back to the table with plates overflowing with food. All I heard were "mmm's" and "mmm, try this!" Good signs.

As they were enjoying the food, someone finally came over to chat with us and go over what we wanted for the wedding. I let them know what I liked about their proposal and what I didn't. We ironed some things out and I think it will be great!

So far, this is the menu:

Hors d'oeuvres
Manned Tostadita griddle station - basically you can get fresh made tortillas filled with chicken or pork and cheese, move on over to the chip and salsa area to top it all off.
These were amazing! Of the things I actually tasted at the open house...this is what I want to eat on my wedding day. I don't care if I don't get the main course...their carnitas were so good! This is made extra awesome by the salsa and chip station. Hello awesome.

Main Course
Grilled Flank Steak (Fajita style)
Chicken in Mole (again, cut fajita style)
Ancho chile rice pilaf
Chipotle black beans
Melon with chili and lime
Green Salad
Fresh corn and flour tortillas (made on the premises)
Salsa station (guacamole, mango salsa, regular salsa, sour cream, etc)

I think they captured my Mexican theme pretty well. I'm excited and I hope everyone likes the menu we came up with. I can't think of a better type of food to unite families and friends.

Now let me get real for a second here. This is not the first time I had the desire to have Mexican food at my wedding (or at least Mexican type food...I guess Mexican food at it's core is up for debate in what we ended up with and what I really wanted). Anyway, here are two ideas I wanted before I settled on (the amazing) Grapes of Wrath:

I would have killed to have a taco truck wedding. I ran into a couple road blocks though; there is literally nowhere to set this up at The Old Whaling Station...and I have to use the exclusive caterer. Can't you just feel the awesomeness of a taco truck wedding though?! AH! Maybe vow renewals someday...


Not going to lie...I contacted Chipotle headquarters directly about getting a cart (of sorts) for my wedding. I mean...can you imagine the pictures? Everyone sitting around with this silver pillows of amazing? Can you imagine your guests getting EXACTLY what they want? The smiles!
Chipotle contacted me back very quickly...with a giant 'no' and a 'your request is really not all that unique' story. Really Chipotle? Not that unique? Think of the business opportunities you're missing. Seriously. I can manage your wedding initiative...contact me.

So maybe I'm not original...I am me though, and I'm going to get what I want in some way shape or form. So bring it on Grapes of Wrath...I'm already hungry and your open house was such a tease!

How did you get down to choosing your wedding food du jour?

Let them eat!

I'm not talking cake...yet. I'm talking food. I'm really excited about feeding my guests!! We picked some excellent food, and I'm hoping it will set the mood for the night.

Our venue has an exclusive caterer, and that totally freaked me out. I have no choice? What if they totally stink? That would be awful. Granted, everyone says I won't have time to eat...but I want the food to taste good whether I get to eat or not.

Before I get into the caterer and the food, let's talk about what I would have LOVED to have had at the wedding.

Ideal #1 - SUSHI! How amazing would sushi be at a wedding? So modern and delicious! And look at the presentation possibilities!!

Look at all the green!


Look at the delicious flavor possibilities!

But we've discussed that I lack the gene that made me able to produce money out of my butt. When the dude and I go to sushi, it's no joke. I eat two rolls, he eats two rolls...it gets pricy! On top of that, not everyone on my guest list is all that adventurous. I've heard it before, do what you want and don't think about anyone else...yeah yeah, but I want people full and happy and dancing. Plus all that alcohol when half the people won't touch the food? Um...liability?

Ideal #2 - BBQ. Not just any BBQ, the BBQ provided to two weddings of very close friends. The best freaking, cooked-on-site BBQ you've ever had in your life. Tri-tip so tender that you may or may not have eaten 15 pieces...But alas, this master of the BBQ is a local of the Placerville area and travel of a man and his BBQ pit is quite a request.

When has something like this disappointed anyone? Ya know...except vegetarians?

Ideal #3 - So we thought, and thought, and thought. Really it didn't take us that long, because one of our all time favorite foods in the entire world...is Mexican food. Why not a delicious spread of Mexican food?

We spoke with our caterers, Grapes of Wrath, and came up with an excellent menu for our guests! But how is this going to taste? I contacted them via email and made all these choices online...what if the food sounded good, but tasted like...well, not good?

Hello Fajita buffet! They've got it in their repertoire!

After talking to the caterer for a bit, the dude and I were able to finally put our worries to rest...but we'll talk about that and the actual menu next time.

How did you pick your caterer and your style of food?

Not going to lie...I have STD's

Yes, that's right. The Save The Dates (STD's) have gone out...and I kept one for myself.

That's what you thought right?

Back when I first started planning this wedding, I thought paper products and all the fun stationary was going to mean a LOT to me. But you know what? It totally doesn't. I have gotten so many different kinds of invitations over the years...and honestly I don't remember any of them. For me, they're a simple thing to give someone some information...and that's it. If you think someone out there is going to hold on to your invitation as a keepsake...you're wrong. On the list of my priorities, paper is pretty dang low. I have to keep reminding myself that at some point I'm going to have to get invitations...that'll be another post at another time...should I remember in time to purchase the invitations.

Moving forward, I know that our wedding is an 'out of town wedding' for most everyone, heck, even us. So I felt getting them this information as early as possible was crucial. Our wedding will be in September and we sent the STD's out in January. This allows plenty of time for people to purchase lower cost plane tickets, save for gas (seriously, $4.00 per gallon?), reserve hotels in the area, and arrange their schedule with work...should they decide to come.

In my head I thought it would be fun to have Monterey postcards as save the dates, ya know, those tourist post cards you can buy on the wharf? But then I figured I was going to have to worry about printing on them...too much work.

Then I thought it would be fun to have vintage cactus postcards. Again, I can't seem to keep a linear thought because...I would still have to worry about printing.

One day in December, a good friend of mine, Shannon, sent me a link to a 75% off sale at Zazzle, part of the email was this super cute STD...Shannon had designed a modern cactus Save the Date for us! How awesome! All I had to do was go on the website and edit it to be what I wanted exactly and hit order. Heck yes! I edited, I ordered, I paid just $21.61 for 50 fully printed fantastic STD's!

After I ordered these I got super excited and started creating our wedding website (more on that later)...I was just so excited! But, wait a minute...what good was our website going to do if they weren't on the STD's? Crap.

So the postcards came and they're gorgeous!

Front of our STD


Back of our STD's

Do you see that? It doesn't magically have our wedding website! How dare they.

So I brainstorm, how am I going to share this information with my guests? Let's try writing it first...

Nope. All wrong. My Sharpie was too fat to write it all clearly. Off to Target I went...

I picked up some small labels and printed up the website and password at home

While I was out, I also picked up the necessary stamps to get the post cards in the mail that day. Between the stamps and the labels, my cost for the STD's sky rocketed! I paid $46 between the two! So much for saving money!

Stuck those suckers to the back of the rest of the invitations and called it good.

Yeah, I totally shoved them all in at once...

A few pointers on invites, STD's, and DIY
-No stress on ordering black! I used the amazing silver sharpie to address all my Save the Dates! I highly recommend it!

-Don't jump the gun! Seemingly good deals come around a LOT! I was not prepared to order STD's...I didn't even have my full guest list yet. In fact, not everyone that is invited got one because I didn't order enough! On top of that...I didn't have my website printed on the invitation and the addition of that would have easily saved me $20 in my total for STD's.

-Order more than you think you need. Oh man, not only did some very important people not end up with an STD...I messed up on the writing and had no option but to try and fix my mistakes. You saw the mess with the website, but what happens when you're hand addressing and you mess up? This is what happens...

Do you see those smudges around her name? I totally messed up and had no way of fixing my error. I tried blacking out the silver sharpie, but it created a mess...I was (am) so embarrassed. Order yourself more than you could ever think you need. You'll need extra for trial and error and you'll need some for just straight up error.

For me, this is DIY fail #1. We'll see how invitations go...ya know...assuming I remember.

Did you send out STD's?

Phitness : I had no idea I was competitive

Throughout my childhood I was involved in sports. In fact, in junior high, I found myself involved in:

Judo (Competitive)
Swimming (Competitive)
Gymnastics
Tennis
Ballet

Yeah, I would get out of swimming practice and have to rush over to gymnastics. It was nuts! During a major Judo tournament, I got thrown on my head by another competitor and my collar bone snapped. During my down time for recovery I became extremely lazy and continued to eat like I still had a sport du jour to occupy my time. But alas, I did not. Eventually when I was healed...I didn't feel the same. I had become very depressed and negative. I began to shield myself from most everything and I just gave up on every single sport...even the ones I loved the most.

Fast forward to graduating from high school, I'm 45 pounds heavier than when I first joined swim team...and I'm just a miserable, unhappy kid. My mom and I decided to join Weight Watchers together and she even offers to pay for a Curves membership!

Man, when you're starting out, what a great combo! I was starting to feel good, but I still had no real direction. Eventually all of that fell to the side and I lost complete interest. I did the whole yo-yo thing back and forth for a while. When I finally moved out to college to focus on business (something that finally reignited my fire for life) I started to take my own life in my own hands. I made choices that were good for me and would hopefully in the long run make me feel better about myself. I would occasionally work out...I thought I had this thing under control.

I was busy, I would continue to yo-yo, but I was definitely on the right decision making path, so I became complacent. Eventually some friends talked me in to joining 24 Hour Fitness. That was fun, especially when I could go to the gym with those friends and beat them at their own game. At the time, my competitiveness was not something I even considered...I didn't even know it existed. I just thought it was fun when I could look over at a friend...or a complete strangers treadmill and see that not only had I been on there longer, but I'd gone faster, harder, and further. Success. Still, I had no idea I was competitive.

When we moved to LA and I started my job, my amazing supervisor (and now amazing friend), Tabitha pointed out to me that "Um, HELLO, you're competitive"..."No way! I don't care if I lose"

I'm sure she thought I was nuts. How could I not know I was competitive? I turned everything into a competition. I let her words sink in a little, and I still thought she was nuts. So a little while went by before I brought up her comments to the dude. "Dude, you're going to think this is hilarious, Tabitha thinks I'm competitive! She's so crazy!"

.......

Dude: "Um, you are the most competitive person I know"

Whaaaaaaat?

So, I don't know if you know me, but my name is Amelia...and I'm competitive. I've analyzed myself and yeah...I'm pretty much competitive 24 hours a day. I compete against people that don't know I'm competing against them.

This all brings me to the heart of my Phitness. I had to find something...anything that would keep me interested and competing. Maybe Weight Watchers would have worked for me if I had to weigh in in front of the whole world...but it was so private, I didn't care too much about beating myself.

Tabitha and I started creating Susan G Komen, Race for the Cure teams...and well, that's where I broke the competitive seal. I love running in races! I can compete against anyone...even though I know I'm not going to win...I still compete to beat my old times and people who are in much better shape than I. When I can overtake them I feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I don't have a runners body, but I have a runners attitude and so far it's taken me through 4 half marathons. I see a long relationship with running in races, especially now that I've embraced my inner competitor.

I stay in shape to beat the next unknowing suspect. I stay in shape to enjoy my jeans (yeah, I'm vain). I stay in shape so my doctor tells me "Holy cow, your heart rate is low"...yeah, I compete for low heart rates. I'm not doing this for my dress...I'm doing it for domination.

Here's a couple shots at me at some races this last year:

My lil' bro Chris and his wife Jess at our first 1/2, Shamrockin' Half Marathon


Right at the end of the Salinas Valley Half Marathon


After the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay
(note: just 5 weeks post surgery, what what!)

I participated in a couple other races last year, but don't have any photographic evidence.

This year I'm only going to participate in two races, since they aren't free and little things for the wedding are a tad bit more important this year. I am, however, trying to plan out my races for next year, and am contemplating increasing my race comfort zone to a full marathon. What a dream!

So, what keeps you going on your weight loss journey? Have you found it yet, or are you still searching?

The sun sets and we freeze for a good reason

I haven't mentioned this before...but it was the end of February when we took these pictures...just after a major snow storm and just before another (WHAT LUCK!)...needless to say...it was FREEZING out. I'm really glad the pictures don't show how cold we were because for most of them, I was shaking.

After taking pictures all through Downtown Placerville, we headed up to Sly Park Lake with Tyler and Christina for some snow shots. We got there just before the sun really went down, and they were able to capture some amazing colors...and more amazingly catch us not shaking.

Again, all photos by Mportraits.

After we were sufficiently frozen and losing more and more light, we headed back down the freeway for one final stop. Tyler and Christina had scouted all the locations the day prior and fell in love with the view of the sunset in one particular spot on a should of Highway 50. So we went! We made it a little later than anticipated, but we still got an amazing shot...

If you're thinking about doing an engagement shoot I highly recommend it. Your wedding day is going to be an extremely special day and you're going to get amazing photos...but you won't have the freedom in clothing and comfort to get shots like these all day long. There will be people that want to see you, there will be people that want to talk to you. An engagement shoot can help get all the photo criteria met that you won't have time to get to on your wedding day.

Another important aspect of the engagement shoot for me was...the dude is BEYOND camera shy. This helped him get comfortable with the cameras and the people taking the photos. He did amazing...as you can see. I couldn't be happier with these pictures, the dude in the pictures, and the fact that these are our photographers!

Are you or did you do an engagement shoot? What were your feelings about it afterward?

And still there were more!

We took photos for over 4 hours! Tyler and Christina (mportraits) sure knew how to take the lead and make us feel comfortable.

After we finished in the candy store, we went for a quick walk (while taking pictures) and then we all retreated back to our respective cars for the next location.

While back in the car, I decided it was time for a bit of a wardrobe change. The dude replaced is collared shirt with a black 1/4 zip sweater and I changed completely to black skinny jeans and a gray cowl neck sweater with a zipper on the front side.

We met Tyler and Christina at this amazingly old archway near downtown Placerville, this is what they came up with...

After this location, the sun was in "I'm going to set on you" mode, so we all jumped in our cars and decided to meet up at Starbucks, where the dude and I got into Tyler and Christina's car and headed up for some snow shots during sunset!

Did you have multiple locations for your engagement shoot?

Take me to the candy shop...

When we arrived our photographers asked if we would be interested in taking a few photos at the local vintage candy shop. Uh...YES! You're the artists. On top of that, the dude has the biggest sweet tooth EVER. In fact, it's not just a sweet tooth, it's sweet teeth. Seriously. It was perfect! (All photos taken by mportraits)

(The candy shop owner busted out his Willy Wonka costume and joined in on the fun)

In our next episode we go for a walk...and make a quick wardrobe change!