I Said "Yes" To The Dress!!!

What every girl dreams of…. finding the perfect dress to the most important day in her life. The day she becomes one with the love of her life. I have found my prince charming, honest, sweet, caring, along with all of his un-perfectly perfections, and I'm ready to have his name. 

I never realized how much pressure it is to find the outfit that will change your life forever, your wedding dress. There are thousands of designers, fabrics, and styles to choose from. 

My bridesmaid, Ashley, booked an appointment for me at House Of Brides that currently opened early September in Orland Park. The boutique is incredibly gorgeous and the whole team is very caring and sweet. They have amazing customer service. I came in with an open mind, all I was asking for was a sweet-heart neck line to compliment my figure. Kelly, at House of Brides (request her when booking your appointment,)  made this day extra special. Thank you!

We all choose about fifteen dresses of different styles. I can't believe the dress I was destined to wear was there. When I tried it on for the first time, everyone including me started shedding tears of joy. That's when you know it's the one meant to be. 

I felt beautiful in my dress. It exactly what I was looking for. It's classy, stands out, and it's very unique. It took a few pretty pennies, but it's exclusive, off line or magazines, and is currently in the process of being made especially for me.  

Our engagement/save the date pictures just came back from the photographer! I can't wait to share them with you! Soon to be posted wink wink.

Much Love,

Belinda Selene

Beautiful Engament Gift

This beautiful engagement gift from Eileen at Romwe.com brought me to tears. I received it in the mail. She took the time to to put our engagement pictures in each of the hearts. I don't have them framed yet so this was perfect. I thought this extremely unique and thoughtful. She made me feel very special. It sits on top of my entertainment system in my living room and I can't stop starring at it. 

The small details like the pictures, the writing, and the pink rhinestones meant so much to me. I think it's pretty cool that she reads my blog. Thank you very much Eileen we both loved this gift very much and once we buy our first home together this will be in our living room for many years.

Asking Our Bridal Party

It took my Sister, my maid of honor, and I about a month to come up all the details and planning to throw a surprise party to ask my bridesmaids to be in our wedding. Only a few of the girls knew they were going to be bridesmaids. Not only did I want to give them a personal gift box but I also wanted to celebrate them for being in my life. Once again I had never heard or knew anyone who had planned a party or has given a gift box to ask their bridal party to stand up in their wedding. I didn't know exactly how to plan it or what to expect.

They were all very excited, surprised, and said "Yes!". It was just as special as I wanted it to be. The girls loved the party, the rumchata cupcakes, the decorations, and their presents too. It brought us all closer. It was definitely  a day to remember.

We baked and prepared all of the sweets from scratch. With the lovely help of my Sister and bestie Ashley, early that day we went shopping for the ingredients and had so much fun making all of the treats at Ashley's new house. We made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzel sticks. The most exciting part was making rumchata cupcakes. We also made the icing and let me tell you it is the best I have ever tasted! 

My Sister and Ashley had the best idea, Rumchata cupcakes! The cupcakes came out very Delicious! It took me several trips to different stores to find the perfect colors of the cups. I think these are very feminine and adorable. The cool part about them is that you didn't need a muffin pan to bake them. They are so thick they can stand alone in the oven. I also wanted to add edible pearls, it gives them each a pop of color. You can click here for the rumchata cupcake recipe.

With our love for chocolate we made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzel sticks. They are extremely easy to make, their delicious, and they look really cute. I took a foam board, painted it pink, added pink glitter, and used wood skewers to hold the strawberries.

I wanted the decorations be very girly and fun. At first I was thinking of getting balloons but found this idea better. These were my favorite. They are very eye-catching hanging from the ceiling.

These napkins made my day. My Sister picked these up and thought they were perfect for the occasion. I loved them so much I didn't want to get them dirty ha ha.

I bought a clear bucket, to chill the wine, and glued rhinestones on the rim to give it that glamorous touch. I also picked up beautiful fresh pink roses to make it look complete.

 

 In order to surprise them I told them this was "suppose" to be a small engagement party. Once everyone arrived, I talked a little about the wedding details at first. Then, gave a small speech appreciating how important each girl is to me. Before asking them to be my bridesmaids I handed out the gift boxes where it asked them. Inside there was a letter explaining the reason why I asked them to be here.

We put a lot of work to all of the small details. I couldn't have done it without my sister and best friend who helped me with everything. From driving from store to store, I can be picky, to making the food, dedicating a whole day to help me, and helping me decorate.

After our toast we all went out to dinner, drinks, and to the movies. For some of the girls it was their first time meeting each other. During the night it felt like everyone had known each other for years. It was so much fun to bond with everyone. Always remember to surround yourself with loving, positive, supporting people in your life. 

Much love,

Belinda Selene

Follow me on Instagram: @MissBelindaxox

Time to celebrate! Dinner and movies with my bridesmaids. (Feels so good to finally say that lol) I'm so happy everything went great, that they were surprised, and of course that they said yes! #goodtimes #celebrate #bridesmaids #Engaged #weddingplanning @barbieglitz



See what was inside each gift box I made.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid? DIY Gift Box

You only get married once in your life time, so why not go all out? I wanted to come up with a really creative and special way to ask our bridal party to be part of our wedding. I came up with the idea as I was searching on Pinterest and came across a really pretty picture of a box a bride made for her bridesmaids. I had never heard of anyone doing that before. I just thought you go out to dinner with your girlfriends and ask them. I thought it was very sentimental and unique. I was excited to try it out and in search of more inspiration I found less than ten pins on gift box ideas. I guess this is something new. With a few resources out there it was time to brain storm. I put together my favorite ones and customized everything from scratch by adding my touch. I wanted to make them personal and original. 

I'm not gonna lie making seven boxes was a challenge and a bit pricey, but I didn't mind spending the extra cash to make them exactly what I had imagined.  I picked up these pretty white memory boxes from Michaels for less than $6 each. I have a great software that my Fiance installed for me to make a template of the names with my favorite font. On scrap booking paper I printed each on of the girl's name added them to the front of each box. 

Inside I added three different flavors of our favorite chocolate. The girls loved them.

To make them extra special, I printed out a picture of them and I. I added cute effects to make the pictures the same color palette as the box and added a border around each one with card stock paper. 

 

I saw this on Pinterest and fell in love with the idea of a sneak preview of what you want your wedding to look like. I made a template of the colors I want for my wedding with inspirational pictures. I made cute hearts in the center with the colors I chose. 

Because I haven't found the bridesmaid's dresses yet, I made a collage of what I want their dresses to look like. Of course that's what every bridesmaid  looks forward to. They were all very happy and excited. After I made each template I printed them out on picture glossy paper and added pretty scrapbook paper to the back. Presentation is very important to me. 

With different embellished paper I wrote the girls a cute and simple letter. It was harder than I thought. I also glued on little rhinestones on the corners of the letters to make them look more elegant. 

Each one read:

Will you be my Bridesmaid?

Help me plan this special day.

Hold some gorgeous flowers.

Feel beautiful.

Make unforgettable memories.

Wipe away my happy tears.

Stand by my side as I say, "I do".

I promise the dresses will be great!

I hope you can say "Yes!"

The most expensive but prettiest surprise was a live flower. All together around $45. I recently Tweeted how I was on a hunt for a florist. I was looking for the perfect flower to add to the gift box. Originally I wanted to add peonies. They are my favorite. Peonies only bloom in the the months of May and June and are  nearly impossible to get this time of year. The florist recommended the gerbera daisies. Which are beautiful! The size was just what I was looking for  and they laid perfectly. For the maid of honor, my Sister, I added three white roses to her box. 

The most time consuming project were the wine glasses. They were pretty hard to find since I wanted to make sure they fit in the box. Once I found a good set,  I hand wrote on each glass with special paint I found at Michaels. I have really bad hand writing and this was a challenge for me. By cooking them in the oven at 365°F for 30 minutes it ensure the paint to become permanent. I also embellished the bucket with rhinestones. Hee hee. I'll write more about that in my next post. 

I put a lot of thought and heart to each box. It was a lot of hard work but it was all worth it. I really wanted to send out the right message and show them how important each girl is special to me and how I can't imagine not having them present when it's time for me to walk down the isle. I want to include them in all of the fun events that come with a wedding like planning my wedding, dress shopping, bridal expos, the bachelorette party, and much more!

In order to give each box to them I threw a surprise party to ask them to be part of our special day. They all said yes with a great big smile! Stay tuned to see pictures.

More DIY Bridesmaids gift box ideas!

Click on the pictures

  

These were my inspiration. I think it's always very important to give credit to those who inspire us and came up with the original idea.

Wedding Planning #1

The wedding planning has officially begun! We are looking for the perfect venue and I have also started looking for a florist. I want to ask my bridal party to be a part of our day in a very special way. I'm going to give them a gift including flowers. (Stay tuned to see how I ask them.)

With all of the planning, which at first can be very overwhelming, I need to get organized and bought the cutest little set of stationary to jot down important notes. How adorable is this?!? One of my best friends, Alexandra, gave me a very special book to help guide me through this wonderful experience. I also wanted to share this pale pink nail lacquer, from Butter London's Teddy Pink,  for my brides-to-be. It matches any outfit and it compliments your ring. I feel extra feminine wearing this on my nails.

I came home to a surprise in the mail from www.Tomsaccessories.com which included the sweetest note. They made me feel very special. It read:

Belinda, congratulations to you and your fiancé! 

Here are some words to live by with

your Hubby-to-be =)

-Yaz

" I would rather share one lifetime with you

than face all of the ages of this world alone."

-The Fellowship of the Ring

 I was so excited to find these inside! Perfect for spring and all of the events I will be planning. 

Use code: BEL01XOX for 50% off.

My eyes are so dry and tiered. Ricardo and I stayed up until 3am having a marathon of Pretty Little Liars. He's such a good Fiance to sit next to me for several hours watching it. I am hooked! Can't wait to catch up with this season.

Much Love,

Belinda Selene