"Your Decor is Enchiladas?"

Today I went "wedding shopping."  No, not dress shopping (been there done that), but shopping for all the other necessary items I might need to host an amazing night of taquitos and margaritas. 

The first stop on my list today was the "It's Party Time" store.  I'm leaning towards an outdoor ceremony and if that's the way we go, we'll need chairs, a couple of tables and probably some sort of decorations for those chairs and tables. At the minimum.  At least, that's according to the It's Party Time Lady.

Now, to properly explain the It's Party Time experience, I have to describe the It's Party Time Lady.  This lady was dressed in a purple kitten sweatshirt and jeans, had her hair pulled back in a tight, tight ponytail and never, never smiled.  Parties are very serious business.

So, after I got over the initial shock of my encounter with the It'sParty Time Lady, I asked the her what the cheapest priced table and chairs she had were.

"So if I need chairs and tables, what's the cheapest chairs that you rent?  And you're right, I'll probably need a table or two as well.  What's the cheapest price for those?"

"If you want to have a good party, you should think about about whether or not it fits your decor".

"Well, actually it's a wedding, not just a party and my decor is anything Mexican.  Our colors are orange, yellow, red, turquoise, corona, margarita, mojitos, cactus, tacos, enchiladas, nachos and hot peppers."

[Silence]

"Ummm, yeah, so pretty much anything will go, I'm not too picky, it just has to be fun and I'm not sure if you can make a chair anymore fun than it already is, right?  [nervous laughter]

[More silence]

"Well, I guess you could make a table more fun, if you danced on it."

[And still more silence]

"Uhhh, yeah, so, I'm just gonna go over to where those chair looking things are and see if I can tell which ones cheaper, okay?"

"Your decor is enchiladas?"

"Yes."

"We don't recommend that people dance on our tables.  There's an extra charge if they are damaged."

"That won't be a problem."

"Why don't you just take a price list with you and come back if you see what you need."

"Ummm, okay.  Thanks."

As I was leaving the It's Party Time store, I noticed that there was a guy working in the back.  I think next time, I'll ask for him.

The Dress (x2)

We are trying to keep the budget for our wedding down (waaaay down) and because of this I was looking at dresses on ebay.  My sister ordered her prom dress from ebay, and while it was a bit of a mess when it got here, once she had it altered it was perfect.

In the last few weeks I have looked at hundreds of haphazardly sewn dresses on there.  Most of them were from sellers with names like "CharmAngel204" and "PinkPrincess342." I figured, how can you go wrong with a dress from "YouDreamComeTrue876?"

After a couple of days online I got sick of perusing ebay dresses without trying anything on and went to look at real dresses.  I called my grandma, my mom and my sister, Elisha, who is also my maid of honour and cruised down to the dress store.  I was supposed to be looking at styles of dresses I'd seen on ebay, but I caught the dreaded "Wedding Dress Fever" and started trying on pretty much anything in my price range.  My sister and I were  pulling anything off the rack that was under $500.  The problem is $500 = limited selection.

Now, I wasn't set on a white or ivory dress and was looking at pretty much anything that fit in my budget.  I also feel the need to mention that my sister wore here getto-bling nails and her apple bottom jeans to the store.  She looked awesome, but could not do up a zipper or buttons if her life depended on it!

At one point my sister grabbed this crazy red and gold number off the rack at one store and made me try it on.  It was awesome!  It had red and gold embroidery up the entire bodice and layer upon layer of tulle and beads everywhere else.  Think Holiday Barbie 1993.  Seriously (I know this because my sister had this doll).

We both thought it would go well with the Mexican Fiesta theme.  It had so much tulle and beading that it held me standing completely upright.  I could probably pass out in that dress and still be standing up.  I could be the Queen of Spain in this dress.

Sadly, when we looked at the price tag the dress came to $700 (we missed this before I tried it on because we were star-struck by this dress).  Way over budget.  My Holiday Barbie 1993 dress was not to be. Sigh.

Next, I tried on a variety of confections made from all sorts of taffeta and tulle.  I tried on anything my well meaning family members grabbed.  And did they grab!  One slinky blue-beaded and sequined dress looked like a mermaid got her "King of the Sea" dad to give her magical legs and instead of going and finding her prince, she ended up on Jersey Shore, got really drunk at Karma and puked her dinner of pearls and clam shells all over herself before going home with Pauly D.

By the end of the day I was willing to buy anything that looked even slightly okay (and I could do up myself, with out help from my ghetto-sister).  My China made ebay dreams were faltering and I wanted to find something NOW! So I made the first real impulse buy of my life and bought a very pretty, very classy purple bridesmaid-type dress that was on a really good discount (cause it was cash and carry - which means No Refunds). 

The problem was, it was a bridesmaid dress.  I've never made an impulse buy in my life (except for lip gloss and dental floss in the Walmart aisle - they really suck you with that display!) and I instantly regretted it.  Even though we are having a fun taco and cactus themed wedding (and it's my second wedding), I still wanted to look like a beautiful bride for my wedding.  I want my future husband to look at me and thing "That's my bride," not "Is that a bridesmaid?"  I've been a bridesmaid enough times.

So, off I went to the very first store my entourage had been at.  The 3rd dress I tried on in that store was stunning.  It was "The Dress" - Simple, pretty and I looked (will look!) really, really fabulous.  Plus, it worked with our oh-so-fun Mojito and Corona filled theme.  Yes, it was a little expensive, but you only get married once (well, twice in my case, but let's not talk semantics). So, I bought it and now I have two dresses.  If I can't convince my sister to wear the purple dress, I'll saving it so I have an excuse to go to a formal event.

I might have spent way more than I wanted to, totally ditched the ebay idea, and ended up with an extra dress, but hey, it's only money...

The Date

So Brendan and I have decided on a date.  July 30th, 2011.  That's in exactly 6 months.  Yikes, that's not much time to plan, but I think we can pull off a pretty awesome party in 6 months.  I mean, how hard can it be to throw on a couple of sombreros and say, "I do..."  :)

Welcome to Rian and Brendan's Mexican Fiesta Wedding Blog

Hola.  We're getting married!  To celebrate our love for each other and for Mexican food (mmm tacos!), we are holding a Mexican Fiesta.  We've created this blog for you, our friends and family, to follow along and enjoy the next six months with us as we plan our wedding.