Lets be honest....we're all just in this for the food.

    I for one have been to far too many weddings where you eat your typical chicken & rice or steak and potatoes....now don't get me wrong that food is good but I knew I wanted something more fun and delicious at my wedding. Originally Todd & I wanted to hire different food trucks that people could pick from because for one, truck food is typically unusual & so bomb, and we just like to have our options. We are totally that couple that goes to a restaurant and orders the 2 entrees we like most on the menu just to split them go halfsies on it. Little did we know that food trucks are SO expensive! Their prices are crazy and they don't even include place settings! We were a little disheartened and weren't sure which route to go. So I decided to suck it up and call a caterer at Ambassador Catering that I had used a couple times in the past for a few weddings I had done. She has great food and included linens, china, serving staff, etc...which is all things we definitely needed to cover considering our wedding is at our friends house and not your typical venue that usually provides all of that for you, so i knew it would be a win either way. Sarah and I had set a date to meet in march, however, that just happened to be the day I ended up in the hospital from my pulmonary embolisms...but she was super understanding and even came to the hospital to meet with me there! I told her my original vision of the food trucks and asked if she had different menu options so together we all came up with a sweet little menu. We are going to have three different food stations: 

The first is a "build-your-own" pasta station - this will included different noodles, sauces, and toppings to create your own pasta served with bread rolls and salad. And what kind of pasta bar would be complete without Todd's absolute favorite dish...Mac N Cheese. 

Secondly we are having a street taco station - this will have carne asada and chicken tacos with toppings and salsa served with beans and rice to accompany it. 

And lastly, a french dip sandwich station - this will have hand carved sandwiches to dip in a delicious au jus sauce complete with my favorite...a mashed potato bar! You can load up your mashed potatoes with all your favorite toppings! 

I can't tell you how pleased I am with our caterer! She is so well priced & so wonderful to work with! I can't wait to see how all this food turns out! I am going to end up in a food coma by the end of our wedding. You all better come hungry! 

There's no turning back now!

     I personally believe that a wedding invite (or any invite for that matter) can tell you a lot about what the event is going to be like. With that in mind I knew I wanted ours to be crafty, fun, and unusual! I also wanted something that was special to us. If you can remember our Save The Dates we had made them to look like concert tickets. So when I saw a picture of these record wedding invites I knew I had to have them! They fit my vision perfectly!! Only problem was I had no idea how I was going to pull it off... With much research I found a couple on Etsy who designs the template for these record invites, the only problem was they had removed the listing and were not creating them anymore. But I decided I was going to private message them and beg them to do it for me anyways....& they did! I gave them the picture we wanted to use and the colors and they took it from there! I found on ebay a listing for 100 old 45 records for dirt cheap so I ordered those. I still needed about 80 more so I was a little worried I wasn't going to be able to find them or would have to pay a lot of money for them. BUT as I was cleaning out Todd's garage I found the rest of the 45's I needed!...who's really surprised?? (; ...everything was falling into place. As I have told you before our good friend Rafi, who is one of the funniest people you will ever meet, owns his own printing shop. So once the invites were designed I took them to him and he printed the templates for us, now all we had to do was cut them out and assemble them! 

Now even for a crafter like me, That was easier said than done...Luckily I had a bunch of beautiful ladies who offered to help me! The first day my mom, my aunt Deb, my soon-to-be sister in law Debbie, and my cousin Hailey all helped me cut out every single one of the invites. And let me tell you, cutting out those circles was not an easy task at all! I could not be more thankful for those girls that day because I don't think there was enough time in the world for me to finish those by myself! 

A few days later my pretty friends Maria and Emma came over with my mom to help me fold and glue them all together. We had to glue the covers to make them into sleeves & also glue the new Todd & Amanda record label over the original ones. What would've taken me weeks to finish these ladies helped me finish in just 2 days! I could not be more thankful for them all! 

We were super nervous to take them to the post office to find out how much it was going to cost us to send them but it ended up being reasonable. When we got to the post office they started showing us stamps that had butterflies on them and clowns that were pretty awful, but then the sales associate pulled out some different music artist ones! We ended up with Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, & Jimi Hendrix! 
It could not have been a better match for our invites. It took me forever to address those babies but I think all in all it was well worth it. They came out pretty rad don't you think?? 

Be on the look out for them!

The alcohol....because no good story ever started with a salad.

Since our wedding is being held at our friends house we had to figure out the drink situation on our own....Of course we are going to have your standard wine and beer selections but I also wanted to have a couple signature drinks there as well to mix it up a bit. 

I played with a bunch of different kinds of drinks but in the end we chose two that we thought were different yet would still appeal to a lot of people. The first signature cocktail is a Vodka Raspberry Lemonade & the second drink is a Blood Orange Margarita! Here is what we put in them: 

Raspberry Vodka Lemonade: 

Raspberry Vodka

Lemonade

Chambord

Lemon Sour 

& a splash of Soda

With a sugar rim                                                                                                

Blood Orange Margarita:

100% Agave Tequila 

Passion Fruit 

Pomegranate 

Blood Orange 

Lime 

With a tellicherry rim 

They are both delicious!! Todd keeps coming up with these crazy names for the drinks but they are all too funny we can't decide what we want to call them yet...I guess you'll have to wait for the wedding to see what we chose to name them! 

crafting heaven

This past week our sweet friend Kathy opened up her home to us so we could have a sign painting day for the wedding! My mom, Aunt Deb, Cindy and I all drove down to newport & met up with our awesome little artist friends Kathy & Kelly. They are both so talented, so I was quite excited to work with them. 

One of my bridesmaids, Cindy, had a whole bunch of wood in her garage left over from her hubby's job so she offered that up for us to use! It worked out perfect! Everything came together so nice and it was cheap//fun//and easy to make! Even Kathy's son Bennet was in town from New York (he works as an artist there) & decided he would join in on the fun as well!

  The day turned out to be lovely and we had so much fun creating the signs for the wedding. They turned out so cute! Heres a sneak peek at some of them.... 

I can't wait to use them at the wedding!  

Also a few days later my wonderful fiancé got me my first CRICUT machine! Talk about crafting heaven!!! Trust me when I say I will be putting that baby to good use this next month! More blog posts to follow on that! 

Save the date!

This past week we sent out our Save The Dates!! If you know Todd & I you know that we go to more concerts than a band. Music is something that we absolutely love and is a huge part of our relationship. Its something we will always enjoy doing together. So we decided to incorporate that into our wedding a bit. Our photographer Christa is also a super talented graphic designer. I told her that we wanted to make our save the dates into concert tickets. I sent her a few ideas and this is what she came up with! I could not be more stoked on them!

 Our friends Rafi & Kat own a printing company in Covina and they did all our printing for us. They did such a wonderful job! We are so thankful for them!! You can check out their website here.

Todd & I also put our website up and we are extremely happy with it! It has all the info on our wedding, tells you about our wedding party, and more! Go check it out when you have the chance!

www.toddandmandy.com

Its all becoming so real! Only 172 days left! 

Mother's Day Brunch

It has been a little while since I last posted! I'm definitely not the same since I had the episode with my PE's but I am recovering. I am easily exhausted and have been spending most my energy cleaning Todd's garage. I will have to make a post about that soon (; ....but I am very happy to say that it is almost done! So now I can focus what little energy I have on the wedding/blogging again but first I wanted to share our mother's day weekend with you!

This past weekend my family & I put together a little mothers day brunch for my mom & aunt. It turned out so wonderful! 

I spent the day before mothers day in palm springs so I made a trip to the flower mart out there so I could make arrangements to serve as gifts and as centerpieces. 

The flower mart didn't have a huge selection like I'm used to but I thought they came out pretty nice considering. I used calla lilies, roses, hydrangeas, and daises. Even though we are on a budget I still wanted it to feel nice as if we had went out so I made flower place cards for everyone.   

This is how the table setting came out! It was so cute!

 We all pitched in and made a different food item for a brunch buffet. We had a waffle station, french toast casserole, bacon, fruit, potatoes but I think one of the favorites was these breakfast bread bowls. Everyone took a bread bowl and put in whatever fillings they wanted (spinach, tomatoes, bacon, cheese, etc..). Then we topped them with an egg and baked them. They were delicious! 

For their gift we all decided to pitch in and bought a family photo session with my wedding photographer Christa on June 1st. We are so excited and can't wait to see how they all come out! 

It was a wonderful brunch and I think my mom and aunt were very happy with it. Hope you all enjoyed spoiling your moms on mothers day as well! 

weekend getaway

This past week was a pretty rough one for me...Something terrible happened in EVERY single one of my favorite shows!! (which the number of shows that I watch is more than i'd like to admit)...The Good Wife killed off my love Will Gardener...on New Girl my favorite couple Nick & Jess broke up... the list really goes on...so to say the least I was emotionally drained and needed a break so we decided to take a mini vacation to Santa Barbara for the weekend! 

With all joking aside, as trying as my television week was, Todd & I really went to SB to take our engagement pictures! We decided to have them done at La Casa de Maria in Montecito. It is a place that is so dear to my heart. My family and I have attended a family retreat there every single year for almost my entire life! There isn't a summer I can remember that doesn't include talent shows, hand motions, and family affirmations, even though there are some I'd like to forget ;) It is a place of community, peace, love & faith that has molded me into the person I am today & has given my family a bond that we may never have had otherwise. Todd started attending family retreat a few years ago & fell in love with it as well. This place is a symbol of everything I want my new little family to be so what better place to have our pictures taken? Not to mention the grounds are absolutely stunning, there is no prettier place in the world to me. 
Our wonderful photographer Christa Suppe was so sweet to make the trip out with her husband for the day to take our pictures! As awkward as we felt the whole time we were taking pictures, we were nervous about how they would turn out...well Christa must really know what she is doing cause they turned out great! We love them! She is so amazing! Here are some of our favorites from the shoot this weekend: 

If you want to check out more of her work you can view here website at jae-photo.com. We cannot wait for her to capture our wedding day! 

the truth about the ring.

This past week was definitely a terrifying one to say the least. I have been feeling sick for about 6 weeks now. I originally went to the doctors in late January because I had chest pains every time I took a breath in. I had been cleaning out Todd's garage and had allergy symptoms from all the dust. I woke up a few mornings later and coughed up blood. It was just the once and didn't happened again but I still wanted to go to the doctors to check it out and be safe. The doctor took an X-ray (that came out clear) and saw how irritated my nasal cavity was so he prescribed me meds for my allergies. 

A few weeks passed and I still wasn't 100% better. I had my ups and downs, but wasn't anything that could keep this busy bride from running around like crazy. It got to the point where I couldn't even walk up Todd's stairs without getting totally out of breath and wheezing deeply. I went back to the doctor took another X-ray to make sure it was not pneumonia or bronchitis again and ruled that out. So I kept pushing through because "it was only allergies" & I had plenty of stuff I wanted to do. 

On wednesday morning I woke up with some back pain and I coughed up a blood clot once again. As the day went on my back pain got worse. That night around 8pm my back pain became intolerable. I had a sharp pain deep inside that wouldn't allow me to even talk or walk and I could not breathe. Todd rushed me to the ER and they immediately brought me in and started running tests. They took another X-ray and some blood tests. The X-ray of course came out clear again, but my blood work was abnormal. My d-dimer levels (a substance that is released when a blood clot breaks up) were extremely high. A normal person would have d-dimer levels of 250 and mine were over 3,000. The doctor immediately ordered a CT scan for me. The first one didn't come out clear because of some complications but once we got the results of the second one it clearly showed large Pulmonary Embolisms. Turns out I had about FOUR in EACH lung. If I had not gone into the ER that night they would've killed me. 

Because my doctor had taken blood work & vitals, aside from the clotting they saw that I was in perfect health. There was no reason that a perfectly healthy 25 year old should be having major clotting except for one reason, my birth control...

NuvaRing. 

They admitted me into the hospital right away. Not exactly how I thought I would spend my 25th birthday... My charge nurse came in to tell me that there were many girls suffering from my condition, some of which did not survive, and there were many lawsuits against the company going on. I had no idea. I had been on this particular birth control for over 2 years! 

I spent 2 days in the hospital hooked up to a heparin drip to thin out my blood. Luckily because I am so young and so healthy the internist told me that these blood thinners will prevent my clots from getting bigger & me forming any new ones & my body should be able to absorb the clots in time. I was discharged and sent home with treatments I can do myself. This is something I am not particularly fond of. If you know me I am a huge baby, I can't swallow pills & I am deathly afraid of needles. I almost passed out every time they tried to put in an IV or draw my blood. (which happened to be a lot, because they can never find my veins.)It was my own personal nightmare. haha 

So now my current life consists of a lot of resting, I can't do anything that will over-exert myself because I don't want the clots to travel before they dissolve & right now it doesn't take much for me to become tired. It turned out that the pain in my back that I was feeling was the damage the clots did to my lungs so I will continue to be in pain until my lungs heal. I have to give myself injections of Lovenox twice a day until my Coumadin pills kick in (about 10 days or so). Thank god my mom, my friend Leslie & Todd are all willing to give them to me because I could never talk myself into doing it. I am to remain on the Coumadin pills everyday for the next 6 months. I must go in for blood work 3 times a week for the next 3 weeks until my dosage is correct and they can take me off the injections. Then once I am off the Lovenox I only go in once a month to make sure my Coumadin dosage is still working for the next 6 months. Also during those months I have to manage my diet and make sure I don't take in too much vitamin k because it could counter act my meds. (foods like kale, spinach, broccoli, green beans, any leafy greens are super high in vitamin k) I cannot take part in any roller coasters or things like high contact sports cause I'm at a danger of bleeding out or internally. 

I have to forever be careful about my choices. I can never be on any type of hormonal birth control again. Flying will always be a danger for me. I have to take many precautions when I go on trips. When I decide I want to have kids I have to start Lovenox injections when I'm trying, then once I'm pregnant I have to be on them everyday of pregnancy & for 6-12 weeks after, then start the pills again after. Same goes for if I ever need a surgery for something.  Even though it is not genetic or hereditary in my family I am at a higher risk of forming a blood clot again because my body has already done it before.  

I can not stress enough how dangerous this particular birth control is. I was lucky enough to have caught it, but that isn't the case for a lot of these other young girls who have had their lives taken by it.  If you or a friend you know is on it PLEASE consider another form. Here is an article Vanity Fair wrote on NuvaRing & a blog of another girl who had the same issues so you can read for more info on the details of why this birth control is so dangerous. 
Seriously NuvaBling would be a better choice (;

Now all joking aside, I do have my days of breakdowns because I am exhausted and tired of being in pain and tired of needles. But I have to constantly remind myself that I am lucky to be alive. God truly was watching over me that night. He had my back and I was fortunate enough to have caught the clots in time. So yes I absolutely HATE these things I have to do now and things I can't do but I will forever be grateful that all this pill taking and poking of needles saved me so that I can enjoy this beautiful little life I have been blessed with. I think one of my favorites quotes from the movie American Beauty describes how I feel the best...

"I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me. But it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once...and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember... to relax, and not try to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life." 

flower child.

If you know me you know I am pretty much a flower child reincarnate. So naturally I wanted a TON of flowers at my wedding. Unfortunately, I am also a cheap bride...okay maybe cheap is a harsh word...budget savvy might be better (;  I just cannot comprehend why anyone would spend a ton of money on just ONE day. I understand that this is one of the most important days of your life and you want to celebrate it in the best way you can, BUT do you want to spend the rest of your life in debt for it? Shouldn't the day be really about marrying your best friend? I mean don't get me wrong i LOVE a good party, but most people don't know that you can throw a great party that looks expensive for 1/5th of the price of an actually expensive wedding (& most of the time they even look better). You just have to know how to bargain shop, be persistent, and be prepared to DIY some things.

  Now I am a DIY girl all the way. So normally with weddings or parties that I plan I will usually go to the flower market and create my own floral arrangements. However it is a lot of work and too much work to be doing at 2am the night before my wedding day. I needed to find someone who understood my vision and could do for me what I would've done for myself. I must have quoted about 35 florists at minimum. Even being the penny-pincher I am I saved about $1,500 for flowers which is a BIG chunk of my budget because it is most important to me and I want/need a lot of them. I would say about 18 of the florists wrote me back with "Sorry I can't work with such a small budget", most didn't even reply, and the ones who did said "I can give you half of what you want for $2500 minimum." 

  I thought for sure I was screwed and going to have to make my own florals but then this wonderful lady named Margaret called me! She has been a florist for about 33 years. She used to own a shop with her husband but then they split so she decided to convert her garage into a walk in cooler and do it from her home. Without having the overhead she used to she is able to create beautiful arrangements for a great cost! She loves helping out budgeted brides and her vision for florals is amazing. She is very creative and definitely does not do your typical catalog florals, her work is different and EXACTLY what i wanted! You can check out her website here and her AMAZING yelp reviews here. Because of her I get everything I need at the price I can afford! Im so excited to see what she creates for our big day!
You can check out some of her work below. 

where it's at.

We have our venue! Our good friend Pat Murphy has a beautiful home on a big property in Long Beach that he rents out for weddings often and he has offered to let us have ours there! It is so perfect for us. It has a huge lawn in the front, lots of trees, and a beautiful courtyard in the back. The layout of the property could not be more perfect for a wedding and he was so generous in offering it up to us! Here are just a few pictures I was able to snap of the place the last time we visited. 

We are so grateful for all these great things that keep falling into place for our wedding. We are so blessed, and we definitely see God's hand in it all!

the asking!

At the engagement party I asked some of my best girls to be my bridesmaids. Have any of you seen the movie bridesmaids? I think I may have saw it 8 times in just the theatre alone, God only knows how many times outside of it. There is a scene when Kristen Wig opens an invitation to the bridal shower that one of the over-the-top bridesmaids is throwing. It is hilarious & ridiculous & was my inspiration for the "asking". Heres the clip: 

It became my mission to find live butterflies that I could purchase in southern california. Well I found a guy who raises butterflies to use as a release for weddings, so naturally I ordered 4 of them. It was kind of like "silence of the lambs" walking into the house where I picked them up but at least I came out with my butterflies! ha!

I found parisian style boxes at michaels, just like in the movie! I filled it with ghirardelli chocolates, a small bottle of pink champagne, and a DVD copy of the movie! Each one also contained a cute "will you be my bridesmaid" card! I put a butterfly in each of the boxes right before passing them out. I do have to admit that none of the butterflies actually flew out of the box. They were all alive but just kind of sat there, so we'll just pretend they did. ha! Regardless, it still ended up being pretty funny! 

Only 4 of my 5 bridesmaids were able to make it to the party. My friend Niki lives in Arizona and was unable to so I mailed her scrabble pieces that she had to unscramble to read the message! 

This was the text reply I got from her! 

SO FUN!

It all turned out wonderful & I am very excited to be able to share this journey with these girls who are so close & dear to my heart. I couldn't imagine saying "i do" without them beside me. 

swooning.

Our first valentines day was definitely one for the books. I woke up super early to surprise Todd & make him a Valentines breakfast. He was confused when he woke up thinking there was a robber in the house making noise downstairs. (I probably should've thought that part through, but it was worth it. HA!)

I also snuck into his car and left him a surprise lunch. (his favorite kraft mac-n-cheese, i know, he eats like a 5 year old) It was complete with a card explaining what I had planned for the night!

I then went to my bible study as I do every friday morning. Little did I know he had a surprise waiting for me there! Balloons, roses, and the sweetest card were there waiting for me when I walked in the door! 

It was the sweetest! 

So as I am sitting there with the girls talking before bible study Todd calls me and has me go on a little scavenger hunt to find my present that was hidden in the china cabinet!

    (please ignore the fact that I look like quasimodo in this pic. It was early & i was crying.)

In there was the perfect pair of rose gold diamond earrings waiting for me! As if my flowers & balloons weren't enough! This man never ceases to amaze me with his wonderful gifts given to me in the most thoughtful ways. 

I am so blessed by this man!!

So after bible study I rushed to Todds house to prepare for my little surprise!

 I most definitely did not want to go out that night. As if trying to go to dinner or a movie isn't already a daunting task on a friday night without it being V-day! So I planned a romantic dinner for him when he came home. Even though we couldn't be at a restaurant I wanted it to still feel like we were, so I had the table set up fancy.

I made his favorite fettucine alfredo & breadsticks from scratch with a side caesar salad. Of course my bread had to be in the shape of a heart as well, i mean it is valentines day.

For dessert I made homemade smore sundaes & chocolate covered strawberries in the shape of a, you guessed it!, heart. ha!

One of Todd's gifts  he opened that night was the movie Captain Phillips for us to watch. It was the perfect night in! 

The whole day was simple, romantic, and full of surprises!