I'm a PC attempting to be a Mac

So, I have been tagged..... by Steph in NYC.  I wasn't even sure what that was exactly... but I did a little research.  

Since I got my MacBook (just about a year ago), I admit I am still not a pro at it.  I have still not transferred my old pictures and documents from my old PC... and I do admit to once in a while getting frustrated with my Mac and finding sweet refuge and simplicity in my trusty old PC.  But I want to know my Mac, I need to know my Mac.... I know that with time I will love my Mac more than any old PC.   

With that being said, I really do have a point to my tangent..... I have hardly any pictures to use for my TAG.  Being tagged means I have to go into my 4th picture folder and post my 4th picture in that folder.  Now you will understand why I would have much more interesting pics from way back when if I was on my old PC but this will have to do:

This was the first picture taken of us as we headed out for our road trip to California last year.... the trip where we got engaged in San Francisco.  Fitting, huh?

Now, YOU are tagged.....

The dreaded name change!

So I need to do it and I want to do it, but wow does it sound like a pain!  

I am planning on changing my name from:

Gina Louise Mazzella to Gina Mazzella Fresquez

 

Now most people say name changing for marriage is no big deal but I am trying to make it difficult.  I hear changing your middle name is another story.... my sister attempted to do it almost 4 years ago and I think she is still working on it. 

So wish me luck as I embark on a journey filled with Social Security offices, DMVs, and lots and lots of paperwork!

And we're back

Okay, so blogging while planning for a wedding was great in theory.... :-)
I was devoted in the beginning but just couldn't keep up with life let alone the blog in the short weeks leading up to the big day. What I do promise now is to post pictures of the whole thing for those who could not make it. The week before, the events, the wedding, the fiesta, and the honeymoon! ALL of it was AMAZING and Rene and I feel so blessed for all of the friends and family who could share this special day (and week) with us.

Now lets see where this blog will take me.... post wedding?

And they're out the of gate....

The invitations have officially been MAILED!!!! WOO HOO what a relief. Now all we have to do is wait for the replies. I hope you are all stoked to see them! My lovely Rene designed them himself (with a little input from me, of course). Let me know what you think!

If feels good to get that behind me. Now on to more fun things like my shower and bachelorette party!

Decisions, decisions...

 

So what do you think?  Taking that tool out of the picture, are these chairs better than the previous covered ones?  I cannot decide... these ones are more simple but the covered ones are nice too.  It might actually come down to cost but I would appreciate you opinion.

  

Next on the list is my bouquet.....  my bridesmaids will be carrying shades of orange flowers and originally I was going to carry the same the thing but now I am thinking of just having mine be all white, more classic.  I really like orchids (first picture) and I really like having all sorts of different flowers with different texture.  Like always, I cannot decided which will be best.  It really is hard planning so far away as I cannot talk to the florist and see samples.  What do you think?

FLAN-TASTICO!

Some might think we are crazy BUT Rene and I are having a wedding FLAN instead of a cake (did I mention we are doing things differently?).

The thing is neither of us really love wedding cake (and I am sure there have been great ones out there) but we both like flan and being in Mexico it just seems fitting. Now I know there are lot of you who probably do not like the FLAN (shame on you, but we are probably the odd ones) and a lot of people usually get really exited for wedding cake... so we are trying to think of another dessert for the reception. My vote is for Mexican wedding cookies..... what's yours? Get creative!

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Though if I was getting married in the states (some people think we are crazy for that too) I would have one of my dearest friends, Amber, make my wedding cake. She is amazing at cake making and decorating and it would be so special to have her make it.

On to the decorations....

Veronica has sent me a long list of pictures to look at for the ceremony decorations. Though none of them are exactly what I want they are getting close. Take a look and let me know what you think...

The dark teal/green color I am using is really hard to match so that has been the issue. I might have to bring my own ribbon and such but that should not be a problem. I am leaning toward the all white ribbon on the chairs, but keep an orange flower in it, then have the bamboo huppah thing with white and teal cloth with orange flowers.

jewel or flower?

I know it has been a while BUT we have finally signed the contract and things are on track. I have a new lovely coordinator, Veronica, and things look great!

So on to more planning and decision making..... I will be wearing my hair up (still looking for that perfect picture, I am so picky when it comes to my hair) for the wedding and cannot decide if I want to wear some sort of jewelry or flower in my hair. The pictures are ones that I found online and I really like them. As my indecisive self, I want to order both and try them on. Hmmmmm...

Getting frustrated.... but here are some pretty pictures!

Okay, so Lupita from Solmar is insanely hard to get ahold of.  I have written her IN ENGLISH and she seems to not respond.... and every so often she will respond to Rene's emails in SPANISH.  We are pretty positive that things are fine as she sent us an email that things are set, BUT we still have yet to sign a contract and that just makes me feel a little uneasy.  I know a lot of you want to book your flights (so do we) and I will let you all know ASAP! 

Rene and I have also made another decision.... we are not going to have a reception in Prescott.  We figured that whether we asked some of our guests to come to Cabo OR Prescott, they would have to buy a plane ticket and stay in a hotel for both situations.  So CABO IT IS!!!  It also makes it easier on us as we do not have to plan TWO parties.  

So to pass the time, here are some picture of where we want to get married....

Date Change...

Okay, so we have changed the date just slightly.... our wedding will now be on Friday October 17th. In the past I have never been a big fan of Friday weddings because they are just plain hard to get to, but in our case it seems to work out better:

1) The resort holds a Fiesta every Saturday night for the guests and first we didn't want to compete with that (it is usually really loud)

2) We really wanted to have the dinner/dancing part in the outside restaurant along the cliffs and we could not reserve it because of the Fiesta being held there. So by having it on Friday we can use the most beautiful parts of the resort.

I know it is hard for people to take the time off but we really want the guests who come to try to make a vacation out of it and stay for a few days. Rene and I will be there the whole week prior, and most guests will come in Wed or Thur and stay through Sunday or Monday. Rene and I will also not leave for our honeymoon until Sunday so we all can attend the Solmar fiesta together and still spend time with the people we love the MOST! Mark your calenders and look for the Save The Date soon!

Runner Up

 

While we were in Mexico and getting not too far with Solmar, we decided that since we were there we should look into some other venues just in case.  In comes, Leoan... she is the private wedding coordinator that I just adore! She knew exactly what we wanted and was so fun.  She took us to a few places to be potential wedding spots and we fell in love with one... Sunset Da Mono Lisa. 

   

It is a restaurant on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and Land's End Arc.  It was absolutely breathtaking and the food was great too (Italian).  Check it out...

So, after talking it over and figuring out the details, we are still going to get married at Solmar. We finally have gotten a hold of the coordinator there so things are looking up.  Plus we want the ceremony to be laid back and this other place seemed much more high maintenance.  So, I must say goodbye to Leoan, as I am sad to not be able to use her. Hopefully the Solmar coordinator will be just as awesome (though I doubt it).

Part Dos.... Solmar y Playa Grande

Rene and I really like Solmar. We are staying there the week of the wedding and would absolutely LOVE if everyone can stay there too. This is SOLMAR:

Though on our trip we had been getting the run around. Originally I had contacted Solmar and they put me in touch with their wedding coordinator, Claudia. She was the one is charge of events for Solmar AND La Playa Grande (sister hotel). It seemed like more people had weddings at La Playa because that was most of the info she sent me. Two weeks before we were set to go visit she said that she was no longer working there and to contact the general manager. He never responded to my emails.

So we decided to head on over to La Playa to see if we could get in contact with someone... When we were there NO ONE would help us and told us that the manager was busy and he would call us (yeah, on our phones that don't work in Mexico?). We wanted to get a tour of the place so they sent us over to some other ladies. This young woman showed us around the property and it is beautiful. Very BIG and elegant, lots of colors.... but also it was very busy and sort of loud.

So as this woman is showing us around she keeps on telling us that we should invest in a time-share to stay in during our wedding/honeymoon. Then she bring us to "the ROOM" (those of you who have gone on a time-share tour, you know what I'm talking about) where there are tons of couples sitting down with employees trying to seal the deal. THEY WHERE TRYING TO SELL US A TIME SHARE!!!! Rene finally interrupted the second person that had come over to talk to us and told him that we were not interested in it BUT were here to plan our wedding (after the 10th time) and he said that they had a woman named Claudia who was in charge of that.... UH YEAH and she NO LONGER works here! He didn't even know that. So after that we decided to leave because we were getting NO HELP! NO ME GUSTO LA PLAYA GRANDE!!!

So in the long run, WE LOVE SOLMAR and hopefully we can talk to someone there who can plan our wedding.

Again, its late and you will have to wait to read more about our Cabo adventure, part tres....

Our "Business Trip" to Cabo (part uno)

We are back from our trip and it went pretty great. For just four days it was surprisingly easy to get to Cabo and back. The whole time we were there we kept saying we were there "on business" but did get to squeeze a little bit of relaxing in there too (man did we need it).

We rented our little Chevy bubble car and headed up the coast 45 min to get to Cabo San Lucas (those of you who have not been there, you fly into San Jose del Cabo). You can take a cab into town for about $50 but since we would be driving around all weekend, we opted for a car).

We stayed in a little hotel, Mar De Cortez, that was quaint and cute. No frills, but very

economic so what should you expect....

The rooms were nothing special. Really just a bed or two, a counter/dresser and a bathroom (I think some suites have a kitchenette). The place was clean and the staff friendly. They have safety deposits boxes and private gated parking in the back. A big plus was they had free WiFi. But there are no phones, TVs, or alarm clocks in the room (which is sometimes nice) but if you stay here and need to stay on a schedule (like we did OR you might if you stay here for the wedding), you might need to bring your cell phone (for keeping time and alarm) or a travel alarm clock.

 

It was right in town with all the restaurants and bars all around, about 2 block from the Marina. Really close to Cabo Wabo.

They had a great breakfast (eggs, potatoes, fruit) for only $2.50, can't beat that!

AND ALL FOR $50 - 70/night!!! For all of our guests who are tight on cash but really want to make it, this is a great option... if you don't mind giving up some luxury and the BEACH.

Our families, Rene and I will be staying at The Solmar Resort the week of the wedding and we encourage all of our guests to stay there too so we can all enjoy our trip together and make it easier for travel and organizing the group.... PLUS Rene and I want to spend all of our time with you all on this special vacation, that is why we invited our favorite people. But for those of you who might not want to spend over $150/night, we are trying to accomadate you all.

I must go to bed, so MORE TO COME ON OUR TRIP......

Complementary Colors

The colors of my blog are the colors we have chosen for the wedding... or basically versions of it.  

Dark Teal (peacock grean/blue) & Shades of Orange

Right now I love teal, especially that really rich dark teal and that is color I want to use. I think orange just sets it off wonderfully!  Here are some inspirations...

Pre - Cabo San Lucas

So I have my passport in hand... we have our flights, we just need to make our hotel reservations. There is a cute little hotel in town, Hotel Mar de Cortez, that we are going to stay in for the weekend.  Cannot WAIT! 

SO WHY CABO, YOU ASK?

Well, Rene and I really want to get married out in nature.  We love the outdoors.  I love the ocean and water (I am an aquarius) though I live in Arizona so I never see it.  I have been in many weddings (as you now know) yet none of them have been on a beach or destination. Lots have been outside and have been beautiful, but none yet have been on a Mexican beach (though Amber's wedding is coming up and IS on the beach, but in Hawaii). Rene spent 6 months in Mexico City during college and LOVED IT and can't think of a better destination.  We cannot wait to get married with all of our close friends and family on the beach in Cabo with our bare feet in the sand.  

So now we are going on a quick trip down there to do a little planning and get a better idea of places down there.  When we get back, we will have much more to do and plan!