Spending the Day in DTLA With My Boo

I have had such a lovely morning already and it's only 9:30 AM! Mike is an LAUSD teacher so he has the day off. We both got up early, he made breakfast, and then I surprised him by trying on my wedding gown and showing it to him. I was just sitting on the couch, watching "Say Yes tothe Dress," being annoyed by brides with an 'unlimited gown budget,' when it hit me that I don't care AT ALL if Mike sees me in the dress before the wedding day. I want him to see it. Then maybe all these second thoughts I've been feeling about the dress will just go away. I didn't care that I was going to try it on having just woken up, with no shower, and smudged make-up. I figured a dress that cost me nearly a $1000 should make me look like a million bucks at anytime - even if I was unshowered - or even if I was deep in the trenches in Viet-freakin'-nam. So without him knowing, I put the dress on and called out, "Hey! You wanna see me in my wedding dress 'n stuff?" Immediately, Mike dropped what he was doing and shouted, "Yes!" So I told him to come in, and the second he saw me he just smiled. That's all I needed right there - just that look in his eyes. I didn't need to hear any words - the words he said were wonderful don't get me wrong, but it was that look in his eyes that made it clear in my mind that this is the dress that I will marry Mike in. HOORAY!

But the day doesn't stop there! We have a whole downtown LA excursion planned for us today. We're basically going to be doing some location scouting for bars near the wedding hotel, hole in the wall lunch spots, possible rehearsal dinner spots, ideas for out of town guests, and for a place to do our engagement shoot! That last one is very important. We want something unique, gritty, and gives us the ability to take pics while skateboarding. So we'll be bringing our boards along today too for some extra fun ;) Another important goal is to ride the light rail from the wedding hotel to the venue, just to see how 'easy' (or intimidating) it will be for our out of town guests to use.

Also, we're going to check out the Fashion District and FIDM's Scholarship Store for suit/tux options for Mike and maybe a few miscellaneous bride items for me... The lastly, we wanted to check out the jewelry district so we can get Mike's finger sized for a ring.

We really want to make this wedding as much about Downtown LA as possible. So having these little excursions will only inspire us more! I have been nothing but an INTERNET monkey for the past three months. It's time we get out of the house, hit up the real downtown, and really see in person what this city has to offer us and our wedding.

I'll be sure to take pics and share the deets when I get back!

*I decided to post these pics of myself in the dress because I have gotten requests wondering what it looks like on an actual person. The pics on the Watters website don't really show the dress that well. So for those wondering, here are the dress deets: Sample gown. Ivory. Size 10. Originally priced at $1500. I bought it for $699. Lili Bridal's in Tarzana, CA.