My "Say Yes To The Dress" Experience

Now that my "Say Yes To The Dress" filming experience has ended, it has finally sunk in that it actually even happened at all! I still have to pinch myself when I think about how crazy it is that it happened to little ole me! Being the girly, frilly, wedding dress dreamer that I am, I always dreamed of going to Kleinfeld for my dress. When I applied for the show, I never even told too many people because I didn't think it would ever happen. My own MOTHER didn't even know! (Sorry mom, lol) But, apparently the wedding dress gods had bigger plans for me! My expectations were very VERY high of what my experience would be like at Kleinfeld. They exceeded it. It was like no other place on Earth. It was like floating on a cloud, in a dream, surrounded by the most amazing staff, dresses, atmosphere, and customer service.  (cheesy and cliche, I know!)

Walking into the front doors of the store, you can see why Kleinfeld has been the BEST of the BEST for the past 60 years. They have mastered what they do. The best day of my life will be the day I get to marry my best friend. The second best day was the day he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. The third best day was the day I became a Kleinfeld Bride. Here's my journey:

This is me the night before my appointment.

We went to have drinks and decided to walk to Kleinfeld to check it out.

Yeah, I was stalkin'. In the rain. No big deal. Not even ashamed to admit it.

Our group arrived at Kleinfeld around 1:30EST. We checked in with the receptionist who was INTRIGUED by what we call our "Lagniappe"! We literally brought Louisiana to New York! We brought all of the workers Mardi Gras beads and introduced them to the "second line" tradition! Thanks to our close friends, Belinda and Krissi Yoder, for letting me borrow your "bridal" umbrella! It made a super special day even that much better! Every consultant that came through the waiting room came over to talk to us, greet us, ask about our umbrellas and beads, and were THRILLED to wear their own piece of Mardi Gras around their neck! Keasha came through and loved my umbrella so we took a quick picture. She is just as fabulous is person as she is on TV.

 As nervous as I was, the laid-back nature of the film crew and staff helped calm all MOST of my nerves! They wanted everyone to be as natural and comfortable as possible. Everything you see on the show is exactly the way it is. I always thought that SURELY the producers, someone, makes these people act a fool. Nope. That's just them! They literally told me that they did not want me to choose a dress JUST because I was filming for the show. If there was anything anyone could do, they would do. Everyone bent over backwards to make my experience an amazing one. I tried to take in as much of the experience as possible and as I looked around, everyone was being treated this way:

LIKE ROYALTY!

(As if I didn't already think I was a queen)

The first thing I did was to walk around and look at some different dresses. I had to verbalize what I liked and didn't like about the dresses I was looking at. GREAT. Anyone who knows me knows I don't have a filter. I was trying to be as nice as possible...."too plain"  "too lacy" "this one's ok, but not the one" and THEN IT HAPPENED. The dress that made ME come out. "OHH...MY..GOSH...UGHHHHH....THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE BIG BIRD....I DON'T THINK SO!!" (and anyone that knows me can probably envision my face and exactly how I said it!) The camera man laughed out loud. I cringed a little thinking about the fact that I was probably going to get hate mail from whatever designer killed a million little ostriches to get all those feathers on that dress. I know what you're thinking. Feathers are fabulous. Yes, they are. I love feathers. But, THIS, whew~ I just can't describe it. The only words that came to mind, apparently, was big bird. And that's all folks!

I got to have a seat with my "entourage" for a little while waiting on my consultant to come and get me. Her name was Jenny and she was a PERFECT, PERFECT fit for me! We all just love her! I did take a picture with her BUT, as much as everyone would want to see it because I am in THE dress, you'll have to wait! She was getting me squeezed into a dress and I told her to keep on pulling because breathing was optional. (another laugh from the camera lady). I showed her a few pictures of things I liked and things I didn't like. Missy, Destanee, and I sat up in our hotel room looking through bridal mags the night before. It was a lot of fun!

Before little Jenny even got to bring me some dresses she thought I would love, I was approached by Henry Roth. For those of you who do watch SYTTD, you would recognize him:

For everyone that really knows me, you know I'm a people pleaser. (OK OK, you can pick your jaw off the floor now. Shocking, I know! But it is true) So, Jenny asked me if I wanted to go show everyone the dress. At that point, I probably should have just said no because I really hated the dress. The whole people pleaser thing wins. I go out in the dress. I guess I just did it for fun. The look on Missy's and everyone's face was just priceless. No one said a word. LOL (CONGRATULATIONS Henry Roth, You shut my entire entourage up! Not an easy feat!) Anyway, he was watching me in the dress and the detail of the dress was immaculate. There was just SO much detail in it that I felt like I was drowning in it. After that fiasco was over, it was BUSINESS TIME!

Jenny went out and found a few dresses and loved them ALL! There were 3 basic things I was looking for in a dress (no, I'm not telling you what they are!). The first dress was pretty and had 1 of those three things. Then you start the whole "if you change this part of the dress, take this off, add this, and multiply this~ it's perfect" Well, if you have to change, add, delete, or multiply anything on a dress....

IT IS NOT THE DRESS!!

After this dress, Jenny had a "LIGHT BULB" moment! I got excited and nervous at the same time! Anxious to see what she had come up with! I just waited very impatiently in my dressing room chatting with the producer (who was female and never filmed while I was changing...That's a whole different kind o' show!) This may get a little confusing, but I'll try to explain best I can without giving any of my dress details away! It's seriously difficult to do because something this FABULOUS should not be hidden from the world. lol Maybe I'm a little biased!

Remember, Jenny brought in a slew of dresses for me to try on. I only tried on 1 of her picks when she had her light bulb moment. She came in and hung two dresses up- side by side. She said that her "light bulb" dress was about $1200 OVER my budget, did I want to try it on? As a good girl who loves her daddy and doesn't want him to die of a heart attack before my wedding, I said no. So we went right back to the first set of dresses and started trying them on. The second dress I tried on was good but I didn't get the feeling that it was "THE" dress. It was definitely a front runner! It was also similar to one of the dresses that she brought in after her "light bulb" moment. When mom said that she wished 1 part of the dress was a little different, I said "OHHH, MOM! You should SEE this dress that she brought in, it was like *this* and like *that* and the bottom was *this* and it was AMAZING but it was way over budget =( "

I was crying on the inside when.....

Jenny came to the rescue!!

She told me that the dress I was describing to my mom was NOT the dress that was over budget!!!! It was the OTHER dress that was over budget!!! The dress I had fallen in LOVE with was still in my budget and I could try it on! I knew before I even tried it on that I was done. This was THE dress, I just knew it! Tried it on and Jenny hadn't even finished getting me in the thing and I was already squealing like a little school girl. She couldn't see me but she said "THAT sounds like a good sign!!" And it was! It took everything I had not to do a happy dance...OK, maybe I did a happy dance!

Here's how the logistics were from when I tried a dress on to when my entourage could see it. I would go to my dressing room (it was one of the 4 rooms surrounding the 'smaller' pedestal where brides are sometimes on the show), try on the dress, and when I was ready I would come out and wait at the corner before entering the main bridal floor. They had crew making sure all the cameras were ready. Once they were, I was able to walk out and show everyone the dress. If you ask ANYONE that was there~ Mom, Destanee, Dara, Missy, Shannon~ they will all say the same thing. As SOON as I walked out and they saw my face they just KNEW. They knew that this was THE dress. Now, something you may not think about~ I walk out and stand on the pedestal and drop the skirt (since you have to hold it up to not trip while walking). Your entourage can't see anything but the back of your dress because of the way the mirrors are angled. When they have the bride turn around, that is the first time they are seeing the FULL dress! Before I even turned around, every one of them was crying! Don't get me wrong, I was right there with them! Everyone asks me what my dress is like, I just tell them it's very "DeShae" because I deserve my own adjective.

We went to Caliente Cab Co and had great food and AWESOME margaritas to celebrate the day!

The rest of our time in The Big Apple, we spent sightseeing and reliving this amazing experience! Thanks to everyone that was a part of it and I can't wait to show everyone the DRESS I said YES to!

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER....

Defying Gravity

Just because I'm in a book club doesn't mean I have 100 cats or wear a moo-moo. Book clubs CAN be fun and I happen to LOVE mine and everyone in it! We are "Back of The Book" and there are 10 of us and we all come from different walks of life and different personalities but we all mesh SO well and I look forward to hanging out with these gals once a month! Each meeting, we gather at one of our members house to eat, drink, talk a little gossip and a lot of laughter, oh and we talk about the previous months' book! Having said that, since I <3 Halloween, Wicked, and of course book club~ I wanted to host October's book club when we read......wait for it.....WICKED duh!

There's nothing more I love than a good "themed party"! And thanks to Pinterest, it made my "themed party" much easier! So, I took pictures of my materials, what I did, and how I did it. I really wanted to go ALLLL out...yellow brick road, full decorations all over my house and the whole nine yards but didn't have the time to dedicate to transforming my house into "Oz". Regardless...everyone dressed in "costume" (didn't have to be Wicked related) and we had a BLAST!

So, while this "decor" is not my typical decor style, I just had to put it up because it looked so WICKED! teehee

**Sidenote: The 3D hat on the witch scares Chris everytime he walks out the front door. I think I may leave it up till Halloween. <insert evil laugh here>

The only thing I was SURE of, was that I wanted to make these cupcakes for dessert!! Anyone that knows me knows I love to make cupcakes but I've not gotten to the point where I'm using "fondant" for cakes or decorating cupcakes...This tidbit will be useful in a second. I started with my cupcake batter. I wanted to make it a little more festive so good coloring it was!!

I also realized that I am NO true cupcake queen since I only have a cupcake baking dish that holds 6. Oh well. While one batch was cooking, I could be decorating the other batch! Ready for the oven...excuse me looking a mess after a long workday but I had to provide proof that I baked them myself!

While they were baking I decided to start on the "Wicked witch's legs" to be sticking out of the cake. I wanted to make them my own and as easy as possible so I got Licorice Twizzlers for the legs (blechhh I hate licorice). For the witch hat I got York Peppermint Patties and Hershey's Kisses, I used cupcake icing to stick the kiss to the patty to make the hat!

***CONFESSION***

As you know, I confessed to not using fondant. But, there was no candy I could think of that I could use to form the "ruby red slippers" for my cupcakes...So....yeah...I sure did.....I had to warn everyone

 DO NOT TO EAT THE SLIPPERS!

Non-edible slippers...but time to make the legs anyway!

Now, the first leg was done and a hundred more to go. Ok, so only 16. I did 8 wicked witch-cakes for my small party!

Ready for the final product?

To make the book club extra "Halloweenie" I wanted to make "Trick or Treat" bags for my friends along with "Special Goblets" to take home as a souvenir and a thank you for dressing in costume! We also had "Melted Witch Punch" :)

Once I got my book club stuff squared away, it was time to start working on my costume!! Since I was the hostess, I thought what better person to be than "Elphaba" (The Wicked Witch)! So, I got my entire costume from my mother's closet. It consisted of a long sleeved velvet floor length gown (she doesn't wear anymore) with a separate cape, a pair of black gloves with feathers around the wrist and the longest fake black fingernails you've ever seen glued to the fingers. The hat is the only thing that I bought and it was $2 at Walmart and the "hair" was attached to the hat! Oh, I lied, I bought a "witch kit" that consisted of a witch nose and chin. It was hard to get it to stay on but it just brought the entire costume together. My sister, Destanee, joined book club this month and she dressed as "Glinda" (The Good Witch)! 

Here are the rest of my book club buddies and their costumes!

Megan (Miss Mario), Sarah (Justin Bieber), Ashlie (Sookie Stackhouse), Sue (The Skipper), Kellie (Lurline~ Queen of the Fairies from Wicked), Me (Elphaba), Destanee (Glinda), Erin (Miss Martini), Tee (The Book Fairy) 

Once upon a time...

***WARNING***BLOG CONTAINS MUSHY LOVEY DOVEY MATERIAL***

As a little girl, you always dream about meeting PRINCE CHARMING. Tall, dark, handsome, and coming to rescue you on a white horse. There comes a point when you may think you'll never get there. Until you stop looking and BAM! There he is! That is what happened to me. I always think about and am grateful for having found my "Prince Charming"..FINALLY! Lord knows I kissed my share of frogs, so I thought I would share our story. You may not want to hear it but I want to relive it..from the beginning...and one day, when we're older and can't remember how it all began, I'll have this to look back on.

It was July 2009 and I had just graduated from NSU and began working at Homeland Healthcare. One of the training classes with three other new employees, in walks Chris. I remember his big blue eyes and trying not to blush. If you ask Chris what he remembers about that day, he will say my butt. Go figure. He likes big butts and he cannot lie. HOW ROMANTIC! He used to come in my office to "talk to my officemate" and I used to do the same. Any excuse to talk to each other. I know what you're thinking. You think we met at work, fell in love, and the rest is history. Not quite the case! We became good friends over the next few months and neither thought the other was interested. Which, clearly, was not the case! I told all of my friends he was everything I was ever looking for but I thought it was a dead end road. He wasn't interested, he lived an hour away, he just got out of a relationship (as did I), the odds were just against us!

I will never forget when I got his phone number. People from work were going to tailgate for the LSU Florida game and we exchanged numbers to meet up on campus. Chris had some liquid courage and called and text all day until I got there. That game is when it all began! After spending all day together and walking from one tailgate spot to another, Chris stopped to get some chapstick. I asked if I could have some and he puckered up so I went in for the kill. Although Chris will tell you that he did. See, before this game, there was lots of flirting but neither of us would budge. Chris never had to chase anyone and neither did I so, being the stubborn beings that we are, it took foreverrrrrr to break down the friendship wall and move forward. I guess you could say we have Burts Bees to thank.

(This picture was not the first ACTUAL kiss...But it was that DAY, so I had to include it!)

After that day, we were still not "officially" dating but God knows we wanted to be! The next time we saw each other was the weekend of NSU Homecoming 2009. The weekend we decided later was when we "officially" started dating. October 25, 2009. He was living in Deridder at the time and every weekend we would make an excuse to see each other until I finally kidnapped him the weekend of Thanksgiving and Missy & Doug Gibbons' wedding.

We started "dating" 2 days after this picture was taken!

While we were in Ruston for the wedding, we decided we should just move in together! After about a month of dating and we were moving in on December 15. Talk about the fast track! It's so cliche' but when you know, you know!



So, here we are almost 2 years later! Still stealing his Burts Bees kisses and living in our townhouse. We've had our ups, downs, good times, and bad, been through births, deaths, hangovers, and heartbreaks~ just like any normal functioning relationship. I don't know what the future holds but I know it's with him and that's all I need to know. I am thankful to have such a patient, loving, funny, sweet, hard working and handsome guy to share my day to day life with. I know I make him crazy some MOST times and I always joke and say "I don't know why you love me but I'm glad you do" and I am. He makes me want to do better, dream bigger, be a better person. Like a fine wine, I like to think that we both just get better with time.