Our registries give to charity, too!

We opened our third and final(?) registry last weekend at Crate and Barrel. The store really made the experience pleasant for both of us. C&B had a special "registry event" where only couples were allowed in the store, we got a little gift and were even served mimosas (yum!). We decided to register for our cookware and fancy flatware there along with plenty of other things (mostly kitchen gadgets). Very fun.

So, we've got registries at Target, Macy's and Crate and Barrel. Following all that, we signed up at the I Do Foundation. It's a great organization that facilitates donations to charity through wedding registries. The foundation has partnered with a bunch of stores (including all three of ours -- actually, Macy's and Crate and Barrel do their registries at WeddingChannel.com) to donate a percentage of gift costs to charities selected by the couple.

Basically, by clicking through the I Do Foundation to access our Target registry, 5 percent of whatever is spent on registry items for us will be donated -- at no additional cost to our guests or us -- to charities we've selected. As mentioned, Target does 5 percent, and the two other stores do 3 percent. I thought this was a really cool thing.

We selected the Human Rights Watch and American Red Cross as our charities. That way money is going to both those at home and abroad. I added the I Do Foundation links to registries on our wedding Web site. I'm really hoping that people will utilize it. If you're going to spend the same amount of money either way, part of it might as well go to help others, right?

Also: I'm really, really excited about our china. I never thought I'd be excited about china, but it's super pretty.

We've booked DJ DeLuxe

I have to say, I was really surprised how much DJs cost in Dallas. I had priced them in Phoenix before we made the move, and let's just say the mark-up between cities is significant. What's so weird about it is that everything else has been less expensive here. Not sure what to make of that. That said, we found a remarkable DJ -- Mark Ridlen -- who was kind enough to work within our budget.

He's fun. He's talented. He knows "our kind" of music. He didn't roll his eyes when we said our song is "Punk Rock Girl" by The Dead Milkmen. Mark was been in the business for more than 16 years, he's well-known as both a club DJ and an event DJ and host. He's done a bunch of the Observer parties, and my bridesmaid Merritt (who works with me at the Observer) sings his praises.

It's such a relief to have a DJ booked. More than that, Matt and I really wanted to have a stellar DJ and amazing photographers and we do. (I totally just realized I never posted that we signed our contract with Nine Photography. We love them. Lots.)

We picked the bridesmaids' dresses

My maid of honor, step-mom and I traipsed all over Phoenix this Saturday looking at bridesmaid dresses. Megan (my MOH) gets two gold stars -- one for trying on tons of sample dresses and another for wanting to put dresses she didn't like in the "maybe" pile. However, all three of us love the dress we picked, After Six style No. 6506. Go here to see the dress.

While we (well, Megan) tried it on in the pictured ivory/black combo, we're going with the black-on-black. Over at the After Six site, you can see what the dress would look like in black. Unfortunately, you can't see the back detail too well in the online picture. It features small pleats that look really great when moving and minimize the booty. I did find this sketch of the gown to give you an idea. Overall, the dress is classy and should be very flattering on all the 'maids. I'm definitely happy.

Apparently this dress is pretty popular. All the stores we went to had it available, and at the third place various ladies had to take turns trying it on (us included). We ended up selecting the Wedding Accessory Superstore in north Phoenix to order the dresses from. We received good service there and the store offers 20 percent off bridesmaid dresses. So, it costs less than at the other shops with better services and on-site alterations.

We had a horrible experience at the Azteca Bridal Plaza in downtown Phoenix. We received no service (and the dressing rooms were, um, disappointing), and then when we asked them to write down the number of the gown we liked, we were given a hard sell. The woman said that we shouldn't be writing down, but measuring and ordering because there was no way we'd get our dresses in early enough for the wedding if I didn't order that day. It wasn't true, and she was really rude about it. The ladies at the Wedding Accessory Superstore said we're right on time for ordering and have a couple weeks for ordering to provide time for any alterations.

So, we're ready to go. Now, I just have to get the other 'maids to call in their measurements, and we'll be good to go on that front. I love making progress.