Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Things I Love Right Now

I've compiled another list! This one is made up of things I've found that I love but probably won't be using as part of my own wedding. I wish I could have 20 different weddings sometimes, haha...without the stress of planning it or paying for it!

1. Having your wedding vows printed on something other than paper.
One idea is to print the vows on the ribbon from the bride's bouquet, and another is to have them engraved on the inside of each partner's ring. How awesome is that?


2. Affordable (and cute!) wedding shoes.
These are ridiculously hard to find, but maybe 2009 will bring some hope to those of us with big feet and a picky sense of style when it comes to shoes. Lela Rose is launching a bridal collection at Payless in the next few months! And yes, there will be dyeables. Thank goodness! Here's one of Lela's non-bridal shoes from Payless:
3. Flirty, adorable cocktail dresses.
My whole childhood I was a tomboy inside and out, but nowadays I've become much more of a girly girl, and I adore dresses. My recent favorites come from Jim Hjelm, especially this one:

4. Vineyard Weddings.
My entire kitchen and living room are decorated in wine-themed stuff, and part of me wishes we could have had our own vineyard wedding. However, I don't drink wine, lol! I just like the way it looks. Here's a gorgeous image of a bride and groom at a winery wedding:

5. Creative Escort Cards
Our wedding isn't really formal enough for a full-blown seating directory, but I love how creative these things can get! If we didn't have 100+ guests, I would be sorely tempted to use this flower idea from Martha Stewart Weddings:


That's it for now, but I might do another of these later! :)

Goodbye 2008, Hello Year of the Wedding!

Jordan and I will be getting married in just under 9 months. H.o.l.y. C.o.w! I don't know where the time has gone, but in celebration of the end of 2008, I'm going to make a few wedding lists!

Completed Tasks:

  • My wedding dress has been purchased and altered. It's sitting in my closet, though I still have to finish paying it off.
  • My veil is purchased and is also in my closet.
  • Bouquet has been purchased, but STILL hasn't shipped even though it's "been ready" for two months. Ugh.
  • My wedding band and turquoise bracelet are both in my jewelry box.
  • I have a general idea of what kind of jewelry and shoes I want, but I still have to buy them.
  • Tux style and vest color for both groom and groomsmen decided.
  • Bridesmaids dress styles and exact color still undecided. Bouquet styles decided; purses purchased, but no flowers yet.
  • Jordan's ring style has been decided upon, but it hasn't been purchased yet.
  • Photographers booked and 1/3 paid for.
  • Ceremony site booked and 1/3 paid for.
  • Reception site booked and paid for and food choices settled.
  • I know the style of invitations I want, but I still have to buy them and get them printed.
  • Cake topper purchased, "his and hers" champagne glasses purchased, cake serving set purchased, ring pillow purchased, reception vases purchased, table number holders purchased, favor boxes purchased, ceremony fans and bubbles purchased.
  • Music selections decided upon for ceremony and most of reception.
  • Guest list determined and save-the-dates sent out.
  • Target wedding registry set up.
To-Do Soon:
  • Purchase invitation supplies and print a sample invitation.
  • Decide exactly what honeymoon we want and start to book it.
  • Purchase shoes and bridal jewelry.
  • Go shopping with bridesmaids for dress ideas.
  • Book ceremony officiant.
  • Set up another wedding registry (Crate and Barrel perhaps?).
  • Decide upon design of wedding cake.
  • Make reservations for rehearsal dinner.
  • Arrange for our transportation from the ceremony to reception (we're thinking a romantic horse and carriage).
Random Ideas:
  • I want my hair mostly down and curled, with a small pearl and diamond headband. I also have an idea of how I want my makeup done...very simple in shades of pink.
  • For our reception table numbers, I want to use pictures of me and Jordan holding up each number in a variety of funny poses.
  • For reception centerpieces I'm thinking of using the jello vase centerpiece idea. We'll use either blue or pink jello (whichever turns out better) with two to three pink gerbera daisies per vase, and then blue vase gems on the table around each vase.
  • I really like the idea of using our favor boxes as placecards too...we'll just write each person's name on the front of the box.
  • I saw a really neat idea for escort cards in a bridal magazine this morning...I can't really explain it well, so I'll just post a picture of it later.
  • We're writing our own vows (and I'm actually writing most of the ceremony myself), so I'll have to share that later as well. I'm almost done with mine!
  • We are definitely thinking of doing a two-week chauffeured tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland for our honeymoon...it really depends on how expensive it will be.
  • For invitations, we are thinking of printing a classic bride and groom image on white cardstock and printing the wording on vellum, then wrapping it with teal ribbon.

This all seems very organized, but I feel distinctly unorganized, and I don't know why!!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Pearls and Diamonds...and Turquoise!

Merry (belated) Christmas! :)




I spent my 22nd birthday and Christmas with Jordan's family on their farm in North Carolina, where there are no internet or cell phone signals. I'll be honest...while I had a great holiday, I'm very glad to be back, relaxing in my own apartment. :)

I wanted to make a post that somehow relates both weddings and Christmas, and I finally decided to share my bridal jewelry hunt with you. I'm not the type of girl who typically wears a lot of fancy jewelry...I own mostly big chunky plastic pieces that are super bold and funky. While I love them on a normal day, they aren't exactly what I had in mind for the wedding. As such, the search for the perfect wedding day jewelry has kept me rather busy doing internet searches for the past few months. Here's what I've found so far:
I mentioned a while back that my friend had made me a turquoise bracelet...I don't have a picture of the exact bracelet yet, but here's a very good likeness of it:

I've had a very hard time narrowing down the choices for my necklace...the neckline of my dress (a halter) looks best with a very simple necklace. I decided immediately that I wanted to have the pearls and diamonds look, even if I couldn't afford to have the real thing. Here's the one I want:


And I think these earrings match it perfectly! I wanted to go with something simple again, especially since my hair will be down.

I haven't liked very many tiaras or headpieces that I've seen online, so that might be something I need to go shopping for in person. However, I think I might stick with a simple headband rather than going with an elaborate tiara, again, since my hair will be down. One like this would be nice:


Now I'm off to watch Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas...it's one of my favorites! ;)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I love it I love it I LOVE it!!

I am in love with making inspiration boards, and tonight I made my best one yet! Enjoy!



You can get a better view here.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Dresses for my favorite girls

I think there is an unspoken rule among bridesmaids dresses: they are not meant to be affordable for college students or recent college graduates. David's Bridal is considered "cheap" and their dresses start at $100. Of my six girls, one is still in college, two are recent college grads (one is saving up for her own wedding and the other is probably going to grad school), another is working ridiculously hard just to pay her bills, one has four kids, and the other is my 12-year-old niece. I know that I personally don't have the money to spend $100 on a dress to be worn one time.

So it comes down to the age-old question...do the bridesmaids have to be matchy matchy or can they just wear something comfortable? Since it's our wedding, we make the decisions. Jordan and I have decided that we would rather my bridesmaids be comfortable and spend much less than $100 on a dress. Instead of purchasing "bridesmaids dresses," we're going to keep an eye out for sales at places like Dillards in the spring, and hopefully everyone can purchase dresses in similar colors and similar styles, but they don't have to match exactly.

Here are some dresses that I think would be awesome (but not necessarily all together):




Most people I've talked to have loved this idea, although there are a few people that think it will look sloppy or non-wedding-like. I'm not too worried about that, though...it's not like we're having a super formal affair, and I like the idea of having my bridesmaids smiling sincerely in all of our pictures, thinking, "This $30 dress is ridiculously comfortable...I think I might wear it again on Friday when I go out with my boyfriend." Here are some pictures of brides who have pulled off this idea quite well:



This next one is from Memory Makers Photography and it's my favorite!


In the end, as long as my girls brush their hair and cover up their naughty bits, I'll be satisfied. I just want them to stand next to me and watch me marry the love of my life. ... And then party. :P

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Free Engagement Pictures!

We have some very wonderful friends, indeed. This post is dedicated (almost) entirely to my favorite pictures from our free engagement session with Matt Lovell of LH Images Photography. They are just getting started in the business and building up their portfolio, and we lucked out.

Now, PICTURES!

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Rainy days aren't so bad...


After all, umbrellas can be so romantic. :)

Perched on a tree branch above the river


Gettin' smoochy. ;)



One of the best pictures of us, ever. :)


We're using this one on our holiday greeting cards, lol.


And now for some funnies! :D




Aren't they wonderful? I am so absolutely thrilled. I have an entire Snapfish album full of them, so if you want to see them all, just comment and I'll send you the link. :)

Now, at the beginning, I said this post was almost entirely dedicated to pictures. The last tiny thing I want to share is an awesome blog that I check pretty frequently because it makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. Check it out!