A strapless dress I would TOTALLY wear

Love this dress...love the color, absolutely LOVE the detail in the top, and love how light the skirt looks.















{ Photo via The Sweetest Occasion via Haute Design }

Bridesmaids Dress Hunt

Now that I’ve chosen my bridesmaids, this weekend I went with one of them to start looking for dresses. I wanted to go the retail route rather than the bridal store route…thought I’d find dresses that we liked better for the price. Not to mention I can’t wait 6 months for dresses to come in.

I wanted to get different dresses within the same color palette like the photo below:

{Belathee via Style Me Pretty}

We went to a retail store (that will remain unnamed), and it may have been one of the most frustrating things (aside from the guest list) so far in wedding planning. I had high hopes for the store since I love their stuff to begin with and I love the weddings I’ve seen where all the girls wear their dresses.

Well, the girl treated me like what I had in mind was the worst idea ever. She acted like I was wasting her time and she didn’t even entertain the idea. Because obviously it looks heinous in the photo above. She did say that if I was going to go with different colors/dresses that I should go with blue - one of my other thoughts.

{JAC Photographers via Green Wedding Shoes}

I like how the blue dresses really make the flowers pop! And I think it helps my non-matchy feel. So, at least we made that decision, but still, the blues at the store were just WAY too drab. They would be great for a fall wedding, but I just don’t think they are summery enough.

So, after a nice breakdown when I came home (spent a good amount of time in the Macy’s in Herald Square looking at HEINOUS dresses…that will kill the fun), the search continues.

Gave in to the bridal stores though…heading to Priscilla of Boston with two of my bridesmaids next Friday. Excited for these dresses! Hoping that they work out and we can find some more inspiring colors!

{images via Priscilla of Boston}

Anyone else have more trouble finding bridesmaids dresses than their own wedding dress?

New Inspirations

Quick post this morning on two things that stood out to me recently as being fun and different:



















{ Salt dough hearts tutorial on The Long Thread via Elizabeth Anne Designs )

I thought salt dough was only for Christmas ornaments but...the wedding possibilities are endless with this one!

And how much does this scream party!






















{ Photo by Lauren Clark }

An update on our wedding status...Save the Dates are out!! Post on that soon...

Business Card Winner

Congratulations Kristal!

UPrinting should be in touch with you within the next few days with info on how to claim your free business cards. I'm excited to see how they turn out!

Whew!

Hello 2010!

To say that I've been overwhelmed recently is a bit of an understatement. A quick update of the last month:

-I'm a week overdue of sending out our Save the Dates...waiting for FMIL to send me addresses for her guest list
-I asked 2 out of 4 of my bridal party
-Scheduled appointments with potential hair/makeup artists
-Scheduled appointments with potential florists
-Sent several emails to our potential Day-of Coordinator...only a few of them she actually responded to
-(Finally) Scheduled an appointment with our Day-of Coordinator

But the biggest reason for being away from the blog world for a while...

-We got a puppy!



Our Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, Nala, at 3 months!

But, within this last month we also hit the 6 MONTH MARK!!! So, the majority of my wedding planning time within the last month has been put into creating different inspiration boards (if you can even call them that...maybe more like idea boards) for different elements of our wedding. Remember how I was freaking out about exactly what our wedding was going to look like? Yeah. So I decided to make a few boards to help keep all the ideas together. Here is the most recent overall idea board:



Clockwise from top:

- { photo by Millie Holloman Photography via Style Me Pretty } I love ribbons! Want to do ribbon wands as we recess from the church.
- { photo by and via Erin Hearts Court } I really like the idea of having more than one element to the centerpieces. This may be a little too pretty for me (would like to use containers that are a bit rougher?) but I love the setup.
- { photo by our labor of love, via once wed } Flower garlands! Love them!!
- { via Flush Designs } LOVE this. All of it. Invite, wax seal, flowers. Perhaps the container isn’t Spanish enough?
- { photo by Steven Steinhardt via Beth Helmstetter } Lantern/escort cards: I love dahlias and I think these vines help add to the garden feel. Not sure how to incorporate something like this into our venue though?
- { via Wiley Valentine } The pattern of these invites remind me of Spanish iron work. Would like to take this idea but make it a bit more rustic.
- { via Bella Figura } I like the layout of this invite and think I’d like to have something somewhere inbetween this and the one below.
- { by me } A common Spanish tile pattern that I put into our wedding palate. Right now I'm thinking: Envelope liners and invitation wrap as well as a napkin wrap.
- { photo by Steven Steinhardt via Beth Helmstetter } Plate setting: Again, love the use of different elements. Also like the use of a lot of greens, pillar candles, succulents. Also like the table runner and bold color of the napkin wrap.
- { by my mom } Monogram: Our initials that my mom did. We had stickers made up with the design and want to use them somewhere...not sure where yet though.

So next on my to do list is to work on invites with my mom and one of my bridesmaids. More on that soon!!

Time's ticking! With less than 6 months to go, I am definitely behind all those checklists that every wedding site on the planet has. Anyone else behind on their wedding planning?

Business Card Giveaway

More non-giveaway posts to come soon, but who can complain about free stuff??

UPrinting has given me the opportunity to do yet another business card giveaway. I recently ordered business cards from them for Mr.'s piano studio and they turned out great!! I plan on using the ones I get from hosting this giveaway for escort cards. I'm going to print a background (I'm thinking like a Spanish tile or wrought iron pattern) on the back and then around the edges of the front, corner punch the corners with something pretty, and then just write guests names on the cards. Easy peasy.










{ photo by Chris Humphreys Photographers via The Wedding Chicks }

The details:

Giveaway Prize: 250 Business Cards for one (1) lucky winner
Size: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)
Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
Shipping: Winners have to pay for shipping
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs.

Leave a comment on how you'd like to use the free business cards by midnight, January 19th, and I'll pick one winner!

Good luck!

Postcard Winner

Happy New Year!! What a way to start off the year with a winner and another giveaway teaser...

Congrats to Laura W. for winning the 100 free postcards! UPrinting should be in touch soon.

Thanks so much!

Stay tuned for another business card giveaway!