Bridesmaid Brunch

So back in December I had a brunch for my bridesmaids. I wanted to give them all a chance to meet. Not to mention our mothers haven't even met yet. So I figured this would be a good chance and best part of all was my sister was home from college so everyone would be able to make it. Everything went well except for when the power in almost the whole city went our a few days prior to the brunch. Our original place had to be switched since they still didn't have power! All and all it went well. You an see the girls posing with their afghans that my grandma made. I picked out the colors for each girl based on their personalities and favorite colors. Here are some pictures.


This is my sister giving a speech and the really pretty scrap book pictures she mounted and framed for me. And my mom gave me a Eiffel tower vase.

Shoe Signing

I think I want to try a turkish tradition with my maids. Its actually a who-will-marry-next tradition that Turkish brides have been practicing for generations. Before you start down the aisle, have your single bridesmaids (or any female friends or relatives who’ve yet to marry) autograph the sole of your bridal shoe. After you’ve danced the night away (and tossed your bouquet), legend has it that the person whose name has faded the most will be the next to marry. Good old Martha Stewart had this info!

Just being helpful

Not that I am a control freak or anything like that. But I do know what will drive me nuts. So I went ahead and had a solid plan do's and don't that I gave to my bridesmaids and both mothers. Hey I figured that way nobody would have any hurt feelings come wedding day. And I don't have to go all bridezilla on anyone. Can you think of anything that I left off?
Wedding day dos and don’ts.
Do be ready to have a lot of fun!!!
Do show up on time. I will get you a wedding day/day before schedule long before the time arrives. Please let me know of any schedule conflicts.
Do feel free to give me any suggestions. I may not use them but they are appreciated.
Do buy a good strapless bra & neutral colored thong. I don’t want anything to sag and everyone will be looking at you butt so pantie lines are a no-no.
Do wear make-up that you are comfortable with. If you would like to get your make-up done with me at Nordstrom let me know. If not, all I ask is that your make-up is tasteful and in natural colors (no rainbow faces).
Do let me know if you are not comfortable with something. If it’s the dress, the shoes or who you are walking down the aisle with. Whatever it is let me know ASAP that way we can avoid any problems on the day.
Do eat something. I will be having a sleepover for my final night at my parent’s house. Bridesmaids are welcome to come if not make sure you eat something that morning.
Don’t wear a lot of jewelry on the day of the wedding. Two rings per hand and small diamond or pearl studs in your ear. No bracelets and no necklaces.
Don’t forget to paint your nails. If you all agree on wearing open toes shoes please please please take the time out to paint your toe nails. Remember its is summer so keep the colors bright and pretty. I will be getting a Mani-pedi before the rehearsal dinner and I would love for all my girls to join me but I know some people may have to work so don’t feel bad if you cannot make it.
Don’t have some crazy hairdo. See below for some examples of how I would like your hair to look. Half up and half down. Simple and romantic. With no accessories in your hair (no flowers and no sparkles). I will be getting my hair done please let me know if you want an appointment by March 1st.

So many shoes and only two feet

Yes that really is my moto. Well actually it was the moto my dad said should be my moto and it just kinds stuck with me. Now on one of the biggest days of my life I get to pick out new shoes! There are so many web sites to look at that it makes my heart palpitate.
www.bellissimabridalshoes.com
www.zappos.com
www.eluxury.com
Now even though I love shoes I will not spend over $100 on my bridal shoes. And luckily I dont think I will have to. The groom and I are the same height so he semi requested without really asking for me to avoid my normal sky high heels and get something a little closer to his level. Keep a eye out for some of my shoe choices!

Like a kid in a candy shop...

We have long decided that we rather spend our money that would normally go to candy favors, we would donate money in memory of our two uncles that are no longer with us. But if we were doing favors I would love to have Dylan's candy bar to shop in. We don't have one here yet but her site alone just looks amazing. Candy galore! I am a serious chocolate freak so I would be in heaven there! http://www.dylanscandybar.com

Sports widow

I recently saw a segment on TV about sports widows. And I sure could relate to these women. My wonderful fiancé loves and I mean LOVES sports. Football and basketball are the main two. I never imagined that I would have to compete with sweaty men for his attention. But I do. And I normally do it willingly. Since I already have my frilly under things picked out, now I have moved my attention to the world of garters. As I looked through various sites and stores I have found that like wedding cakes the sky is the limit to what you can do with your garter. So far my front runner is a sports themed garter with our college alma mater as the theme. What do you think? Also do you like the idea of a gater or you think they are just a waste of money?

Bootylicious

That is right my booty is bootylicious! Well at least that is what I tell myself. So I need something to cover my bootylicious butt on the wedding day. Since my dress has a fuller skirt I can pretty much wear any thing under my dress on the lower half. Now you may remember in my earlier post about wedding colors. The groom veto'd any color of pink. But like Elle Woods in Legally blond, pink is my signature color. I have been a card carrying member of the pink is my color club since I was 4. So I had to sneak it in somewhere. So why not under my dress. Honeydew makes these totally cute frilly panties! Love them!

How Steel Magnolias Inspired Me

One of my favorite movies is Steel Magnolias. If you haven’t seen it, then I will not ruin the ending. But in it there is a wedding being planned Julia Roberts character Shelby has a divine southern wedding planned with her colors of blush and bashful. Which in reality are two shades of pink. One scene has the characters discussing the groom’s cake. Shelby aunt has offered to make a devils food cake in the shape of an armadillo! A lot of southern traditions don’t get used here in Seattle but I just casually mentioned to the groom what he would think about a groom’s cake. He thought it would be OK only when I said we could do something fun with it. Like something with our college Alma mater. But then I saw this online and he loved the idea.


We haven’t really officially decided if this will even be done, basically we still need to see if it would be a pointless waist of money. But his enthusiasm over it was so funny to me.

Smile! Your on candid camera!

Ok maybe I am crazy and was under a rock when this was announced but did you know they have one time use video cameras? I wasn’t really digging the idea of putting a camera on tables for candid moments but candid video moments is way more my taste

Its mine all mine!!!!

Yeah we booked our honeymoon! As I just blogged about last week we had decided to go to the Virgin Islands but we wanted to keep an eye on prices. Well the prices went down so we pounced. This is actually the second cheapest holiday I have ever taken. The cheapest was Brazil. We will be spending a wonderful week relaxing and enjoying the spa, ocean and island hopping. I checked on my favorite web site that I don’t travel without tripadvisor.com and our hotel had really good reviews. Now I do take the reviews on the site with a grain of salt but it is always good to know what the general impression of the hotels are. Just look at how pretty it is!

Napkins

Even though my parents marriage ended in divorce my mom still kept all her old wedding stuff and gave it to me when I turned 18. I have her old wedding planner from 1975. She actually really inspired me to want to keep a record of the wedding planning. I have this blog and I have an engagement book. In my mom book she also tucked away one of her napkins. It still looks pretty darn good. It was so simple. White napkin with gold fold with her and my dad name with the wedding date. At first I thought napkins were silly. But since that is one of my favorite pieces in her book I decided to at least look into napkins. They are actually reasonably priced. I mainly looked into cocktail napkins rather than dinner napkins. Here are my two choices so far.

Let's Dance

Like every other bride I am on the bridal boot camp diet. Well sorta. I try to eat right and I work out regularly. If anything I am all about maintaining. This weekend it was actually sunny for a few hours so I was able to get motivated enough to go work out. That got me thinking what type of things motivates me to workout. One thing is “red shorts” Sarah and I once saw this rather large lady with very unflattering red shorts on. I made Sarah promise to me right there and then that she would never allow my ass to grow to the size of the lady that was wearing those red shorts. Then there is the weather. Sunny weather I am 90% more likely to go workout. Last but not least is TV. It can be a number of TV shows that will motivate me to get my Nikes on and go. And guess what?!?! One of my shows is starting tonight! That is right dancing with the stars! Oh my gosh I love this show! It really all started by accident. But when I realized what had happened I was hooked. The celebrities and the professional dancers have these amazing bodies! I mean just look at this pictures (Ok I think it might be a tad airbrushed). But I am serious they inspire me not only to work out but half the time I am trying to figure out if that is a move that I could somehow contort my body into doing. Anyways if you are by a TV tonight you should watch it!

Say What?

I really like the personal touch that ring engraving can give to the wedding band. Even though we don't really have any special saying (well at least not one that would be appropriate for a ring). So I began looking online for some cute sayings. Who knows I may just end up using the date at least that way I know he would never forget our anniversary.
Here are some I found, what do you think?:
A Deal's a Deal
Always
Always faithful
Because You Love Me
Be Mine
Every Day I Love You More
For all days
For my greatest love
Forever
Do not Remove
Here is my heart, guard it well!
I'm Always With You
In Thy Brest My Hart Doth Rest
Joy without end
Let us love always
Love Conquers All
Love is Eternal
Love Never Fails
Put It Back On
I Love You

Speaking of friends

Since I just was talking about my friends it reminded me of this. So along with blogging and weddingbee I am also in love with knot bios. I love to look at what other brides have come up with for their special day. I look at the somewhat official list a few times a week http://bios.magnificentbliss.com. So I was happily surprised when I finally knew someone on there! We sorta know them. I went to middle school with the groom and I had two male friends in the wedding. Their page is so pretty you can tell she really worked hard on it! http://talk.theknot.com/boards/User/Profile.aspx?bioname=nykola

Friends wedding days

Ok I will say it, finally, Finally I am getting married. I truly can say I was always the bridesmaid and never the bride. But not any more! I love that I have such a great group of women surrounding me and that most of them have found their soul mates. I also loved their weddings for so many reasons. Each wedding really fit that couple personalities. I just thought I would share a few of my friends wedding pictures from just the last two years.
Ahh my pretty Sarah. As you may remember Sarah is the one who inspired me to start blogging. She got married in 2005.


This is Kori she got married in 2006. I am actually using her photographer Tor. Also check out her pom pom above her head, recognize them? They are from Martha!


Kelsie also was married in 2005. Her photographer was Rhonda Addison and the picture just makes her look so innocent.

Last but not least is Sharon. Just look at those high ceilings! And her train, P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

Honeymoon

We have a honeymoon! Well sort of. We have decided 110% to go to the US Virgin Islands. Now all that is left is booking the tickets. I can't wait! Right now this is the front runner hotel but we will be looking at more hotels and reviews (on tripadvisor.com) and I will let you know what we decide.

Punch Crazy

Now that I have my paper cut to size the mock up assembly line has begun. One of my favorite things about my DIY invites is my corner punch. I chose the Fiskers 3 in 1 punch I loved this punch for the delicateness and it give two corner punches and an embossed punch. It really think it add a little something special to the invites. Not to mention the labor of love that this proves I have with my invitations. I think the total count of punches for the whole thing will land me at about 2200 punches. I will also be carrying the punch them into the reception with my favors. More to come on my favors soon! This isn't my exact punch but you can get the idea.

Celebrity weddings

If someone were to ask me I can easily say celebrity weddings are one of my favorite things. Even before I got engaged I loved to just see how they decided to spend their money. I was thrilled when Eva Longoria got engaged this year! But then I hopped she got married before I did so I could look at any fun thing and maybe use (not steal) anything she did. I was so disappointed in Tom and Katie wedding last year not much that I could say I loved, not even a hairstyle to look to for inspiration. Then I saw Elizabeth Hurley wedding spectacular! Whoo a week of wedding fun sounds good to me! But what I like most of all is how I think she really pulled off both styles of ceremonies. I was reading and I guess she got some critisism because her sari was reported to have cost $4000. But I don't know what people expected she is getting married! I know many American brides if given the chance would be temped to spend that amount a a dress. I know I could have easily!

Shocking

As most of you know I got proposed to at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was a complete shock to me. My groom is totally shy so the fact he did it in public was amazing! Second shocking thing is my wonderful finance had the foresight to make sure we had a picture of the moment. He hates taking pictures. Sure it’s a little blurry but our reactions are priceless and I love it. We decided to use this picture for our save the date postcard. Needless to say we got rave reviews! I think he really liked it when people told him “hey your on my fridge”. I had brought up the idea of having our grandparents wedding photos out at the wedding. He didn’t like that idea so imagine my shock when he said he would like to have the proposal photo up at the reception. I am going to blow up the photo but now I was think how big should it be 8x10 is most practical but not as fun as poster size! Anyways in case you didn’t see it or just want to see it again here you go…

Vote or Die!

Vote or Die. That was the subject for my last email to my fab bridesmaids. They voted on their dress...ta dah....Oh I hate the sash so we are still working with that.

Now I also have asked them to vote on their shoes. I had many requests when it came to the shoes. My best friend is a vegan so she needed them to be animal friendly. My sister is 5 foot nothing so she wanted a heel, my future sister in law wanted close toed and I had other random requests like cheap, not ugly and not too high. So trying to work within all that here is what we came up with. What do you think? Keep in mind the white ones will be dyed blue to match the dress and the clear ones would have a blue ribbon to match. So far we are at a tie with two of teh shoes. I am still waiting to hear for my MOH and one other BM. I will let you know what they decide.

Pause,Flash

Last night between sport center commercials I got my soon to be hubby attention. We finally signed our contract with our photographer a few weeks back. So last night as we were talking I mentioned I want to wait until I walk down the aisle for us to see each other. But he wants to see each other before hand so we can start taking pictures. My photographer is wonderful and fine with us waiting. He is going to start with the guys and then get the girls and after the wedding is over we can do family and our together shots. My reasons for wanting to wait isn't for superstition I just think it would be nice to have one finally surprise for each other. What would/ did you when you get/ got married?
On a side note I love my photographer! He was the most reasonable price for the quality and amount time. I have met Tor before at Kori wedding and he is really nice so I am sure the groom (who hates being photographed) will be comfortable with him. Take a look at his site

www.torstudios.com

What a Juicy Sale

I love Juicy Couture tracksuits. They are the best for lounging and for long plane rides. I just noticed the "Mother Ship" Nordstrom is having a sale one the velour sets. I know a lot of brides like to have their "soon to be" status embroider on them. Or if you have a vacation planned soon too they are perfect! Not to worry though they currently have tons of the terry tracksuits in currently but they are not on sale.

Royal weddings

With all the recent talk about Prince William possibly getting engaged it got me thinking about royal weddings. I wasn't quite old enough to watch Diana and Charles wedding at the time but I did watch it on the 10 year anniversary when they played it on tv. And all I can say is WOW! Check this site out it has a lot of really fun pictures of royal weddings in the past.
http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/royalwedding/default.htm
I also love this site for random celebrity brides and foreign brides I might not have heard of. http://www.weddingsutra.com/bride/celeb_bride.asp

I want to glow!

We have semi narrowed down our honeymoon locals to Mexico or the Virgin Islands. Either destination would be sunny. Like any smart girl I mentally started to go through my closet or as Lena would say making outfits in my head. Those capri's would be cute with that and I have to bring that dress but I need new shoes to really complete that outfit. One thing that I love to use while I am on vacation is Nars body glow. I love it! It smells heavenly! It adds a soft tint that makes your skin glow! If you like the smell of coconut and a light floral scent you should try to smell this! I would not recommend this for the wedding day glow. It will rub off on your clothes if not rubbed in well.

Wish Board

I was thinking of having a wish board. I like the pretty wish/advice jar ideas but then nobody can see what else someone has written. And I also get enough advice from family so I though allowing them to give us wishes would be just as sentamental and funny to look back on. Well if I have a wish board I need pretty push pins to have guest mount their wish for us. Then I found these!

Oh what a rainbow!
They can be found at http://www.dakinivisions.com/dakini/jewelry/push_pins.html They are a little expensive at 3.95 for 6 which is about .65 each. But being the thrifty girl I am I found that you can make them for much less. It would be a simple DIY project!

Paper!!!!

My paper is in! Believe it or not I am making the invitations myself. Doing them myself allowed me to get exactly what I wanted. I looked at many pre-made invites but they just didn’t offer the feel that I really wanted.
I am using two different brands of paper. Envelopment's kyanite and Stardream Sapphire. I picked out the papers that I liked at paperzone and decided I had months and months before I needed to actually buy anything. WRONG! Paperzone ended up discontinuing that sapphire color. Luckily I was able to find out just as they started marking down their stock. I got all of my Sapphire paper on sale!
The Kyanite is much more lilac toned than this will show. But the other lavender and lilac colors they offer are too purple and didn’t look good with my already purchased sapphire. When I put the Sapphire next to the kyanite they just went so well together. Both colors are metallic so they have an extra sparkle to them. I was worried that for a summer wedding the sapphire will make everything too dark so I decided to use the sapphire as an accent color instead of a primary.
Envelopment's are more money that I ideally would have wanted to spend but I was able to order my paper while my local distributor (packaging specialties) was having a sale. 15% off when you bring in 4 rolls of toilet paper that they will donate to a local woman shelter. And if you order 100 or more of the item you get another 10% off normally. So with a savings of 25%! The price was cut down so it was right within my original budget.
I am getting my paper cut down this weekend and the assemble line will start later this month. Now I get to spend a few quality hours with my best friend Lena as we start to put them together.
I should have a finished one to show you later this month!

China

I love my China! L-O-V-E it! It is Vera Wang "Pink Duchesse" Dinnerware Collection. It also comes in blue but of course pink is much more my taste. I also really like that it is so simple. Not too much frufru. What do you think?

Pretty in Pink

While I love my wedding colors and I am very happy with how everything coming together. My totally pink hue colors scheme of a blush and bashful wedding is a distant memory. But I know many brides are having pink themed weddings or they are using pink as an accent color. I saw this short jumpsuit on bebe.com and thought that it would be so cute for a pink and brown wedding girl to wear as she is getting ready. Its strapless so no worries about mess up your hair or make-up. And if you have the legs to wear, FLAUNT IT!!!

Dripping in jewles

Diamonds are a girls best friend. And in my case they really are my best friend and my birthstone. But my generous Dad gave me a strand of pearls for my college graduation a few years ago I decided to wear those on my wedding day. I mentioned to him that for my birthday gift I would like to get earrings to wear on the day. So what is any father to do when his daughter has requested an item for her wedding day... We went shopping! I knew I wanted a simple stud or drop and if I could find something with small diamonds and pearls it would be even better. And we found the perfect pair. They are simple and timeless.

Ahhh...sun, sand, and map?

I have noticed a trend with honeymoons. Either they are very exotic or a casual road trip. Out of my girlfriends that recently got married one went to Belize or and a hand full of them went to all-inclusive resort on sandy beach. Then I have the friends that chose road trips down the Oregon coast or to drive down to Vegas. We are still exploring our options for our honeymoon. One thing that would make it really easy to pick would be if we had an extra $8,000 to just blow on the trip. This may be impractical to some but for two people that love to travel we would find a way to spend it!
If you were given $8,000 for your honeymoon and you could only spend the money on a honeymoon. So no saving it in the bank, no buying a house, no wonderful new wardrobe that would put Kimora Lee Simmons to shame. You have to spend it all on a one time only honeymoon. Where would you go? Would you go back to where you met? Or where you got engaged? Tropical or cold, relaxing or adventurous?