Don't Laugh But...

...this is really tempting:

(The itty bitty top hat, not the hair style.)

I also like these:

Erica Koesler designs, available at AdvantageBridal.com

Bridesmaid Dresses

Or, more accurately, Maid of Honor dresses. My best friend is the bridal party. ;)

I am looking at either a tiffany blue/aqua dress, or a classic black dress.

I am a fan of Jasmine Bridal's B2 collection:


Here are some black dresses from Dillards.com:

Right now, the one in the upper right is my favorite. It's classic, elegant, and I think it will suit my maid of honor perfectly, and still be comfortable enough for her to get her groove on. And she WILL be getting her groove on. Oh yes.

David's Bridal: (Dresses shown are in "Pool")

FYI - that last one really has nothing to do with bridesmaids dresses, I just happened to see it and really like it. For me. ;)
I like David's because they have the most options in my color. Well, sort of. "Pool" isn't exactly Tiffany Blue, but it'll do.

It's in the Details

I bought my dress yesterday. I went with the David's Bridal one - I love it! Unfortunately by "bought" I mean "ordered," so I won't get it till the end of May.

So, now that I have the dress, I need other stuff. I already have the shoes, which I am just wild about. From Nine West (Via Zappos.com):

...I guess they technically fall more in the Turquoise category than Tiffany Blue. They are hot hot hot! The heel is a little taller than I would've liked, but still definitely doable. I'll probably need to bring some backup shoes, just in case. (tiffany blue flip flops maybe?)

I had also looked at these (I am all about the peep toe):


...which were $99 somewhere, but are only $19.99 at Payless! A budget bride's dream!

Since I won't have a pocket in my dress to hold my chapstick and keys, I guess I should get some sort of bag. I'm thinking a satin, blue, clutch type of thing. David's Bridal has some cute little purses, nothing too fancy, but they'll do the trick:


or something like these, from MadieDeluxe:

Damask

[DAM-uhsk]
noun
1. a table linen made from linen with a damask pattern
2. a fabric of linen or cotton or silk or wool with a reversible pattern woven into it
adjective
1. having a woven pattern; "damask table linens"
2. made of or resembling damask
[Origin: 1200–50; ME damaske < ML damascus, named after Damascus where fabrics were first made]

I've always loved this pattern, but the more things I find with it, the more I love it. Lucky for me, Damask is experiencing quite a revival right now, so finding things with this print has been easier than I thought. Wedding aside, it is popping up on all sorts of practical things and household objects:

1. Storage cubes from roomitup.com
2. Dishes from Target
3. Lapdesk from roomitup.com
4. I'm not going to lie. If had scads of money and wasn't thinking about a budget, I would buy a couple these sofas and make a little lounge for people to hang out in during the cocktail hour. how sweet would that be? From Urban Outfitters.
5. Laptop bag from Kailo Chic (they also have lots of other Damask bags and even *gasp* earrings!)

ok, here are the earrings ;)


BUT, back to the topic at hand.

Here are some Wedding invitations that fit into the theme:

And there are more where that came from, but you really have to dig. I've gotten some samples from some of these companies, but haven't found the one that is quite right yet. I want the damask AND the tiffany blue on the invite. I've technically already designed my own invitations, but am having trouble printing them, so I decided to see if I could find some reasonably priced ones out there. So far, the blue one in the picture (from www.weddingpaperdivas.com) seems to be the winner. Still waiting on more samples though....

There is a great little collection by Two's Company (www.twoscompany.com), that has some elements I could use:

If they were cheaper, I'd love to get those votive holders for every table, but as it is, I may have to just use them as an accent by the guestbook or something. I'd really wanted to incorporate something with old black and white photos too (ie. our parents and grandparents wedding portraits) so that frame would be pretty hot. Even if I don't use get those, I am, at the very least, getting that album.

Albums and Frames: JZ Rose
Votive Holders: Elizabeth's Emebellishments

Now comes the fun stuff...

So here's where I start posting pictures and getting giddy. BUT, before I do, I need to mention that I started bookmarking things and pulling images off the web for my own personal reference way before I ever thought I'd be making this page, so some of these may be breaking some sort of privacy or copyright rules. I hope that is not the case, but if I am using an image of yours PLEASE let me know and I will remove or give you credit, whichever you prefer. Apologies in advance if that happens.

Now, giddy time.

Oh wait.... I guess the other thing I should do is set the stage, so that these images make sense.

I am recently engaged (a month), and am planning on getting married in November of this year. I've had an odd obssession with bridal shows for the past few years, so seeing all of them has given me some ideas if the time ever came for me. Now that it has, I am trying to sort through all of the things I like to see what would work best for my wedding.

The first thing to figure out (once we nailed the date down and got a venue and all that) was colors. The venue we've chosen already has a black and white thing going on, so I decided to just go along with that. As for an accent color, I love teal so I thought about that, but it seemed a bit to strong for an accent. So I am going with a lighter, toned down version of something in the same family - Tiffany Blue. I cringe a little inside everytime I say the name "Tiffany Blue," but that really is the easiest, most universal way to say "You know, like a light aqua, pale turqouise-y color...?" or, for those of us that are design nerds, "My wedding is going to be Black, White and Pantone 318."

To add to the color scheme, I am going to try and incorporate black and white damask where ever I can. The more I think about the colors and the pattern, the more I love it. Seriously, I LOVE IT.

Pictures next time. Really.

First Post

Huh! Well look at me, starting a blog. I never thought I'd keep a blog, much less one about my wedding planning, but I keep finding that I need to refer to one of my millions of saved links or images that I've pulled off the web, and this seemed like a good way to organize all of my e-info. Plus, there are things that people have been asking me about, or things that I want to share, and again, this seemed like a good way to do it. So here I am. Hi.