What the Veil?

Ok, ok, I know I haven't actually shown y'all the dress. And I know it seems ridiculous since even my hubbie to be saw it, buuuut, I just don't have the right pic of it! Unfortunately, that's on my sister's camera in America. So, I'm going to skip that story for now to tell you about my veil-piphany.

So I, like many others in my generation, was so "over" the veil. I loved the idea of a well placed organza flower or a glittery heirloom fashioned into my curls. That would all do a complete 180. I guess you never say never, right?

So, other brides, or those that have gone dress shopping (specifically at David's bridal), or anyone who's seen Say Yes to the Dress (LOVE) know the tricky little ace up the sleeve. The Veil. Oh yes, bring out this little diddy to make the bride feel like--well, a bride. Of course, the veil is meant to seal the deal with the dress, not the veil itself. But, when my consultant stuck that cathedral length veil and blusher on my head, I was about to float away! I knew, no matter what the dress, that I wanted--not a headpiece, not a flower, not even just a birdcage veil--I wanted the drag-down-the-aisle-behind-me, looky-looky-I'm-a-bride, cathedral-length veil. Never in all my 14 years of dreaming of my wedding had I pictured myself in something so incredibly traditional. But, like I said: never say never.

So, I didn't even consider it in my original budget, but I thought that surely it wouldn't be tooooo much....ah, when will I learn? It's a wedding, so of course an extra long piece of fabric will be expensive! $200! $300! And those didn't even include my blusher! But then I hopped on over to weddingbee.com (have you been there yet? Go there!!) and I found a listing in the classified section! I got both my veil and blusher for $100! It definitely fit nicely into my budget and they were both perfect.

BAM! See that guys? It's all about the drama.

Belly up to the Bar! (The Dessert Bar, that is)

So, this is my first admitted "copy/paste" from someone else's wedding. But it's not without modification--in my defense! A fellow user of weddingbee shared her signature cocktail plan on a board and I just LOVED it! She would have four sig cocktails: something old (dry martini), something new (raspberry cosmo) something borrowed (long island iced tea) and something blue (blue hawaiian)! Now, honestly, I'm not sure why the long island iced tea is borrowed, but I think the idea is gold! Now, I didn't want to steal the idea outright and I think my bar set up will be a bit different. (I'll discuss that later) But, I knew a place it would work perfectly! BUM BADA DUUUUM!

My DESSERT BAR!

A lot of elements were already there! My grandmother recently passed away, and I had wanted to use her passed-down recipe for"Monster Cookies" as a sentimental touch. Something old, right?I wanted to have my sister make her famed Southern Chocolate Praline Cake: borrowed. Now for the something new and something blue.

Truth be told, one of the first things out of my mouth when asked about reception was doughnut tower.

My mom was like "Whaaaa?" and my sis was like "Sweeeeet."

Now, this isn't a replacement cake--I know a lot of couples do this. It would be a separate entity. Smaller but very similar to what you see above. I didn't think it quiiite fit into "new" because although they're new to weddings, they are an old dessert. So, the best fit seemed blue. I plan to order these delicious assorted doughnuts and request two things: blue icing on some, blue sprinkles on others. A stretch? Yes, quite possibly. How much will people care when they are biting into a sticky, sweet doughnut? Not a lot (I hope!).

So that just leaves "new." Sigh, oh, new. What shall I do for you? Right now my thought is chile fudge...that's kinda new, right? Well, if anyone has any better thoughts, please help!!

Let's get some SHOES

If there's one decision I made years ago that still holds true today it was to wear blue shoes down the aisle. I decided this far before deciding on the groom or the even witnessing my first wedding blog. Of course, now it's far more common place, but my dream never died! I new I wanted some awesome shoes. I budgeted 100 dollars for my shoes alone knowing I wanted this pair to count!

Now, while browsing etsy.com, a dangerous and indulgent pass time for many brides--I saw them. I was head over heels, over heels! (Yes, I went there)

OxfordHeaven's Marie Antoinette Inspired Shoes!

They were frilly, flirty, and fun! I absolutely had to have a pair. After searching her store, I saw there weren't really any in my size in the colors I needed. So, it all came down toooo custom shoes!

Could a girl ask for more! Haha! The user is very very friendly and has been oh-so-accommodating. I sent her the color swatch of my girls' dresses, and she was totally upfront that the colors may not match. Of course, that's no problem! I'm just going for the basic idea here, and as long as they are a shade of blue, I'm good! My only concern would be that the shoes would be turquoise or something that airs on the side of the trendy Tiffany Blue. I don't have anything against the color--it's just not mine!

You should definitely check out these indulgent shoes! http://www.etsy.com/shop/OxfordHeaven?ref=top_trail

Color me Bride

So, as many soon to be engaged women, I had a color pallet already in mind far before David proposed. Originally, I had wanted red and dark teal. It was based on my idea to get married in the Fair Theater. I'd love to give you a beautiful picture of this location, but there are none online. It ended up the place would be far too small for my reception, so I got over it and free from the overwhelming dark colors in the Fair, I came up with my new and current color scheme!

Cobalt, cornflower, and amber!

My fiance will claim "Those aren't colors! Those are THINGS!" But I know you guys know better! ;)
As you can see, my amber became more of a gold, but it was a lot easier that way! Anyway, I thought I'd let y'all in on that since I haven't actually made my colors official!

It's in this neato "T" shape because I'm far too inept at HTML it make the cobalt one smaller...By the way, if you want to experiment with color combos, I used this nifty thing of the wedding party girls showed me called the Multicolr Search Lab! You should definitely check it out!

Left Overs (and Erin takes a chill pill)

Ok, so, I talked to my mom, slept on it, and totally got over it. I just decided there will be a lot of things that go wrong or at least are out of my control, and I can't freak out! Haha, so, it's no biggie. Life goes on, and everything will still be great! (Well, at least the parts that count)

In other news, I've been trying to figure out the little things here and there I haven't quite pegged down in the budget. The all too intimidating budget left overs.... One of them is the overlays or table runners for the reception. I can't decide whether to rent or buy or make some, or what! I threw a post up on wedding bee to see if another bride would be up for sharing and splitting the cost. I got two replies!--from vendors. (whaw whaw) But hey, it's only been one day! There's still hope! My theory is that if I do end up buying them, I can resale them!

There's a million other tiny things that I will have to cram into my budget sooner or later: votives, ribbon, floral foam, the stationary to make little food signs--all burdens of a die hard do-it-yourself'er! Not to mention I'm still not 100% sure on invites (and am no where near a solid idea on programs!). I do know that I am not DIYing the invitations though. I know this may seem odd since if anybody does anything themselves, it's usually the paper goods, buuut, I know my strengths--and my mom knows hers! Flowers? We can do that! Food? Bring it on! Cardstock? Oh, lordy no! I found a cool thing called printablepress.com! I love the designs and through the site I found MercucioBros. who do very affordable letterpress! I'm about 75% sure this is the route I wanna go. What do you think? I would change the colors to suit my own of course...

Spoiler Alert!

Well guys, last night I got bit by the wedding bug. I was up late reworking budgets and considering things like letterpress invitations and a "kid's corner" complete with coloring books and a TV set. I was ready to hit the ground running on this here blog when I opened up facebook and saw it.

Me. In my dress.

I untagged myself as fast as I could and I posted on my friends wall to take them down.

Now, he posted them late last night, but the problem is, David works nights and he has today off. I reached him on Skype ASAP, but it was too late. He had been tagged in the same album and, naturally, he found the pictures of me. Now, I don't blame my friend you posted them, he probably didn't even think about the tradition or anything and I certainly don't blame my fiancé, what he was doing was harmless! But, the truth still holds: I'm devastated! I know, it may seem silly, but honestly, I was having a hard time coming to terms with the "first look!" I'm not gonna lie. I cried. Right here in a computer lab full of Jordanian college students. (I mean, not a big cry, but one of those little sniffley, quiet "tearing up" cries)

I have to add that I'm really not traditional. It's not that I think that it will be bad luck or something, I just like the idea of him seeing me as a "bride" on that one special day. I emailed my mother, which was much like this post: not in particular request or solution, just letting it all out. I keep reminding myself that it's not that important and I can't let it get to me! Nevertheless, it definitely deflated my wedding balloon for today....

Photography! or Reasons My FMIL ROCKS!

So, my FMIL, Jeanette, had a family friend do the photography for her wedding. She has since become a HUGE scrapbooker. She now wishes she would have spent the money for a professional photographer to capture her big day noting that photographs are the only thing you can really keep from that day. She didn't want us to worry about fitting that into the budget so she is paying for a beautiful wedding package by local photographers Aric and Casey.

Let me tell you right now that I've been stalking Aric and Casey's blog for ages and time after time their work has made my heart turn somersaults in my chest! Here's a few samples!







Now, I had pretty much ruled them out before I was even engaged knowing I could never afford them, but in came Jeanette, my fairy mother-in-law to turn my pumpkin into a golden carriage! She's an absolute angel and I could never thank her enough for such a gracious gift!

Check out more of Aric and Casey at their blog! http://www.aricandcasey.com/blog

What the Girls are Wearing

So, the first few times I went a-searching for dresses for the girls in our WP, it was pretty much ridiculous. The reason? I had NO idea what I wanted! I had one specification: short. Yeah, good one Erin--that narrows it down. I did have a basic color in mind--a cornflower blue. But, as we poked about I started kind of liking the idea of dressing them in my other golden color...anyway, I did run into a few designs I thought looked ok, but the girls I had in them weren't the ones I was worried about in terms of silhouette.

You see, a few of my girls have two big problems. BOOBS. God endowed these girls with a little extra up top which meant the dresses needed to cover that area up or they might make the preacher work up a sweat! So, I couldn't really make any decisions until I had some of them try stuff on.

Then, one magical morning, I went with two of my girls and my mom to David's Bridal and--I kid you not--the second dress they tried on was it! Wham, bam, thank ya ma'am! Here they are sporting the short, fun, and totally rewearable numbers! (not the cornflower I ordered them in, but still)





They were perfect! Not only were they flattering, they were only $99 and on tax-free weekend! For those of you who do not live in a state with tax free weekend, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like--tax free on all items as looong as they're under 100 dollars! So you know what that means! We saved a bundle! I talked to the girls and we decided to split the price down the middle. I'm using the left over room in our budget for the dresses for a spa day! (right before I work them like dogs...heh heh)

As for my MOH, my little sister of 16, I decided after looking at some swatches and thinking reeeally hard to put her in a completely different dress. "What?" you may ask. Yes, it's true. I'm putting her in a long dress made of hammered gold satin. Why? For one, I really wanted her to look different some way. Two, she looked absolutely stunning in the dress. I wish I had a picture of her in it--it would floor you. Here's the dress worn by some model.



We thought we might throw in a cornflower flower pin on the waist to tie her in with the other girls a bit more. I had originally ordered her the SAME dress as the other girls but in a different color. But, once DB finally got the swatch I immediately thought "Oh no, that is definitely tan." Had I named the color it would be "camel" not "golden." Anyhow, I'm very glad I switched it up. I think it will be great for the big day!