From top left to bottom right: 1. Baby's Breath bouquets for the bridesmaids. The bride's male attendant will probably have a baby's breath boutonniere. 2. The bridesmaids will be wearing solid chocolate brown tea/knee-length dresses of their own choosing. 3. The groomsmen will either be wearing boutonnieres of non-floral natural elements or the glass flowers that I blogged about for my fascinator. 4. The reception will be all about the candlelit ambiance. 5. Centerpieces will include candles sunk into coffee beans in homage to our meeting through Starbucks. 6. The Groom's Cake will probably be Carrot or Rum cake aaand delicious. 7. These are the earrings that the bride and bridesmaids will be wearing in 3 different finishes. 8. The bride (hey, that's me!) will be sporting finger waves. 9. This is me, in my dress, with my tattoo! 10. The groom and groomsmen will be wearing tuxedos, most likely in espresso brown or slate gray. 11. The Bride's "Cake" will be a pie buffet. 12. A contender for our wedding bands. 13. I'm considering getting a red parasol to match my shoes, although I'll be carrying a wheat bouquet in the ceremony. 14. I think a little handpainted sign like this would be a lovely way to guide folks from the parking lot down the path to our venue. 15. I'd love to include either family wedding pictures or pictures of us over the years somewhere, likely at the guestbook table. 16. These are my shoes! And I love them! 17. Our ceremony & reception venue.
Most of this is old news to anyone who has been reading my blog for a while, but I figure a little pictorial summary can't hurt.
Well, I took my dress in to get altered today. All it really requires is hemming of the dress, lining, and front panel. Judging by the tailor's marks, it looks like about 4 inches are coming off. I must say, that begs the question, "How tall was the girl who previously owned this dress?!" I mean, really. It fits my 5'6", 110 lb self like a dream except for the length. Was she 5'10" with my same body type? Dang.
When she asked what the dress was for, I said it was for a college dance, which could definitely be the truth (I actually suspect that it was originally marketed as a prom or similar dress). I don't know that she'd bump up the price over the word "wedding", but I certainly wouldn't be the first to encounter inflation over that one little word. I figured a little lie certainly wouldn't hurt anything. As it is, she quoted me $40, pointing out the slippery fabric, draped back, and several layers. I have no idea how that compares to other local prices, but either way, it seems reasonable enough to me, and she did a beautiful job on a jacket that my dad brought to her so I thiiink I'm in good hands.
Since I have bridal portraits scheduled for the 23rd of this month, my dress should be back in my hands by the 22nd. The tailor said that'd be fine. Nevertheless, I have this irrational fear that they'll go out of business (despite the great abundance of orders hung on racks in the store) and I'll never get my dress back! Gah! I don't know how you brides do it when you special-order your dress. I couldn't imagine having it out of your possession for 8 months. 2 weeks is more than enough for me, thanks.
One of my currently in-progress DIY wedding projects is my fascinator.
a scarf of crochet work, lace, or the like, narrowing toward the ends, worn as a head covering by women.
For the record, mine is not a scarf of crochet work, lace or the like, but I love the word fascinator, so that's what it shall be called. I think it's a thing that fascinates, so it still works, eh?
When I visited my matron of honor/sister last month, we happened across some gorgeous glass flowers dying to be turned into fascinators. We couldn't decide between 3 of them, so all 3 came home with me. That's a rare splurge in my planning process - I blame my sister, but really, I thank her, since she insisted on buying 2 of them for me (I practically had to force her to let me pay for 1 of them). After I bought my red shoes, I decided to use the red ones to bring in the same pop of color somewhere else in my "ensemble".
Seeeee?
My only concern is their weight. Being glass, they're not heavy per se, but they're also not exactly light. I need to find a clip or comb to wire it to that will stay in my hair really well to support their weight.
Since my mother has her doubts (and I begrudgingly admit I do too), I went ahead and arranged a back-up plan. While browsing on Craig's List, I saw someone listing their wedding dress and accessories. I spied a pretty hair flower a la Twigs & Honey in her listing, so I asked if she'd take $10 for it. In person, it's maybe slightly larger than I'd find ideal but a) it was $10, b) I can maybe remove some of the outer petals to make it smaller and c) it's really very pretty as is and complements my dress color perfectly.
My camera battery currently needs to be recharged, so I don't have any photos of it yet, but it looks a lot like this one, but with some center petals more toward a yellow hue, and minus the feathers.
source It also has some pearls and crystals in the center. Pretty, pretty. Also, this was apparently the bride's backup fascinator that she bought new, so it's never been worn.
I do really hope I can get the glass flowers to work, but I'd be happy with this option too. What do you think?
That's right. As soon as I found my dress, I knew pretty well exactly how I wanted to wear my hair. I remember standing there in front of the mirror in the consignment shop (a story for another time) grinning like a loon, falling in love with my dress as I decided it was mine, looking at it from every angle and saying to my mom and the shopkeeper, "Is it just me, or would fingerwaves look amazing with this dress?" They unequivocally agreed. Or at least they were nice enough to claim to agree with me. One of those.
Fingerwaves. Hairstyle of a bygone era, occasionally reclaimed by a hollywood starlet for a red carpet here or there. Also, the hairstyle sported by my grandmother at her wedding, and in other portraits hanging in my parents' dining room.
Here's a low-quality shot of a lovely picture of my grandparents. I'm named for her, Mary Lorraine.
In looking for photos of finger wave hairstyles, it seems that most stylists use gobs and gobs of gel that hardens in a rather sloppy fashion. Ideally, I'd like something more like this:
source Hopefully I won't squish it too much with my birdcage veil. Maybe I need the gobs of gel after all.
These pictures make me happy in part because I'm already sick of growing my hair out. I've already gotten my hair about as long as the cuts in these pictures, so I can probably start getting it trimmed again but keep growing my bangs out. I can't recall when I last grew my bangs out. 4th grade? 6th grade? Ugh. Always a pain.
source This photo is so strikingly beautiful, yes? The hairstyle, the beautiful girl, the era it evokes, the soft focus.. *sigh* ..everything, really.
I had dinner with Opie's family tonight for his grandmother's birthday. I sat next to his aunt (who happens to be a complete and total sweetheart) who works at a very high end hair salon in the area. She's specialized in color for quite some time now, but I figured there was no harm in asking if she happens to know how to do fingerwaves. She responded that she hadn't done them in 10 years but that her salon also specializes in bridal hairstyling, and she could "hook me up". In other words, she uber-generously insists on paying someone from her (did I mention "very high end"?) salon to do my hair trial and on-site day-of styling!!! Oh my goodness! My mom and I were going to try to figure out how to DIY this, but I'm so ecstatic to be unexpectedly placed in the hands of a professional!
I'm feeling particularly lovey-dovey tonight. Therefore, I'm pondering what song should be played for our first dance. Allow me to introduce my current contenders [pending Opie's approval]. Click on the links to be led to youtube videos of these songs:
Sweet Lorraine - Nat King Cole This is probably the first one to come to mind for both of us, as Lorraine is my middle name and I've always felt connected to this song. It's certainly one of "our songs". That being said, the lines about "each night I pray no one will steal her heart away" bother me a bit for the song to kick off our marriage.
What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong It really is a wonderful world with my love beside me, y'know? Also, I looove Armstrong's vocals. It's a shame he never did a version of Sweet Lorraine that I'm aware of.
Sea of Love - Cat Power I definitely cried the first time I heard Cat Power's cover of this song. I think I fall in love with Opie all over again every time I hear this song.
Green Eyes - Coldplay This was probably the first or second song to join the ever growing list of "our songs", probably within the very first few weeks of dating. I used to leave little quotes from songs and poems and such in my away message when I'd sign off AIM for the night. Opie would then investigate where they came from (more often than not being disappointed by how depressing the majority of my music choices are. ha!) and this was one of the first to be truly romantic. It got added to his playlist for driving around ASAP.
A Kiss to Build a Dream On - Louis Armstrong This is one of Opie's top contenders, methinks. Again, I love Armstrong's voice. However, this song tends to make me think more of a crush than life-long love.
Something in the Way She Moves - James Taylor James Taylor would definitely play a central role in a soundtrack of my life. His music was my lullaby in the crib, his were the arrangements for portions of every family sing-along, and the backdrop to every road trip. This song is so beautifully romantic. I wish I could think of a JT song to use for the Father-Daughter dance. That would be so incredibly appropriate.
You and Me - The Cranberries Either this one or 'Dreams' are possibilities, though they're not quite the sound I envision for a first dance, I suppose. They'll definitely get played at some point in the evening though. We blasted the Cranberries as we drove around on our first date. I pointed out that he must be pretty secure in his masculinity to blast the Cranberries at a stoplight with all of the windows open. <3
All I Want is You - Barry Louis Polisar This, along with Cat Power's 'Sea of Love' are found on the Juno soundtrack. This song is so ridiculously adorable. Can you just imagine us both singing along to this at the top of our lungs as we drive around town together? Oh yes. It happens probably at least once a week.
Mmmmmmm, music. I'm in a lovely mood after listening to all of these on repeat for a while tonight.
Here's a little preview of the veil my mom & I are making: [click to enlarge]
The currently ever-popular super-glamorous birdcage veil! I guess the style we're making would be called a blusher. I haven't yet decided if I want to wear it just below my eyes or just below my nose. I just never saw myself wearing a veil until I discovered the birdcage. Love it.
I think it'd be super fun to set up a photo booth of sorts at our reception. I know it's a really common idea across wedding blogs for the last while, but I've yet to personally attend a wedding that has one so I don't know how mainstream it really is. Also, I think I probably just frequent the blogs of super-awesome weddings.
As neat as the little strips of photos from real photo booths are, they are a) not what I can afford, and b) not quite what I'm envisioning. I'm thinking more something like theeeese (I apologize for losing the info on where I found these images):
I looove the idea of using a fun fabric backdrop, draped from the wall down to the floor.
More fabric awesomeness. We could also provide props for extra hilarity, like my yoda backpack, our Shatner standup, paper hats, mustaches, etc. I figure we'll just set up a digital camera on self-timer on a tripod with instructions written up next to it. I'm sure we could rig up some sort of lighting, but nothing too complicated. Maybe check out some lights from my school's photo department... We could then send folks their photos with their thank you notes since I don't much feel like printing them at the reception.
I also think I want to get a flickr pro account and give out the password to our guests on the day of, so they can upload the photos they take at our wedding. I have full faith in our friends who are shooting the wedding, but it'd be fun to have extra candid shots and such.
We booked our honeymoon yesterday! It's sure to be splendiferously wonderful.
We'll be honeymooning at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach oceanfront resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
This is a Junior Suite, so it should be pretty similar to our room. Note the ocean view - with the layout of the hotel, all of the rooms overlook the ocean. Beautiful.
This resort is one of 4 sister resorts in Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos. We can take a free shuttle to the other resorts to make free use of their facilities too.
Pretty, pretty, pretty.
The Sunset Beach is on the Pacific Side with enormous waves, so swimming in the ocean is not allowed, but we can hop on over to the resorts in Los Cabos easily enough to do so. The pool facilities certainly seem ample enough, eh?
I've never really had a "tropical" vacation before. My vacations in Colorado, Washington, Ireland, England, and Canada definitely don't qualify. I've been to Mexico before, but only just across the border for an hour or two when I was 7 or 8 years old. Obviously we won't be experiencing the "real" Mexico in staying at a resort, but that's not really what we're seeking with our honeymoon either.
Whee! Our wedding (and our honeymoon!) is a little over 6 months away right now. It gets more and more real all of the time!
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