Dresses Galore!

It's been a big week. I tried-on and officially took ownership of my wedding gown on Tuesday. It's still at the store (Yvonne's Bridal Gallery). I figured their storage was safe and convenient. It fits pretty well. It will need to be hemmed slightly. The tummy is a little tight but I can keep working at losing a few more pounds. I still have 6 months to go so I'm not worried yet. The bust area will need some alterations or added padding.

The bridesmaids dresses also arrived yesterday! What a pleasant surprise - 6 weeks early! Neatly packaged in a cardboard box came 6 periwinkle dresses with sunset orange sashes from Aria Bridesmaid. They are the perfect color. The periwinkle is more blue than purple, which is what I wanted. Soon I will gather the girls to distribute the dresses. Exciting!

Back From Vaca - Wedding Planning Commence!

Michael and I had a great mini vacation. We visited Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe. We even stopped at 4 New Mexico breweries. We returned late Tuesday night and now it's Friday already. One of our favorite attractions was the Albuquerque Zoo. Here is a photo of us in front of the flamingos:While we were in Taos, I made sure we stopped by Artwares Contemporary Jewelry. I knew they carried K. Brunini Jewelry and I wanted to see if they had anything in her "Twig" Collection (see blog post from 12/26/08). They did not. But they did have another ring I was fond of. The designer is Roberto Coin. Here is what it looked like: As far as wedding planning goes, there has been progress on the floral front. I met with Floral Designer, Douglas Koch. I first met him at a wedding show in Catskill in 2008. A few weekends ago, we met for several hours at his home office in Athens, NY. I loved his ideas, his breadth of knowledge, and obvious experience. Since then we have been negotiating and tweaking a proposed contract. I will keep you posted. The highlights of the wedding and reception floral design are: hydrangeas, roses, grape vine, and burlap!

Time For A Break

Wedding planning is progressing nicely. However... it's time for a break. Plus, winter is lasting way too long (like it always does). Mike and I are going on a 5-day mini-vacation this Thursday to New Mexico! I've never been to the Southwest before. We're flying from Albany, NY to Albuquerque, NM. We will be renting a car and driving around Albuquerque, and then Taos and Santa Fe as well. Although Albuquerque will be much warmer, the other two cities won't be much better since they have higher elevations. I plan on keeping my eyes open for jewelry stores and galleries that might contain the perfect wedding bands for me and/or Michael. But that's the extent of any wedding anything. Yesterday I went to a bridal show in Saratoga called the 'Star and Moon Bridal Show'. I went with my good friend who is also engaged. It was a bit overwhelming, but fun nonetheless. I was mostly in search of entertainment, probably a DJ. There were many at the show and I made an effort to meet and talk to each one. Whew! I also OD'ed on cake.

Save-The-Dates

As I said in a previous post: "I quasi-designed, ordered, and have already received the save-the-date postcards from VistaPrint. VistaPrint is a huge online print shop that enables self-service design, proofing and ordering via the web<-- how easy is that? They were fun to make, ridiculously inexpensive and ready for distribution after the Holidays."

...after the Holidays... I finally sent our save-the-date postcards last week. I used the latest available postcard stamps: Tropical Fruit! I think they went very well with the fun theme of the postcards. I contemplated printing the addresses on labels, but decided to hand-write them instead. After I mailed them I felt a wave of excitement and officialdom. Here is what the front of the postcard looks like:

Not that it is at all obvious, but Mike and I went for a 'water' theme with the photos we chose. The first photo is of me at Lake Taghkanic State Park at our annual Fall Camping Trip this past October. The second photo is of Mike and me on Venice Beach, CA during sunset in November 2007. The third photo is of Mike preparing a hook while fishing in Canada Lake at our friend's camp this past August.

My Father's a Philatelist

A Philatelist is a specialist in Philately: one who collects or studies postage stamps. My Father has been a Philatelist since his adolescence. It is a major hobby of his. It was not his career, but it probably could have been. My parents' house even has a "stamp room". Well, with such a special talent in my immediate family, I wanted utilize it somehow in the wedding. I've seen a trend in bridal magazines and wedding blogs for the invitations to be mailed using vintage postage stamps. I asked my Dad if he was up for the task and of course he gladly accepted. He is in the process of acquiring old 'Love' stamps. I can't wait to see what he gets! Here are some inspiring photos of wedding invitations with vintage stamps:

Wedding Shoes

Today I began to think about what I want to wear on my feet for the big day. I googled "wedding shoes" and within 2 minutes I was bored. They all looked the same to me. I've noticed a trend these days in brides wearing funky or colorful shoes. I presume that 99% of the time the shoes are covered by your wedding dress and nobody can see them. The way I see it, the shoes' biggest job is to provide a photo opp and to give comfort and confidence to the bride. You might know by now that my favorite color is blue. What about a pair of blue shoes? They could also fill the role of "something blue" (if I even pay attention to that, we'll see). The other consideration I must keep in mind is my height. I'm already a tiny smidgen taller than the groom, so I'd prefer not to wear heels. I also thought about the weather and temperature on my wedding day. Late September could still be sandals or open-toed weather - but it doesn't have to be... So many considerations! Don't forget that blue is one of the wedding colors too. Well, I found a few pairs of flat, funky, blue shoes on eBay that all caught my fancy. What do you think?

Betsey Johnson AFD

Jessica Simpson

Mia

Style & Co.

Back On Track

The bridesmaids dresses have been ordered. Whew! After months of browsing, researching, looking, asking for advice/opinions, thinking, searching, imagining, and visualizing, I have made my decision. My bridesmaids will all be wearing Aria dresses of their choosing. Here are the 5 dresses that the 6 ladies decided on:

The color of the dresses will be periwinkle and the fabric silk shantung. Each dress will also have a removable sash in sunset gold. I wanted to ensure that the sash is detachable so that if they ever decide to wear their dresses again, a clashing orange accessory wont hinder them (I mean, come on, blue and orange?).

We're ahead of schedule. The dresses take about 3 months to be custom-made and shipped. Sometime in May we will all get together to try-on the dresses and determine if any alterations are needed.
Aria dresses are made in the U.S.A.! In all my research, I have found the Aria dresses to be the most affordable custom bridesmaids dresses available. The aria website is easy-to-use and very informative. My favorite part of the website is the album of real weddings and all the bridesmaids that have come before us.