It is true.  I am very indecisive… I may have mentioned this before.  It drives Lance insane and isn’t one of the best qualities to have when trying to plan a wedding.

An example:  I thought I wanted some type of flower piece in my hair, but now I think I want to headband it.

I am Loving these new lace-y vintage-y headbands from Oh My Deer.

*above photos via Oh My Deer

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These lovely, ethereal flower headpieces from whichgoose are warming my heart on a cold evening…

Hi All,  Happy 2010!   Since my engagement has been on the long side (18 months) I’ve been spoiled with time and been taking it easy…but that’s all changed.  It’s less than 6 months till the big day and I am feeling the pressure to make decisions and plan, plan, plan!

I chose my 11 bridesmaids a few months ago with envelope pocket cards promising to take them into consideration when picking the dresses.  True to my word, I sent out an email last month listing three dress scenarios and asking them to vote for their preference.   I wanted to make it as easy and affordable and possible so I went with the following three choices:  1) Bride will pick a color at JCREW, and bridesmaids can choose any dress in that color  2)  Bride will pick a color, and bridesmaids can pick any dress they want  3) Bride will choose several dresses at a store (Nordstrom, White House | Black Market, etc) and bridesmaids can choose one of those dresses.  ,

To my great surprise, 9 out of the 11 bridesmaids voted for Option #1 - J. Crew!  So I set up an appointment to try on bridesmaid dresses at the Georgetown J. Crew with my bridesmaid Kate.  Going along with my “au natural” vision for the wedding, the only colors I was interested for the girls’ dresses were cream, tan, grey and gold.  However, after Kate tried on those colors, we came to the conclusion that they not only washed her out but also showed every wrinkle in the fabric and weren’t very forgiving….  I was paralyzed - I had no Plan B….but I knew I would not make the 11 girls wear a color felt uncomfortable with.  After much deliberation, we chose NAVY - a slimming color that exudes class still.  I’ve asked the girls to pick out any short,  cotton, navy dress at J. Crew and wear silver shoes (FYI, if you order the dresses from the store with a student or teacher ID, you get 15% off).   They’ll be carrying bouquets of white flowers with lots of green leaves and be escorted by groomsmen in classic tuxes with no vests.

Although my vision was thrown off and my color choices were vetoed, I am even happier with this new vision.  The new color choice also brought me too an additional decision I am excited about - the flowergirls and ringbearers outfits!  When I thought the bridesmaids were going to wear neutral, I was going to have the kids in classic white…however, now that my maids are in navy, I’ve decided to have my two flowergirls and ringbearer in Polish folk costumes!  They will add a festive pop of color and preserve my cultural heritage in pictures forever.  I am so excited!  So without further ado, here is my updated inspiration board on what my wedding party will be wearing.

How has your vision for the day changed along the way?

I must have heard that question at least 50 times, followed by a look of bewilderment when I responded that we didn’t really have one. I know it makes things easier and helps you to visualize a final product, but flea markets didn’t have color schemes. Alas, in the end, one ended up emerging, but it literally wasn’t until the few weeks before the wedding!

It started with my dress, which is “Leah” by Elizabeth Fillmore. I found it on my lunch break with my co-worker (also one of my best friends and bridesmaids). It was not a big event, my mom and sister weren’t there and there was no champagne clinking. It was low-key and mellow, very much as I had wanted. Although, Alana did make me hug her when I said this was the dress.

Then came my three bridesmaids. I never wanted all of the girls to wear matching dresses and I did not want them to spend a lot of money for them. I knew I wouldn’t be getting the dresses from a bridal salon so I hit the internet for cocktail dresses. Nordstrom, Macys, Dillards, everywhere I could think that might have some affordable options that they might actually want to wear again.

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Sometimes inspiration boards, well, inspire me.  And this peach pink and gold inspiration board from last week was one that I could really see building an entire wedding around.

sourced here

So I decided to whip up a little project to pair with the board, and settled on a feminine headband with fluffy organza flowers.

Supplies needed:

• 1/2 yard of toast organza
• 1/2 yard of ivory organza
• two neutral color ponytail holders
• your choice of beads
• needle and nylon thread
• a length of ribbon, measured for your head size (mine was roughly 18″)

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[Tom, who made your wedding suit?]

It is so hard to find a good fitting suit for the short thin man in the States. I know, because the boy and I covered some serious ground in San Diego and the OC, only to realize that everything is way. too. big. What was even more frustrating is that salesmen tried to convince us that suits that clearly did not fit in the shoulders were perfect on him. Sorry Hugo Boss, we’re not shelling out two thousand on a suit only to have it pulled apart for alterations.

[Our mission? A blue slim-cut suit, similar to this one out of Martha Stewart Weddings. Suit from Richard James; photo from Martha Stewart Weddings]

“This is how a suit is supposed to fit,” they would tell me at each store.  Granted that I do not wear suits, and I am not a professional tailor or even know how to mend loose buttons, but even I knew that the 36S (the smallest most stores carried) didn’t fit. Nothing was proportional to the boy’s frame, it looked like he was swimming in someone else’s clothes. Finally, honest salesmen at Bloomingdale’s and theory told us the truth after seeing the boy in the smallest jacket they carried. We had two choices: get it tailored or hit up the boys department. So we began our hunt.

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Mmmm. You already know I adore anything DIY and anything a little bit vintage.  So I definitely did a little happy dance when I saw this gorgeous lace and crochet scarf on With This Ring…

{Tutorial found at Ruffles & Stuff}

And naturally I have a new blog obsession with Ruffles & Stuff now too!

Emily’s gown dazzled me from the second I laid eyes on it.  When I read that it was the same gown that her mother and aunt wore, altered to remove the sleeves and add lace from her grandmother’s gown, I loved it even more.

{Tracy Turpen}

Did you catch that the detail on her cake matches her cap sleeves?  Lovely.

So I touched briefly in my previous post about how much I love monochromatics. Well, I do. Like a lot. And since I already had you all hooked while I blogged about flowers, I figure I’m gonna continue the trend for another week or two whilst divulging about some of my personal favorite things to see at weddings as a designer!

First up: the monochromatic look for bridesmaids. I love it. I beyond love it. I swoon for it. And, sadly, I could not find a single good shot from a real In The Now 2009 wedding to show you. I did have a few, but I’ve been bad about requesting images so alas, google to the rescue! Now, for the soapbox portion of my post…

via TheKnot.com

Having your bridesmaids hold bouquets in the same tone [and, if possible, exact shade] that they are wearing is a hip and easy way to to spice up your wedding palette. It’s the best way to bring the modern to your wedding party! Even better than having their wear short dresses, different dresses, or different colors than one another. I’m a huge fan of allowing your bridesmaids to pick a dress that suits them stylistically and body-type wise (or, actually, hand-picking the dresses for them as the bride with your event designer works, too! I know it’s something I love to be involved in, as it truly gives a huge statement to the “wedding look” as a whole).

But, adding in the element of a monochromatic bouquet into the mix just screams modern in a way that will get you noticed! Just look at the image above. The bride is holding the SAME flowers as all of the girls, but because the girls are painted in all-yellow, something about the bride looks so special and different! Beyond that, the wedding looks fresh, different, and totally fun to attend- am I right? I mean, I want to be there right NOW!! Some more of my favorite snaps from around the web:

Found on OneWed.com

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I’m back! We moved into our new home and I am loving it!

Now that moving and unpacking is behind us, it’s now time to think about our first wedding celebration.  It is only (3) weeks away!

First up is the wedding rings.  Originally I was against the exchanging of rings portion of the ceremony because I didn’t want to take away from the official wedding.  Boy did Etsy change my mind! They have the best alternative rings.  What a great way to have a memento of the big day.

Here are my favorites!

This first one was incredibly sweet.  I had been eying this for quite a while.  I love the unique look of this band.  It is simple yet very sweet.

via White Fly on Etsy

I typically am not a “birdie” fan but find this ring really cool.  I don’t know if this one says wedding in any way, but it’s still great.

via Ottobone on Etsy

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I had never tried on a wedding dress before getting engaged. Wedding dresses had this power for me, like they were sacred and NOT to be worn until it was for real. In retrospect it was kind of silly to feel this way considering that I’ve worn white dresses before and there’s certainly nothing sacred about tulle, but in any case, that was how I felt.

I got engaged on a Saturday, and quite a few people flew out to see the show (unbeknownst to me). Jeff and I had talked at length before getting engaged about when we’d like to be married, so I knew that whenever we got engaged, it would not be a terribly long engagement. Let’s just say I was not going to waste time–I was going to get my girlfriends together in the next week or so to drink copious amounts of champagne to watch me try on both good and horrific dresses.

I woke up the next morning to my mother telling me in no uncertain terms that she was devastated that she would not be able to see her baby try on wedding dresses. She was flying back to North Carolina that day and although she could fly back out, it wouldn’t be until after the dress shopping, champagne bingeing fiasco had commenced.

Sob (both of us).

Me, “Well, there is this one bridal shop that I’ve always thought was cute. We could swing by there on the way to the airport and I could at least try on a dress or two so that even if you don’t get to see the final dress that gets picked, you can see the first one I try!”

Mom, “Great idea, let’s go five minutes ago”

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Since our civil wedding is coming up in about a month, I really need to get on the ball and make sure I have all of my ducks in a row! I’m sure it is going to be quite cold and thinking of getting a cute little wrap to go over my dress.  Just like this one!

Fashion Bride via Weddingbee

I really like the look of these; a little more appropriate for my dress.

via Modern Romance

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