Category — what to wear

Robin writes to ask:

I would like to know what is appropriate attire for a female guest at a New Year’s Eve wedding. HELP!

Well Robin, I’m going to assume that the invitation didn’t specify black tie/formal and that it’s at night.  I say throw on your favorite party dress and go!  The only true no-gos (although this is becoming more lax) are black, white, and ivory.  And this year, jewel tones are all the rage.  My only advice is that you pick something that isn’t super-bright, as those tones tend to really come out to the forefront in pictures and you don’t want to outshine the bride!

{All dresses from Nordstrom - clockwise: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

If you feel the situation calls for a more formal gown, these are some great choices in longer lengths:

 
{All dresses from Nordstrom: 1, 2, 3, 4}

Anyone have other suggestions for Robin?

E.

All this week, A and I will be answering some of the emails we have received from our readers.  First up is Loren, who asks:

I would love any suggestions or guidance. My fiance is an officer in the Navy and would like to wear his choker whites (white uniform, top to bottom) to the wedding. He has 7 groomsmen, 4 of whom are also in the Navy. My fiance would like to have those in the Navy also wear their choker whites but we can’t decide what to put the other 3 in. We are having a garden wedding in late summer 2009 with a casual feel. Any suggestions? Ultra light khaki suits? Dark navy suits? I haven’t even started to contemplate what the bridesmaids will wear.. I have always loved burnt orange or chocolate brown…

Well Loren, I think you can go a variety of ways here.  If your event was going to be inside or more formal, my suggestion would be dark navy or black suits or even the old stand-by, tuxedos.  But since you are having a garden event, I would dress the groomsmen in whatever you love best if the uniforms weren’t an issue.  I have always been a huge fan of khaki suits for garden weddings (with a tie the color of your bridesmaid gowns) and I think that would look lovely here!

Some khaki suit inspiration for you:

 
{Jenna Walker Photography}

And for some beautiful burnt orange outdoor inspiration, check out this wedding we featured from Vallentyne Photography.

Readers, any other suggestions for Loren?

E.

I’m in shell shock from the price quotes I’ve gotten from hair and makeup people. Seriously? Up to $175 for hair alone?  The same for makeup?  Kill. me. now.

I recently had a consultation with less insanely priced, (but still more than I budget for) hair/makeup artist. I was referred to him through my benevolent bride friend, after I saw how incredibly glowing and lovely she looked in her photos. He seems great - I really like his energy.  However, I’m just not sure I can rationalize the cost…. but I can’t do it on my own, either.

I’m not much of a make-up person. On a daily basis I wear sunscreen and lip gloss. Sometimes I wear mascara and blush gel too… but that’s about as far as it goes. Oftentimes, when I get makeup professionally done, it feels cakey and matte. It might look great on film, but in person, its 3 layers deep. I don’t want that for my wedding. I want to have a radiant, dewy look that looks great both on film and in person. More like I just had an invigorating romp - all flushed and natural. Is it possible?

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Oh, hello Myra from Twigs & Honey!  Why, what a beautiful flower you’re wearing… what?  It’s for me??

That’s right!  This week I received this GORGEOUS flower in the mail for my wedding!!  It’s so beautiful in person, and I think will be so pretty in my hair on my wedding day.  It’s so tactile, I couldn’t resist the urge to touch it when it came (with clean fingers, of course)!

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Finding dress shoes is always a difficult task for me. I think my feet are pretty, but they’re quite narrow and flat - so I often slide right through sandals. I also have the longer second toe, known as Morton’s Toe (which is rumored to denote wisdom - yeah, dawg) but makes it quite difficult to find shoes that fit comfortably.

So, I knew that while my mom was in town, we had to finally find the perfect shoes. Perfect in style, heel height, color, and most of all - affordability! After so many shoes have broken my heart with their pricetag (hello, Prada) or stiletto heel (4″, seriously?)… I was starting to lose hope for redemption.

We checked out Nordstrom first - and found a pretty pair in pink…. on sale for $40. Not bad.

See? My middle toe almost hangs off the base! But this is a pretty good fit, for me.

But neither of us were too keen on the silver rhinestones, and the heel was at least an inch too high. But the price was so good, my mom suggested we could try to get a cobbler to shorten the heels. In the end, we just weren’t 100% sold on them… so we bid adieu and moved on.

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Many of my friends got married the same summer I did. It was fun to compare notes during the wedding planning process. During one conversation, a dear friend said, “Yeah, our wedding isn’t too expensive either. Aside from the food at the reception, everything is pretty reasonable.”

I reminded her, “Aren’t you having your dress custom designed? How expensive is that?”

“Oh, that. I forgot. The dress costs about $2,000.”

That was our entire budget!

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Back when I visited Claire Pettibone’s boutique, I was introduced to the wonderfully organic, handcrafted, custom headpieces made by the wondrous Tracy of TS Tiara. The moment I was crowned with one of Tracy’s unique and inspired twig headbands…. I knew I had to look no further. They were so bohemian, so rockstar… just hippie enough, but with a touch of the funk…. absolutely perfect.

Even better in person!

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I’m so excited to share these pictures with everyone!  The only good pictures I had were of the back of my dress, on a model, so it’s wonderful to finally share what my dress looks like on me!!

Yesterday was my very first dress fitting for alterations, and my next one will be in about a month. Hopefully that will be it, but I’ve left myself some time in case more needs to be done.  I think I’ll be okay - I’m only having the top taken in and the length shortened slightly.  Other than that, it fit like a glove!

I brought along my orange shoes, my “shapewear”, and a veil a family friend is willing to let me borrow.  After she was finished pinning….. :

And here is a picture of the vintage brooch I bought off of Ebay last week, to pin under the bustline:

Along with a vintage bracelet:

Okay, so I’d like your advice!  What do you think of the veil??  Is it too short?  I think the comb is a little large, but I could deal with that.  I’ll be wearing my hair in a low bun, kind of like the last picture, and will have a fluffy flower piece in from Myra at Twigs & Honey.  Any suggestions or ideas??

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My sister’s daughter is a wedding professional. As in, she’s so cute everyone in our family asks her to be a flower girl. When I asked her to be in my wedding, she had only one requirement. Her request? That her dress not be scratchy. She was tired of itchy seams in the dresses! Our solution? The fabulous French seams of Strasburg Children.

For those of you with children in your weddings, I highly recommend this shop.  We were able to find the cutest pink silk dupioni dresses at a reasonable price.  The dresses were also extremely comfortable and we had no complaints from the little girls in our wedding.

A.

For my wedding, I wanted to make sure that each of my bridesmaids received not only heartfelt gifts from me for all their hard work, but something that I had made with my own two hands. After planning on making them a set of matching earrings and necklace to compliment their fab dresses from Vera Wang Bridesmaids, I went to work on getting all the supplies and brushed up on my jewelry making skills.

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