Yesterday we sent out the wedding invitations after weeks of working on them. Hoping everyone makes their way to this site for information on the wedding which I’ll be posting soon.
Memorial day weekend was the marker of four years since we started dating- and a Year since Nick proposed in Hawaii. Lots has changed. It’s also now less than three months til our wedding!
1. Found some GREAT shoes on Zappos.com. Totally love them, flats, I got them in silver, there’s a little bling.
2. Cake is done! Our Best Man came along, and one of our friends to help us pick the flavors. Due to the size of our wedding, we’re having a pretty large cake. It’ll make a big impression I think, with the dramatic and bold colors we went with.
3. Paper for the invites arrived today. Got all the gate-fold cards and the Silver envelopes. These are going to be pretty awesome I think, and I’m excited that Nick likes to play with a heat gun, it’ll make creating them much easier and fun since we’re making them together.
4. Got the honeymoon booked! We’re going on an adventure to Costa Rica. We’ll be staying by a volcano/hot springs for the first half of the honeymoon, where we’ll do some ATV tours and hiking. Then heading to the coast for beach time on the edge of a tropical jungle and an exciting National Park – Manuel Antonio National Park. I’m super excited about the park as they have lots of monkeys, butterflies, and sloths and it’s one of the most ecologically diverse and populated parks in the world.
5. My dress came in and last Monday I tried it on. It’s beautiful – I’m not showing it here cause I don’t want to chance Nick seeing it. I have my first fitting at the end of May.
I’m a practical gal, and it’s nearly impossible to find CUTE flat shoes that are my style and flats. I’ll be standing most of the day and heels would just make me ridiculously taller than Nick. I must have gone through zappos, endless shoes, shoes.com, my glass slipper, not being able to find quite what I was looking for. The original shoe that caught my eye was a swanky pair from an overseas designer. Super cute, but way out of my price range.
Liana butterfly flats, by Aruna Seth
I decided to just go with a pair I found tonight from a designer I already own a pair from (that I really like). These are silver leather with a small jewel accent and a peep-toe. I think these shoes won’t compete with the dress. I’ll also be able to get a nice pedicure and have it peep through.
I came across BHLDN, a new company that has lots of really cool looking fashion specifically for engagement parties and weddings. They’ll be opening a store soon in Chicago and I would love to wander around it and get inspiration for looks for my wedding day. The black dress below is super cute – I like the sweetheart neckline and tulle peeping from the bottom of the skirt.
Been pretty busy between work, wedding save-the-dates, and Christmas. This is the first year in a few that I didn’t have time to make Christmas cards. Hoping everyone had a great holiday!
…I am thankful for
I’m Thankful for all the support I’ve been getting and all that I’ve accomplished wedding-wise over the last few months.
According to the Knot, I’m only 270 days away from the wedding, and I swear they just sent me an email saying it’s about 9 months out, which seems like even less time to plan it all out and save up for all the expenses. But most people I talk to say I’m doing great.
I’ve gotten a chance to update the banner now that we have engagement photos to play with. These were taken by our friend Al!
Save the Dates
Today I got my save-the-dates. I designed them, ordered online, and got them super quickly. They unexpectedly came with cute mini-envelopes. I’m now waiting on my return labels (also designed by me) to arrive. They should be here any day now, and that’s when I have to tackle the address labels/stamps/printing information cards to affix magnets to and with a flurry and a hope sending them out to the giant list of possible attendees.
The Dress
I found the dress at A’Lamour a few weeks ago. I tried on a bevvy of dresses but this one stood out when it was hanging on the hook in my dressing suite. It was somewhat different from what I had initially thought I wanted – it’s still a mermaid but not quite as curve hugging as the other dresses I tried on over the course of the search. It’s dramatic and has a matte satin ivory fabric that I also hadn’t thought I wanted. I can’t wait to go to a dress fitting to see it again. I’m sure that day will come too soon as I have to lose an inch in my waist to fit in it (as of a few weeks ago – and pre-holiday festivities).
Now I can start thinking of accessorizing. I’ve been enjoying searching etsy, Kirsten Kuhn is one of my favorites so far. Shoes are another thing I’ve been looking into. I want matte ivory satin flats with either built in bling or shoe clips that I’ll sew in since I’m going to dance a LOT. I need to find a veil or blusher, thinking something fingertip length and with a little extra on the trim.
Bridesmaid dresses.
I always wanted to be like “you can wear whatever” but that day is gone. I want the dresses to be blue, the same designer so the blues match at least. Its hard to get four grown women together to shop. I’ve narrowed it down to two designers based on our first experience shopping for dresses. I need to find time to call dress shops to see the random price range of these designers so I can determine which one would be more economical to pick from so as not to break the bank on my bridesmaids. This is oddly stressful for me since it’s involving my friends wearing something for me.
Photographer
Did I mention I got a photographer? He’s awesome, met them at a bridal expo. After looking over a billion different websites and other photographers, including friends’, we decided on Merit Photography to take care of our photos. The first photo in the gallery was the one that caught my eye. I like that they do formal and photojournalist style pictures.
http://www.meritphotovideo.com/gallery2/
….and more to plan
We start meeting with DJs in December. Trying to find one that isn’t cheesy, obnoxious, and can roll together country, pop/contemporary, with big band jazz. Yea that’s a pretty tall order I’m sure.
Invites…I want to design them but there’s a part of me that says ordering them would be the easy way out. Expensive, but easy.
We went to bed bath and beyond and registered for a bunch of things we need around the house – and of course some beyond as well….
Modern Retro
I don’t have my dress yet, but I think I’ve found my hairstylist- or someone that can do what I think I want my hair to look like day-of. I pretty much have one vision in my head that I keep going back to when thinking of what I think a bride should look like. It’s pretty much Audrey Hepburn. First image that comes to mind is her role in My Fair Lady. 
Second is her role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and her beautiful updo.
The classic updo
Other inspirations that I’ve got in mind are Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, and Billie Holiday. Are these styles really considered retro?
I don’t think they should be. I’ve been known to attempt to put my hair up into a french twist a la’ Joan from Mad Men – which is definitley influencing this era’s style. I love that Banana Republic (which happens to be where my engagement dress came from) is carrying a line inspired by Mad Men.
My Engagement dress
Let’s bring back the style of that era but in the social freedom of this generation! So these are my style inspirations.
I think the right hair style is really important the day of the wedding. I have very straight hair and really want it to be inspired by these images, but of course it should be something that works with my hair.
This weekend we’re taking engagement photos – which I was thinking I would be able to have my hair done for. Turns out that there’s no time for me to have a hairstylist work their magic this weekend, but in the process of searching I found one hairstylist that caught my eye.
Best thing about this hair stylist is that she’s rated best of Wedding Wire 2011, she’s been doing this for 20 years, and she’s still available on our wedding date next year! Theodora called me right away when I emailed her this evening, so kudos to her for being quick to respond. She’s going to send me information as to packages and deals but I really hope I click with her and I can use her!
The hair stylist: Theodora Bourikas – Website: http://www.bridalhairstylist.com/Aboutme.html
These are the blue and white flower bouquet inspirations I’m drawing off of for my wedding bouquets.
Last night Nick and I went to a venue that my mom had mentioned while we were still looking for places downtown. She happened to mention it again this weekend, and Nick came across it when searching for venues. We LOVE it. The prices include gratuity, and we just need to add the 10.5% tax. Alcohol is included, and they do have vegetarian options for food. The place even rents LED uplighting for half the amount each than every other place I’ve visited. There’s a HUGE chandelier above the center of the dance floor. There’s plenty of nice hotels in the area, and we can arrange a shuttle for the guests staying there. There’s also plenty of parking, and if someone really doesn’t want to drive it’s by Golf Mill mall and there’s public transit to the area. The whole place was just remodeled and its nicely done. The brides room is huge and pretty. I’m releaved we’ve found a place! We’re taking my parents over this Wednesday to see the place.
achicagowedding 