THE shoe!

This is the shoe that I want and it's sold out everywhere!!!! How is that possible?!?!?! If anyone finds this shoe in a store please purchase a size 8 1/2 (or 8 or 9, whatever is available) for me! Unfortunately it's made by numb nut Paris Hilton but I don't care, I'm in love with this shoe.

the coolest ring ever

I came across this jewelry maker on a wedding blog: http://www.etsy.com/shop/fabuluster
And they just happen to make the most amazing and unique wedding bands I've ever seen. Basically, you get a little kit in the mail and you make an impression of your finger. You send the impression back to the jewelry maker and they make your wedding band with the finger impression lining the inside of the ring. So when you wear your wedding band you'll always have your love's finger wrapped around yours. How awesome is that? Matt was having some difficulty figuring out what kind of ring he wanted so I thought this would be perfect, but I wasn't sure if he'd be into it. I showed him the pictures and he just thought it was the coolest thing ever. So this is the ring he chose (in white gold):

i <3 STAK

Our photographers, Steven and Tak recently tied the knot. So I sent them a card congratulating them on their marriage. These two are so amazingly sweet that they photographed my card and posted it on their blog thanking me. I knew when I first met them that they were special, but seeing this really touched me. If they can make my Target bought greeting card look this beautiful imagine how they'll make me look! Love it!!!
http://www.getstak.com/?postID=184&a-cool-wedding-ca

tuxedos...check!

We picked out tuxedos today and man are these guys gonna look hot! David's Bridal has a great program on their website where you can "dress" your bridal party and get an idea of how things will look. Best part is that they use Men's Wearhouse for the tuxedos, which is where we're renting from. So I made a virtual wedding party with the exact tuxedos the guys will be wearing so you can see for yourself. Woohoo!

time flies

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted. But, not much has been going on in the wedding planning realm of my life. Just received all my table runners in the mail today, love them! And the groom and I have an appointment on Sunday to look at tuxedos. Besides that, I've been obsessing over shoes.
I've been looking through picture after picture, trying to get an idea of what kind of shoe I want. I keep finding myself drawn to photos of brightly colored shoes with white wedding dresses. That pop of color is such an unexpected little surprise, I just love it!

Problem #1: my wedding is black and white, there is NO color.

Problem #2: my dress isn't white, it's champagne. So, do I go the boring traditional route and buy a pair of shoes that match my dress color or do I go with black (cuz I can't think of one bright color that champagne matches with)?

How hot are the following two shots?

Love, love, love this very expensive shoe!

Gorgeous ivory shoes, but I'm not really feeling them.

"guest book"

You know me and traditional, we don't really get along. So, instead of having a traditional guest book we're going to have a wish jar. Everyone will write down their wishes for us and place their card in the apothecary jar. After the wedding I'll scan all the cards into my computer. Using booksmart, which is a book publishing program, I'll make our own custom guest book. Each card will be next to each guest's photo from the photo booth pictures taken at the reception.
Here's what the "guest book" table will look like:

candelabras found and purchased!

what to do with my hair

This has been bugging me. In keeping with my vintage theme I would really like a vintage inspired hairstyle. For the ceremony I'll be wearing a birdcage veil but I haven't been able to find any hairstyle photos online that incorporate that kind of veil with a vintage 'do that I like. All the hairstyles that I like are shown either with a long veil or without a veil at all. So it's been hard for me to visualize what the birdcage would look like with these styles.

I haven't picked out the veil yet because I'm waiting to see what the exact color of my wedding dress looks like first. But these are the veils that I'll be choosing from (veil only, not the accessory):

And here are some hairstyles that I really like, do you think any of these would look good with the birdcage veil?

the flowers

I should have posted this awhile ago but I guess I forgot about it. My mom, sister, aunt, cousin, and myself met with the florist a few weeks back, Paul from Nyren's of New England. I already knew what I wanted for the bridesmaid's bouquets but I didn't really know what I wanted for my bouquet or the boutonniere's or the flowers for our parents. Paul had some really great ideas and I can't wait to see the final outcome!

My bouquet will have white carnations and white stephanotis with black crystals pinned in the center of each stephanotis. Like this bouquet, but imagine stephanotis throughout:

The bridesmaids will have white carnation pomanders that they'll carry on a black satin ribbon. Similar to this:

The groom's boutonniere will be white stephanotis and seeded eucalyptus, exactly like this:

The groomsmen and the fathers will all have miniature carnation boutonnieres. Our mothers will each carry white peony bouquets, like this:

sweetheart table?

I wanted to have the entire bridal party seated together at the head table. I just think it looks classier and Matt and I wanted to sit with all of our friends. But I found out the other day from the reception venue that if we're gonna do that then the table would be a long half moon shaped dealy, not a long rectangle. Which means I can't do a table runner on that kind of table. So here are my options: we can do a sweetheart table with a custom damask table cloth and the bridal party sits at other tables with their guests or we can do the weird shaped head bridal table with a custom damask overlay and everyone sits together. Either way I'll need to have some kind of table cloth custom made, it'll just be way less expensive if it's for a sweetheart table. What do you all think?

memory table

For my sister's wedding she had relatives read a poem and then light a candle to honor loved ones that have passed. It was so lovely and touching but I don't want to copy what she did so I've been looking for ideas. I'll definitely have our officiant mention their names but I think I'll also set up a memory table at the reception. I came across this great idea: escort cards with the loved ones name with a candle behind the card. I'll decorate the rest of the table with old photos. Here's the inspiration:

the salon

This is the salon where I'll be getting my hair/makeup/nails done at: http://www.maximusspasalon.com/
It's a full service high end salon. It's not in the ghetto, mom! It's at the Source Mall right across the street from the Chateau Briand. If you want to get all pretty with me let me know which services you'd like and I'll make all the appointments when the time comes.

so sad...

My gorgeous candelabras that I ordered from England apparently have gotten lost in the mail or confiscated in JFK customs :( Now I have to restart the candelabra search, ugh!

On a happier note, our toasting flutes arrived the other day. Hand painted and courtesy of Etsy at http://astrokeofjeanneius.etsy.com

the men

Since I have my dress now I've been thinking of ideas for the tuxes. Even though my all black tux idea was pooped on, I don't care. I was thinking of an all black tux with a white or damask tie for my groom and the groomsmen would have the all black ensembles. Look how hot it'll be:

the dress, yes!

I had my very first appointment today at Kleinfeld. My mom, aunt, cousin, and two of my bridesmaids came in from Connecticut for the occasion so I was determined to make a purchase. After trying on about ten or so dresses we all agreed that it came down to the first and second dresses that I tried on.

The first dress was this gorgeous Vineyard Collection dress:

Everyone loved it but we all agreed that the second dress was much more flattering for my figure. I loved them both equally for different reasons but after putting the second dress back on with the veil and hair piece I was sold. So I purchased an amazing Adele Wechsler creation and went $700 over budget, oops! I would post the picture here for everyone to see but my fiancee occasionally peeks at this blog, so you'll have to wait until the wedding!

And I would just like to say thank you to my lovely family and girlfriends who trekked on down to NYC to help me pick out my dress. And thank you Krystyna for helping me in and out of all the dresses! I'm so sorry you had to see my pasty white, cellulite ridden nakedness!

omg!

I started this blog so my lovely bridesmaids and mom could follow along with me in my wedding planning journey. My posts have been specifically for them. But as of today I now have a follower who is not related to me or in my bridal party. I'm in absolute amazement and I feel so much more special than I did 3 minutes ago. I never thought anyone else besides my family and friends would read this blog. Thank you chocolate rose for following, I'm not even sure how you found my blog to begin with!

save the date

Here are the save the dates that we designed in photoshop. I had them printed at Kinkos the other day and they came out beautiful! I'm only sending these to a limited amount of people (like those that live far away) so you ladies won't get one in the mail unless you tell me that you'd like one.

corgi favors!

Just received a couple different versions of my corgi cookie favors today. They are so cute! This one is my fav:

I'm not crazy about the way the baker packaged it, in a clear cellophane bag with a ribbon, which sounds nice but it just doesn't look right to me. What do you think?

I definitely want the packaging to be clear, I was thinking maybe just the clear bag that folds over at the end and no ribbon. Or some kind of small clear box? Dilemma.

our song

A totally nontraditional first dance song. But it's special to us and we love it. And I can't imagine dancing to anything else. Dig by Incubus

candelabras

I've been searching for the perfect (and affordable) candelabras for the head table. Today I found them on ebay so I bought two. They cost a little more than I wanted to spend because of shipping costs (they're coming from England), but they're absolutely perfect!

DIY centerpiece

Located smack dab in the center of the flower district of NYC, Jamali Garden (jamaligarden.com) is a DIY bride's paradise. My friend Jen and I went shopping there yesterday, bought some supplies, and went back to her apartment and made a centerpiece. It was so easy and so much fun and it came out beautiful, and very professional looking I think (although it could've used a few more carnations.) It's exactly what I invisioned for my centerpieces (minus the candles):

oh how i love etsy

firstcomeslove.etsy.com = amazingly beautiful and perfect Damask table runners. I received my trial runner and brought it to the reception venue yesterday to see how it would fit on the table. It was just a few inches shy of perfect. Here's what it looks like:

Keep in mind I will not be using the gold chargers (or any chargers for that matter.) I will have black napkins with the menu tucked inside and the favor on top, similar to this:

And then the centerpieces:

Just imagine those but shorter. The tables are so long that I think two small centerpieces would look better than one large one. Plus lots of candles. How pretty is this tablescape going to be?

choose wisely

As requested here is the link to our DJ: www.djgaza.com
And as I've already informed everyone, under no circumstances will the DJ be taking requests. Not even if you try to slip him a $20 or flash him some cleavage. That means, NO congo line, NO macarena, NO YMCA, NO electric slide, or any other god-foresaken group/line dance! But, if there are songs that you think would help get the party started (or keep the party going) you may make your requests here.

pomanders galore!

Pomanders, my new obsession. Love, love, love them.

For my lovely bridesmaids:

For the centerpieces (the one on the left, imagine it with a black urn):

And this is how I'll do it:

How easy is that???

our officiant

We met with an officiant today and absolutely loved her! She's an interfaith minister but practices Buddhism, she's a professor and a scientist, and had the most beautiful apartment I've ever seen! And she had really creative ideas for the ceremony so we're definitely going to book her!

st. lucia here we come!

The honeymoon was booked yesterday. We'll be in St. Lucia for a week, at the beautiful and very secluded Ti Kaye resort. Check out all the sexiness here: www.tikaye.com

dresses!

Here are some dresses that I'm loving. The first two are my favs.