Bridesmaid Dresses: The Showdown, Part II

I have narrowed down my dress options for my lovely ladies in waiting/bridal party. Option #1 is this little Alfred Sung number: I love the big box pleats, the bow, the belt/sash, and color combo. I could see this pairing nicely with ponytail, white bouquet and fuchsia shoes. One idea is for all bridesmaids and matrons of honor to wear this dress and with this color scheme. The second idea is for my matrons of honor to wear the same dress with a reversed color palette (ivory dress, navy trim and sash).

Option #2 is to go with a JCrew fabric and allow the ladies to pick out their dress style preference. I like the cotton cady fabric, I think it is light and summery and will work well for a late August wedding. Plus, there are 5 styles to choose from so one of these cuts has to please each of my 8 girls! I also like how different styles look a little more organic in pictures as if they all just happened to wear the same color of dress that day :)






Option #3: My final option is one that my dear friend and bridesmaid, Kara found for me! When JCrew came out with their summer collection, I totally forgot to look at the regular dresses outside of the wedding party page. She found this navy blue, swiss-dot, soft, sweet and summery little number that might be the answer! I like it because it's a little less "bridesmaidy" and I definitely think you CAN wear this one again. Ladies, I know we have heard that several times from the weddings we have been in but, I think this dress it would actually work! And...it's also the most affordable of the three options.

I love all three of these options and think each of them would work well in our preppy-chic wedding :) I just can't decide!! Thoughts?

Bridesmaid Dresses: The Showdown, Part I

I waited the entire month of April for JCrew's big summer preview to find THE perfect dress for my ladies and the best they could come up with is the Silk Dupioni Rosette Dress??? Seriously, this dress was the only new bridesmaid dress that I saw! I am a big fan of the whimsical rosettes that are popping up everywhere this season from fancy dresses to t-shirts, it's definitely a sweet accent...but this dress is absolutely out of control. What do you think?

Outdoor Lighting

Okay...what do you call these outdoor, clear, bulb, stringy lights anyway? I have been conducting search after search trying to locate these bulbs that I have seen featured in tons of movies, pictures, etc. and I finally found a set at World Market! I really doubt they are the only store that carries these lights!

Anyone out there know what they are technically called and where to find them for a smashing good deal?

Nantucket...

My friend Jordyn had the best idea for her wedding: she rented lounge furniture and made things so cozy for her guests by bringing/ordering blankets, pillows and heat lamps (it was outdoors in December, CA - not too cold, just mildly chilly).

I think I'd like to piggy back on that idea for my reception by adding outdoor furniture that will make you feel like you are at a fancy, east coast beach/garden party. I'm not quite sure where to rent furniture that looks like this, but this picture from Restoration Hardware's Nantucket collection is my inspiration...very preppy, right?

The Registry Dilemma

I've spent every night this week, approximately 3 hours per night, trying to decide on the 15 things that I finally have in my registry. That is pretty much an hour per thing. There are a couple of things at work against me...1) I'm using an online registry from wishpot.com that was appealing because I could shop wherever I wanted and all items could be stored in one location. However, there are two problems with this - first, if you have the opportunity to look at every website out there for the perfect duvet cover and you are me, you will spend 3 hours looking for a duvet cover. If you are limited to the one store you are registering at, you will probably just pick that thing and be done with the process.

I have now spent an insane amount of time looking at different types of silverware, not because I wanted to so much but because I thought I should since I have that capability from wishpot.com. Second issue is that I love Crate and Barrel and I can't seem to find a way to make Crate & Barrel get into my wishpot.com registry basket. It's supposed to be easy: you go to the website, pick the thing you want and then click on your little wishpot.com icon to capture that thing and it automatically asks you how many and you can add notes, etc. For some reason, wishpot.com does not like Crate and Barrel and will not allow me to have it.

I realize that I have now said 'thing' a billion times. That happens to be another issue. My fiance doesn't particular like things and stuff - so maybe I should just ask people to donate money to our honeymoon and fun trips that we could do if they'd like to get us gifts? The thing with that is neither of us really have any kitchen things, so I feel like we need a good foundation. Maybe it would just be easiest to go to a store and pick up things and put them in our registry?

What to do friends? Stay the course and continue the never ending, online hunt with wishpot.com? Or just pop by Macy's and Crate and Barrel this weekend and knock the whole thing out in one pop? Or just ask guests to donate to our honeymoon if they'd like to give us gifts and worry about things later?

Please help!!

My Worst Nightmare

I woke up really late this morning after the most memorable, terrible nightmare! I had a dream that I was at my wedding reception and no one was there. It's true, after sending out 170 invitations, not even my closest friends showed up. The entire dream was spent hastily searching this enormous reception site for the people that I thought should be there, bumping into someone strange who would then tell me that so and so isn't there! Even my best friend Jordyn showed up late and just kind of shrugged her shoulders about the whole situation. To be honest, I have no idea where this nightmare even came from! I don't have some strange, subconcious fear that people won't show up to the wedding festivities...or do I? It could be a result of the conversation I had with my mom last night where she told me that my 99 year grandfather won't be able to make it. It's hard for him to travel, I expected him to miss the occasion.

Still, I might send out double the invites now that I had that dream...just to be safe. Please come to my wedding friends!! :)

Fine China...

Okay, I went online to start the registering process and was immediately stumped on the china. I looked at every piece of china I could find and it just wasn't clear to me...should I order fine china or not? I tried my hardest to remember whether or not my last couple of friends who just got married ordered china and I couldn't quite remember. I'm not trying to step on any toes here but, china seems like one of those things that the younger generation is caring less and less about. So what does one do? Order china because you ought to order china and it might be the only time in your life that you purchase such fancy dining accessories?

There are a couple of sets that I really like - I like the first set - classic, traditional, Kate Spade (June Lane)...it has a small touch of whimsy with the tiny little firefly design.

I also like the Kate Spade Wickford Dinnerware collection - it's technically white porcelain...so not china, right? Anyhow, I like the texture on each piece which adds interest and I love how this setting would look nice with any decor you would use to accompany it. Could this be considered china, it's a little more affordable...

And finally, a very elegant set from Vera Wang...I love the blue and silver...so fresh, clean and crisp. What do you all think? What would the "preppy-chic" bride to be do? :) Thanks ahead of time for steering this lost girl forward.

The Shoe Hive

I love fancy shoes and I love boutiques...so the combo can be quite lethal. I can rarely make it out of a fun boutique without splurging. Such was the case today! I stopped by The Shoe Hive in Old Town Alexandria to check out potential shoes to go with my wedding dress and found a pair that I like a lot (above).
But...I of course wanted to post the bridal shoe option on my blog for feedback before purchasing them and was somehow persuaded myself to buy these in the meantime (I guess I was on a magenta/fuschia kick). Shoes always fit and there is nothing better than a bright color to cheer up the old black and gray work clothes, right? So, I stand here justified...I think. My friend Kara had a great idea for the JCrew dress - she recommended that if I don't pick it out for the bridesmaids I can always wear to the rehearsal or maybe I can wear it as my going away dress? Any thoughts on the shoes? Did I mention the brand is for the pink bridal shoe is Something Bleu...how fitting is that?

Where's the love JCrew?

I've been waiting patiently for the perfect bridesmaid dress from JCrew to arrive and lo and behold, the dress pictured here has arrived on scene. Isn't it precious? I love the simplicity of the front which really balances the excitement on the back. However, I really want my ladies to wear navy blue and the only available colors are tea rose and pewter. I emailed "Ashley" who assists with wedding parties and ordering at JCrew to find out if they would be releasing this dress in other colors for summer and she of course said that they did not have plans to do so at this time. I guess I will just have to wait until the end of April to see what they come up with for the summer collection. It seems a little late in the game to be releasing the summer bridesmaid dress collection, you know? Anyhow, I love this dress. Maybe I should just change my current color scheme from magenta and navy blue to tea rose and navy blue? It would still be really preppy and cute. The bridesmaids could carry white bouquets that would look so fresh and cheerful. Any thoughts?