Party Time

This past weekend was my bachelorette party! I really wanted it to be a surprise so up until we left my house on Saturday I had no idea what we were doing. When I talked on the phone with Bridesmaid "W" the Wednesday before, she told me, “I hope you have fun. I guess this will be a testament to how well we know you or not!” They definitely know me well. It was perfect!

We headed out around noon on Saturday and went to Breaux and Tarara vineyards in Virginia. My bridesmaids got me a personalized wine glass for the tastings with my name, wedding date, and "Bride to Be" on it. Plus it is all in my wedding colors. We had a great picnic lunch at Breaux and sampled all 11 of their wines. Tarara was next, which didn’t have as nice of an ambiance but served really yummy wines.

Bridesmaid "I", friend "A", and I tasting wines at Breaux

Dinner was at Hook in Georgetown. The food was amazing! It was also really neat that they only serve fish caught using sustainable practices. The waiter was very knowledgeable about the fish they serve and the morals of the restaurant.

The night ended at a hotel suite in Greenbelt. We stayed up late playing Settlers of Catan and chatting. My bridesmaids even brought cookies and zucchini bread as dessert. As I said before, it was perfect.

At Hook!

Later this month is my shower and next weekend is a friends wedding. This will be a month of parties!

Hair!

So I thought I was going to be writing this post a few weeks ago, but there were a number of reschedules (both my fault and Kristen's). Tonight, I finally met up with Kristen of KrisFosterHair for my hair trial. I brought in a picture of what I wanted and Kristen got started on it right away. At first I was kind of worried about the direction we were headed in, but as she shaped it, it started to look better and better. At one point I asked her to make the curls a bit more curly and then we were really on a roll. The hair style is not wildly out of the box for me, but it will actually stay! When I try to do this kind of thing at home it all just falls apart in a matter of minutes. That's the difference between me and a professional, I guess. Kristen was super flexible and easy going. I also appreciate that she keeps to a time line. That will definitely be a good thing the day of the wedding. When I got home Mike took lost of pictures of my hair so I can remind Kristen of what we decided on. I thought I would post just one as a tease. The other views will just have to wait until the wedding!

How Many Buttons?

Whenever anyone asks Mike what he's going to wear to the wedding, he doesn't want to give an answer. It's because he didn't have one. I kept saying, "Oh, don't worry about it. Picking out a tux is something we can do later." Well, later arrived. The other night I was checking my wedding to-do lists (yes, there is more than one) and realized we were overdue on the men's formal wear. Oops.

We had a little time this weekend and thought we'd go check out what they had at Men's Wearhouse. Well, an hour and a half later we had the whole deal ready to go. I had no idea there were so many subtle differences between tuxedo styles! We decided on a two button jacket with a notched collar. Mike liked the notch better than the peak. Once again, what? We also picked out a vest, pocket square, tie, shirt etc. We went with dark red as the accent color. Mike's vest has a really nice pattern too. The strange thing is, you don't actually try anything on. We put Mike in a couple over-sized jackets and tried to imagine what they would look like if they fit right. Besides that it was mostly guess work. The sales person, was really helpful, though. She put all the pieces together so we could get a better idea of what it will look like. She also took all of Mike's measurements.

This is the tux jacket, but picked a red vest and tie.

So we are set, just like that. All we have to do is pick it up in September. We also picked out tuxedos for the groomsmen and fathers. Yay!

I'm still on it!

Glancing at my blog this morning, I realized I haven't posted at all this month! It's been a busy month, but that doesn't mean its been without wedding planning.

This month I finalized my desert menu. As many of you know, we are not having cake. Instead guests will have a choice of three types of pie. Officially, there will also be ice cream for some pie a la mode!

I also found a hair stylist (I hope!) I have a trial next Saturday, I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

I guess that's it for this month, I think next month will be more wedding-ful!

The Hunt for Dresses is On!

As the colorful spring fashion lines start popping up in stores, it's time to start thinking about bridesmaids dresses. My plan from the start was to let my bridesmaids pick out their own dresses. I gave them three colors to pick from and a dress length. The rest is up to them. I figure this way they will like their dresses, the dresses will be in their budget, and I don't have to worry about shopping for dresses I'm not going to wear. The colors I gave them are orange, red, and yellow. Now that those colors are starting to show up in stores, my bridesmaids have started shopping! Bridesmaids "I" and "S" and going to wear red dressed, bridesmaid "D" is going to wear orange, and bridesmaid "W" is going to wear yellow. I'm really happy that all three colors will be used. I think the autumnal range of colors will look nice. It's fun to get emails with links to dresses or chat with them about it on the phone. What was really great, though, was getting to go shopping together in person a few weeks ago!

Since I am making my own invitations, I had an invitation making party and invited my bridesmaids down to help me out. They came from as far as Boston! We had a great time hanging out, blasting through the invitations (we made, addressed, and stamped all 90!!), and having girly time. We also got to go dress shopping. "D," who had decided to wear an orange dress, was having a hard time finding any online. Neither of us really thought about the fact that it's a rare color. But at the Columbia Mall, we stumbled across this one and it fit great! "D" got it! So she wins first bridesmaid to have her dress. She's going to get a different belt for it and I'm sure she will find some great shoes to wear with it, too. Even though bridesmaids "S" and "I" didn't find their perfect red dresses to wear, we all had fun trying stuff on and hunting through the racks.

It was a great weekend and I'm so grateful to them for coming and helping out.

Different Types of Flowers

Ever since getting my dress I have been passively musing about the accessories for my wedding day. I've gone back and forth about necklaces, earrings, and what to put in my hair. Now that I've gotten all of the vendors figured out for the wedding, I felt it was time to start filling in the details. Intermittent poking around online is over. I started looking for shoes back in the fall. I am very picky about the comfort of my shoes and wanted to wear flats. I found Zappos to be my best hunting ground. It took me a couple orders and returns to get it right, but I eventually settled on the Kimball2. I wasn't 100% sure about the neutral color and the texture of the fabrics, but when I put them on, I was thrilled. They are linen with a big suede flower on each toe. The softness of the shoes makes the pearly dress shine even more. Plus, I think they are fun, while not being overly noticeable.

Beyond shoes, I want to get my other accessories handmade, as much as possible. I love Etsy and shopping on their site is so much fun. I scrolled through page after page of hair flowers, boleros, and earring. There are so many good looking vendors, but Clark and Diversey really stood out for having some unique flowers. I ordered this hair flower, but they are replacing the rhinestones in the middle with pearls. I really like the combination of different materials. I do have to laugh at myself, though. I spent so long looking at every detail of all these different flowers, but at the end of the day, all anyone will see is a big white flower.

From Clark and Diversey

With these two details squared away, I have begun contacting vendors for a bolero. I also have an appointment to show my dress to a seamstress on Saturday! The "look" is coming together.

Pretty Papers

First of all, I hope you like the new look for my blog. When I started the blog, I wasn't 100% sure of what I was doing and just picked a super simple format. After spending more time on Blogger, I decided it was time for an update. Now my blog matches my invitations!

If you haven't already figured it out, I love DIY projects, especially when it comes to arts and crafts. Making my own invitations was something I wanted to do even before I looked at costs. Needless to say, making my own invitations is going to be a lot cheaper than having them made. We are talking about literally half the cost. So with that knowledge, it seemed like a no-brainer.

About a week ago I headed back over to the Paper Source and picked out my invitation colors. It hadn't even crossed my mind that they wouldn't have enough paper in the store. After deliberating over R.S.V.P. card colors and envelope sizes, I made my choices and went to collect all the items I would need. It was then I realized just how much paper I was buying. Of course they didn't have 10 sets of envelopes in the color and size I wanted! Not to mention the 5 sets of special printing paper. The women at the Paper Source were great as usual, though. With a deal on free shipping I left the store with an order confirmation for my paper and it came in the mail less than a week later. Here's what I got!


To help me get a head start in putting all the invitations together, my bridesmaids are coming for a visit. I'm so excited to see them! So not only is my invitation making a fun project, it's also turned into a great reason so see friends.