Of course, no afternoon smearing goop on your face could go without some fun photos.
Heather also tried on a bit of eyeshadow. The lady might or might not have gone a little overboard with the blue.
We all ended up buying some of the products, so it was a success for all!
Inside it was beautiful, with sweeping views of the ocean and delicious food. I got to help plan the menu for the shower, and poked around in the gift shop while secret discussions went on behind closed doors. I can only imagine what was being schemed and planned!
Afterward we went into downtown Newburyport for some retail therapy. We visited a local whoopie pie bakery. Judi thought the pies might be a cool alternative to cupcakes for the shower. After a tasting, all I had to say was WHOOPIE!!!
We also successfully shopped for a dress for my mother to wear, possibly to the after-wedding brunch. For the first time I watched several bridal-themed tv shows. Both of them were about the drama some brides apparently go through in selecting a wedding dress. It was highly entertaining. The next day we headed to the mall for the big appointment.... I was getting my colors done!!! I have never had my colors done. I didn't even really know what that meant, and so arrived with a mix of excitement and anxiety. We were met with an enormous collection of containers in every shade.
I think even a mantis shrimp would be impressed. Somewhere among the piles of powder was a friendly lady named Amy, who immediately put us at ease and proceeded to use an endless parade of brushes and products to get me, as my friend Sara would say, "all tairted up."
The before shot...
...not quite ready for my closeup...
...and voila! The finished me!
Amy was exceedingly thorough. She drew and brushed and dabbed and even plucked. But she wasn't done yet. She then turned her beauty product arsenal my mother. And then my aunt! It was a cacophony of colors being done.
When it was finished we stood, three of us, buffed and polished to a high gloss finish. Thanks to Amy for a memorable afternoon! She is able to make those brushes and wands truly magical.
Judi had offered to do my makeup, and gifted me with my very own set of colors! Someday I will master them, but I am very glad that she will be there to do them for me on the big day.
After that, plus a massage and a facial, we could barely walk. But we soldiered on to Bottega Cucina, an adorable restaurant hiding in a strip mall down the street from the spa. Two delicious lunches later and we were ready to hit the cloth. And what fabulous fabrics we found!
Upon arrival at Osgoods, I generally dive headfirst into the remnant bin. This time we scored a number of great coral and navy samples to play with. And then... jackpot!
We found several bolts, in the exact right color, with 1920s prints!
A great find.
When we got home, we of course had to pull all the fabric out and see what could be done with it. We also experimented with several table setting ideas. First the orange:
Then the orange/navy stripe. Mom looks like she's wearing the world's longest necktie. She also looks really tired of this wedding stuff. I think I might have been overambitious with the itinerary, even for her.
We finally settled on navy, which brings a nice contrast to the orange/coral of the china and the flowers, which will be coral and white dahlias.
Not too shabby for a Girls' Day Out!
My cousins even added some cosmos seeds from their own stash!
I am exceedingly practical in many aspects of my life, none as much as my garden. Due to the limited yard space, I have always shunned any plant that doesn't have an edible, medicinal or otherwise practical purpose, and as a result there have been few flowers in my garden. However, I am looking forward to having an excuse to plant flowers with a practical purpose. What better excuse than a wedding!
We met Eric at the prescribed time and destination. Capen is a secret garden, tucked behind one of the Smith dormitories. I spent four years as a Smith student and many more as a Smith visitor, and never knew of its existence until last August when Eric's cousin was married there. His uncle is the gardener, and we immediately fell in love with the place. It was our first choice of wedding location. The entry is via a beautiful wrought iron gate.
Obviously the garden does not look the same in March as it will in August, but there were some snowdrops already blooming!
We scouted the appropriate spots for photo ops, hidden arrivals, guest parking and programs/favor bags for the guests as they enter. Mom and Eric posed for a few quick snaps.
And I saw the aisle I'll walk down in five short months!
I can't believe it. Time is flying, and there's still so much to do.
The blooms were stunning as always, and we made our way from flowers to tropical fruits to prehistoric fronds. Heather stopped to pose with a particularly unusual cactus. I believe the latin nomenclature was Opticus Googlius.
The plant house has special sentimental value for my family, as one of my father's first jobs at Smith was pollinating the cacao tree and taking care of many of the other plants. We also snapped a photo in front of Haven House, where Dad was a custodian and had a basement office for many years.
We still had some time to kill before the shower, so we headed into downtown for a cup of coffee. While browsing some of the shops, we happened past Rebekah Brooks, a jewelry store where Eric and I had shopped for wedding rings a month or so ago.
The owner was there at the time, and gave us a wonderful consultation. My engagement ring has proven to be very difficult to match with a wedding ring, because of its shape and intricate design. Most rings can't lie flush against it, and all the rings that I tried on that were curved just didn't look good. Rebekah told me that it would be better to go with a very thin band that the engagement ring can slip over, eliminating that gap. There was a beautiful vintage turn-of-the-century ring in the display case that I tried, which matched very well with the style of mine. She also let me try on her own wedding ring, which was a simple gold band. I loved both of them and couldn't decide which would be better. I needed more time and so we left and I have been hemming and hawing ever since. I decided that it would be great to get both mother's and best friend's opinions, so I dragged them in. Luckily the vintage ring was still there! Heather had ended up getting her wedding ring here and had tried on that ring, but it was not a good match for her engagement ring.
First I tried on a plain band:
Then the vintage one:
Heather and Mom both cast their votes. The winning candidate? Vintage, unanimously!
The ring is a size too large, so I left it there to be resized. Today the shop also happened to be running a 15% off all vintage jewelry sale, so I even got a discount! Ring dilemma solved.
By this time we were running late, so after a frantic dash to the parking garage pay station, a quick realization that I had forgotten the pay ticket in the car, an even madder sprint to the car and back and pay and back again, we made it out of there with no time to spare. We arrived at the shower, where Heather's mother, grandmother, sister and aunts had prepared a gorgeous spread.
Her sister Andrea also made the cutest shower cake. It was individual cupcakes decorated and arranged to look like a wedding dress. What a fantastic idea!
The shower theme was "Say Something Hats", so everyone arrived wearing elegantly articulate toppers. And yes, that is correct. My mother is dressed as a Hasidic rabbi.
Heather was showered with exquisite gifts, and a fun time was had by all.
She came armed with an entire suitcase of coralandnavy coordinated clothing. She also brought fabric samples that will be incorporated into the decor, and several pounds of lists outlining todo items and timetables for every aspect of the wedding, from the invites to the shower to the bridal arrival logistics. If I could be this organized at work, I'd be president of the college by now.
On the itinerary for this two week visit:
Visit the ceremony site
Visit the reception site and work out all logistics
Visit the shower site and plan menu
Pick up various registry items
Caterer tasting and plan reception menu
Makeup test
Plan floral arrangements
Try out place settings
Look at rings
Shop for favor bags
And probably a few hundred other items I am forgetting. Plus helping with my best friend's bridal shower! I don't understand how she has enough energy to do all this stuff. But I'm grateful that she does. Our guests would probably end up eating happy meals on the floor of the banquet hall otherwise. Here's to my mother, the wedding planner! If she ever decides she needs another career, I know what to suggest.
