Groom Bling

Eric got his ring! It's beautiful and fits perfectly. Now if I could just get him to stop wearing it around the house, I told him you're not allowed to wear the wedding ring BEFORE the wedding, and that he was gonna jinx things. But it does look really good on him.

Six Inches Under

The dahlias are planted! We had to wait until the last minute to plant because of the recent spell of lousy weather, but yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect for planting bulbs. I brought the bags of dahlia bulbs to my cousins' house, where they had prepared two beds along the perimeter of their front garden. Their garden is amazing. At least four people passing by stopped to compliment them on their flowers. They have two other vegetable and fruit gardens in the back, too.

They have the most beautiful irises I've ever seen.

First we dug a trench six inches deep.

Then we spaced the bulbs out evenly in the trench.

We filled the dirt back in, and planted a second trench. Now it's just a matter of waiting for them to emerge! I can't wait to see what the blooms look like come August.

Grow, dahlias, grow!!

Of Fonts and Frocks

Today I played hooky! Not really. I took the morning off to take care of some more wedding errands. Although it's been raining on and off all week, the weather held long enough for me to traipse around downtown Northampton looking at dresses and paper. I had plans to meet with Megan and she arrived just as I had found the perfect shower dress, a simple stretchy black top with a light black-and-white chevron patterned skirt. I found it at (of course) 25 Central, quite possibly my favorite dress and accessories store of all time. From there we went paper shopping, and I found several possibilities for cardstock. However, I'd been toying with the idea of doing envelope liners, but didn't really find much that was suitable. Both Megan and I had noontime appointments, but before we left I decided to make a quick stop at Second Time Around, an upscale thrift shop in downtown. A million years ago, when I was first figuring out the theme and colors for the wedding, I came across a dress in some high fashion magazine, in an exquisite Art Nouveau fabric.

Would you know it, I found the exact same fabric in STA? The dress style was different, a little too large and ill-fitting, but the fabric was phenomenal and the dress was half price!

I can't wait to deconstruct it and use the fabric in a new creation.

Is There a Decent Shoe on the Eastern Seaboard? More Tales from the Bridal Path

This week I've been working on several wedding projects:

The Bloody Invites

I still haven't settled on my invitations. RJ and I ended up both being too busy this semester to connect for the design process. I feel like I've looked at every single Deco and Nouveau themed invitation in existence, with no inspiration. I did fall in love with one on Etsy, only to order a sample and find it less than impressive. Another suite I found was adorable... except for the invitation itself, which was quite ugly. Time is running out, and I still don't have an invitation! In a possible turn of insanity, I have decided to try my hand at designing my own. I have a decent enough handle on Illustrator and InDesign to be able to stumble my way around, and with not one but two graphic designers in my office, I should be okay. Wish me luck!

Dishes, Dishes, Dishes

Having collected literal HEAPS of dishes, my next task is to figure out how they all fit together on the tables. While I've decided to not have seating charts, I am making a table setting chart, making sure there is a fairly even distribution of colors and styles. It's like playing Tetris! But hopefully the effort will pay off and the tables will be stunning.

Shoe Hunt

Last weekend I had several coupons burning a hole in my wallet and decided to do the only sensible thing - go shopping. I still need to find shoes for the wedding and possibly some dresses to wear to my showers (there are two!), so I met Heather for an afternoon of bargain hunting. Man, are the shoe styles this season UGLY with a capital U and everything else! I had a choice of platform stilettos, plain stilettos, rope wedges or ballet flats. Is nobody else getting married on a grass surface? We can't wear stilettos!! I left empty-handed shoe- or dress-wise, but Heather redeemed the day by getting her dress for the wedding! It's a cute coral dropwaist dress, perfect for a 20s theme, and she even found a navy scarf with a heart pattern to match!

I did score a few small things. Lucky for me that The Great Gatsby movie is coming out this summer, because Deco is everywhere! There were entire sections of glam jewelry at the Burlington Coat Factory, so I picked up a few.

If anyone knows of some good leads for shoes, please let me know! I'm tempted to order these Cinnamon Scone heels from ModCloth:

But I really don't like buying shoes without trying them on. I might be painted into a corner, though. Of course, I will continue to drool over these:

Dress Success!!

The second meeting with the seamstress went even better than the first! This time I took Maili (my maid of honor) with me for an extra set of eyes. Cassandra had made a mock up of the dress bodice, which I tried on. After looking at it in fabric, I decided that I didn't like the thin straps, so we changed the design to have small cap sleeves in satin with slightly larger cap sleeves in lace. Which brings us to the next decision: What kind of lace to use? Cassandra showed me several samples, including some simple netting-like lace, some elaborate beaded lace, and the lightest silk chiffon. The decision was surprisingly easy. The minute I held the chiffon over the satin, it was a perfect match! As much as I loved the beaded lace, it was too overpowering for the satin, and would likely be too itchy as well. The chiffon will cover the top bodice as well as the back, where the satin will be cut down to create a little breathing room. Cassandra had the great idea of recycling the buttons from the sleeves to use on the back. I was a little concerned about having lace only on the top. Being only 5 feet tall, I have to be careful to not let clothing cut me in half. We decided to leave a small part of the satin exposed on the top to maintain some continuity. I love how the chiffon manages to have both a vintage and modern feel. Maili took tons of photos, and as much as I would love to post them here, Eric has asked that we follow the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride's dress until the wedding day, so I will honor that request.

As we were finishing up our design details, Cassandra's next appointment came into the studio. She was also a bride, a woman named Mikaila who is getting married in a few weeks and needed some alterations to her dress. It was the most unique and gorgeous dress I had ever seen! She and her fiance are from New Mexico and will be getting married there, and she had found a dress in a British bridal magazine that had the most colorful embroidery, giving it a fantastic Southwestern style. We ended up staying for most of her appointment as well, and Maili the pro photog took many photos for her. I took a photo of Cassandra and Mikaila. Hey, if I can't show my own wedding dress, I'll can at least show someone else's!

After the appointment I took Maili out to Village Pizza in Easthampton. Still my favorite!

Prepping the Garden

Spring semester is always the busiest time at work, and this year is no exception. As a result, I've been slacking a bit on some of the wedding planning. However, some things just won't wait, and the garden is one of them. I'll be coordinating with my cousins on the flower selections, and found these wonderful Dahlia bulbs in Home Depot a few weeks ago.

Some bouquets I'm taking inspiration from:

I also love the idea of a brooch bouquet.

Maybe a little of each?

A lot will depend on which flowers flourish and are in bloom during the week of our wedding. Fingers crossed that this year is a good one for dahlias.