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Miss Peacock, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Internet Whiz Engagement Date: December 5, 2006 Wedding Date: September, 2008 Blogging Since: December 13, 2007 Venue: St. Clement Church, Cafe Brauer (or a big church wedding and a fancy party at a cafe in Lincoln Park. About Me: I am a grad student with a secret obsession for all things wedding related. I also love to read, travel, drink champagne and go for walks with our dog, Maisy, and Mr. Peacock. We are planning our very vintage wedding in the greatest city in the world, our hometown of Chicago. I am so proud to be a Bee!
About Mrs. Peacock

The First Wave

February 1st, 2008 @ 10:29 am by Mrs. Peacock

Slightly older friends and coworkers had always told me that I will have two wedding seasons. A whole bunch of my friends would get married in our mid 20’s and a whole bunch more around 30. I wasn’t sure, based on the state of my friends’ relationships were at the time, if I would have too many during my mid twenties. With all the save the date cards that have been coming in the mail, I now see the error in my thinking. 26 will be my first real cycle and Mr. Peacock is in the middle of his second- the two cycles are currently crashing together. I was adding all these weddings to my Google calendar last night and- when you throw in traveling, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers and bachelorette parties- I got a little overwhelmed.

My bestest friend (and regular WB reader) Erin is getting married in June to her high school sweetheart. Here they are in one of their gorgeous engagement photos:

photo from Thorsen Photography

We got engaged about a month apart from each other and have had fun being able to support each other with all the planning craziness. We send each other links to dresses, paper products (we are both a little obsessed with paper), make-up artists and flowers. We crab about being engaged for way too long. We gossip about the knot boards. We are sharing a few vendors and the negotiation tactics have been helpful. We drive our friends crazy by talking weddings whenever we are together. Ahhh… what would I do without her? Erin’s wedding will kick-off the official summer o’weddings- aka, the wedding season.

Between June and October, we will attend five weddings. Two of these weddings are on the same night. One is a very close friend from growing up and the other is my cousin- there is no way I can miss either of them. We will have to pull off some Three’s Company style tricks. Oh, and we will need to squeeze our wedding in at some point, too. The key issue at hand is what to wear. I can probably wear the bridesmaid’s dress from Erin’s wedding to my cousin’s wedding (thank you, Erin, for picking out something I can wear again), but after that I am going to see the same people over and over again. I feel the need to spice it up, with my “no fun stuff due to upcoming wedding” budget in mind.

My normal shopping schedule usually includes:

  1. Walk into Anthropologie
  2. Contemplate knocking off a bank and buying everything in the store
  3. Give up on previous idea and look for places to hide so that I can live there instead
  4. Give up that idea while I clear the racks of everything in my size and walk to the dressing room
  5. Talk myself out of everything but the one thing I really need
  6. Grab a headband on the way to the counter
  7. Buy my stuff, pretending not to be shocked at my total

This was before the wedding crunch began. Surprisingly enough (to me), Forever 21 and H&M have become my saving grace. Forever 21 makes me a little nauseous because I am an old lady and I get overwhelmed at the mess, the crazy loud music and the crabby teens that work the counters. Crabby because they have to clean that mess up? Perhaps. I did, however, find this.

Yup, beading.

The best part (other than my excellent foresight in buying this dress months in advance)?

If my luck keeps up, I might be able to make it through this summer without resorting to my bath robe.

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16 Responses to “The First Wave”

1.
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Bee
Mrs. Butterscotch (message)  233 posts, Helper bee

The wave of weddings is so true! My friends for the most part have all gotten married in the last 3 years. We just finished that huge wave in October. I think we will have another one in about 2 years.
I love that dress! Its from forver 21? They have good things when you are in a jam and need something quick and at a low cost.

 
2.
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Member
misschickie (message)  170 posts, Blushing bee

We actually did not have either wave–we ended up instead with EVERYONE getting married in the 28-32 age bracket. One spring/summer/fall we went to 9 weddings. NINE. Only to be followed with 4 the next year, and then another 4 the year after that. I just did my best to recycle the dresses based on who would be at each wedding–surprisingly I made it through all of these weddings with only 8 dresses!!

 
3.
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Bee
Miss Hummingbird (message)  193 posts, Blushing bee

Our wedding will be the third in a string of Hummingbird weddings! First it was BIL Hummingbird, then it was FIL Hummingbird and now it’s me and Mr. Hummingbird, so I think we’ve officially driven the extended Hummingbird family crazy.
As for your shopping stuff, how cute is that dress? I totally love it!
(BTW so jealous of you Americans and your access to Anthropologie stores! I went when I was in NY last spring and I miss it so!)

 
4.
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Bee
Mrs. Emerald (message)  901 posts, Busy bee

Cuuuuute dress!! I’d love to see a pic of you IN it though!! =)

 
5.
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Bee
Miss Peacock (message)  374 posts, Helper bee

I was going to put it on, but with the nasty weather yesterday (and today! I hope the Chicago readers are safe and at home) and my lovely grad student schedule, I didn’t pretty myself up until dinner. I wanted to spare you my messy hair, glasses and sweat suit.

 
6.
proBM2008
Member
proBM2008 (message)  83 posts, Worker bee

I think shopping in the junior’s section or at more high school appropriate stores makes for great cheap finds. I just have to be careful that my boobs fit in to some of them, but it’s worth the extra work to get something cute for ridic cheap.

Note on H&M: Some of them are better than others. Some just have crap. It makes me angry, because the best one near me is so hard to get to. :)

 
7.
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Bee
Miss Hydrangea (message)  386 posts, Helper bee

I have that dress but in another color and I love it! Good choice!

 
8.
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Member
haselwand (message)  187 posts, Blushing bee

I feel the same way at Anthropologie! Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by the great, expensive clothes, that I just stick to housewares and buy an apron or cookbook or plates.

Love the dress! Sometimes Forever 21 really gets it right. I tried on something similar there, but was in between sizes. So disappointing!

 
9.
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Guest
futuremrs.taj

I had always heard it was 3 waves - one the first few years out of school, one five years out of school, and one when we’re in our thirties.

We’re in wave 2!

 
10.
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Guest
erin

In case anyone wants to know…Jeff and I do not consider ourself high school sweethearts….

 
11.
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Bee
Miss Canary (message)  637 posts, Busy bee

I am scared of Forever 21 too! But I force myself to go whenever I need to get a dress for an event. I feel so old… and not so 21 when I’m in there!

Lovely dress! And your friend look so cute in her e-pic!

 
12.
tea
Member
tea (message)  2,658 posts, Sugar bee

i feel the same way when i walk into a forever 21. i have to go when i have enough patience in reserve to paw through the racks…usually i don’t have enough for any store. but you’ll be surprised what you can find. and the price is not bad for a dress i’ll probably only wear once or twice.

i am coming out of my second wave of weddings. the first started while i was still in college! the bf and i will probably be somewhere in the middle of the third wave.

 
13.
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Member
meli (message)  115 posts, Blushing bee

We went to 14 weddings last year. Hopefully, it’s the last wave.

 
14.
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Bee
Miss Peacock (message)  374 posts, Helper bee

You started dating in high school, you went to prom together and you have cute cap and gown graduation pics together. Those meet the standard qualifications for high school sweethearts!

 
15.
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Guest
awe

that dress is soooo comfortable. i have the cream and black one which I was able to wear to our company xmas party, and it comes in a beautiful royal purple and cream too. it’s definitely a steal. i LOVE the red you found!

 
16.
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Guest
rzblna

I confess to loving F21, even though I am, ehem, somewhat older than 21.

 


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Mrs. Peacock Miss Peacock, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Internet Whiz Engagement Date: December 5, 2006 Wedding Date: September, 2008 Blogging Since: December 13, 2007 Venue: St. Clement Church, Cafe Brauer (or a big church wedding and a fancy party at a cafe in Lincoln Park. About Me: I am a grad student with a secret obsession for all things wedding related. I also love to read, travel, drink champagne and go for walks with our dog, Maisy, and Mr. Peacock. We are planning our very vintage wedding in the greatest city in the world, our hometown of Chicago. I am so proud to be a Bee!
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