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In part 1, we did as the Romans and then headed to Florence. After perusing the must-sees (David, the Uffizzi, the Duomo), we wanted to take in the countryside. We armed ourselves with a rental car, GPS, Google map printouts, and an adventuresome spirit, then took to the road. Lamma-bamma had been looking forward to renting a car in Greece in order to learn how to drive a stick shift, so he was especially excited that we ended up renting a car after all. I drove first and we were pretty psyched with the upgrade we got to a Fiat 500. Thankfully, it was just like riding a bike and I worked my way through heavy traffic in the city without incident.
Later, in a parking lot, Lamma-ramma-speedy-mcspeederson-ding-dong took to the wheel to try his luck. After a few false starts… he declared himself a “naturale” and pulled out of the parking lot.
Even though our main invitation card was a YUDU-fail, I still wanted to use the device for something. So I picked a bigger font, and Mr. Sew went to town squeegeeing our address to the response card envelope.
Then, once he finished, he went back and added a mon to the side. He tried to do both the mon and the symbol at the same time, but they just weren’t coming out at the same consistency. Either the mon would be over-saturated, or the words would be too light.
This is the bracelet I’ll be wearing for our wedding…
Look familiar?
I’m honored to say that I will be the 4th bee to wear this gorgeous bracelet on my wedding day. Can anyone name the other 3 bees that wore this when they got married?
It’s just over eight weeks until W-day and I have officially put a moratorium on all new craft projects. When I consider all that I’ve done, I think it’s finally time to say enough.
Bye bye to dreams of the beautiful lace candle holders from Martha Stewart!
This official end to all things DIY came to me when I realized how overwhelmed I felt thinking about the new projects I potentially wanted to add to my list.
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Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
You see, the thing is… I’m a decidedly undecided bride. And a former two dress bride.
You see, I did not have a traditional dress-shopping experience. The only time I went into a bridal shop was with Sister HD, at the beginning of our engagement. I tried on about 6 dresses, but didn’t really fall in love with any of them. And I wasn’t as happy or excited as I’d expected to be.
Don’t get me wrong - I was VERY excited to find the dress that I’d marry my hunny in. But I’ve never been easily excited by the idea of actually shopping, at least not for myself. And this experience was no different.
After I got home, I was trolling eBay and typed in “wedding dresses” just for fun. Up came this long list of gowns. Some used, some new, some custom made. Then I found this little beauty.
Before Mr. Octopus and I were “officially” engaged, I, ahem, occasionally partook in a bit of pre-planning. I didn’t come to any major decisions—no purchases, no deposits, nothing irreversible—but I did indulge in a fair bit of the fun, fluffy stuff. I looked at flowers, thought about colors, researched photographers and venues. Because of that, I was becoming more and more certain, convinced, absolutely positive, that I knew exactly what I wanted the look and feel of our wedding to be. Once the planning really got underway, it was going to be smoooooth sailing!
Sigh.
Now that a lot of the big decisions have been made and the little-detail-planning is the name of the game, I’d say my ideas for the general aesthetic of the wedding have gone through two distinct transformations before landing where they are now (which is the final version, fo realz!). Wanna see the weddings I’m not having?
Wedding #1
Phipps Conservatory, botanical drawing, invitations, cake, bouquet.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Okay… so I searched all over Gainesville for someone to professionally dye my beautiful white lace to ivory (so it would match my dress). Can you believe that there is no place in Gainesville where you can get this done? Unbelievable!
But, there’s a ray of hope. One seamstress I asked mentioned tea-dying my lace. I had heard of this before but was slighting skeptical as to whether I could successfully do this myself. Searching the internet, I only found a handful of ’how-tos’ and no one really went into detail. They just skimmed over what they did to show you their beautifully dyed ivory lace. But, I’m a girl who needs directions. I ain’t gonna mess up my nice lace…
For all the other brides out there like me, who need some directions, here is, step-by-step, of how I got to the perfect shade of ivory for my beautiful Alencon lace for my veil:
This past weekend, Mrs. D’orsay and I had the honor of representing Weddingbee at the New York bridal market St. Pucchi runway show. We had a blast sipping on our mimosas and getting tempted into planning vow renewals by the fabulous dresses. Despite the fact that Mr. Star and I live three blocks from Bryant Park, this was my first ever runway show and I might just be hooked. Check out this eye candy and you’ll see why!
This collection was allll about romance and drama, which is totally my thing, in case you hadn’t guessed. These gowns were not built for the practical bride, but rather for the one who truly believes in pain and beauty being bedfellows. I’m one of those crazies, which is why I had both a stunning wedding dress and was barely able to walk the day after our wedding, but I digress. Here are some of the trends I noticed from the show:
1. Lace or ruffles and bling on the same dress. Usually, a wedding dress either falls into the “sweet and romantic and lacy” category or the “bling it up” category, but not both. There was a whole lot of crossover in this show, which was very interesting to see because it was so unexpected. Check out these gorgeous lacy dresses that also feature some bling:
(Photo Credit to AisleDash)
We did it!! Mr. Jelly and I recently had our civil ceremony at SF City Hall, and I’m so excited to be able to now share it with the hive. The day went off without a hitch. I was actually surprised how calm and collected we both were leading up to it. No nerves, no cold feet. The whole thing just felt surreal.
The morning of the civil ceremony, we both woke up around 8 AM to get ready. My bridesmaid Amy and her husband Andrew got in from LA the night before, and they photographed our entire day. I did my own makeup and then headed to the hair salon with Amy to get my free updo! When we got home from the salon both my parents and Mr. Jelly’s parents and brother were there, and we took off to San Francisco.
I was a little worried about how the weather would be, as it was supposed to rain. Luckily, it didn’t rain until after our 12:00 ceremony, so I didn’t have to worry about getting soaked beforehand! Here’s how the day went down, as told through photographs:
Waiting in line to get our Marriage License at SF City Hall.
I had an odd realization today. I’m going to have a life after our wedding!
I know, I know, this should have been a big huge DUH, but it only just really occurred to me!
This week I made a reservation for us to go camping at one of our favorite places in the area, Big Basin Redwood State Park, for Labor Day weekend. Upon making the reservation, I put it on my calendar, and did a double take.
This was pretty much the first thing I’d put on my calendar in over a year that wasn’t tagged “wedding” or “wedding completed” or “wedding to do”!
It hit me then. After our wedding, life will go back to normal. We will have weekends free to go hiking, to have BBQs with friends, or to just hang out and do nothing. I will be able to finish my last two classes at SF State to get my Project Management Certification, and figure out which path I want to take my career down. We might find a new hobby, or start cleaning our house regularly and cooking real food instead of just throwing frozen dinners in the oven. (Well, maybe not so much on that cleaning one. 
)
But life will go on.
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My first bridesmaid’s dress shopping experience was with Sister Starfish when looking for her bridesmaid’s dresses. We went to Priscilla of Boston and I was in love with their dresses. Sister Starfish chose to do a few different styles and the dress I fell in love with was one of them. I told her I loved it so much that I asked if she would mind if I used it for my future bridesmaids, and she said I should go for it.
Michael Sparks Keegan photography
Funny enough, the only girl who ended up wearing it also happens to be in my bridal party: Bridesmaid M. I was in love with the dress because of one amazing detail… the bow in the back. Bridesmaid M is modeling it in the photo above.
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Every so often, I bring my iPod of podcasts to work with me to catch up. This week, I listened to the New York Times’ book review and interview with Andrew Young, the staffer who covered for his friend John Edwards and was unceremoniously dumped when Edwards’ scandal broke and destroyed everything. Then he wrote a book about it.
I kept listening to Mr. Young’s account of things, and, later in the interview, his admission that his own role in the cover-up was morally inept, and I kept wondering: what does his wife think? I know what I think.
How many of us have ever covered for friends when we were younger? “Hey, can I tell my mom I’m at your house?” Or covered for a boss if s/he’s out of the office? I haven’t done either of these things (my friends weren’t cool enough, I guess… and I haven’t worked in enough offices to take calls from a boss’ relatives).
But what would you think about the fact that your husband, the one who promised to love and honor you, helped to cover up a sexual compulsion as nasty as John Edwards’?
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Mrs. Starfish’s gorgeous DIY bouquet of hydrangeas and roses.
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
This bridesmaid dress shopping is something else, isn’t it? There are a million different colors and designers, many of which will fit your color or theme. Things that look good in photos or online might look hideous in person, and vice-versa. As with most modeling, the Model Ladies in the photos are there to function like hangers; most body types won’t do this in the same dress. Since they are your friends, you should consider how they feel and what makes them comfortable/uncomfortable. And even though you want everyone to like what they’re wearing, you want you to like what they’re wearing, too. There’s nothing like it, really.
It was mildly annoying how the bridal shops we went to did not have a huge selection of dresses or sizes to try on. But, given the information above, it’s hard to have something for everyone. After our first trip out together, we decided a few things:
We’re married now.
Preview pic posted by our awesome photographer CK Hwang of 39 East Photography
And to give a little taste of what married life is like…
1. Scene: Walking the dogs in Central Park
Me: So, does it feel any different being married now?
Mr. Pug: Hm. No.
Me: Yeah, me neither.
Mr. Pug: [putting his arm around me and smirking] Oh, honey, it feels *just* as not special as it did before.
The nerve.
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