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As much as I wish the title of this post was reflective of the wedding planning, alas, that is not the case. Wedding planning is still going strong. (Too strong. I want to quit my Gmail account, walk away from the computer and never plan another thing. EVER. But I digress…)
So close I can taste it!
What is tapering off, however, is my running schedule. Now that the Boston Marathon is less than two weeks away (eek!) my mileage has severely decreased. And, my friends, it. is. glorious!
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MR. OCTOPUS, DO NOT READ THIS POST!!!
Shopping for my wedding dress has been one of my favorite experiences so far. The search started in July, and with Mom Octopus and MOH/sister Lauren as my trusty companions, we hit a few small local bridal shops in my little hometown. They were no Kleinfeld’s, but they had a pretty good selection and great attendants, and we had a great time!
Believe it or not, Vera does not have a large presence in rural western New York.
After I decided to have my dress made, and after meeting two unsuitable seamstresses, I was lucky enough to discover the resource that is Fabrique! Fabrics. I went there this summer, met the owner, and was sold! The problem was that I wasn’t quite ready to decide what dress I wanted to wear.
Fast forward to this past fall, when my mother and grandmother visited me from out-of-state. True, I would never have that “trying-on-dresses” feeling with my mother there, but this turned out to be even more fun.
My mother is a third generation sewing enthusiast. She learned the craft from my great-grandmother, with whom she spent her summers as a little girl. My mother made many of the clothes I wore as a kid. I remember old Christmas ornaments, many of my baby clothes, a quilt, and a Christmas dress being made from patterns my mom cut out of paper bags. Eventually, we moved too many times and my mother remarked that buying clothes became cheaper than sewing, so I haven’t seen her pull out her old Bernina in quite a while.
Choosing the cake baker was one of the most fun, but frustrating parts of planning. It was fun to go to all, or should I say most, of the tastings (we had one bad experience where we drove for an hour and a half for an appointment we had booked in advance only to be able to try one slice of a flavor neither of us would have wanted to try). So, the tastings were fun, and I loved looking at the gorgeous designs in each shop, but the downside was pricing.
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All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Do something pretty while you can
Don’t be afraid
Skating a pirouette on ice is cool
Planning our wedding has been an inspiration and a springboard for me to focus on the little details in life more often. A few fresh flowers at the dinner table, a small homemade flower pin gifted for no reason, or simply dropping a beautiful thank you card in the mail are small powerful ways to enrich our daily lives.
The details DO matter.
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After months of searching, debating and prioritizing, we finally settled on a honeymoon to Greece. We postponed the trip until Lambaliscious’s spring break which afforded us extra time on the trip and to plan. We were going to spend a few days in Athens before heading to a relaxing resort on Crete. We bought a few guide books, a myth refresher, and a phonetic pronunciation guide. I went on a shopping spree for cute sundresses to wear in the coastal towns. Judging by the title of this post, you can guess that we didn’t make it to Greece after all. When we tried to check in to our flight the night before, we were informed that our flight had been canceled and that Greek airport workers were striking.
The 12 hours following that realization was a whirlwind. I remember my in-laws calling a few times as they tried to figure out if they could get their airline miles back to use on another trip for us. I remember looking at last minute travel deals and cruises, considering a weekend at a B&B in North Carolina, and wondering if we should just have a stay-cation. Simultaneously, the Lamb-in-law’s parents heroically researched, talked with airline agents, and pulled in favors for lodging. Sometime around midnight it was decided that the honeymoon could be salvaged in our given time frame if we rerouted to Italy. A quick “Ciao bella!” and we had packed our bags bound for gelato, art, and the other great pillar of western civilization.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
First up, the girls:
I gave each of my bridesmaids a grey wrap, to keep them warm in case it was cool later in the evening. The color looked great with their purple dresses and I think it’s neutral enough for them to wear again:
I also decided to get them a piece of jewelry to wear, if they chose, on the big day. I was debating between earrings or a necklace and finally decided on a necklace. I purchased them all from Jeweled Blossoms (I purchased items from her shop prior to the wedding, so I knew her products were great). Again, I tried to choose an item that would both work with their dresses and would be something they could wear again.
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Hive, you guys are going to start thinking that I am a spaz. Yep. I am indecisive—very much so!
When we started planning (back in August 2009), my original inspiration for flowers involved an all white bouquet for myself, and green bouquets for my bridesmaids. The florist had suggested green hydrangeas… like this:
It’s true.
I stopped reading them because it had gotten to a point of mild obsession––refreshing my reader every 4 seconds to see what delightful wedding-candy would be brought forth. I suffered from OMGIWANTTHATTOO-itis.
“WAIT, I CAN PUT LITTLE FLAGS ON EVERYTHING THAT WILL STAY STILL LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO APPLY GLUE? WAIT, THERE ARE GLUE REPLACEMENTS NOW?”
“I feel so insignificant.”
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When I first started looking for wedding veils, I wanted a birdcage veil. I felt it was chic, modern, and sooo me. When I went dress shopping, my parents really leaned towards a more traditional veil. I put a few on but wasn’t really feeling it. A few bridal store visits later, and after many hours of looking at other couples’ wedding pictures, I became obsessed with having a chapel length veil. Who ever said your parents don’t know what’s best for you?
So, you might ask… how did I go from a 6″ veil to a 90″+ veil? What happened to me? Well these images below is what ’happened’ to me:
I could totally see a picture of us like this over our mantel… if we had a mantel, that is.
Source Jennifer Skog Photography
I don’t frequently tell people the reasons why I love Mr Pretzel, I just file these reasons away. I’ve got quite the catalog; little snippets of memories and small gestures, words, and looks. From time to time something happens that makes me recall one of these reasons. Mr Pretzel reminded me of reason 815 this weekend.
Let me take you back to fall 2008. We had been dating a mere 9 months and were both sent on business trips the same week, to different locations. Mr Pretzel was living it up in the Motor City and I was surrounded by corn in tornado country. Neither local is glamorous, per se, but my trip was about get a little more exciting. Up to this point, it had been pretty uneventful and a little frustrating, my male colleagues caught a BB King show one night while I worked on a presentation. Was I jealous? That is an understatement. Mr Pretzel told me I should wing the presentation and catch the show. I should have listened to him. I also learned that Michael Buble was performing a show the night after my flight home. *sigh* Such is my luck. I have been a Buble fan since before he was on Oprah. I have seen him a couple times in concert and would have loved to see him again.
In an earlier post, I admitted my obsession with the French bakery, Laduree. When I first decided to use their packaging as inspiration for our paper elements, our wedding style had been leaning toward a 1950s/’60s retro kind of vibe, which is totally us. But, I also felt determined to tie our Laduree paper elements to the rest of our wedding, introducing an old world Parisian kind of style. (This totally fits us too, considering that I’m an Art History major and Mr. Turtle studies Classics.)
I could have stuck to the pretty Rococo detailing and Baroque borders on our invitations. But of course I couldn’t stare at Laduree pictures all day long without incorporating some of those delicious looking French macarons! And of course I couldn’t just buy them from a bakery. I love baking! I bake different cakes, cookies, and things of that sort all the time… and I never mess up.
So… I paid a little visit to Whole Foods to pick up everything I needed, spent hours in preparation, only to come up with these:
Wait… aren’t they supposed to look like these?
A few months before our wedding, Mr Piglet was the best man at his now groomsman’s wedding. It was during that rehearsal dinner that we heard an acoustic version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. It was happy, light, had a slightly peppier tempo, and just the right amount of cheese. It fit us so perfectly. And that was that. Our first dance song was chosen.
With our CD in hand, we went to John Cassese The Dance Doctor in Santa Monica. John and Sarah (another instructor) popped in the CD, and began dancing to our song right then and there. Mr Piglet and I watched in awe at their fancy footwork and graceful spins. We were sold (or suckers) and booked 10 lessons with Sarah to teach us to dance like them.
And I’m so glad we did. Oh my gosh people, it was so much fun! Stressful at times, but overall, a blast and our best investment in Mr Piglet’s opinion. Sarah was an absolute doll. I was totally smitten with her from the moment she said hello in her adorable British accent. While far from perfect, and a little goofy, dancing our first dance was one of the fondest memories on our wedding day.
I’m Yours from Annie on Vimeo.
Budget, that is. I’ve said before that I am an unabashed wedding enthusiast, and I will admit that going on flights of fancy about having every single pretty thing Martha Stewart Wedding dangles in front of my eyes is something I have indulged in once or twice (a day). However, that is not the world I live in.
Right. That’s more like it.
When Mr. Octopus and I seriously started talking about “wedding” as in “fall 2010″ rather than “wedding” as in “someday”, I decided to start doing a little casual research—and then promptly had to be revived with a pair of electric current paddles.
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I scheduled a meeting with the seamstress this week, but in a moment of bravery I decided that I wanted to try one last time to try on actual wedding dresses.
The last time I went to a bridal salon was in the summer. But I was armed with a new determination and a more fearless attitude. I’d heard good things about Alfred Angelo, and thought I’d give them a try.
The shop was a long drive away, and I never visit this particular city without letting one of my best friends, who lives there, know I’m in the area. When I called her 30 minutes prior to the appointment (that I’d just made) to tell her I’d be in the area, it turned out she was free for the day and came right down to the salon to shop with me!
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