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I’ve always been a big fan of nail polishes. I think I began to pay even more attention to my hands and nails after becoming engaged because of all of the grabbing at and requests to see my hand. Engagement rings are shiny, pretty, and kind of a big deal, but I was still surprised by it all.
As we’re approaching our wedding date, I thought I could iron out some of the smaller details like nail polish while avoiding larger and more important things, of course. Standing in the nail care aisle, even at a local chain store, can be a little overwhelming. Looking for a nice pale color? No problem! They only have more options than you knew of colors existed. Nothing was really speaking to me until my eye caught a lonely little bottle of an OPI lacquer called Sweetheart. If it was such a hot item that there was only one left, it was worth giving a shot, right?
I’m happy I did, too! It’s the perfect creamy color I’d dreamed up for myself!
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In the two bridal salons I visited, the sales associates made sure to tell my mom and me that even if we didn’t buy a dress from their salon, we should NEVER purchase a gown online.
“You will get a ‘dress’ made out of cheap polyester with sequins instead of rhinestones, and it will be shipped in an envelope as big as your laptop. It will be hideous.”
“You get what you pay for online! CHEAP DRESSES!”
“Those dresses are tacky, cheap, and horribly ugly. They are horrific.”
I’ve heard it all. The scare tactics worked pretty well on my mom, but the fact that both of the bridal salons made a point of saying this to me made me wonder: What are they scared of? If I order a dress online and the dress is as horribly tacky and ugly as they say, I’d have to come back to their store and purchase a rush-order dress anyway. This would therefore generate them more income…so why do they care? Are there online dresses that could rival the quality of the bridal-salon dresses? What are they afraid of?
I’m not looking to get into the debate of whether creating a replica dress is “ripping off” the original creator’s design. But I’ve done some research and these dresses are the “ugly and tacky” replica dresses I was so strongly warned against.
This wasn’t Mr. Ladyfingers and my first Christmas together. That honor goes to the Christmas of 2009, during which I was laid up on my couch, unable to walk, sit, move, or lie comfortably due to a … weird medical thing.
It wasn’t our first Christmas living together, either—that would be last year, which was also our first Christmas as an engaged couple.
This season did have the distinction, however, of being the first Christmas we spent as a married pair. To celebrate the occasion, we carried forth a few of traditions we started last year, and started new ones for our new life together.
We bought our tree together last year — yes, a fake one.
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I’m writing a disclaimer to this post because it’s a personal topic. My opinions about the cost of a wedding are based on my current financial situation. Each person that plans a wedding has a different financial situation, and my intention with this post is NOT to pass judgment on anyone who spent or plans on spending more or less than us on a wedding. I recognize that everyone has different priorities, and I completely respect each person’s right to those priorities. I firmly believe that every person should have the wedding of their dreams within their personal means.
Let’s get real for a second. Weddings cost money. LOTS of money.
According to the costofwedding.com wedding-cost calculator, the average amount spent on a wedding in my area is $27,338. That. Is. Insane. Because I don’t have that kind of money. If I did, I’d probably be buying a house right now.
My parents do have that kind of money. But my dad wants to retire eventually…and even if he were offering that amount of money to me I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to take it from him. I’ve been blessed with awesome parents who have provided me with more than I could ever need for well over 18 years, and I can’t personally justify demanding any more.
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Sorry for the brief absence from the blogosphere! Mr. Unicycle is home on break right now, so I’m trying to spend as much time with him as I can, even though our time together is usually spent doing stupid stuff like shopping for boring computer components and falling asleep to the Game Show Network. Now that the holidays are winding down I’m attacking our wedding (and wedding blogging!) like a vicious animal on…a not quite as vicious animal. This wedding will be pwned in the next few months! We’re only six months out and I’m starting to feel really behind. So, my New Year’s resolution is to finish planning our wedding. I figured it was a good resolution, since it will happen no matter how lazy I get. Plus, my other resolution idea (to “not be such a bitch all the time”) is already proving too difficult, and it’s not even 2012 yet.
Image via Fungagz
The problem is, I’m both a bitch and an asshole. And yes, I Googled “Stop being a bitch.”
Going along with the New Year’s resolution theme, I thought I’d share with you my super amazing wedding organization system.
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and hopefully gone before June!
Unlike fellow bloggers Hawk and Uni (do you mind if I call you Uni?), I am NOT in love with my hair. I’ve gone through a number of styles in my 29 years…and some of them have been pretty rough. Don’t believe me…check it out:
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| I created this to be like the Transformation feature from InStyle for a team event a while back |
As you can see, I used to be blond*. And tried to hold on to that color for a bit past its peak. There were many dollars spent on highlights which were probably not good for my already tough-to-manage hair.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Howdy Dallas bees! We have a meet up planned for Tuesday evening (TONIGHT!) at Times Ten Cellars in Dallas.
Everyone is welcome (new to the boards, old to the boards, not yet married, already married)! Here are the details:
Tuesday, December 27
6:30 p.m.
6324 Prospect Avenue, Dallas
Please RSVP by commenting on this post or on this thread.
I can’t wait to see some old friendly faces and meet some new ones. I hope you will join us!
Hi hive! Hope you had a fabulous Christmas! We’re back with Part 3 of our bee ornament exchange!
to 
- As I made the ornament, I tested fruit recognizability by making Mr. GP guess what each piece was after I made it. 
I can’t type those words without thinking of this song!
P.S. - that is Matthew Morrison (of Glee) who was in the original cast of Broadway’s Hairspray (which I got to see when I was 16 with that original cast!! Wow, that was almost 10 years ago. I’m old 
)
OK, back to the point of this post. It takes two people to get married, but I’ve found it takes two to plan the wedding as well. And no, my partner in planning is not Mr Elk. (Personal Photos)
Hi Hive! We’re sitting here in Eden Prairie, MN, with a fire a-blazing on the fireplace station on TV, waiting to open our socks. Hope you are having a wonderful and peaceful day, wherever you are!
Merry Christmas from our family to yours…
Last week, my wonderful mom (MOB) surprised me with a gift certificate for a facial and massage at a spa in downtown Chicago. She wanted me to take some time for myself to de-stress and relax before the wedding.
The Spa on Oak offers an Oak Street Refresher package which includes a 45 minute facial and a 30 minute massage. I have never had a facial before so I was looking forward to that experience.
I made an appointment for 3:15 on Thursday. Unfortunately it was raining like crazy, but I caught a cab and made my way to the River North area of the city. I had never spent any time in this area and I was definitely taken aback at how beautiful and high-end the neighborhood was! The spa was surrounded by boutiques such as Jimmy Choo, Hermes and Harry Winston. I couldn’t afford to even look in the windows!
Read more…
When I shop for everyday clothing, I rarely try things on. Exception: jeans and bras. But things like shirts, and dresses—I can just look at them and know whether or not they will work on my frame and whether the size is correct. I’m not sure how I’ve developed this talent (perhaps the years of shopping and mounds of clothes I’ve accumulated alongside my shopaholic mom?), but…it works for me. If I were to give a completely unscientific estimate of how often a piece I don’t try on doesn’t fit/work…I’d say less than 5%. I have a pretty good eye! As it is with most clothes, I had a pretty good idea of what style of wedding dress would look good on me and what wouldn’t. Despite being a plus-size bride, I’m very proportional for my size and have a smaller waist. I’m lucky because I’m 5′10″ and my height balances my size. I do have larger hips, so I know I want to “cover those up” (i.e., I won’t be going for any mermaid gowns!).
Other than that, I had an overwhelming feeling that A-line or modified A-line gowns would look the best on me. Here’s the other kicker: I want lace. I’ve known I wanted a lace wedding dress since I was a little girl, and with a lace-themed wedding…I mean, I wanted a lace dress. No, make that needed a lace dress. (If we add some tulle in, I may love it even more…)
Now ladies, I’ve heard horror story after horror story about plus-size wedding-dress shopping. So I called up two of the more “upscale” bridal salons in Calgary, hoping they would have more diverse sample sizes. I made appointments during a weekend my mom came up specifically to dress shop. I didn’t want to go with Fiancee Eagle (she went without me and I haven’t seen her dress!), and I didn’t want to go with my bridal party just yet. Why? Because I was scared of looking like a fool if none of the dresses fit me.
Here’s the reveal of part 2 of the Bee Ornament Exchange!
to 
- Dyed, painted, sewn, stuffed, and capped—a DIY ornament from one crafty bee to another!
The second most common question people ask you once you get engaged (besides, “Have you set a date yet?”) is “Where are you getting married?”
It really is an important question. As an architecture student, I always had to pay attention to our “site” where we were building and the “context” around it. The reality is that the context of anything, whether it be architecture, an event in history, or an event (like a wedding), plays a huge role in the details of the final product.
The context of a wedding (the wedding date, the wedding location, the season, etc.) should, in my opinion, affect the design of the wedding from day one. We eventually decided on a wedding date early in the spring in Florida. This part of our “context” has allowed us to plan for some parts of the wedding to happen outside. The second part of our wedding context, the venue, has given us rain backup and an awesome ceremony site.
I am continually making choices to fit the wedding I am planning in the venue that we picked. For example, I loved more than one dress, but one was too formal and one had a gorgeous long train…that would be a disaster in an outdoor ceremony. The venue has helped me to determine our color scheme, too. Black and white formal (as much as I love that style) just wouldn’t work there. It’s a more warm, homey, casual kind of venue…so that is the type of wedding we are planning.
So what is our venue?
It’s The Retreat at Bradley’s Pond. It has the outdoor rustic feel that I like with a modern, clean interior space!
This next photo is the indoor reception space—I love how big and neutral it is!
Image via The Retreat at Bradley’s Pond / Photo by Inga Finch Photography
Next is the gorgeous outdoor ceremony site that overlooks a pretty pond.
This Christmas is going to be a very special one for Mr. Aardvark and me. Aside from the fact that it will be the first and, for that matter, last Christmas we spend as an engaged couple, it is the very first Christmas that we will not have to leave on our separate seven-hours-apart-ways after!
OK, to be fair, at our first Christmas, in 2008, we did not have to go our separate ways. I was living in South Dakota and he was in Minnesota and we had only been dating a few weeks and did not spend it together at all. In fact, I didn’t even get anything for Mr. Aardvark! (Oops!) But upon coming home from my parents’ house he presented me with a vase! A really cool vase. I was impressed, and it is still on display in our home.
At Christmas in 2009 I had just graduated and was about to start my new grown-up job. I had time to kill and Mr. A had vacation, so he came and spent all of Christmas week with my family and me. We had so much time, in fact, that we took an additional trip to Indiana to see some of his family, too! I remember being pretty sure that we would get engaged that Christmas. I guess you could even say that’s when I officially really realized I even wanted to marry him sooner than later.
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