Illusion necklines are a lovely and ladylike vintage detail we were thrilled to see make such a comeback on the runway. Whether you want to make a bold statement with sparkles and lace, or a subtle one, all sheer silks and wispy cotton candy confection, there is sure to be one that’s just right for you.
Plus they offer more coverage (and interest) than the ever-popular strapless dress. So if you’re in the market for something delightfully demure, but don’t quite want sleeves (another hot look we’ll get to soon), look no further!
Here are a few of our favorites:
1. Bedazzled Beauty:
2. Simple Silhouette:
I had a hard time picking out our wedding music. There were so many options, and we had such a wide variety of people to please! I spent a lot of time poring over any playlists I could find online, so I wanted to share ours, in the hope that it might help out another frantic self-DJ’ing bride.
PRELUDE
Due to our late start, I’m not sure if this actually played, but when I set it up I was aiming for lighthearted music to make a happy mood.
1. “Me and You” – Barry Louis Polisar
2. “Is This Love” – Bob Marley
3. “Stand By Me” – John Lennon (I like it more than the Ben E. King version!)
4. “When I’m Sixty-Four” – The Beatles
5. “Say Hey (I Love You)” – Michael Franti
6. “Love You Madly” – Cake
7. “Home” – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes
8. “All I Want Is You” – Barry Louis Polisar
Honestly, it feels stupid to write a post about apothecary jars. And yet, it also somehow feels necessary. Are you planning on having a candy buffet? Well, then you’ve undoubtedly seen many adorable images of others’ buffets.
Frickin cutest candy bar ever. (Image from C.R.A.F.T.)
Since deciding on a restaurant to host our rehearsal dinner, Mr. Wallaby and I finally made the trek back to The Woodlands to attend our rehearsal dinner tasting! Yup, that’s right—I definitely didn’t think there was such a thing as a “rehearsal dinner tasting” when we first got engaged, but when Américas Restaurant offered us a tasting before we mailed in the deposit, we raised our hands. Free food—heck yeah!*
To fill you in briefly, Mr. Wallaby and I scored a great deal at Américas—Janine, the events coordinator, allowed us to serve a lunch menu instead of a dinner menu, which will be saving us money big-time. She even threw in free soft drinks. Although the meal would still be a significant cost for Mr. W and I, we loved this restaurant and wanted to offer some old Southern hospitality for our out-of-towners who would be arriving the day before the wedding. Américas serves Southern American fare, and the menu that we chose is named after Iguazu Falls, an incredibly stunning waterfall on the border of Brazil and Argentina.
Here is the mouth-watering “Iguazu menu” that we’d be serving:
Appetizer: Plantain chips and chimichurri
Americans appetizers…. mmmmmm. Personal photo.
I don’t know when it started, but at some point I decided that I wanted a vintage engagement ring. I came to this realization in my early 20s, well before I met Mr. C. I guess I’ve always had this vision that I would wear something with a bit of history, something with an ornate Art Deco or Art Nouveau style, something different.
I’m enchanted with the idea of wearing a ring that once witnessed a great love. Maybe the ring eventually fell into the hands of a relative who sold it. Now it has the chance to know true love once more. But sometimes I wonder what if the opposite occurred—what if the ring is from a failed or rocky marriage? What if it has seen a great tragedy? In that case, I believe that we would be giving the ring a fresh start for love. I wonder where my ring has traveled, where it has been. Who once looked down at their hand each day to see that ring gleaming on their finger? Can you tell that I’m stupidly sentimental?
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All antique rings from Erie Basin
When Mr. C and I first started talking about marriage, I told him that I wanted to play a role in finding the ring. I struggled with this choice because ideally I wanted the whole process to be a surprise. In a perfect world the entire engagement would be a surprise and the ring would be everything I had always dreamed it would be. But in reality it must be incredibly overwhelming for a man to walk into a jewelry store and try to predict which ring his girlfriend will love for the rest of her life. That’s a lot of pressure and I’ve seen it set some couples up for disappointment. Besides, I know myself well enough to know that I often have unrealistically high expectations. I didn’t want to set my poor fiance up for failure. I want to be clear that I wasn’t worried about being disappointed in the carat size—we’re both hard-working teachers, after all. We don’t exactly make a lot of money. I was more concerned about the wide range of styles found in antique engagement rings. Even on my own I was having trouble narrowing down what exactly I wanted.
