After I said yes to my dress, hugged the store manager AND my attendant, and paraded around a bit, it was time to choose the bridesmaids’ dresses.
A lot of people expressed surprise when I mentioned we were aiming to get both my dress and their dresses chosen in one day. Honestly, it wasn’t any additional stress and it was necessary for us. At that time, we were pretty much scattered: Rev. Fun hailed from Atlanta, BM Badonk lived an hour away, BM Tiny Dancer was in college about three hours away, and BM Blackout and MOH Mem worked in the healthcare field and had to schedule days off two months in advance—if we had a weekend where we were all together, we were going to take full advantage and get sh-t done, for real.
Again, I had a pretty strict set of ideas in my head: no strapless, I wanted MOH Mem to be in a different color, I wanted them to be all the same style, and I wanted them long. Even though I had what I wanted picked out (I won’t shove the DB Dress Your Wedding image in your faces again, but I will tell you that you can find it here), I had sent an email to my girls telling them I was open to their opinions and ideas. I assured them that I would not pull a Topanga, but I also let them know that they didn’t have to like the dress in terms of style—they just had to be comfortable and able to dance.
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Image via Screenshot via YouTube / “Those. are. the most BEAUTIFUL dresses I have EVER seen.”
My main goal was finding one dress that fit everyone. When you have a variety of heights (I’m talking from 5’4” to right around 6’), weights, shapes, booties, bazoombas, and not to mention a variety of skin and hair colors, it seems next to impossible, but I was confident that I had chosen quite a few dresses (including backups, of course) that would fit and flatter everyone.
Kirsten is selling a Paloma Blanca 3966. She is asking $750 for the size-6 gown.
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We’re having a group run as part of our rehearsal dinner festivities.
Yep.
Now, before everyone freaks out, no, the run will not be required! And yes, we’re still having a dinner (we’re calling it a welcome dinner now) and a time to relax and not do strenuous things.
But we love to run. Remember when I told you about my sisters and the bond we have with running? I’m more than thrilled to have this chance for all of us to run together—a lot of sisters would go get manicures together before the wedding; we go for a run together (although maybe we’ll get manicures too).
Personal photo / The three of us after a Thanksgiving run last fall!
Well hello again, hive! So, we’ve covered a few organizational things—The Schedule, The Packet, and the Card. I hope they’ve been helpful in planning! Today I’m writing about The Spreadsheet—which, in a fit of melodrama, I named All The Things. 
In the beginning, my wedding planning was almost derailed by Pinterest—I wanted every single detail that I saw. Toasting flutes, engraved cake forks, chair signs, paper lanterns, tissue poofs…all the things! As McGlovin and I started to form a wedding vision, though, it became easier to edit ideas. Once I returned to a rational state of being, I started a Google spreadsheet where I could keep track of all of these ideas, so I could pick and choose what we wanted at our wedding.
Hi hive! Missed you all! I’ve been a little busy, getting married and all…and it was really awesome. I’ll wait until I get our pictures to spill any details, but I am SO excited to tell you all about it.
In the meantime, I thought I’d tell you a bit about our little Italian honeymoon. We left for Rome the Monday after our wedding…
My blingy wedding nails and new initials!
Hive, I’m pretty sure the crown for queen of bunting goes to Miss Jackrabbit. I promise I am not trying to dispute this, because there’s no way I want to cut out 750 triangles! But I did want to do a quick post on making bunting in a smaller quantity and let you know how we’re planning on using it.
In an earlier post when we were talking about my simple do-it-yourself invitations, I mentioned that I wanted to include bunting somehow in the decorations to tie in the invitations to the overall theme of the wedding. I was thinking about maybe a 10-foot section or so over the fireplace and figured I could do that myself, even though I don’t have any materials on hand or a sewing machine. I was thinking about using tissue paper and ribbon to cut down on cost and time.
A lady from Mr. Lemur’s church who is helping out with my April bridal shower read my post and sent me an email about her making bunting for the bridal shower that I could then reuse for the wedding. How sweet is this? When I was in Detroit last weekend I went over to her house and looked through inspiration pictures—including yours, Miss Jackrabbit!
Early in my planning, I kept forgetting I was a bride. I mean, obviously I was doing bride-esque things, like booking our venue and failing at favors, but it was a weird combination of having been thinking about doing this for so long and diving into doing it head first that kept me somewhat detached.
Bridesmaid Y and I went to a bridal show in the first month of my engagement (I’m telling you, folks, I wasn’t messing around), and I definitely experienced some sort of overwhelming, awe-inducing, “whoa this is real” feelings. But—and I’m willing to bet many brides and/or brides-to-be would say similar—nothing, nothing, NOTHING compares to picking a dress.
I have so much to say about this day. I’ll save the suspense and tell you all now: We were able to leave with not only my dress chosen, but also the dresses that my bridal party will be wearing—which was very important to me, because having everyone together is a rare occurrence.
We went to a local David’s Bridal for our dresses. Being the lunatic stalker thorough person that I am, I scoured reviews, ideas, hints, any and everything related to this type of experience beforehand. Unfortunately, I encountered numerous negative reviews—even from Weddingbee—and I began to freak out inwardly. Of course, I know enough about the internet to know that often only the extreme cases warrant reviews, but I still started to have mini anxiety attacks. What if they don’t know what they’re doing? What if I get a complete bitch and end up snapping? What if they won’t let me use the appointment for both me and my girls? What if all of the dresses look hideous on me? What if MY dress, my dream dress, fails everywhere like the favors did? I was sincerely, legitimately concerned.
One thing I have gotten from a lot of the comments I have received is that people are excited to see a British wedding. So I want to pause my planning documentation for just a moment and share something with you.
I was watching YouTube videos the other night and came across a clip of a Peter Kay sketch where he talks about family weddings. For those who are not familiar with Peter Kay, he’s a comedian from my hometown in the north of England, and this particular scene literally has me in tears of laughter. I would very much love it if you watched even the first two minutes of this to gain a little insight into what is—for a lot of people—a typical British wedding.
Video via YouTube / Clip from Peter Kay: Live at the Top of the Tower
jansnowdrops shares a photo of this intricate, lace-backed wedding dress.
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How are you spending the day before your wedding? Are you having a rehearsal followed by a rehearsal dinner like us? Are you going to a salon with your bridal party to get pampered? A couple’s massage with your betrothed? Or are you doing something adventurous and random like rock climbing or go-kart racing?
For our big day before the Big Day, Mom Sword will be hosting a luncheon for all of the women in our very small families and the bridal party ladies at her house. It’s called “Lunch with Princess Miss Sword” and it will be a time for me to relax and chat with 17 of my favorite people in the whole world. This is the only event that my FMIL and FSIL will be able to attend since they live in Scotland and weren’t able to attend the bridal showers or other planning events for obvious reasons. Mom Sword wanted them to feel special and included and I know this is going to make for one awesome memory. How often will I get all of these women in the same room again? Plus, it’s a great way to kick off the wedding weekend festivities!!
Immediately after the lunch the bridal party and I will head out to get our nails done at Livvy Nails and Spa.
I’ve said before I’m a bit of a nail salon snob and I’ve gotten spoiled living in Chicago. I have about three salons I alternate between and I’m really weary of trying new places. I decided to use Facebook to ask my Minnesota friends for recommendations of fabulous nail salons and went to check them out when I was in town.
I’m so happy with our choice and so far the owner of Livvy Nails and Spa has been very helpful, and they even have this adorable pink butterfly chair for Littlest C to use. How adorable! I can’t wait!
As much as we were enjoying our couple’s portraits, it wasn’t long before it was time to head back into the Chapel to get ready for the ceremony. I am honestly not sure what Mr. C was doing during this time before the wedding started, although I’m guessing he was probably just having fun in the Groom’s suite, sharing some laughs with his closest friends. I, however, was saying hello to some lovely ladies who stopped by the Bride’s suit— Grandmother Coach and my little cousin/wonderful house party member, J. I briefly remember taking these photos, but this was the point in the day where things really started to fly by. You try to remember every last detail, but it is just so, so difficult!
All photography by Megan Fortner
You remember Mad Libs, right?? Of course you do. They were ridiculously awesome.
So when I saw that wedding mad libs are a new thing, I thought, “I have to have it.” I told Mr. Whale about it, and he was like, “What? I don’t get it.” And he still doesn’t really get it. But I decided we would have them anyway. There’s not a whole lot else to tell other than…I made some mad libs! Want to see?
The “front” (the first side a guest would see anyway):
The back:
