Weddingbee Blog

Have I mentioned that I am obsessed with our venue? Oh, that’s right, I have. If you are sick of hearing about our venue, feel free to skip this post—but if you stick around, I promise there are some sweet decor ideas amongst my gushing! You see, one of the many things that I adore about our venue is their truly amazing collection of decor items that are available for brides to use.

When we toured Cedarwood, there were many things that caught my eye. One thing in particular was a cabinet full of milk glass. Let me let that sink in for a moment—a cabinet FULL of MILK GLASS! I’m pretty sure my mouth starting watering right then and there.

Image via Ashleys Bride Guide / Photo by Dove Wedding Photography / Decor by Cedarwood

This sight in and of itself was pretty much enough for me to sign my life away to these people, and by that I mean sign a wedding contract…what, that’s not the same thing? Anyway, you get the idea.

But the amazing milk glass cabinet isn’t all. Cedarwood bouts some other highly impressive collections as well! Such as…
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This post is not about the life-changing commitment of marriage or some epic wedding idea that I have concocted. It is just about a simple little thing that makes me smile. I was reading a post on the boards about how it sometimes feels like people have lost all sense of common decency, let alone over-the-top friendliness. I do think this is the case far too often, and the rant was fully warranted, but it got me thinking about the flip side (apparently today was a glass half full kind of day). I got to thinking about the little something extras that a stranger has done to turn my week around, brighten my day, or just make me pause for a moment and smile. You know, warm fuzzies.

Image via MarketingSelfStorageOnline.com

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The time is almost here! No, not the wedding. That is still 6+ months away. But our initial planning meeting is rapidly approaching! This meeting is with our venue, but since our venue is all inclusive, it is also a meeting with our florist. Please excuse my giddiness that it is time to start talking flowers.

Not to be self-centered, but let’s start with the bridal bouquet. I think this is a very good place to start—after all, there are boatloads of phenomenal inspiration pics.

Here is the first stunner that I came across:

Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Krystal Mann / Flowers by Cedarwood Weddings

Are you itching for more? I hope so, because here it is!

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According to Martha, “Save-the-date cards create the first impression that your guests will have of the wedding.” No pressure there. Now, as much as I like love worship Martha, I do think you can have whatever kind of wedding you want with whatever kind of save the dates you want (or don’t want, for that matter!). That being said, I have dedicated a solid chunk of time to our save the dates (perhaps more than I initially bargained for, but I enjoyed [almost] every minute of it), and I am pleased with the first impression that our save the dates will express about our wedding.

But what about the first impression of our save the dates? I know that some of you are thinking, “Miss D, you have officially gone of the bridal deep end!” I admit, you just may be right, but I have written this post anyway.

What I am talking about, of course, is the envelopes! I promised myself I would not go too crazy with this, and personally I don’t think I was too bad (although some people may beg to differ). The first decision was the stamps. On a random trip to the post office before I even knew what our save the dates would look like, I saw these beauties and snatched up a handful of sheets. Easy peasy.

Image via Shop.USPS.com

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Sometime early on in the planning process, while I was casually browsing obsessively stalking wedding blogs, I came across a photographer that I totally fell for: Lotus Blossom Photography. I’m not sure why I was so drawn to their work, as there are lots (and lots, and lots) of talented photographers, many of whom seem to be swarming around Nashville, but this one jumped out at me. At the time we were not ready to book anyone, but a little seed was planted. That little seed looked a little something like this:

Image via AshleysBrideGuide / Photo by Lotus Blossom Photography

I have no explanation as to why but this particular photo stuck like glue (anyone else singing Sugarland right now?), but it undeniably did.

Months later, we actually were ready to book someone.
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I have explained how important it was to me to get pricing information from photographers. But pricing wasn’t the only thing I needed to know before signing a contract. In order to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything critical, I looked up some sample questions online. My mind has a tendency to go blank when I am excited, and I didn’t want to book someone just because they were friendly. Don’t get me wrong, I want our  photographer to be friendly, but there are some other things I am hoping for as well.

I found many lists of recommended questions, including these from Real Simple, iVillage, and About.com. From these, I did some cutting and pasting, eliminating questions not necessarily because they weren’t important but because I knew they were not relevant for me (let’s be honest, I will read your weddingwire.com reviews, but I am not going to be calling former brides—have I mentioned my phobia of talking to strangers on the phone?). I also eliminated questions that I could determine the answers to by exploring their website.

After this editing, these questions remained top priority for me:
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Then tell me your prices!

In case my other posts have not already adamantly expressed this, I am a big fan of excessive online research, particularly when it comes to things for our wedding. As I did my searching for a photographer, I found one thing to be quite frustrating: secret prices.

Some photographers’ websites listed their prices right there under an “investment” tab (such a pleasant title for something so nitty-gritty). I loved when this was the case. Other websites had an email or contact form to inquire about the cost. Most of these led to a quick email response that included the necessary information. I ended up with a very crowded inbox during my photography search, but I was OK with this as well.

Then there were some who responded to my inquiry by inviting me to set up an appointment to discuss packages and see their work. Not that I don’t love meeting new people, but making an appointment with a photographer whose prices may not be even close to within our budget was not super appealing to me. I understand that not all photographers have clear-cut packages, so I was not expecting a price quote down to the cent, but I was looking for a general price range so I could know if we were on the same page, or even reading the same book, for that matter.

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My bridesmaids are located all over the country. Literally. From west to east, there is one in Arizona, one in Illinois, one in Tennessee, and one in New York! Luckily, since the dress I chose was a retail dress and not something that needed to be ordered, they were each able to get the dress in their respective location.

I really wanted to do my best to make it as easy as possible for them. So, I sent them a very long email with any and all information I thought they might possibly need. I looked up the addresses for the Kate Spade store nearest each of them (don’t I sound like a commercial right now?) if they wanted to try it on in person. I also sent links to a few websites where they could buy it online (Zappos, Bloomingdale’s, etc.) and included the return/exchange policies. I offered to get the dress for them and send it to them. I also attached the sizing chart for the dress and a reference picture. I really hope I came across as helpful as opposed to overbearing and that I made it more convenient as opposed to more overwhelming!

They each opted for option #1 and went to the store in their city to buy their dress. This ended up being very fun for me because, over the next week or so, I got some very fun emails and text messages of their shopping successes!

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With most wedding decisions, I did research until my head was spinning, contemplated every option that was even in the realm of possibility, and discussed said options with anyone who would listen until I was blue in the face. Picking a DJ, however, was not such a lengthy process, and I don’t really have an explanation as to why. It certainly wasn’t because I did not care about the music, because I think we can all agree that music can play a big role in getting the party started.

That would be Bridesmaid M, me, Mr. Dalmatian, and MOH K busting some moves at MOH A’s wedding. She had a great band that achieved a lively atmosphere and crowded dance floor that I am hoping to replicate at our wedding. Despite her great experience with a band, we decided to go with a DJ, mainly because of the lower price tag (because, let’s be honest, with regard to cutting costs so far my success rate is pretty shameful).

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I have always had very vivid dreams and, unfortunately, very vivid nightmares. It is not an unusual occurrence that poor Mr. Dalmatian gets woken up to me yelling or crying in my sleep. Occassionally, he himself is still mostly asleep and I get an angry, “What are you doing?!” that he doesn’t recall in the morning, but most of the time it wakes him up enough to know what is going on, and he reassures me that it is just a nightmare and everything is OK. The not-so-pleasant dreams are usually correlated to my stress level, and I can usually find a link to something that is going on during my waking hours. So, I was fully prepared for the onset of wedding dreams.

Soon after I got engaged, I had a dream that we were getting married on a mountaintop. All was going well until…a tsunami hit. Yes, that’s right, our wedding was brutally interrupted by a tidal wave that washed us away. Now, I do not have a degree in psychology, but I’m pretty sure what the tsunami was not so subtly representing was being overwhelmed.

Don’t get me wrong—I love wedding planning. I loved it when we first got engaged, and the feeling has not faded over the last five months. But the fact is, while most of the things that need to be done are fun in my book, there are still lots and lots (and lots) of things that need to be done. As my nightmare so eloquently expressed, even positive things can be overwhelming when they come in such large quantities.

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I love love love the bright pink bridesmaids’ dresses that my girls will be wearing, but I thought they could use a little something to add a touch more vintage flair to their style.

After a bit of the usual online browsing, I decided that gloves would be the perfect little something! Look at how cute and charming they are:

Image via PrettyChicky.com / Photo by Jonathan Canlas Photography

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Hi, my name is Miss Dalmatian and I am a total homebody. Come Saturday night you will not find me out on the town. You will find me snuggled on the couch with the mister and the pup, eating a hot-and-ready pizza from Little Caesars and watching Hulu. Don’t get me wrong—I do occasionally go out, and I have a lot of fun when I do.

Yes, that is me. Yes, I am waving a penis straw. Yes, I did that the entire night. Yes, it is embarrassing. Yes, it was ridiculously fun.

However, the slightly extremely tipsy, dancing-on-the-bar, penis-straw-waving girl is definitely the exception as opposed to the rule. The rule tends to involve less beads and more sweatpants.

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MOH K had been amazingly patient and tried on MANY dresses for me. Unfortunately, even my favorites among them calmly stated “pretty good” as opposed to screaming “perfect!” Despite my desire to make a decision and move on to the next task, pretty good was simply not good enough.

Enter Kate Spade. You may recall that my shoes are Kate Spade. She has rapidly become my biggest designer weakness. I just love how everything is so classy and still so fun! In fact, one of her dresses had been the subject of an email I sent to my mom that read, “The Perfect Bridesmaids’ Dress.” Yes, that’s right—I used the P-word! Unfortunately, the price tag on this amazing little number was not quite as pretty as the lovely floral fabric.

Kate Spade Wynne in Multi / Image via KateSpade.com

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After unsuccessfully searching high and low for patterned bridesmaids’ dresses that met my very picky standards, I expanded my search to include solid dresses as well. With this expansion, approximately 17 bagillion more dresses became options. In order to narrow down the search, I decided to try out a new criterion: sleeves/straps!

I really like the look of non-strapless dresses, and I think quite often they are more flattering and more comfortable. Plus, I wanted my girls to be able to get down on the dance floor without worrying about a wardrobe malfunction!

The first solid dress that stole my heart was the Miraflores dress from BHLDN.

Mr. Dalmatian liked the sleeves, but wasn’t sold on the bow. The bow is actually part of a reversible belt, so it can be worn on the back. This brought the dress up to “OK” in Mr. D’s book, but Mama Dalmatian was worried about the fit being too little girl-ish. As much as I didn’t want to admit it at the time, I could see her concern. To top things off, I wasn’t entirely sold on the more muted pink as opposed to a bright pink. So the Miraflores dress got moved from my potential bridesmaids’ dress folder to my I-love-this-dress-and-will-buy-it-if-an-occasion-arises-for-me-to-wear-it folder.

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I really love the whimsical feel of the mismatched-dresses trend that seems to be spreading like fashion-forward wildfire, but when it came time to choose attire for my girls, the traditional side of me was resisting jumping on this bandwagon (as were the traditional sides of my mom and Mr. Dalmatian).

Despite it not being the right look for our wedding, let’s take a quick moment to appreciate how fun mismatched dresses can be:

Image via Etsy / Vintage inspired tea dresses by sohomade

Even though they were going to match, I did still want something unique. Why I feel the constant need to challenge myself by wanting something simultaneously traditional and unique for every aspect of my wedding, I do not know! I quickly convinced myself that having all of the girls in the same dress but having the dresses be a print would be the perfect solution. And so began my obsessively extensive search for a patterned bridesmaids’ dress. Here’s a general idea of what I had in mind:

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