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As of today, Mr. Magnolia and I have been engaged for ten months. We registered back in March (gotta love those Crate & Barrel registry events!), and I have to say — every time I come home to see one of those big black and white boxes on the doormat, I let out a little squeal!
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that several more items have been purchased off our C&B registry (I’m not a stalker…just an…observer!), which is very exciting since my first shower is this weekend. And it seems like our friends and family know us (well, me) pretty well, since the first category to be bought out was our stemware!
While searching innocently for something that may or may not end up being a wedding gift from me to Mr. Magnolia, I stumbled across the following:
(All images courtesy of cufflinks.com)
“Just Married” cuff links
…continued from here and here.
(Mr. Magnolia, you don’t want to read this one!)
Bright and early the next morning, my Maid of Honor joined us for the last two stops on my list.
LaRaine’s Boutique is in the Virginia-Highland area of Atlanta, which is one of my favorite spots in the city. In terms of store setup, LaRaine’s almost a complete 180 from Saks and Priscilla of Boston — it’s packed full of dresses from many different designers, there’s not really much order to the vast selection, and I would describe the general vibe as more casual than sophisticated. However, the people who work there have a very welcoming attitude, and the shop reflects that. I immediately hit it off with my salesperson, Brooke, and we began to pull out dresses in every style imaginable for me to try on. Read more…
…continued from here.
Saks Fifth Avenue at Phipps Plaza was our first stop, and they were having an Amsale trunk show. I had spoken to the salesperson, Mary Munday (yes, that’s her first name) a few days earlier, and she was just lovely over the phone. I was glad to hear such a friendly voice to help ease me into the dress-buying process! Once we got to the store, my mom and I were both seriously overwhelmed. Nobody was in sight to help us just yet, and we weren’t sure where to begin.
Several minutes later, the Amsale rep appeared and offered to start helping me into gowns. This made me a little nervous, because I definitely wanted to try on gowns other than Amsale, Kenneth Pool, and Christos, but I wasn’t sure how receptive she would be to that. We pulled several into the dressing room, and so it began.
My earlier apprehension regarding sizing disappeared almost immediately. Even though the dresses were “straight off the runway” (or so the rep said…), I was able to get them on, and in most cases, zipped! Woo hoo!
I tried on various Amsale and Christos gowns (and we even snuck in a Monique Lhullier, much to the dismay of the Amsale rep!), and I really liked this one, from Christos:
Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
Unlike most brides I know, the absolute last thing I wanted to do was start wedding dress shopping. I was convinced that the store samples would be far too small for me, nothing would look right, I would never have the *aha* moment that everyone describes. I had worn bridesmaids dresses before, so I knew going into it that these things ran small, and I guess I just didn’t want to deal with feeling like a cow when I’m supposed to be feeling beautiful.
Regardless of my apprehension to actually try anything on, I knew exactly what I wanted in a dress – a-line, strapless, lace, with a sash. Sure, I was willing to try on other dresses, but I knew without a doubt that my wedding dress would have that very description. Those were the dresses I tore out of magazines, the ones that I bookmarked on the Knot, the ones I drooled over as I perused Knottie bios.
Saturday night, I had an unfortunate encounter with an extremely unpleasant person. I didn’t immediately realize just how inconsiderate he was – but the more I think about it, the more upset I am about the entire situation.
Mr. Magnolia and I were invited over to a friend’s house to watch college football (surprise) as well as the Yankees-Red Sox game. We had a fantastic, relaxing day, which much needed, with everything that’s going on in our lives at the moment.
However, shortly before we left to go home, the evening took a turn for the worse. I was carrying on a conversation with our friend’s neighbor – it was nothing more than small talk, really – when the subject of my and Mr. Magnolia’s wedding came up. The guy I was talking to was really only vaguely interested in the wedding (no surprise there), but he did want to know how long we had been together.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Yesterday, Mr. Magnolia and I took the opportunity to head over to our reception venue for a menu tasting. At a previous meeting, I went over some of our options with the event manager, and I think we made some pretty good decisions about what we wanted to try. In fact, we ended up selecting just about everything that we tasted yesterday! Who says we’re not decisive Magnolias? 
So here’s the preliminary menu…we didn’t necessarily intend to have a Southern food theme, but it did work out that way. Mr. Magnolia and I both love good, homestyle comfort food, so it makes sense that those are the dishes that we would gravitate toward. The reception is buffet-style, primarily because our guests won’t be arriving until 8:15 or 8:30, and who wants to sit down for a full meal at or after 9:00 p.m.?
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Passed Appetizers:
- California Sushi Rolls
- Southern Spring Rolls (Cajun-style, with blackened chicken and pepper jack cheese)
- Hot Butternut Squash Soup
Okay, so I haven’t been able to get myself together and actually take pictures of our Save the Dates — trust me, you don’t want me to go into everything that’s going on!
But here’s what I can give you:
Our magnet!
Okay, my apologies - this is only for the Atlanta ladies. I know that a lot of people subscribe to Daily Candy, so you may have already seen this, but…This weekend, there’s a Vera Bradley Outlet Sale in Atlanta!
Lately, I’ve really been struggling with our wedding colors. I know that blue and brown are good together, but most of the time we’re talking about light blue and brown. I’m trying to pull together navy and chocolate brown with accent colors of light blue and champagne. When I tell people this, they usually cock their heads to the side and look at me funny.
Is it too much? Are my colors too dark, even for an evening, winter wedding?
The bridesmaids will be in navy. Our flowers will be all white, with a little bit of light blue. We’re looking at all white linens with chocolate runners. The chairs at the reception are a dark wood with a taupe fabric. Honestly, I love it all in bits and pieces, but I’ve had a hard time picturing it coming together.
“Paisley print is an easily recognized pattern that resembles a crooked tear drop or half of a yin-yang. A very popular print on all sorts of clothing and fashion accessories during the 1960s, paisley print is commonly found today on men’s ties and handkerchiefs. It has also recently resurfaced on women’s skirts and handbags. Though paisley print became popular when it appeared in the shops of London’s Carnaby Street during the mod fashion frenzy, its origin can be traced back to India.”
Courtesy WiseGeek.com
Somewhat inexplicably, I’ve lately been drawn to all things paisley. I’ve never been a big fan of paisley in the past, at least not more so than any other prints out there. But then Mr. Magnolia and I began the registry process, and everything changed.
When we were picking out china, we knew that wanted something simple yet distinctive, something that will be complementary to a lot of colors, but not boring. Ultimately, we decided on Kate Spade’s Bonnabel Place.
There is an extremely complicated matter of our wedding rings. Honestly, it really shouldn’t be that hard. I’m not picky, Mr. Magnolia is not picky, and while I love the symbolism of the wedding band, I’m not entirely convinced that he’s actually going to wear one. He’s just not a jewelry kind of guy, which is no big deal. My dad hasn’t worn a wedding ring since he lost his (before I was born), and my parents have been happily married for 31 years.
My engagement ring is absolutely beautiful. It’s a solitaire, Asscher-cut diamond in a platinum, four-prong setting. When he ordered the ring, the jeweler told him not to “ruin” it with baguettes. It’s a phenomenal stone, and I get compliments all the time!
(photo courtesy of 35 Atlanta…please excuse Mr. Magnolia’s very short fingernails!)
Very early in our engagement, people started asking me about how I was going to wear my hair for the wedding. This always cracked me up, particularly when I didn’t even have a gown yet! Eventually I did make the decision that I would wear my hair up, in a low chignon with my veil tucked in underneath.So obviously, thinking about wedding day beauty started early, but there was one decision that I didn’t even have to think about: wedding day makeup. See, I’m a lucky bride-to-be. Quite possibly the luckiest, in fact!
Why, you ask? Well, I have a cousin who is co-owner of a cosmetics company. And since he’ll be at the wedding anyway, he may as well provide his services to make me look extra-beautiful, right? Honestly, we’ve asked that this be his wedding gift to us – to provide me and my bridesmaids with day-of makeup. Normally, he charges a pretty good amount of money for this service, so it will be a huge favor to me to help out with our makeup.
Hello, all! I’m Miss Magnolia, the new bee in the neighborhood!
I’m so excited to be a part of this fantastic wedding community! I’ve been reading this site regularly since I got engaged, and I’ve gotten so many great ideas from it – and now I can’t wait to start sharing some of my ideas with you!
So who are the Magnolias? Well, I didn’t start out as a Southerner, believe it or not (I know, it’s blasphemy!). I’ve lived in several east coast states, and I finally settled in Atlanta after college. However, Mr. Magnolia is a native Atlantan, which is tough to find in this city of transplants!
We should have met about 800 times before we actually did. We had at least one class together and lived in the same apartment complex in college, and we lived across the street from one another after we graduated. We also work in the same field and have a similar group of friends. Seriously, how we evaded each other for so long, I’ll never know. We were finally introduced during the summer of 2005, and we started dating very soon after that.
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist Engagement Date: December 1, 2006 Wedding Date: January, 2008 Blogging Since: September 6, 2007 Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
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