Weddingbee

My grandmother might cringe if she discovers the amount of money my mom was willing to lay down for the “perfect” veil. I mean, it is just simply an embellished piece of tulle!

At my dress try-on at Monique Lhuillier, I was fitted with a beautiful gold sash to finish off my dress, but the tears didn’t come streaming out of my mom’s eyes until they plopped a gorgeous cathedral length veil with ribbon edges on top of my head. It was the first time I felt like a bride as opposed to a dress model… it was the veil that made the ensemble complete. According to my notes, this amazing piece of tulle was a Toni Federici “Elaine” and at ML, they sell it for $405. My mom was ready to pay in cash for the veil right then and there, but I felt silly about it until we checked out other options.

We went and visited the headquarters of Erica Koesler in North Hollywood that afternoon to see what the small outlet offered and if any other veils caught my eye. While I didn’t find a discounted veil that I loved, I did find a small gold veil comb that was a bargain at $35. They offered to make me a custom veil for $135 that would mimic my desired look (butterfly edging, cathedral length, ivory with 1″ ivory satin ribbon), but mom was still hung up on the original and was worried our bargain copy wouldn’t be exactly the same.

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The seasons have barely changed and I’m getting close to finishing my first cold of the winter months. It wiped out my plans for Halloween completely, as Mr. Lemon just called to tell me he’s sick today and therefore my outing to his company Halloween party is a no-go. I can’t be too mad, as he comforted me this weekend with movies, chicken soup and lots of hugs. I’m heading over to comfort him this afternoon with orange juice and popsicles and pretzels…and hopefully we’ll both be better by the weekend.

I’ve always been a big believer in finding someone who cares for you when you’re down and out, and unfortunately, my guy has already been tested quite rigorously and keeps flying with higher and higher colors. But my big requisite: HUGS. And sorbet/gelatto. You just can’t go wrong there. *sniffle*

How does your significant other comfort you when you’re sick?

Our color scheme evolved long ago in conversations with my Maid of Honor sometime in singlehood before Mr. Lemon arrived. It went something like, “Dude! When I get married, I’m totally going to have a blue and gold wedding! Or… you can have a blue wedding and I’ll have a gold one and we’ll match!”

Fast forward to post-proposal conversations about color, where I suggested a citrus combination of our favorite colors of yellow and orange, and Mr. Lemon exclaimed, “But I always thought it was going to be blue and gold?” In order to assure that I wasn’t breaking any crazy color rules, I went searching for the color forecasts for Summer 2007 from Fashiontrendsetter.com. And low and behold…it not only works, but it’s perfect for the season!

It’s come in very handy so far, especially when picking out blue items, and hopefully with 9 choices I can make everything stick to it!

I’m off to try and find a Halloween costume for my first party tonight, and I must say that I haven’t been in the costume mood lately. Perhaps it’s all of the wedding planning and school, but it just hasn’t been a big priority. Either way, Mr. Lemon and I couldn’t decide on any couples costumes to go with. Whatever one of us liked, the other wasn’t too happy about.

Last year I was Domino Harvey and he was a British football player. This year he has decided on joining the Lord of The Rings, and I’m in search of a good french maid costume.

[excuse my "I'm trying to look like a badass but its not working" face]
So much for cutesy couples coordination!

Perhaps you want to have more than your initials engraved on your wedding band or engagement ring? If so, you can get one these babies!

The Takohl Treasure Rings are designed to hold a 48-character message inside for only your beloved to see. The rings are available in 12 standard styles in either 14k or 18k white, yellow or rose gold or platinum. Basic rings start at $1190 and go up to $9000.

What message would you want to be hidden in your ring? Or, what message would you like to hide in your fiance’s ring?

The long awaited H&M store in Los Angeles has delayed its opening to November 10th in order to coincide with the launch of the much anticipated Viktor & Rolf line… and with it comes an wedding dress for only $349!

There will only be 1,000 dresses available, each individually numbered and distributed between 250 stores. The big product launch is here in Los Angeles tomorrow (Oct. 27), but the line will debut in stores on November 9th.

I’m anticipating fights and ripped dresses and large eBay profits…

A few years back I stumbled upon Piper Champagne mini-bottles at Costco in their lovely little gift pack. I bought two packs (8 bottles) for my gift closet, and everyone who got one loved the idea, and sipping champagne with a straw. When I saw the Sofia gift cans at BevMo, I was hoping that I had stumbled upon a discounted substitute for the pricey personal-sized Piper, but it didn’t quite feel as elegant or taste as nice.

Miss Strawberry’s post about personal wine motivated me to see if anyone other than Piper had moved into the 1/4 bottle world…and I’ve stumbled into bridal color coordination heaven! Hello blue and gold (and pink!) champagne bottles!!!

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The first question that Mr. Lemon and I had to answer after getting engaged was, “Do we want to have our ceremony in the Catholic church?” Mr. Lemon is Catholic but rarely attended mass after moving to Southern California for college. My family isn’t religiously affiliated, but I’ve always liked the idea of being married in a small church or chapel.

When we visited Monterey for my birthday in April, we stopped by my old high school on the obligatory tour of the area. It only took seconds on the campus for Mr. Lemon to fall in love with it, and when we walked into the chapel, his mouth literally dropped open. Well, that made the decision really easy! In his own words, “how can we NOT get married here?”

And thanks to a neat find on FLICKR, I can share a 360 degree view of the front of the chapel and the hacienda area with weddingbee! Just click on each of the pictures to take the tour!

Every few years the fashion gods smile upon those of us who are “vertically gifted” and declare flats a wardrobe essential. Designers then throw ballet flats and slingbacks in every color and style out to the masses for a few months until the next wedge craze invades just in time to pay off my shoe bills. I’m also a fan of kitten heel couture, but I get in trouble with most everyone for even the slightest raise in height. After all, they’ve invested in their 4″ heels just to make conversation with me a bit easier.

For me, this is one of those lucky years that I have an abundance of options to select from. Therefore shopping for wedding shoes shouldn’t be so hard right? Well, when you crave the adorable 3 1/2″ shoes that everyone else gets to wear, it makes things tough. But I’ve narrowed my search to gold flat/almost flat shoes.

Here are some of the options I’ve happened upon so far:

Zappo’s, Belle by Sigerson Morrison

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I am semi-obsessed with the OOT bags already, even though I am months away from preparing them. I love the idea of sharing your favorite things with others, and I thought that a music CD would be a great way to do so. My car survives on mix CDs from friends, since my music collection is almost completely digital these days. In fact, almost all of the CDs in my car at the moment were gifts.

Yet, printing out all of the labels seemed a bit tedious and not so… well… pretty. And isn’t everything about your wedding supposed to be “pretty?”

I happened upon these via See Jane Work the other day:

See…pretty! Everyone would love to get one of these in their OOT bag and pop it into their CD player!