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Weddingbee Blog
I like shoes. But looking for shoes for the wedding has been driving. me. crazy. I decided a while ago that my shoes would be my something blue. That plan has taken a nose dive as I have not been able to find one pair over the past year (aside from these blue Louboutins, but those weren’t a realistic option) that is the right shade, shape, height, etc. I have settled on gold shoes, possibly with a blue shoe clip to finish them off.
I bought one fancy pair that were about as close to perfect as they could get. They were a little more than I was planning to spend. As much as I loved how they looked and felt, the price didn’t sit very well with me. When I stumbled upon a pair of shoes that looked very similar to the first pair, I snapped them up. I am still undecided on which pair to keep.
I thought I would throw this out to the hive for a vote. I have attempted to black out the brands so as not to dissuade the brand conscious. Shoe sleuths- don’t give it away! Here they are…
Number 1 and Number 2
This past Sunday, Mr. Peacock’s sister Sharon was kind enough to host a brunch in our honor. Everything was absolutely gorgeous.
We were greeted at the door with this lovely chalkboard sign. This has become a trend at our showers and it will be carried through to the wedding day! Read more…
I had the craziest weekend, rendering me unable to do anything other than surf the web and watch Will and Grace reruns. It’s a real condition, I swear.
Mr. Peacock and I started the long weekend by moving out of our condo. After days of packing dishes, lamps, books and shoes, I cannot believe that it still took us an entire day just to move out. We have accumulated so much crap in our short lives together. I don’t understand how it was possible. Unfortunately, our new home won’t be ready for a few months so we will be moving in with my parents. This made packing much more complicated as we had to divide our belongings into either “need right now” and “pack away for later” piles. After a quick escape to Mr. Peacock’s family’s lake house in Michigan for the Fourth of July, we were back home to try and get comfortable in my parents’ home before “The Saturday of Two Weddings” and our bridal shower brunch on Sunday.
Maisy, loving the boat and the sunshine, during our quick getaway.
Pole dancing is hard work. Your arms and legs ache for days. You find bruises on weird parts of your body. And trying to keep your hair out of your lip gloss while spinning around and around is darn near impossible. I can’t even imagine doing this on a daily basis, much less in front of a crowd. I developed this new found admiration for exotic dancers a few weeks ago at a friend’s bachelorette party.
To celebrate my friend Melissa’s last night out as a single gal, her two sisters/co-MOH’s booked a private class at Flirty Girl Fitness in Chicago. FGF offers a variety of stripper-in-training classes, as well as a party space and a nail salon. We started out the evening with manis and pedis before heading into the pole dancing studio. I would like to give a little review of the place in case anyone else is interested in checking it out, but first, the photos.
The studio. The bride tried to wear her veil throughout the performance, but it inhibited her swing.
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
After tossing around a million ideas for our programs, I have finally decided on a design. They will look like a combo of these:
from the knot
Last night, Mrs. Emerald and I went to an event thrown by the fabulous writer of the equally fabulous blog, Hostess with the Mostess. We had a little champagne, tasted a few hors d’ouevres, and gossiped about the other guests and the location. All in all, it was quite a fun evening!
The event was sponsored by Chambord liquor which meant lots of yummy raspberry flavored cocktails. Blue Plate catered and impressed me a bit with their hors d’ouevres and desserts- not the quantity, because we headed straight for dinner afterwards, but the tastes were great. The only thing that was a bit of the bummer was the location. The Ivy Room at Tree Studios has been talked up as this magical new Chicago venue. I was under the impression that it was mostly an outdoor space, but the focus of the venue is the large ballroom overlooking a beautifully landscaped patio. I don’t want to say too much, but… meh. Our word for the evening was “vanilla.”
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
For whatever reason, I woke up yesterday in a cold sweat. My many, many to-do lists were all running through my head. Room layouts, contracts, programs, junior bridesmaid dresses, the list goes on. I grabbed my little black moleskin, the receptacle of all wedding thoughts, and started yet another list. I literally sent 30 emails and made many phone calls to vendors, bridesmaids, Mr. Peacock, my mother, our new DOC (amen!) and our priest. The good news is that I was able to check a few items off of my list. Unfortunately, I am still waiting on responses on most of these emails, including one particular vendor that has been driving me nuts lately.
You know what leads to instant gratification? Shopping. I don’t have to wait on anyone to buy something. I was literally in a state of mania, and I should have known better than to pull out my wallet. At least these little babies were on sale!
I have now had three, potentially four, vendors leave me. Each had their own particular reason- moving back to their hometown for family reasons, changing jobs, the birth of a child- and there are no hard feelings. Life happens and my wedding is certainly not at the top of their list of priorities. But geez… you would think that a 21 month engagement would get me somewhere!
My make-up artist just emailed me to let me know that she is leaving the state. She will not be able to do the make-up for myself and my bridesmaids that morning. This is a little frustrating for me because she is independent and so she can’t just assign me a back-up. She did provide a few names for replacements, but there is no guarantee that I will like them as much as I liked her or that they will be as affordable. It’s not the end of the world, but it took me awhile to find her (more than a year ago) and now I need to start over, with less than three months to go.
Read more…
In honor of my little monkey’s third birthday, I thought I would formally introduce you all to Margaret Thatcher Peacock, aka Maisy.
I was practically begging Erin to give me something to do before her wedding. She finally relented and passed off the stand for her cupcakes. She had ordered a Cupcake Tree and wasn’t sure what to do with it. It arrived at her home as a box of white cardboard pieces. If you aren’t interested in decorating it, the tree is quite easy to put together. But this tree was going to Erin’s wedding, and that white cardboard wasn’t cutting it for either of us. She gave me very few instructions. The cupcakes were going to be decorated with primary color flowers made of icing.
I enlisted my mom’s help because she is super crafty. We were struggling with the primary colors. We wanted it to be fun and whimsical to match the cupcakes, but we didn’t want it to be childish. It was a very fine line! We decided to make it look like grass so that the cupcakes seemed to be growing out of the stand. We came up with a million different ways to do it, but our favorite method became covering the levels with green plastic tablecloths and then hot gluing pieces of paper grass to the edges.
Mr. Peacock and I are still buzzing from our Mexican themed shower last weekend. The sun was out, we were surrounded by friends and family and all the party details were absolutely perfect. Even the guys had a good time- at a bridal shower!
I know that I have been talking a lot about Erin’s wedding, almost as if it were my own. I can’t help it! I am so excited for them. We spent almost two years planning together. It was so exciting to see all the details that we had spent hours discussing come together. And now, the grand finale… the pro pics.
Erin and I share many things. Chatty mothers named Diane (although mine is a Dianne). A love for a day in the sun with a margarita. Catholicism. Our hair dresser. The occasional “going out” top. The list goes on, but lately we have shared one very important thing- our photographer. Dean Thorsen has impressed us more and more with every wedding, and he totally blew me away with these beauties.
The Belden Stratford in Lincoln Park. It was pretty and comfortable, but the customer service was severely lacking.
We picked our caterer very carefully. It is, by far, our biggest expense. There are quite a few good caterers in Chicago, each with a unique perspective on cooking and serving. After emailing the ten caterers on our venue’s preferred caterer list, we requested sample proposals from the six that responded. We read through all of their materials and menus and considered the customer service that we had received thus far. We narrowed the list down to two.
Both were large catering companies, well known in Chicago, with very experienced head chefs. One of my bridesmaids worked for Company A at the time, although she was in their marketing department and we were assigned a different sales person. Company B’s sales person blew me away with her customer service and their take on fresh, local products really impressed me and Mr. Peacock. They also have an “assistant” who is, basically, at our beck and call that evening- setting up place cards, making sure that Mr. P and I have drinks and appetizers and packing up our gifts at the end of the night. Sweet, right?
I absolutely loved the way that Livia Caporale styled my hair for Erin’s wedding.
I loved the style and the way it framed my face, without being in my face. I loved the products that she used. And I absolutely loved that it still looked pretty darn good 13 hours later, after crazy winds (there were tornado warnings), high humidity, 90 degree heat and lots of hugs. The wind was the most important factor in a potentially ruined style because we walked around Lincoln Park for almost two hours taking pictures. Yet, here are some photos that Mr. Peacock took for me when we got home at 1:00 am.
I have a few photos from Erin’s wedding! Everything was so beautiful. Of course, there were a few snags, but in the end everything was perfect.Erin and her bridesmaids spent the night before the wedding at a hotel in Lincoln Park. I loved that! We were up late with girl talk and then up early watching the Weather Channel together. We were also ready to go when the hair and make-up team arrived at 9:00 am.
Doesn’t she look so happy and excited? It really was her day.
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Miss Peacock, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Internet Whiz Engagement Date: December 5, 2006 Wedding Date: September, 2008 Blogging Since: December 13, 2007 Venue: St. Clement Church, Cafe Brauer (or a big church wedding and a fancy party at a cafe in Lincoln Park. About Me: I am a grad student with a secret obsession for all things wedding related. I also love to read, travel, drink champagne and go for walks with our dog, Maisy, and Mr. Peacock. We are planning our very vintage wedding in the greatest city in the world, our hometown of Chicago. I am so proud to be a Bee!
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