(image source)

I don’t know anyone else shares this sentiment, but one of the things I really looked forward to about being married was being able to pack that engagement ring away!

I have never been big on wearing jewelry, and had never dreamed about wedding rings of any kind. It was very weird to carry something so valuable on me all the time, and at the beginning it was honestly quite uncomfortable to have a thing sticking out at that odd (to me) spot on the finger! Mr. Green Tea offered that wearing it was not a requirement, but after leaving it at home for a couple weeks, I realized that it made him quite happy to see the ring worn. So I wore it most of the time, and got mostly used to it. 22 months later though, whenever the sticky-outty part hits or snags anything, it still freaks me out a little.

Upon our return from the honeymoon, several people already asked where my e-ring went. Some folks have a hard time understanding why I wouldn’t want to don it everywhere I go. While one of my bridesmaids is looking to get a second band to add to her current big rock e-ring plus blingy band combo, I’m totally digging the comfort of my simple little band. The e-ring is now safely tucked away at home, to be brought out only on special occasions. No more sticky-outty for me on da daily, whoopee! Ahh… the joys of marriage.

I’m glad Mr. Green Tea and I agree on that comfort comes first. Even though I would have been fine with not wearing anything at all, the symbol is important to him so this is how we compromised. But I do know many out there who would feel awkward not wearing their e-ring along with the wedding band.

What do you plan on doing? Did you and your spouse agree on the ring wearing arrangement? Am I the only one out there getting odd looks for rocking only the band?

Purple Dresses: The Quest Begins
The One Where the Bride Takes a Chill Pill

After months of scouring the city on foot, I had finally found Nirvana—a lovely purple bridesmaid dress for my girls—only to have it pooh-poohed.

It was at that point that I realized I had only one place left to turn.

Oh sure, I had dabbled in it before, sending Miss P, Pepperpot, and Lil’ SIL a couple of links to random dresses I found by accident, but at that time I was just trying to get a feel for what they might have liked.

At the time, I wasn’t serious about it. While I’ve done plenty of online window shopping, I’ve never ever actually bought clothes online before.

I don’t know if you American gals know how good you’ve got it.

Most online retail sites don’t ship to us poor J.Crew-less Canadians which means that to buy something, we have to get a co-conspirator involved who lives south of the border. It’s pretty complicated so I’ve only done it once (for my purple wedding shoes, which was totally worth it, of course).

But this time, I had little choice.

I gripped my mouse with determination and plunged into the deep, dark world of online retail.

And WOW, it was a whole new world.

There were WAYYY more purple bridesmaid-worthy dresses online than in real live stores! (Or at least, that was the case in June.)

Would you like to take a walk through my Delicious bookmarks filed under ‘bridesmaid’? Hmm??

All dresses above from Nordstrom.

Above dresses from Alfred Angelo.

From Newport News.

From Cutesy Girl and Sears.

From Bluefly.

From Donna Ricco.

Whew!! And that’s just a sample.

At this point, I wasn’t necessarily restricted to a specific shade of purple, though our invitations featured a royal purple color, so I was leaning towards that.

However, I was still restricted to a budget of $150 x 3, so none of these dresses, with the exception of the ones from Newport News, would do.

Anyway, pretty as they were, none of them gave me that big ‘AHA!’ feeling when I looked at them.

I was almost at the end of my rope, when out of the blue, darling Pepperpot (my maid of honor) announced that she–along with my brother’s wife–was paying me a visit and we were going to take a road trip across the border to Seattle where, gosh darn it, we were going to find us some purple dresses or die in the attempt!

Yay road trip!

(To be continued)

So who out there actually bought their bridesmaid dresses online? Did you like online shopping better than real-life shopping? Why or why not?

Image source
First Row: Bride and Groom Photo from Martha Stewart Weddings; Snowy Ceremony from Brides; Snowflake Mittens from Smitten With Mittens on Flickr.
Second Row: Silver Christmas Cracker; Angora “Bride” Brim Hat from theweddingringstore.com; Icy Bling from Cartier; Photo from istockphoto.
Third Row: Bouquet from Brides; Invitation from Ceci New York; Winter Wedding Boots from Henry Kaye.
Fourth Row: Snowy Kiss Photo from Van Buren Photography; Cake from Rebecca Thuss; Glass Tree Decorations from CB2.

Some of my favorite wedding invitations incorporate the snowflake theme.

I love this silk invitation by Imagine Couture that features a snowflake embellishment to tie it all together:

image source

This snowflake invite by Wedding Invitations 4u is so simple and elegant and it’s the perfect way to set the tone for a winter celebration.

image source

This gorgeous invite by InkandPaintOnline isn’t exactly snowflake themed per se, but the silver elements give it a winter feeling.

Image source

And finally, the blue element! I love this invitation, and even better it’s a DIY:

Image source

On to the wedding ceremony!

Although some winter weddings may have the advantage of leftover festive church wreaths and poinsettias, others can be spruced up with the icy branch aisle look. Very pretty, I must say!

Image source

And to add a little blue to the aisle would create a winter wonderland at its best. Here is Joan Rivers’ daughter’s wedding and the gorgeous aisle detail:

image source

Flowers for a winter wedding can sometimes be tricky, but these blooms are the perfect “something blue!”

Image source

And for the reception, when guests walk in they’ll know it’s a winter wedding with all the candlelight and blue details!

Image source

This centerpiece design makes me want to change our color scheme to blue and silver, instead of black and gold. It’s amazing how such a simple arrangement can be so stunning when put together.

Image source
Design by Tres Fabuevents

Incorporating branches into a tall flower arrangement makes for a stunning centerpiece or entrance table arrangement. These branches are woven with white orchids.

Here is a tall silver and blue centerpiece with classic ivory flowers and branches.

Image source

Here are some spray painted branches. The uplighting really makes the trees look so romantic!

Image source

Christina Aguilera’s wedding was an ultimate winter wedding.

From InStyle Weddings: “Hundreds of birch trees lined the walls; the tables, dressed with silk cloth and white organdy overlays, were trimmed with white faux fur. Kevin Lee of L.A.’s Premier Flowers designed the centerpieces of glitter-dipped white hydrangeas, roses, amaryllis and branches. Chandeliers of Manzanita branches woven with crystal strands set the room aglow.”

Image source

This wedding was actually inspired by Christina Aguilera’s wedding and it was gorgeous! Very modern, but definitely fits the blue and white wedding theme! I love how she chose to hang the crystals above the tables. It’s so unique.

Image source

The classic white and blue table setting: so pretty, and it could also work for a bridal shower!

Image source

I love this idea. This couple actually arranged for snow to fall during their first dance. I’m not sure how they did it, but isn’t the idea so romantic?

Image source

For dessert? How about a blue and cream cake!

Image source 1,2, 3, 4

Obviously you know this is one of my favorites simply because of the damask detailing! Plus, it’s a Martha Stewart design and Martha is my girl, yo.

image source

And now I introduce you to the queen of all snowflake cakes. How great is this? I love the kids egging her on here. So classic.

Image source

You could leave your guests with a few winter themed favors, too!

Cookies anyone? Mmm!

Image source

These wine corks could be my favorite winter wedding favor… probably because I’m a bit of a wino.

Image source

And if you’ll be giving a non-winter related favors, why not place them in a snowflake box?

Image source

One of my all-time favorite favors I’ve seen is pairs of mittens that the bride personally knit for her guests (similar to the picture in the first inspiration board). I can’t remember where I saw them, and for the life of me cannot find a picture of the mentioned mitts. I’m not sure I could actually knit 150 pairs of mittens, but for a small intimate affair it seems like such a thoughtful (and useful!) gift for guests.

So, what’s a bride to do for a winter wedding?! Think snow!

Will I ever stop changing my mind about our color and theme? I think we may have had TOO much time to plan!

Like a lot of you out there, none of my bridal party actually lives anywhere near me. I’ve only been here in southern California for two years, and have lived primarily in the NY metro area and the South in my short lifetime. With friends scattered all over the place, and wanting to keep the bridal party small, it was a bit of a challenge figuring out who to ask. I think you’ll agree though, that the buddies of mine that have stepped up to the challenge of dealing with me on my wedding day must be really patient, good friends!

First up is my best girl, R.

(With an Alessi funnel I got her for her b-day!)

Way back in the day, she was my sorority “big sister” (yes, I was in a sorority. Can you believe it?!) and showed me the ropes of party college life. R. was with me on several fortuitous occasions at the beginning of me and Mr. ST’s relationship, and I also remember fielding a few early morning phone calls from her about her love life, too. I love R. because, like me, she’s not a girly-girl and can keep my head on straight about things. She’s planning her wedding, too, so we can commiserate together!

(At Verlaine, one of my favorite bars back in New York)

And then there’s my best boy, N.

(After a wine tasting at the Bonny Doon vineyard in Santa Cruz)

I met N. between my first and second year of college (I think), but honestly it feels like I’ve known him forever. Like me, he’s now a grad student in California, but sadly is on the opposite end of the state. N’s a great musician, my personal Cabbage Patch doll, and a great advice giver… that is, if you can manage to get him on the phone! Let’s just say he’s known for being a bit elusive at times!

(Halloween 2006—I went as a bitter bridesmaid!)

I’m so glad they both agreed to be in our wedding party, but am a bit sad I can’t do some of the more typical bridesmaid stuff with them. With R. back in Manhattan, and N. up in the San Francisco Bay Area, it wouldn’t really be possible. No envelope stuffing parties, no big showers… so really, no way for me to work them to the bone (haha!). But that’s ok, because they’ve been really solid friends and I am proud to just have them up there with me on the big day. And of course, we’ll be having a proper bachelorette blow-out a few days before the wedding in New Orleans to make up for all that missed bonding!

Who else has long-distance members of their wedding party, and how do you keep them in touch about the important details?

I don’t have any pictures of me in the birdcage, but I will post pictures of it from Etsy and share with you where I bought everything!

(Bandeau Veil from Something Bold)

I bought my cathedral-length veil from Candi Merle of Crowning Glory Designs. You may recognize her name because many brides have used her! She’s super affordable and made my veil in a week! Her e-mail address is candi at cgveils dot com. My makeup trial is in two weeks, so you’ll be able to see pictures of both veils then!

Anyone else sporting two veils or donning the birdcage?!

Before discussing my design ideas with Lisa, I wandered around the blogosphere searching aimlessly for inspiration. I wanted something different, but subtle. Something that would accent the simple lines of my dress and add a little sparkle to our wedding day. When I stumbled on to this collection of celebrities wearing long necklaces, I fell head over heels. I mean, check out this gorgeousness—how can you not swoon?!

Image via wireimage.com via entertainment.uk.msn.com
Isn’t the fringed diamond necklace that Nicole Kidman is wearing here just delicious?


Image via wireimage.com via entertainment.uk.msn.com
I love this pearl and gold combo that Naomi is rockin’!


Image via wireimage.com via entertainment.uk.msn.com
Jennifer Beals is wearing a nice simple collection of necklaces that I think work well together.

Image via wireimage.com via entertainment.uk.msn.com
Ooh, Uma! I think I’m in love with your necklace!

So it was set—I decided that I really wanted a simple long sterling silver chain accented with a random assortment of sparkling objects. I asked Lisa what I would need to purchase so that she could put it all together—and as Tim Gunn says, “make it work!” She made me up a list and I headed to the bead store, or as I like to call it, “Heaven.”

What I bought: 100 inches of fine sterling silver rolo chain, a strand of large glass teardrop crystals, a half dozen small crystal briolets, a half dozen tiny freshwater rock pearls, seven square freshwater pearls, a bag of sterling silver beads, and two sizes of rhinestone beads.

This past weekend, Lisa came up to drop off a little DISE surprise she had created for my bridesmaids, and to put together my bridal bling. We unpacked my bead store findings and she got to work while I knitted my shrug and my mom worked on some other black glittered projects.

The unpacked goodies were placed on a ridged dish so that Lisa could easily grab pieces as needed.

Lisa planned out the necklace by placing groups of beads next to the chain to see how it would look when finished.

One of my favorite things about having Lisa create my wedding day jewelry was that she’d say a little prayer when finishing a section. Every so often, she’d call out, “this one is for a baby!” or, “this one is for fighting fair!” They were all random and she wouldn’t know when one would come along until she had the feeling for it. Each of the prayers were for a positive influence on our marriage and would give us good luck when I wore the finished necklace on our wedding day.

Image via SunflowersDesigns @ Etsy
Here I am modeling the final product.


Image via SunflowersDesigns @ Etsy
A closer look at the entire necklace.


Image via SunflowersDesigns @ Etsy
Some of the random details. Please excuse my linty tank top!


Image via SunflowersDesigns @ Etsy
Another close up of some of the random pieces.

I absolutely love how it turned out! I can wear it many different ways, as it’s one long necklace—almost 124 inches long—so I can wear it wrapped around as a shorter layered necklace, a choker, or a longer draped necklace. It will definitely get some use on special occasions!

Best of all, I managed to convince Lisa to open up an Etsy shop, called SunflowersDesigns, so that other brides-to-be could benefit from her fabulous beading skills. It’s her first online store, so she was pretty stoked to have me there to help her technologically-not-so-savvy self set up her shop. It was the least I could do in thanks for all of her beautiful work. I’m super excited to see the other custom pieces she ends up creating in the process.

What kind of jewelry are you wearing on your wedding day?

But the heftiest burden of all falls on bridesmaids. They play a role that, for all the honor of its implied intimacy to the bride, comes with a price to match. Bridesmaids are often expected to buy a dress, matching shoes, and jewelry, not to mention professionally applied makeup and nail polish on the day itself. And well in advance of the “I do’s,” they usually serve as host for a bridal shower, bachelorette party, or both. TheKnot.com estimates that, excluding travel, the average cost for each bridesmaid adds up to around $700.

Oy gevalt. I kind of hurt for my bridal party just reading this. I wanted to recognize their friendship and support for me through the years by asking them to play a special role in my wedding, but I by no means wanted to bankrupt them in the process!

I’m doing my best to help defray the costs for my bridesmaids.

I’m going to be purchasing their dresses (I am, if nothing, a talented bargain hunter, so this should be manageable and fun). I’m also going to be paying for makeup and hair for the day of; after all, they are getting gussied up on my behalf. But they will still have to fly to the West Coast from the East Coast, find a place to stay, and incur any incidental expenses while they are in California. Those expenses, plus even the most low-key bachelorette party (cancel the male strippers!), can really add up for the merry band of academics and government employees who make up our wedding party.

Are you worried about expenses for your bridal party, or do you think it all evens out in the end? Did cost concerns lead you to forego having a bridal party altogether? Do you have any tips or advice on how to help lower the costs?

Before we booked the band for our wedding, I kept telling him that a band was the “one thing” I wanted. He believed me, until I started to use that phrase for just about anything I wanted for the big day, and he found out that my “one thing” was actually a dozen things. After that, whenever I suggested an idea for the wedding he would joke, “well, as long as its not the ‘one thing’!”

I will be writing about other “one things” in the near future (the scrapbook table was another “one thing”), but I wanted to share the “one thing” I am really, really excited about now, because everything just got finalized! This “one thing” is actually for Mr. Martini!

(Mr. M PLEASE do not read further!)

I knew I wanted to get a groom’s cake for Mr. Martini for a while now, ever since I found out what the darn thing was years ago. I think the idea of groom’s cakes are adorable and the perfect thing to add a touch of personality to a wedding.

As I’ve mentioned in my profile, Mr. Martini and I are both obsessed with snowboarding. In fact, I think that he is more obsessed with it than me! Last year we made very good use of our season passes to Stratton and we were up in Vermont pretty much every other weekend. We were so nuts about snowboarding that when we decided to buy a car together, we chose to buy an SUV specifically because we knew we’d be going on many more snowboarding trips together. I knew I was going to incorporate a few snowboarding themes into our wedding, so I thought that getting a snowboarding related groom’s cake for Mr. Martini was a no-brainer. The hard part was deciding on what, specifically, would the cake look like?

It took some brainstorming but in the end I decided on the perfect thing. Mr. Martini and I both wear and love the DC Judge snowboard boot. He has them in black, and mine are white. He is the one who talked me into getting these boots because he swore by them, and eventually made me into a believer too. In fact, we both became DC advocates and even convinced some of our friends to buy the boots!

Above is a picture of my boots when I first got them a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I just realized that I took a picture of the boots while strapped into the bindings so it’s tough to see the detail, but these particular boots use the Boa lacing technology. Instead of sitting there tugging at your laces, all you really need to do is turn a knob to tighten them. As you walk, the laces adjust to distribute the pressure evenly throughout your foot. When you pull the knob, and the laces relax. I could go on and on about how awesome these boots are, but to make a long story short— they’re very comfortable. Specific boot. Perfect groom’s cake.

Now the hard part was finding someone who can make me a boot. I scoured the internet for any bakery that could make this boot for me. Unfortunately, it seemed as though all local bakeries couldn’t do what I was looking for, and if they were in another state, I wasn’t happy with any of their nearby recommendations. Then one day during my search, I happened across THE cake. I mean, it was the EXACT cake that I had envisioned!

I found this groom’s cake from this photographer’s blog. He happened to be the photographer for the wedding of a DC designer, and this was the groom’s cake for the couple’s wedding. I was ecstatic because:

1. I knew now that it could be done and

2. I got to see what it looked like as a cake. I absolutely had to get this groom’s cake, whatever the cost!

I continued my search for weeks to find a good bakery. I emailed a few, and I actually got a quote from one. When they told me the cost, I might as well have been Chris Tucker screaming, “50 Million Dollahs?!?!?!?!” in the movie Rush Hour. I guess by, ‘whatever the cost’, I actually meant, ‘whatever the cost, as long as I have that dollar amount in my bank account’. This bakery told me I could get it for cheaper if I got a square cake with a little candy boot on top of it. Erm… I decided to keep looking.

Then I finally found her. I really have no idea how I actually found her. All I remember was that it happened not too long after Mr. Martini proposed. It was a link from a link from another link (you get the point), and when I clicked on her specialty cakes, my eyes popped open. I loved her cakes, such as this one and this one and even this one. I emailed her right away. We didn’t even have a wedding date at the time but I was so excited that I just had to get a head start. Since then, Karen and I have shared many emails back and forth and she has been such a pleasure to work with. I am confident that she will make me the perfect cake. I mailed in the deposit a few weeks ago, and a couple of days ago I signed the contract after choosing red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (YUM).

Mr. Martini has no idea what is going on and that is the way I want to keep it for the next six months (although he did find out that I was getting him a groom’s cake, he has no idea what it is and whether I will actually go through with it so please… if you know him personally it would be great if you could keep it a secret. Thanks in advance!).

Are you surprising your groom with a groom’s cake?

Well, my friends, I realized this morning that I never showed you the final product! So here they are! This is a programs as they were supposed to be: zig-zag stitch with black thread:

and the inside:

These are the front of the ones done by the cobbler. I knew they would be a straight stitch, but I had asked for black thread. As it turned out, he sewed them with shoe-colored thread. Light brown on the front and dark brown on the back.

Here’s a close-up of the front of the program. Hopefully you can see the grooves/indentations left by the industrial-strength shoe-shop sewing machine:

We knew that was going to happen, and decided that we didn’t care. No one even noticed.

Here’s the back of the programs, with the dark brown thread:

As you can see, they didn’t turn out perfectly. The ones I did are clearly superior (at least in my ever-so-humble opinion, ha ha), but you know what? I wasn’t willing to spend all the time, energy and money to get our sewing machine repaired and sew through another 75 programs. So in the end, all was well!

By the way, I am TOTALLY running out of things to tell you guys about because my professional pictures still aren’t here. Any ideas? Anything I haven’t covered that you’d like to hear about?

And with this, I tearfully pass the KBOTW torch to Mrs. Penguin who will be posting the Knottie bios from now on. I’ve truly enjoyed my time at Weddingbee. I thank everyone for the warm welcome I received a month out from my wedding, and I will miss everyone immensely. Farewell hive.If you’d like to continue to follow my journey through blog life, click here. Stop in and say hello!

xoxo,

Mrs. Bop–

Sissekat

cmc714

CoCo81

Want to nominate a Knottie Bio? Please submit it to penguin(at)weddingbee.com.

After a great amount of discussion, we decided that half of the tables at our Nikkah reception would have fresh flower arrangements, while the other half would have something… different. Ms. Mango kind of gave me some freedom to decide what we should place on the latter half of the tables. So, I began to think of the many designs that stuck out to me during our wedding planning research.

One centerpiece idea that has always sparked an interest in me was crystal trees.

Source

I think they invoke a sense of elegance and modernity. However, our budget simply couldn’t accommodate 12 crystal trees. Between having to buy Manzanita trees and crystal beads, this project would have been way too expensive for us. So I set out to create crystal tree-like centerpieces.

The first step I took was to find a substitute for Manzanita trees. What I wanted was something to give the centerpiece structure, and to also create places to to hang a variety of pendant decorations.  What I found were natural birch branches. The natural birch branches seemed to be a good choice because they were all-natural, sturdy, and obviously… branched, so we could easily hang things off of them.

Source

They were really cost efficient. That was my main motivation for choosing this type of branche. Essentially, we would be creating crystal “bushes”, but hey, what the heck!

I ordered the branches and received them a week later in this fashion:

They were basically bundled up really tightly. The website I purchased our branches from had instructions on how to open the birch branches, so my cousin and I began opening each stem, one at a time, and placing them in our cylinder vases.

Honestly, this wasn’t as easy as the blog instructions had claimed it to be. Every time we began to pull the branches apart, we’d hear them crack and break right off. It took us a while before we figured out it would be a good idea to wet each branch at their joints before trying to adjust them.

After we opened up all the branches, we began placing them in vases, making sure to invoke some sort of symmetry.

Once we placed the right number of stems in each vase, we tied the bottoms of the stems with a thin metal wire. That proved to be a good move when we started transporting them around (sorry the pic is blurry).

The next step was to add crystals. Now, while I certainly agree that using Swarovski crystals would have been the best way to go, my wallet didn’t agree. So we turned to the best alternative that we could come up with, which was acrylic bead curtains.

Yes sir, the same cheapo teeny bopper dorm room accessory turned out to be a great material for getting the crystal bead effect. I found ours at shopwildthings.com.

[image]

When they arrived, we received a huge curtain of acrylic beads that we cut to random sizes. The best thing about the curtain was that the beads were already strung up and they also shined nicely. A quick tip: make sure the beads you buy the are the ones that are faceted, otherwise they will look dull.

I don’t have any pictures of this step, but we basically cut about 20-30 pieces of various lengths for each crystal bush. I then took a staple and hooked one end right under the first bead on the string of beads, and twisted the end of the staple so that it served as a metal loop to hold the beads. The other end of the staple was then hooked to the branch.

When all 20-30 pieces of bead strings were attached to the branches, it began to look like this:

Not too shabby, eh? Well, I thought the branches needed a little color. I began searching for options to bring some color to the centerpieces, and remembered reading a post by Miss Cupcake, in which she had used paper flowers on a guest book memo board. So, I went to my local Michaels and picked up the following paper flowers:

I placed these flowers randomly on the branches. The best part about these flowers is that they already have a small hole in the middle of each flower, so it was easy to slip them on to branch itself, like this:

So, after the beads and flowers got a dab of craft cement, the semi-final product looked like this:

I say semi-final because I actually added individual base and clip lights to accent the centerpieces using materials from Dollar Tree (MacGyver it!), which I will reveal in the near future.

What do you think so far?

I have two bridesmaids and one maid of honor. That’s only three girls. And yet, I seem to have chosen three ladies with the most polar opposite body types (although the one thing they all have in common is being quite, um, endowed in the chesticular region). Now, I know it’s quite fashionable to dress ‘em up in different gowns that are all similar but are different styles, but I really love the traditional coordinating dresses. I mean, I big puffy heart matching bridesmaids, and matching in general!

I also have it in my head that I want the dresses to be floor length gowns. I’m not saying that my gals hate this idea, but I do distinctly remember my sister saying something along the lines of, “It’s a good thing Mom and Dad are buying my dress ‘cause I know I’ll never wear a long dress like that again.” A bummer, but probably true.

Lastly, we have the issue of the Island Bridesmaid. It would be nice if the dress could be ordered online, since one of my best friends/bridesmaids will be in the middle of the Caribbean until February.

All these factors add to my hesitation to make a decision. I’ve already turned to Mr. Lemonade, my parents, and many lovely random residents of the Great State for advice… perhaps you could help?

I’ve narrowed the field down to three contenders. Two are from designers that are featured at the boutique where I purchased Jackie, and one is from J. Crew.

Exhibit A:

[image]

I present to you the Siri Caterina gown. If we choose this style, we would be ordering it in a deep midnight blue dupioni silk. It’s got a full skirt (dancing ability unhindered? Check!), pockets (!!), and comes in gorgeous fabrics. It is the middle option in terms of price and it’s definitely a contender (did I mention it has POCKETS? Awesome!).

Exhibit B:

[images]

These are Simple Silhouettes gowns. I absolutely ADORE their entire line of dresses. My ladies would be sporting a custom hybrid of a few styles that would have a mock wrap neckline, empire waist, full length skirt, and bow embellishment at the empire waist. As I’ve mentioned before, I love me some bows something fierce.  This hybrid dress would tie in with my dress, and Simple Silhouettes offers some killer fabrics as well (their interpretation of navy is MY kind of navy, a dark rich midnight blue).

Plus, through Simple Silhouettes, I could get a great send-off dress for myself and we’d all save 20% when ordering as a group, which would make these dresses our most affordable option.

Which brings us to our last choice, Exhibit C:

[image]

This one is from J. Crew. Oh, J. Crew. I truly love the Crew. This particular dress is the “Sophia” long dress, and the most expensive ones we’re looking at. I know a lot of brides have relied on the Sophia, and she hasn’t let them down. Of course, there’s the a-freakin’-mazing coupon codes that J. Crew sends out frequently. A bonus for this dress is that my bridesmaids can simply log onto the internet and order this dress themselves. Easy peasy!

It’s so hard for me to decide!

Which dress do you like best? Any and all help on this monumental decision is greatly appreciated!

The Big Day: Getting Ready
The Big Day: Miss GB 2.0 Gets Ready
The Big Day: Gingerbreads Reunited (The First Look)
The Big Day: Over the Hills and Through the Park
The Big Day: The Ceremony (Part I)
The Big Day: The Ceremony (Part II)
The Big Day: Bouquets Found
The Big Day: Little Things
The Big Day: Faux Photo Booth Guestbook Revealed

At our reception, Mrs. GB 2.0 and I sat with family at the middle table so that we could feel like we were in the centre of the action. Long tables of ten gave the reception that nice, family-style feel.

One of the things that I was most happy about was seeing the guests Chatting away throughout the reception.  Most of the guests didn’t even know each other before the wedding weekend! I think that they were so comfortable around each other because we have awesome friends! The all-inclusive rehearsal dinner BBQ might have helped, too!

Having a small wedding meant that we had plenty of time to interact with our guests and with each other.

We chose to have our reception at a restaurant because food was paramount to us. Of course, it was unbelievably delicious. Mrs. GB 2.0’s greatest fear about the reception was that she wouldn’t get a chance to eat her meal. Luckily, that was not a problem. Thank goodness, because she can get really grumpy when she is deprived of food.

Here’s a few gratuitous food porn shots.

Crab cake!

Tiramisu

Creme Brulee

Ooh, there’s a shot of the beef tenderloin… I mean, our lovely family.

As we made our way around to visit our guests, they couldn’t stop raving about the food. We were visiting to be good hosts, but were also hoping to score some leftovers. No such luck!

I think I’m saying, “Hey, did anyone order the butternut squash ravioli? I really wanted to try that!”

A surprise guest at the reception was this amazing full moon. It was so gorgeous as it rose over the Lion’s Gate Bridge and Stanley Park.

Photo by Jim

Coming up: Toasts, the fake cake, and dancing!

*All photos by Carlton Chan unless otherwise noted.

A part of me feels like we’ve spent the past year planning for this mythical event, something happening so far in the future, that it seemed like it would never get here. One recent event really made things seem like reality, though. We picked up our rings!

My band matches my engagement ring’s band exactly, and Mr. Sundae’s has some beading around each edge, so the two of them kind of go together. I keep forgetting that when this is all said and done, I get another ring to wear around. Mr. Sundae practically had to hold me down to take it off my finger!

Are any of you at the stage where things are starting to seem more like a reality? Did you try on your wedding ring and refuse to take it off?

(Striking a pose in a mini-archway at a Tokyo train station)

We asked her to be our violinist because we knew that she would play us anything we wanted, and anything she played would sound amazing. Plus, the fact that she’s my baby sister makes her contribution all the more touching and special!

For the prelude, she’s playing two pieces.

Bach’s Gigue from Partita No. 3…

… and Telemann’s Concerto in G for Violin:

After much deliberation and indecision on my part, I chose Bach’s “Wachet Auf” (Sleepers Awake) for our processional:

Finally, for the recessional, a piece she is quite good at; Spring, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons:

After the ceremony, she’s off the hook to enjoy the reception like everyone else. I can’t wait to hear her playing as I’m walking down the aisle… just thinking about it makes me choke up a little!

What are you having played at your ceremony?

[Image Source]

Unfortunately, this dress doesn’t quite fit with our color scheme. Sigh. But hopefully this will work for other brides still looking for a fun dress for their bridesmaids. Right now on eBay, there are fourteen of these dresses, new with tags, in sizes 6, 8, 10, and 12. Scoop them up now! But let’s not start a bidding war and drive these sweet bargains up over $100.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue my search for stylish and affordable dresses for the six beautiful ladies in our bridal party. Three eBay stores I’ll be keeping my eye on are JT & Company, Teresa Hilton, and Wisteria Han. They seem to carry a lot NWT BCBG and ABS dresses in a variety of sizes. My fingers are crossed that a chic bargain will pop up!

Will your bridesmaids be wearing off-the-rack dresses?

So, you’ve seen the dresses I liked, disliked, and the one I let slip away. Now, lets move on to the fun part!

Mr. Dumpling: do not read any further.
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

I said STOP, Mr. Dumpling!

I can’t believe that I almost didn’t try this dress on! It’s Vineyard for Priscilla of Boston.  The style is called “Emily”.

The front has a belt/strappy thing. I can’t decide if I want to remove it or not.

This is where the train will be bustled.

Yay! I can have boobs in this dress!

As you can see, the top part of the dress is going to be difficult to modify for a small chest, so I’ll just have to buy a padded bra. I have a pair of Spanx, but I think something more heavy duty might work for this dress. I wonder if there is some sort of one piece Spanx-like suit with a padded bra? But, if I wore this one piece, how would I pee?  I guess I’ll have to figure out what to wear under this dress soon!

Has anyone tried the stick-on boobs that look like chicken cutlets? Do they work?

Once again, all photos (except where noted) are by the wonderful Samantha Warren of Samantha Warren Weddings.

When we left off, I was dressed and decked out in my new jewelry—courtesy of my soon-to-be new husband. I was a little tear stained from the note he had written me, and we were ready to go…

I had totally forgotten that there would be flowers! I was blown away when I saw my bouquet:

I think I’ve said this before: I gave my florist almost no direction, but the flowers came out even better than the (totally ambiguous) picture I had in my mind. Having the lace from my grandmother’s wedding gown wrapped around my bouquet so that I could have it in right my hands while I walked down the aisle was awesomely comforting:

I can remember feeling a little nervous while Sam was taking these pictures, but I was also so excited that I think that’s all that shows through. I think the thing I love the most about our photos is all of the emotion that was captured. It really brings me right back to those moments when I look at them. You can just see the anticipation and elation on our faces.

This is what it feels like to be a bride:

Our trolley was right on time to pick us up, and I happily climbed aboard:

(non-pro photo by RL)

The trolley may not have been the most well planned out idea, as wide open windows and carefully crafted bride and bridesmaid up-dos aren’t a great mix. But it was so much fun that nobody cared:

The beautiful weather was still holding up when we arrived at the church:

The last few guests were filtering in:

(non-pro pic by CM)

And look who was waiting at the other end of the aisle, catching sight of his bride for the very first time:

Next up: Will the self-proclaimed “ring barrier” deliver? Will Miss Tiramisu or her Dad cry more on the walk down the aisle? And what is up with Mr. Tiramisu’s left eyebrow anyway?

Previously:
The Pre-Game
We Practice the I Dos and the Party Part Too