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Have you noticed a theme with my posts this week? I have shoes on my mind! Today, I want to share a little project related to my bridesmaids’ shoes.
Early on in planning, I knew that I wasn’t going to ask my bridesmaids to wear the same shoe. I figured I would give them a color and let them pick a pair themselves. With luck, the shoes would already be in their closets, but if they did have to buy something, I wanted them to buy something they liked and would wear again.
I wanted something to unify the potentially disparate looks and decided to make a few pairs of chiffon shoe clips.
Photo by Miss Mink
Since it’s DIY Friday, I thought I’d share how I did this project. I should start by saying that I have absolutely no sewing skill. I do not own a sewing machine. My expertise is limited to reattaching buttons to clothing.
In other words, you can do this.
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So, my wedding dress needed a belt - a very sparkly belt. Really, it would be impossible for the belt I wore to be too sparkly. Rhinestones… crystals… beading… I’ll take it all! The downside of course, is that sparkly bridal belts retail for between $100-$300 and up. Mmmmm no. I felt certain that I could do this myself and save quite a lot of cash.
So I Googled “sequin appliques” and gathered my materials…
Firstly, I laid out all my sparkly appliques upon my satiny sash to figure out how many I needed (measure your waist first and leave room for the bow or fastener!):
Just because we aren’t doing the bouquet/garter toss, certainly doesn’t mean I don’t want my thigh to be looking pretty on our wedding day. In fact, part of the reason I didn’t want to do a garter toss is because I’m quite in love with the circle of lace I’ve set aside for my thigh. My thighs are far from my best feature so this really is my only chance to dress it up with something feminine, pretty and sexy.
I wasn’t really looking for garters; I hadn’t even really thought about if I would wear a garter. I was just browsing the web one day and this picture made me stop dead in my tracks:
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| Image from Etsy Listing/All About Chic by Antiya |
I loved the style—the more artsy take on the garter. I liked that it wasn’t delicate tulle, but a more bold design. At $33, the price is actually quite reasonable, but I decided I would make mine…I mean it’s just lace, some fabric and beads, right? Actually, yes, I was right.
A long, long time ago I stumbled upon this fabric flower tutorial and have been diligently making fabric flowers for a few other elements in the wedding.
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My new favorite wedding-attire trend is statement necklaces. They are so chic and they are all over the red carpet right now. I feel like this is one trend that won’t outdate your photos 20 years down the road (unlike puffy sleeves and headband veils…oh the ’80s).
Image via Hershey Weddings by The Knot / Necklace from Neiman Marcus
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I’m sure what I am about to describe has happened to some of you. You stand in front of the mirror at the bridal shop, trying to decide if this is The Dress. You smooth down the fabric around your hips, adjust the neckline, check out the way that the train lays in the back. “Hmm,” you say, almost to yourself. Then, almost out of nowhere, the bridal consultant sweeps in and plops a veil on your head. “There! A bride,” she exclaims. “Perfect!”
In bridal stores, as well on shows like Say Yes to the Dress, the veil seems to function as the ultimate transformative piece (and hard-sell accessory): you put it on, you become a bride! But what happens when you don’t want to wear a veil?
I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want to wear a veil. That’s not to say that I didn’t admire veils. I love long, lace-tipped ones, like this one from Rohm. It’s also not to say that I didn’t try any veils on; I had veils dropped on my head whenever I seemed remotely interested in whatever dress I was trying on. Having the consultant do so, however, just reinforced my feeling that a veil just wasn’t for me.
I did know that I wanted to accessorize my gown with some kind of hairpiece. Like I had done so many times before, I turned to Etsy. I first started looking at different hair flowers. (I just realized that several of the ones that I bookmarked have tiny tulle netting attached!)
Image via Amie Noel Designs
Without corrective lenses, Mr. Mole and I are both blind as…well, moles. We’ve both been wearing glasses since middle school. Mr. Mole even underwent LASIK surgery as an adult so his lenses no longer look like the bottom of Coke (or, Mr. Mole’s preferred soda, Pepsi) bottles. Between the two of us, we own 10 pairs of prescription glasses and sunglasses and a large stash of disposable contact lenses.
As such, Mr. Mole and I have been faced with two questions: Will we wear glasses on our wedding day? If so, which glasses will we wear?
We ended up taking some photos to test out the different looks. I quickly pulled my hair back to approximate a wedding day do. (My hair is now long enough to make a tiny ponytail, which means it’s time for another pre-wedding chop!)
Clearly, the prescription sunglasses didn’t make the final photo array cut
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Note about this post: I do not mean to stir up a fur-debate, so just know that from here on out whenever I say “fur,” I mean fur-esque.
When Mr. Dalmatian and I decided on our date, we considered a few things. One thing that we didn’t really consider was the time of year, because it seemed like a given that we would get married in the spring or summer. Not only did this fit with our desire to have an outdoor ceremony, it also seemed to make the most sense with the timeline of our lives, since we would both be done with grad school. I am very happy with this decision, and can’t wait to be surrounded by lovely May flowers on our wedding day, but there is one small thing I am sad to be missing.
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| Image via Hasel.typepad.com |
I like to think that our wedding will be “retro inspired.” I don’t mean vintage, the most often overused/misused adjective in the wedding lexicon. I mean retro. When I think of “vintage,” I think of faded photographs, artfully aged furniture, and whimsical wild flowers in milk glass. When I think of “retro,” I think of beehive hairdos, polka dot shoes, red lipstick, and poufy skirts. I’m not sure what era I actually like. Believe me when I say history was my worst subject ever—I’d literally rather retake calculus, physics, philosophy, and even P.E. than ever take another history class. So I’m not sure if I like the ’50s or the ’60s, or some combination of the two. I’m not talking poodle skirts or flower power. Maybe mid-century is a good descriptor. Mad Men, Dior’s New Look, and rockabilly/pin-up styles all intrigue me. Again, I’m not sure if those all took place at the same general time or not. I’m more concerned with applying them to our very 2012 wedding. Instead of jabbering on, for once I’ll just show you a bunch of fun pictures.
Image via Divine Jewel on Etsy
Pearls that would make Betty Draper drool
I didn’t plan on jumping right into inspiration posts, but early in our engagement there was exciting news from one of my favorite brands that just needed to be shared! A few months ago, Kate Spade New York introduced Wedding Belles (and whistles), a collection including dresses, shoes, jewelry, handbags, and other accessories.
How do I love this new collection? Let me count the ways…
I guess it’s first important to discuss my love for this brand. Although I have been (woefully) restrained in purchasing from Kate, I am constantly attracted to her bright colors, polka-dotted patterns, and unique handbags. My shiny pink Stacy wallet is a bright spot in any purse and was so loved that I purchased a coordinating striped pink case for my iPhone. (I was going through a pink phase at the time.) So though my Kate collection is fairly limited beyond this, I have spent countless hours on their site, many times going as far as placing items in the basket before I stop, close the browser, and sadly walk away.
But if there’s one time to splurge a little…it’s your wedding, right? So here’s my current “love” wish list from the Wedding Belles collection.
While I love love love love love my dress, there is a slight problem with her, as demonstrated by this lovely bride who also chose my gown:
Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Katy Gray
Do you see the problem? She is having a really hard time raising her arms above her head!! Those straps are surprisingly restricting, making it near impossible to raise your arms above shoulder height. Obviously, I don’t really care all that much, seeing as I bought the dress, but it does present somewhat of a problem when it comes to one main part of the wedding: The first dance. You see, Mr. Elk is about a foot taller than me, and so it is imperative that I be able to actually reach his shoulders, a feat that may not be possible with those straps!
When I stumbled across the idea of giving your soon-to-be hubby socks on your wedding day to prevent cold feet, I couldn’t help but think it was ADORABLE.
Image via The Pretty Blog
I mean, look at those bright socks and that cute-as-can-be label! Totally swoonworthy. This was immediately placed on my must-do list, which resides in the back of my brain somewhere. Anyway, I quickly realized when I started looking around at cute socks that Mr. Elk WOULD NOT wear brightly colored socks, argyle was a no, and polka dots were definitely not going to happen. I was beginning to freak out. I didn’t want to give him a plain pair of dress socks—that seemed kind of silly.
And then I thought, hmmm, what does Mr. Elk like more than anything else in the world (besides me, of course!)? The answer was staring me down from the kegerator across the room—the one he built just for his home-brewed creations: BEER! And so the search began for beer-related socks—and wouldn’t you know I found a pair with only one Google search behind me.
It had been way too long since my last baseball reference, so I had to do it with this title. Go White Sox!
Now down to business. Since we have covered my shoes, my dress, and my veil, I figured I’d keep the ball rolling and share another piece of my wedding day look (although this will probably contribute more to our sweetheart table look since I don’t plan on carrying it around all night, but you get the idea): my purse!
Here is a pic of my everyday purse (yes, I am cruel and dragged Adam to SeaWorld San Antonio on his birthday last winter - I love dolphins that much).
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| Personal Photo |
As you can see from the pic, it would make an excellent something blue. However, even though my wedding is be no means fancy shmancy, I don’t think my lovely Anthro bag is very fitting for a formal occasion. This means I will need a wedding day clutch.
In some cultures, pearls are said to represent tears. As such, brides are cautioned against wearing them on their wedding days so that they do not begin their new lives with sorrow. Interestingly enough, there is also a counter superstition: pearls take the place of a bride’s real tears, thus eliminating any sadness and leading to a joyful marriage.
If the latter superstition is true, I am going to be one happy wife. (We won’t talk about the implications of the former!) I absolutely love pearls, and I am going to be wearing them on my wedding day. In fact, I am going to be wearing a lot of pearls.
Remember those Kate Spade shoes that the hive helped me decide to wear? They have pearl details on them.
Pearls on the toes
My mother is also going to be giving me for my birthday a pair of crystal and pearl earrings. They were the perfect find, especially since they match my dress’s belt!
When my mom and I bought my wedding dress back in November, Foxy Mama also decided to gift me with that blingtastic headband that my consultant adorned me in. (Isn’t it nuts how they do that? You know, just happening to give you all the little accessories to make you look like a model bride just like those you see in the magazines, and then you’re convinced you need everything?) The consultant said that the headband (headpiece? hair piece? blingy thingy?) was made of Swarovski crystals, which in my mind justified the exorbitant price a bit more.
Drooling. I love it. / Image via Erica Koesler
I mean, I know my dress wasn’t terribly expensive, but the blingy thingy ended up being almost two thirds the price of the dress. Nutso. It did indeed complement and accent the dress perfectly, and my mom was in love and adamant about getting it. Me? I immediately told her I’d just go to Claire’s and hot glue a sparkly thing to a ribbon. Wham bam thank you ma’am.
BUT IT’S SWAROVSKI!! insisted Foxy Mama.
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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