Weddingbee Blog

Dressing the Beach Boys - Part 1

The other day I was talking about how tough it is to dress groomsmen for a destination wedding in the Caribbean. Finding examples of hot—or should I say cool?—beachy groomsmen helped a lot though, so off I went.

The first things I bought, and the easiest, were their purple shirts. To keep things light and airy, I chose a very pale shade of purple and made sure the material was very thin and breathable.

I found these Calvin Klein shirts at The Bay (the Canadian version of Macy’s) which just so happened to be having a sale—buy three or more men’s shirts and get them all for 40% off. Shazam!!

Now for the hard part. What color should the pants be?
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My mama is the one in our family who reminds the rest of us about special dates - birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I think this role is stealthily being handed down to me but it looks like I have a lot of work to do… because Mama Sea Breeze called me yesterday morning to remind me of our own anniversary!

How on earth could I have forgotten? One year ago yesterday, Mr Breezy asked me to marry him… and in 41 days, I will.

When I joined the hive, I told you about how we met, but I never did get around to telling you about how he proposed.

As I found out after the fact, apparently, it was in the works for quite some time.

During a visit to El Rancho (as I affectionately call the ranch in Alberta where my parents live) last spring, my dad volunteered Mr Breezy to accompany him on a trip to the veterinarian with one of our horses. It turned out to be quite a memorable trip for him in more ways than one - on the way home after having witnessed a vet checking the fertility of the horse by, er, taking matters into own hands (ifyouknowwhatImean - I think he is still having nightmares), he took advantage of the rare situation of being alone with my dad to ask him if he could marry his daughter.
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When it came to outfitting our bridal party, I knew from almost the very beginning that they would be wearing purple.

Although I did consider the non-matchy-matchy look which is gaining popularity, I soon realized that because we’re having a destination wedding, the bridal party’s outfits are one of the few places where we can establish our purple theme.

Figuring out what the girls would wear was pretty much a no-brainer - purple dresses (even though finding them wasn’t).

But when it came to the guys, I was stumped. The issue at hand was complicated enough - how to pull off a purple-ish look that wouldn’t look cheesy - but then factor in the fact we’re in a beach-type setting and you’ve pretty much got Mission Impossible.

So I turned to other beachy weddings for inspiration.

Although in the beginning, Mr Breezy had been advocating short sleeved shirts and shorts, I wasn’t able to find too much evidence that this was a common thing, except for these:

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If gasping just a tiny bit every time I opened up my computer wasn’t enough*…

… I now do it every time I look at my phone too**!

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Last weekend, a gang of us jumped in our cars and drove down to Seattle for a Stagette Party Extravaganza for our friend K who is getting married in Vegas next week. (Sidenote: is it just me or does it seem like most people call these ‘bachelorette’ parties? Maybe it’s a Canadian thing, eh?)

Now, I know this is going to sound ridiculous but I swear it’s true: I have only attended one other stagette party in my life. Crazy, right? What’s more, it was ten years ago! I don’t remember much except that I was the one charged with renting a Chippendales video from the, ahem, sexy video store. (It’s sort of hard to forget a thing like that.)

Needless to say, I really didn’t know what to expect this past weekend.

Luckily, the other gals had a few tricks up their sleeves which I thought were great so I thought I’d share them with you.

Cute Stagette Idea #1: Use window markers to get everyone to join in
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So I did something mildly crazy the other day. At least, I think it was crazy. I keep changing my mind on it. So I need your help.

Let’s start at the beginning: Getting married makes you do really weird things.

Awhile ago, I saw something I thought was pretty cool at the time, and vowed I’d try it. I might have forgotten about it if it weren’t for the fact that our wedding was fast approaching, and that it just so happens to be the perfect kind of thing to do before you go somewhere where you’ll be in the ocean or by the pool for oh, fourteen days straight.

And no, I’m not talking bikinis here.

More like makeup. Or lack thereof, rather. Because who wears makeup by the pool?

Well, blondies do, that’s who. Blondies like me, who, when they’re not wearing mascara, look like they have absolutely NO eyelashes at all.

Unless, of course… they fake it.

 
Source
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I read an absolutely delightful essay the other day in the newspaper, all about a charming 84-year-old grandma’s thoughts on her grandson’s non-traditional wedding. If you have a couple minutes, I highly recommend it.

In brief, this wedding, which took place a few months ago on Prince Edward Island, incorporated many of the more funky trends I’ve heard about lately. There were movie-poster-style save the dates, ‘bridesmen’ instead of maids, a wedding party decked out in matching (green!) sneakers, eclectic music choices and readings from darling children’s storybooks.

The grandma not only took it all in stride, but seemed to be genuinely tickled by the unexpected twists. I wanted to give her a great big hug at the end of the article. That’s how much I loved it.

Inevitably, after reading, I got to thinking about my own grandma, or rather, ‘Babcia’ as I call her.

Babcia (pronounced ‘bap-cha’; it means ‘granny’ in Polish) is my mama’s mama and she’s 86. (Sadly, I never got to meet my other Babcia in person.) She lives in a little rural town in Eastern Poland called Janów, near Białystok.

Isn’t she so adorable you just wanna SQUEEZE her?

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Around the 90 day mark, I put the call out asking all you lovely ladies and gents if it was possible to get buff in 90 days. Well, it’s time for an update.

I couldn’t believe how many amazing ideas everyone had, thank you so much to everyone who commented.

It is now 51 days until we leave for Punta Cana, and I wish I could tell you that I did it ALL: got a personal trainer, did hot yoga, joined a pilates class, got a gym membership, found an online support group, did the One Hundred Push Ups program, swam laps and did a dozen different fitness videos.

But I can’t. ‘Cause that would be lying. (Not to mention crazy.)

Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed with all the options out there and didn’t really know where to start. Then, my (wonderful) boss went on a 12 day detox and lo and behold, I had a brainwave - what better way to kick off our pre-wedding healthy-living lifestyle than by doing the same?
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I’m sure almost everyone has done it at least once.

Some girls do it more than once. Some might not want to admit it, but they’ve done it too.

C’mon girl, you know what it is. You’ve been there, too.

That’s right, folks. The dreaded SECOND-GUESSING OF THE DRESS.

Here’s how it works: Glassy-eyed, smiling and loving the world, you’ve happily smacked down your non-refundable deposit for what is obviously the most amazing, most gorgeous, most PERFECT dress in the world. With wings on your feet, you float out of the store and can’t possibly imagine how you will live through the next four to six months as you wait for your wedding dress to arrive.

You’re still in full-on bridal mode though, so while you wait, you can’t resist the magnetic pull of all the magazines, online shops, and real-world bridal stores out there. So you poke your nose into one… and then another… and another. And you leave each one feeling smug and satisfied—your dress is still the most perfect dress for you, and you’re happy.

Then one day…

…DUM-DUM-DUM…

IT happens.

(This is another Not For Mr. Breezy’s Eyes Production, hint hint, nudge nudge.)
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Yes, yes. It’s terrible, I know.

Even though I finally found my bridesmaid dresses, I still can’t help it - my eagle eyes have been trained, and they still zero in on perfect purple dresses everywhere I go!

This past weekend, I was wandering around Robson Street and ducked into the store where I found my BM dresses, RW & CO.

And wouldn’t you know it? They are out of the ones I bought, but now they have OTHERS in stock… and they are an absolutely delicious shade of plum.

Of course, I just had to try it on and take some photos for y’all.

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I Do Bridal here in Vancouver (well, actually White Rock) had their amazing annual sample sale this past weekend:

As soon as I heard about it, I emailed my friend K who is getting married October 6th in Vegas.  Although it was only three weeks ’til her wedding, she still hadn’t found the perfect pair of shoes to go with her amazing dress. Finding the perfect shoes is tough, yo!
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It’s finally starting to feel real.

Well, okay, it also started to feel real when we sent out the invites… and when I bought my dress… and when I found my wedding day shoes. But those things were all “ohmygosh-we’re-really-getting-married”-real.

This time it’s “ohmygosh-we’re-really-going-to-Punta-Cana-to-get-married” -real. Last Friday was the deadline for all our guests to pay the rest of their hotel and flight balances. I was a bit nervous all last week, since, if people were going to bail out of coming to our wedding, that’s when it would have happened. The $200 deposit per person was due back in May, but the balance wasn’t due until last week. That was a long time, and who was to know what could have happened in four months (People could have gotten pregnant, that’s what… at least, with our friends.)!

Recently, reader Laura commented on my post about the invitations we made, asking what the ‘travel info’ card that we included with our invitations looked like. I can’t believe I forgot to show you. Here it is:
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You know that gorgeous song, ‘At Last’, by Etta James? The one that just makes your heart melt each time you hear it, even if it’s the umpteenth time? Yeah, that’s the one.

A lot of people use it as one of their wedding songs—to serenade them at the rehearsal dinner, to walk down the aisle to, or dance their first dance to. But me? I could NOT get that song out of my head the other day…

… the day I finally bought my bridesmaids’ dresses, that is!

Yep. After much pavement pounding, stressing out, extensive online shopping and a trip south of the border, I came full circle and found my bridesmaid dresses—at last—at a store right here in my hometown.

Argh!!!

I guess everything happens for a reason though.
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In my last post, I showed you about 30 purple bridesmaid-worthy dresses that I had come across in my online searches.

Sadly, although several were very lovely, almost all of them were out of our $100-but-if-we-find-one-for-$150-I’ll-ask-for-forgiveness-later budget range, and none of them sparked a twinkle in my eye.

So, bridesmaid Pepperpot (who just so happens to be my awesome cousin) and my brother’s wife, A. (who totally would have been a bridesmaid if she wasn’t going to be looking after my darling one-year-old niece) flew to Vancouver, and together, we three musketeers headed south for a road trip to Seattle.

Wait, did I say road trip? I meant shopping trip!

And at the top of our list: bridesmaid dresses.
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Previously in the Purple BM Dress Series:

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.
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