Time To Set The Table

The woman who used to live in my new apartment is engaged, and has yet to forward her mail. I know this because yesterday I "stole" her new copy of Martha Stewart Weddings. (Also available online.) In general, I find bridal magazines to be only mildly helpful. There are usually a few good articles about how to cut costs, and anything that can tell me what style of dress will best hide my problem areas is always welcomed; but for the most part, I find them to be mostly pretty pictures of dresses I could never afford and bodies I will never have. Oh, and a lot of advertisements. This particular edition, however, had a really good article about table settings--something I've been struggling to conceptualize in my mind. One suggestion really struck a chord with me: have wine bottles play double duty. They suggest printing out table numbers and placing them over the labels on wine bottles. I really like this idea and may very well use it myself come May. I was already planning to have bottles of wine set out on the tables, and by using those bottles as table markers too, I can avoid cluttering up the table space. Plus, if you choose the right font for your table numbers, it looks very classy.

I also really like this idea:I think it is a really nice idea to place a different picture of you and your fiance at each table. Choose photographs from throughout your relationship and display them in chronological order, with the earliest photograph presented at Table 1. Your guests could visit each table during the reception and see how your relationship progressed from its earliest beginnings to its current state. Make the last photograph one of your engagement pictures. When the wedding is over, you can take all of the photographs back home with you and hang them all together on one wall, perhaps surrounding a larger framed picture of the two of you on your wedding day!

Another really cool idea I have read/heard about is to have your table cards play to your wedding theme (if you have one). For example, my fiance and I have chosen our trip to Europe as our wedding theme. While we are not going over the top with this theme, we do plan to incorporate it into different elements of our wedding. We have considered the idea of, rather than numbering our tables, naming them after landmarks or locations that we visited in Europe and having pictures that we took in Europe accompany the table names. So rather than sitting at Table 3, people would sit at La Tour Eiffel, and get to see a picture of the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day, lit up by fireworks. Yes, it sounds a little a hokey, but it can also be a nice way to let your guests share some of the experiences that have brought you and your future husband closer in love.

It's Here!

The "tying the knot" brooch I ordered last week from Yoox.com is here! I'm really happy with the quality. It sparkles and is really well constructed. But it's a lot bigger then I thought it was going to be! I was imagining something more dainty but this baby has some heft to it. I think it will be too overwhelming for my flower bouquet but I can definitely pin it to a plain clutch to jazz it up.


^Close up of the brooch


^Next to something for a size comparison

What Really Matters

I just ran across this touching story from another wedding blogger and I had to share it because it really illustrates what's important when it comes to weddings.

FataFelice was on her way to having the big wedding that most of us have been dreaming about. She was having a castle wedding, with the most adorable letterpress invitations and a beautiful gown that was handmade by a top New York dress designer. Naturally, she'd been planning for months.

This dream slipped away, however, when a week before her wedding her Fiance's mother had a heart attack and died. Needless to say their wedding was immediately postponed. What should have been a busy wedding week was now replaced with funeral preparations. Fiance's mother was well loved and the funeral was huge. Finally, on the Wednesday before they were to be married Fiance's mother was laid to rest.

I can only imagine the emotions that both of them were feeling. Sadness, loss, disappointment, and more then anything just wanting to be married. So on the Thursday before they were supposed to be married they decided that they did indeed JUST WANT TO BE MARRIED. And they decided they WOULD be married and that they would be married on the same date that they had been planning on for the last year.

No, it wasn't going to be the dream wedding they had put all their efforts into for the last year. There would be no castle, no letterpress invitations, no designer gown. They had 48 hours to make a wedding happen and there wasn't going to be time for all that. To make a Saturday wedding happen in two days they leaned on friends and family for help.

One family friend was a florist, a neighbor was a sports photographer, another family friend had a catering business, a family member was a pastor, etc. etc. Throw in a trip to Marshalls and the outlet malls for a wedding dress and groom's attire and in two days they had a BEAUTIFUL wedding.

It was a simple wedding with only a few family and friends but I think she just looked so pretty. Pictures are below. Her dress was very flattering, her hair was perfect, the flowers were gorgeous and in the end they were MARRIED! FataFelice is still planning on having the dream wedding a year from now but I just think that they will always remember this ceremony and the friends and family that came together to make it all happen.

All the big wedding stuff is nice but in the end the only thing that really matters is you, your fiance, and your close family and friends. And that's really all you need!

Follow FataFelice's story and see more pictures on her blog!

Cursed Colors

So yesterday I told you how I chose my colors, now let me warn you: Don't Chose My Colors. Why? Well they are kind of hard to find. White and green hard to find? Yep. Colors come in and out of season and if you pick a color that isn't one of the "it" colors of the moment then you may find it difficult to find bridesmaid dresses, decorations, invitations, etc. Save yourself a lot of time and stress and pick a neutral like brown, silver, gold or a super common color combo like sage green and pink, but whatever you do don't pick "kelly green."

My biggest frustration has been trying to find bridesmaid dresses. For a number of reasons my bridesmaids can't wear strapless or spaghetti strap dresses and I need a style that works for both large and small frames. At the very least the shoulders should be covered but I don't want to make my bridesmaids suffer through carrying around a light wrap with them all night and feel like they have to cover their dress. Ever try to find a bridesmaid dress that wasn't strapless? Apparently they don't exist. Or if they do exist they aren't in kelly green. Naturally, I have a lot of other demands....must be around $200 or less, can't be matronly or look like it came out of the 80s, needs to be dressy enough for an early evening wedding but not too formal, etc. I check the Nordstrom, MaxStudio, Ann Taylor, JCrew, Banana Republic, and Bluefly sites on a regular (o.k. daily) basis and I have for months but no luck so far.

I am considering the below skirt from JCrew paired with a white wrap blouse or white lace jacket but at almost $200 for just a skirt the price needs to come down a lot.


I'm also trying to open my mind to alternatives like white dresses with possibly a spring weight green sweater (no I don't care if other people besides me are wearing white at the wedding). The advantage to that is that white dresses are easy to find and re-wearable after the wedding but I'm worried the look will be too casual.

Invitations are another problem. My sister is handling my invitations and we've been on a hunt for kelly green cardstock but most of what we've found is too dark or too light. I even went to the sacred Paper Source and they didn't have anything anywhere near the right color. Sigh.

I think I'm going to head over to the new Bloomingdales in Friendship Heights this weekend to browse around and continue the search. If anyone has any suggestions for dresses I'm all ears!

Tobi - For the Look You Need

Ok, you are the bride. In my, never again to be humble opinion, I think you should look fabulous during the entire planning process. Let the radiant glow of engagement be upon you. The reality is though that many of my brides are so busy frantically researching, planning, working, studying and DIY’ing that they’ve let themselves go.

Help has arrived! I need for you to head on over to Tobi.com for some really fantastic fashions and bring your man. Tobi has really fantastic items for both of you. Fall is here and what’s better than cashmere. Vince sweaters are the way to go. I especially love the babydoll sweater. Couple it with a pair of Paige jeans and have your honey grab one of these fantastic by Diesel jackets to toss in the backseat and you are ready to hit the road and negotiate with any vendor out there! While over at Tobi be sure to take a peek at the Beauty Bar, again for Him and Her.
Billy Jealousy is a must try. What better way to really get HIM into a skin regime (just don’t call it that.) Lastly, be responsible and cruise through their eco-friendly shop, Eco-Tobi, an entire green shopping area. While there peruse their neat findings from an eco-friendly visit to Costa Rica. Get on it!

Claire Dratch

Hm, so I've been MIA for a bit since my first post--I've just been swamped at work with the fiscal year ending today. But since I finished what I needed to, I thought I'd treat myself to some dress-shopping!

I had an appt last night at Claire Dratch, a special-occasions shop in the heart of Bethesda. The bottom floor has dresses and skirt suits galore--even just from glancing through, I saw any number of MOB outfits I would gladly have my mom wear! A lot of brides-to-be complain about the limited selection of elegant, appropriate MOB dresses in dept stores and online--if you are currently looking for one, I highly recommend a stop in this store. The price point seems to hover in the low to mid/high hundred's. I also saw a section with some definite rehearsal dress potential, although I didn't stop to check out the prices.

The upstairs floor houses the bridal salon. At first glance, the place could definitely use some renovation. The carpets and such are a bit worn down, but it's nothing that'll hamper your experience there. Claire Dratch carries 10 designers, including Lazaro, Liancarlo, Marisa, and Watters & Watters among others. There are a couple racks on display (including marked-down samples) but there is a separate closet where the sales ladies pull most of the dresses out to try on. I was helped by Inna, who listened to what I was looking for and picked out 4 or 5 dress for me. I wasn't bowled over by anything I tried on, but there were some very pretty dresses.

Although I didn't find the Dress there, I would definitely recommend a stop in for those who are looking. Despite the 80's interior, the sales ladies are GREAT (not pushy or snobby in any way; I was helped by Inna) and there are very affordable dresses in the $1000-4000 range. The two I liked the most clocked in way under $2000. From what I hear, the weekends are crazy so try to nab a weeknight appt--they are open till 9pm on Thursdays.

Claire Dratch 7615 Wisconsin Ave. (301) 656-8000

Picking Colors

It's pretty common for most wedding bloggers to say something like "i was never the sort of person that dreamed about and planned her wedding since she was a little girl." I guess I fit that mold too. I knew I wanted to get married and to have a nice wedding but I never did any more planning or thinking about it then that. I definitely wasn't a "keep a file of back issues of Martha Stewart Weddings just in case I get engaged soon" type of girl. So when I got engaged I had to start putting together an idea of what I wanted. One of the first questions everyone asked was what are your colors? For a while I didn't want any "colors" because I hated the whole matchy-matchyness of weddings. I quickly realized this wasn't really going to work mainly because everyone else needed guidance and "no colors" was way too vague.

So how did I chose my colors? First, I started keeping a file of all the types of flowers, bridesmaid dresses, decor, invitations, etc. that I liked. Most of these are from online as I don't really read a ton of bridal magazines. Soon I could see some trends emerging. Second, I knew that I wanted my wedding pictures to really pop with color. Some brides like warm reds and browns, others like soft pinks and purples, but I wanted something that really screamed "it's spring time!" since I'm getting married in May. Finally, I built my colors around my reception site and not the other way around. I wanted to work with the colors they already had so that I didn't have to spend a ton of money renting linens, china, chairs, etc.

From the pictures I clipped I saw that I really liked bright colors and clean, linear designs. I didn't save any pics of fluffy pastel peonies but I had a ton of pics with bright greens, crisp whites, and linear calla lilies. From there it was easy to see what my colors should be: green and white. I call it "grass" green but I think everyone else would say "kelly" green. I love the clean and modern look of it. I love that there a million types of white and green flowers so I don't have to blow my budget on anything out-of-season, and I love that it will be easy to decorate with (every reception site already has white table linens).


Here is just a handful of the photos that inspired my color search

^I fell in love with this photo from the Photos Unscripted Blog. I love how bright the dresses are. Hopefully my green will be a little bit richer/deeper then those above and less citrusy but I knew I was on the right track. As an aside Kim Hawthorn from Photos Unscripted was one of the photographers we were seriously considering for our wedding because she had competitive prices and I think she's pretty talented with a camera. Unfortunately, at the time we inquired about her services she wasn't allowing brides to book more then a year before their wedding and there was no way in the world I was going to wait around to book a photographer not knowing if I'd get my date for sure and possibly missing out on other photographers I was considering. If you're less then a year out, though, she's definietly worth taking a look at.


^ Calla Lilys were the one flower that just kept popping up for me. And a lot of orchids. I love how clean and elegant they look. The above are from Chestnuts in the Tuileries, a NYC based event and floral design company.


^ The above picture from wedding designer Rebecca Thuss was one of the first pictures I cut when I started doing research. So simple and easy to execute.

How did you decide on your colors?

No One "Nose"

No One “Nose”…

About my major issues with my…nose. I’ve not only been self conscious about my nose since we did a silhouette project in 4^th grade, I’ve been paranoid about anyone seeing my profile. The peak of my nose loathing was in high school when it seemed all that mattered was how people looked. If I knew someone was watching me from the side, I either turned directly toward or away from them so they wouldn’t see me from the side. Now, at 22, I feel like I’ve grown into it a little more, but am still slightly uncomfortable with my overall profile. I haven’t worn my hair in a ponytail to work or school in seven years, half out of habit, half from subconscious profile issues.

So now, this insecurity is back at the forefront of my worries. I want to wear my hair back for the wedding. I really would just go for it, but the problem is, on my wedding day my profile will be the only angle of my face showing and in all of my pictures for a lifetime to come, I will be slightly disappointed about it. I can’t help but worry that instead of being able to enjoy those few moments of exchanging vows, the fact that my jaw line and nose are exposed will be eating away at me inside.

I know this may seem extreme or materialistic, but it’s not even an everyday insecurity anymore, or even something I worry about other people looking at. Mostly, it’s the fact that I don’t feel pretty from that angle, and it’s supposed to be the day I feel the most beautiful, ever. I could just wear my hair down and curled, but then my face won’t be visible to anyone at all, and I’d like everyone to be able to see me gazing into the eyes of the man I’m marrying. He thinks I'm the most beautiful woman in the world, and that's really all I should be worried about.

Does anyone have anyone have any ideas on some loose hairstyles that might cover my ears and still allow some view of my face from the side?

These are a few I’ve seen:

Meeting of the Parents....

Its that time, Tonight will be the first time my fiance's parents meet my parents. People seem to be shocked when they hear this, but with Fiance's family in Ohio and my family in New York, we always go one place or another, and have never found a time to meet, until now that is.

I'm sure that there will be lots of wedding talk, We are planning on seeing the reception sight, and possibly meet with caterers/florists....etc.

I'm sure I will have a lot more to post after this weekend, for now I will leave you with a cute idea I thought of. For the grooms cake, I am going with my fiances favorite baseball team ( he is border line obsessed :) ). I found this wonderful cake topper on ebay




They have many Different Sports teams, and I think they add a unique touch to any grooms cake!

I wanna dance!

In college I took ballroom dancing for my P.E. credit. From this I learned two things: 1) Being a great dancer is a god given, inborn talent that cannot really be taught...in the same way one either does or does not have artistic talent or musical talent,etc. BUT 2) Everyone can learn to dance.

I'm not a great dancer. Never will be. I don't have the smooth, graceful, natural rhythm that some people possess. I pretty much have no sense at all of beat or rhythm, but even I was able to learn the basics of ballroom dance, feel confident, and look knowledgeable on a dance floor. Even though I learned the basics I really haven't done anything with them for the last 7 yrs b/c I never really met any guys who knew how to dance. It's true what they say...use it or lose it. All that was left was a vague memory of the basic steps.

For the wedding I really want to do more with Fiance then just sway. However, I don't want our only good dance to just be our first one. I want to be able to dance through the night...and not to just some choreographed routine we frantically try to memorize.

So last night Fiance and I started dance lessons. We are taking lessons at the Dance Factory in Arlington (Virginia Square). I like the Dance Factory b/c it is close to where we live and right off the metro. They offer incredibly flexible class times and the staff is really nice.

We are starting with Ballroom Dance I. Ballroom Dance I is made up of 3 parts. Each part is 4 weeks long for a total of 12 classes/weeks overall. After you are done with the 3 parts you can move on to Ballroom Dance II which is also made up of 3 parts for a total of 12 classes/weeks. We signed up for a package where if we buy all 3 parts of Ballroom Dance I we get 1 part of Ballroom Dance II for free. The cost of this package is $189 per person. We have 8 months until the wedding so my plan is to take the full six months of Ballroom Dance I and II and then spend the last two months learning specific steps for our first dance song.

So last night we started our first part of Ballroom Dance I which includes learning the Foxtrot, Triple Swing, and Rumba. Last night we learned the triple swing and I was amazed that after one hour we could already do something that resembled a dance! Our instructor is Sam. I like him a lot because he's very funny, elegant, and easy to follow. Our class was made up of mostly younger couples our age but there were a few older couples as well. They have classes at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. so there really is no scheduling conflicts. I have the feeling that younger couples tend to frequent the later classes more.

I forgot how fun it was to dance (even when you are messing up!) and what good exercise it is too. Both fiance and I broke a sweat. It's a good way to keep fit and I'm excited that we'll be able to dance the night away at our wedding and look good doing it! Just remember even if you aren't a naturally gifted dancer if you learn the basic steps you will already look better then 90% of the people on your dance floor because hardly anyone knows how to dance anymore.


Pictures of the Dance Factory

I'm Back...Let the Waiting Game Begin

First an update:
I found a dress pattern and a highly possible final fabric! My mock-up dress is due in November and I couldn’t be more excited—I finally feel like I’ll have a dress I’ll love! If you are really struggling to find the right dress and you have a friend/relative/acquaintance who is a skilled seamstress, I would strongly recommend considering and exploring the custom-made dress route. It feels incredibly satisfying and fulfilling. You can search some patterns here.

And now this:
Having never planned a wedding before, I by no means consider myself an expert. Thus, I am more than happy to take any advice I can get. So when my future mother-in-law tells me that wedding planning really all happens in the last two weeks before the wedding, I take this to heart, and feel slightly disheartened. I, of course, already knew this deep down, but foolishly allowed myself to believe that my near obsessive organization and above average planning skills would afford me the chance to softly coast through the month before the wedding. Sure I would have to tie up a couple of loose ends, finish any unfinished business and just generally oversee that all is still well, still fully planned, but the hard stuff would be done. Alas, I now fear what can only be certain reality: I’ll be planning like crazy and rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off right up until the last minute. Oh how relaxing. No wonder someone invented the honeymoon!

It occurred to me, on the flight back from Michigan (uplifted greatly by thoughts of my dress) that preparing for a wedding is a bit like preparing for an old-fashioned battle. It is important to plan ahead, get all your reinforcements in order. Your soldiers need to be trained. They need to be stocked with proper ammunition, armor, protection. You need to scout out territory, be prepared to attack from all sides. You need to know ahead of time the difficulties you’re likely to meet, need to prepare for possible surprises. But in the end, no matter how much you have prepared, how well you have planned, a battle’s not a battle until some General yells fire, until one side starts to charge--and then who knows what might happen.

Maybe the flowers you chose with such painstaking contemplation will begin to wilt halfway through the celebration. Perhaps one of your maids gains too much weight and can’t fit into her dress, or another loses a ton, and looks like she’s drowning in hers. The officiant gets stuck in traffic. Or maybe it’s the groom who’s running late. Your heel slips on your first step down the aisle, you roll your ankle and have to limp the rest of the way to the altar. You can plan and plan and plan, but you can never be sure that everything will go off without a hitch.

So now, and next month and every month after that, all the way up to the last two weeks before the wedding, and on through those weeks as well, it is probably best to just take a lot of deep breaths. Keep on preparing those troops, lining up reinforcements. And in the end, be willing to accept chaos. Because when the smoke all fades, and the people disperse, and the wedding comes to its end, chaos or not, you’ll be married and if you’re lucky, you’ll soon be on your way to a nice relaxing honeymoon.

Jennifer Behr Discount

Jennifer Behr made a splash on the bridal scene earlier this year with her simple and romantic hair accessories. Now thanks to Daily Candy you can take 30% off everything on her site. So if you've had your heart set on one of her designs now is the time to buy. Just enter code CANDY! at checkout.

All images from Jennifer Behr. Click to enlarge.

The getaway mobile...

Transportation, Very important aspect of our wedding, especially with many out of town guests, so we are already starting to figure this out. We arent quite there yet ( playing with the idea of trollys)

However, my fiance has already booked our car for us.

We are renting from Regal Limousine a beautiful 1933 Rolls Royce

However they offer an array of other cars...

Emitations

In the latest edition of Instyle Weddings they have an A-Z resource guide for good wedding websites. I didn't see much in there that I haven't already seen before, and there were a few instances where I thought they overlooked some really good resources. The one exception to that was the recommendation of Emitations under J for Jewelry. Emitations supposedly makes celebrity inspired jewelry for less. I didn't think their stuff looked very similar to the designs they were supposed to imitate but that doesn't mean there isn't some really fab looking stuff there. If you want to be a bling bride but you're on a budget or if you want that one "wow" piece of jewelry for your outfit but don't want to say "wow" when you see your credit card statement you should give them a look. If anyone has tried them let me know what you thought of the quality.



Penelope's Vintage CZ Brooch . $115 down from $135


^Boisseau Pear CZ Chandelier Earrings. $74.00

^Leaha's Pave CZ Circle Bracelet. $90.00 down from $125.00


^Ava's Antique Pear Shape CZ Dangle Earrings. $59.00 down from $100

You can have your cake and eat it too..

As every bride is taught to do, we are told to prioritize what is most important to us on our wedding day ( in regards to planning ) . For me that included Photography, a great location, good food and nice music. The wedding cake isn't high up on that priority list, yet it is something that needs to be done. With help from a friend I found out about Just Cakes a bakery in Bethesda.

^ These cakes are classic, even lines, which is what I'm looking for, yet at a price that isn't outrageous ( it is just cake after all :) )




^ I know this wouldn't be a grooms cake, but it shows the ability they have to make speciality cakes!

Sharp Find from Sharp Lily

One of my favorite non-wedding related blogs is Sharp Lily. Sharp Lily is a blog about finding "something fabulous at a price that doesn't force you to chose between buying it and paying your rent." Her motto is "you don't need a lot of cash to look money." She features great sales on quality clothing, shoes, accessories, etc. or hints on how to get the same designer looks you see in magazines with things you can find at discount retailers like Target or Kohl's.

Sharp Lily doesn't normally feature anything wedding related, but yesterday she wrote about a great brooch at yoox.com. It's from Pink Soda and originally cost $68 and has been marked down to $30. It's supposed to be a "bow" but I like how it looks like "tying a knot." Get it? Tying the knot? So naturally, I had to have it. I think I will put it on the wrap around my flower bouquet or pin in to my wedding day clutch.

For extra savings I went to my favorite shopping site Retail Me Not. At Retail Me Not you enter the website address of the site you are shopping on and they list any discount codes available. So I put in the Yoox website and I got a discount code for another 5% off. Yoox doesn't charge shipping so I got the brooch for only $28. Not too shabby. Thanks Sharp Lily! I'll let you guys know if it looks as fab in real life once it gets here.

Graffiti Does Invitations Too

As a follow-up to my earlier post today about Wonderful Graffiti Wedding, I also had to point out these unique invitation and favor ideas from their site. Now I'm not really into monograms, as I think they are kind of overdone for weddings nowadays but I know 99% of the wedding world is into monograms so I'd be neglecting my wedding blogging duties if I didn't tell you about these lollipop invitations. 6 inches in diameter, they come with your monogram as a part of the candy, and your invitation on glossy cardstock on the back. The RSVP card is the hangtag from the lollipop. They come packaged in a box with your monogram on the box. They come to you completely ready for addressing and mailing. Naturally they don't come cheap...They are $35 each and cost about $6 each to ship! But talk about a "wow" factor for your guests. Plus they could eat them instead of just tossing your invitation into the trash after the wedding (yep, almost everyone does).

Too rich for your blood? Yeah me too. But the below favors are actually really reasonably prices. They are sucker favors with your monogram as part of the sucker. They come wrapped with cellophane and they each have a bow and a hangtag wrapped around it. The hangtag is personalized and can say either "Sucker for Love" on the outside or "Thank-you." On the inside you can completely personalize the message, so you can put your names, wedding date, or just a nice message for your guests. The best part is these are only about $2.50 per sucker...less the more you order. I think it would be incredibly hard to find wedding favors with this level of individualization for such a good price. Plus no last minute DIY panic trying to finish your favors since these come ready to go.

Wonderful Graffiti Still Wonderful

I know Wonderful Graffiti has been featured on pretty much every wedding and interior design blog for their wall graffiti , but I just realized they have a whole separate website devoted to weddings - Wonderful Graffiti Wedding, and they have moved far beyond their traditional wall decals. If you don't know what Wonderful Graffiti is, it is a thin piece of matte vinyl that looks printed but is removable and will not damage walls or other surfaces. It's an easy way to add personalization without a ton of expense.


^ This wedding car graffiti looks much nicer and won't harm your car's finish like traditional shaving cream and shoe polish. Not to mention you won't be scraping of flecks of white for the next six months.


^I adore these restroom icons . These would be so cute on the bathrooms at your venue.


^ Just in case your guests get confused over which church is yours you can get these above door signs.



^And for the traditionalists they still have their traditional wall graffiti. This one is an Irish Toast.

Dress Ordered!

Well, yesterday I ordered my wedding dress! No turning back now without losing out on a bunch of cash so I think I'll stick with the dress. I went back to Promise for the Savvy Bride in Bethesda to try on the dress I liked the most out of the 40 or so I've tried on since starting the hunt. The previous attendant who helped me on my last visit, Kori, is getting married this weekend so she wasn't there, but the two women in the store this time were equally as friendly and easy to be around. I can't rave enough about the warm feelings at this place.

I tried on a few more gowns that were new since I had been there last and they were nice but when I tried on my favorite one again I knew for sure that it was "the one." No use wasting anymore time. I've tried to find a picture online of it but haven't been able to so far. I would post pictures of me in it but my fiance knows I blog and although he doesn't regularly read DCNearlyweds I don't want to take any chances.

The dress is made by a Chicago based design house called Vwidon. A husband and wife duo, Carla Hwang and Kenneth Park , are the designers behind Vwidon. They are both graduates of the Art Institute of Chicago and have been designing gowns since 2001. Most of their dresses have a very modern feel with contemporary silhouettes. Their main boutique is in Chicago and there are only three other stores in the country that carry their dresses. Promise for the Savvy Bride is the only store in the metro area that carries Vwidon. I wish I lived in Chicago so I could have tried on their entire line :(

What I love about my dress is the high quality of the fabric (silk), the simplicity of the design, and how light and soft the dress feels. A lot of bridal dresses can feel heavy or itchy, but I just want to roll around on mine.



^My dress is most similar to the above design, but if y'all know me at all you know that I don't do poofy. So imagine the top part of the dress but with a close fitting, non-poofy bottom. It's very sleek.


Below are some of their other designs:

^As you can see they mostly do modern cuts with great fabric


^I love the cap sleeves on this one. Great quality.


^Even when they do poofy they make it look contemporary.

Accommodations...

My fiance and I have a lot of out of town guests coming for the wedding. I would actually say that about 60%. Since he's from Ohio and I'm from New York we knew this was going to be an issue, so we are planning ahead of time trying to find hotels to accommodate our guests.

We have guests coming that vary in age, but a lot of our friends are around our age , so we wanted to find a "hip" hotel in the middle of everything for them, and we found that in Hotel Helix

Personally I know my friends are going to want to stay in the Bunk suite,
---Bunks, with a twin bed on top and a full-sized sofa bed on bottom
King-sized bed, in the same spacious room Flat-screen Sony TV, DVD player, and Nintendo, for hours of fun

With affordable prices ( especially for a suite room where 4-5 friends can stay comfortably), I feel this is a great idea for young professionals/bridal party that are coming in from out of town!

And now for the bad....

When I first set out to go dress shopping I expected it to be a horrible experience. Why? Well, I had heard a lot about other bride's bad experiences at snobby stores and attendants that made them cry. So I just prepped myself for that. I went to at least a dozen stores and honestly the vast majority of them were really great. Overall it was a very positive experience. I've already blogged about some of my favorites but we all know that not every trip could be perfect.

Today I'm going to talk about the two places that I did not have good experiences at. Just like with the favorites I know that not everyone will agree. So much depends on what you as a bride expect from your shopping experience and it also depends on the attendant you get and what type of day they are having so if these stores were your favorites then you can ignore my reviews.

1) Hannelore's of Old Town- When I went to bridal stores I made it a practice of never supplying my mailing address. Why? Many bridal stores will sell your address to junk mail lists and soon you start receiving a million pieces of junk mail relating to all things weddings. Not all stores do this but I didn't want to take any chances, and I also didn't want to get mail from the store itself. Every store I went to had no problem with this and completely understood. Except Hannelore's. Before I started looking at dresses the attendant asked me why I wasn't giving an address so I told her. She said that they didn't sell their lists or send brides any mail. So I said that if they didn't send any mail they shouldn't need my address. She told me that "Hannelore will not allow us to work with you if you don't provide any address." I told her that if that was the case I should leave the store now because they weren't getting my address. She didn't say anything to that but led me upstairs and "allowed" me to look at their dresses even without an address! I tried on a few dresses and even found one that I thought was "the one" for a while, but the attitude of my attendant really spoiled the shopping trip and I knew after that I'd never buy anything from them. As I left my attendant told me that if I ordered from them I'd have to supply my address then. Well yeah, of course! I drove about 45 mins out of my way to another store that carried the same dress just to try it on again so I wouldn't have to go back. It's a good thing I did b/c I ended up not liking the dress as much as I had in Hannelore's. Despite my bad experience you might still want to go to Hannelore's because they have a very large selection and are the only carriers of some designers in the area. Prices start at $1,500 (as they will remind you when you call to make your appointment). Just hope you get one of the nicer attendants.

2) Bridal Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue, Tysons (no website)- I arrived at Saks on time for my appointment to find that they only had one attendant and she was still helping the bride that had the appointment before me. The bride decided that she was going to buy the dress so they were starting the financial dealings. No problem, I looked at the dresses they had on display and the attendant even said I could go into their backroom and pick all the dresses I would like to try on. So I went back and browsed for a while giving every dress a thorough examination before I decided to try on 2 that I liked. The attendant was still busy with the other bride. She apologized for being busy and said she was trying to get someone else to help me. She showed me to the dressing room, said to get undressed, and that someone would be with me shortly. So I got undressed and waited. And waited. And waited. There wasn't even a bridal magazine to look at. Just naked me, a mirror, and my 2 dresses. This was my last bridal gown shop so by this point I knew how to handle the gowns carefully and I knew I really didn't need an attendant. So after twenty minutes of waiting in my skivves for an attendant to help me during MY appointment hour I just tried on the dresses myself. There were only 2, after all. Neither worked and when I walked out there was no one around so I just left. Honestly, I really expected more out of Saks. To her credit the attendant was very apologetic but I knew they'd rather spend time on the girl buying a dress then the girl who might be buying a dress. The selection wasn't very large and other stores in the area carry the same designers so there isn't really a need to go unless you just really want to.


What does the below picture from Boutwell Studios have to do with my ranting? Nothing, but after having bad experiences I like to self medicate with candy.

One Year..Is there enough time?

My co-worker had a 3 month engagement...engaged end of April, married in July. I don't know how she did it! While she talked to me of her extensive, yet meticulously quick planning, I wondered if I just wasn't made for this. There are those girls who have there dream wedding planned years before they meet there dream man. I am not one of those girls. However, I have met the man of my dreams so I have no choice but to plan my dream wedding. I have to admit it has been more fun then I ever thought, and since ONE YEAR from today I will becoming Mrs.Alexandria, I have made a lot of progress. We have the church




...and we have a new venue. Yes, I have changed my venue. I found a place I truly loved, had everything I dreamed about ( I love windows and had always dreamed of a staircase to walk down), I found that place at The Galleria at Lafayette Centre

Now all that's left is to confirm the photographers, caterers, favors, invitations, flowers...I'm not sure if a year is enough time :)

The Great Dress Search, Part I

My little sister, who was once my long-time roommate and remains my lifelong best friend, is, naturally, my maid of honor. I rely on her for guidance, for emotional support and, above all else, to make sure I look good on my wedding day. I am certainly not devoid of the ability to dress myself with at least a hint of style and fashion-forwardness, but she is, and always has been, much more apt to determine what is and is not flattering. Consider this instance: only three months after announcing our engagement, my fiance and I left Michigan to move across the country to Baltimore. Away from all of my family and without a single friend, I was forced to continue my wedding dress search alone. I purchased a dress from J.Crew online (because they give you 60 days to return your item for a full refund, though you have to eat the shipping cost) and tried it on, alone, in my bedroom, in front of the mirror. It was beautiful, but too big. So I ordered another, same dress, smaller size. I kept the large one too, to compare. The new dress came, I tried it on, it fit, it was perfect, I loved it. Bada bing, bada boom. I was done. I had my dress, I was good to go, let the full on wedding planning commence.

But then my sister came to visit. My sweet, darling, loving sister, who has always been my biggest fan and truly believes that I am beautiful. I tried on the dress for her, itching with excitement at what I was sure would be her instant approval. “Ohhhh,” she said. “That is such a beautiful dress—it doesn’t look good on you—but it’s a beautiful dress.” It doesn’t look good on me. It is like a side note, so obvious it is hardly worth saying, but she might as well just throw it in there for good measure. And she was right. She showed me in the mirror how it made me look boxy and wide around the waist, which is actually the thinnest part of my body. It fell wrong on my hips, hugged me in all the wrong places. I don’t know why I didn’t see it myself, but she was definitely correct: this was not the dress for me.

That was over two months ago now--the day my sister shot down my dress. I kept looking, continued buying dresses online and returning them over and over again. I tried on a white dress at Macy’s, only to fall to the floor of the dressing room in tears because I couldn’t zip up the back zipper and I felt so hopelessly alone. And eventually I gave up, frustrated and distraught. This time it was my mom who came to my rescue, or my mom’s friend to be exact. She offered to make my dress for me, to create a dress that I would love. One that would flatter me and make me look beautiful. A dress that my sister will think looks good on me. She is my proverbial knight in shining armor, my mother’s friend (who is also a woman that I know well, and care for very much). This weekend, I am returning home to Michigan, where we will shop for the perfect dress pattern and try to narrow down a suitable fabric (stay tuned for details on successes/failures sometime next week). I’m very excited for this opportunity, the chance to collaboratively create a dress I want to wear. And I’m thrilled to once again have other people involved in my search process. But most of all, I’m just so very thankful to these women I love.

Whirlwind Work/Wedding Week

And so it begins. As of today, I'm officially a working bride planning a wedding. My few months between college graduation and starting my career were a nice break, but this morning I embarked on my debut as a media relations coordinator for a top 3 national news network. It's amazing, but it demands 24/7 on call status and long...loooong hours. Luckily, the work week is Sunday to Thursday which allows me to meet with vendors and get planning done on Fridays.

Speaking of which, I spent my last day of freedom yesterday being a productive little planner. Most importantly, I ordered my dress. It's the Candice, which I mentioned a few days ago. It was a long drive to TLC Bridal Boutique in Frederick, MD but it was worth every drop of gas. Julie and Terri were exceptional to work with, both professionally and personally. They both have such a sunny and warm disposition. They carry a nice array of gowns and are experts at maximizing the bride's budget while still maintaining the vision of her dream gown.

I also met with Christina at Paperzest. What I liked most was that she wasn't one of those people who introduces herself and then asks you 100 questions about what you're looking for. She's more of a conversationalist who uses your personality and color palette to find the perfect invitation. We decided on pearlized ivory pocketfolds with eggplant accents which she'll put together within the next 3 weeks and send a few (free) samples to nail down the details. The Paperzest showroom is in Reston, and I found it relatively easily.

It's going to be an interesting transition into the work force as a bride! I'll keep you updated as to how I'm striking a balance between the two.

DIY Makeup And YouTube

I don't know if any of you out there have started looking at the costs of hiring a makeup artist for your wedding but in our area you are easily looking at $100-300+ (add another $100 or so for hair). I'm a complete idiot when it comes to putting on makeup and as much as I'd like to save costs and do it myself I know I don't have the skill.

BUT

I was reading the recent issue of Marie Claire and they have a page with their Beauty Director Ying Chu. She said that YouTube is filled with video tutorials on how to do makeup. She specifically recommended the videos of makeup novice Amy04 and the videos of professional makeup artist Tricia Sawyer (alias theChuckt). You can do a search for "bridal makeup" or "wedding makeup" and find videos by other artists as well.

Maybe with some practice you might be able to save yourself a couple hundred bucks on your wedding day or the hassle of a trip to the makeup counter for instructions.


^Video on Neutral Wedding Makeup from Amy04



^Video on plumping your lips without injections or plumpers from Tricia Sawyer aka theChuckt

Wedding Theme...

After reading Miss Fells Point blog, I felt I had to talk about my own theme, since it is similar! My Fiance and I both studied abroad in Madrid in college, and post graduate my Fiance lived in Madrid for a year, so we both also hold Spain near and dear to our hearts, not to mention our first date was at a tapas restaurant :) . However, when thinking of a theme, I knew I didn't want a full blown theme (including attire), but I also knew i wanted to include my families heritage ( my grandmother is 100% Cuban). All the women in my family have always worn mantillas, and I had always planned to keep this tradition. Hopefully ( if my mother can find it) wearing my mothers Mantilla.




In search of finding a mantilla comb I like I have come across two that peak my interest--





With that in mind, my fiance and I also decided to incorporate a "Latin" theme into different aspects of our wedding. We are also serving a selection of tapas as appetizers ( picking our favorites like "tortilla espana" and "Croquetas de Jamón" to name a few), then moving on to more Cuban based meals for the reception. Nobody makes Frijoles Negros con arroz like my abueala ( black beans and rice) , but since she doesn't feel like cooking for 150 people, we are trying to find second best! Right now we are thinking of Black beans and rice, picadillo, ropa vieja , and yellow rice and chicken. We are also hoping to get ripe/fresh platanos, fresh Cuban bread and of course tons of authentic sangria!



The other way we want to incorporate the theme is using Lace Fans at the table top display, this can also be a favor, since we can engrave the base with our names and wedding date! All you have to do is get a little easel and you are all set! I am still searching for the perfect fan, but these are a few I like---

They're Tiny, They're Tasty, They're Tapas

The summer after our Junior year of college, my now-fiance and I traveled through Europe. The first country we visited--and ultimately our favorite--was Spain. The cities were beautiful, decorated in bright yellows, deep reds. The people were gorgeous, and very kind. But most importantly, the food was absolutely amazing. Fresh seafood. Paella. Pitcher after pitcher of Sangria. And tapas, tapas, tapas.

I would love to get married in Spain. But alas, my funds do not allow for such extravagance. I am, however, incorporating Spain into my wedding in any other way I can. This, of course, means Spanish food, or at least food born of Spanish inspiration. We have decided to serve tapas. Sure it goes against convention for an evening, dinner-time reception, but who cares! It is my opinion (and, luckily, the opinion of my fiance as well) that our wedding should reflect the things we love, and we love Spain, and we love tapas. I think tapas is a great alternative to the more traditional reception meal. It offers a wide variety and can be more closely tailored to meet the dining needs of your guests. You don't have to worry about who's a vegetarian, who can't eat cheese. It doesn't matter if this many people prefer chicken, but that many prefer beef. With tapas, you can have a little of it all, which guarantees that everyone gets something good to eat. Plus, it is a fun way to help develop a menu that is creative and unique. Anyone can serve the standard chicken, but how many weddings offer warm goat cheese on lightly toasted Spanish bread with a sweet fig confiture and a dusting of shredded almonds?

If you're really stuck on what to serve and just can't make up your mind between chicken or fish, look into tapas as a possibility. You'll really have a great time creating a variety of options for your guests to enjoy. And no need to worry about people leaving hungry: tasting multiple and varied flavors on their palettes will often fill people up more than eating a larger quantity of just one item. So give tapas a try, and save the extra dough for that great Spanish honeymoon that you absolutely, without a doubt should take.

Keeping Things Small

I adore this wedding photographed by talented California photographer Chenin Boutwell of Boutwell Studios. Compared to most I'm having a pretty small wedding, just 75-85 people. I really want only the closest and most important people in our lives to be there and not people I know by six degrees of separation.

The couple below only had about a dozen people at their Fiji wedding but it was filled with unique and heartwarming traditions. The bride was escorted by Fijian warriors to a raft that took her across a bay to her fiance and wedding guests. The warriors then carried her to her groom. The local village choir provided the ceremony music and the couple invited people at the resort they were staying at to witness their traditional ceremony.

After the ceremony the wedding guests had an intimate dinner on a pier looking out on the Fijian waters. I'd love to achieve even a fraction of this intimacy. Check out Chenin's amazing blog, Afternoon Delight, for more pictures of this wedding.

All pictures from Boutwell Studios. To enlarge any picture just click on it.

The Engagement

The Debut

Name: Miss Annapolis

Fiancé: Mr. Military

Age: Twenty-something

Profession: Health Industry & Business (Graduate Student)

How They Got Engaged:

After a long day at the hospital, Miss Annapolis changed from scrubs to pajamas grabbed the puppy and headed for a casual, summertime, back-porch dinner w/ the military boyfriend. After cracking a bottle of wine Mr. Military dropped to one knee and said,

"I planned to make a big production of this on a hot air balloon w/friends and family as audience but tonight is too perfect. I want to spend the rest of my life --- just like tonight... us in our PJs, dining on the porch with new additions to our family (looking at the puppy)… Will you marry me? And of course she said yes!”

And the Ring….

PICTURED ABOVE: It’s a beautiful 2-carat, round brilliant, GIA certified (white gold setting w/ 4 platinum prongs.)

Many guys head out to the local jeweler to buy a ring and that's okay for most people. But, if you really want to impress her with the ring of her dreams (within budget) -bring her ring shopping. At the very least, make sure you have a good idea of “her style”. Ask her mother, sister and/or best friend for advice. Don't make the mistake of buying the wrong diamond, at the wrong place, at the wrong price. She will be wearing your mistake for the rest of her life... and you (gentlemen) will be hearing about it for the rest of your life.

Mr. Military proposed with a RingPop (diamonds are NOT exactly his area of expertise) so he asked for assistance in selecting a conflict-free stone and together we’ve designed a stunning ring.

WHAT I LEARNED:

(http://4diamond.com/Certify/) Explains diamond buying best.

THE 4 C’S:

Cut, clarity, color, carat-weight

THE RULES TO PURCHASING THE PERFECT DIAMOND:

1- Shop around (different shapes, sizes, colors, qualities appeal to different people) and not every shop has what you’re looking for

2- Compare Apples with Apples…. that is, compare GIA certified diamonds with GIA certified diamonds

3- Have a jeweler show you the different clarities, color & shapes under a loup… (say “LOOP”)

4- After purchasing a diamond… take it to another jeweler ---- Make sure your diamond matches the certification

WHICH CERTIFICATE?

Only a few are considered reputable and widely used. GIA (Gemological Instutute of America), EGL (European Gemological Laboratory), and HRD (Hoge Raad Voor Diamant). But it’s an undisputed fact amongst jewelers that GIA certificates are best. So what is the bottom line? Insist on a GIA certified diamond

UNCONVENTIONAL/BEAUTIFUL/MONEY SAVING!!!!

Mr. Military and I explored the unconventional methods of attaining a diamond. WE PURCHASED OUR DIAMOND ONLINE! (http://www.overnightdiamonds.com/) --- McGivern’s shop based in Ohio. Although, it required additional steps (to ensure the safety and quality of our diamond,) It was a great shopping experience and it saved so much money!!! LOWER PRICE & NO TAX (shipped state-to-state)

What I was worried about:

Internet sales of jewelry – has such a high risk of fraud (high values associated with such small items) Say for example, I received an empty package…. how can I prove that I did not receive a diamond? Or, what happens if I don’t like it when it arrives and I ship it back to the store, only to hear the store received an empty box?

Talk to the jeweler! If they want your sale, they’ll find a way to make you comfortable.

For example: they might send a diamond to a reputable store/jeweler near you, so that you can inspect the diamond and the purchase.

Other helpful sites:

www.gemnation.com. You can download and print actual diamond sizes pretty cool

Bachelorette Party

Okay, So I know it seems like I'm stuck on the party aspect, but its the first one I've ever thrown, so its all new to me! There is a wonderful website called imin that lets the whole group talk about a trip, RSVP and have a sort of message board, I love it, and if you are planning a party it would be great tool to use!








They have all sorts of different tools to help you plan the best bachelorette party that you can, I highly recommend checking it out :)

Rehearsal Day Trip????

The rehearsal day is pretty stressful. Let's admit it. 99% of brides leave way too many "little things" to the very last minute and then add in arriving guests, YOUR MOTHER and her billion questions, and a nonchalant groom and most brides are loopy even while squeezing in a massage and pedicure. Why not look at it a little differently. What if you had your rehearsal EARLY, in the morning even. and then take the group for a day trip in Baltimore? Only 35 minutes away with a wealth of neat things, and great food. You will have a ball, you will host the wedding weekend you dream of and still get a good nights sleep because the rehearsal dinner can now be a rehearsal lunch. Here are some suggestions direct from Daily Candy.

It may seem like Baltimore is all Hairspray and The Wire, but in reality, Charm City’s got loads to offer.

Delights
Hit the neighborhood of Hampden for shops like Doubledutch Boutique, which carries Built by Wendy and Mon Petit Oiseau, plus indie choices like local Gusto of Baltimore (3616 Falls Road; 410-554-0055) and Form, which stocks Alvin Valley, Elijah, Vera Wang Lavender, and more (1115 West 36th Street; 410-889-3116).

Or head over to the brand-new Urban Chic Boutique in the rapidly changing Harbor East area for Marc by Marc Jacobs, Milly, Vince, and then some (811 Aliceanna Street; 410-685-1601).

Leave spare time to stop by Patterson Bowling Center. Open since 1927, it’s the oldest duckpin alley in the nation (2105 Eastern Avenue; 410-675-1011).

Sights
Take in views of the city from a water taxi. The boats pick up and drop off in different neighborhoods like Little Italy, Harbor East, and Fells Point, so you can get acquainted with the city’s nooks and crannies without exhausting yourself on foot.

Sneak a peak at the permanent collection and rotating shows at the American Visionary Art Museum in Federal Hill, dedicated to works by self-taught artists (think folk or outsider art). It’s got a really quirky gift shop with recycled cards, odd jewelry, and funky objets d’art (800 Key Highway; 410-244-1900).

Get some of that art school cool you’ve been after at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Bolton Hill, which has changing exhibitions of student work plus events like the fall film series and the Black Panther Rank and File show in October (1300 Mount Royal Avenue; 410-669-9200).

Bites
Grab a cold beer at The Brewer’s Art. The multilevel restaurant and bar offers house-made Belgian-style beers, plus a long list of imports and local brews like Clipper City Pale Ale from Baltimore County (1106 North Charles Street; 410-547-6925).

For a Natty Bo (the working man’s beer of Baltimore), you’ll have to head over to The Mount Royal Tavern. Though rough around the edges, it has a copy of the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted on its own (1204 Mount Royal Avenue; 410-669-6686).

Fancier offerings (and a friendly face — Stefano Frigerio from Tysons Corner’s Maestro is the chef) can be found at the about-to-open Osteria Cinghiale, which will offer Italian specialties like rabbit tortellini with black truffle and a 200-plus wine list (822 Lancaster Street).

Or grab a burger at the 24-hour Papermoon Diner, situated in an old house and covered floor to ceiling with vintage toys (227 West 29th Street; 410-889-4444). And don’t miss Cafe Hon, a city institution with crab cakes, meatloaf, and homemade pies (1002 West 36th Street; 410-243-1230).

With a trip like this, you’re sure to hit it straight out of the ballpark.

Gowns For A Cause

if ou have an upcoming trip to New York on the calendar next month, it's time to do some multi tasking and slide a little gown shopping onto your schedule.

October 4, 2007, 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m.
Be the first to try on these fabulous gowns, assisted by the editors of BRIDES magazine, at a special VIP Preview Sale. The $200 ticket includes admission for one shopper and one guest, cocktails*, music and a BRIDES gift bag valued at more than $250, plus a chance to win a luxurious honeymoon package to Maui which includes airfare, car rental and a romantic dinner valued at over $4,500.

General Sale

October 5 & 6, 9 a.m.–7 p.m.
Open to the public, $20 admits one shopper and one guest to two hours of shopping, assisted by Making Memories’ volunteer staff. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

Head over to Brides.com for the specific but the proceeds of the gown sales go to the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. If you can't make it to NY, don't fret the event will be coming to Baltimore in April.

What's Going In Your Out of Town Bags?

I want to compile a list of the types of items you are putting in your Guest Bags. Leave your suggestions in the Comments section and I will compile them in a post real soon.

Are you using a bag or a box?
Are health/hygiene products appropriate?
Do all DC area bags HAVE to have Crab chips?
Thoughts on flip flops, sun glasses, etc.
Sudoku, Crosswords? In or Out?
Maps and other items from the Visitors Bureau?

What else are you throwing in other that a water bottle????

I need to hear from ya!!!

The CD Invitation on Steroids

Great idea and a fabulous presentation. If you want your guests to ooh and aah when they receive your invitation here is a sure fire cure. Jewelboxing is a great site that assists you in putting together a fantastic CD of the music of your choosing getting it on a high quality CD and using fantastic state of the art graphics (supplied by you) You guests will play the great music the weeks PRIOR to your wedding and for months after. That's kind of neat.

Warning: Don't send this type of invite to those people you are hoping/expecting to decline. this will make them a Yes and mess up your seating.
Know that once other bride's in your circle see this, they are going to copy your idea. Make your's better.
Make SURE you have a kick a$$ band at your reception to match up to the music on the CD.
(Better yet, have your band or DJ compile the selections for you!!!)

The Cure

In support of Cicely and Krystal over at Life Design Event Planning I wanted to repost this in the hopes that our readers will rally in support.

I Challenge You!

By Life Design Event Planning on charity

You don't really take anything seriously until it happens to you, well, it did, not to me directly but to someone very close to me; a family member I love very dearly has just been diagnosed with Cancer (due to privacy would rather not say who). Both my Mother's Parents died of it and my dear uncle passed away just last year from it as well. When I met my Husband for the first time he just started the radiation process from lung cancer and by the grace of God (yes, with a capital G!) he was healed. Now, that I hear this new news, I refuse to just stand here and do nothing. Even though I feel helpless, I am not. I will continue to pray and have faith that he will be healed like my husband was but in the mean time I must do something. A few months back I joined the Community Service Group within the Arizona ISES Phoenix Chapter and was given the challenge to help raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Well, I donated like a good committee member should but now that I have heard this horrible news I can't help but be more aggressive. Unfortunately, I won't be able to be a part of the race so I chose to participate in the "Sleeping in for the Cure" portion to still be able to raise even more. I am asking you; my readers, my clients, other ISES members, Vendors, Bloggers alike, friends and family to help not only raise awareness about this awful disease by join me in fighting back. I challenge you to grab your plastic cards with the 16 numbers on it and donate to the cause. The first 10 that donate I will ship you out a wine charm (picture below) as a gift of thanks. Please click here to donate: Cicely's Fundraising Page. The race is October 14th, 2007 so please act fast.

Button It Up

In case you have been under a wedding rock, you have to have heard about the ridiculously cute buttons over at Busy Beaver Buttons. (brooklyn bride, junebug, yelp, etc) Imagine all of your weddings guests sporting cute little buttons in your wedding colors that you designed. Think of all the secret jokes you could have running around the room. What about limited quantities of several styles and start a huge button swap from table to table????? I Like.

Wrap Like a Pro

I don't know about you, but gift bags, while convenient leave little to be desired. I mean the best part of a gift for me is looking at the fabulous wrap job and wondering What's Inside?

I have a little bit of time to wonder, did they hear me talking about something I wanted and decided to pick it up for me? Did they just see something that had my name written all over it? Did someone get a glimpse of the many Wish Lists I keep maintaining?
The list is endless. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from being able to rip off the wonderful paper that just don't get with a gift bag and tissue.

That being said Heidi is THE place to go for wrapping paper extraordinaire. Also check out her How To on wrapping the perfect gift and tying the perfect bow. (Yes, you can actually tie them rather than stick them on:)

Custom Made Attendant Gifts

If you are really crafty and want to do something nice for your attendants, I thought this project was very cool. Photo journals, for their thoughts or lists or just a sweet memento of a moment spent between two fantastic friends. Using a favorite photo for the cover take a look at this tutorial and you should be on your way in no time. Or just head over to the Photojojo site and pick a few up :)

Emmy Inspiration

The Emmys were last night and although I wasn't here to watch it, I love looking at the photos for the hair, make-up and fashion. It's interesting how trends translate into the bridal world. For example, I noticed a TON of "mermaid" or "fit&flare" style dresses on the red carpet. This has been a strong and growing trend in the bridal gown world for the last few seasons and I think it will only continue to increase. Depending on your shape it can really accentuate your curves and make you look very womanly or it can hit you in all the wrong places and make your thighs look gigantic. Katherin Heigl and Debra Messing sport the look below but you can also check out Becki Newton, Ana Ortiz, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Mary-Louis Parker.




The next trend I'm super excited about is SHORT HAIR! O.k., well fake short hair but still short! A lot of stars wore their long locks tucked so that they looked like short styles. I have short hair and I tried to grow it long for the wedding, but honestly it drove me CRAZY and it just wasn't me so I cut it back to short a few weeks ago. So, now I'm always on the look-out for good short hairstyles for the wedding. Rebecca Romajin and Jennifer Morrison are rocking the short hair below but for more examples check out Eva Longoria, Heidi Klum, Sandra Oh, and Ellen Pompeo. If you have long hair the one thing I noticed most was the overall lack of updos and the lack of structure. Whether it was straight or curly the hair was very natural, loose, not overdone, and almost even...messy. Updos might always be the top hairstyle for weddings but I bet we'll see some more more natural waves or stick straight styles this season.





There are a ton of other trends you can see from the red carpet...red lips, natural lips, heavy eyeliner, high slit dresses, etc, etc. These might be the looks you'll see brides striving for this season.

Favors

I must admit the idea of favors stresses me out, I want something that is classy yet useful, something that is sweet without being tacky, unique but not weird...I tell ya its hard to find something that I actually like!

However I do love Kate Aspen her favors are not only fun but unique and classy my personal favorite is :

^ They come with a cute box that you can personalize, and also can have a double usage--Instead of putting a picture in you can put in the persons name and use them as seat markers at the table!

^ I'm also still playing with the idea of individual tins, with perhaps personalized M&M's, I think these tins are adorable

Wedding Recap

I'm back from the wedding I went to this weekend. The wedding took place in Connecticut and had a 40s theme. As I posted earlier, I was a bit hesitant about the theme wedding but it actually turned out quite well. The 40s theme was subtle and not over-the-top at all. I won't post many photos since not everyone likes having their personal life posted to the entire world but I will share some of the detail photos.

The good:
1) The bride had a really great hair pin...the picture barely does it justice. It sparkled as she walked down the aisle and since much of the time she had her back to the congregation it was a great piece of hair jewelry to stare at. Her curls were perfect and stayed through the night. Lesson: Don't forget your backside! Your guests will be staring at it for a long time.

2) The reception space was very elegant without having to spend a ton of money on flowers. The couple used candelabras as centerpieces on top of mirrored plates with just a few flowers and votives scattered around the candelabras. The candles created a very warm glow at nightfall. The tablecloths were black with white organza overlay. Lesson: You don't have to spend a ton of money on flowers to have an elegant affair

3) During the happy hour the couple had a fake "casino" (think Rick's Cafe from Casablanca) with blackjack, roulette, craps, and poker. Each person got 1,000 fake "mr. and mrs X" dollars to exchange for chips. At the end of the night gift baskets of wine, glasses, and fine liquors were given to the biggest winners. This was a lot of fun and was a great way to loosen people up and keep everyone entertained. It was also a fun alternative for the non-dancers or the people just taking a break from the dance floor. Lesson: Music and dancing is important but there are other creative ways to make sure your guests stay happy through the night.

The bad:
1) The limo for the bridal party broke down right before it was to pick everyone up. After some scrambling to get cars and vans together everyone got to the church on time. The couple was disappointed but in the end it was a small inconvenience and it really didn't put a damper on the day. Lesson: Remember there once was a time when nobody had limos or special cars and everyone just drove to the church in the family car! If you're trying to cut costs then cut the pricey limo...you won't miss it.

2) Despite the officiant asking the congregation to turn off their cell phones someone left his on! And it rang! During the ceremony! And as IF that wasn't bad enough, the ring tone wasn't just some beeping sound. It was a song! And the song was..."Fat Bottomed Girls"!!! No, I'm not kidding. The bride was so gracious about it, but honestly, if there is one thing that would send me over the edge it would be that. How freakin' rude. That guest owes them a BIG wedding gift. Lesson: I don't know what more one can do besides asking guests to turn off cell phones except maybe 1)threatening pain of death 2) making them give them up at the door 3) or asking your officiant to announce no cell phones and then asking the congregation to reply at once "i promise my cell phone is off."

3) It was a great party and by the end of the night the groom had enjoyed himself ...a lot. So much so that he forgot where he had put a large amount of money needed to pay off some of the vendors. Finally, we figured out he had given it to a random guest for "safe keeping," but there was definitely about ten minutes of panic. Lesson: Don't bother yourself with money issues on the day of. If you need to pay off vendors that day then give it all to your coordinator, maid-of-honor, best man, mother or father...anyone responsible. That way you can enjoy yourself as much as possible and not worry about where you put the money or your checkbook.


^The bride's hair pin and curls


The reception tent and candelabra centerpieces. Black tablecloths with white organza overlay.


^The beautiful glow at nightfall


^The tables for happy hour were very simple but elegant..table lamps (with votive inside) and a single orchid wrapped with black ribbon. Big impact without major expense.

Diamonds in the Rough

I recently came across some talk about conflict free diamonds, especially in the wake of the movie Blood Diamond. Even before the movie premiered, this was something my fiance and I knew we wanted to look into. We started off with so many questions regarding the quality, where they came from and price differences.

As other people have pointed out, Brilliant Earth has a nice selection of diamonds in all shapes and sizes. If you're uncomfortable buying from a Website and you're still on the market for something beautiful and conflict free, Mr. Shirlington purchased mine from Solomon Brothers in Atlanta, where there are numerous diamonds available, some of which are guaranteed to be c.f.

Locally, Washington Diamond in Falls Church exclusively carries conflict free diamonds in a number of intricate settings. Their site also provides tons of information about what a "blood diamond" is and how the diamond industry can both positively and negatively effect Africa.

In our case, fiance couldn't find the setting he was looking for at Solomon, so he purchased the loose diamond and had them ship it to the Michael B. showroom in Los Angeles where they were able to set the diamond with only four prongs. This goes to show that a c.f. diamond doesn't limit your possibilities at all. My oval, 1.7 carat solitaire is flawless and colorless to the eye, and is worn proudly as a statement of my intention to marry my fiance and our support of a conflict free initiative.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

From classic roses to ethereal grasses and freshly fallen leaves, floral decor is a must for every type of wedding. But the great thing about flowers is that you're sure to find something beautiful on any budget! Do you want your aisle lined with orchids and are willing to pay the price? Great! But I still recommend you do your research. Look into a variety of the florists in your area. Browse photographs of their more popular arrangements and meet and greet people before you agree to let them make your bouquet. If you're going to be paying the big bucks, you might as well get exactly what you want. Don't be afraid to shop around until you find a florist you love.

Working with a smaller budget? Don't fret, there are tons of fantastic money-saving opportunities where flowers are concerned. The general consensus among bridal magazines and websites seems to be that buying in season is the easiest way to cut your flower budget. If you're a Springtime bride, consider Daffodils or Tulips. Lighten up a summer affair with happy Daisies, or a few Sunflower stems in a simple, but elegant vase. For a fall wedding, focus on Gerbers. Float a few in a glass bowel surrounded by votive candles for a romantic feel that's easy on the wallet. If you're getting married in December, cash in on the availability of Poinsettias! Stop by your local nursery or grocery store the day before the wedding and grab a few of these red blooms to create a holiday-inspired fête.


Pictures from: elegala.com

If you're like me and are lacking in flora knowledge, I suggest simply visiting a nursery or grocery store the day before or morning of your wedding and choosing blooms on the spot. There are no hard and fast rules that say you have to have certain flowers, or even that all your centerpieces need to match. Choose a variety of blooms that you think are beautiful. Your guests will love all the different colors and scents.

Or, if you prefer to plan ahead, but don't know where to start, ask a local florist for a list of flowers by season. Find out what flowers grow naturally in your region and make your selection from that scaled down list. Also check out the Floral Generator by Bliss Weddings. You can browse flowers by season, region, or even bridesmaid dress colors!

In the end, your guests aren't going to care if you had orchids or orange blossoms. Pick flowers that make you happy and match the budget you've created. Whether you carry Roses or Ranunculus, you're sure to shine. This is your wedding day, and nothing rivals the natural beauty of a happy bride!

Peter Langner

Please don't tell my fiance, but I am in love with another man....Peter Langner, or at least his dresses.

I went to his trunk show yesterday and I believe I found the dress. Of course it was my first time trying on dresses so I am not purchasing yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with this dress.

Unfortunately it is from the 2008 Spring/Summer collection so I was not allowed to take pictures and there are no pictures available, but here is an idea of his other dresses. It gives you a sense of his style, the classic beauty and beautiful definition and time that goes into his dresses, making them beautifully couture.

James Ciccotti

I'm headed out of town this weekend for a wedding but thought I'd leave you all with some shoe porn while I'm away. Normally, I'm not a fan of "bridal" shoes since, like all things wedding, I feel people tack on the word "bridal" just so they can jack up the price on you. There are many wonderful shoes out there that would make awesome wedding shoes but aren't considered "bridal." That being said there are some beautiful designs if you wanted to go the bridal shoe route. Check out the gorgeous Italian made shoes below from James Ciccotti . You can buy online or visit their Chicago salon if you are around that area.



^Evita


^Aida


^Enrica


^Annabella

PSA: Don't Let Tan Lines Happen to You

Today I was going through a friend's wedding slideshow and I couldn't help but notice how a few of the bridesmaids in their cute strapless bridesmaid dresses that the bride had so carefully chosen had not-so-cute tan lines. It was pretty distracting and took away from the overall "look" of the bridal party. I've even seen a few brides sporting this look and it just doesn't make sense to me why one would spend thousands of dollars for a dress, make-up, the perfect jewelry, the veil, and a pretty updo and not take care of the tan lines.

Of course the top solution is not to tan...it causes cancer and makes you look old and wrinkly before your time. I know this isn't a realistic option for the girls who feel they need color but if you have to go that route then find a really good self tanner. If you are devoted to the sun then don't wear a suit with straps for at least a year...it really can take that long for tan lines to fade. Even if you aren't a tanner you should watch your outdoor exposure before your wedding...the last thing you want is a racerback tan line from your jog bra, a redneck, trucker arm, a ring around the collar, or a permanent v-neck. Finally, if the day is upon you and you still haven't gotten rid of them then see if your make-up artist can at least fade them some.

Band or DJ...

This is a question that every bride must ask herself. Since my fiancee and I are more looking for the "dancing/party" vibe mixed with classical at our wedding we decided on a little bit of both.

We are currently in the process of looking for a harpist of some sort to play during the cocktail hour, and perhaps during dinner, then we will move on to the DJ.

My fiance actually gets the credit for finding our DJ, he did endless amounts of research/reading reviews, and finally decided on Mydeejay

We met with Evan, the president and he is professional and very personable . If your looking for a DJ to be professional, play the music you want but keep it a classy event then this is the way to go.

I hope I have this much fun....

At my own wedding. I love how happy she looks and the looks on everyone's faces around her. I'm not a fan of the "trash this dress" movement mainly b/c I don't think one should destroy things that cost hundreds to thousands of dollars for your own modelesque pictures that will probably look dated in ten years. Plus I think it would be so much nicer to donate the dress to a good cause like Brides Against Breast Cancer if you don't want to keep the dress anymore. BUT if I were to do a trash the dress thing, I think below is the best way to go. Photos from Mark Gardner (don't forget to check out his blog Spare Pixels).

Searching for "The One"

Since I fell in love with my cousin's Maggie Sottero gown, the Eleganza, and learned how economically priced it was, I began searching the Website regularly for one I loved. At the time, I was still 6 months from getting engaged and learned that my brother's fiancee would wear the same designer on her wedding day. That's when I really got down to business and found the Candice...my dream gown.



I knew, however, that I wanted to save dress shopping for a time when there was an actual ring on my finger, not just talk of an approaching engagement. So I waited. When the moment finally came, within the week I had called every bridal salon listed on Maggie's site in search of the dress, and out of 14 within 50 miles who carry her line, only one had it. With my best friend in tow, we booked it to the shop, I tried it on and I fell in love.

Road block #1: I was still in Altanta and knew that within a month I would be moving to the DC area. It was the only dress I had tried on and I was nervous about ordering it down South and then having to bring it up here to find someone to alter it. So I didn't buy it that day. I called a salon local to DC and was told it was there, so I didn't worry.

At this point, I wanted to try on the dress again, get the opinion of my MOH and compare it to other options just to make sure it was "the one."

Road block #2: After moving, surprise surprise, I called the salon and was told they never even carried that dress.

Road block #3: Back at square one, I called more than 15 bridal salons within 50 miles of Arlington/ Shirlington and didn't find it.

Then, I got a call back from Julie at TLC Bridal Boutique. Out of almost 30 salons carrying Maggie Sottero, she was the only person who took the time to offer me a solution, even though her salon didn't carry the dress. She would order a sample straight from Maggie. It would cost $40 for shipping and it would take a few weeks, but she would call me when it shipped so I would know it would be there within 4 days. Today I got the call from her. She made sure to tell me the dress would be discontinued by mid-October so I had a time frame to make a decision.

The point of all this? When you think you've found the one but you need time to make sure, ask how long they'll carry it and what your options are to try it on again if someone buys the sample, especially if it's not from the current season.

Second, surely someone I talked to at an exclusive Maggie Sottero retailer knew they could order the sample. I can't wait to head over to TLC Bridal Boutique. I'm a stickler for customer service and this is what they offer. Julie has always been nice and never treated me like a crazy potential customer taking her time while she had someone ready to buy a dress in the showroom. Not only am I excited about my gown (which will cost me less than my prom dress did), I'm excited to give my business to a boutique that deserves it.

$2 off In Style Weddings Whoo-Hoo

Get $2 off of the newest issue of InStyle Weddings. Run! don't stop, go NOW....

Vera Wang @Kohls

Well, I was surprised and I apologize if this turns out to be more of a Fashion Post than wedding post. Vera Wang did not go the route of Issac Mizrahi and develop a wedding line for Kohl's department stores, but her line of casual sportswear is pretty cute and now available. I have never really been a real fan of Kohl's but in their defense, I hate all of the abbreviated department stores, even the mini macy's and little lord and taylor's. I grew up at Herald Square, if it takes a city block to do it right then I can't be bothered with a "department store" that is smaller the Barnes and Noble (which I love).

Color Me Undecided

Choosing a color-scheme for your wedding is no simple task! From favorite colors, to season-appropriate tones, to flattering shades and lovely accents, the possibilities are endless. And while a specific color theme is by no means necessary for creating a beautiful wedding experience, it can turn a bare reception site into a lavish gallery. Colors make your pictures pop and, depending on how and why you choose them, they can really set your wedding apart from the more basic, albeit classic, black and white affairs.

But how does one begin to choose from such an expansive rainbow of options? I recommend focusing first on your bridesmaids' dresses. Let's face it, the age-old adage that dressing down your maids will boost your own aesthetic appeal is ridiculous, and cruel. These are your best friends, your sisters. These are the women that you have chosen above all others to stand beside you on your special day and act as your emotional caregivers and aides. They deserve the opportunity to look just as beautiful as you do, and considering all the pictures they'll be included in, it should be your ultimate goal to make sure each of your maids looks happy and well dressed. So choose a central color that you think will best flatter all of your girls. Don't pick a color that makes your brunette bridesmaids shine, but completely washes out blonds, or girls with fairer complexions. Ask each of your maids to compile a list of colors that they feel are the most flattering for their appearance, and those that make them feel the least attractive. Compare the lists and try to pick a color that all your bridesmaids will feel good wearing. Do you really have your heart set on pink, but one of your bridesmaids thinks it makes her look like a bottle of Pepto-Bismol? Try mixing and matching different shades. Nowadays more and more designers are creating bridesmaid dresses in such a huge variety of color options that you're sure to find a shade that is suitable to each maid's taste. I recommend checking out David's Bridal Make a Match Separates. You can test out different color combinations and browse designer picks, as well as view David's Bridal's own favorite color combos.

Once you've chosen your bridesmaid dresses, you are well on your way to winning the color choice challenge! All that's left is to find your accent colors. For this, I suggest visiting your local paint store. Go in and grab some of those free color swatches and mix and match different colors until you find a combination that you love. Don't forget to find a swatch with the color that most closely matches your bridesmaid gowns, so you know for sure what you're working with. Or, if you're looking for a short cut, check out the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer. Again, just choose the color that matches your bridesmaid dresses and the Visualizer will give you a coordinating color scheme! Yes, it's true, these are paint color options, not napkins or flowers, or place settings, but it will give you an idea of what colors go best with the one you've chosen and will put you on the right path to picking out all the necessary reception trimmings.

Ooooh Those CakeGirls

Ok, they are in Chicago and you are here in our nation's capital....
So....
If Sylvia Weinstock can ship her cakes all over the world then you too my dear can have a cake from the Cakegirls.
Luscious to look at, they are modern and breathtaking. I am biased on cakes. My tride and true favorites are the gals over at Sugarbaker's in Baltimore. Jamie (and Rashida, who did my wedding cake many moons ago :) just does something to those cakes ummmm ummmmm.

.

Isn't this confection lovely? (To be clear this cake is by Sugarbakers.)

10% Off at Target

10% off (No Minimum) @ Target.com

Target.com has a new 10% off coupon code (no minimum purchase). This coupon can be used on clearance items, electronics and many other items. The coupon excludes: personalized gifts, gift cards, Peg Perego, and Bose.

Apply this coupon code at checkout:
Coupon Code: TCTARGETWELC (10% off no min.)

When You're the Guest

Fiance and I are going to an out-of-town wedding this weekend. And it's a theme wedding. And it's a 40s theme. My thoughts on this and theme weddings in general are that this will either be 1) cheesy and tacky or 2) just the right mix of details to give a kitschy vibe to the wedding without being over-the-top. I honestly don't think most people have the vision to pull off a themed wedding successfully. I don't think I could do it myself to tell you the truth.

Anyway, the invitation requested that guests try to dress the part and far be it from me to spoil the bride's fun. I started looking for something that would seem like it could have been worn in the forties but that I could still wear later on. I settled on the below Nanette Lepore dress. I think I could easily wear it again for church or to a shower.

One last note on cheesy weddings...I've been to a few and although there were things that I wouldn't have at mine or that I thought were tacky there were a lot of people who REALLY enjoyed themselves at these weddings including the bride and groom. In the end that's all that matters...you, your groom, and your guests enjoying themselves....not the girl in the corner who thinks it's all tacky ;) I'd rather have a flawed and imperfect wedding where people enjoyed themselves then the most perfect, pristine, well executed wedding that people thought lacked warmth and feeling. So if you've always dreamed of a 40s themed wedding....go for it.

Viva las Vegas....

Bachelorette Party, I'm sure this means different things to every woman. Personally I am not planning mine, that is why I have two maid of honors :) However, one of my good friends is getting married in June, and she choose Vegas for her party.

While doing some research, I happened upon this special that I think is a great deal at the Venetian




It includes a Suite at the hotel, the ability to have connecting rooms, and you are in the hotel that has the amazing TAO

Its a great place to relax, unwind and have a great time with the girls :)

Kirklands Coupon

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Kirklands. They are a mid range home interior store that does a lot of affordable replicas of ornate items for the home and garden. Well this Saturday, September 1, 2007 they are offering 25% off one item. Kinda cool. this is a great shop to work with as you go through design ideas for your reception. Lots of decorative items. Good deal. Head over to Fat Wallet for the coupon.

$10 Off SHOES

Shoebuy.com is has a $10 off coupon. That's it. No minimum purchase just $10 off any pair of shoes and FREE shipping. Great time to test out wedding day shoes Ladies... Get the coupon here.

Need Quotes?

I always love when the right words are used in any situation. The use of poetry and scripture at a wedding ceremony can be very poignant. Finding the right quote does take a bit of time. This is a great resource. World of Inspiration. Browse all the categories, not just love. You may be surprised at what you stumble upon.

Honeymooning Abroad?

Here is really a cute little quiz for you to take regarding culinary habits around the world. We think it's enough to know which fork to use and when, but if you are venturing outside of the cozt US for you honeymoon, you might want to brush up on your etiquette.
You can take the quiz here.

7th on Sale at eBay

7th on Sale is a one-of-a-kind fashion experience where you can bid on thousands of items from the world's top designers, including red carpet gowns worn by your favorite celebrities, fabulous dresses, shoes, handbags, home décor, and much more. And, 100% of the proceeds are donated to providing care, services and housing for those living with HIV and AIDS.

This is the world's biggest sample sale and it kicks off on November 15, 2007 with a black-tie gala in New York. That will be followed by three days of shopping open to the public, November 16-18, in New York. Click here to purchase tickets to one of the sessions. Also, make sure you check eBay often because seven-day auctions will launch daily between November 15 and December 6. All bids start at only 10% of the retail price and hundreds of designers have donated items.

The 2007 event is sure to make fashion and fundraising history once again as fashion's biggest names join forces as major sponsors of 7th on Sale: the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), eBay, Kenneth Cole Productions, M·A·C AIDS Fund, Marc Jacobs International, Polo Ralph Lauren, Topshop and VOGUE Magazine.

In addition, the M•A•C AIDS Fund has generously agreed to match every dollar raised at the online auctions, up to $500,000.

A little history...

7th on Sale was founded in 1990 by the CFDA Foundation and VOGUE magazine. In its first three incarnations (1990 and 1995 in New York City, 1992 in San Francisco) the initiative raised more than $11 million, which was distributed by the New York City AIDS Fund to benefit HIV and AIDS organizations. The 2005 re-launch of 7th on Sale, available for the first time online through eBay, brought in an additional $1.7 million for the cause, which was distributed over the last two years through opportunity grants and requests-for-proposal. Beneficiaries over the years have included dozens of worthy organizations like AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), Alpha Workshops, amfAR, Gay Men's Health Crisis, God's Love We Deliver, Greenhope Services for Women, Harlem United Community AIDS Center, HIV Law Project, and the Latino Commission on AIDS, among many others.

Tea Time

I love the look of tea length dresses. If we were getting married in a more casual wedding I would totally go this route. If you are petite I think this is an especially flattering look. Plus, you can have fun with accessories like birdcage veils, gloves, and shoes people can actually see.


^ I love how cute the bride in the above photo from Holland Photo Arts is. She also altered her own dress to the correct length!


^ Stunning, especially with the rich dark hair and red lips the bride has. Photo from Brides.com .


^Another gorgeous tea length bride from the talented Echard Wheeler.


^ A little shorter then tea length but still classic from Anne Barge.

DC Bridal Expo Success

Well, I originally planned on bringing a female friend to the D.C. Bridal Expo yesterday but she fell ill, so my sweet fiance offered to go with me instead. At first I thought it would be boring for him and that instead of spending the length of time I really wanted checking out vendors, I would end up leaving early out of guilt.

Boy was I wrong! It was exactly what Mr. Shirlington needed to make him feel like he was taking part in our planning and we were making decisions together. I think it was my mentioning of free samples from bakers and caterers that really won him over. While driving there, we discussed the one thing we wanted to learn most about: photographers.

Photographers we love for all budgets:

Hyon Smith Photography- Amazing photos, packages starting at $3,750

Studio Kama- We felt like these guys really captured the happiness of the wedding day. I've never seen more candid smiles! Packages starting at $1,490

Centerpieces and tables we loved:

Perfectly Posh


Tierra Floral Design :


Invitations:

PaperZest

Mr. Shirlington and I loved the pocket design on the left and the color scheme on the right.

Tonight we're meeting with a Catholic officiant who has tentatively agreed to marry us at an outdoor venue. He is one of very few in the area who will even consider the idea of officiating a basic ceremony outside the walls of the church. More details to come!

Very Neat Groom's Gift

I will admit that it is pretty tough to find a truly original groom's gift. A lot of that probably comes from the lack of information on gift suggestions FROM the groom. Now granted giving a watch is not new, but it's a great gift and one that your groom will actually make use of. Take a look at these watches by HourPower. (www.hourpowerwatches.com/collections/grooms-watches.html). Given to the groom on the couple's wedding day, HourPower Watches offers the wedding couple the perfect gift to preserve their commitment and commemorate their love to each other.

The "Grooms Watch" is a handsome timepiece to be worn each day. It carries a special secret inside its hidden chamber--a wedding picture and a meaningful engraved message capturing the essence of the couple's love.

The HourPower Groom's Watch Collection features high quality, solid stainless steel wristwatches that are the modern version of the locket or pocket watch. They especially appeal to men because of their unique construction and have been selected for their handsome technical exterior that displays the time in a Quartz Movement, a Chronograph, or an automatic mechanism. The collection has more than 25 styles to choose from ranging in price from $100 up.

Neat huh?

Safari for your Honeymoon

Africa is rapidly becoming a popular destination for couples on Honeymoon, with ultra luxury safari lodges, amazing wildlife and secluded tropical Indian Ocean Islands providing the most exclusive and romantic getaway.

London, UK (PRWEB) September 10, 2007 -- Africa has always had a certain mystery, a romantic aura about it, however, in years gone by it was never really regarded as a top honeymoon destination.

"In recent years this has all changed, with Safari Lodges becoming ever more upmarket and now offering services and facilities such as private pools, Jacuzzis and spas that compare favorably with the very best hotels and resorts around the world," states Stuart Parker Managing Director of Africa Uncovered a company that prides itself on offering unique tailor made safaris to some of Africa's finest destinations.

Gone are the days of roughing it in small tents where many a sleepless night was endured trapped in small canvas surrounds, listening to the mysterious sounds of the African night.

With the advent of the "Luxury Safari Lodge" there has been a new type of traveler drawn to Africa's majestic, untouched beauty -- Honeymooners. Considering the fantastic mix of wildlife, amazing scenery, clear skies, warm and friendly people and pristine beaches, its not difficult to conclude that Africa has the perfect ingredients for the ultimate Honeymoon.

Watching the most unreal of natural events the "Great Wildebeest Migration" on a Tanzania Safari or a Kenya Safari and then relaxing on the romantic spice island of Zanzibar is an excellent and extremely popular way to spend a Honeymoon in East Africa.

Some Honeymooners require real exclusivity and thus favor a Botswana Safari combined with a couple of days at the Victoria Falls and then on to a secluded island off the coast of Mozambique.

Whatever the requirement, for those seeking something special and who want to be "wowed" whilst on Honeymoon, Africa is a destination that is difficult to beat.

Romona Keveza...

Although I have told myself that I wont start trying on gowns until November/December it can't hurt to look online :) With that in mind I absolutely Love Romona Keveza

They are sold at Harriet Kassman ; However to make it even better, they will be having a Trunk Sale -- November 2-3..So make sure to Save the date!

I Now Pronounce You: New To This Blog

Hello Everyone!

This is my first blog and I should probably start out by saying that I am not a traditional bride. I don't picture myself in a big, white ball gown. I'm not all about three-tiered cakes. My main planning goals are uniqueness and a budget-friendly celebration. Don't get me wrong, style and class are extremely important and I fully intend to incorporate them into my wedding in every way possible, but mostly my fiance and I want our wedding to reflect who we are, and what our relationship has come to mean over the past six years. That being said, the advice I have to offer and the planning suggestions I'll provide will probably focus mostly on fun and interesting ways to incorporate unique elements into your wedding, as well as how to make your wedding really reflect who you are, without breaking the bank! Additionally, because my fiance and I just moved to the Baltimore/DC area only 3 months ago, and will be getting married in our hometown in Michigan next May, I have lots of helpful hints for brides who are planning weddings from afar.

From picking colors, to choosing music, to still searching for that perfect dress, I am right in the thick of my planning process and I plan to detail it all the way. So here goes my first piece of friendly advice: let lists be your guide. Before you even get started with your planning, make a list of all the things you want in your wedding and order them in terms of importance. Are you like me and really want interesting and innovative menu options? Then put that at the top of your list and allocate the largest percentage of your funds to ensure you get the menu you want. Do you not care if people are smelling carnations instead of roses? Put flowers toward the bottom and leave your money for the things you think are more worthwhile. Your wedding lasts for just one day; hopefully your marriage lasts forever. Take it easy on the pomp and circumstance and put that extra money into the honeymoon! Because really in the end, what sounds better: a week in Fiji, or little chocolates with your name on them?

Don't Forget the Cookies!

Amphora Bakery makes cute cookies too! These would make great wedding favors or be perfect for a bridal shower.

Amphora Bakery

On my big list of things to worry about with the wedding, the cake is honestly the thing I care about the least. This may be because I want a very simple cake with clean lines and I figured almost anyone can do it. The reception location I chose does not allow outside vendors for cakes and will be providing one so I pretty much didn't think of it any further.

When I was casually browsing cake vendors in the D.C. area, though, I didn't see a lot that I was impressed with. I'd see one or two cakes I liked in a baker's portfolio but a lot of the others were uninspiring and too traditional. I still haven't seen anyone in the area consistently doing modern designs like April Reed or Lovin Sullivan. I wasn't impressed with even some of the more famous name bakers in the area.

Of all the bakers I've seen so far, though, I'm most impressed with Amphora Bakery with locations in Herndon and Vienna. Many of the styles in their portfolio are more elaborate then I would chose for myself, but if they can do fancy cakes so well I know they would have no problem doing something more plain. Their simpler cakes start at $4.25 a slice and the more elaborate ones requiring complicated painting, decorating, sugar flowers, etc. are $5.25 and up. Though not cheap I think that's a pretty good price for the quality of work and for this area. Other places start out at $6.00 and can go can go up to $10 or even $12 a slice for the fancy stuff !

All photos below from Amphora Bakery

Chocolate AND Shoes, Be Still My Heart.

You may have seen something like these little cuties on Rachael Ray last season but I think these trump those made by Chocolaterie Maya.

The darling shoes shown here are the tamest selections from chocolatier Theobroma Cacao's new Erotique collection. The collection is made from Venezuelan chocolate (with a cocoa solid percentage of 70%) stuffed with treats such as strawberry or Champagne ganache and gilded with edible 22 carat gold highlights. There are eleven items in the Erotique Collection that include sculptural recreations of the human form and shoes. Each gift is beautifully presented in a brown and silver gift box and the chocolates are wrapped in lilac Christian Dior silk. The shoes shown above are £45 for a pair ( Just under $100 US).

Groom's Cake in a Snap - Fall Brides

No this has nothing to do with the interests of your soon to be hubby, but how well does it play into your Fall theme and you know we must ask ourselves which is more important.

This Apple Crate Cake, created especially for Dean & Deluca, features carefully crafted marzipan apples nestled into a bed of white chocolate "straw," all sitting in a "crate" of chocolate cake. The cake measures 6"x5.5" and usually ships within 48 hours, $185.

Knock Out Knock Off's

I recently worked with a bride that had theopportunity to travel abroad during the process of planning her wedding. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity to pick up attendant gifts and wedding favors and have them shipped back to the States. The items would be inventive and unique and have a story behind them. Instead she came home with a boat load of fake purses and wallets she was Absolutely ecstatic. I, much less so.

Knock off bug me. I understand the desire for everyone to have a piece of What's In. But more than a name or an emblem, there is a workmanship and quality in true designer goods. I love supple leathers and brass workings. So I like many others have had to save a little here and there and check out the outlets and sample sales to nab a goodie. There is a pride I have in my collection of designer purses and shoes and accessories.

There is a neat little quiz on Portfolio.com to seek if you can spot a knock-off, i think it's fun. Give it a try. No this really doesn't have anything to do with weddings, other than maybe learning to spot quality and that you pay for what you get. Maybe that's the moral of the story.

Vantage Pictures

I don't know where Vantage Pictures was when I was looking (and doing insane research) for a photographer, but if I had known about them they would have been serious contenders. This is yet ANOTHER husband and wife duo. They are based out of Pennsylvania but they regularly do weddings in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.

Check out their blog for some great slideshows of their recent weddings. What I really like about their site, though, is that you can look at entire albums of the weddings they have shot. This is such a great resource especially if you are doing a lot of your planning online. Most photographer's sites you will only get the "best of" and you can't really tell what your wedding will look like. After all, anyone can take a few good pictures at a wedding. After going through just a few of the 27 albums they have online I was convinced I'd be happy if one of these albums was mine.

The best part about this talented couple? Their rates start at $2,000. They can go up to $4,500, but considering you can't touch most D.C. photographers for less then $3,500 I think Vantage Pictures is a steal.

All Images Below from Vantage Pictures

Carine's Bridal Atelier

I've already blogged about my first and second favorite bridal gown salons and next on the list is Carine's Bridal Atelier in Georgetown.

I found and tried on more dresses at this salon that fit my style then in any other bridal store in D.C. They have a great selection of elegant gowns with simple/clean lines. They have a few of the poofy princess Cinderella gowns too but most of the gowns were of a more current silhouette. So naturally I loved it. They carry Angel Sanchez , Carolina Herrera, Jenny Lee, Melissa Sweet, Platinum Collection, Pronovias, Reem Acra and St. Pucchi.

What I liked about Carine was that she wasn't afraid to give her opinion. Too many times bridal store owners and attendants try to tell you what they think you want to hear. If you like a gown then they like it. If you hate it then they hate it too. Carine had no problem saying what worked, what didn't, and why or telling you which veil looks better then the other. I highly appreciate this when trying on gowns.

This probably would have been my favorite shopping experience and I found my second favorite dress there but I gave points off only because the other bridal attendant did not seem as knowledgeable about the gowns/store as Carine. Obviously Carine is the owner so she is very knowledgeable but the other attendant was unsure about a lot of the details of the gowns (i.e. what colors they come in, what the fabrics were, how some of the dresses were supposed to fit...where certain bows should go, how some dresses should zip, etc.) She was very nice and this is no reflection on her personality but I think bridal store attendants should be very well versed on the dresses they are selling (even trying them on themselves as they come in so they understand the fit and how things should look, etc.)

Other then that I highly recommend stopping by.

Another New Nearlywed

Hello everyone,

This is my blogging debut and I can't wait to share as much helpful information as possible with you throughout the duration of my wedding planning experience. After moving here from Atlanta a few weeks ago, I'm now exploring the D.C. area for the first time on a mission to create the event of our dreams.

My fiance and I met 2 years ago and just became engaged on July 17th. I can't believe it's already been almost two (amazing) months! Our relationship started out as a friendship that surprised us both by turning into a very deep love, and we can't wait to share the commitment of marriage. We plan on having around 75 guests and have chosen October 18, 2008 to exchange vows. As of today, that's 407 days of planning, which seemed like a lot until I realized how many details there are to coordinate!

That brings me to one of the first great pieces of advice I've received, which is to start an email account for any correspondence dealing with the wedding. It can even be a cute way to stay in touch with your vendors if you choose an address combining your names. Mine is to the effect of [email protected]. Then, share the password with your Maid of Honor, your fiance and someone else in your bridal party you trust with information that might be there, like finances and payments.

That way, if you're on 395 South, lost, and in need of directions (like I am constantly) or out and about without the phone number of a vendor, you can call someone on "team bride" to log in a get the information you need. It will also help this person stay in the loop so when the wedding day arrives they can serve as a successful point of contact.

I have so much more to share and look forward to doing so. Thanks for taking part in my experience!

Brides Decide....

I just wanted to share with ya'll a website I stumbled across that I really liked. Since we live in the DC area, the election is a little bit closer to home. Brides Decide is a great website to not only view the candidates and our soon to be "new" neighbor at 1600 Pennsylvania, but it also has the fun aspect of showing the candidates weddings!

I Love Michael Clark

I have been working with Michael for years and he has finally gotten around to putting together a blog. Yippee. He can shoot anything and make it come alive. He's located in Baltimore but shoots around the world and he books so fast that sometimes I think he's making it all up. Head over to his site, Michael Clark Photographics for a much better offering of pics while he builds up his blog.

The consummate professional, if you have the chance or inclination to meet with him, his personality will win you over in a heartbeat. That's one of the most important things to look for in a photography. Can you imagine yourself spending the most important day of your life (thus far) with this person, or will their personality or work ethic drive you to drink?

The DC Wedding For $20K

Sounds Crazy no matter which way you look at it.

TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for one day...

or $20,000.00 for a wedding in a city where the venue alone can eat up 75% of that budget (Literally.) Here are some objective tips for my Brideys as you begin the process and before you become uber obsessed with the whole thing and can't hear Logic any longer :)

1. What is important to you? Be honest and list all your items in order of importance. Is it the venue or the Food? Your dress or the flowers? Photography or Music. If you prioritize you will be able to allocate your dollars to the areas most important to you and find you can spend less on less important areas rather than just booking vendors willy nilly.

2. Be Open To Options. Friday versus Saturday really isn't going to make much of a difference in this market. Sunday will net a lower rate but the real savings are during the week. I know CRAZY. But you would be surprised when I tell you that I did more Tuesday weddings this season than ever before. It's a European thing where weddings take place on any day. Think about a Thursday or a Monday before or after a long weekend. Make YOUR wedding the destination and treat it as such. If everyone were on an island, they wouldn't care what day you had the ceremony.

3. Put your vendors to work. If you have a vision in mind, you are the client. Have them embrace your vision. If they can't or won't perhaps they aren't the best vendor for you. It should not be that you are so flattered to have ____________________ "do your wedding" that you let them run the show. You are hiring them to work with your vision. (ALWAYS be polite, sometimes a No is the right answer.)

4. DIY is wonderful. A few projects here or there are about all any one bride can handle (Between work, grad school, the dog, the fiance and life...) If there are DIY projects you would like to incorporate, then incorporate your bridal party to assist. Give over the task completely and don't micro-manage them.

5. Use your contacts. If you are using a planner that can purchase wholesale ask them about the items you fall in love with that may seem to be out of your budget. If you need 200 pieces of an item, they can probably nab them wholesale with only a modest mark up and the cost of shipping.

6. Read the Resources Section. All the great items you find perfectly staged in the magazines... Turn to the very back of the magazine and find out where you can get them. Most of the information you need is already there in print. Name of the item, shop name, location, website or phone number and often price.

7. Spend your money on the WOW and accent your WOW on the cheap. Use a terrific specialty linen in vibrant colors and accent your tables with an inexpensive flower like carnations or baby's breath en masse (in large quantity). the effect is stunning and the linens will cost less than an elaborate centerpiece would have.

8.Finish everything to the edges. Rather than have 15 DIY projects all over the place that don't really work together, but were done because it was a "cute idea" choose items that will work together and give a finished look. For instance have a custom monogram designed for your wedding and have it go through on everything, invites, programs, napkins, chair sashes, water bottles, favor boxes etc. Everything at the event works together and the entire event looks "finished to the edges".

When All Hell Breaks Loose

I will say that i have, in my career planned and executed more than one flawless wedding. No hiccups, no disasters; everything actually went as planned. Having said that it's not the norm. There will be, more than often, something that goes awry. If you or your planner has a plan, let the plan do the work.

Brides: Find a cushion. Someone that keeps all the insanity away from you. Guests and even vendors feel that they have a personal relationship with you and it's ok for "them" to broach subjects that they deem to be important directly with you. Wrong Answer: seating problems, transportation issues, lost items etc. these can all be handled by a point person that has The Plan. And not to be mean, but don't choose an idiot as your point person. If they don't handle stress well, wrong answer, also if they are a hot head that will make a small issue even worse again, wrong answer.

Some Suggestions from Twistie over at Manalo

Whatever the disaster that strikes you, there are ways to minimize the damage.

1: Don’t panic. If you lose your head, everyone will remember your panic attack and forget how you solved the problem. Before you scream, cry, throw something, or decide to get drunk, take a deep breath and try to put things in perspective.

2: Have a disaster pack and a couple plans up your sleeve beforehand. Will you need it all? Probably not. But it does no good to only have antacid tablets when what you require is duct tape, and vice versa. Have you invited two people who have been feuding for the last six years? Detail someone to keep an eye on the situation and defuse any potential battles. Put someone you know is good in a crisis on standby to be in charge if something goes wrong with a vendor.

3: Remain flexible. One friend of mine wound up with the wrong cake delivered to her wedding reception. While it didn’t look anything like the cake she’d ordered and she had no idea what flavor it was, she decided to just go with the flow and serve it. It was roughly the same size as the cake she’d ordered, the white and gold frosting worked with her color scheme, and she decided to take it as a positive sign for her marriage that it was originally intended for a fiftieth anniversary party. Nobody noticed a thing wrong. Sometimes a disaster isn’t a disaster as long as nobody knows about it.

On the other hand, I once attended a wedding where the bride managed to leave her throwing bouquet in the church dressing room and the door was locked when she went to get it for the reception. She held up the reception for an hour over the bouquet rather than either throw something else or just get the party started and quietly send someone to get the key. In this case, inflexibility created a much bigger problem than actually existed.

4: Keep your sense of humor handy. So the ring bearer got stage fright and ran screaming back up the aisle to where his mother was sitting. Or perhaps the DJ mixed up the tracks and you find yourself dancing with your new groom to Your Cheating Heart. Or maybe (and this one happened at my wedding!) the groom has failed to familiarize himself with the wedding ceremony as written and breaks in to say ‘I do’ four times before his cue. Laughter is the only possible reasonable response in these cases. The more you laugh, the better time you have, too.

5: Be Zen. Remember in the end the only thing that can truly ruin your wedding is if something manages to prevent it happening. If you get through the ceremony, it’s amazing what you can survive.

6: Whatever goes wrong at your wedding, there’s someone out there with a much, much worse wedding war story to tell. Chances are your story can help another lady out there feel better about her wedding, too.

Finding Locations....

Since I am recently engaged I'm in the beginning steps of planning, right now I am securing the reception sight along with trying to find a nice location for a rehearsal dinner.

Since the church is in Georgetown, Sequoia came to mind as the perfect location for a rehearsal dinner. Not only do they have an amazing view, and great food, but they are close to our church!

However there is a great website I found GatheringGuide . All you have to do is say your location, what your looking for, and for how many people and it searches all sorts of Venues, give it a try! Along with venues, it can also search florists/bands..etc

It's A Blowout

One80 Salon offers free, individual, 30-minute private blowout lessons with cocktails and snacks. The first Thursday of each month 6-8 p.m. You need not be a current client so grab a girlfriend and head on over. They are on hand to give you styling tips and advice on the best products for your hair.
Space is limited so you need to make a reservation either by email or by phone.
1275 K St. NW, b/t 12th & 13th Sts. (202-842-9113). Sign up at [email protected].

The Venue Hunt

There will be 650 people at our ceremony. Yes, you read that correctly--650 total guests. This guest list is the result of my future FIL knowing a huge number of people through his occupation, my fiance and I both being the oldest of all the siblings/cousins, grandmas inviting friends, etc, etc. Needless to say, this requires some careful execution and planning.

Our church comfortably accommodates everyone for the ceremony, thank goodness. Then 500 (family & parents' friends) will stay at the church for their buffet dinner reception, while our 150 friends go to a second reception site for cocktail hour. We will then join our friends for a second dinner reception, once the first one concludes. So we've set a date in early fall 2008 and I feel we will need every bit of time to plan the ceremony & two full-scale receptions!

Most of my posts will center around the second reception, since that's where most of the "traditional" planning activities will be required. The first thing on our list was to find a venue. I initially thought I'd have at least two months or so to nail this detail down, but I started panicking when two popular venues in the area (Woodend Sanctuary & Meadowlark Gardens) were already booked solid for fall 2008!

We visited the Ronald Reagan ITC Building (Pavilion Room), which was already blogged about. That venue truly is GORGEOUS. It is such a clean and eye-pleasing space; it also fits about 150 people without too much empty space, which I feel detracts from the "party" feeling. We also visited the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It's an open, elegant space with three enormous chandeliers. They can accommodate nearly anything you want in terms of event design; they even had a twelve-piece live band in there before!
























Ultimately, we decided not to go with a venue in the city. The drive would be further than we like from the church; I also wasn't a fan of D.C.'s additional 10% food & beverage tax. With sales tax & service charges, we would've been paying almost 30% for nothing! I'll post on the venue we picked next time. Happy Thursday!

No Round Tables!

I have two major requirements when it comes to the reception: no round tables and no wire hangers. O.k. I'm joking about that last one, but totally serious about the first. The main feeling I want to convey at my reception is intimacy...I want people to feel more like they are at a dinner party with close friends then a wedding. We are hoping for only about 75-85 people and I want to seat most if not all at one long table. I also wanted to do this without having to set up a tent anywhere so the lengthy search began for a reception venue who could do the long table idea. I'm happy to say I found a place but I'll save that for a later blog.

I've been to a lot of weddings (including some that had 800+ people) and I really don't want people to feel like they didn't spend any time with fiance and I or barely saw us. I don't want my guest to be one chair at a ten person table with 20 tables to a room where they might have to turn his/her chair to get a better view. I also love the idea of sitting down to dinner and being surrounded by everyone that cares about us the most.


^Source: The Knot


^Source: Julie Skarratt Photography


^Source: Easton Events


^Source: The Event Co.

Letterpress. The Only way to go.

I hate to say that. I know letterpress is more expensive than thermography and it's only an invitation and your guests are going to..... throw it out ( I don't believe this. Everyone in my mind is like me and has every invitation they have ever received) but the difference it makes is legendary. I am a paper person. I love paper and when i see letterpress, i just drool. The only thing better than this is the new engraving processes available using color. (This is the Bentley of invitation processes, not for the faint of heart. More on that in another post when I stop swooning.).
Take a look at just the tip of the iceberg
Two Paperdolls, Que Stien, Braun & Brown, Abby Jean Press, Orange Beautiful, Wiley-Valentine, Mr. Boddington,

Creative Inspiration

Dahlia found what I think is a fantastic site called Polyvore. For anyone living under a rock Design boards, also referred to as Inspiration boards or plain old Storyboards are all the rage right now. They have been in existence since the beginning of time but you know how things become fashionable. Anyway there are a lot of tools out there to make this process just amazing. take Google Notebook for instance click and save any photo you come across on the web, write a note so you can know why you saved it and 10 seconds later you are back in surfing mode never missing a beat. You can still do this the old fashion way as well and cut up all your old magazines or print out all your pictures and mount them on boards as Inspiration as you continue your planning.

But I digress back to this site, yo choose the elements, much like working with paper dolls and create looks, test color combinations etc. etc. Give it a whirl and see what you come up with....

Freixenet ; Can You Pronounce It?

Yes these itty bitty little bottles of sparkling wine are uber cute and for a mere $3 per bottle, they are more that a little chic as a wedding favor. So I give them a thumbs up for style. But I encourage you to head over to the Freixenet website and spend a little time learning about cava and many other fantastic wine and party related tidbits, sure to make your wedding that much more polished.

Brunch @ Bloomies

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Washington Bridal Showcase..

Well after a great long weekend---Fiance and I took a romantic weekend trip to Williams burg. I highly recommend it to all the over stressed/obsessed brides out there, sometimes a weekend away with your guy is just what you need to rejuvenate! Since Mr.Alexandria and I decided that we wouldn't talk about wedding stuff for the long weekend, I am back in full swing :)

I am so looking forward to the Bridal Showcase this weekend, and just in case ya'll haven't heard about it I just wanted to mention it quickly

Its this Sunday from 11am-5pm at the Dulles Expo Center4368 Chantilly Shopping Ctr, Chantilly, VA

There are all sorts of vendors/ideas there, and from what I've heard the best part is taste testing all the different cakes :)

Harriet Kassman

In continuation of my reviews of Bridal Salons that I had good experiences with I have to mention Harriet Kassman. Not many people know that this Washington institution for special event and inaugural wear began selling bridal gowns in January. They carry Reem Acra, Badgley Mischka, Anne Barge, Stephen Yearick, and Romona Kevesa. This store is definitely for the bride looking for a more expensive gown (think around $4000 and up) but I have to say it was a really wonderful shopping experience. Even though is was an upscale salon, no mention of money or budgets was ever made and no snobbishness at all from my attendant Leeza Isaac. All of the dresses are out on the floor so you could browse through them if you wanted but I let Leeza pick a few dresses for me. She has excellent taste, understood what I wanted, and was extremely knowledgeable about the gowns. She seemed really genuinely excited when I tried on gowns that worked. I particularly liked Romona Kevesa's gowns. I didn't find "the one" here but I had a great time shopping and I'd recommend them to anyone.

Hello!

Hi DC brides-to-be! I'm Miss Bethesda and I'll be sharing details of this crazy planning process with y'all over the next year or so.

Mr. Bethesda and I will be getting married next October in Maryland. We've only been engaged for a month or so, but my consultant-side has me planning and researching far in advance! My biggest priority is to balance preparing for the marriage, planning for the wedding (it IS only one day of many) and actively enjoying being engaged :D It's hard, since planning is definitely the least-romantic part of this whole thing.

I'll share more details about our wedding later, I just wanted to drop by and say hi. I'm actively looking for a dress (like Miss Capitol Hill) and meeting with photographers, so I'm planning to share some of the local resources I've found. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!

Matt Mendelsohn

If there is one universal truth in the world of wedding photojournalism in D.C. it is that no one does it better then Matt Mendelsohn. Matt is a true photojournalist, which means if you want a photo of your veil over you groom's head then you better hope that a gust of wind comes along or you need to find another photographer. He catches the special moments of your wedding as they happen...he doesn't stage or recreate the special moments from other people's weddings. He wrote a very poignant piece for the Washington Post today that you should all read. His thoughts on love, life, weddings, photography and what's important are a great lesson for all of us planning the big day. Just a few of his candid moments are below...

Usher and Tameka Wed AGAIN a la People

Usher & Tameka Foster Finally Get a Wedding

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 01, 2007 07:05 PM EDT

By Ulrica Wihlborg

Tameka Foster and Usher Photo by: Jemal Countess / WireImage

After a quiet civil ceremony, Usher and Tameka Foster at last pulled off their dream wedding in Atlanta on Saturday.

"I'm thrilled that this is finally happening," said one guest, who watched the couple exchange vows in front of about 200 people at the luxurious Chateau Elan Winery & Resort, a 16th-century-style French chateau set on 3,500 acres of rolling hills outside Atlanta. "It was a long time coming, and I can't think of any two people who deserve happiness more than they do."

Among the guests were Jermaine Dupri and Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Nelly, Ashanti and Anita Baker, says a source.

Usher's mother, Jonetta Patton, who has reportedly clashed with Foster, did not attend.

The guests enjoyed a sit-down dinner inside the resort's ballroom. Dessert was a five-tiered white chocolate-covered wedding cake with handmade flowers by Napa's Perfect Endings, who recently did Eva Longoria's wedding cake.

"They are in love and they wanted this to be perfect," says another guest of the event, planned by wedding planner Diann Valentine. "They had their reasons for not getting married (before), and that's their own business. Now they could get things done the way they wanted to, their family and friends can be here now."

The couple originally planned to tie the knot at a lavish no-expenses-spared event at music mogul L.A. Reid's Sagaponack, N.Y., home, but the ceremony was postponed at the last minute.

The civil ceremony between Usher (full name: Usher Raymond), 28, and Foster, 37, was reportedly held in his lawyer's office Aug. 3. The couple are expecting their first child this fall. This is Usher's first marriage, Foster's second.

• Reporting by STEVE HELLING

More Marriages from People

You're Married! Apprentice Bill Rancic Weds E! News Anchor

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 01, 2007 01:00 PM EDT

By Natasha Stoynoff

Photo by: Kusha Alagband

The first Apprentice winner Bill Rancic married E! News anchor Giuliana DePandi on Saturday on the Italian island of Capri.

Rancic, 36, and the Napoli-born DePandi, 32, exchanged vows at the end of a church aisle strewn with white rose petals and dotted with white candles.

The couple, who got engaged last December, had a traditional Catholic ceremony, in both Italian and English, delivered by Rancic's family priest from his childhood growing up in the Chicago area.

"This is the real deal," says Rancic, who has attended church every Sunday with DePandi since the two became serious, "so we wanted a very old school, full Catholic mass."

DePandi wore a white, strapless and beaded Monique Lhuillier dress and veil especially designed for her, and Rancic wore a white tie and black tuxedo custom-tailored by the bride's father, who owns a high-end men's clothing store in Maryland.

DePandi's sister, Monica, was maid of honor and Rancic's "honorary" best man was his late father.

"I lost my father several years back and he's the honorary best man," says Rancic, "we'll have a candle up there as a tribute to him."

After the ceremony, the couple arranged for buses to take the 190 guests to Capri's center piazza, where dozens of Neapolitan dancers were to sing and dance alongside the guests as they walked in a group, led by the bride and groom, to the reception at the Grand Hotel Quisisana.

The menu included local Southern Italian fare – prosciutto and two pasta dishes – followed by a vanilla and cream wedding cake decorated with red rose petals flown in from Holland.

Missing in action at the wedding was Rancic's former boss, Donald Trump. "His schedule didn't allow it," says Rancic.

As for the honeymoon, the couple will have to wait.

"We both have to get back to work," says DePandi. "Bill has a new show on iVillage that starts Sept 17th and I've got the Emmy's on the 16th."

People Marriages

Grey's Anatomy's Kate Walsh Marries Movie Executive

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 01, 2007 08:55 PM EDT

By Ulrica Wihlborg

Photo by: Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

Grey's Anatomy's Kate Walsh married movie executive Alex Young on Saturday, PEOPLE confirms.

Walsh, 39, wore a custom-made Monique Lhuillier wedding gown as she and Young, 36, exchanged vows at the Ojai Presbyterian Church in the town of Ojai north of Los Angeles. A gospel choir sang "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts at the beginning of the ceremony.

Among the about 100 guests were Grey's costars Katherine Heigl, Chandra Wilson, Sara Ramirez and Justin Chambers, as well as the show's creator Shonda Rhimes. Also attending were actress Kate Beckinsale and her director husband Len Wiseman.

A lavish reception was scheduled to follow at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa's Casa Elar, a Spanish-style estate where guests enjoyed a sit-down dinner.

Wedding planner Jo Gartin of Love Luck and Angels had decorated the estate with hundreds of candles for an intimate atmosphere.

Walsh met Young, a production co-president at 20th Century Fox, in February and they were engaged three months later.

"I know – I'm literally living the dream," Walsh told PEOPLE at the time. "But you know when you know. I was not expecting it, so it's kind of amazing."

Walsh is now starring in a Grey's spinoff on ABC called Private Practice.

• Reporting by JED DREBEN

Labor Day Sales

Labor Day marks the end of summer and the last of the great summer sales. If you are a Spring/Summer 08 bride then now is the time to get your bridesmaid dresses at a discounted price. You might also want to pick something up for yourself as well for all the parties, showers, and the rehearsal dinner.


^Photo by Echard Wheeler


^ JCrew Seersucker Dress in Lemon - 89.99 down from 250.00


^JCrew Lucie Heels - 99.99 down from 168.00


^JCrew Seersucker Dress in Blush. 89.99 down from 250.00