LJ and DeWayne Engaged

I love photography blogs for so many reasons. I love to see current glimpses of the photographers work and I love to see my couples. Here is a shot from Borrowed Blue of LJ and DeWayne one of my "other" Nearlyweds. The shots were taken in NY a few weeks ago. I really love this shot in particular. Can't wait for their wedding this summer. Borrowed Blue is of course shooting that too. You should check them out they are awesome!!

Wedding Fun from Stella Marrs

I love these slightly irreverent postcards from Stella Marrs. Just order and print your info on the back with your home computer. $1 for 1, $15 for 20, or $60 for 100.


^If I was having a more casual wedding I would totally use this one for my Save The Date.

^This one would work as well


^Bachelorette Party invitation anyone?


^This would be a great invite to a shower (your own or mixed) ...or even to a bachelor party if guys actually sent invitations to anything.

Before or After?

I've always had the picture in my head, walking down the aisle, FI seeing me for the first time, the look on his face, it gives me goosebumps thinking about it!However, after talking with photographers and reading other web sites I am starting to see the appeal of taking pictures before hand. Not only do you save time after the wedding, so you can better enjoy the cocktail reception with your guests, but if you are having a late wedding, you might have better lighting if you take the pictures early on.

What are your thoughts on this? Personally I think we will still be taking pictures after the wedding, but I'm interested if this is a new trend? Below is a picture I found that I think shows a positive aspectof taking pictures before the wedding.




^ This picture provided from Flickr I feel shows the brides excitement at seeing her groom for the first time that day, it is a great shot! It also all owes a sort of spontaneity and excitement that wouldn't be able to be captured in a typical church setting.

Keeping it in the family

Husband2be and I have become "those people" who call their pets their children. I KNOW. I never thought I would become one of "them" but it's happened and I have no idea how. You know what? I've learned not to fight the flow. I'm going with it. But as with anything, you can't always take it too far.

For as much as we'd like to have our cat AND our dog in the wedding, it's not going to happen. It would be... interesting? But, I'm not so interested (or obsessed) with making such a statement that would inspire some serious chaos. The two of them can barely be in the same room together let alone walk down the aisle for something so serious as a WEDDING.So in an effort to include, we are planning to have their likenesses represented in the form of plush animals that the two littlest members of the wedding party shall "escort."

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to find a plush cat on ebay right around the time of Halloween (so convenient) that looks just like our all black cat!!! Here is a picture from the ebay listing.

I'm not sure that I ever took/posted a picture of the actual plush cat that I got but it's very much like our lovely "little girl." My only complaint is that the tail is this weird shape like that of a beaver - wide and short. *shrug* It's a small thing that is not worth fussing about in my opinion.

And then there's our lovely "baby boy" who we just adopted a month or so ago. He's a German Shepherd and can I just tell you what a time I've had trying to find a good plush animal that represents his likeness accurately??? You'd think that German Shepherds were common enought that I wouldn't have such a problem. Well... think again.

But alas - Earlier this week I was finally successful!!! StuffedArk.com has an extensive inventory of all kinds of animals and even a couple of different variations of plush German Shepherds! It's down to these two for me:



The top one comes in only a 12" version but our little ring bearer who will be holding it might not look right with something larger. It's $15.50 plush S/H but from what I've seen, that's a pretty decent price.
The bottom one is a lot more accurate in the coloring to our "baby boy" but it doesn't come in 12" and rather 16" or "10". The cat that I got is 12" so that wouldn't make any sense since the dog is already bigger than the cat. The 16" version would be $18.50 plus S/H but that's the best one for us so far, I think.
Whatever we end up with, I think using the plush animals will work well for us. The littlest flower girl will be carrying the cat and she is only 1.5 and the littlest ring bearer will be 3.5 and he will be carrying the "puppy." The two older ones will be carrying the traditional ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket. I will at least be tying ribbons on the plush animals to make them a little more decorative/"wedding-y."

Subtle Fox

If the below designs from Foxy Originals are too bright for your taste make sure you check out her more subtle pieces. All available at Snazzy Girl.

Foxy Bridesmaid Gifts

I love this colorful jewelry from Foxy Originals. They would make great bridesmaid gifts and they come in so many colors it would be easy to coordinate. You can buy them at Snazzy Girl and I haven't seen anything over $40 so they are very reasonable.

Bang...

No this is not an inappropriate blog, this is the name of my salon. Bang Salon and Spa . The reason why I am sharing this information with you , is of course in case you are interested in finding a salon to do wedding hair/manicures/pedicures. The people here are very friendly, and its reasonably priced. It is located across from Rosa Mexicana across from the Verizon center, so its easily metro accessible, and you can grab a great dinner afterwards!

They have some GREAT packages I recommend trying out--one in particular that appeals to me and will probably appeal to you is the Bridal Bliss Package-this package consists of a 10 minute soak in one of the Japanese soaking tubs, an HOUR massage ( what bride could not use this :) ), a 30 minute facial, and then full attention from one of there wonderful hairstylist to find a style that works for you!

My kind of "glass slipper" - Part two

Converse have come such a long way since my days of being stuck with only high tops in the neutral shade!!! Some people have expressed distaste/disapproval up my choice to wear them but I think that they will be a lovely little surprise underneath my rather tradtional dress. And as a wedding photographer myself, I can tell you that they will help make for some lovely and memorable pictures. My photographers were THRILLED when they heard that I was doing this instead of something more traditional. Why by super classy when you can be super sassy??? One can never have enough sass! And don't even get me started on my inability to wear anything but "sensible shoes" these days. I have no idea how I wore stilettos for as long as I did in my younger years.


Anyway, it's come down to these last two pair. They are both completely different in style but I could see both working for me and my dress. The first pair was found on Zappos and the second on Ebay.

Now, I just LOVE these!!! In a crazy way, Converse has put a sweet little spin on their design that almost could make these look "dressy." They are the lace-less/slip-on kind but I would actually take some satin off-white ribbons to tie them up anyway. The stitching that they've used to detail them is just amazing! And, of course, as it goes - you pay for it!!! These babies are about $100!!!!! *raises eyebrow* Uhmm... I like them. But I don't know that I could justify paying that much money for Converse no matter how pretty they are.

Then there's these...

Not to kill the anticipation or anything, but I'm probably going for these. I found them on ebay and they will be somewhere around $40 with shipping/handling. But aside even from the price, I really love them. Why? Follow me...

1. They are elephant themed. I have a secret thing for elephants. The only thing I can say about it is that I love them because they have incredible memories that are proven even by Science! Elephants mean a lot to me so to "wear" them on my feet on one of the biggest and most memorable days of my life? It's a big deal.
2. The color combination is bright and happy!!! I liked the sheep ones but there's something about these that seem a little cheerier to me. And the brightness would work a lot better overall for the Spring wedding that we are having. Also - look at the additional laces they come with! Not sure that I would change them out but you gotta love the option of pink laces. Seriously!
3. They remind me of something that I totally would have worn when I was six. Six was a very special age to me. It was also a time when I wore little pink satin Roos. These would have been my other sneakers that I would have worn on the days I didn't wear my Roos.

I have not placed my order yet but they are "buy-it-now" from a seller with a well established ebay store and I will likely take care of getting these within the next few weeks.

I'm still not a "shoe girl" by a long shot but I can tell you that I have really enjoyed looking at and choosing these. Have fun finding Your "glass slippers"!

Leah C. Couture Millenery

If you liked Jackpot76's wedding hair flower posted below make sure you check out the site of its designer Leah C. She has some beautiful wedding accessories. I won't lie...they are pricey (flowers will set you back a few hundred dollars) but they sure are lovely.


^ Style B18- $395

^Style B17 - $375

^Style PBM - $250

^ She also makes unique Boutonnieres for the guys. At $50 this is pricey compared to your average $10 boutonniere from a flower shop...but I see no reason why you couldn't pin this into your hair, which makes it a steal compared to the other hair accessories.

Real D.C. Weddings

Another great Real D.C. Wedding popped up on the D.C. Knot board last night. Knottie Jackpot76 had a blue hued wedding at Woodend Sanctuary with subtle Asian accents. Check out her bio for all her great vendors and wedding advice, and check out her photo slideshow for some bigger images from her photographer Mark Bettinger at Rodney Bailey -Picture Perfect Wedding.

All Photos Below Credited to Mark Bettinger at Rodney Bailey -Picture Perfect Wedding

^Veil from MyWeddingVeil.com ; Hair Flower from Leah C in NYC

^Flowers from Petal's Edge

Hair Flower from Leah C in NYC

^Flowers from Petal's Edge

My kind of "glass slipper" - Part one

I am not a shoe kind of gal. I'm much more a purse gal. But every time someone finds out that I'm getting married the third question that they usually ask me after what the date is and if I've found my dress is what shoes I'm gonna wear. Call me crazy but this isn't what I think about when someone tells me they are going to get married.

Anyway, I'm wearing sneakers. Yeah - you read that right! But actually, I'm not wearing just any sneakers. I'm wearing Converse. As it so happens, my brothers and I have grown up with a real "thing" for Converse. When they were still in their junior high and high school years they had a crazy wardrobe of any kind of Converse that were sold. And I, being the classic little sister, HAD TO HAVE Converse like them. Unfortunately, they only ever sold them in my size in the neutral/white color. But I wore them proudly just the same.

Over the years as my feet finally grew, I built my own lovely wardrobe of Converse stylings. My best/favorite pair so far is actually a pair that is made of bright red corduroy. *swoon* They are just about on their last legs but I still wear them and WILL. NOT. Pitch them!

So, naturally, on my wedding day... I'm wearing Converse! And my ring bearers (my brother's sons) will also be wearing Converse. :)

For myself, I have a few options (all are in the neighborhood of $45 from Zappos) :

There's also the possibility of getting some custom-made direct from Converse. They would be about $70 and I've already played around with the shoe designer online and come up with something that is a blue/green/yellow colorblock-type design. Could be cool but there's still a few more designs that I'm very seriously considering more than any of these.

Stay tuned...

Erin Condren Design

I really like the mailing labels over at Erin Condren Design. All her stationery is personalized, but don't think you have to limit yourself to just your own name you can put in whatever name or phrase you want and they will print them up. You could design a label with "Your Name & His Name" or "Your Last Name & His Last Name" and send them out on your wedding invites. Shipping labels are $30 for 23 so it would be an easy way to jazz up a boring outer envelope.

The Dress...

So while Home last time I found a dress I loved it was at a boutique in Rochester, NY Julianas Bridal , if anybody is from the area or ever visits I HIGHLY recommend it, it is personable, unique and they have an amazing selection of dresses.

I found a dress there that I really think is going to be the one. I know I have said this before, but now I have tried on many dresses, and this is a feeling I have not felt before. The way it fits is amazing, the fabric is to die for, I literally felt like I was wearing silk pajamas, it is the softest fabric I have ever felt. I also just felt like a princess, but not so much that I wouldn't be able to dance or sit...anyways without further ado..here are pictures of the dress I think I will be purchasing in a month, My Mom and Aunt are coming to DC this weekend and we are going to make the rounds at the different bridal boutiques ( I will report back of course) but if I don't find anything comparable, this is the dress..


* MR.ALEXANDRIA PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FARTHER!!!*



































^It is very elegant and I am not sure if you can tell in this picture, but the buttons go all the way down the back of the dress. Also, the sash does not come with the dress, I tried on one with a sparkly brooch that looked amazing!

This Dress is a Monique Lhuillier

Looks can be deceiving

As far as I know, cameras don't lie...



About an hour ago I did my (just about) weekly squeeze into my wedding gown. I do this actually not because I enjoy so trying on my dress but more so I can gauge my weight/size. I used to be the type of gal who could eat whatever I wanted without gaining an ounce but in the past couple of years I've lost the "girlish" figure I've always been known for and developed a shape a little more swervy and curvy. Honestly, I can't complain because I've always wished to be fuller figure than what my body seemed to allow me to be. And so it's worked out that way.

This past Thanksgiving meant two big meals for me - because that's what husband2Be's family does. The amazing thing is I'm not even a desserts kind of gal and so all I ate was just the main course stuff! But when you do that twice, well, it can get outright painful!!! I'm serious! After the second night of feasting, husband2Be and I laid down to sleep and were actually so full that we could barely breathe and get comfortable. It was not a restful night of sleep.

Anyway, today we're back home and my body is STILL recovering from being so ridiculously stuffed. Now, some people say that they don't expect to eat at their weddings but I am the opposite because we happen to be having a major feast planned of our very favorite foods ever for our reception. Granted I won't be stuffing my face but I do plan on enjoying the food! So this is why I've made it regular practice to try on my dress with a full stomach.

The crazy thing is that for as much as I thought I would be uncomfortable in/with my dress, it's actually still quite comfy. And however it's happened, the five or so pounds that I've managed to gain over the past month or so has made me more of an hour glass figure than going to the places that would make me look more like a pretty and lacy human sausage! There IS a God!!!

The right picture above is one I took in a mirror in my bedroom just a bit ago and the left is one my dad took months ago when my dress first came in the mail. The difference in how I look in the picture could be attributed to a myriad of reasons - angle of the mirror, him using a wide angle lens instead. Whatever the case, I recommend you try on your dress on a regular basis if you are one who is gaining or losing weight. Scales can tell you one thing but the cut/fit of clothing can tell you something completely different.

The verdict is in

"But the veil would look so much prettier with your hair up!" "I'uhm wearin' mah hair down 'cuz Jackson likes mah hair down!"

- Steel Magnolias

Hair debates finally ended last night for me. A couple of days ago I mentioned my recent indecision about what to do with my hair (so I can start looking for a stylist and do tests) and so I asked husband2Be what he prefers. "It really doesn't matter. You look beautiful however your hair is!!!" Won't he be just a terrific husband??? He's awesome! But in this case, opinions that feed my ego just don't cut it. I need to make some kind of a decision.

After some conversation he did end up picking an updo over leaving it all down. He knows little about my dress other than that it's very formal such that he can pull off a tux with tails! For this reason, he's said that it makes more sense for me to wear my hair up.

Makes sense.

So last night I holed up in our bedroom for the fifth time in probably the last two weeks to try on my veil with my hair down and then up.



I was happy with my hair down and the veil on. Definitely I would need some teasing at the crown and a really good blowout but it could work nicely. And I felt like my hair down framed my face a little nicer than when I have it up and it looks big.

Then I sort of pulled my hair back and piled it up. And I felt like it actually looked better. And considering the fact that my dress is strapless and has a sweetheart neckline and my veil is so full anyway (it actually has four layers if you include the blusher), the way it will come down around my face will frame my face similarly to the way my hair does when it's down.

Verdict: My hair will be up in some "classic and timeless" probably French twist-ish style.

One more thing down, and (what seems like) a million more still to go! *phew* Next up? Engagement pictures... I think.

Worth a Try?

Spotted on the Weddingbee Classified Board -
---------------
Free engagement/family portrait session in metro DC/Northern VA
posted

I'm a loyal Weddingbee reader and a hobby photographer - my friends and I want to start building our portfolio for portraitures since one of them wants to move into wedding photography eventually and I'd like to do portrait sessions on the side. We recently started a blog, which includes a post on a portrait session for a co-worker, her boyfriend, and their dog http://www.withbigcameras.com/ You can also check out my flickr for my favorite pictures that I've taken http://www.flickr.com/photos/icygracy/sets/72157603020858232/ We are located in Northern Virginia and are willing to do a 2-hour engagement/regular portrait session somewhere outdoors in the metro DC area at a location of your choice. You just have to pay for our travel if it's more than 20 miles away from Tysons Corner. Please E-mail us at withbigcameras at gmail dot com if you're interested, thanks!

Edit: The listing will be closed after 3 couples/families have signed up. This is on a first come first serve basis!
posted by Gracers
-------------------------------

Hey it might be worth a try. You can get a free e-pic session and they can get some experience. She posted the message on Tuesday, November 20 at 5 p.m.

Cyber Monday???.....!!!!!

I do believe I am feeling this. Now I must give the caveat that when I expressed interest in this to my techie-IT-husband, Mr. Nearlywed, he said "I would go for the drawings but not to shop online as some hacker is going to have a field day scooping up credit card information from everyone shopping on an open connection". He had a point, but I still think it would be much fun, even if you don't do as much shopping as schmoozing. I like it.

Monday, November 26th from 11am to 2pm

ESPN Zone at 12th and F Streets, NW

Shop.org is going to provide computers (or bring your laptop, they'll have wireless available), Internet access, a Catalog Center, and lunch! And every 30 minutes, they will raffle off more than $7,500 in gift cards from retailers like Barnes & Noble, Sierra Trading Post and Zappos.com.

So let's see... free lunch and all I have to do is shop online with the possiblity of winning stuff? See what I'm saying? Thanks to DC Concierge for the update.

With these rings... we do!

Last weekend we made a special trip down to my parents' neck of the woods to eat dinner with them and make payments on our wedding bands!

When we originally discussed wedding bands we decided that we wanted them to be a matching set. After a marathon "browsing" trip at several jewelry stores, we finally found exactly what we were looking for at Helzberg Diamonds. And as it turned out, we didn't get a matching set though we got bands that (closely enough) complement each other with their individual designs.

[top picture is courtesy of Helzberg, bottom was a random Google image search]

The top one is my band and it's actually a right-hand ring. My engagement ring is a completely original design (by us!) and so it was very difficult finding something that worked well with it. But we found the shape of the band to completely match the shape of my engagement ring. I'll wear my engagement ring on my right hand and my wedding band on my left - European style!

His ring is actually not the ring pictured but I couldn't find a picture of it exactly and the one pictured is close enough. It's two-toned and engraved with diamond-style cutting/engraving (see how it's shiny in some places? diamond cutting!) and the designs are likened to the filigree in my engagement ring/wedding band.

All together our rings were a little over $700 - his was actually six times the cost of mine!!! And mine was so "cheap" because it wasn't a wedding band. You know how it works with adding "wedding" to anything and the price gets hiked? Yeah! Be open-minded and consider right hand rings. *wink*

BTW - if I could offer a tip? Try on bands with your futureHusband!!! The styles you like in pictures might be far from what you like on your hands. Trust me - we completely were surprised by what we ended up getting but it turned out to be exactly the look that we were going for initially.

Sugar Paper Discount - 25% Off

So you get engaged and suddenly you have more paper needs then you've ever had in your entire life. Save the Dates, Invitations, Menus, Place cards, Thank-you cards, Change of Address cards, Stationery with your new name (for after the wedding!), Christmas cards from the "both" of you, and your mom and maid of honor want to know what you want your engagement party and shower invitations to look like. Never mind that before your wedding you couldn't even name a paper store much less been in one.

Well you might not cave in and get all the "must haves" but if you're looking for some paper get 25% off at Sugar Paper with code DCSUGAR. Thanks to Daily Candy.


^Letterpress Stationery with your new married name

^Change of Address cards because you gave your place up, or he gave up his, or because both of you did

^Chocolate Branch Thank You cards from Snow & Graham

Reindeer Christmas Cards from Hello! Lucky

Celebrations at the Bay Part I

I guess it's time that I shared our reception venue with you. I started out with several searches on The Knot and Brides.com for places that interested me. There were several criteria I wanted to fullfill. First, I didn't want anything with carpet, especially salmon, burgundy or dark green. I was really looking for nice hardwoods or tile.

Second, I wanted it to be open and airy with windows. I wanted to step away from the traditional ballroom that has no windows whatsoever.

Third, it had to be a clean, minimalistic room with no dominating colors like the ones I mentioned above. Plum and aubergine don't look so hot with dark green and red.

So that's when I found...drum roll...Celebrations at the Bay's Chesapeake Ballroom.



When I first saw it, I just hoped and prayed it was in our price range. Soon after, I called and spoke with Kevin McTigue, the absolute nicest and most informative person I've spoken to since my planning adventure started. Since I couldn't make it out to Celebrations to speak with him in person any time soon, he was nice enough to go through the ENTIRE package with me on the phone.

Celebrations is owned by Catering by Uptown, which was founded by Kevin's Uncle Ray. The entire operation is family-owned and run. Celebrations offers everything but the flowers, the DJ and the photographer. They have 5 (if I remember correctly) types of china to choose from, ranging from contemporary square plates to classic ivory with gold rims. The stemware is crystal. They have 25 linens to choose from. They provide hurricanes and votive holders. Cake is included in the cost of the rental, and it comes from SugarBakers, which I've heard great things about. The bar is premium and open. You also get a coordinator for the 3 months leading up to your wedding, not to mention tons of discounts from their huge network of partner vendors.

They have also built out the back deck and it now has a white, wrought iron gazebo-type structure for a ceremony and room to seat 125 guests. The outdoor chairs are white, high-quality folding chairs and for indoors you have your choice of black or gold chivari chairs.
When Mr. Shirlington and I finally had a chance to get out to the site, the day was beautiful and there were almost 30 sailboats in the bay. We fell in love instantly. We set up a tasting for the following Tuesday and chose a filet and lobster gabrielle from their super-extensive menu to try (ALL BEFORE WE EVEN BOOKED).

It was kind of a make-or-break for Mr. Shirlington and I because Celebrations was significantly out of our budget. But, because we hadn't seen anything else that even came close, we decided that if the food was amazing, we would go for it. And it was. We went for the filet knowing that if there's one tell-tale sign of bad wedding food, it's when you get a crappy filet. We were so incredibly impressed. We felt more like we were in a steakhouse than a catering showroom. We booked that night.

I hope to get out to Celebrations sometime soon to take more pictures! The only downside is that it's 34 miles from our church. We booked both places knowing it would be a hike for our guests, but because we're dealing with only close friends and family, we knew they would appreciate our choices anyway.

The spread of my wedding addiction

The following is a conversation between me and Mr. Shirlington that just made me smile so much I had to share. He was in the kitchen and I was on the couch in the living room searching the internet for table linens, since we've decided the ones we've seen so far are too burgundy.

me: Baby, what are we going to do about the linens? It's really starting to stress me out and I just can't find anything like what I'm looking for. What should we do?

him: We should not worry about wedding stuff until after Thanksgiving. We still have 11 months to worry about these things.

-long pause- and other random conversation about our days.

him: You know what I could NOT stop thinking about today?

me: What?

him: How much I love your wedding shoes. They just look so comfortable, but sexy!

It made me so happy that while I'm working so hard to bring together all these little details, he really appreciates the time and effort I put into picking just the right thing. And even though he tries to act like it's not consuming his thoughts (probably so I'll stay sane), he really does think about our wedding throughout the day. :)

Haste makes Waste..

I have to admit, one of the places I was too hasty in acting was with our save the dates, I had them ordered and arrived before FI and I had even been engaged a month! ( I guess that's what you call hitting the ground running) Unfortunately, it was a hasty decision, and I don't particularly like our save the dates. Now don't get me wrong they are nice enough, but they don't fit in with our theme, style, FEEL of the wedding. Thankfully they were relatively cheap, cheap enough that I would rather do it right...and if I do it that way then I'm not risking a financial loss. Personally I feel that the Save the Dates are the first thing our guests are going to be receiving that reflect our wedding, I feel it gives a "preview" of what to expect, and now that I'm a wedding "pro" I know I want all of our stationary to have a common theme. I LOVE Letterpress, love love it, but since it is very expensive I was thinking of just having our invitations letterpressed, our place cards, escort cards, menus, programs and save the dates can use thermography or engraving. I would like to add that FI was baffled that we needed menus, his response was "they don't get to choose what they are ordering" ahh men, they are cute :) With that in mind, my sister-in-law and brother are throwing FI and I an engagement party Dec 22nd in upstate New York. They are having our invitations designed by Bella Carta-Studio . Just because I'm a curious lil bride, I decided to check out there website, and I love them! Mama Alexandria and I are meeting with her on the Friday after thanksgiving ( after getting up Insanely early, as is tradition for black Friday). Here are some examples of her work, I know she is located in Upstate NY, but she has been featured on the Knot!

^ I love the elegance of the design, everything fits together, it's very classic.

^ This design I think is unique--also what is interesting about this design is the story behind it--here is an excerpt from the website explaining it "This bride had a special request to match the exact color green of her bridesmaids' dresses. After much searching, we found a beautiful textured paper from India, had it sent to Envelopments, and they made it into these 4x9 pocket folds. The colors of the wedding, green and fuchsia, were brought together with the gorgeous fuchsia double-faced satin ribbon from Midori, and a metallic fuchsia card stock backing and return envelope. This bride was thrilled with the results"

I will have a better report once I meet with her on Friday! Hope that everyone is having a safe/fun holiday week!

Faking it

I have so many blessings to count in my life. Unfortunately, long "baby doll" eyelashes are not included. Certainly, I don't want to look like a completely different person on my wedding day but I would like to have a little but more in the eyelash department if I can pull it off. I've known this from the beginning of my wedding planning but since yesterday when I mentioned this to someone, they told me that I should actually start getting accustomed to wearing false lashes because of how heavy they can make your eyelids feel. Makes complete sense but I NEVER would have thought about such a thing had it not been mentioned to me.

So now I'm researching false lashes. From what I understand of my eyes (I'm Asian), I should get individual lashes instead of full strips. I also understand that when you wear them you still wear a little bit of mascara. *Please correct me if I'm wrong on this stuff!*

I'm planning on getting my make-up (like my hair) done for the wedding and I'm sure the make-up artist that I hire will have their own preferences/suggestions for false lashes but for my own "practicing" I have found "Make up for ever Individual lashes" from Sephora. There's also "ModelCo Lash Out: False Single Lashes."

Has anyone ever used these before? I'm curious how they would be for me to apply with my very novice abilities.

New Rules Strikes Again

Terrica has outdone herself this week with the New Rules. I literally am unable to breath or see from laughing so hard. I LIVE THIS!!!!!
Everything she has alluded to is perfectly on point and I have heard brides utter these words in complete seriousness, so that I "understand their Vision".
Terrica is my new hero. Everyone subscribe to her blog. Enjoy

New Rule: Let’s cease and desist on telling people you have a designer wedding dress. You got it for $22 off of eBay. The tag even says “Oscar de la Rented“. And seriously, no one believes you anyway– you’re spending a total of 7,000 for your entire wedding with 250 guests, yet have the money for a designer gown? Ok. Sure. If you want a nice term for it, say your gown is “designer inspired”.

New Rule: No more going to bridal shows for the food and freebies when you have 95% of your wedding planned. Why are you entering to win a free 10X14 from XYZ photographer when you already have paid off the photographer for your own wedding? Oh, and FYI– eyeballing vendors’ tables while sucking the life out of a chicken bone and pawing their pictures and brochures is so uncute. Ask me how I know.

New Rule: Your wedding planner really doesn’t need you to give her a timeline. Believe it or not, she does this for a living. Giving the planner a timeline is like giving your surgeon an anatomy book. Think we’ve pretty much got it covered. Should the heavens fall and the oceans run over, thank goodness we have your timeline to fall back on.

New Rule: If you put any type of plastic on your reception tables (tablecloths, cutlery, plates, etc.), that’s an automatic 5 years in a maximum security prison. If you then say at any time, “…because I want a real classy event” while doing the above, your sentence is then changed to life with no parole.

New Rule: Stop cutting corners for your wedding! You can’t expect the very best when you get everything for your wedding at Ray Ray’s Chicken and Weddings. Anyone who claims to put “Clazz” or “Stylez” in your event is LYING TO YOU. You’ll be lucky if you don’t have the police at your wedding. The giveaway should’ve been when they showed you the birds for the dove release after the ceremony…and they were pigeons. Or maybe it should’ve been the illegal craps game going on in front of the door. Not sure. Take your pick. Public Service Announcement: Ray Ray cannot be your caterer, photographer and DJ too. Splurge a little. Get three SEPARATE vendors.

New Rule: She’s a four year old flower girl, not a Stepford Wife. Why is she in a huge replica of the bride’s dress? Furthermore, she only has an inch of hair– why do you have 30 rhinestone barrettes in it? She has on more make up than a burn victim and her head looks like a disco ball. If I were her mother, I’d probably fight you. No one will say “Oooh”, they’re probably saying “Eeewww”.

I'm really getting married!

We booked a church! Our church. The church.

Fiance and I will exchange vows at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. I'm excited about this for many reasons, most of which are personal and religious in nature. However, there's also a part of Holy Trinity I love because it's a beautiful place of worship.

Since our guest list is under 75 people, we have the option of using the chapel, which is an extremely traditional, beautiful building that sits atop a tall hill on N Street and 36th. (Look at me talking like a true DC resident!)

Inside, the main worship area is as modern as they come. It's a simple area and can be set up with the altar literally in the middle of the room and all the chairs facing toward it, versus the front of the room. I don't know yet if this is how we'll do it, but it's a fresh idea, nonetheless.

The main church is also beautiful and it's the place I really see myself marrying Mr. Shirlington.


I can't believe it. At this point, everything else is just a detail because when it comes down to it, this is the only part of my planning that really matters. As long as we can walk down that aisle, I can breathe a happy sigh of relief.

On second thought

In this whole wedding planning process, I've had my fair share of ideas that have and have not come to fruition for a number of reasons. First and foremost reason for their undoing has been that whole thing that goes a little like this, "Well, it seemed like a good idea..." We all have moments like this and definitely when it comes to wedding planning, it becomes easier and easier to take things to levels that we never would have considered in "real life" - that being any time outside of a wedding.

Though none of these are my own failed ideas, I present to you the top three items that (after discussion with one of my own wedding vendors) have been tried but bombed miserably at other people's weddings. Let's all learn from the mistakes they made on the "happiest day of their lives":

1. DIY Ice Cream Sundae bar: You know the drill - big cartons of ice cream are set out alongside a buffet of toppings for people to go buckwild on to indulge their inner children/sugar freakishness. It's definitely a novel idea. I mean who doesn't love a good Ice Cream Sundae? What person can resist creating their own perfectly shaped mound of whipped cream that is just right for a beautiful bright red maraschino cherry??? It's irresistible. It is. But it's also MESSY. And I don't mean just a little bit messy but the kind of messy that leaves everything sticky and smelling like sweetened sour cream. Good idea but not for a wedding. If you want to indulge your guests with confections, stick to the newest fad of a "candy bar" that is much more like visiting a good old fashioned "penny candy" store.
2. Singing a solo to your new spouse: *sigh* Love is a many splendid things but even if it is your wedding day, there's no reason to become Celine Dion all of a sudden. How often is something like this done? Never. And there's a reason for that! Perhaps it's because that one time when it happened (you should have been there because it was TERRIBLE), it was so uncomfortable and awkward that people (guests) didn't know what to do with themselves during the singing and afterwards. Even if the person is good, there's still something odd about having it happen. Save the praises for your spouse for your honeymoon and during your newlywedded bliss. Seriously.
3. Having an Interactive DJ: Ok, having a bad DJ can make or break a party. This goes for any event and is certainly not limited to a wedding. But as it goes with anything, you don't want one extreme or the other. And there is too much of a good thing. You don't want a DJ trying to start the Macarena or doing Y-M-C-A (I'm talking out on the floor BY HIMSELF, centerstage!) when all of the guests are clearly not into dancing in any capacity. You also don't want a DJ that will do crazy things like take his shirt off AND NOT PUT IT BACK ON in the middle of your reception! This sounds completely crazy but it's not an exaggeration of a DJ who is way too interactive. Get recommendations from people. Look at sample videos of your DJ in action. Don't let your DJ be the reason why people don't enjoy your reception!

So there it is. Some wedding planning wisdom. I guess if this were Cosmo magazine or something this would be the Wedding do's and don'ts. Whatever the case, when it comes to wedding ideas, think long and hard about some things because it will make a difference in the long run!

Black Flowers

This week I happened to run across two weddings done by Alexandria area florist Helen Olivia in which she used black flowers. The most common black flower you will see is the black calla lily. It's actually a dark dark purple but because it's so dark it looks black. What are your thoughts? Do you like black flowers? Would you use them in your wedding?



^Flowers from Helen Olivia. Picture from Holland Photo Arts. This bouquet also includes black orchids.

^Flowers from Helen Olivia. Pictures via DC Knottie PostcardsfromDC and photographer John Bechet.

^Picture from Apertura Photography.

^Flowers by The Bloomery

To be perfectly honest

We are still trying to figure out our honeymoon plans. Husband2Be happens to enjoy the mountains more than exotic beaches. I prefer the latter. But both of us have agreed on one thing - we want to have a honeymoon where there is a bevy of activities for us to enjoy.

Originally we were talking about doing a Walt Disney World Honeymoon package. It's something that we kind of thought about and realized that despite first impressions that it wouldn't be so great, it could work very well for us since we don't want to take more than a week off of work (we both work at the same school and it's not that smart to be away from our students/teaching for so long). I looked into Disney honeymoon packages and they seem pretty reasonable. We sort of decided to do that.

But then, after some time passed, we talked about our honeymoon plans a little more and started thinking that maybe a cruise on Norwegian might be a better plan. NCL has a great reputation and everyone I know has gone on a cruise at least once and has raved about how wonderful they are. I researched on NCL the other night and found a cruise departing from NYC the very next day after our wedding too! AND the cost would actually be less than a Disney honeymoon. Hmmmm...

The other thing is that I just worked a wedding today with our wedding photographers and we were discussing the whole idea of honeymoon destinations. The couple whose wedding we were at were planning on going to the Outer Banks and taking their dog. I mentioned to our photographers that it seemed kind of crazy to go there at this time of year and you know what they said in reply? That they had actually lost count of couples who have regretted splurging on over the top honeymoons because they just about don't leave their rooms because of.... well... the obvious. *wink*

I've been thinking about it and it makes sense to me. However, I think that a cruise could easily fit the bill for us even with regard to the fact that we might not be leaving our room too much. :)

Vintage Accessories

If you read any wedding blogs at all then you've already heard about Stephanie James' vintage glam wedding dresses. If you love those then you should check out her blog because she just debuted a new line of vintage style wedding hair accessories. They aren't for every bride, but if you love the vintage look or just want a beautiful flower in your hair that not every bride will have then just look below. Don't forget to check out her blog for additional styles.

Adorning Your Maids

If you are looking to coordinate your bridesmaids' jewelry (notice I didn't say match...let everyone be unique!) then you should check out Chemistry Bridal. They have different styles of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings available in 16 different colors. The best part is that prices range from $25-75, so giving these as gifts will not break the bank. The necklaces and bracelets can also be monogrammed with each persons initials. Each piece is made to order. They also carry gold, silver, pearl, and crystal colored jewelry so you might find something that goes with your dress as well.

Illuminations Sale

It's friends and family time at Illuminations for the next few days! This is the perfect chance to bargain hunt for wedding candles and centerpieces!

Wedding Weekend...

What is a wedding weekend? Well this is the new "fad" that is occurring since more and more people are traveling to weddings, its a way that the couple getting married can not only extend there own festivities but also help the guests enjoy the attractions/activities of the surrounding area!

FI and I are "transplanted here" he is originally from OH and I'm from NY, we have friends from all over the country ( and one of my bridesmaids is from India)So most of our wedding party/guest list are going to be out of towners. With this in mind it seemed only plausible to have a "wedding weekend".

D.C is a GREAT town to have a wedding weekend in, there is SO much to do. FI and I have been throwing ideas around, but one thing that my family is very adamant about is Golf...so FI and I have decided that on Friday morning we are going to have a "golf tournament" ...we are looking into having Tees and Balls and perhaps other Items personalized for a "golf tournament" of sorts ( a way to keep the guys happy :) ). So far I have found this website that has cute golf trinkets:




^ For 100 tee's it's under $30, not bad, and something my brothers ( yes I have 4 of them!) and FI uncle and other family members can use, and always remember our special day :)



^ I love the idea of the golf balls, but not sure if we want to invest this type of money, but a cute idea!



^ Also a cute idea, and economical!

These are just a few things I've found so far, my brother is looking into clubs in the area that he think are good and that he could get us into ( a lot of private courses have restrictions) if you have any suggestions please let me know!

I would also love to hear what other DC brides have planned for there out of town guests over the wedding weekend!?

On Cloud 9.........Mr. Shirlington - DO NOT READ

Mr. Shirlington LOVES...Ferrari's.


What does this have to do with our wedding? Well, I'm renting him one for our wedding day as his wedding gift. When we first started dating, he always talked about how one day we would have one and we would drive off into the sunset. Well, I want to make that dream come true for him. Since I've made most of the wedding decisions (okay all of them) I thought it would be nice for him to wake up to a Ferrari and then use it as our get-away car. If this is going to work, I'm going to have to save every dime to make it happen. Part of me worries that this is a huge waste of $1,595, but then again, he probably feels the same way about wedding flowers.

I've checked out a few luxury rental companies. If your man loves cars, check out Capital Dream Cars or Pure Exotics.

The company I'm using is called Cloud 9 Living. This company is just pure awesome to begin with. Not only can you rent exotic cars, you can purchase an "experience". There's truly something for everyone. So even if your man's second love isn't cars, you can purchase an experience like a live aboard intro-sailing course, a kayaking lesson, triathlete coaching, photography tutoring or a Harley rental. There are a ton more. AND, there are a bunch for us ladies, too, like a complete makeover! All of them are GREAT ideas for wedding gifts. I'm going to be uing this site for many holidays and birthdays to come!

BadA$$ Brides

I love brides who are traditional enough to want the whole wedding thing but unconventional enough to not be forced into a stereotype of what a bride should be. Not everyone is a fairy princess bride and you shouldn't feel like you have to be (no matter what your mother says). Whether it's rockin a non-white dress or letting your tattoos show instead of trying to hide them, just make sure you make your day authentic to who you are.

All pics from Our Labor of Love (click to enlarge!)

^Yes the bride wore blue and it looked awesome

^I love how the girl bird cake topper had a matching blue dress and the boy bird had an eye-patch

^How great is this dress? So girly and ruffly yet it also flows well with the tattoos

^Just make sure your ear gauges match!

Our Labor of Love

Ever since my friend got married in Atlanta a few weeks ago I've been stalking her photographer's blog. I already stalk like a million photo blogs so what's one more? The bad news is they haven't updated it in 11 days which is like saying "forever" in blog world. The good news is their most recent post is of the cutest wedding so I'm not tired of looking at the great pics. I love the red and white colors...it looks very modern and crisp and the bridesmaid dresses remind me of candystriper dresses...so what's not to love? Plus many parts of the wedding were DIY! Go check out more of Ashley and Dusty's wedding at Our Blog of Love, the blog for Our Labor of Love Photography (those are the folks who took all the great pics below!)

Finally some reasonably priced flower girl dresses!

I don't know about you but I've had quite a time finding clothing for the littlest members of our wedding party.

Our two ringbearers will be wearing matching tuxedoes to the rest of the guys but their rental price is STILL going to be $130 or so. Personally? I think that's ridiculous. But I've tried and there's no negotiating/bargaining down on the price.

As for the flower girls, I've been looking for months now trying to find dresses that were still nice quality, beautiful, but much less than $100. I got my wedding gown at David's Bridal but flower girl dresses are upwards of $125 there. That is as ridiculous as the tuxedoes for the ringbearers. So, I made it my personal mission to find something LESS than $50 for the flower girls.

When it comes down to it, just about every site has the same inventory/styles. I've seen the same dress listed as $75 one place and $45 at another place. You'd think that internet vendors would be a little more competitive in their pricing when they could search market prices themselves but I guess not.

Anyway, I can happily report that with all of my bargain shopping and hunting, I've finally found something that fits the bill both in terms of style/look AND (more importantly) price. The dress linked has a removable sash and flower that I will change out to better match our wedding decor. The flower girls will be wearing Asian brocade sashes made by either my mother of myself. The dresses come in both white and ivory and are only $34.95 plus shipping EACH!!! That's QUITE a deal. Perhaps they won't be as "nice" in terms of quality as a bridal boutique might sell but honestly? This is a white/ivory dress that a little girl will likely only be able to wear once because that's just how it works with stuff that's white/ivory. Definitely my brother/sister-in-law (their parents) can try and dye it so they can maybe wear it again but for only $34.95? It's not nearly as painful as $130 for RENTED clothing. :)

I'm happy.

New Rule Friday a la The Wedding Planner Blog

She so needs to syndicate this!!

New Rule: Pick a favor someone cares about. No one really wants an itsy bitsy photo frame that doubled as a place card holder. People rarely print out their photos nowadays, let alone print a 1×3 inch photo to put in a frame you got from the dollar store.

New Rule: So not cool: picking a different meal for you and your new husband than that of your guests. Want a surefire way to start a riot? Having surf and turf for the bridal couple and chips and dip for everyone else.

New Rule: If you are going to let your uncle, aunt, or best friend’s mother’s sister’s baby’s father “gift” you with a wedding service like photography, baking the cake, etc., make sure they are a professional at what they are gifting. Having your mechanic uncle take your pictures is like having your lawn guy perform your appendectomy.

New Rule: 10+ people on each side is not a bridal party. It’s a marching band. No one truly wants to sit through a processional of 2.5 billion people before we get to the bride. Also, let’s quit with the R. Kelly “Step in the Name of Love” two-step up the aisle. Your bridal party looks like they’re doing the Cha Cha Slide to the altar. If you want to give them something special to do, let your friends and family be hostesses, ushers, readers or soloists.

New Rule: STOP ruining a good cake with columns and fountains. It’s CAKE — not an ode to ancient Roman architecture. The little Christmas light under the fountain of your cake, the stairs with the gazillion little dolls for the bridal party– what else do I need to say? 1983 called. It wants its wedding cake back. It’s dessert– not a piece of Barbie’s Dream Mansion.

New Rule: Let’s try to pick seasonal colors and flowers for your wedding theme. Lime green in December? No dice. Silver (and only silver) in June? Blech. Yeah, we REALLY believe you combed some Amazon forest and found a unique silver rose. (You should see how hard I’m rolling my eyes right now) If your flower is out of season, look for another one. Leave the “silk” flowers with the fake rain drops (read: glue drops) right there in the aisle of Dollar General where you found them. No one will ever believe they are real.

Kate Spade Sample Sale...Quick

The sale is only on til November 16th and it started yesterday.... Yikes get over there.

Martha..Martha..Martha...

I have to admit,I love Martha Stewart, her creativity, the way she makes everything and anything look so elegant and classic...I wish I embodied half of what she has! As I said in an earlier post I'm lucky that my roommate/MOH loves watching wedding shows and also loves Martha Stewart, because she finds some great shows for me to watch!

Tonight while waiting for House to start my roommate found Martha Stewart Living: The Art of Weddings: Cakes, It turns out that Style network has "I-DO Tuesdays", so if you are ever lacking something to do on Tuesday night, I recommend tuning in.

There were two cake designers that I wanted to share with you, one was Florian Bellanger , who bakes traditional french wedding cakes called Croquembouche. I wouldn't want this as my wedding cake, but watching it being made was amazing. The time and effort that went into the cake-- I also learned that the tradition of wedding cake started when it was thought to be good luck for the guests to break bread over the brides head in hopes of giving her good luck with fertility..this evolved into the bride and groom kissing over a pile of bread, and then eventually the tiered wedding cake. This is what Croquembouche looks like, unfortunately I couldn't find Florians amazing creating, but here is an idea :



Another Baker that was featured on the special was Ron Ben-Israel Cakes . These cakes, unfortunately way out of my price range,are amazing masterpieces! Watching him make the sugar flowers was amazing, the way he Airbrushed the color to perfection was like watching a flower come to life. Here are a couple of his amazing creations, feel free to salivate-



^ All of those flowers are Sugar flowers!




^ These are just a few I highly recommend checking out the website...just to drool :) And I also highly recommend watching In style!

Autumn Blue

Remember in October when I spotted pastel blue in an autumn table setting at Caspari and thought what a unique but unexpected wedding color it would be for a fall wedding? Well go check out the wedding of Viola and Philip over at Anna Kuperberg's blog. I know we're all tired of Tiffany blue and brown at weddings, but when you add autumn orange to the combo it seems very new. The blue just adds a breath of freshness to the typical fall colors.

Posh posies

One of my favorite things to do is read books about ways to save money on weddings! One book I read mentioned something about getting bouquets from florists mostly unadorned and then snazzing them up yourself. It mentioned getting "flower jewels" and adding them to your bridal bouquet to set it apart from everyone else's flowers. I'd seen this done before with people's weddings but in all of my wedding shopping I'd never seen anything that didn't look too cheap or weird to add to a bridal bouquet.

Today I came across a site in my search for flowergirl tiaras and I found some bouquet jewels!!! Even though I'm still not sure that I'm sold on the idea of using them, I think they are actually very pretty and could easily be added to DIY bouquets, or add-on bouquets that you get from your florist or from some place like ProFlowers Weddings. Definitely the jewels add something to the decor that is very "bling" and glam but I feel like if it's done right, it could look pretty.

BridalFashionMall.com also offers a terrific selection of all kinds of bridal accessories in addition to the bouquet jewels. Before I got sidetracked with the bouquet jewels I found the tiaras that I think I'm using for my flowergirls. The price does make me cringe a bit (especially since I'm getting TWO) but I feel like it will be money well spent and they will be very well enjoyed by my sweet little nieces. (I'm going to try and find some nice velvet presentation boxes and give them as gifts as the rehearsal dinner!)

Veil..mantilla..that thing I wear on my head...

So I guess I am a Naive bride, I really didn't think for two seconds about a veil. In my budget I had to allot money towards it, not seeing it as highly important I did not allot that much money. However, I realized the importance of the veil when I went dress shopping, then again when I was having my hair done and talking about possible wedding hair styles with my stylist at home ( unfortunately she is located in upstate NY so I won't be able to have her do my hair, but we were just discussing options). With the dress AND hair the type of veil I was choosing was important.

While trying on dresses they had me try on a Chapel length veil, I liked it, but not sure if it's what I want. I had thought for awhile of wearing my moms mantilla, but she still hasn't found it, and doesn't think the coloring would work with my dress. My sister-in-law has offered me her veil, but once again not sure if it would complement my dress ( since I'm still not 100% on the dress either that could be a problem:) )

However, today trying to make myself work on a holiday, while half the office is empty, I found myself dwelling on the fact that I really do want to wear a mantilla. I know it would make my abuela so happy, and I feel I would like to incorporate my families heritage into an aspect of the wedding, with that in mind I found this website---www.veilshop.com

This website appeals to me, because it has different styles/colors of mantillas and at a reasonable price, but they also have other traditional veils out there for other brides that might be interested!



^ This is a fancier mantilla, but I love the design


^ A plainer Chapel Length Mantilla ; I could dress this up with a Mantilla comb and perhaps a blusher on the front for the service!

Shop It To Me Wedding Shoe Find

My morning email from Shop It To Me brought me Charles David's "Wistful." These would be great shoes for the bride, your bridesmaids, or even the moms of the wedding party. Originally they were $215 and they have been marked down to $95.89 at Endless shoes! Over at Zappos they are still going for $180 so this is definitely a bargain. They are 3 inches tall which I think is the perfect height...enough to make you look tall but not so much that you can't walk.

Linens Part II: Designing the tables

In my previous post on linens, I mentioned Mosaic as a vendor I had researched. I've looked at many linen sites, but this one trumps the others by far. There are several useful resources at your fingertips, even if you don't order from them.

The first is this Tabletop Designer tool that allows you to play around with linen styles and colors to find a look that works with your palette and style. Here's a screen grab from my own:


The next application is the Event Center which allows you to input the dimensions of your reception venue and plan the layout of the tables, dj, sweetheart table, any food stations, etc. The cool thing, though, is that you can outline which linens go on which tables, and even upload items to your own swatchbook. So if you were using different centerpieces on different tables, you could upload a photo of the centerpiece and coordinate it with that table. Then, you can print it and send it along with whoever will be setting up your reception, and be able to enjoy getting your nails done with the perfect peace of mind that it will be exactly the way you want it. Here's a look:



ENJOY!

The New holy matrimony website is live!

Still working out some of the kinks but for the most part the new site is live. Tell your friends and have them tell their friends. Here is the link.
Leave a comment and let me know what browser you are using, Internet Explorer or Firefox.
Thank ya much!!

Hello, I'm so boring now.

I just got an email from my maid of honor "crew" (yes - I am having 4 MoHs because they all deserve and have more than earned the title!!!) asking me what I wanted to do for my bridal shower and my bachelorette party.

This is a crazy thing to me that wasn't even on my radar to begin with. Why? Because long gone are the days of clubbing and "going out" and all that crazy jazz like that for me. I'm just... not really interested? If that makes any kind of sense.

For starters, I've never even been even CLOSE to a "hostess with the mostess" type. Even in my college years, I have never ONCE hosted a party. I have participated in parties for others but I have never orchestrated any event for more than maybe one other person other than myself. Seriously! Everything I've ever put together of a social nature has been something incredibly low key and just me and the other person.

Luckily, my MoH crew is very respectful of me and my lifestyle choices and I feel confident that they will honor my requests that whatever is chosen won't be some drunken bar crawl (of sorts) where I'm forced to wear any kind of costume-like gear or carry any kind of "prop" that resembles the male genitalia.

Does this make me boring? *shrug* Well, then, so be it... I guess I am.

HOLIDAY & WEDDING GIFTS

CREATE YOUR OWN GIFTS USING MYPUBLISHER PHOTO ALBUM

I recently created a holiday gift for Mr. Military. It’s a collection of our “Best Shots” throughout our years together. The software was easy to use, quick, and relatively inexpensive. I may create a similar gift for the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen.

Include photographs of:

· Key players

· Major events of the day

Here is a sample outline of a wedding album:

· Cover Page

o couple together

· The Dress

o wedding dress on a hanger

o bride getting ready

· The Bride

· The Groom

o staged

o nervous candid shots

· Groomsmen

· Bridesmaids

o flowers

· Flowergirls

o Bride with flower girl

o Groom with flower girl

· Ring Bearer

o With ring pillow

o With couple

· The Mothers

o bride with her mother

o groom with his mother

· The Fathers

o bride with her father

o groom with his father

· Our Guests

o guests signing the guestbook

· Our Wedding Vows

o Program

· Husband and Wife

o bride and groom candid just after the ceremony

· First Dance

· The Reception

o Decorations

o Reception room

· Cutting the Cake

· Tossing the Bouquet

· Tossing the Garter

· Decorating the Car

· The Getaway

· The Beginning

o bride and groom kissing

Here are the 5 steps to creating a PhotoBook:

1- GET PHOTOS

Select the photos you want to put in your book with our easy
to use drag-and-drop software.

2-ORGANIZE

Organize your photos in the order you wish to place them in your book.

3-CREAT

Create your PhotoBook by selecting the number of photos and arrangement of photos on each page. Or, use the one-click Autobuild and let BookMaker™ do the work for you! MyPublisher offers 8 book styles and over 200 page layouts to choose from.

4-PREVIEW 5- PURCHASE

See what your PhotoBook will look like before you place your order!		Click "Purchase" and place your order. Your beautiful, custom PhotoBook usually ships in 4 days or less!

This style of album makes a wonderful gift, but is also a beautiful way to display your own wedding photos in an elegant album fit for display.

Breaking down the D.C. budget

The following break-down is from the Fall/Winter issue of Brides Washington Magazine, a Brides Magazines/Modern Bride publication. They did a random survey of vendors around the area to get a snapshot of the cost for wedding services. How accurate does everyone feel this is?

Music:

• 5 hours of live music by a 12-piece vareity ensemble: $9,000
• 5 hours of service by the most sought after dj in D.C.: $4,000
• 4 hours of basic DJ service by a wedding professional with 12 years experience: $800

Reception:

• 3 course plated dinner and premium open bar, one hour of passed hors d'oeuvres, and champagne toast at a high-end hotel across from the White House: $215 per person
• 3 course plated dinner, 4-hour open bar, cocktail hours with hors d'oeuvres, and champagne toast, at a historic ite in Annapolis: $84 per person
• 3 course plated dinner at a standard banquet hall in Hunt Valley: $45 per person+ $800 reception site fee
  

Photography:

• Premium package from photojournalist-turned-wedding photographer with 16 years of experience, including 10 hours of wedding-day coverage plus and assistant, and an album: $6,000
• Premium package from photographer with 10 years of experience, including engagement shoot, eight hours of wedding-day coverage and an album: $4,700
• Standard package by wedding photographer with 5 years experience, including 10 hours of wedding-day coverage and an album: $1,580
  

Cake:

• Fondant-covered cake with handcrafted sugar flowers, by a celeb baker featured on the Food Network, serves 120: $1,700
• Fondant-covered cake with Swiss dots from a French bakery in Georgetown, serves 140: $735
• Standard sheet cake with basket-weave design, by Maryland grocery store chain, serves 120: $250
  

Flowers:

• Hand-tied bouquet of anemones, ranunculus, roses, and galax leaves, by an up-and-coming D.C. florist: $185
• Bouquet of cymbidium orchids, roses, hypericum berries and bear gras, by a family-run flower show in Annapolis: $150
• Bouquet of roses and hypericum berries by a florist in Baltimore: $125
  

Getting the Right Fit

When I was in Atlanta last weekend I made an appointment at Intimacy, a lingerie store in Atlanta. They have branches now in New York, Chicago, and are opening one in Boston but they started in Atlanta. You may have seen them on Oprah or the Today Show, but if not, they are known for their bra fitting techniques and for helping women to find their right size.

It's true that most women are wearing the wrong size bra and I wasn't an exception to that rule. Like most women I was wearing a band size that was too large and a cup size that was too small. Most of the support you need should come from a snug band and not from your straps. Plus I was wearing the back of my band too high. It really should sit more down towards the middle of your back.

What I really liked about Intimacy was that they offer free alterations on bras. If you are a hard to find size (apparently I'm a 30in band size!) they will alter the bra (in my case from the more common 32in to the harder to find 30in). Did I mention the alterations were free? I had one bra altered and they are shipping it to me from Atlanta. Since they were shipping out of state they waived the sales tax.

I know you are thinking "there is no way I could wear a 30/32/34 band size" or "I know I'm not bigger then a B cup max." But look at the photo of the fitting they did below of a woman for Family Circle Magazine. She's a fuller figured woman and she always assumed she wore a 38DD but in reality she should have been wearing a 34FF. If she's a 34 doesn't it make you wonder what your band size really is?

Now there isn't an Intimacy shop in D.C. but on their website they recommend lingerie stores in the area that are good at fitting bras. In our area they recommend Coup de Foudre in D.C., Sylene in Bethesda, The Full Cup in Old Town Alexandria, and Trousseau in Vienna.

We got game!

Last weekend we got both sets of parents together so that we could all get to know each other a little better. It went very well and one of the things that we did together was meet with one our event planners to get the ball rolling on our rehearsal dinner.

Husband2be and I are both transplants to the DC-area. Because of this, almost our entire guest list consists of out-of-towners. To make their trips worth while, we are actual planning a whole weekend of activities starting with a rehearsal dinner at Dave & Busters.

Joe is the event planning manager and our contact at the Arundel Mills Dave & Busters. He gave us a lovely "grand tour" of the facilities and even comped us with fully LOADED game cards for us to get our skeeball and arcade fixes after we tried the food. We had a great time and are looking forward to returning with all of our wedding party and guests.

I don't know what the final cost of what we are doing is going to be but from what I gather so far, it's going to be kind of like a pre-game for a rehearsal. We are renting the largest room for a sit-down dinner and an open bar and then a private "VIP" room with three pool tables, four lanes at the bowling alley, and then loading some game cards for people to have some time in the arcade. The rental of the rooms is 1K or so with minimum food/drink limits that must be met to avoid additional surcharges. Husband2be's family will be taking care of the cost of all of this.

Definitely this is a different take than a lot of the rehearsal dinners I've gone to but I think it's going to be fun, relaxing, and perhaps even the highlight of the whole weekend for us and the guests. One of my maids of honor did her rehearsal dinner at ESPN Zone and she said it was one of the most fun things of the whole weekend.

Wedding S.O.S

So I know it's Friday night, and I'm probably showing how cool I am, but I'm staying in watching TV with my roommate and fiance. After an insanely busy week at work, and a packed weekend ( membership classes so we can become members at our church! AND fiances birthday gift of an NFL football game in Baltimore!) a night of watching TV appealed to me.

My roommate/MOH is very good about watching wedding shows, so while trying to find something on,we stumbled across Wedding S.O.S

I can promise ALL you brides out there that this TV show will make you feel better about the progress you are making. It is on at 9:00pm on Friday night on channel 122 ( FINE) on comcast cable.

The premise of the show is wedding planner Jane Dayus-Hinch ( one of Britain's top wedding planners) gives couples in dire need of help 3 wishes, to make there wedding "perfect". Now keep in mind these wishes come about a week before the wedding is set to take place, and if any other episodes are like the one I watched tonight, these are not minor issue.

In the episode I just watched they were a week away from the wedding without talking to there photographers, they didn't have a DJ, transportation for there guests, or flowers....not to mention many other "little" tasks. In the end the wedding turned out just fine, but I must say seeing how little they had done, made me feel much more on top of my planning.

So if you ever want to feel better about your planning skills, or if you want to see some ideas of how to cut the budget or fix last minute "hiccups" I recommend this show.

Belabumbum

I'm loving the lingerie over at Belabumbum. A little bit sexy, a little bit sweet, totally comfortable, and all perfect for your honeymoon.

Have Your Cake....And Keep It Too!

We all have our priorities and for some that priority is an amazingly ornate cake. The only problem is it's made and then gone in one night. At best you might have some good pictures to remind you of your masterpiece. If you'd like to preserve those memories a little longer consider contacting Richmond native Emily Taylor. Emily is an artist who specializes in porcelain replicas of wedding cakes. She takes a photo of your cake and then painstakingly recreates it in porcelain so you can always have your cake...you just can't eat it too.

All photos below are from Emily Taylor Porcelains and none are real cake! They are all porcelain replicas.

Linens: Luxury or Low Cost option?

The key element for my reception will be aubergine/eggplant table linens. I'd really like it to be the main color and focus for my overall design. Therefore, I can use more cost effective flower arrangements, versus spending tons of money on out of season dark purple flower arrangements. Instead, I can choose cheaper florals in ivory with a few purple accents to tie them in.

I started my linen search with Cloth Connection, the provider of the linens I first fell in love with in Bride&Bloom Magazine. That's when I learned the difference between lamours, satins and duponi silks. They all have a sheen, but they are of different weights and thicknesses. The linen I had seen in particular was called aubergine lamour. Once I found that out, I searched other websites for something similar. BBJ Linen offered an eggplant lamour and Mosaic carried a polyester in eggplant.

Once I had the three options, I decided to start doing some pricing. I wanted to use long rectangular tables versus rounds, but it just doesn't work in our venue and triples the cost of linens, so I inquired about 120 inch rounds. Here's the breakdown for 10 tables and 75 guests:

Cloth Connection: $32.95 each, dinner napkins $1.95 = $475.75

BBJ Linens: $28.75 each, dinner napkins are $1.80 = $422.50


Mosaic: $10 each, dinner napkins 75 cents = $156.25



Looking at this, it would seem the obvious choice would be the Eggplant Polyester from Mosaic, but it's a completely different, way less luxurious fabric. So just to get a better idea of the comparison, I ordered swatches from BBJ and Mosaic. When I got the lamour from BBJ, I immediately loved it. Then I got the poly. It's...okay. The shade of purple is the exact same (though the photos show otherwise), which is nice. But, it's not soft and heavy like the lamour and it has a grainy texture. I know it won't lay the same way on the tables as the lamour. So before I ask for your help on the decision, heres a compromise I've come up with so there are three options to choose from.

I could alternate table linens on every other round. I could use the lamour 120" cloths on 5 tables, and luxury ivory linens (provided free of charge by my venue) with a lamour runner (in eggplant) on the other 5. The total cost for this would be 291.25. It won't be as rich of a look, but it will be more luxurious.

I wouldn't be breaking it down so much, but I've already gone over budget on my venue/catering/ cake (which came as a package) by a few thousand and my photographer by a few hundred, so I've got to start cutting corners somewhere.

So what do I choose? Please help...

1. Lamour table cloths and napkins from BBJ: $422.50

2. Poly table cloths and napkins from Mosaic: $156.25

3. 5 Lamour table cloths and 5 runners, and napkins from BBJ: $291.25

Shop it To Me

So I may be the last person on earth to discover Shop It To Me, but just in case I'm not let me tell you about it! Shop It To Me sends you e-mails when there are sales on items from the stores/designers you like and that are in your size.

I've been on the look-out for nice wedding shoes at a good price so I signed up (it's free!) and let them know some of the designers I was interested in (Anne Klein, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, etc.) and what shoe size I wear (7-7.5). Now every morning I get an email with all the size 7-7.5 shoes from these designers that are on sale in various stores.

There are thousands of stores/designers to chose from...everything from Banana Republic to Valentio and you can specify if you are only looking for dresses, accessories, skirts, etc.

Is it sad that I get just a little excited every morning as I open my Shop It To Me email? It's like Christmas and you aren't sure what's inside the box!

Hair it is - Part Two

As it turns out, I will not be wearing my hair all down like I had previously considered. Why? Because the other night I was finally able to get through some of the moving mess that was standing between me and the box packed with my dress and veil and things and I tried everything on with my hair down and... well... my face looked huge with my hair down and the veil on.

I know how weird this sounds but it's true. Normally long hair that frames the face can be slimming to someone's face. Perhaps it was because my hair was flat and I needed more volume at the crown, perhaps I actually need to lose more weight than I was aiming for (and that was originally just a hope not really a plan). Whatever the case, I'm likely going to be wearing my hair all up. Luckily (!), I've found inspiration and an actual picture for my plan B - very cool since I've actually been looking for a picture for months and have been unsucessful.

One of my favorite shows on the Bravo channel was "Shear Genius" - where hair stylists competed with each other in terms of skill, speed, and just plain "genius." They did a whole episode on wedding hair and contestant named Daisy won the round. To date, even with all of the wedding magazines I've looked through, I have LOVED what she came up with:

[credits for this picture are printed down the left side of the image by theknot.com]

This is a little closer to the nape of the neck than what I want for myself but it is exactly what Daisy did but I've never been able to find a picture of. :) I might easily change my mind once I go for my hair/makeup "test" but I think I've found what I've been looking for.

New Season Bridesmaid: The Rest

Finally, here are a few other dresses from assorted designers that I liked. All photos from Brides.


^Vineyard Collection

^Amsale

^Lazaro

Jim Hjelm

New Season Bridesmaid - Alvina Valenta

Next up on my favorite's list are the designs from Alvina Valenta. I really love how she's moving away from the same ol' same ol' strapless dress.

New Season Bridesmaid - Priscilla of Boston

In addition to the new gown styles that premiered in New York at the end of October, there was also a new crop of bridesmaid dresses. In general I think you should just get your bridesmaid dresses off the rack but that doesn't mean a girl can't admire from afar. I think my favorites were from Priscilla of Boston. I love, love, love how rich the gold color looks. All photos from Brides.

Becoming Hairless - Part III

My final stop on my quest to have no hair was for a haircut at One80 salon. My stylist is Remi Metsu, one of the owners, and I think he's quite good with shorter hair like mine. I have heard good things about Jeremey Buchanan, their colorist, as well. I don't get my hair colored so I can't testify to his abilities. One new staff member that I think would be worth checking out if you are a bride is Fred Hawck. In a past life he was the wig and hair supervisor at Arena Stage so if anyone knows updos it would be him.

Finally, the first thursday of every month they have complimentary blow dry classes so you can learn how to get that fresh out of a salon look at home. How fun would this be for you and your bridesmaids?

Unique Favors...

With it getting darker out earlier, I must admit I am starting to fade away from my work earlier and earlier...today it was around 5:00 that I found myself thinking of wedding favors. I really want something unique, yet useful. I have been playing with the ideas of Spanish Fans ( to stick with our theme) but the ones I really like are to expensive, and the "generic" fans, at least for me, are not what I would like.

I do have to share with my fellow brides the following website Give Favors . These are honestly Unique, classy but Affordable favors. I haven't even finished looking at the whole site, but I have posted a couple of my favorites!




^ With all the awareness now of "going green" I think this is a cute and environmentally friendly idea, and I know not original but I love the idea of "Love Grows". I know I still have my plant from my College Graduation ( a gift from my mother) and I think knowing that our guests would have that growing in there houses is sweet, also the envelope can be personalized ( to use as escort cards or even write a thank you)!




^ I'm not having a winter wedding, but I think this bride and groom snowman are so cute!




^ On the opposite end of the spectrum I think these would be so cute for a Summer wedding!

If anything the website is fun to browse, and gives some great ideas!

Hair it is (Part one)

[I tried to post pictures with this but for whatever reason it didn't work. Click on the embedded links to see illustrations of what I'm talking about please!]

I really want to whack my hair off into a smart little chin-length bob. (I go through this every year about this time.) Normally it's not an issue and I can do it if I want to but this time around it's just nothing something that can so easily happen since keeping my hair long will give me a lot more options as to what to do with it come time for me to get all dolled up in my big dress and veil.

I have some challenges with making decisions about how I'm going to be wearing my hair:

• I am wearing two different dresses for the wedding and one (sort of) requires that I wear a headpiece that looks really terribly with anything but hair up
• One of my dresses is strapless and the other completely comes up to my neck and covers my shoulders.
  
• In the last few years I've developed kind of an odd hairline. It's like a widow's peak that's off center/crooked.
• I really don't want to wear a headpiece in the way of a tiara or crown. The only thing other than the required headpiece for the second outfit that I will be wearing on my head is my pouffy veil.

I've actually looked at quite a few wedding magazines in hopes to find some inspiration but even in magazines chock full of hair ideas, I've found nothing. Mostly I keep going back to some ideas that I've seen of celebrity weddings online. My favorite that I've seen so far is actually what Avril Lavigne did for her wedding last year.

There's nothing too fancy that she did and she is wearing a strapless dress too so perhaps it could work for me as well? No matter her "punk" past, I think she cleaned up beautifully and I really like how she chose to do her hair.

And then there are others like Carmen Electra and Jessica Simpson - nevermind the fact that both ended up getting divorced, I still think they looked pretty.

I'm still not sold on any one particular style but I definitely like these so far. This, of course, could change once I try on my dress/veil again and realize how much better I might look with my hair all up instead.

To be continued...

Becoming Hairless Part II

Next on my list was getting rid of unwanted eyebrow and facial hair. The place I go for this is called Threads (no website) . I've been getting my eyebrows threaded for almost a decade thanks to some of my South Asian friends from college. If you don't know what threading is you can read up on it here.

People debate whether or not threading is less painful then waxing (for me it is) but who cares? It's a LOT more accurate and precise then waxing and unlike waxing it doesn't rip off the top layer of skin. I have extremely sensitive skin and having red wax burns from facial waxing is not my idea of fun. Since threading doesn't rip off the top layer of skin like waxing it is safe even if you are using anti-acne medicines like Retin-A.

This "new" trend is becoming very popular in the U.S. even though people in South Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe have been doing it thousands of years. You can go to a fancy salon to get it done but I prefer Threads. It's just two South Asian women in a little room and the only thing they do there is threading. Don't go expecting to get pampered...just walk in, take a seat if there is a line or go to the first open woman if there isn't. Tell em what hair on your face you want removed and they'll do it quickly. If it's your first time let them know and they will walk you through it. It's a pretty popular place but you don't need an appointment. Every time I go it's like a mini-U.N. of people....African American, East Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and white girls all lined up.

Threads is located at 1424 L St NW (between N 15th St & N Vermont Ave)Washington, DC 20005, (202) 737-7710. It's near the McPherson Sq. metro stop. It's between a Booeymonger and a pub. Look for the door with the Fortune Teller and push number 4 on the buzzer to be buzzed up to Threads. It's on the second floor. They have a location near U St. as well but I haven't been there.

The only down side...if you live some place like Chicago, NY, or Atlanta you can get your eyebrows threaded for about $5 because there is so much competition. There isn't a lot of competition in D.C. so the cost is $15. If you are looking for a more pampering experience I also recommend Nusta Spa...but eyebrow threading will set you back $25.

Transportation...

Transportation...it seems so easy, so simple, yet in reality it is much more difficult! As I posted in an earlier post, Fiance and I have our car, a vintage Rolls Royce. Now its trying to figure out everyone else's transportation.

We are getting married at a church in Georgetown, this causes some logistics as it is, as I'm sure most of you know it is nearly impossible to find a parking space in Georgetown on a Saturday. We have been told by the church we can have the police block off SOME of the street, but in all actuality this will probably only be enough room for the Limo ( for the bridal party) and the vintage car.

With this in mind Fiance and I are trying to figure out what we need for transportation. Most likely we will be getting a Van of some sorts ( also looking into a trolley) to transport guests from the hotel to the church ( I will post more on our finds later). Then we are left with busing them after the reception..back to the hotel? on a brief tour of the city? There is a two hour gap between the end of the ceremony and the cocktail hour...what are some of the other brides doing? do you have a gap? if so what are you having your guests do in that time? One of the hotels we are thinking of getting a block of rooms at is in walking distance to the reception site, so that would solve some logistics.

Then for transportation of the parents/grandparents we were thinking of renting them a town car, since its hard for the grandparents to walk and as a special thank you to our families, but we aren't sure of this yet either.

Then our get-away mobile. The cost of holding on to the vintage car for the 5 hours of the reception is a tad ridiculous, so we are thinking of everything from a horse and carriage to a good ol' fashion taxi...I would love to hear what other DC brides have done!

Becoming Hairless - Part I

Before I went to Atlanta this last weekend for my friend's wedding I had a lot of grooming to take care of. First on the list was getting rid of my winter coat on my legs and bikini area. I've been getting leg waxes and Brazilian bikini waxes for years now and I've done it everywhere from the Four Seasons to the backroom of a South American hair salon. I've also had waxing so well done I hardly felt a thing to waxing so poorly done that I've bled, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert in the area.

I had heard good things about Ibiza Day Spa near the Foggy Bottom metro stop so I decided to check it out. The reason I had heard good things was because of the great prices. Brazilian Bikini waxes are only $45...this is at least $20 less then you will find any place else in the area. Full leg is only $60. Plus first time customers get 10% off with this print-0ut.

Overall I give the experience a thumbs up. I was in and out in about 30 mins which was excellent and could be done during your lunch hour. The pain factor was about average...I've had better and I've had much much worse. If you are looking for a relaxing/soothing spa experience with nature music and dim lighting you should probably pay more to go to a fancier spa but if you're looking to just get down to business and be on your way then this is an excellent choice.

Anita is their hair removal expert...she's very nice and easy to talk to and has led a very interesting life. At these prices I'll definitely be returning...now I'm just worried that so many people catch on to this great place that they will raise their prices! Also don't forget to check out their packages - a half hour facial, half hour massage, manicure and pedicure for $135?? Yes Please!

Little Black Book Goes Live

Ok, right now before you even finish reading this post you MUST head over to Style Me Pretty.
Abby has finally after many months of teasing and anticipation released the Little Black Book of Vendors. It's an uber discerning list of the country's top wedding vendors, not based on how much money they are spending on flashy ads and such, but based on real blog reading brides who have provided much of the content we ooh and aah over right here at DC Nearlyweds. Nabbing a slot is tough! You brides don't give a thumbs up to just anybody and to top it off only three vendors per category make the cut. After perusing the Book, you must then subscribe to Abby's blog Style Me Pretty, if you haven't done so already. There isn't a better inspiration source in blogdom for beautiful weddings.
Oh and before I forget to self toot, holy matrimony, our planning company, has made to cut and are in the black book--Woo Hoo!! We're Rock Stars!!!

New TV Show Anyone Interested?

Came across this, thought someone might be interested. I don't have any further details, unfortunately. If someone applies and gets a response, perhaps they can share.


Are you a fabulous bride-to-be planning an extravagant wedding for 2008? Is your wedding going to be the social event of the year? Are you and your bridesmaids completely wrapped up in the excitement of planning your big day? Do you want the world to see you get sent off in style?

If so, a major cable network is looking for the country’s most fabulous brides-to-be and their bridal parties to be the subject of a new reality show. BRIDAL PARTY documents the excitement of planning the most luxurious, glamorous, stylish and exclusive weddings in 2008.

Following every major event in the months leading up to the big day, BRIDAL PARTY is a show about friendship, rites of passage, love, family, shopping and one long, lavish farewell party as a group of girlfriends do everything they can to send their bride off in high-style.

To be considered, tell us a little about yourself. Please include:
Your name
Contact info
Wedding date and location
Photos
Personal background information about the bride and the bridal party
Tell us why you and your bridesmaids should be the subject of this reality show

If you are cast you in the show, we’ll provide:
A stipend during the time of production
Access to trade out opportunities for wedding related products
A wedding tape to end all wedding tapes

Send information to: [email protected]

Favor Boxes

The reason I was over at Paper Orchid Stationery to begin with was because I saw the below white favor box in the most recent edition of Modern Bride. I'm still a little undecided on whether or not to do favors, but I was thinking of doing the boxes with green wrapped Lindt Lindor truffles which are in my colors so the green would show through the white lattice work. Plus people could have a favor they could eat. The boxes are $70 for 50 which isn't too pricey. They have a few other styles, as well as some really colorful flower favor boxes that I think would look really fun and whimsical all lined up. Those are half off...only $30 for 50.

Monogram

What is a monogram? This is the question that was plaguing me while I was home in NY this weekend. My mother and I were reading bridal magazines ( our newest form of literature) the fiance and father in law were watching football, and my mom and I got into discussion of a Monogram. Now don't get me wrong, we know what a monogram is, we just couldn't figure out how Mr. Alexandria and I could figure out our personal monogram. After drawing some monograms on paper ( not going to lie they were pretty awful)
Mama Alexandria and I went downstairs to our favorite friend, Mr Google, and we found an amazing tool Love Letters Logos. I'm not sure if y'all have heard of this , but it was a great tool if you aren't quite sure what you want to do for your monogram or how you want to arrange your names, it designs custom wedding logos. Here are a few of my favorites :

Shapewear

While reading New York Daily News this morning, I came across this article called "Lose 2 inches in 2 hours," so of course, like any woman with the thought of her wedding day on the horizon, I read as fast as I could.

The answer? Dr. Rey, the slightly odd ninja/plastic surgeon on Dr. 90210 has done us ladies who are less than excited about lipo a big favor. It's called Shapewear, a line he developed to help women keep the illusion of a fabulous bod, using a sexy, economical undergarment. At first I didn't think anything could trump Spanx, but this dress is SOLD OUT on Home Shopping Network's website, which means there are lots of ladies after this little miracle. Here's what he has to say about it:

"The support panels are sewn exactly as I would do in the operating room, so there's a similar result as to what we achieve in surgery. It's like having a tummy tuck, a butt lift, a breast lift and lipo, all without the surgery."

I reveal to you...the Shapewear XTreme Plunge Dress!


It's even sexy enough that if I was to wear it under my wedding gown and Mr. Shirlington happened to see me in transition between this and my wedding night lingerie, he would definitely NOT be disappointed.

Here's an excerpt from the always entertaining NYDN on how it works.

"The plunge dress itself looks like a sexy little black minidress, except for being extra mini! It could be meant for a toddler. The neckline plunges right below the bra line, allowing for an ample amount of cleavage to poke through, and the bottom has a silicone hem to keep it in place on your upper thighs.

Did we mention it is really mini? To squeeze into this sausage casing, it's best to sit down and plunge both legs through the opening in one swift motion, then hop up and pull the top up with great force as the spandex grabs, hugs and then immediately sucks your lumpy bits (already bloated from a breakfast of sausage, egg and cheese) right into place.

For all the work it takes to get it on, once on your body the plunge dress (left) doesn't feel aggressively constricting. Its tug and pull is about as offensive as a pair of control top pantyhose, but it certainly does flatten the stomach and lift the boobs into place."

Cupcake Wrappers

Cupcake trees in lieu of a cake have been a trend for a while but if you're looking for a way to make your cupcakes a little bit more elegant or a little bit more fun try these cupcake wrappers from Paper Orchid Stationery. At $46 for 50 they are one of those little extras that won't break the bank. They come in all types of themes...some suitable for weddings, some for a beach themed wedding, some for a winter wedding, and they also have some for baby showers, graduation, kid's birthdays, the holidays, you name it.

Wedding Hilarity

This comes directly from The Wedding Planner' Blog. I can take no credit, but it made me laugh!!
I’m a HUGE fan of Bill Maher’s Real Time. I especially love the segment at the end of his show where he does his “New Rules“, a very blunt, albeit hilarious take on random news items. I sat listening to it on my iPod on the way to the airport, and thought– “I should so do a version of ‘New Rules’” for the blog. So each Friday will be “New Rule” Friday.

New Rule: Stop thinking you can invite 300 of your closest family and friends to your wedding on a $10,000 budget. The only place that will fit your budget is the McDonald’s playroom, catered by the redheaded clown himself.

New Rule: Your bridesmaids love you, but had no intention on becoming indentured servants. They really don’t want to do all 248 tasks on your to do list, no matter what the bridal magazines tell you.

New Rule: Stop lying to yourself saying you’re going to lose weight in order to fit into that dress. Wedding planning is stressful. When we get stressed, we eat. Or shop. You’re an 18. The dress is a 6. Don’t starve yourself until you look like a kid from one of the Christian Children’s Relief Fund commercials. the only way you’re going to get into that dress is if you wear it as a garter. Be proud of your curves! Get a dress that fits.

New Rule: Fondant is only good to people with burned off tastebuds. With all the different types of icings and buttercreams (Royal, French, American, Italian, Swiss, etc.), why wrap your cake in Play-Do?

New Rule: Stop telling people you’re having a destination wedding. Your wedding is in the next county. Taking the VFW and throwing on some Jimmy Buffet and putting rented palm trees in the corners is not a destination wedding.

New Rule: She’s not a flower girl if she’s 12. Your little cousin Susie may have been cute when she was 5. But that was like seven years ago. She’s a junior bridesmaid. Plain and simple. If she has a learner’s permit, she’s too old to carry a basket and drop petals.

New Rule: Balloon arches are for proms and car sales, NOT WEDDINGS. How do you equate elegance with expanded helium filled plastic?

Baltimore Sample Sale for the Cure

Bridals by Elena bridal boutique in Severna Park is having a gown (bridal, special occasion, bridesmaids, prom) sample sale on Thanksgiving weekend (Nov 23-25). Designer gowns will be 50% to 70% off with 10% of the proceeds donated to the Susan G. Komen for the CURE. Call 410.975.0076 to schedule your appointment.

Bridal sample gowns for sale from the following designers.

· Legends by Romona Keveza

· Yolanda Couture

· Demetrios

· La Sposa

· San Patrick

· Sposa by St Pucchi

· Anjolique

· Mary's

· Maggie Sottero

· Watters & Watters

· Winnie Couture

· Mon Cheri

· Sabrina Toy

· Sonia Cholette

· Impression

· and more….

For more information about us (e.g. hours, location, etc…) please visit their website at www.bridalsbyelena.com

My First Big Worry

Since it's officially one year from our wedding day this month, I've finally delved further into my "Bride's Year Ahead: Ultimate month-by-month planner" than the supplement book with clear, tabbed envelopes where I've housed my inspirational clippings. I labeled each one with reception; flowers; paper; fashion; misc. and receipts. I'd be lying if I didn't say that this has been, by far, the handiest resource, especially while trying to convey my overall design ideas to vendors.

But, on to the actual book. As I started to read through it, I began to ...feel the pressure. Month 11 is when I should be looking for an officiant and a band/dj. I'm going to break this down into two parts:

Officiant-

I come from a devout Catholic family. Mr. Shirlington comes from a non-denominational, deeply religious family. Therefore, we'll be having two ceremonies. It took us months to even come to a decision on that.

The problem is, we just moved to this area and haven't even found a church to which we would like to belong. On top of that, I work Sunday to Thursday, which means we have to go on Saturdays. Ideally, we would find one, become members and get married there. Mr. Shirlington is fine with attending Catholic church.

Our reception venue, which I still haven't revealed yet, has a beautiful outdoor area which we initially thought we wanted to use. However, the back-up indoor ceremony plan is fine, it's just not that walk down the aisle I have always imagined. I am so SO worried that the weather will be bad on our big day that I would rather just get married in a church, even if it's inconvenient for my guests and more expensive, because it's what I would prefer to begin with.

That leads us to our second ceremony. Mr. Shirlington's father is a man of deep Christian faith and has just begun the process of becoming ordained. Mr. Shirlington and I plan to ask him to officiate a second non-denominational ceremony in our venue's amazing outdoor area. If it rains, that's fine, we had a beautiful church ceremony and are okay with the second one being less formal and taking place in the cocktail room of our reception venue.

So the problem: The Bride's One Year Ahead says it's time too book my officiant. And I'm literally freaking out because I feel like I have to make a decision NOW for an officiant AND the church I will join. And so it is. Everyone else 11 months out from my date is starting to book, so that means I might not even have a chance at getting the person/church that suits us best at this point! My first freak-out has begun.

More on the DJ to come....

BRIDEZILLA EATS CHILDREN

If you have decided to leave the little monsters off the invitation… Congrats, on making a stand that will not be accepted by many!

Mr. Military and I planned a very formal wedding and decided to EXCLUDE children under the age of sixteen. The decision earned me the golden title of "Brideszilla." If being shunned by half the family was not bad enough, it’s been suggested that “we” (the bride and groom) should pay the cost of childcare service for our guests.

So I ask, is this customary??? Should we “the couple” take responsibility for providing childcare?

I don’t have children … and therefore, I never took into consideration childcare while planning the wedding. As the hostess, I’m busy planning the menu, table decorations, floral arrangements, catering menus, accommodations, and transportation…. I never anticipated adding, “finding a babysitter” to the checklist.

Honestly, It’s way too much responsibility to be held accountable for the well-being of someone else’s child. I’m the bride, it’s my wedding – I have enough to worry about without taking into account babysitters, special kids meals and/or anything else that deals with children.

So I turned to Mr. Military and asked for his thoughts on the subject. He said, “I don’t know any babysitters, I’m certainly not paying for one… Are they crazy?!?!? I think we need to remind them…. THEY’RE NOT OUR KIDS… and NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY!"
(I know it sounds harsh, but he has a point)

Contrary to popular belief, we have hearts.... We love our nieces, nephews, godchildren and little-friends. We've changed diapers, wiped noses, gone to disneyworld, the aquarium, the children's museum, spoiled them on their birthdays and purchased them the biggest gift under the tree. We love them and they are a huge part of our lives. However, our wedding is a VERY FORMAL AFFAIR -inappropriate for children.

As a courtesy to our guests with young children, we've compiled a list of local sitters with the help of the hotel's Concierge. The information will be included with the response card. The card reads, “ADULT RECEPTION” … followed by: “As a courtesy to our guests with young children, we have assembled a list of local sitters. Please contact Lily for more information…. 1-800-BABYSIT.”

Originally we planned to make an exception for the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl (Afterall, we did request their presence at the wedding). However, we quickly faced a "rippling effect” ---- siblings, cousins, and newborns --- All parents feel entitled to an exception. It seems there is always someone you should make an exception for, and that leads to someone else, and before you know it…. A Moonbounce has replaced the Ice Sculpture…. Trust me, it’s just too hard to keep things equitable! For this reason, No Kids, No Exceptions! As for the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl…. At our expense, we’ve made arrangements for a babysitter (of the parent’s choice) to pick the children up from the Chapel and take them out for pizza.

Although it’s our day and we don’t feel a need to justify our decision… For all the parents, who demand an explanation…

• Aside from the cost $125/plate,
• The hall only accommodates 150 guests…. And we’d rather be socializing with a person our age.
• I would not bring children to a bar (and hope that parents would not either.) So, why would we invite them to a reception with an open bar from 6pm –midnight
• Adults should be able to see aunt Sarah fall off her chair without having to explain it to little Johnny
• It is an evening affair (ending at midnight) we don’t want guests to leave early…. “Emily’s tired, we’re going to take off and put her to bed”
• Children get bored at these events
• I’m sending invitations out to celebrate my day… I want the focus to be on us…. –the married couple-
• A wedding is the perfect excuse to pawn the kids off on Grandma, splurge on a sitter, and enjoy a kid-free night, of drinking, dancing and socializing.
• And to earn my title as Bridezilla… I REALLY DO NOT WANT ….
• Nursing
• Screaming
• Running Children
• Spilling drinks
• Blowing out candles
• Throwing food and favors
• Eating food from their neighbor’s plate
• Throwing temper tantrums
• Bumping chairs and tables
• Knocking over fragile and expensive decorations

Quite frankly, we don’t want kids at the reception. It is our special day, our dream, our decision ---- guests should respect it!

Irish Wedding

During a recent trip to Ireland, I had the absolute joy of seeing the most extravagant wedding in Killarney, a small but bustling town just outside the National Park of Ireland. This wedding was more vibrant than any other wedding I've ever seen, though I haven't been to many, or even one outside of the American culture.

So I was walking along and came upon this beautiful church. Notice that there are no wedding guests anywhere in sight. So as I get closer, the church bells begin to ring followed by a rumble of voices. I rounded the corner to find the end of an amazing wedding and all the guests gathering outside for photos and to congratulate the bride and groom. Having just gotten engaged, I began snapping photos when I realized this was no ordinary wedding. The bridesmaids were all in different colored dresses in different, crazy styles. They were decked out it feathers and sparkles.

And then there was the bride. She embodied the phrase "Go big, or go home." She had big hair, a big dress, a big necklace, a big crown AND big flowers. There was also a RAINBOW! So. Jealous.

Though this is nothing close to the vision I have for my own day, it was interesting none the less!

When You're the Guest - Part II

This weekend I'm headed to Atlanta for my old college roommate's wedding. I think I'm more excited about this wedding then I am about any that I'm going to this year (cept mine of course). She is one of my most unique and creative friends, is always ahead of clothing trends, and wherever she lives it's always decorated well. She's also a vegetarian and does what she can to save the world from itself so I expect the wedding to be a visual feast and eco-conscious.

Unlike the outfit I wore to the last wedding I went to, I felt the outfit for this wedding needed to be more on the modern side of things. The ceremony and reception are going to take place in the evening in a very modern venue...a gallery that is mainly brick, concrete and steel. I chose the below Banana Republic dress (sold out now) except I'll be wearing a sheer black tank beneath it because it goes down too low on me for me to be comfortable. I chose the below grey shoes from Seychelles to go with it. Normally, I don't really like chunky heels at all but I thought this shoe was a good "winter" dress shoe and it actually looks much more dainty on my foot then I thought it would.

The only problem I have now is I'm not sure what jewelry would look best with this. I don't like what the model below is wearing and none of my stuff really looks right. I'm going to spend Saturday morning in Atlanta looking around for something that works. I'm open to suggestions!

Holiday Engagements

If you're reading this blog chances are you are already engaged, but maybe you have some girlfriends who are expecting proposals or a guyfriend thinking about popping the question this holiday season. I saw these over at Red Envelope and thought they'd be perfect for a Christmas time proposal. Perfect size for an engagement ring and an ornament you can put on your Christmas tree for the rest of your married life.

Simply Vera...

I Love Vera Wang...ever since I was a young girl, I wanted a Vera Wang wedding dress. The look, the styles, I just LOVED them. I remember asking my father when I was about 20 if he would buy me a Vera Wang wedding dress, he said "sure sweetie" having NO idea what he was committing too.

Upon getting engaged, I have kept the idea of Vera in my head, but I knew I wasn't going to look just for Vera. I ended up finding a dress I loved (as I posted about earlier) and I plan to go dress shopping this weekend while home in NY, but the thought of Vera has still been there.

Then Yesterday while checking the Vera Wang website ( a girl can look right? :) I got the news I had been hoping for They Announced the semi-annual BRIDAL SAMPLE SALE!

I called my mother up instantly and we already have our hotel room booked :) I feel its a rite of passage of sorts...and I am so excited!

The sample sale is Saturday, December 15th 2007 from 8-5pm and the New Yorker Hotel in NYC. DC is not that far from NYC ( about a 4 hour train ride, 5 hour drive...there are buses that leave every day from Chinatown, Roslyn and Bethesda. Vamoose Bus is one I recommend, it leaves from Roslyn and Bethesda, you can purchase tickets ahead of time and its only $25 each way!

This is close enough to Christmas time, you can make a weekend of it, do some Christmas shopping, see the city, and Perhaps find your dream Vera Wang dress up to 75% off!