hallowedding

we be married!

2008-11-04T11:13:00.005-06:00

HEY GUYS, GUESS WHAT?

I'm married. Pretty cool, huh?

The wedding was amazing. Greg and I both agree that there wasn't a single thing we would've changed. The weather was perfect, the vendors all went above and beyond, our families totally rocked it on the helpful front. I do have time for some recaps today but I think it would be a better idea if I tried to clean up my house a little bit. Do something other than sit around with the hubs and eat leftover cake.

But here's a little taste of the awesome:
(pic from Mike Harries. You're excited now, aren't you?)

Oh, and go vote. I don't care if it's for Obama or McCain...okay, no, obviously I care. I would like if you would vote for Obama. But if everyone I know goes out and votes and McCain still wins, then I will respect that decision. Just make a decision. It's important, okay?

2008-10-31T07:30:00.001-05:00

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED TODAY!

oh, so THIS is that excitement everyone is talking about. i kinda like it!

see ya on the flip side!

MUST DO: wedding week edition

2008-10-26T08:23:00.002-05:00

My mom came into town yesterday, bringing with her several huge boxes of pumpkins, my dress, and a new shot of wedding adrenaline. Missy the wonder cousin comes in today, and she is confident that, without her four sons and her husband around, she can achieve pretty much anything. Greg has stayed up until three or four a.m. the last few nights cleaning our house and making it ready for guests, and I've been trying trying trying to finish as many projects as I can. Posts will be light, or non-existent, but I will try to check in at some point before I get hitched.

MUST DO:
-finish my veil
-make a ring pillow
-gut and carve pumpkins
-buy mums
-call the people about our rehearsal dinner food
-make a cd for our dj
-make programs
-print pictures of ourselves for the "guest book" table
-finish the shit for the "guest book" table
-figure out ceremony decorations (nope, haven't done this yet. i am a wedding rockstar)
-make the memory charm for my bouquet
-decide what's holding what for the candy buffet
-make reservations for our wedding night and our tiny honeymoon (still haven't done that either! hahahah)
-make a wedding package to send to greg's grandmas who won't be able to make it to the wedding
-make sticks for the masks

WOULD LIKE TO DO
-make costume ribbons
-cover the chalk for the guest book table with felt or something so people don't get chalky fingers
-finish the thank you gift I'm making
-find some sort of token of appreciation for the parents
-sleep

flowers: ACHIEVED! and GORGEOUS!

2008-10-22T21:29:00.007-05:00

You know what cheers up your day and stops pre-wedding freakouts in their tracks? Getting a big ol' box full of beautiful flowers in the mail!
These were done by my amazing, new favorite cousin Missy. Missy is a super person. She did the flowers for both her sisters' weddings, and when my mom suggested that maybe she could do it for ours too, man, was I ever sold. Oh, and she's also flying in on Sunday to help me with all the last minute wedding barf I'm gonna have to do. Bonus: she and my mom are like besties. So we'll have a lot of fun together.
I sent her a big box a few months ago with my mock up bouquet in it, some inspiration sheets, and some extra ribbon. If you don't remember what my bouquet used to look like, here's a reminder:
And here it is, fleshed out (sorry about the shitty lighting...it's been a rainy ugly mess around here the last few days)
She added more feathers and put in some of those spikey dijon-colored flowers to tie it in with the bridesmaids bouquets, the bouquets which make me cry sometimes because I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH
During the same trip where I made my bouquet, we found these...weird...floral sticks at Hobby Lobby, and we thought they'd make pretty arm bouquets for the girls. Here's the inspiration picture:
(pretty, but doesn't go with our color scheme)
And here are all my attempts to properly capture their lovliness, having no one at home to help me:
I suppose if you look in the top picture it gives an okay idea about what they look like whole. My photography skills were just not working their magic yesterday.
The boys bouts were a little more difficult, since I didn't really have any inspiration. I sent her this inspiration page (I made one of these for all the flowers, but this one needed the most explanation since there was no explanation)
Basically, I like bouts with a non-flower element somewhere on them. I thought since I had feathers in my bouquet, they could tie into the bouts somewhere too, or maybe sticks, because of the girls. I was very vague and non-committal to my bout vision, thank god Missy is talented or who KNOWS what we could've ended up with.
Bout box.
The standard bout. Simple flower with twirly stick thingy and a few feathers. When Missy comes she wants to wrap the stems in ribbon to make them a little more cohesive.
Here is Greg's bout. It is fancier since he is the most important. It's about the same as the others, it just has two flowers and another kind of feather.

The corsages are still up in the air, since Missy wanted to actually see my mom's dress first, so we'll be making those next week. After my totally upsetting day yesterday, this box totally picked me up.

UPDATE: also, this appears to be the talent family...my mom just called and another one of my cousins, Luke, and his (now wife!*) Paige used to freelance as reception decorators down in Texas. Sooooo we are exploiting that tie as well.

*they eloped to Vegas, the sneaky butts. Or, more likely, the genius butts.

my day, shitshitshit edition

2008-10-22T21:26:00.002-05:00

So first, a quick update: We actually have everyone BOOKED. That is so, so comforting. Last minute, true, but oh so comforting.
But that's not what this post is about.
If you don't like my "shitshitshitshit" posts, just skip this one. It's mostly just me freaking out.

Today we went to drop off our rather large security deposit at our reception venue and work out the final details. We actually sat down to meet with the lady in the ballroom where we'll be having the reception, allowing me a few glances to re-establish myself with the space--I haven't been there since Jen and John's wedding like three years ago (Greg did all the venue booking, because he's a CATCH). After all the usual questions and such, she informed us that next weekend was going to be a busy one at the Scoular...there were events Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday.
Usually when vendors tell me about other people's events I listen with friendly interest, but this did not make me happy.
Mainly because having an event on Thursday means we can't decorate early.
It was so perfect, when we thought we could decorate on Thursday. We could take our time, fix anything that didn't look quite as we had envisioned. Most importantly, I wouldn't have to fucking deal with it on my wedding day. I could maybe sleep in (if my body allowed such a thing...it rarely does) take my time on my hair and makeup. Now we have to not only set ours up on Friday, but deal with them cleaning up the mess of the night before. She said the earliest we could come in is at 930, but if we came in at 1130 they could guarantee that everything would be ready.
Welllll, 930 means getting up early, but 11 means a vein pops in my head if anything, anything goes wrong. SO 930 it is then. Rock and roll.
This was coupled with a string of RSVP issues (I said no more RSVPs, but I'm letting many slip in because they're people who really ought to be there. The ones that make my eye twitch are either the people we don't know super well, or the people who, one week before the wedding, all of the sudden want to bring two friends, or a family of five that might stop by. Twitch. Twitchtwitchtwitch.)
So I was...stressed.
I was also expecting a package today from my cousin, who did our flowers. Two other packages came (some masks and a BIG HUGE PRESENT, HOORAY) and then the mailman range my doorbell.
We'd already gotten our regular mail so I was sure these were the flowers. But when I opened the door, it was just a man. A concerned looking man.
"We have some packages for you, but one of them looks as though it might have been damaged. You might want to check it out, see if anything inside is broken. If it is, just bring it back to the post office and we'll have you fill out the forms to be compensated."
And then he goes to the truck and he brings me two boxes...and "looks as though" and "might have been damaged" were UNDERSTATEMENTS. One of the boxes looks like it's been attacked by dogs, and one with the top completely collapsed until it looks like it was bent in half. I look at the shipping label and sure enough, these are my flowers. I think my heart actually stopped.
This was my day. HOWEVER, next I will tell you about how I opened the boxes, and everything was fine, and the flowers are beautiful. And how that fixes everything in the world.
Or, um, I can tell you that right now, and then just post pictures of my flowers. That works too.

photographers: achieved!

2008-10-15T20:23:00.010-05:00

or, alternately: FINALLY, JESUS.

So...you've probably been wondering about photographers. After all, the photog is very very high on the list of things you acquire in wedding planning. I'm pretty sure the order is such:
1. find a fiance
2. find a venue
3. find a photographer.

After all, the pictures are all you really have to show all the hard work you have done after the day is over. And good photographers are in high demand, so you gotta get this shit nailed down.
So we should've had these guys booked last December or so.
Am I just that lazy that I haven't mentioned our photographer before now?
Wish I could say that was the case.
Cover poor Martha's ears, because her poor brain might explode:
We signed a contract with our photographers.
TODAY.
Yes, sixteen days before the wedding.

This wedding brought to you by procrastination.

We decided to go with these guys a long time ago--like, in June--but through a lot of procrastination and misunderstandings we didn't have an actual contract. We were considering two other candidates, who I would also like to mention because they are both spectacular, and even if they didn't work for us, they could work for someone else.
Becky Novacek is currently getting some internet press for her pics of the somewhat famous wedding (by wedding blog standards) of Princess Lasertron.
Aren't they gorgeous?

I love love love her pictures. I think one of the only reasons we ruled her out was because she doesn't have a partner, and it was kinda important to us to have a team. Teams allow for multiple shoots and multiple angles.

Amelia Peterson was in one of my classes last semester, and she actually contacted us about our wedding. She works with her friend C.Lynne. They either work as double photographers or sometimes Amelia works as a videographer (check out the videos, very cute).

(They capture the most amazing pictures of children--a big draw since there will be many many little ones at this shindig)

Really, Amelia's team was very close to being our photographers. Their prices are incredibly reasonable and they seem to have a lot of fun with their pictures. Also, I like Amelia. She's sweet.

But once we really looked at the pictures in the Justin Limoges portfolios...it was too late. My heart was gone.
These are all pictures from Vince and Sarah, our friends who got married in February.
Before.After.

One of the most amazing getting ready pictures I've ever seen. And this one actually took my breath away:It really captures the anticipation of the moment.

Perhaps I'm biased but this one is ADORABLE:
And this one is just extra funny if you know Vince and Sarah.

Fish eye!
This, this right here, this is why it was essential that we have two photographers:
How amazing is that?
Justin and his partner Luke really have a lot of fun with weddings, and our meeting today really got me excited. In the short half hour we met we discussed pictures, bush men, and the possibility of one of them wearing my dress and riding a bicycle. You know, the usual.
I love them, I love their pictures. I can not WAIT for them to shoot our wedding.

too late now

2008-10-10T12:22:00.006-05:00

Princess Lasertron posted some Halloween etsy picks and thus introduced me to artisanmaskers.

Dammit. Where were these last month when I was researching for our masks? I LOVE THESE. Maybe I will have to remake mine to look a little more like these...maybe. I'll post some of our mask making adventures um...when I have time. I'm gonna go work on a cake stand now. Later!

cake, part two: cupcakes achieved....?

2008-10-10T11:04:00.008-05:00

Originally, the plan of attack for our cupcakes was the downtown coffee house called Aromas. They have delicious cake, they're close to our venue, and we went to a wedding in February that had their cupcakes and they were awesome. And huuuuuuge. One Aromas' cupcake can easily feed two people, which gives the added advantage of not ordering as many cupcakes. They were also the cheapest option, tied with Cupcake Island, who also has delicious cupcakes but isn't as close to our venue and their cupcakes aren't quite as big.
So let's go with Aroma's. Cupcakes achieved. Or so we thought.
Well, no, actually. It turns out that Aroma's (the coffee house) wants to sell Aroma's (the bakery). And if you buy a bakery, the last thing you'd want to do is have to fulfill some silly order that they made before they belonged to you. So all the talks we had had with these people regarding pricing and delivery and flavors...gone. They can't do our cupcakes. And this blow came...last week.
Needless to say I was FREAKING OUT. We had chosen this bakery because they were the cheapest, best option. Was I going to have to drop half a g on shitty cupcakes? Would anyone still be available for our date? I went back to Hastings last weekend and I spent a lot of time with my mom trying to work out if we could conceivably make our own cupcakes. We could, but it would give me an ulcer or two. Probably some panic attacks, too. So what to do?

Well, you get in a boat, and you point that boat towards Cupcake Island.
This is Ed and his business partner Shirley (Edit: Not his wife. Thanks Mike!). These are their cupcakes. They own Cupcake Island, quite possibly the cutest cupcake shop ever. They saved our asses. They are my new favorites.
We went to Cupcake Island last night. They arranged a meeting for us even though they would've usually been closed at that time. We also had cake samples. We banged out a contract right then and there, no backing out, no "maybe's." Their cake really is superior to Aroma's, the cupcakes are just a little smaller, so we ordered more than we were originally planning.
We also ended up ordering an actual cake. We had been considering a small cake to display our rad cake toppers from Paul Pape Designs (BTW Paul: I will email you dress pictures tonight...probably) and also because I like the idea of cutting an actual cake. This cake probably won't be sliced up at the reception unless it looks like they're still ravenous after dinner, candy and cake. It'll be something along the lines of this:
Only without the bands of frosting. Just like a mini wedding cake. To showcase the topper.
The conversation was interesting, because he asked what we wanted on the cake and I said, frosting. He asked if we wanted ribbons, or flowers, or frosting flowers. I said no, cake should just be cake. With frosting. No fondant, ever. He convinced me to put a little extra frosting froo on it. Some ivory bands or something, I don't remember. But as I said in my last cake post, I think just frosting is pretty. No froo, please. Just delicious, delicious cake.

We'll be having vanilla, chocolate, and pumpkin spice cupcakes. The wedding cake will be red velvet. We went over all the flavor options (so many! all sounding wicked good) and Greg mentioned that he liked their mocha flavored cupcakes. I thought they sounded good, but I didn't know if they'd have the wide appeal (especially to the little kids) and also...um..chocolate was cheaper. The chocolate was also one of the samples he gave us, and it was delicious. So chocolate it was.
As we were walking out, though, Ed said "Oh, you guys said you liked our mocha cupcakes?"
And we said "Yeah, they're awesome, just not for our wedding, I guess"
And then he went to the fridge. I thought, awesome! Free cupcake!
But he didn't give us a free cupcake. He gave us A DOZEN FREE CUPCAKES. Mocha ones. With cream cheese frosting. And chocolate chips.
I ate four. Then I sent them to Greg's work so I would be able to fit into my dress.

Did I mention Ed is my favorite?

New Wedding Order

2008-10-10T10:30:00.002-05:00

Here are the facts.

We are getting married THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY.

We only just yesterday finalized our catering. Our original cake bakery backed out, but we got a new one...YESTERDAY. Our photographers, while incredibly talented, are even worse procrastinators than I am, so we still don't have a contract or a promise of services. We have no d.j. We only have a vague sense of music for the ceremony as well.

We are getting married THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY.

October is also the month that RESPECT2 (my touring acting job) is most busy, and also I have been working pretty much every day at the mall. Which is why, even though I had a HUGE wedding weekend, you got no posts this week, because I was at work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. three days in a row...wait, that's a lie, Wednesday was 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

We are getting married THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY.

SO, what does this mean for you? You are getting like four posts today. Then, who knows? Also, I am dropping all attempts to even try to keep this blog profanity free. There will also probably be lots of expressive text, like bold type and lots and lots of exclamation points.

Cuz I got SHIT to DO, people.

IN THREE WEEKS!

Thank you for sharing this with us. Shit is about to get real.

cake, part one: a history

2008-10-10T08:28:00.009-05:00

Let's talk about cake.
of course this cake is from Martha Stewart.

This is going to take awhile because I don't know if we've ever touched on cake and the Hallowedding. Which is weird, because dudes, do brides ever love cake. Why shouldn't we? They're so pretty. And big. And you get to find a pretty cake topper. And sometimes, inside this pretty, big thing, under the cake topper, there might actually be cake!
Unlike most of those "little details" that brides slave over and then nobody will ever notice ("oh, were all the straws at your bar in your wedding colors?...okay") everybody WILL look at the cake. Because it sits out at the reception all through dinner, then everyone gathers around and watches you cut it, and then they eat it. They have to notice the damn thing. So a lot of thought goes into most wedding cakes.
Here is the thought that went into my wedding cake: I HATE FONDANT.
source
For those of you not knee deep in the wedding industry, or not all that schooled in cake, fondant is a frosting paste that goes over the cake to give it that smooth surface, as pictured above. You can also use fondant to make beautiful lace, or pretty flowers, or wacky shapes. It is a staple to fancy pantsy cakes...and it tastes terrible. I have heard stories of marshmalllow fondant existing and not being the worst stuff ever, but it just...it bothers me. So no fondant. No fancy cake. Just cake, please, with frosting I can eat.

I think there's just something really pretty about plain frosting. So simple and pure and imperfect. Maybe it's because I bake, and plain frosting makes a cake look more hand made. Maybe it's because inside of me there's a fat kid who just really loves frosting. Who knows.

But aside from fondant, there is just all this shit you have to consider. Because if you have a cake, you have to cut it, and then sometimes there are cutting fees. You can also opt to have the big round pretty cake and then have super secret sheet cakes in the back. How many flavors of cake do you want? How many fillings? Do you want those little roses? What kind of frosting, if you're not using fondant, and are you suuuuuuure you don't want fondant because it's really, really pretty.

Thank God for cupcakes.
Look at 'em. There aren't any fancy flowers or marshmallow paste. There's just frosting, and that frosting is beautiful. With cupcakes, there is no cutting, no forks, plates aren't even all that necessary. They also fit in a lot better with the whole sandwich/soup vibe. Also, you can still have the beautiful set up that you have with a real cake, thanks to the handy invention of the cupcake stand
A DIY'd version from this blog.
So it was pretty much a no brainer: cupcakes for ever, cupcakes for days. So we went out in search of a baker to make us a couple hundred cupcakes.

And that, friends, is when the fondant hit the fan.

Coming soon, part 2: WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY FUCKING CUPCAKES?

bachelorette party

2008-09-29T13:02:00.003-05:00

So...I may have had my bachelorette party last Saturday. There may have been a limo. And a penis cake.
We were all very shocked by the penis cake, especially since it was made by one of the sweetest girls alive.

And a bag full of condoms with dares written on them (not pictured).
There was DEFINITELY booze. Siiiiiigh. Lots of booze. And some of my most favorites in the whole world.

I can't really imagine what is was like for the people who weren't me, or the girls in the limo. I'm talking about the british guys who made me do like four jello shots, everyone I drunk dialed (many of whom I have forgotten...yeah, sorry), and all the people who went to look at my e-ring and all they saw was a big ass spider.

I marvel at my ability to, at 1 in the morning, many many drinks to the wind, manage to look up a number in the phone book, dial, order a pizza, AND give a credit card number, but couldn't remember the address of the building (I used to live in it, that Miss Oh lives in now.) I believe the poor schmuck had to listen to a lot of "Oh hell, it's on...it's on *this street* and *this street* okay? It's white? Or cream? There are dogs inside, okay? Apartment....five? Or six? Dammit where's Ashley?"
I want to thank everyone who worked together to make the night possible--I LOVED IT. It was everything a bach party oughtta be. There are more pictures roaming around in other people's cameras. We'll just see how those turn out.

(That is my drunk face, obvs.)

Groom's Ring

2008-09-26T15:47:00.008-05:00

Those of you who know me are probably aware of the fact that I have a fairly simple aesthetic. I don't wear bracelets, watches, necklaces, really any accessories. Those of you who knew me in high school will find this surprising, but such is the case these days. At the end of the day I generally just flop into my bed, and my headphones are always dangling and getting unplugged, seemingly all day long. I'm not good with danglies, I suppose. So getting a ring is a tricky proposition.

We went to about a half a dozen jewelry stores to look at men's rings, try on the different metals, and get a picture of pricing. Luckily the mall in which Shannon works contains more than six jewelry stores, so it was all on one trip. On that trip I picked titanium as my metal of choice for my ring.

I know there are some risks with that. Titanium is one of the hardest and strongest materials in the world. If something were to happen to my hand while wearing my ring, the ring itself could not be cut off. They'd have to remove my finger. So that's a little scary. But I don't do a lot of dangerous work with my hands, and I can take my ring off if I ever do. The other thing is that you can never have a titanium ring resized. You just have to get a new ring milled. That is also fine. The ring is an important symbol, and I'll obviously always keep any wedding rings I own forever, but transitioning from one ring to another as my fingers chunk up over my lifetime isn't that bad.

My choice of titanium had threefold reasons. First of all, it's extraordinarily light. You can hold a titanium ring in your hand and it feels like almost nothing at all. As a non-accessorizer this appeals to me. Second, the balance of light and dark in titanium is perfect to me. It's not too gloomy, but it also isn't blinding, and it works with both black and brown based outfits. And lastly I've had a patch of irritable skin on my ring finger since childhood. Ominous, I know! And I've never been able to pursue my dream of being a professional left hand model! But in all seriousness, titanium is non-reactive and gentle on skin.

So here were the options, ending with my final choice.

The one with the red enamel stripe really appealed to me, but felt like a casual ring, not a lasting symbol of eternal love. The option with the flush set diamond is lovely, but a bit pricey for the moment. It really came down to the last two, and while I enjoy the brushed texture and sterling silver inlay, I really like they bare symbol of a plain round ring. I can always upgrade to a diamond or sterling-boosted model down the road, but as my first ring I really enjoy the simplest option. Also, we're ordering from Etsy because it's nice to support independent artists. This is, of course, not the first time you've seen that site featured on this blog, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

And that's that! That's the ring! I'm going to have it on my finger forever!

BYE!

invite breakdown

2008-09-25T11:01:00.010-05:00

So, if you were sent an invite in the mail you probably already have seen all this stuff but humor me, okay? Maybe you'll learn something?

--Oh, and if you didn't get an invite in the mail, or you can't come, stay tuned for a special way we want you to be involved in the wedding...coming soon!--

So first we designed the invites...our main inspiration were vintage vaudeville and circus posters...something that conveyed an event that was fun but, at the same time, totally epic.

image source

image source

We made a mock up with the fonts we had on hand just to decide positioning, ratios, spacing, etc., then we downloaded probably a hundred or so fonts and then just got to playing, and this is what we came up with. (All the design was done in Photoshop...I know it's not as clean as other programs but it's what I know)
We printed the reception information on the back to cut down on paper waste

There was much debate about the reception information. Could we dictate the kind of costumes people wear? We're not requiring costumes for the reception, but I also didn't want people dressed like slutty nurses or grotesque monsters. I wouldn't really want that at any Halloween party I would throw, let alone my wedding. I think we found a nice (and very "us") way to say what needed to be said, and also imply that maybe you should save it for the reception...at least, if you're an adult.

Putting the registry information on there is a MAJOR no-no etiquette wise, and I understand why that rule exists. Yeah, it's kind of tacky. However, for really casual invitations, I don't think it's quite as bad. We received an invitation to a wedding last winter that had a little note on the back "the couple is registered at target but they also really enjoy shopping at world market and whole foods." We ended up getting them something from Target, but it was kind of nice to know another option and I did actually consider going to whole foods and making them like a huge basket of cheeses or something. Also, since most of our guests are from out of town, they don't know that every couple that gets married in Omaha is registered at Target. It seems so obvious to us, but I didn't want there to be confusion.
And, well, I am really tacky and I broke etiquette all over the place. So...meh.

We also wanted to include a map with the reception information both for out of town guests (pretty much all of our families) and for in town guests that have maybe never been to the Scoular before. It also let them know how close they would be to their hotel, in case they were worried about long commutes. Greg made up the grid of streets (including the hotel's logo, nice touch Greg!) and I used pictures of the venues to make paintings that guests can refer to if they're confused about which building is which (they're not very clearly marked).

Here's a close up of the painting of our ceremony venue...I recreated the building in the most basic shapes possible to make it easy to print and easy to read on a small invitation.
Once the invite design was finished we had it printed on plain kraft paper at Kinkos (classy wedding over here!) and they cut it for us as well at no charge.

This is where the "pain in the ass" part of invitations began happening.

Unfortunately the image was a little smaller than half a sheet of paper, leaving an awkward little blank edge on the side. We went back through and re-cut about a quarter of an inch off each invite (total pain in the ass #1).
Neither of us has very pretty handwriting, so we typed our addresses in a pretty font and printed it onto white labels. But I bought the wrong size and we had to go back and buy new ones (total pain in the ass #2) which they couldn't print on at Kinkos (total pain in the ass #3) so we had to drive all the way out to Walmart in the middle of the night to buy new ink for our own printer to print them ourselves (total pains in the ass #4 and #5).
To fancy up the labels a little bit we bought a corner punch that both tied them into the oldish timey theme of our invites and made them look a little less like...you know...labels. Unfortunately (there's that word again) the corners had to be square to fit in the embosser/puncher and the labels' corners were rounded. So we cut the sides off the labels and punched them (pain in the ass #6)
Here's how the labels turned out...click the picture to really see the embossing (it's subtle, but very pretty in person)

We bought beautiful dark purple envelopes from the Eames Furniture collection on envelope mall, since all the orange options we scoped out were either too bright, too small, or too expensive...and, I mean, Eames furniture! Makes envelopes! Weird!
The envelopes have a very long pointed closure called a "euro flap" that makes them all classy stuff. The glue on this fancy classy flap doesn't extend all the way down to the end of the point. Which means they don't close all the way like normal envelopes. Meaning we went out at four in the morning to find appropriate seals (pain in the ass #7) but luckily there were very pretty ones that went with our palette.

We stayed up all night stuffing these babies, but despite the seven (or more, I may have forgotten them) pains in the ass...they're gorgeous. We love them. Everyone who has seen them has loved them. They're very "us."

Oh, and they cost about twenty five cents per invite. Sha. Bam.

Sometimes I love this wedding stuff.

ACHIEVED!: Invitations

2008-09-22T23:55:00.004-05:00

Or, "snail mail: quite quick, actually"

So after an all nighter of printing invites,buying labels, stuffing envelopes, buying DIFFERENT labels, going to Wal-Mart at midnight to buy ink, going to Kinko's at 4 a.m. to buy seals, individually cutting and stamping each label and reprinting all the labels I inevitably ruined through my own spelling mistakes....invitations are OUT.

They were out on Saturday morning, actually, but I have been sleeping off the aforementioned all nighter. And tomorrow (promises promises) I will show what they looked like and how we made them because I think they are pretty damn spectacular.

I just wanted to make a quick post to say

1.) HOLY COW WE HAVE RSVPs TO THIS WEDDING ALREADY (AHHHHHHH!)

and

2) if you are a guest of the Hallowedding and you are now reading this blog because I (or my mother or whoever) sent you this way after you got your invitation...um, hi? Welcome. Apologies in advance for the inevitable profanity.

Now if you'll excuse me I have a very early show tomorrow with about twenty Iowan preschoolers. I need my rest.

(RSVPs you guys!! It is SO ON.)

FOOOOOOOOD

2008-09-19T18:35:00.008-05:00

Food is very, very important to Greg and me. We love to cook, we love going out to eat, our TiVo is full of food network shows...we care about food.

Our love of food makes it extra tragic that one of the most appalling areas of this wedding planning business is catering. I haven't planned or attended many weddings in other cities, but in Omaha, there is one caterer who dominates the scene and it is...not pleasant. I will not name the catering company because I don't want nasty emails, and also there are many people who had to use this company for one reason or another and I think they have suffered enough. I will just refer to them as the Big Bad Catering Company. Many fabulous venues in the metro area have exclusive catering contracts with the BBCC, which is the main reason we passed on many venues that had initially appealed to us. A look at their menus reveals tired old dishes that are VERY expensive and (experience has taught me) don't taste very good. They're not terrible, per se, but if I'm eating something that cost my host $30+ a plate I expect something pretty damn spectacular. Call me picky. I just think that when you're charging that much for a chicken breast you could afford to spare some salt.

Anyway, we wanted to avoid the BBCC at any cost, which is one of the main reasons we went with the Scoular, because they gave us a choice of many caterers and price ranges. In addition to our culinary preferences and budget issues, we wanted a somewhat...unconvential menu. We wanted a menu that was comfortable, casual and fun, much like our wedding. Also, we knew people would be eating in costume and I think prime rib might be a little messy for fairy princesses.

So we wanted soup and sandwiches. Fancy soup and sandwiches, but still.

We looked at the list Scoular gave us, eliminated anyone whose menus started ridiculously high or whose websites discouraged menu tampering, and emailed a few candidates.

Catering Creations emailed us back almost immediately, and their enthusiasm has persisted throughout the process. Before our first meeting we perused their sample menus and pulled out some soup and salad choices that sounded appealing with our sandwiches. However, when we sat down with Jeff, the head chef, he said:

"Okay, I know you guys said you wanted the wild mushroom and creamy onion soups, and I can make those for you and they'll be very good, but if you're doing a Halloween wedding you have to have a roasted pumpkin soup. You just...you have to."

And that, friends, is when I decided that Jeff was my favorite.

So here is our menu. Those of you who are coming to the wedding, look forward to it. Those of you who will not be coming to the wedding...um...you can dream.

Pre-game (Dips):
White Bean, Parmesan, Roasted Garlic with Sundried Tomatoes (I have tasted this one in person and boy howdy was it delicious)
Tomato, Basil, Artichoke and Olive Tapenade
Fresh Guacamole & Hearty Salsa
All Dips Served with Fresh Tortilla Chips

(these will be left out and replenished through most of the dancing time as well for snackers and late comers. I love me some guacamole, I really do.)

Soups and Salads:

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Dark Pumpernickel Croutons
Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
(Both made with veggie stock to appease our vegetarian friends)

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Chile-Lime Vinaigrette

Classic Caesar Salad with Parmesan Croutons

SANDWICHES!

Smoked Beef Sandwich on Foccacia Bread with Caramelized Onions & Arugula with Red Pepper Feta Spread
Blackened Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese, Golden Raisins, with Alfalfa Sprouts and Avocados Served on Ciabatta Bread

Doesn't that sound AMAZING?

And super bonus--they also catered Nick and Erika's wedding in August, giving us the opportunity to see them in action and it was spectacular. The service was great, the set up was clean and pretty, and the food was super tasty.

So we got the menu we wanted, with the price we wanted, with people who actually seem happy to be serving us. Count our catering amongst the victories over the big nasty wedding industry!

naked finger

2008-09-18T14:07:00.005-05:00

As the wedding swiftly approaches, things are getting done (what a novel idea...do wedding stuff before the wedding. Awesome idea, Shan) but sometimes being on the ball has it's consequences. Yesterday I gave away my engagement ring. And by that I mean I gave it back to the lovely folks at Custom Gems so they can make me a weddin' band.
As you know, Greg had my engagement ring custom made using (among other things) diamonds from my mom's wedding band. Here is probably the clearest picture I have ever taken of it--it's white gold with sparkly diamonds so it usually just appears as a big blob of shiny. If you click on it you can really clearly see it.
(this a post-shower picture of my presents from super rockstar Jenny Lassley. I took pics of the presents so i could remember things for my thank you cards later, and because I'm craaaaazyyyy)

Well as much as I love my ring, finding a wedding band to fit under it's strange curly shape is pretty much impossible. We considered many options: wearing a band under it, getting a plain band and switching my e-ring to my right hand, getting a fancy band and only wearing the band on fancy occasions, etc. It seems it took forever for us to realize that if Custom Gems could make us a custom ring to fit our diamonds, it could make a custom band to fit that same ring.
Why must we always try to reinvent the wheel over here?
So I dropped off the ring and they'll make a mold of it, then use that mold to make a band that will fit my ring.

I'm very excited for this to happen, but I miss my ring terribly. Especially since in the last year I have developed a habit of twirling it with my thumb whenever I drive, and now I'm just scratching at my bare finger. I also miss having something to subtly flash at boys who get a little too chatty at the store. Now there's no visual proof that I am taken and nothing for me to fiddle with all day and it's driving me nuts.

I would like to say, however, that Custom Gems rocks my shit, and if you have any custom jewelry needs, it is veeeerry reasonable. I won't say how reasonable, but it'll blow the socks right off your feet for sure.

awwwwwww

2008-09-14T00:51:00.004-05:00

Man, I wish this card from rarrarpress had been around when Greg and I were doing the long distance thing. It's so sweet.

Although, it should probably be noted that if this were made for us with a map of the U.S. with hearts that big they would almost completely cover each other because Lincoln to Omaha really WASN'T that far...really.

(it just SEEMED far, because I missed him...oh, and I can't drive).

Check out all of rarrar's stuff. It's hilarious/adorable/beautiful. It is also (that word that is almost orgasmic to all brides-to-be) letterpressed. Might I suggest this poster for an absolutely incredible wedding present? We'd love you forever! It will hang over our mantle in our eventual home. Our children will fight over it when we die.

politics: wedding edition

2008-09-14T00:29:00.003-05:00

This has nothing to do with politics, but when it comes down to dresses...I'm for Obama.

(found at Manolo for the Brides)

fifty

2008-09-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

Fifty days.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

sweet somethings

2008-09-08T21:29:00.006-05:00

I heard somewhere that it is sometimes customary to give the hostess of your shower a thank you gift. I don't know if this is Something You Have to Do or Something the Wedding Industry Wants You To Think You Have to Do, but either way I was really thankful and I really really like putting presents together.

I wanted to get a fun little something for Miss OH Ashley, since she planned the whole thing out and hosted it in her SUPER CUTE new apartment, but since bridesmaid Krystal and Mrs OH Jessie made a TON of food for the shower (the leftovers of which I am currently eating straight out of the tupperwear...classy) I got them a little something too.
All the girls got sweet notecards that looked like baked goods (and were vanilla scented!) some pink fancy bubble bath, scrub, and/or body butter, and kool aid lip gloss (because we're five). Ashley, as the actual hostess, also got a loaf of home made bread (no knead bread...best invention EVER!) and a cute little basket.
And then, because I was so excited that I got ready like three hours before my shower, I took a little extra time to make cute little thank you tags.

I scanned the image from a satirical etiquette book from the sixties that I got at a library book sale in like the fourth grade. The wedding etiquette chapter has this image of a bride running towards the aisle so fast that the little attendants are left flying...it's really cute and even way back then, I knew I wanted it involved in my eventual wedding somehow.
See how neat? I have no idea who the artist is but I want prints all over my house.

I changed the color not to be clever but because I'm out of black ink (eh) and then I used a pretty font on the bottom. The brownish hue and the unevenness of the color made it look like a rubber stamp. That also wasn't intentional, but made it look like I put more effort into it than I actually did. Score!

I think they turned out pretty well, since this, like the shower, was my "first time." I wanted to make sure that this present didn't have similar things as the actual bridesmaid gifts which have...um...secrets in them. SECRETS I SAY! (runs away)

bridal shower!

2008-09-08T19:28:00.010-05:00

Saturday was My Very First Bridal Shower, and by very first, I mean that I...um...haven't gone to one before. Ever.

Greg made fun of me beforehand by saying I was "Always a bride, never a bridesmaid." Thanks.
i have a ton of pictures of just rooms of people milling around...what should one do with these things?

So I didn't know what to expect out of a shower, but it ended up being really fun! There was a nice mixture of college girls and married ladies, friends and family, and there were a bunch of foods that were based on either sugar, cheese, or meat...you can't go wrong, really. Cupcakes were also present, much to the delight of the bride to be and the flower girl to be (who ate part of my cupcake in addition to her own)

I was a little afraid that we would play Stupid Party Games, but we just did one game of Shannon and Greg trivia. It was funny, but I suspect that most bridal shower trivia games are a little...um...less weird.

Some of my favorite questions:

before they met in person, what was shannon's opinion of greg? --that he should date katie--

when greg assisted directed a uno show, he had to direct shannon in a scene in which she did what? --had sex with another dude.

(many people got this one right, and answers varied from 'kissed another boy' to 'humped jeff bell' and it was by far the one people were most enthusiastic about answering) shannon and greg once had a large shouting match in public. they were arguing about the best plan of defense in the face of what sort of attack? --zombies-- what is ruffles' favorite movie? Kate & Leopold

(this...um...has nothing to do with us as a couple about to be married. But somebody actually got it right!)

And of course, there were presents. I'm not going to lie...I was pretty excited about the presents.
The theme of the shower was...time? Clocks? I don't know exactly what you call it. Everyone got a specific time of day (8 a.m., midnight) and they were supposed to bring corresponding gifts. Luckily, I am in the kitchen like sixteen hours a day, because I wanted cooking stuff and boy brother, did I get it! Cookie sheets, muffin pans, mixing bowls, pyrex (in red! I didn't know they made red pyrex!), candles, towels, goblets from an honest to god ren fair, and all the awesome plates we registered for from CB2 (the commas from Katie M and the "mmm" from Katie C...Katies love CB2 I guess?) and a whole lot more. It was awesome, and everyone was so generous and you could tell with some presents that the people really thought about what Greg and I would most use and like.

Oh, and did I mention:

Ohhhhhhhhhh, lover.

Okay, I knew my mom was getting me the mixer because she told me. But she said she was giving it to me at the wedding. So when I opened it at the shower I made a lot of fluttery hand gestures and high pitched noises because it was MINE right then and there.
Which is a little Veruca Salt of me but whatevs.

I felt kinda bad flipping out like that. I liked everyone's presents equally it's just...you know...it's a stand mixer. Everything I have ever wanted in a kitchen. My mom had decided that she was bringing so much other junk up for the wedding week that she would just give it to me now to save space in her car...but she pointed out that this WAS IT. Shower, wedding, birthday, Christmas...and I'm like THAT IS FINE CAN I TAKE THIS OUT OF THE BOX NOW?

I can't wait to break that baby in. I think I will call her Nigella.

But, um, back to the shower...I really liked it, and I had a lot of fun. I already have my thank you cards done (I just have no stamps) and I put everything away that I could, minus things like the mixer and the really pretty mixing bowls, which I"m just going to display for a while.

I think I want someone else to get married so I can GO to a shower. I would even like to plan one someday, although I think at this point it'll probably be a baby shower instead. Whatevs. I like making cupcakes in all shapes and sizes.

10 Pictures of Shannon and Greg

2008-09-04T10:28:00.007-05:00

Thanks, facebook! These are the ten greatest pictures I found on the internet...a little fluff for your Thursday. So, in no particular order:

Love in an Elevator
Taken on one of the first days of school in 2004--we finally lived in the same city and it was pretty great. Even though we had been dating for like eight months this is around the first time we called each other boyfriend and girlfriend. Aw, kids. Also, yes, this is what it looks like when you grow out your bangs poorly. Learn from my failures.

I Can Make Your Casse-role
This was taken through a basement window at a party a couple of years ago. People were dancing in the basement and Greg and I took a break. Apparently someone brought a potato casserole (I think Rachel Samson) and we ate it out of keg cups. As college kids are wont to do.

St. Pat's at the Max
St Patrick's day two years ago, at The Max. Greg shaved his head for a show in February and it was finally growing back--a lot of our cutest pictures are from the "Greg has incredibly short hair" phase of our relationship.

"This is how I eat cupcakes all the time!"
Ah, the FAUST Hell Banquet. I think this sums up a lot of our relationship right here. One of us acts kooky, the other makes an accepting but pained face. We make it work.

CHRISTMAS!!
We took this picture to give to our families a few years ago. We forgot about it until the last minute and underneath our warm wooly coats we are totally wearing pajamas. It's like three in the morning.

We Are The Ones Who Have The Fun
Yes, it looks like we're on a roller coaster, but we are actually just on a hayrack ride at the pumpkin patch. It was kinda rainy. Apparently that was adventure enough.

V.I.P.
Spring break in Austin during SxSW, at the VIP party for Blender. Probably the night we saw Nelly McKay. See what I'm saying about the no hair and the cute pictures? Yes, we are both very drunk, but I love it--is Greg snorgling me in this pic, or passing out a little bit?...little of column A, little of column B

Karaoeke Queens
We didn't sing karaoeke together for years into our relationship, but once we started we unleashed a powerful force that has been rocking the socks off the Omaha scene ever since. Usually we sing Danger! High Voltage, but this particular picture was snapped during the second round of a fundraising contest, and we're starting Styx's Renegade.
It is widly believed that we were robbed of the crown, but whatever, we know our station.

Of Course It's On Here
I love this picture for many, many reasons. One, obviously, it is one of the first pictures after we got engaged, and it sums up most of the engagment in one picture: he asked on a pumpkin and I said yes. The Burger King is left out of it. But I also love Greg's face in this picture because it is ADORABLE, and also the fact that his shirt says "Feelings are Boring, Kissing is Awesome"
Fitting.

And I know I said there was no particular order, but I did save the best for last. From when we did Man of La Mancha together, and I played a nasty old lady and he played a jerk in pumpkin pants.....

If we aren't going to make an amazing married couple, I don't know who stands a chance in this crazy world.

crochet mask

2008-09-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

Three posts in a night! Booya!

The girls and I have decided to make masks for ourselves for the reception--this allows us to both customize our looks and have a party where we make things with sequins and feathers, which is every little girl's dream, I'm sure.

So these masks aren't something I'm considering, but I thought they were so cool I had to show you guys what this girl can do with crochet.

She also offers them in custom colors! Man...for the hundreth time in this process, I wish I could crochet.

All from the amazing Totus Mel etsy shop. She does amazing things with scarves as well.

french paper: breakin' my heart

2008-09-03T21:42:00.003-05:00

As I have hinted, we are designing our own invitations. They will be done and mailed out next week! Designing your own invitations is easy and fun if you know your way around a photoshop (if you don't, ask a friend who does as a wedding present to you...totally worth it!) You get to decide absolutely everything...and you get to pick the paper.

My love of paper could be considered...excessive. I've spent hours looking at paper. And my very very favorite place is French Paper. Their website is beautiful, it's easy to find what you want, and it's really not that expensive for fancy-pants paper. They divide their site sort of by the mood of the paper, and my favorite section is the dur-o-tone paper: "rugged, hard working sheets." This is where the kraft paper is, that dark brown speckled paper they use to wrap packages and we use to make patterns in the costume shop. We have decided to go with this kind of paper, mostly because it is cheap and goes really nicely with the vaudvillian aspect (our wedding invitations have a vaudvillian/circus theme. That's normal, right?) If we hadn't chosen to go with kraft paper, I was lusting after the dur-o-tone butcher orange, which is smoky and warm and makes me go all fluttery, and can be seen to the left.
It's basically just orange kraft paper, and we wanted to get the invites printed before they would be able to get our paper to us, and it just didn't end up working out. So we're going with kraft, which means yes, our invitations are brown and industrial looking, and yes, I'm okay with that, in fact I think they look pretty boss.

But that is not the heartbreak--the pain is in the fact that french paper offers envelopes in the beloved orange butcher paper, but they only offer them in A6 and A7--which, to those of you not obsessed with paper and wedding invitations, are not big enough to hold the half sheet invitations we have designed. So no pretty orange envelopes for me.

But I think we need color in the envelope because the kraft paper is so stark, so I'm searching out some rare A8 envelopes that will have punch and pizzazz and still be here by the beginning of next week.

Impossible you say? Maybe, but I have to try!

At the moment the only orange options I am finding are BRIGHT orange. Heinous orange. Astrobright orange. It's not pretty. But as soon as I find our envelopes, we will have these suckas OUT the DOOR, and I can post more about our process.

dress fitted, mind changed, f bombs dropped

2008-09-03T19:25:00.007-05:00

This post is FULL of profanity. I apologize.

I know I've been absent. Ironically enough, if you are actually doing wedding stuff, or your wedding is rapidly approaching (fifty seven days....shit) then you don't have time to blog about your wedding, what you've been planning, or how it's rapidly approaching.

But you all keep me accountable so...let's blog this thing.

First of all, I had a second Hastings super wedding weekend. This weekend was significantly less fun than the last weekend, mostly because people either reminded me at how far behind I am at this wedding thing (thanks) or made the wedding planning harder in various ways (again, appreciated) but I'm not going to let this get me down. I am a wedding planning machine, motherfuckers. You do not want to mess with this engaged lady. I have shit I need to do.
That is another reason why it took me so long to post.
But I digress. Obvs.

I had a dress fitting. Yay! I can't post pictures on here because I want to keep that at least SLIGHTLY under wraps, at least from Greg, but I can show you my face when I first put my dress on:
That is a look of joy and a deep love for pretty things that now belong to me.

Once I got over the initial giddiness of being in my Wedding Dress, I saw myself in the big mirror and it was...interesting. I love my dress, still. I just had one of those little diva moments when I looked at myself in a dress that was actually mine and freaked out a little when it didn't look like the dress I had tried on before...probably because this one was probably three sizes bigger. I needed a bigger dress because I am a big girl on top (not just big busted, but big waisted and big ribbed) but I'm pretty small in the hip area, so what had previously looked like a modified mermaid now looked like a big off-white tube and I was. Not. Happy. However once they got me all pinned up I was happily back into mermaid territory and that crisis was averted.

That crisis. Then we go to my hair piece. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
See those under eye circles? Those weren't there before they put that thing on my head. But it is very pretty, I will give you that.

So let's just break it down for a moment: I am with the design camp that is currently very popular that loves little birds and branches and leaves and deer and etc etc etc. So when we first went to the shop, in May, and I saw a pretty little headband that looked like the branch of a very sparkly tree that wrapped around the head, I thought "ooooooh pretty."
My sister also thought "ooooooh pretty" and I tried it on. We decided to order it as well when we ordered my dress. And then we drove away.
And the moment we drove away from the store I thought...do I want that headband, really?
And then I fretted over the damn thing for like four months.
First of all, they didn't let me take a picture of it, or give me the item number, so I was going strictly from memory about how the thing actually looked, which made trying to find co-ordinating jewelry a bitch. It was also gold, which made silver jewelry pretty much a no go. And it's very sparkly, which could lead to overkill of bling. It also eliminated the addition of feathers to my hair for the reception, which I had been toying around with and had really liked the idea. Also I worried about my hair, and how it would affect that.
'So I will say I was a little apprehensive. I thought that once I saw it and could try it on again things would get better. They didn't.
Look how happy I am. Oh no wait...this is my "flipping out on the inside" face. There were some issues with the headband.

First of all they didn't order me a head piece, they pulled it off the shelf. I am fine with sample items, but this one had been a-bused and was showing the wear and tear, and they had charged us full price. Some of the leaves and sparklies were hanging on by strings of hot glue. So that made me less than happy. Secondly, whenever it touched my hair it became instantly tangled, which would make it impossible to adjust any part of my hair style on the wedding day.

Finally I just didn't like the way it made me look. I couldn't make myself like it.

But I didn't let on that it wasn't working, because that's just not my style. I didn't want to disappoint my mom and sister, who had helped me pick it out. I didn't want the very nice ladies at the Bridal Isle to think I was being a diva bitch. I didn't want to put anyone out. Usually at this point I swallow my misgivings and just take one for the team.

Then I looked at myself in the mirror and thought "But it's MY WEDDING."

And that kicked it. I took the headband off. I found myself a big pair of earrings and I put them on and I said, this is what looks good on me. Big ass earrings. And everyone agreed. Even the lady who was supposed to sell me the hundred dollar headband.

But of course I'm still a pussy, so I was going to take the headband anyway, but my AMAZING SISTER earned her Mrs OH status in about five minutes by forcing me to speak up and getting them to give us a refund. I love that bitch sometimes.

So I guess the moral of this story is, in a world where the word "bridezilla" is thrown around a lot, sometimes you have to say "It's my special day, motherfucker! And I'm gonna do what I want!" As long as you say that part quietly to yourself. Outloud you say, "Excuse me? I don't think this is going to work out" and just say "motherfucker" with your eyes. It'll get you far, and it'll save you a hundred bucks.

SOooooo, any suggestions for huge ass earrings? My ears are now available.

couture for your butt

2008-08-19T09:12:00.006-05:00

I know that like every wedding blog in existence has covered something like this, but I wanted to post something and I think this is very interesting...but that might just be because I'm a sewing nerd.
You may have seen this on CNN or even Boing Boing last spring--I, of course, read about it on the wedding blogs because it occupies my life--but the dress above is made of toilet paper. It is surprisingly gorgeous, given the fact that paper makes a lousy fabric (I know from experience--my patterning final was a wedding dress made out of overnight envelopes and bubble wrap...I called it the "mail order bride" and it gave me a ulcer the size of a mango)

Anyhoo, everyone oohed and ahhhed over it but...I'm kinda bummed that this dress got so much coverage. Because as beautiful as it is, lots of toilet paper dresses exist out there and many of the lesser known ones aren't impressive for dresses made of toilet paper...they are impressive period, and I kinda wish they were really fabric and really on my body.

The winner of the cheap chic toilet paper dress contest this year, a surprisingly fitting mermaid:

Impressive, but not so much as the same site's 2006 second place
(she was totally robbed, obvs)

Yeah, these are pretty. The people who entered these contests are INCREDIBLY talented.

But Cashmere toilet paper doesn't have "contests" with people at home making tp dresses...they hire designers to make dresses out of toilet paper. Obviously some high quality tp--it's called cashmere, like the overpriced sweaters, only it's paper, and it's for your butt--oh, no wait, this is just Cottonelle but in Canada. Silly Canadians. But you got to admit THESE ARE SOME GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL DRESSES.

Toilet paper. That is TOILET PAPER.
The above are from designers, but apparently they also held a scholarship contest for design students in Montreal and Toronto, which blogger won't let me share, but they can be gawked at here.

I just wanted to share, to spread the flabbergasting around.

DRESS FITTING

2008-08-18T17:51:00.004-05:00

My dress is in!

I was hoping when we planned our trip back to the homesteads that it would somehow magically coincide with my dress's arrival and it TOTALLY WORKED! All my crazy wishes are now justified and going to come true, I just know it (so I look forward to Jesse Thorne attending my wedding).

One funny thing though--when I called to make the appointment for my fitting, the call ended with the woman saying "Don't forget to bring your shoooooes!" in the exact same words, tone, and inflection my mother uses every time we have talked about my fitting.

Weird.

squirrel lust

2008-08-16T09:47:00.004-05:00

Weird title but I'm going with it.
I want this ring box in a bad way. Look at how adorable he is with his little squirrely face and his little acorn that could hold my ring while I'm sleeping or showering or whatever. Or, I suppose, make that "my ringS" because I will eventually have two. Okay, make that "OUR ringS" because Greg will have one too. See! That totally makes that an essential purchase...the $120 price tag is REALLY only $40 per ring...right? Right?

Damn you Jonathan Adler.

flower girl dresses: always adorable

2008-08-14T15:43:00.009-05:00

It is so much easier to find a flower girl dress than a wedding dress. One, toddlers look adorable in pretty much everything. I mean, how could this girl NOT be cute?
And two, let's be honest, it's a lot easier to find a dress that fits a little stick like Keira than a big lumpy mess of curves like yours truly. Not that I'm complaining--but still, fittings are a lot less complicated when your measurements are the same from your shoulders to your knees.

And, as with most things, my pre-conceived notions about what I wanted her dress to be were wrong. This is why we try stuff on people. To learn that we are wrong.

Originally I wanted Keira to wear a tutu. I thought a huge orange and purple tutu with a little cardigan would be so cute and very Halloween-tastic. And I'm not wrong about girls in tutus being adorable. It's a well document fact.
From etsy seller Kennedy and Friends Co.

Of course, I just planned to make my own tutu because if you know how to sew they are ridiculously easy. I just needed to get my hands on our adorable flower girl, Greg's neice Keira, and get some measurements. Then I decided it might be a good idea before I make the thing to try a tutu on her to make sure I got the proportions right, because she is a leggy little kid for a two year old. So today when we needed to babysit for a few hours I just did my babysitting at the mall, and specifically in the toddler section of Von Maur and boy, did I learn a few things.

Keira does NOT like tutus.

I think it had something to do with it being hard to walk. She put it on and just refused to move. And with really young flower girls, it's pretty hard to get them to do the job anyway without adding complete disdain for their outfit. So I realized tutus would be out (it was cute though, wasn't it, while it lasted?)

So we started looking at more traditional flower girl dresses. They were cute (everything is cute! All tiny dresses are cute!) but nothing really popped. They were also much more expensive than their colored counterparts...probably because they could be used for weddings and are therefor marked up beyond reason. Huzzah for the wedding industry! That's okay though because I like the brown versions better anyway. They have the maximum re-wearable factor and will sweetly match her dad (who is a groomsman).
I really loved the shape of this one on her, and she loved the bow, but I'm hesitant to introduce pink into our color scheme.
POLKA DOTS YOU GUYS. I love polka dots, I really do. It also has a lot of white in it and with a little white cardigan I think it will be super wedding appropriate. (Piggie will hopefully not be present)

So...what happened to DIY project #357, making the flower girl dress? I had discovered the style and color that worked best for her, I could easily go buy a pattern and whip one up in no time. Well, taking the tiny one to a store to try on dresses taught me that children are fickle, and no matter how cute of an outfit I plan, there is a high possibility she will refuse to wear it. I'm willing to have her refuse a $20 dress. (Yeah, I know! Twenty bucks! Awesome) I am very unwilling to go through the hassle of making a garment and having it tossed away...I don't accept that from grown up actresses I costume and I won't be pleased with it on the most stressful day of my life. So I went the easy way out. I bought a dress. If she decides to wear her Halloween costume instead, meh, who cares, right?

I told Keira she looked pretty and she said "Yeah." I told her I liked the dress and she said " 'kay." I told her we were going to get it and she said "Nooooo! Too big!"

Of course she was right. Silly us. Thanks Keira.
She likes it, I swear. She told me so. That face is really damn adorable, though.

(BTW, People talk alot about how the sizing system for wedding dresses is bust, but have you seen the sizes on toddler wear? We had to decide between "24 months" and "2T"...what's the difference? That's the same amount of time! It's the white/ivory/creme debate all over again)

I may get a little fancy and make her a purple and orange petticoat to go under it, but at the moment I am fine with just letting this one go.

unofficial sponsorship: etsy

2008-08-11T14:18:00.005-05:00

Um...this is not a post really so much as a bunch of random thoughts and a deep love of the internets. Sorry. Real stuff to come, I promise! (Always with the promises, this one...)

I know that I've joked before about how this wedding is brought to you by Target (and really, if they wanted a corporate sponsorship, I would be willing...give me a call Big T, if you're interested!) but really, a very large amount of it is being brought to you by etsy.

If you couldn't tell from like every post ever. I mention them often.

I don't remember how I found this wonderful online flea market, but brother do I ever love it. Almost all the jewelry options I've given my 'maids or considered for myself are from etsy. Most of the birdcage veils I have bookmarked are from etsy. The amazing shrugs (which I must must must do a post about) that I am considering buying or (cough) "recreating on my own"...yeah, they're from etsy.

Also most of the rad christmas/birthday presents you have received from me in the last two years are from etsy.

My most recent etsy purchase was some fabric for our guestbook area...which I think I'm going to try to keep semi-secret for at least a little while longer. But here it is anyway...isn't it sweet?

My mind races with projects to use it for AFTER the wedding. It's actually a bit softer in person, but I think it will work well for our purposes. From fresh squeezed fabrics...I want all the fabric she has to offer.

And just as an update...my bridesmaids are amazing. They are constantly abuzz with planning and I could not be more thankful for them. They're more on the ball than me in many ways...planning their hair appointments, showers, many of them have their jewelry and I myself do not.

And just as another testiment to the POWER OF THE ETSY, my sister 'maid searched out and customed ordered her jewelry before my butt could even make the suggestions...and it is phenomenal!

from KristieGK. I've heard they're even better in person! The other girls are finding jewelry and shoes and I'm just...very...very...happy.

No, not just happy. I'm...excited?

OKAY GUYS I'M OFFICIALLY STARTING TO GET EXCITED!

Let's get married!

sexyback

2008-08-11T13:14:00.000-05:00

It's time for another edition of If I Were Having A Different Wedding!

This episode is devoted to The Backdrop or "Cascade" Necklace.
A backdrop necklace is traditionally pretty short and simple in the front with a long chain of beads or pearls hanging down the back of the neck. It's simple yet dramatic and just an incredibly sexy piece of jewelry. I love them.
I could rock one of these at my wedding, but I don't think it would look as good with my "look" as that of more modern brides. Better with a backless dress, or maybe something sheath-like (neither of which would work on my body).So I can't rock them myself...but maybe certain bridesmaids with recently shortened hair would like them...perhaps.

These pretty, dramatic necklaces are from etsy seller Cathy5591.
Many more options can be found by searching for "cascade necklace" or "backdrop necklace" in all colors and prices...so you know, if you often wear open backed clothes, you could just pick one up for every day prettiness.

pointless longing: earrings

2008-08-04T01:01:00.004-05:00

I don't really have a hundred bucks to drop on earrings at the moment, but oh, oh if I did, I would order these in an instant. from here.

bridesmaid jewelry II: matching the dress

2008-08-04T00:38:00.005-05:00

For those of you who wondered why I wasn't posting, allow me to continue present the massive research for bridesmaid jewelry. It is divided into sections, section one focusing on clear beads to match their hand-made bracelets, and this one to focus on beads that will match their dresses.

The dresses are purple and orange. Girls who are really into wedding color coordination can wear jewelry that matches their dress or they could wear the opposite color to show how sassy they are. And these are very pretty, vivid colors. Who wouldn't want orange and purple jewelry for their everyday life?

Now, most of these options are purple, but plenty of orange exists in the world, as well as ambers and warm rich yellows, any of which would look fantastic. If you find a style you like on etsy, lots of times they can re-create it in a color of your choosing. All of these are just suggestions of course. I have nothing but faith in these girls. Their style is immaculate.

from clopezdesigns

from a finishing touch

with matching earrings:
from fishers and reeth

from a finishing touch
from a finishing touch

from jenny trinh (yes, these are blue, but she says they're available in more colors, including deep purples and oranges and yellows)
from jenny trinh

from opheliax

from holly gems
(oh look! They come in purple as well! Perhaps the purple clusters would look a little too "grape-like" for some, but again, I think they're adorable and I lust after them)

Once again all jewelry found by etsy, the world of crafty art.

Up next, matching the theme!

bridesmaid jewelry I: matching the bracelet

2008-08-03T23:57:00.008-05:00

This post goes out to my ladies! And anyone who might care about jewelry for my ladies! And people who like jewelry, who are probably ladies or open minded dudes!

And it is massive. I apologize. So massive that I'm splitting it into sections to save your poor, poor minds.

I am incredibly open to jewelry, the same as I am to shoes--wear what makes you feel pretty and comfortable! There are a couple of different ways they can go.

One, they can match the bracelets that my mom and I are making. I don't have pictures (yet) but they're made with clear crystal beads that are flat and long and the setting is silver. Any clear beads would probably look nice with them. Clear beads are also the most matchable (they match everything! They're clear!) and the most re-wearable (they match everything! They're clear!)

A great option for those of us who want lots of sparkle without going overboard.

from featherings

from emmommy

from shy siren (one of my favorites--I think these would match the bracelets perfectly)

from fischersandreeth

from lulidesigns

from carmen monique

from white iris studio

from kristen friesen

from ana ramon

from tztudio (another one of my favorites...so delicate and pretty!)

from handwired

from opheliax

from holly gems (adorable, fun and flirty, and not too terribly fancy. I just want these earrings for my life, if not my wedding.)

All earrings ever brought to you by etsy, the world of crafty art.

Up next, matching the dress!

teaser trailer

2008-07-28T13:04:00.002-05:00

blogger wouldn't let me post pictures yesterday, but I wanted to give a little sneak peek of the invitations that are currently occupying our wedding plan time. Oh yes, you are excited.

for lack of a better post, hair

2008-07-26T10:54:00.007-05:00

I was planning on doing a bridesmaid related post but I think that will take a long time, so I'm going to just do a post about hair for a second and then maybe get to the other later...the anticipation is killing you, I'm sure.
The hair style issue seemed a lot more pressing when I thought my first dress fitting was looming, but since recent estimates place the arrival of my dress at the END OF AUGUST (yes, this is upsetting to me. Yes, it is giving me an ulcer) I have a little more time to consider and get feedback and change my mind a million times.

I am not good at doing my own hair. I almost always have it tucked into a pulled up ponytail or twisted back into a forest of clips. If it's down it's usually in my way and I probably need a haircut. But I am pretty good at doing other people's hair out of necessity for my frequent wardrobe/costuming duties. On any other head I can find the proper placement of hot curlers and bobby pins to recreate period hairstyles and gravity defying spikes. So I'm pretty confident in my decision to not hire a hairstylist for my wedding. I am planning on doing my own hair, or at least directing my very talented sister and cousin on how I would like my hair to work.

So I've been considering my options. When we found my dress I had my hair in a big clip (Shannon Hair Staple #3) and we played with it up and down and half up and down. My mom is encouraging me to wear it down since my hair can be one of my best features, but I can't help but think of all the times I've tried to do my hair all pretty and then I ended up sticking my carefully dried and curled experiment into a clip and saying "fuck it." But for the wedding, I'm open to possibilities.

All I know is that I want curls...not for the romance, but for the volume. Here's a little costumer wisdom: if you want a hair style to stay, put the hair in hot curlers first. Or curl it with an iron and a lot of product. Bobby pins love to grab curls, and they make buns and chignons full and resilient. Also, if any little tendrils fall out they look romantic and intentional and not like big ol' mess.

Since I'll be having two dress fittings IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, GRRRRRR I'm planning on doing my hair for both so I'll know exactly what it'll look like with The Dress. Then we'll probably do my hair every night of wedding week as practice.

Here are some examples from my inspiration bookmarks.

Wearing it down:
I'm not a big fan of the "curly hair and straight bangs" look because I worry that it'll date pictures, but this is a nice compromise. It looks very natural.
I really like the top two, especially the red, but I'm too lazy to separate the original image. Meh.
The ginger bridesmaid has gorgeous hair from the back, which I would like since, you know, that's what people will be looking at for a good half an hour of ceremony.
I looooove this one, and there really isn't any "style" to it. Just good curls pulled up with a pretty sweep and volume on top. I could do this. This would be very pretty on me, I think.

The Updo:

Anyone who reads this and actually sees me on a daily basis will probably laugh because these are for the most part just curly versions of how I wear my hair everyday. But I kind of like that idea. I know these styles look good on me, I'm capable of doing them, and well, I may be dressed up all fancy but I'm still me.
Oh, I love this one from Brides magazine. Pretty much this whole picture, the makeup, the earrings, the tendrils...I'm on board.

Sigh. This Jessica Alba hairstyle is so cute and pretty and very very "me," but it is very messy and...um...it looks exactly like my hair does as I post this, and my mother would probably kill me if I looked like I just woke up at my wedding.
But if this is how my hair looks after a lot of pictures and dancing I will be very, very happy.

Another option I only recently started to favor was the asymmetrical "side do." It would get the hair out of my face while still showing off the reds in pictures. My only issue would be that the hair piece is also asymmetrical. Would I have the branch swoop over the side with the bun, or the side without? Will this make me look off centered or dated? I dunno, but it's pretty.

The Side Do:

So what do you think? Which do you like best? Any suggestions?

missing the point

2008-07-24T20:32:00.005-05:00

So, a side story about our registry and towels:

First, I have to say that the wedding registry, or the promise of soon having a registry, has affected my life. When a household item stops functioning, especially a kitchen tool, I will usually refuse to buy a new one. That is what the registry is for, and the money I would spend on these things should really go towards wedding stuff like CANDY. My towels are suffering at the moment. They're not shredded yet but they are thoroughly, deeply used.

Secondly, When you register pretty much anywhere, you get what is essentially a souped up inventory gun. It might not even be souped up. It is probably just the same gun they use for inventory. You scan and item and tell the little gun how many you want of something and it goes on the registry. It also tells you how much the item costs, and whether or not it will be in regular stock or if it's just a seasonal item (we tried to avoid most of the college stuff but I think some of it snuck on there...)

Anyway, so we were registering for towels. I had my eyes on the very fancy damask ones because they're just incredibly gorgeous towels.
But they're kind of expensive and I knew we would just end up destroying them and using them to dry off the dog or something, so we looked around more and found a very affordable but still very pretty line of plainer towels. I of course liked the green, Greg liked a stripe, and we also found a coordinating teal blue that we thought would round it out nicely. So we scan the towels, and when we get to the teal ones the little gun goes "BOOP!" and says "This item has limited availability and might not be available in all stores. Continue?" And we said sure, figuring it was a discontinued color or whatever. And then when it came up on the screen, it said
"Towel: $1.84"
And Greg said, "What? Is that towel two dollars?"
So we took it over to the little scanner doohickey that they hang at the end of aisles in Target and checked and yep, the full size, super soft bath towel was $1.84. There were no sale signs, no clearance tag. They just lowered the price and never told anybody.
So we registered for the other towels and then bought the cheap ones. They gave us a weird look when we turned in our gun with a big pile of towels. They were like, you want to buy these? But you could just click them and have someone else do it...

So I now have a few nice towels and they're WONDERFUL. And this is maybe the dumbest post on here ever but I thought it was neat.

REGISTRY!

2008-07-24T16:37:00.016-05:00

(before I begin, let me explain yesterday's hiatus in: How the Internet Conspires Against Me
My yesterday: "Oh yeah! I'll post every day! What a great idea! In fact, let's go out an do wedding stuff this morning so we can talk about it with the internets later!...Wait, what's this? The internet isn't working? All day long? No internet at all? Well...damn.")

So I wasn't able to post yesterday which is really too bad because we did a HUGE to-do: the registry.

I have a crush on the club wedd bird logo. It's adorable.

At the moment we are only planning to register at Target. I was a little worried for our relatives, few of whom live near a target or are online-shopping savvy, but I figure they can just be told some of the things on the registry and find them for us in other stores--the bake wear, for example. I don't care what BRAND of cookie sheet I get, but damn do I need new cookie sheets. Also, they'll be able to go off the registry fairly easily since they are mostly old married folks and this isn't their first time at the rodeo, you know?

We're also considering doing a small online registry with CB2 for people who want to get us something "different" while still getting something straight from a registry. They have a great selection of modern stuff that is DIRT CHEAP. Which appeals to that part of my heart that is still an undergrad--i.e. all of it.
The CB2 "Yum Plate" (also available in Mmmm and Ooooo!) only $2.95

But currently, we just have the Target registry, and it is not lacking in amazingness. A brief preview:

Some stuff is stuff we need, but since Greg and I have been living in sin for almost four years, we have a lot of home essentials. We really had to consider what we already have. Some of it desperately needs upgrading, like our cookies sheets and our foreman grill and those TONGS THAT DRIVE ME F'ING NUTS. Sigh. But some stuff just needs to be expanded, like our collection of guest-worthy silverwear and plates. We're not into fine china, but we do occasionally entertain and those plastic dorm dishes won't cut it. We have nice settings for four. The dishes we currently have are these:
from my dad for my last birthday. We thought about adding another set of the same, but then we decided instead to just get more plates and bowls in a very similar pattern, only round. Our nice flatware is from my mom for Xmas:
We just needed more regular silverware (where are all my forks? Seriously. If we go one day without doing dishes there are no forks and hardly any spoons.) So we're signed up for this simple but very effective looking set...and now that I'm thinking about our spoon situation, maybe we'll add another one...
Of course every good registry has some things on it that the groom will enjoy as well:And either Rock Band I or II and a drum kit will join the ranks as soon as the reviews of the newer version are out.

We were also told to register for some bigger ticket items for group gifts and the incredibly generous. Of course I knew what I wanted...my finger was itching to shoot it as soon as we got the scanner gun, and it felt so good to put it on the list...maybe we'll get it or maybe not, but if someone DOES get it for us they will get the supreme pleasure of watching me pee my pants:
Yes, the red Kitchen Aid stand mixer is on every registry ever but I don't care. I could beat some serious egg whites with this baby.

Now, let me just say that yes, there are bigger things that need to be done before the registry. Very big things. But setting up a registry is 1) free, 2) fun, and 3) means other people don't have to wait for me to do it anymore (mainly those wily bridal shower planning bridesmaids)
And sometimes, in all this vendor paying paper ordering stresstastic mess of planning, you need to do something where they give you a gun and say "shoot what you want and maybe people will buy it for you." That relieves a LOT of stress.

Oh, and if you look at our registry please forgive me. A lot of the items don't have pictures online, and there will probably be much editing in the following weeks.

one hundred days

2008-07-22T23:07:00.002-05:00

The wedding countdown I saved on google, which I often forget/do not care enough to check, and only looked at today because we were talking to very-soon-to-be-married people, says one hundred days exactly. Which means in like forty-five minutes, this wedding will be in the double digits, i.e. 99 days away.

Ninety. Nine. DAYS. Not weeks. DAAAAAAAAAYS.

This is very frightening and very exciting at the same time.

I texted my family and members of my bridal party with this alarming fact and my sister replied "oh, then i guess i stop eating" and I was almost going to agree before I looked in my oven and dammit if I wasn't making a meatloaf. I kind of resent this milestone coming at me when I am suddenly finding it fun to make things for dinner, since I am hoping for Getting Married to equal Looking Skinny In Pictures which is, in my mind, equal with Not Eating Those Oatmeal Cookies You Made With Like Three Cups of Sugar.

But this is good. This will put a fire under my ass that I said was there in May...and January...and October. I can also start the Regimine of Moisturization and Exfoliation and Hair Care that will make me look like a very smooth and shiny version of myself.

Isn't it great that we get to share this crazy time together?

And also...let's try a post a day from now on, yeah? Even if it's stupid. It'll encourage me to at least think about weddings.

Oh, and Katie? I AM TOTALLY MAKING A PAPER CHAIN.

Fashion Show! Fashion Show! Fashion Show at 2 AM!

2008-07-18T02:35:00.006-05:00

So we've got shoes. We've so got shoes.

My wedding shoes (and the groomsmen wedding shoes) are slip-on Converse. They were on sale, because Converse had this great idea to take out their laces and put elastic under the tongue in this particular model, which it turns out went over like McCain at the NAACP. We're going to put laces on these, and they're part of my gift package to my groomsies, but I'm really happy with the look. What may not come across in the picture is that the stripe around the sole is brown as well. We'll probably be wearing brown socks with these. Here they are with Shannon's shoes.

I'm really happy with this purchase, and Converse has been beyond fantastic. As if by destiny, I won some kind of sweepstakes and got a $70 Converse.com giftcard as my prize. I used that on their site, there were some issues with the order on their side, and I initially was only sent half of the needed shoes. But they handled the issue within 12-hours of me reporting it, and shipped the missing half of the order 2nd-day air at no extra charge. The "missing" shoes actually got here before the first half. But I really can't recommend Converse enough. They're a big company, but they clearly care about their customers, even the ones who happen to find the perfect shoes in the clearance section.

The suits are coming along really nicely, I just need one final size (which I'll be getting tomorrow, thanks Davey!) and Men's Wearhouse will be able to pull in the very few remaining suits (literally four left in the entire company in some needed sizes) for the wedding. You can check them out here. I included them in previous suit posts, but they're finally at the right price for this wedding. We are asking the groomsmen to buy the suits, but a rental costs about 60% of this price anyhow, and you actually get something to keep for the money. There are rental options available in brown, but they're kinda clunky tuxedoes, which is not my style or what I want for the wedding. We'll be wearing standard white Oxford shirts with neckties, orange for my brothers and I, purple for Ben and Justin. Additionally, and really above all else, they're really nice suits.

Other than that we've just got to pay the 50% deposit and signed contract for the ceremony venue by the end of the month and we're going to be in excellent shape. Then it's cake, registration, and invites. There's a draft of the invitation that's coming alone nicely, with contributions from both Shannon and myself, we just have to finalize some graphical elements and fonts and then tackle the text mountain that we're making out of the back. We're operating on a theme of a carnival/sideshow flier, with really whimsical text and typography, while still trying to be stylish and classy. I think you'll all like it quite a lot. I've even got a pipe dream for heat activated secret messages, but I probably shouldn't tempt fate by sending people important pieces of paper with elements they can only read with fire.

Oh, and I do need to update you on the aforementioned Rehearsal Dinner space. Short story is that we couldn't get The Matt. They'd already arranged a booking for that night, so it was heartbreakingly unavailable. But we found a secondary option that is going to cost us no money to rent and a comfortable amount for food and drink. More on that once negotiations complete.

small bits of wedding brain goo

2008-07-12T20:22:00.005-05:00

Strangest. Title. Ever.

I have been making wedding headway. I do have things to blog about. I swear. I just...can't yet, for whatever reason. For example, we have met with a caterer and he has sent us an AMAZING menu, but we haven't signed the contract yet so I don't want to jinx it. We're working on invitation proofs, but I kinda want those to be a surprise for the guests (she says now...but will probably post them immediately after they are finished). Also, I WANT A DRESS FITTING. But the people at Jasmine Bridal are being slow as with sending my threads...or something.

So here are a couple of little wedding bits that aren't really post-worthy but can still be mentioned, just so I don't neglect and lose you all

1. Being engaged has made me much better at directions. Even though I'm in my mid-twenties, I still, on occasion, had to do the little "L = left" hand gesture to figure out my directions. I'm not stupid, it's just not something my brain wraps itself around. But now I'm like BAM! That direction is left. And there is no question. Because left now equals engagement ring finger. And right equals lack of diamonds.

2. When you are engaged you care about the STUPIDEST SHIT IN THE UNIVERSE. I'm not just talking about embossed napkins and ice sculptures. Any time any one mentions any thing that is wedding related, my ears perk up. And I will talk with people with whom I have nothing in common for hours about weddings. I want to talk to all the customers at the store about weddings. I want to ask all the married people I know about their wedding. And I want to see the pictures. It's ridiculous because it totally warps your entire mindset. It's like having children, only instead of a total lifestyle change and huge responsibility you're really only obsessing about one day. This is shallow, but I still love it. It worries me. It worries me all the time.

3. When I notice the expiration date on food or makeup or whatever, I always check to see if it expires before or after I am married.

4. Holy shit you guys, I'm getting married.

5. What worries me is paying for all this shit. I know it's going to be cool, I know we can all pull it off together, but sometimes I just get horrible stomach aches when I realize how much weddings cost.

6. I am so so so excited to actually be married. My wedding nightmares recently have revolved around us failing to get a marriage license, or being unable to do so, etc., so the wedding goes off without a hitch but we're not actually married. That is what I want. I want to be married...and I want to throw one kick-ass party to celebrate that fact.

7. This post has the most swearing of any hallowedding post ever. Also, very possibly, the most italics.

heartbreak

2008-07-07T17:40:00.004-05:00

As the months tick by and the wedding gets closer, many of the planning elements of this wedding are done. Vendors are secured, decisions are made, stuff is ordered and set into place. Basically, the last few months before the wedding come down to execution and second guessing.

I waver a bit on my ability to execute plans but when it comes to second guessing myself I am becoming a stone cold expert.

Even though I have a very particular wedding aesthetic that I'm happily sticking to, I have second guessed pretty much every element of this wedding. Am I sure I want cupcakes? Are these bridesmaid dresses okay? Am I really getting married on Halloween?

These questions are silly, because I love the wedding I'm planning. It feels right to me. Sometimes I just get sidetracked by pretty pictures.

But there is a recent temptation that I just can not get out of my head, that has me questioning my own feelings alternatingly cursing fate for not finding it in time and kicking myself for even considering re-considering.

That is...my dress.

Don't get me wrong...I love my dress. I love it. It gave me all those mystical ooh-ahhhh feelings that they tell you about in the magazines. It makes me feel beautiful and skinny and sexy and the thought that soon I will be able to put it on in a fitting makes my heart beat a little faster. I tried on A LOT of dresses, and that was the only one to make me feel that way.
I. Love. That. Dress.
But sometimes, deep in my heart, I still have a longing for the short dresses.

I often talked about the short dresses, longed for the adorable designer options, and even tried on a few, but none the options available to me either weren't affordable or didn't feel right. I thought it wouldn't be, it couldn't be, and as much as I wanted to be able to see my shoes and sport a bright orange petticoat, I decided to give up the ghost and look at "regular" dresses. Luckily for me I was able to find a long dress that made me feel like a bride.

But then that goddamn Miss Shortcake, who lives to tease torment me with her fashion sense and good ideas, wrote a post today about Dolly Couture.
For the price of a mid-range David's Bridal gown, I could've had a ready to order adorable shortie dress, begging for a birdcage veil and a cute pair of shoes. This one is called the "Hastings on the Hudson" which is lacy perfection, but "Edmonton"....ohhhhhh edmonton......
HOW HARD COULD I HAVE ROCKED THIS DRESS?
It kinda sorta makes me want to cry.

I need to have a fitting for my actual dress soon. I think in the case of clothes, absense is making the heart grow distant, and all these pretty dresses are just a little too much temptation to stand.

bon voyage, mon joli fleurs

2008-07-01T14:20:00.008-05:00

Today I'm preparing to send supplies to my AMAZING cousin who will be doing all our flowers for this wedding. She is incredibly crafty, and did the flowers for her own wedding and the weddings of her two sisters. She's also coming a week before the ceremony to help gut pumpkins and make cookies...but mostly to hang out with my mom, who is like her best friend. They're super cute together, just you wait.
So in a little while she'll be getting a big ol' box full of ribbon we bought with after season clearance Some inspiration sheets I whipped up in photoshopExtra leaves, baby's breath, and feathers (just in case her area stores are missing some of the ingredients) and the rough draft of the bouquet that my mom, sis and I whipped up when I went home for Super Wedding Weekend, which is starting to look a little haggard after a few months of hanging out and being batted around by the cat:
I'm a little sad to see them go. I'm shocked to realize that I'm going to miss them.

"WAIT, did she just say she was sending flowers through the mail?
And that they had been around for months? But that would mean...they would have to be...she wouldn't use....FAKE FLOWERS?"
Okay, let's just get something out in the open.
Are you sitting down? Probably, since this is the internet and you are probably on a computer.
Okay: I am using fake flowers for my wedding.
(ooooh, gasp, gag, I know right?)
I am a big ol' faker, and I have no problem with this. I did not think it would be an issue but I guess this is a huge wedding faux pas. I have learned that this is "unacceptible" because it seems to be the only part of my wedding people are willing to argue with me about. There are some things, like our wedding date and our choice of menu, which people consider "non-traditional," but they usually just say something like "Ohh...that's interesting." They have never come out and told me I shouldn't do something.

But apparently something about fake flowers make even the most polite people feel the need to tell me that I will ruin my entire life if I don't drop some serious dime on fresh blooms. Well, most people don't go that far, but perhaps many of you may have made an involuntary scrunchy face at the very idea when you read it, and people have told me that they think it's a "huge mistake." Really? Having artificial flowers will somehow make my wedding less magical? How does that work?
The fact of the matter is, I don't care about flowers. Not really. I want pretty flowers to be a part of my wedding, sure, and I want a bouquet that will compliment my bodacious dress, but this is a wedding on a budget. If I spent the amount of money on flowers that is expected, I would have to leave folks off the guest list. Their presence is more important to me than something that will wilt and die by the end of the night. Also, as we have established, Greg and I are both awkward people and I would crush a living flower with my elbow, foot or butt looooong before reaching the ceremony location. I think I would regret that. I don't think I am able to regret renunculas, dahlias, and feathers in perfect wedding colors that will take most of the abuse that I will be giving out, and for less than I spend at target in a given week.And see how pretty? So pretty. And that's just me and my fam playing around in a craft store. Imagine what the magical hand of experience will be able to do.
So what do you think? Are you a little disgusted by plastic flowers? Are real flowers worth the price? Or do you agree that every once and a while it's okay to fake it?

ceremony location: ACHIEVED!

2008-06-26T21:20:00.009-05:00

Warning: lots of pictures. Not sorry about it, just warning you.

I know what you're thinking---Shannon, you never update. Shannon, you never plan. Shannon, you're running out of time.
(Which is true, of course. For those of you counting, 126 days. Four months. Fuckin' hell, you guys.)
You, Shannon, are a terrible bride.
Well, that may be true. But luckily, the terrible bride has an amazing groom. As I have said, Greg The Super Fiance plans like a madman on his days off, calling dudes and checking webs. And, as I have yet to say, we are currently in negotiations with all our vendors.
You read me right.
I.E., this wedding is ALMOST PLANNED. It is so on. So let's show some pictures!

For a long time, we were in negotiations with the Joslyn Art Museum, since it was very pretty and directly across the street from our reception venue, the Scouler ballroom.
We would have rented out the Strauss Bridge, which features the huge glass installation of Chihuly's "Inside and Out." (Eliminating the need to have any ceremony decorations whatsoever, for how could mere flowers compete with swirly blown glass goodness)
Unfortunately, an early miscommunication gave them the impression that we wanted to rent the space for the entire night...about six hours longer than we actually needed it. When we finally cleared it up, they said we could hold our wedding there, but it couldn't start until 6...which means, if we still did the break that we are planning to allow for trick or treating, costuming up, and of course pictures, we wouldn't offer food to our guests until 8 or 9 o'clock...which is a little late for families to be feeding their children, and would only allow a few hours for dancing. So we didn't go with them. I need lots and lots of dancing.

Then there was the Holland. The Holland Performing Arts Center is a beautiful, beautiful place that I will admit I've been eyeing since before ever being engaged. It is a drop dead gorgeous building. The archetecture is clean and modern and it has windows for days...but early price quotes and capacities made us think it was out our reach.
HOWEVER, as is often the case with this wedding, luck smiled upon us and we found a connection...Greg works at the building, and since he is amazing and sweet and our wedding is on a Friday, we got a deep, deep discount. I won't say how deep, but let's just say if it were a hole, we'd be shovelling magma.
The main lobby is where most weddings happen...it has an epically huge staircase and an amazing sculpture by Jun Kaneko. We both like the drama of the main staircase, but it is a little extreme for a tiny flower girl (and a klutsy bride in heels) to navigate. And, as breathtaking as the glass stairs are, minty green doesn't really go with the whole "autumn" vibe.But oh, there is another lobby just beside the grand lobby...a tiny, unassuming lobby
with floor to ceiling windowsand a more managable, but still effective, staircase
A sweet little intimate space where we can get married in style.

Oh, and the chairs that come with the rental are ORANGE.

Destiny man. Destiny.

i'll be back soon

2008-06-20T21:17:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a while, I'm busily working to get Shakespeare on the Green on...the....green. Working in the costume shop for fifteen hours a day really drains the brain, and when I get home, I really want to go to bed, not look at different photographers.

(reminder to self: LOOK AT PHOTOGRAPHERS. and then post about it)

I have a box of ribbons and feathers sitting by the door waiting to go to my fabulous cousin who is doing our flowers, and about once or twice a week my mom calls to ask if I have sent it yet. There is a meeting looming with our number one catering choice. Our rehearsal dinner venue has changed. Again. Probably. And maybe, someday, we will sign a contract with our ceremony location.

But I don't want to do that right now. I'm still very enthused about getting married, I'm just so very, very tired. And the thought of making decisions (and paying deposits) kind of makes me want to cry.

But that doesn't matter. Because I'm getting married in ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO DAYS, and decisions have to be made.

Luckily I am marrying someone who is both incredibly organized and thoughtful, and (hallelujah!) has Mondays off, and he has been doing the planning for me. Other brides, start your gasping now. And just to let you know---it's WONDERFUL.

Also, I just think, when I'm done...I'll be married. And happy. AND IN MEXICO.
Ahhhh, so THAT'S why people have honeymoons. I get it now.

Rehearsal Dinner

2008-06-14T17:41:00.006-05:00

The easiest decision we made, other than our wedding date, is our rehearsal dinner place, The Old Mattress Factory.

I love me some exposed beams!
We discovered this amazing bar and grill right next to the qwest center on Memorial Day when we had no groceries and no where in the entire metro area was open for dinner. (Oh, and by "discovered" I mean "finally ate at that place that everybody else already loves"). Oh boy howdy, is it delicious. They've got burgers and brick oven pizzas and SWEEEEEET POTATOOOOO FRIIIIIIIIIES!! (which, for those of you not in the know, are on the short list for Greg and Shannon's Very Favorite Foods). When we realized they had a private room it was TOTALLY ON.

There's a little lounge area with leather chairs and bunches of tvs (quote Greg "so people can watch whatever sporting event might be on?") but there's also a screen in the eating area for a possible slide show. Or a constant stream of old school Halloween movies.

I'm so in love with this place that I even have little fantasies about using it for our other purposes...either for an incredibly informal ceremony or a very small reception. The wedding idea is out because, in the very wise words of the Ms.O.H., "you don't want your wedding to smell like food." And as for the reception, the 100+ guest list strikes again...we can hardly keep the guest list for the rehearsal dinner under fifty. Again I must mention that if I were having one of those adorable little 75 person weddings, our wedding would be totally different and mega cute...we could deck this place out for a reception and still have room for a dance floor. I'd hang lanterns from the low ceiling and instead of centerpieces, I'd hang photo mobiles from the ceiling over the tables with pictures of us, our families, and friends, and maybe some vintage Halloween postcards. Like so:

But as it is, I'm just thrilled to have an Omaha institution for our rehearsal dinner!

god bless you zappos

2008-06-07T21:30:00.004-05:00

I promise this is the last shoe post...for a while. I can't go cold turkey but I'll try to go lukewarm chicken for you.
...That sounded dirty.
First, let us discuss Nona, the saucy mink:
I lurve those pleats, obviously, but that Nona, she's a pincher. I'm sure I could've walked around in them for several hours without visibly limping, but they rubbed me the wrong way. Also, deep down, I know I wasn't meant to rock peep toes. I've got kind of chubby toes and chubby toes don't readily lend themselves to "peeping."
Oh man if I were in the market for every day shoes I would be all over these. They're crazy comfortable and super shiny, and even though they are pointy toed (which tend to make my size ten feet look witchy...and not in a cool hallowedding way) they looked really cute!
Also, check out the lining:
Pigs! What a fun little secret to keep in your shoe.

I wanted those shoes to work out. I liked the idea of Greg and I wearing red shoes together, and since they were just straight up pumps I could conceal all sorts of pads and doo-dads to make them the most comfy shoes ever. My only issue with the reds is the toe cleavage (see picture) which, again, is very cute on others but usually looks unintentional and chubby on me.

And as much as I love the reds...
Who can compete with orange satin? These shoes are so hot in person it almost felt adulterous to try them on. As soon as I opened the box Ashley and I both said "I like thooooooooose."
And they're comfortable! The most comfortable of the three! I could walk in these, I could run in these, and you know I'm going to dance in these...I think whenever you wear these shoes you automatically learn the samba.

So of course, I'm going with orange...Greeter Penguin, could you add some fanciness to this decision please?
(Notice the shoe explosion around Greeter Penguin. This is not posed, this is just the state of our entryway. Or you could say all the other shoes are bowing down to the awesomeness of these shoes. Even you, jelly shoes. Even you.)

unforseen delay

2008-06-05T23:05:00.004-05:00

YES, I tried on the shoes, and YES, one of the pairs was perfect. I have not posted about it yet because of a bit of circumstance--mainly, someone breaking into my car--has occupied my time with stinky non-wedding shoe related business.

Do not worry! Nothing was broken or stolen, in fact they actually left stuff in the car. Silly criminals.

But I'll post as soon as I can about shoes! And maybe I'll throw in some greeter penguin, since you've been so very patient.

full of promise

2008-06-03T20:07:00.003-05:00

Free overnight shipping, friends!

Perhaps if I send Simon back in one of the shoe boxes, I will get to keep all the pretty shoes?

Pictures once I paint my toenails.

shoes! volume 2: practical perfect

2008-06-01T21:32:00.004-05:00

Okay, so the feathers and frou frou will not be making an appearance on my feet...probably. A little too expensive, a little too elaborate. But I will give you a preview of my current Zappos shopping cart, so you may anticipate their arrival as much as I am. I had an ENORMOUS list of possibilities, and then slowly--painfully--narrowed it down to four.

Basically, my shoe requirements were pretty simple:
1. Shorter Heels: I love the way heels improve my posture and poise, but in anything above 2.5" and I start to clomp around like a newborn pony.
2. Comfort: Obviously, everyone looks for comfort in their wedding shoe. This one was rough, however, since I had to eliminate any shoe that got nasty reviews for comfort. Which means a lot of shoes that I loved, deeply deeply desired in my heart, were eliminated.
Farewell, Touch Ups Sharmain. I hardly wore thee.
3. Color? I'm still considering white, and will be ordering two pairs of shoes that are in the ivory family, but color is...intriguing. I love color. Especially in shoes, where my pale skin doesn't come into play with things being flattering. Greg will be wearing red shoes, so I'm also considering shoes that are red or can be dyed red.

These are Nona by Touch Ups. It is a dyeable shoe, which is nice for post-wedding wear and could potentially go red, they are pleated (bonus!) and I think it's just begging for a shoe clip...perhaps a bit of feather frou would be possible after all! These look like they would stay put and have the most support, but looks can be deceiving. They only have one review, but it is positive. We shall see.
Presenting Favorly, by Nine West. This is one sexy shoe. Surprisingly, Zappos had many reviews for the Favorly and they all said it was very, very comfortable. That is pretty much the only reason I am considering these in white. I might not even order the above shoe because...well...it's so...ivory. And why have ivory when you can have ORANGE SATIN:
OW! Look out, they might burn ya! I love love love these. And I'm thinking in person they might end up being a little more red, and could work with the red groom shoes. I may just order these and then, if they just won't work with the color, but are as comfortable as everyone says, I might send away for the cream option.
Oh Chinese Laundry. I have been a fan for a long time. And now you bring me Jaeger, with it's tiny little heel and pleats and candy apple red leather. These are Greg's favorite by far. They're a little plainer than I imagined the wedding shoe to be, but I could seriously rock these after the wedding is over. They're just really, really cute.

So hopefully I'll be getting a box from Zappos on Wednesday and then I'll be wearing these hot little numbers all over the place. Expect lots of booty shaking.

shoes! volume 1: ooh la la

2008-05-31T23:23:00.008-05:00

This weekend I received my first stipend for working for Nebraska Shakespeare. I was thinking about how to best use this chunk of cash towards the wedding. Catering down payment? A wedding band for Mr Fiance? No, sons, I think some of this needs to go to shoes.

Not that I'm going to spend all of it on shoes, of course. But Zappos, Endless, and Shoes.com all give free shipping to and from, with 365 days to return. Meaning, I can order several pairs right now, try them on, take the top contenders to my fitting and return all the loozahs. Oh yes, yes I like this plan.
None of these will be amongst the contenders, however, even though I am IN LOVE WITH THEM, because they each cost more than twice what my most expensive pair of shoes costs.

Expensive = fancy frou frou velvet lace feathers jewels. And LOVE! Sweet, sweet love.

Maybe I should consider these. Halloween requires drama, you know?

POLKA DOTS...droooooooooooool

Wait, these are just shiny and pretty, why are they so expensive?

See, I'm not even sad that I can't afford these, I'm just happy they live in the world. Is that weird? It sounds weird.

Shoe 1, Shoe 2, Shoe 3, Shoe 4, Shoe 5, Shoe 6.

reception venue: achieved!

2008-05-26T19:52:00.006-05:00

As I have mentioned, we have made a deposit on our reception venue, so we're all official and stuff in at least one area, and even if we never find a place to hold the ceremony, there WILL be a place where we can go eat some dinner and dance.

We did end up going with the Scouler Ballroom. In my first post about possible venues, I worried that the building might be a little too big and too expensive, but when you do very special wedding math*, it's not going to be too bad. Also, c'mon guys, it's really pretty, and in the heart of downtown, and has a long list of possible caterers with whom I am excited to begin negotiations. I know several people who have gotten married there so I can just totally steal their setup. JBC, prepare to get bothered!

So hooray! HOORAY!

*Wedding Math: a special equation where a venue SEEMS to be inexpensive, but they only use the super expensive caterer and require you to pay all sorts of hidden fees and you end up with crap food and cranky guests and unhappy Shannons. If you have more than one Shannon lying around.

bridesmaids: soon to be ACHIEVED

2008-05-22T21:58:00.003-05:00

Thanks for the bridesmaid dress input, both in the comments and in personal discussion. I have decided that we should go with the Alfred Angelo Separates, and, at the brilliant suggestion of the O.H's, bridesmaids will get to choose amongst the tops and the two skirts (because AA offers TWO tea lengths. Gotta love it.)
All I need to do tomorrow is check and make sure that I want his color "grape" over "eggplant"...because eggplant is a darker purple I thought that was where I was supposed to go, but on the internet eggplant looks almost navy. A quick trip to my local bridal shop will clear that up quickly and we can get these babies ordered!
I really like this idea because then there's some unity (all tea length with pleated tops) but they can choose either a fuller or more narrow skirt, and the three tops each have a very distinct look. They can choose what looks the best on them or what they may wear again...if they need a pleated orange top, of course.
(The collage above is just a guess of what it could be, but I'm sure it will look much cooler in real life...but check out the font. Pretty sweet, yeah?)

Bridesmaid Dresses

2008-05-18T21:04:00.009-05:00

or, alternately:
SHIT.
or, third title option:
Bride Lesson: Stop Assuming Things Will Make Sense
and last but not least:
Please Help Me.

Let's go back that beautiful moment in Loomis when I realized that I was actually wearing the dress in which I would be married. It was a lovely moment. Things were in place. We decided while we were there that we should maybe look into bridesmaid dresses and have my sister (the Mrs-0-H) try on a few of the styles and colors I had been considering so we could see those colors next to my dress because, you know, it all goes around the dress.
Getting married is a very selfish endeavor.
Well it turns out I was once again wrong about what I wanted for this wedding. Or I suppose "Ignorant to the Beautiful Possibilities" is a nicer way to say it. I said I wanted a short, simple dress, and I end up with a long, elegant, pleated to within an inch of its life confection of dress perfectitude. I also thought I wanted plain brown dresses for the bridesmaids, possibly bought from an online source like jcrew, overstock.com, or even Target. I figured brown was a nice neutral safe ground and would maximize re-wearability.
But then I realized, when I actually had Jessie trying on dresses next to my dress, that I had forgotten that I have really beautiful bridesmaids with lots of personality, and that neither of those things were being represented by "brown." So I decided to shake things up a bit and go back to a color scheme that I had briefly considered: purple and orange. Or, as we later discovered, "Grape" and "Sienna." These colors are really gorgeous together, are Halloween and Fall themed without making one gag, and lucky for me, I have two bridesmaids that will look brilliant in burnt orange and three that will glow in dark purple. Once we got down to the swatches, clearly the perfect colors were made by Alexia designs. They didn't have any dresses that really thrilled me in the store, but they gave me a website address where I could view all their styles. I went, I looked, and I was unimpressed...until I chanced a click on their separates collection, where I found this:

I really love this dress. The pleating on the top hollas back to my dress while also offering a little tummy camouflage (I figure if my dress lets me stick it out all the way, why not theirs?) I also loved the idea of separates because my maids are all different sizes and I didn't want them to spend an arm, a leg, and a sleepless night over alterations. It seemed perfect!
Until I emailed for a quote and it turns out they don't make tea-length skirts for their separates.
THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO ME WHATSOEVER, especially since most of their bridesmaid dress styles are available in tea-length and it's like the most popular style at the moment.
So I had to look somewhere else, where the colors are not "Grape" and "Sienna." (which, not to have a total bride moment, but other colors of burnt orange and dark purple are not the same. Boo hoo hoo. Poor me.)

I remembered Jessie trying on an Alfred Angelo at the store. I liked their purple color better, but the orange was just a little more orangey than I liked. But I would rather have "slightly orangey" than no orange at all, and I found out he has a separate line WITH TEA-LENGTH SKIRTS. As one OUGHT TO HAVE. Suck it, Alexia.Their separate line has several super cute options that add pleats and visual interest:

The only problem I have with their line is that in the virtual simulator the skirt seems to be a slightly lighter color than the tops. I'm not sure if this actually bothers me or not. Probably not. There's also a dress or two, although I'm not entirely willing to give up on the separates:
So I thought, let's go with Alfred Angelo then. These are pretty cute!

But then I was reminded today by one of my fabulous fellow costumer friends that if I really liked the Alexia ones, the skirts could probably just be chopped off by a skilled seamstress and it wouldn't look to funky. So now I'm totally torn.

Alexia pros: The orange is a prettier, more sophisticated color, and I think Alexia is slightly cheaper than Alfred Angelo. It also has the most structured pleating, and the skirt seems to match colors almost perfectly. And, here's a big one, Alexia is carried by net bride, so girls who couldn't find a salon or wanted a discount could order online through them.

Alfred Angelo pros: We wouldn't have to worry about someone butchering the bottom skirt because it would be the proper length. Alfred Angelo is also a lot easier to find in salon if not on net bride. Also I think the pleats on the first top pictured above look the most like the ones on my dress.

Please give input, ESPECIALLY if you're one of the bridesmaids in question...this has to be decided SOON!

But just so you can see I'm not crazy, check out how pretty the colors will look together:

absolutely. positively.

2008-05-17T13:58:00.003-05:00

Things Shannon MUST Have Done By Next Saturday:

1. Go to one of the local bridal stores that carry Alexia and double check colors/styles for bridesmaid dresses so they can be ordered--because that is supposed to happen NOW.

2. Call/make appointments with at least three possibilities for ceremony locations--because that is supposed to happen SIX MONTHS AGO. I would also like to go walk around downtown, starting at the reception site, to see if there is an awesome ceremony type place that I hadn't considered. If anyone wants to walk around downtown after five sometime next week with me, give me a text and you're totally invited. We will probably get ice cream.

3. If items 1 and 2 manage to actually be achieved, call some of our catering options and see if our date is open, and if so, arrange an interview with some of them.

4. Magically do this while continuing to work one full time job and two part time jobs and not die.

(however, even though these are things I should be doing at this point, we have a copy of The Wedding Book in the store and I am spending an awful lot of time browsing its lovely pages, reminding myself that I already have two wedding planning books and do not need another, especially now that I'm no longer in the planning stages, I am now in the ACTION STAGE)

as much as i love planning the "wedding"....

2008-05-13T17:48:00.004-05:00

...we must remember to plan the "hallo"....
Greg and I love Halloween, obviously, hence the wedding date. But I am starting to love Halloween more and more just because it is making my wedding planning easier. I don't have to put a lot of effort into entertaining my guests, because Halloween is just naturally a fun day. People will remember when the wedding is because everyone--Target, ABC Family, their children--will be counting down the days anyway. And, because I'm weird, and even though I'm a theatre major, I don't want all the attention on me all the time. That would make me terribly uncomfortable and probably make me feel like I had to poop all the time.
Yeah, I said it. Deal.
Oh, and there's the costume party reception, which is a very exciting idea. Lots of friends and family members have already started brainstorming their costumes, and by my counts there will be a gaggle of little kids running around dressed as ducks or whatever.
So I suppose the question is...what's my costume?

There's no way in hell I'm taking off that dress. It'd be a waste of money and I love that thing so much I might just wear it the next day as well. I thought about adding a really dramatic head piece, something with feathers or bubbles (a post on that later) but since I might be wearing a pretty dramatic one already, that takes that out...but one option I've been considering lately is masks.

Masks would allow me to keep on my dress and accessories and not get in the way of dancing, cake, and smooching.

I really love the above one from wing and talon (look at those little eyelashes!) but I don't love the color. Since they're on etsy, I'm sure I could get the seller to customize it in white and silver--yeah, you're picturing it. And it's cute. There are sort of matching male version for Mr. Groomy Groom.

But I think the leaf masks might also conflict with head pieces...and I don't know if they scream "Ren Fair," since that is their original purpose.

These wire options from byzantiumlotus could also be REALLY cute . I'm not entirely thrilled with her designs (or their prices!) but the idea of a wire mask is strangely appealing. It wouldn't cover up any of my face or ruin my makeup and would be so simple that I could essentially wear any other jewelry I wanted. I could also potentially make it myself, which is not an option with the leather masks.
In my searchings I've found a couple of more masculine options for Greg. The copper one at the top of this post and this silvery one are some of my favorites for him, but again, the silver mask is a little RenFair. But we could get away with a little drama since it's Halloween, couldn't we? I don't know. It's just an idea.

pleated...earrings?

2008-05-09T11:47:00.008-05:00

Several months ago I bought this pair of Ann Koplik earrings from The Afternoon, where I work. They're very simple, pretty, and they have a very art deco vibe, which goes nicely with my ring and now, amazingly, with my recently acquired art deco dress.
I've just been wearing them as every day earrings, but I've thought about making them my wedding earrings. Ann Koplik makes a matching locket as well, but I think since the dress has a lot of sparkles on the collar, I'll probably go without a necklace, even though, oh, I do like lockets.But I think maybe we should keep the jewelry simple, especially since we have ordered a rather elaborate comb.

Now, that being said, LOOK WHAT I FOUND:
PLEATED EARRINGS. You already know how I feel about these, don't you? I love them, obvs. I worry that they might prove too large for wedding earrings, and they might compete with the head piece, but oh buckaroo, that doesn't mean I won't try.

So, feedback--they're about 1 3/4 inches long (pretty big earrings), not expensive but they cost enough that I have to at least think about it...should I buy them and try them out, or should I save myself some tackiness and let them go?

mrs in action

2008-05-08T23:51:00.005-05:00

This is a pump from the Kenneth Cole REACTION line, it is called Mrs In Action. I want this shoe very badly for several reasons:
1. It has the most adorable name for a wedding shoe ever.
2. It is pleated, like my dress.
3. All reviews say you can stand in this shoe for hours without pinching.
4. I think I could actually keep my foot in this shoe.

I've had this link in my bookmarks for months now, but now it would appear that no one on the internet carries the shoe in ivory anymore. Probably a bunch of stinky brides scooped them up. The bronze (a perfectly reasonable option for your hallowedding bride) appears to be constantly on clearance, but to only exist in a size six, which is maybe the most infuriating thing ever?

Oh wait...further exploration found ivory AND bronze ones on zappos.com...up to a size 8.5. Well, if any of my bridesmaids want a kick ass bronze shoe, go for it. It'll look really great.

Sniffle.

ROBOTS

2008-05-08T23:41:00.005-05:00

I love robots, and steampunk, and therefore I also love buildersstudio. Not only do they make adorable wedding robots, they sell RAYGUNS. There's not a lot of budget for small pieces of wood at the moment, but I think we should keep them in mind for like an anniversary present. Or commission a piece to be made when we get another dog or something.

(did you see the tiny gear bouquet? it made me squeek.)

THE DRESS, Part 3: Patience Rewarded

2008-05-07T16:24:00.002-05:00

I believe the words you are looking for are "oooh" and "ahhhhh"

Those pleats? Those pleats make me look really skinny. They are my new best friends.

BUTTONS!

I must've seen pictures of this dress a million times, but I never bookmarked it or considered it in any way. This should teach us all a valuable lesson in keeping an open mind. And that sometimes, bridal dress consultants do have your best interest at heart.

THE DRESS, Part 2: The Dress That Totally IS

2008-05-07T15:00:00.005-05:00

THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY SAPPY AND LONG SO EITHER DON'T READ IT OR LEARN TO DEAL WITH IT.

So, the first round of shopping was a total bust. It was such a bust that I didn't really want to try on any more dresses, and put no further effort into finding a wedding dress. This was a problem, because the wedding dress is a cornerstone of the wedding, just like your colors and your season. Without the bride's dress, you can't pick out bridesmaid dresses. You can't pick out tuxes. You're not even supposed to pick out flowers. You find that dress and everything else kind of falls into place.
Or so they say. I have recently found this to be true.
Anyway, my mom suggested we try again, but not in Omaha. She had been hearing from everyone and their dog that if you wanted THE dress, you should go to Loomis or Aurora.

"What's a Loomis?" you ask. "Is that a fancy bridal boutique I am not aware of?" No, friends. Loomis is a very very tiny town outside of Kearny, and Aurora is outside of Lincoln. They are small towns that, legend has it, have amazing bridal stores.

Okay, I said, but in my brain I was thinking Loomis? I'm supposed to find my dress in Loomis? Maybe for you guys from Grand Island and Hastings Loomis is the bee's pajamas, but I've got like seven bridal stores in Omaha.

That's right, I put on airs, and huffed around, and thought it probably wouldn't work out. I thought I was too good for Loomis. I apologize, Loomis. I was wrong.

So I arranged to go back to town for a long weekend, longer than I think I was home for Christmas, even, and we'd go to Loomis and Aurora, and then Grand Island and Kearny if necessary. Because we needed to find a dress right away. Time is running short. They say it takes about four months to ORDER a dress. I'm getting married in six.

So I came home. I bought a new, better strapless bra. We make appointments at the shops that take appointments, my mom and sister take vacation days, and we set out for Loomis on Friday morning. As we were driving I kind of had a feeling like I was going to cry. I didn't know if it was excitement or dread. I decided to try on EVERY style, every color, every cut...I would find something. I had to.

We get totally lost on the way there. TOTALLY lost. You have to cut through another tiny town and take a gravel driveway to get there. And then when we DO get arrive, it is BRIGHT PINK, with palm trees on it. Because it is called "The Bridal Isle." Like, an island. In the middle of Nebraska. We walk in and it has red and purple shag carpeting and inside the dressing rooms there are those really low ceilings with the panels like you have in your basement. There is also a sign that says ABSOLUTELY NO PICTURES.

Oh my god, I thought. What have I agreed to?

A lady comes to greet us and takes my information. Then she gestures to a large wall of dresses. There's a pretty good selection...probably the same number as the Bridal Gallery in Omaha.
"This is wall one," she says. "Pick six or seven dresses you'd like to try on, just to get started."
Wall one? I look around the corner and there are even more dresses...racks and racks of dresses. We are talking DB selection here, people. And almost everything is in my size because this is central Nebraska and around here girls like beef. Woo hoo!

Once we made our "first round picks," they grab me a dressing room and assign me an attendant, Ann. And then they tell my mom and sister to take a seat because Ann will be helping me get dressed. WHAT? I know I'm in theatre but...it was a little like that scene from Fame. You know the one I'm talking about. I was so weirded out she had to remind me to take off my jeans. Oh. Right. No pants under dresses. RIGHT.
After awhile though, it wasn't such a big deal. I chilled in my bra and panties and the platform high heels they gave me to try on with dresses. Kind of made me feel like a model to tell you the truth.

So, okay, that feeling? THE feeling I was talking about? The rumors are true. You do get a feeling when you put on the right wedding dress. You kind of tear up a little bit and you smile all the time, and you think "I'm really getting married. Holy shit." And you're just so fucking HAPPY about it you can't even take it. It's like that. Things click in your head. It seems stupid and totally like a ploy to get you to spend money but it's true.

What they don't tell you, but I think they should, is that you can get that feeling more than once. It's NOT like a soul mate. There isn't one dress out there for you, there are probably like a dozen. This comforts me. What if THE dress wasn't carried in your local bridal shop? That would suck right? But you CAN find it, I promise. I know, because I found three.

Three dresses that made me tear up and say "Ohhhhhhhhh...I'm a bride." And this is why I'm sad I couldn't take pictures, because I wish I could show you these dresses, the ones I didn't get but still gave a little of my heart to. (See, more of the sappiness. Ah, love)

The first dress we will refer to as "Princess Puff." There is a little added twinge of affection for Princess Puff because it is the first dress I got The Feeling for. When Ann zipped it up I just started saying "I really like this one. I really like this one" which in stoic Shannon speak is "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Princess Puff made my mom cry. Twice. She said it looked like what a little girl would draw for her wedding dress. It was strapless and the bodice was pleated (PLEATS) and it went a little farther down on one side than the other (causing us to also refer to this dress as "the asymmetrical one") and had a little over skirt that was also asymmetrical that fell over the ENORMOUS underskirt, which was all glittery and sparkly. It had embroidery of flowering branches over one side of the bust and one side of the waist. It was very, very princessy, and I looked like a million bucks.
As I said, my mom cried. My sister said "I think it's a 9...it would be a ten but it didn't make me cry."
We had to try on more dresses. But as I went to take off the dress I said "I just want to make it clear that I really like this one."
The next dress I loved my mom pulled because of the color--it was a light golden brown sparkly mermaid dress and around the bottom there were PLEATS. PLEATS, YOU GUYS. Beautiful pleats that I had to kick through to walk. The color was absolutely gorgeous. The whole ensemble seemed very Halloweeny. Like it would set the tone for the whole event. The sample was a little small, but I could imagine myself in one that fit. And in my imagination that girl looked GOOD.
A debate began. The color was phenomenal, but it wasn't as bridey. The other one seemed a little less...well, slutty... but was way more princessy. Also, pleats. My heart was torn.
Ann brought me back another few options, which worried me. I worry when salespeople bring me stuff, especially since I work in retail. You're supposed to sell the expensive stuff. That's just business. But I tried it on anyway.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Anne is my new favorite person.
It was gorgeous. A sign of Ann's bridal genius was that it was an exact combination of the two dresses I already loved. It had the pleated bodice and asymmetrical skirt of the Princess Puff but the simplicity of the mermaid, and was sort of a mermaid cut but still comfortable. Also, I think the whole ensemble weighs about ten pounds, max. Oh, and straps, so I don't have to worry about my dress falling down. Oh, and BUTTONS ALL DOWN THE BACK. Mmmmmm.
She zipped it up and my lip quivered a little bit.
I tried on all three AGAIN, just to be sure, but the third one had it. I had narrowed it down to three based on emotion, so for final elimination I went with logic. The first one was just too fluffy. Even bustled the back would stick out several feet, making dancing difficult and using the bathrooom completely impossible. The mermaid was flat down the front and I tend to have a tummy, so I wouldn't feel comfortable in it even if I lost a bunch of weight.
My sister also made a very nice observation about the third one--it was simple and it makes me look like a pretty girl, not a girl in a pretty dress, if that makes sense

(Actually, she said "Lots of glitter is camouflage uglier girls" but I thought I'd nice it up a bit)

My mom and Ann went off to look at head pieces and I said, "Jessie, I think I'm going to pull a ten..." and then I cried a little bit. But that was okay.
And then I thought,
"Shit. How much does this dress cost? I had decided on a dress and I didn't look at the price tag? What the hell is my problem? My mom is paying for my dress and I don't want her to spend a lot. Also I have horrible guilt problems, and I don't want to spend so much money on something that is exclusively for me, that I'll only use once..."
And of course, Ann had pulled it. The lady who would get commission from the dress. I had seen a dress similar to this one that was on Rack One for $1500 (hence me not trying it on even though it had a jacket) and I thought oh no, oh no, please don't let it be more than $1500...shit shit shit...

I pulled out the tag.

And it
was
the CHEAPEST GDAMN DRESS I HAVE TRIED ON IN THIS WHOLE DAMN PROCESS. I'm talkin' cheaper than the DB. CHEAP.

She pulled me a CHEAPER dress? WHAAAAAAAAAAT?

Have I mentioned that I love Ann? I totally love Ann. Ann might be an angel. I haven't ruled it out.

After deciding on the dress we took measurements and had a surreal moment when we had to decide between white, ivory, creme or gold--which are all just WHITE, and look exactly the same, but we still took time to decide--and I also picked out my bridesmaid colors and a really kick ass head piece comb thingy. And everything else is falling into place. The dress is the cornerstone, as I have said. And I didn't have to go to Aurora! Win win win.

So go to the Bridal Isle, and don't judge books by their covers, and have faith in taffeta. It will all turn out okay.

i hate myself for loving you

2008-05-07T14:52:00.005-05:00

Before I go into another enormous dress-buying post, look what I saw on weddingbee:
I. Need. This. Bag. Why are you so expensive, bag? Why? You're so perfectly autumnal, you are in my colors, you even have the little feather froo-froos that are going to be in my bouquet!

I could make this, surely. Right? That's just what I need...another DIY for something completely pointless and expensive. I AM A BRIDE AFTER ALL.

THE DRESS, Part 1: The Dresses That Weren't

2008-05-07T10:38:00.010-05:00

Note: I acknowledge that some people do not give half a damn about the experience of buying the dress and they just want to see PICTURES of the damn thing. So I'm going to post the whole story in a post or two and pictures above and you can look at one, both, or neither, depending on you cynicism and hatred of love and all things pretty. And how much I may have already told you to your face.

Okay, so the overly long story:

I realize that I never actually mentioned how our first wedding weekend went, all the way back in January, when my mom and sister came up and we went to a bunch of dress shops and a bridal fair.
I won't waste your time with the bridal fair...I wish I hadn't wasted my time with the fair either. All I got out of it were some tuxedo possibilities, the consideration of chair covers, and a bunch of unnecessary emails to my wedding email address.
But we did do dress shopping. Ohhh, did we do dress shopping.
I had gone shopping before, very early in the wedding process, but that experience had sucked, frankly, do to poor customer service/lack of my own enthusiasm. This time would be different, I decided, because we would really TRY to find something. And I thought we WOULD find something.
That weekend.
I was sure of it.
This was January, I'd like to point out. Four months ago.
Ashley (the Miss-0-H) was going to come but then she had to work, so just the Jackson girls (the Ma-o-B and the Mrs-o-H) set off on the magical fairy princess dress adventure. First, we went to Bridal Traditions on Pacific St. It took us a while to find it because it was in a strip mall, and we drove by it a couple of times until my mom finally noticed that it said "tuxedo rentals" on the side. The ladies at Bridal Traditions were very, very nice. My only beef would maybe be that they don't make appointments, so I think I waited half an hour for a fitting room. But that just gave us more time to sort through dresses.
Most of the dresses I tried on at Bridal Traditions were posted here, with the intention that I would talk about them later...which I am. It's just been months and months and nobody cares anymore.

The first dress we tried on was supposed to be a joke dress. We'd pulled it off one of the dummies because my sister said it'd be neat to see me in a mermaid dress. According to my body type, most bridal magazines and websites said I should be in a mermaid dress, but I'm not a wee person and I can be pretty self conscious. But I thought it'd be fun to see. We weren't going to actually consider it because it was over three times what I wanted to spend.
Here's a tip...don't try on really expensive dresses because they tend to be really, really pretty. Turns out those bridal magazines know their shit. I do look really good in mermaids.

Although that dress (which my family thereafter referred to as The Expensive Dress) looked REALLY good, I didn't get any strong feelings off of it other than "PRETTY" and "SOFT" and "THIS LACE MUST COST A FORTUNE PER YARD." I didn't think "MINE." And that's the feeling I wanted off my dress. Especially if it will cost me the down payment of a new car.

(However, as the months passed and I realized that I had to order a dress pretty much right away, I started reconsidering a lot of things, like the fact that maybe that feeling doesn't exist, or maybe it just doesn't exist for me. So I reconsidered at this dress, also from Bridal Traditions, which wasn't a big contender when I tried it on, but made me look really pretty in pictures. And I'm super vain like that.)

I would like to say that, except for the wait, the whole Bridal Traditions experience was VERY positive. They learned my name, they seemed to give honest advice about the dresses. Their dressing rooms were enormous and they let my mom and sister in to help me (and then my family could deal with the Worst Strapless Bra Ever). It really was a beautiful experience. I really appreciated that that was the first place I went dress shopping with my mom and sister, because it was very classy, comfortable, and nice. It made me feel a lot like a bride.

AND THEN WE WENT TO DAVID'S BRIDAL.

My mother HATED David's Bridal, and I've got to say, my experience there wasn't super positive. Now, I'm not a snob. I know a lot of beautiful dresses that have come out of David's Bridal, I have seen brides rocking the DB and looking like fairy princesses. It's not about the dresses. It's the experience. Maybe I went on a bad night, but we were given no help finding dresses (luckily I know my own size), the girl who was supposed to be helping me ignored most of my questions and didn't understand basic dress terminology, the lighting was terrible and unflattering and the dressing rooms are smaller than ones I've been in department stores. There was no room for people to come in and help me, luckily I was only trying on shorties and mermaids at this point because if I'd brought in a big poofy dress there would not have been room for me. My mom calls it the Dress Warehouse. I think it still gives her nightmares.

But, I do have to hand it to them, they had a lot of short dresses, which is what I really wanted.Had we not had Wedding Weekend II: Planning Extreme, and I hadn't shopped for other dresses, I probably would've gone with the above dress, without the jacket. It was simple, made me look cute, and if I wanted to wear it with a cardigan (which I so would have) and added an orange petticoat for the reception, it wouldn't have minded. It was easy like a Sunday morning.

Here are some other DB picks...I apologize for the incredibly ugly pictures...we had no digital camera with us at the time, and my scanner is broken, so I'm taking pictures of pictures. Eww. Maybe when all is fixed and done I'll do a big montage board of all the dresses I tried on.Cute, but too "spring." I, however, look really adorable.

Lacey. I like lace. A lot. But I hated their jacket with it and I couldn't figure out what else I would wear with it.

A DB mermaid (this was a favorite of some). I thought it was pretty but not me AT ALL. Also, the fabric was weird and scratchy.

We left DB with the style number of the short dress with ribbon detailing. The price was right, I could see myself wearing it, I knew how to update it to make it more "me." But I hadn't had that feeling, you know? The one everyone tells you about the moment you say you're going dress shopping. "Oh, you'll just put it on and you'll know. You'll have THE feeling." THE feeling for THE dress. They always say THE dress. Like it's a bigger deal than the fiancee, almost.
Well, I still hadn't had THE feeling.

We had only one place left to go that first weekend, The Bridal Gallery. The BG is right by my house and they have a stop light right in front, so I stop in front of it on the way to work pretty much every day and I leer at the pretty dresses in the window. The people at BG are also very nice, and the experience is very good. I know a lot of people who got their dresses there, as well, and they looked phenomenal. Got to say, though, that they have less selection than the other places I went to.
This was our third dress shop, so we kind of knew the routine. We wanted short, if they had it (they didn't), we liked lace, and suddenly, over the course of like, a day, we were obsessed with mermaids.

This mermaid was very similar to the Very Expensive Dress, and was slightly cheaper. My mom said if we went with mermaid, we should go with this one.I don't remember being this enthused about that dress, but I look pretty damn excited, don't I?

This dress was VERY pretty. (and look at the mock-antiqueness of the pictures. That's unintentionally very cool looking) My mom and sister said this dress might be It. I know, the front doesn't look like much, but oh, friends, the back...
I have a hundred pictures of the back of this dress. I love the buttons. I love the lace. Don't love the fact that on this day I forgot the strapless bra and went with a dark green number. It kind of ruins the feeling. But trust me, it was gorgeous.
Again, a very pretty dress that I felt nothing about except "it's pretty." My mom wrote down the numbers of some dresses, in case we wanted to order them later, and wedding weekend ended, not with a bang but with a "Now what?" We were tired, discouraged, I had a nasty case of bead burn (sequins hurt, yo) and we didn't have a dress.
I tried. I had tried on a lot of dresses, all styles and prices, and nothing felt like it was mine. I wondered if I was too practical to have The Feeling for The Dress, and maybe I should just settle on whatever was cheapest, or looked the nicest. Lucky for me, I didn't settle. The Knot kept sending me emails informing me that I should be on my second fitting by now, and I told the knot to eat me. I ordered a dress disaster off ebay, I considered everything I saw in department stores that was under $200 that was white. I developed a white taffeta ulcer. But I waited...or procrastinated...and I found something that was pretty AND cheap, and gave me all those warm fuzzy feelings. Wanna see it?
Well, too bad. I'm gonna go eat lunch. BE PATIENT.

ebay dress: failed

2008-05-05T16:31:00.004-05:00

So much to cover, but let's start with something I'm sure you've been wondering about: the ebay dress.
I could've blogged about the dress a long time ago...but it was a big ol' disappointment, and hallowedding is about happy things! Pretty things! And well, on me, that dress is neither.It just had no oomph, you know? I put it on and made that exact face, that "Ehhhhhhhhhh, no" face. (Recreated for your viewing pleasure! Notice the new haircut!) Not super flattering or super comfortable. Also, although I was thrilled to ORDER a vintage dress, I remembered when I put it on that "vintage" usually also means "delicate."
I think if someone wore this dress they would have to be very gentle and careful. On a daily basis I am rarely either of those things. And at my wedding, pssssssh, forget about it. The last thing I want on the most stressful...erm, I mean, wonderful day of my life is for my zipper to split when I'm shaking my money maker to Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
So I've decided when I have a moment to myself I will resell it on ebay or something. The disappointment of this dress--which was exactly what I had pictured my wedding dress looking like, so why didn't it work out? why? whyyyyy?---prompted me to plan WEDDING WEEKEND II: Planning Extreme. Where I found my actual dress that gives me warm fuzzies. Which I will talk about soon, once I find some more pictures. Be patient.

worst. blogger. ever.

2008-05-05T16:16:00.004-05:00

Well in my defense, I didn't blog because I didn't have anything to say...until now. Went home this weekend and achieved more wedding planning in a few days than I have in the last four or five months of being engaged. Thank God for Moms and sisters. They push your ass to achieve.
So let's just make a list, shall we, of things we need to blog about:

1. WE HAVE SIX MONTHS UNTIL THE WEDDING.
I try to keep the swearing to a minimum because there are mothers present but HOLY FUCK, YOU GUYS. SIX MONTHS.

2. I FOUND MY DRESS. And honestly I think that's how I was able to get anything else done because pretty much everything is coordinated to go with the dress and two, we now have something that is expensive that cannot be taken back. This shit is ON, brother.

3. Within like 18 hours of ordering the dress, I decided on my bridesmaid dresses.

4. I have a mock-up of my bridal bouquet in my closet.

5. I made a budget (six months before the wedding! I am the least responsible engaged person ALIVE)

6. I mapped out a bunch of stupid shit like centerpieces and the like.

So, much blogging to be done. Let's go!

peachy won it!

2008-04-03T22:17:00.005-05:00

Ebay has been redeemed! After losing the orange dress I was feeling a little defeated, frankly. I didn't want my heart to break again. And I thought, you know, you don't really want an ebay dress, a crazy control freak like you? Something you hadn't even tried on? A dress you've never seen? That would be CRAZINESS.
Then yesterday I found something really really pretty and that sort of went out the window.

So let's see it!

But, okay, this is NOT OFFICIALLY MY WEDDING DRESS. Understand? Mom and sister, don't cry because I bought my wedding dress on ebay. The measurements are a little...wee. The waist measurement is about two inches too small, but it should be fine with a few months of exercise and a nice pair of spanx. The bust measurement is also small, but I could maybe take it out? Or just squeeze and be super busty. So I bid like a madman on a dress that could potentially not fit because love makes us crazy, alright? If it looks like it won't fit over the world's most massive ribcage (mine) I will just resell it on ebay.

It was also lucky because I was in rehearsal when the bidding ended so I had a super massive "maximum bid" waiting in the wings...thanks to the other bidders for giving up!

I'm such a tease! Jesus.

So, without further ado, Dress Option A...there is not B at the moment but still, Option A:

It is made of lace and tulle, it's actually from the fifties, and has boning and accordion pleating...mmmmm.
It is he little ruffle modesty piece is going to go...I'm not big on "modesty."
Seller says it should be here in about a week and then I'll try it on! WHEE!

fantasy favors

2008-04-03T13:32:00.011-05:00

I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but I'm planning two weddings. One is the fabulous Hallowedding you will be attending, orange and brown and black, costumes encouraged, brimming with pumpkins and candy and autumnal goodness.

The other wedding is a made-up wedding where it is not Halloween, it is warm outside, my colors are purple and grey and everything is very chic.
This wedding will not be happening.
I don't regret our wedding date, but it does rule out certain details that don't fit the holiday or the season. Outdoor weddings on October 31st are VERY RISKY in Nebraska, since we've had several Halloweens canceled for snow and few children have known a season where their costumes didn't incorporate a parka. So that's out. Also, nature will deny me lilacs, which are very sentimental to me, and were I to be married in the spring, they'd be frickin' everywhere. In mason jars.

I don't think I'm the only bride who does this. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am not the only person who had big elaborate plans for their wedding that they secretly hold in their heart just in case they magically find, oh, several thousand extra dollars to contribute to their wedding. The elaborate, poster sized wedding invitations. The custom made Stephanie James dress. The lighting designer projecting tree branches onto the dance floor (actually I could do this myself, were my venue willing, but I highly doubt they are capable).

And oh, wedding guests, if I had the money, the favors you would get!

Now, let me just say that in my brain, I don't care about favors. They're cute, sure, but if they're missing from a wedding I don't really care. I really liked getting martini glasses from Jen and Jon's wedding, and the individual Jones Soda from Vince and Sarah (yummy AND adorable!) and Brandon and Mura (whose wedding I still need to cover...damn) made donations for their guests. These were all great. We're doing a candy buffet for ours--painfully trendy, yes, but it really fits with it being Halloween and if people leave their favor on their tables then I get lots of candy. Win. Win. Win.
That's my in my brain.

But my heart, Maria, but my heart....

IF I HAD THE MONEY, or if I could somehow cut our guest list down by 100 people and not be torn apart by guilt, I would lurk around ebay for months and give everyone amazing vintage Halloween goodies.
You're kind of lucky I don't have the money, actually, because what I consider amazing vintage Halloween goodies some people consider "Old Crap"
Like the candles! Oh vintage candles! You beautiful waxy sirens.Cupcake picks, which remind me of the cupcakes you get at grocery stores (in a good way) and totally make me swoon. (That sounds like the wedding is getting to my head but you'd be wrong, suckas! I've always gone crazy over useless cupcake decoration. SO THERE)
Or just tiny little pointless plastic toys (which could also go on top of cupcakes!)
But they're averaging about $5 a piece (and I don't think Jesus would forgive spending that much money on stuff most people would throw away) and there's no guarantee I'd be able to find 150+ of any one item so....more pointless longing.

However, I might find some place for these sort of findings if not in the hands of my guests.

(Oh, and if you search "vintage halloween" on ebay you get something that is not vintage, classic, or classy, but still makes my heart ache a little bit with kitschy nostalgia:
HALLOWEEN MCNUGGET BUDDIES!Can you smell that? I think it's the nineties.)

the name debate

2008-03-31T10:01:00.001-05:00

Finally, some Hallowedding news! I know, you missed us. We haven't been updating because there has been little/no advancement in wedding planning. Well, a lot of talk and debate but no action. Until about this week, when suddenly, BAM! big decisions were made.

One, we found a VENUE! I know, it’s seven months before the wedding. The Knot has assumed I’ve had this done for months. But as we have said, we were sticklers for having amazing food be an option, and a lot of places just were not cutting it. Also we are terrible, awful procrastinators. So there will be an extended post very soon about that.

But now, let's talk about names.

I've thought about this last name business for a long time people, because let's just be honest here--I've been planning to marry Greg for like five years. Before we were officially dating even. I wasn’t writing “Mrs. Harries” in my underpants or anything, but I kind of assumed I would adopt his last name. I even had a moment of incredible sadness when I realized that I had to give up the name I had always planned for my daughter--Izzy--because then I would have a child named Izzy Harries...which sort of sounds like the question "Is he hairy?" and given my genetic disposition for peach fuzz I just didn't want that for my potential children.

But then, I think last year sometime, or even the year before, people started referring to Greg and I as The Jacksies (a hybrid of our last names). I grew incredibly fond of it. I'm a fan of hybridization in all areas of life and it seemed to really go with our marriage philosophy. As much as we love our families and our heritage, we want our last name to sort of showcase our relationship as a joining of our lives up until this point into something comepletely new. Also, Greg is sick of being called "Harris." And I am sick of that damn Outkast song.

Fuck those guys.
So for a while, our plan was to be The Jacksies.
Then we actually got engaged. And when you get engaged, those cutesie little plans for what you're going to do start to gain actual significance. Greg thought about it, and he decided "Jacksies" was a little too cutesy sounding. He suggested "Harkson." I thought Harkson sounded like a WASP name, and told him so. Then he was searching Urban Dictionary one day at work and discovered that a "Jacksie" was a cockney term for "ass."
That just wouldn't do. Damn cockneys!
So we talked and talked and talked. We debated. We fought. We polled our friends and families. We brainstormed completely new names--my personal favorites were alucarD (spelled exactly that way), Vector, or Velociraptor. (Even now, as we’ve found a solution, I'm still pretty fond of Velociraptor.)
But tonight, at rehearsal, on a whim, I labeled my waterbottle as "jaxies"...and Greg. Went. Crazy. He's all for it. The 'X' fixes the cutesy problem and I still get my totally cute name. And being a homonym for cockney ass is not quite as bad as being cockney ass. Our friend Sean suggested "Jaxeez" to up our scrabble potential but we kindly turned him down.

So what do you think? It's a little pretentious but meh, so are we.

So as of this moment, assuming we still think it’s acceptable after sleeping on it for a night (or a month), Shannon Jackson will marry Greg Harries and they will become Greg and Shannon Jaxies.

We’re such nerds. We’re gonna be sooooo happy.

dang nabbit!

2008-03-02T20:48:00.010-06:00

I have been skulking around ebay lately, looking at the pretty dresses. I've bid on a handlful of dresses that are NOT wedding, at all:And this one, which is too springy for a Hallowedding but still super cute:
But I did some SERIOUS bidding on this dress, thinking that it would be a fantastic reception dress. But damn me, I had a show this afternoon and couldn't sit at the computer, and they beat me BY A DOLLAR. Ebay you break my heart.
Look how orange!Petticoats!

I think I will continue down this path, but I also think I'll be a more defensive bidder. That orange dress going to someone else makes me sad. Especially for fifty one damn dollars.

other people's weddings

2008-02-29T23:05:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness. "A Lull in Traffic"? More like a complete halt to traffic. A seven car pile up. I was REALLY busy for a while there...and, let's face it, a little burned out on life in general.
(I know what you're thinking...you're burned out NOW? You haven't even begun to be stressed little bride girl.) And I was going to post yesterday but then the phone rang and I had to spend the last twenty four hours stressing out and opening a one woman show at UNO (showing again on Sunday and Friday, ifyouwanttocome) but now we are back to regular programing and posting and planning with almost psychotic enthusiasm.
Why this burst of enthusiasm?
Well, one, our wedding is in eight months. So if I'm not planning now I'm a fucking idiot.
Two, I bought a new, much less intimidating and far more useful wedding planner, with all sorts of lovely checklists and blanks that I want to fill in.
Three, I went to a wedding today.
Which is the point of this post.Vince and Sarah (shown above in a promotional shot for their show Grimm Reapings...theatre people have the best pictures) are good friends of Greg, and kind of good friends of mine. I mean, I work with them a lot in theatre, and I enjoy them a lot, but I didn't consider their wedding "A Big Deal" for me. Not as big as say my sister's, or Jen and Jon's. Casual friends, you know. But it was kind of exciting because they have been dating a LONG time, longer than any other wedding I have ever been to...and, you know, I haven't been to a wedding since I got engaged. And once you're engaged things like weddings aren't just fun social events, they are business. And a great place to spy.
Well. We were a pinch late, so we rushed in and grabbed a seat right by the door right before the familial processional. I only had a second to look at the program and take off my coat before it was the groom took his place.
As soon as Vince stood in the front, I started crying.
Crying!
Oh my god. And when Sarah came in in her dress I done. Tears for the entire ceremony. It was ridiculous. At my sister's wedding I made it almost to the end, at Jen's I think I made it to the vows? And here were two people who I'm not incredibly tied to, and I'm sniffling and staring at the ceiling and basically being a Big. Old. Wuss.

I know exactly why this is.

I blame the ring, really.

Whereas previously I would've felt intense pride for Vince and Sarah for making this commitment, and touched that Vince's dad was their officiant, and honored to be present...but no. Now that I'm engaged, this is what was going through my head:
"They're getting MARRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIED! Her dress is so PRETTYYYYYYYY! I am also getting MARRIIIIIIIIIIIIED! I will also get a pretty dress!!!" And then, tears.
I have at least three weddings to attend before my own...this could get intense you guys.

A Lull in Traffic

2008-02-14T14:17:00.011-06:00

Sorry for the lag in posts, we've hit a bit of a wall in our lives. Shannon's got six different theatre projects going at the moment, I've got four of my own, one of them being the direction of my mainstage debut with a world premiere play at the New Ways/New Works festival at UNO. I've got a great cast and it's going incredibly well, but it is a drain on the ol' time banks.

Anyhow, we're getting very close to having a confirmed venue for the reception, with it being down to just a couple of options at the moment. It'll just be a matter of prioritizing and budget from here on out, but neither of us are level-headed enough given our current schedules to make that commitment. We will have a location by the end of the month and that's when we'll be spreading our truly phenomenal STDs. HA! Also, this blog will be moving to the true Hallowedding website, so RSVPs can start flowing in and we can start our registry and all of that business.

So while we haven't posted in a bit, the gears are still turning. They just aren't very interesting to watch. To make it up to you, here's a desktop background I made out of history's most ridiculous event. Call it a gift. It's optimized for widescreen monitors, but it'll do on the others in a pinch. Click through the link to get to the full size version. Take care!

holy crap!

2008-01-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

(Like this, only with wedding clothes and on top of cupcakes)

Yes, yes, I know. I suck. I post dresses and promise news and then nothing. Well, for a while anyway, you might need a little more of nothin'. One, there's not a lot to share until we get the venue picked out (I KNOW, I KNOW, CALM DOWN MARTHA WE'LL BE FINE!) and two I'm crazy busy right now with non-wedding stuff...but I just had to say something.

PAUL PAPE GOT FEATURED ON WEDDINGBEE. I had mentioned him and his chocolate miis in a comment on there (which I believe got him quite a few orders) but then today Miss Hummingbird just stumbled upon his cake toppers and DAMN! That man is gonna get some business. (For non-Omahans, Paul is the guy whose family helped Greg with the proposal? Remember? Great!)
This is awesome because hooray money for Paul. This also means that Paul will be super busy so I'm also kinda sad for Paul. But we are also planning on getting a wii topper from Paul with a tiny mii Ruffles, so hell, this might be a trend! We are trend setters! Go wedding!

first look: dress shopping

2008-01-22T17:08:00.000-06:00

Not able to make a big post right now, but here are a few of the dresses I tried on during WEDDING WEEKEND.

the fever

2008-01-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

The mom and the sister are coming up next weekend for a two day spree of wedding dress shopping and bridal fair going...to. But since I realized that we are actually going wedding dress shopping, I have had The Fever, and I want to look at dresses all the time always and when I run out of dresses to look at on the internet it makes me angry.
So you might get a lot of posts like this. Or not, because spring semester starts up again tomorrow and in the next two weeks I am auditioning for shows, casting a show, teching a show and attending ACTF. And wedding dress shopping.
First of all, mmmmm:
Essence of Australia D594...How I love thee. Again, a brand that many boutiques carry, but a style that will probably go the way of Eden Informals 1171 which no one carries because it is short with a ruffle. The more I love short, ruffly dresses the more Omaha seems to hate them. Dammit.
A $10,000 wedding pointed me towards Bridal Power, where there were all sorts of dresses to look at. Not a lot in my size or price range but as I have said, I have The Fever and must therefore look at dresses for hours and hours. When I searched for shorties this came up: which is out of my price range as well as the range of how small my ribcage could ever become. But still, oh, look at the back.
But I am starting to realize that having a short dress that is actually beautiful might be out of my midwestern, low budget reach, I am going to go ahead and post some long dresses because it might be where we end up. And I think I will be okay with this if these long dresses have sleeves.
Look out fellas. This one's a little bit sexy.
It isn't that I hate long dresses, but my wedding is going to be as casual as possible--because casual is our style, our life, and our budget, and frankly, if I walked down the aisle in some big white confection I think people would say "Really, Shan? That looks like a costume" and they would be right. BUT! I have confidence that I will find a beautiful dress. That fits with my theme. And looks good on me. And is cheap.
Goddamn.

more inspiration boards

2008-01-12T18:26:00.000-06:00

Because I had a night off! And they take so little time for so much pretty payoff.I even made two...the second one is more "bride and invitation stuff" and the first is more "reception stuff."

inspired yet?

2008-01-10T16:09:00.000-06:00

Okay, this is NOT an inspiration board...this is just something I made up in about five minutes with sloppy Photoshop (sorry Paul, I know it's embarrassing) just to see if I could live with tan suits in my life...erm, I mean wedding. Because My Wedding Is Not My Life. It is a small, small part of my life. A small part of my life that could actually look SUPER cute.
I think you're all right. Tan suits will fix the "too much brown!" problem. But tan suits really mean my dress has to be super casual. Hm. Need to go dress shopping.
(Brown dress by J.Crew, shrug by Newport News [with an orange photoshop filter], wedding dress by -sigh- Stephanie James, suit by Men's Wearhouse)

another suit option, bride style

2008-01-09T23:36:00.000-06:00

We could also go grey. This is mainly because I have decided that purple WILL be in this wedding and purple and grey are soooooo pretty together. Purple and grey would straight up be my palette if we were getting married any other day of the year. Mmmmm. Unfortunately we are not getting married any other day of the year, we are getting married on Halloween goddamit, and that means we have to take things into consideration. For instance, on February 5th or whatever this suit would just be plain sexy:But on October 31st it could look like we are trying to re-enact the Nightmare Before Christmas. Such is the burden we shoulder here at the Hallowedding. What do you think? Tan, grey, super expensive brown?

Suits...The Reckoning

2008-01-09T19:25:00.001-06:00

Greeter Penguin is going to have to sit this one out, I'm afraid. But thanks to Shannon for buying me that thing! I love it!

But now, more suits! This time you can click the links to see the additional detailed shots on the Men's Wearhouse website. There's been a change in plans, and this is now somewhat urgent. The suit of our wedding's dreams...

...is now sold out. Such are the tribulations of planning. But there's still hope! We can get the same price in a very nice tan!

And there is, as there must be, a $100-more-expensive suit of such sublime perfection for our desires that it breaks our hearts to deny, but unless somebody wants to kick $600 our way it's going to have to just...

...sail on by. But the real pressing question is this: Does a tan suit bother you? With Shannon leaning in the direction of mocha or brown dresses with bold accents (or vice versa) I think we'd be safe to go in the tan direction. Accents stay the same, with orange and purple pocket squares, ties, and Chuck Taylors for the groomsmen and corresponding red ones on me. Vests are probably out of the question for the moment due to financial matters, but that doesn't bother me in the least. Sharp suits are more important.

As always, feedback = love. I'm leaving behind rental options for the moment, but once a decision is made on this we're diving in and sending the link out for purchase. Gird your wallets, brothers, you're getting a sharp new suit posthaste. Oh, and we're paying for your awesome customized shoes, so you can handle this.

planners

2008-01-06T10:01:00.000-06:00

Greeter Penguin! Serve me up a planner!
I did buy my planner for the year, with handy little month at a glace and a weekly calendar that divides every day into half hour increments. I spent half an hour in Barnes & Noble, with six or seven different planner spread around me on the floor, flipping back and forth to see which would fill all my criteria. I looked COMPLETELY insane. I'm sure someone saw me and went home and blogged about it.
I was really drawn to the ones that were called "Engagement Calendar" because I am turning into a crazy wedding person...but "engagement calendars" are, I have found, notoriously lacking in the space department. I eliminated any that didn't have days divided by time (which knocked out a HUGE selection, including the one that was devoted to the 80s, which was super tempting)
I almost bought the B&N Famous Writers Desk Calendar, that was gorgeous, and had the full calendar BEFORE the month (which was my absolute favorite) as opposed to in a big chunk in the front. But, since it is a "theme" planner, pretty much every day on the month-at-a-glance had some little fact about writers that were born or died that day, and I just can't sacrifice that space. A LOT of fucking writers were born in September and October, dude. But oh, oh it was tempting.

I ended up with a very plain black leather number (see above with Penguin) that is almost perfect, but I do have one major beef with the thing--who will doubtlessly be getting a bitchy french man name soon because, remember guys, I'm crazy--it's little hour by hour breakdown starts at 8 am and ends at 9 pm, and Sunday is just a block and has no division whatsoever. Excuse me, planner, but my life does NOT work that way. Sometimes my day starts at 5 am and I have meetings that START at 11 at night (not wedding related...usually when I deal with theatres). So I find myself writing in the margins and on Sundays? It's just a chaotic scribblefest.
Apparently B&N just don't understand people who over schedule themselves. Pity, it's such a large demographic...they could probably make millions.

wedding nightmares already? damn.

2008-01-06T09:38:00.000-06:00

Last night I had a dream that it was September. I still didn't have a venue, a photographer, or a dress. None of the bridesmaids had dresses, no one had been invited. And of course I freaked out. I said, we have to put it off a year! And like most of the dreams I have this way, I spent the entire dream being incredibly frustrated and on the verge of crying as people said, no, you can not have the wedding NEXT Halloween, you must have it in three weeks, and I woke up still convinced that I was terribly behind on everything in the world.

If these dreams continue until October I will not be happy. Greg probably will, because my usual dreams are really weird, and at least this one wasn't disturbing. (Yesterday, before the wedding dream, I dreamt I argued with a boy I vaguely knew in high school about whether or not he gave a shit about webpage design as I was eating a rock. It was one of those fancy agate ones that they make into bookends and coasters, and it tasted like strawberries, but it was still very much a rock.)

I don't get to go to the bridal show today because of an impromtu rehearsal that was planned against my will. Damn. That might be why I feel so...apprehensive all of the sudden, about getting it all done.

You have ten months girl. Get over yourself.

ain't no party like a bridal party

2008-01-01T10:43:00.001-06:00

Oh! And I DID manage to see the girl from Maine so our bridal party is official now!
The boys (which Greg can go into more detail with and find pictures of) are Roommate Ben as Best Man, Greg Brother Dave, Greg Brother Mike, Greg Brother Joel, and Shannon Brother Justin.

The girls are Roommate Ashley as Maid of Honor (who has tried on more wedding dresses than I have, and is learning to crochet, making her better at wedding than me. We also work at almost all the same jobs so it's kind of Co-worker Roommate Ashley. Which, as you can see in the pic, she is totally fine with )
Shannon Sister Jessie as Matron of Honor (cuz she married, yo! Although Matron does make her sound old...Married Lady of Honor? Big Sis of Honor? Whatevs. She also looks very enthused in this picture)
Shannon High School Friend Katie (the elusive "One from Maine" who I asked at Old Chicago because I'm super duper classy...Ashley did convince me to at least call Katie to our side of the table, as opposed to just shouting "Hey Katie! Wanna be in my wedding?" over the talking of the twenty other people who were there.)
Jacksies College Friend Krystal (Krystal has been in like a thousand weddings. She is doing me a favor and doing the bridesmaid thing AGAIN because she loves us and is awesome. We might really exploit that love and make her sing at the wedding. This picture, btw, is from a series that makes me laugh SO HARD when I see them that I almost pee. Every. Single. Time.)

Greg High School Friend Jessica (a Jessie and a Jessica! This will cause problems! Jessica is one of the hippest chicks I have ever met. She and Greg went on a road trip to Chicago and they brought a George Foreman Grill to make grilled cheese on the road. But she is also a vegetarian, which means bachelorette party bacon theme is out. Shoot. I will also probably exploit her singing and crochet skills)

(and yes, I just went to facebook and found whatever pictures of the girls made me laugh/happy.)

The bride and groom, well, they've been decided for a while now.
The ring bearer will either be Ruffles....or an actual Ring Bear. It depends on the venue, I guess.

ten months from yesterday...

2008-01-01T09:17:00.000-06:00

is my wedding.

Conversation from last night:
Friend: I think this year I will get myself a boyfriend.
Me: I think this year I will get myself a husband.

We went to the Slowdown for a New Year's Eve dance party last night. When midnight came and everyone was done kissing (and they dropped giant balloons full of glitter!) roommates said "You're getting married this year!" and I was like, HOLY SHIT I AM GETTING MARRIED THIS YEAR.
Crazy.

This Sunday is my first bridal show. I don't think a bridal show is essential to my planning process. Most girls go for ideas and I am so full of ideas that Greg and I might have to get married a couple of times just to get them all in there. So I don't NEED to go to wedding shows.
That being said, I am going to two. One on Sunday where fabulous roommate/maid of honor Ashley will be modeling dresses in a bridal runway show hosted by Joan Rivers.
I know. I know. It made me throw up a little too.
And then there is one on the 20th (?) which hopefully my mom and fabulous sister/matron of honor will come to as well so we can do wedding stuff together as a family.
I think these shows will be kinda useful because I need help finding vendors and I figure there will be lots of those there...also I will be able to go up to dress shop owners and say "Do you have any short dresses?" and then they can just say no to my face instead of playing the email game.

And holy God I have to go buy a planner today. This month is going to be scheduled within an inch of its life and I need something to tell me what I am late for. I like the planners with the big month pages (because my brain works better that way) but I'm thinking I'll need a minute by minute planner...which, again, makes me want to throw up a little.
Or maybe that's from all the partying I did last night. Oi. Girls, when we go to the Bachelorette party DO NOT LET ME ORDER THAT DRINK I ALWAYS ORDER. It'll only end in tears.

like martha stewart needs my dollars

2007-12-30T00:08:00.000-06:00

I bought my first wedding magazines today!

I know, right? Half of you read that sentence and said "You haven't bought any yet, are you crazy?" and the other half thought "Jesus, so?!"

I thought I didn't want to buy any...the internet is such a valuable resource and the magazines just seem to cater to the kind of wedding I am not having, and I thought, who needs em? I've got like fifty wedding blogs I can read every day for free, suckas!
But (and on hallowedding there is always a but) I was kind of expecting Santa to bring me a bridal magazine this year AND HE DIDN'T. And a few days after Christmas I thought, boo, Santa. You should've bought me a wedding magazine. Well, today I FINALLY got my refund check for financial aid (only five months late...great job, university system!) and I said "I'm doin' it!"

You guys, I was wrong about wedding magazines. Wedding magazines are. So. Fun.
And pretty.
And unlike, say, Cosmo, where I always wonder where the content is hiding under all the ads, in bridal magazines, the ads are the best part! and everybody knows it! and everyone is okay with it! It's kind of like a Playboy...if you do end up reading the articles they're really good but if you just look at the pictures you'll get off just fine.
...
Sorry Mom. Sorry Jesus. That was inappropriate.

But back to weddings, these things are huge! I sat paging through one for over an hour and I'm only half way through--and I was flying through that bad boy. So I still have half of Modern Bride and a whole Martha Stewart Weddings left to go. Remind me that I have things I need to get done in the next week...lots and lots of things. If you see me sitting in a chair, folding over pages, ask me if my costumes for the Moving Company are done. That should get me up pretty fast.

Oh, and Greg and I spent a good chunk of a car trip to Wichita talking wedding shop and we have a LOT figured out. I'll also be doing some quick posts about Christmas gifts that are doubling as wedding prep presents and how I managed to bank AGAIN on post-holidays sales. Hallowedding stuff in post-Christmas clearance: it is a MADHOUSE. Target is a MADHOUSE.

Goodnight internet.

happy holidays

2007-12-23T11:55:00.001-06:00

Going back to the hometowns now. Have a Merry Christmas (or whatever) and a fantastic New Year!

that's it, we're goin' to lincoln!

2007-12-22T07:45:00.000-06:00

Good morning!
I had plans, big plans about me staying in bed until 9 a.m. this morning, but after letting the dog out for his morning wee I thought, oh, I'll just check the old email to see if there's anything that needs dealing with. There were weddingy emails in there, which make me happy, and then I'm like, oh, a quick pop over some of my favorite wedding blogs and back to bed!
Uh, no. No, that isn't going to happen anymore.
Okay, so it's not like I haven't heard of Watters before. I'm sure I have a dozen of their dresses in my inspiration bookmarks. But someone linked to them and I was all over their site...short dresses, dresses with sleeves, oh my god such prettiness! The downside: the only place around that carries their dresses is in Lincoln (about 45 min away) which isn't too far but...sigh. My maid of honor is modeling in a bridal show this month and she has tried on more dresses than me. Bad bride! Get thee to a fittery!
Anyhoo, you guys want pretty pictures, right? I KNOW I DO! But I can't make them work and I need to go Christmas shopping. So I'll go Christmas shopping, I'll try to post the pretty pictures later, but until then here are the LINKS to the pretty pictures, if you're interested:

Where did they get this shawl, does it come in white and how fast can it be at my wedding?

I even like some of their long styles. I think I want straps or sleeves on my dress, just to minimize the pulling/back fat problem most brides have with strapless. Great, another quality I want in a wedding dress that NOBODY EVER HAS EVER. Baaaaaah.

BUT-Watters has a lot of dresses with sleeve and straps and SHORT DRESSES! Some of them are obviously too springy, but this one looks very fall fashion and fifties courthouse. Can we talk about the fact that there's a jacket? And lace? I know it would probably make me look matronly and would look terrible on me but I kind of love it. Is it okay if I kind of love it? Because I do.

And finally, bridesmaids look away, lest your hearts be broken:
I love this bridesmaid dress SO MUCH.
But I know Watter's bridesmaid dresses run in the 125-200 range. It comes in off-white, I guess, so maybe I could have it, but oh god. Oh it is the prettiest. If I can only post one picture later it will be that one.

We're going to Lincoln to try on dresses. We must!

Speaking of the bridesmaids, there is one I haven't asked yet! Because I wanted it to be personal and she lives in Maine and I never see her and now I don't think I'll be around when she's around for the holidays. Whoops. How tacky would a facebook bridesmaid invite be? So tacky, I know...but I might just have to.