Bandwagon

You may have noticed I'm not the trendiest of brides. I go for simple and classic, steering away from those mason jar wildflower weddings that are so popular now. 

Although there is one element of those that I love, and it's bunting. This is bunting, in case you are not familiar with it (and if you're not, you must not spend a lot of time on wedding websites!):

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It's basically a really festive and cute banner. Unfortunately, it's all sorts of inappropriate for my formal wedding, so I'm hunting down some other options.

Like this glitzy Just Married deal:

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Or maybe I should skip a banner altogether, and come up with some type of fancy sign. This one definitely fits our wedding:

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 This one's cute too, but I think probably everyone knows I'm the bride:

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I'm also really drawn to this, but that's probably because it's surrounded by fluffy white flowers and gold candelabras, two features of our floral design:

So that's where the DIY section of my brain is hanging out lately, attempting to figure out a way to turn goofy bunting into something elegant and classic.


Did you guys use bunting and/or Mr./Mrs signs? Share some pics!

Program Planning

Mr. B and I are in the process of planning our ceremony, and it's got me thinking a lot about programs. I really want to create something useful and elegant, even though I know 90% of the guests will leave them on their chairs after the ceremony. 

To avoid the black hole of craziness that I hear occurs in the month before the wedding, I'm compiling my program inspiration and brainstorming the project now. I'll share the progress with you guys in the hopes that maybe it helps with your own program design.

I know there's lots of cool programs out there, from fans, to trifolds, to those little origami fortune tellers we all used to make in fourth grade, but I'm into square booklets, like below:

 

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There's so many ways to make these look elegant and beautiful, from messing around with cool font layouts:

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To fancy ribbons to bind the booklet together:

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I ordered some sample folded cards from Cards and Pockets, and loved the quality and color, so that's the cover stock game plan. Turns out C&P also prints, and provided it's not prohibitively expensive, I'll have them print the cover too. I'm all about convenience. 

I don't have to tell you that I'm obsessively debating between these two near-identical colors, right?

(Personal Pic)

For the inside, I'm using Mrs. Corn's incredibly helpful template, adjusting her margins to match my 6 x 6 folded cards. I plan to print on resume paper, to give the inside of the booklet a nice heft and a classier appearance over normal printer paper. 

And I'm also brainstorming the content, right now planning to include:

• Order of ceremony
• List of ceremony participants (bridesmaids, groomsmen, etc)
• Explanation of traditions, since it's an interfaith crowd
• Secular love quote (unless I can break down Mr. B, in which case I'm totally using this awesome quote from CS Lewis, a recent favorite author).
• Thank you to guests and parents
• A line remembering our deceased grandparents

So that's the start of the program project! What did you guys do for yours, and what kind of content did you include?

Not With This Ring

My engagement ring is pretty. Please hold for some gratuitous Instagrammed ring porn:

Yay!

Unfortunately, the wedding band that matches my ring boasts some odd architectural features that make it pretty weird looking:

I have no idea what Tacori was thinking with that odd shelf like design (and no, I don't have the band on upside down- it looks like the diamond would sit in that concave spot, but it doesn't). 

I'm kind of relieved that I hate it. Paying for the Tacori name would probably bump us over our budget, and we'd have to send my e-ring away to California for a month to have the band made to match it exactly. 

And now, I can have what I always secretly wanted: A shared setting half-eternity:

                                          

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I felt guilty not wanting the matching band, but after seeing how ugly/expensive/annoying getting the "right" band is, I feel no such qualms. I love how classic this band is - equally perfect with my wedding dress or a white tee and jeans. I will wear the two on separate hands.

So we've found a jeweler to use, and we just need to make some budget decisions and figure how big Mr. B will let me we can go.

Anyone else picking a wedding band that totally doesn't go with their engagement ring?

In Search of a Veil

To me, the veil is what really makes the bridal look, and I can't wait to wear one. Unsurprisingly, I'm incredibly picky about what type of veil I want. I hate veils that are really long, and I hate drop veils. I hate lace on the edges, and I hate retro-y, birdcage style veils. I mean, all of these are perfectly nice and appropriate with certain style weddings, but they're not me.

According to me, the perfect veil is:

Petite fingertip length:

Extra full:

Edged in satin:

Angled sides:

And definitely with a blusher.

So armed with that nitpicky list, I'm going to start my shopping soon.

Were you guys really picky about any specific detail of your outfit?

(all pictures from veilshop.com) 

Crazy Lady Alert

Obsessively creating online samples of your wedding invites to test font variations is normal, right?

Please say yes. I'm starting to worry about myself.

(In case you're wondering, we chose the William Arthur Ecru Gilt Edge Invitations).

THE Shoes

You guys. Forget what I said about not wearing heels. I have found the world's most perfect wedding shoe, and am determined to make it mine. I don't even care that they're ridiculously expensive. I don't care that I'll be a gangly giant. They're beautiful. So beautiful I plan to display them on a shelf in my apartment after the wedding. (Creepy? Possibly).

The object of my affection is the Badgley Mischka Lacie, in seafoam.

From Zappos.com

If my entire wedding inspiration could be condensed into a shoe, this is it.

Thank God tallmenshoes.com exists. Mr. B, I hope you're ready for your man platforms.

That is all.

Wedding Shoes

This is a picture of my closet:

You might not be able to tell from this picture, but almost every pair of shoes here are high heels. I LOVE heels. I wear them every day to work. I would never be caught dead in a skirt or dress without them. I don't even own a pair of sneakers (seriously- there were Cons once, I don't know where they are now.)

Unfortunately, heels are an impossibility for my wedding, as the fiance and I are the same height. I wore wedges for our engagement pictures, and gave both our mothers a heart attack when they saw how I towered over him in the proofs. Needless to say, they're already hassling me about low shoes for the big day. And though it devastates me to not wear heels, I have to agree that they're right.

So I've been doing a little research on some wedding - appropriate flats. I found a few options, though I don't really love any of them:

From top: Steve Madden's I-Dreemy, Karisma, and Kinetic, from Zappos

Bottom left: Jcrew leather ballerina flat, Kate Spade Flash flat

I'm leaning towards the glittery Steve Maddens, since they're inexpensive and and festive, but for now I'm going to keep shopping, missing my high heels all the way!

What are you guys thinking for wedding shoes? My best friend wants to wear sparkly Toms- any other fun ideas?