Because I Can't Make Up My Mind....

I know I've posted about wedding jewelry options before, but they don't seem.....right. Although, I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, so maybe my search is just a lost cause. I'm also trying to find a piece of jewelry I can wear out after the wedding (I think it would be a sweet, sentimental reminder of our wedding day) and although this is practical, finding something that fits this criteria is proving to be difficult. I love the way these chunky necklaces look, but I'm not sure if they would be too much with my lacy dress.

source

After seeing these pictures though, I expanded my search to include necklaces similar. The idea of wearing a colorful necklace also crossed my mind because it would have the same effect as my bouquet. Here some more options I came up with:

Garbage Goose

Charisabella

Faeried Treasures

Ooo Pretty

Faded Roses

La Boit a Bijoux

What do you think? Are any of these possible contenders or should I go with something more traditional? Or better yet, should I skip the necklace and just search for earrings?

Colorful Bouquets

I love the way bright bouquets stand out against white bridal dresses:

source

source

source

source

source

Here's a peak at the bouquet I'm working on for myself:

Will you be carrying a colorful bouquet or are you sticking to traditional white and ivory flowers?

Eco-Friendly Gift Bags

This past weekend I attended a bridal shower. Before heading to the festivities, I stopped by my favorite store to pick up some gift bags. I had your run of the mill, shiny, paper gift bags in my basket when I saw these:


Of course I ditched the other bags and promptly acquired these two cute, eco-friendly, reusable, hemp bags. They are so adorable that I think could also double a small handbag if you don't want to re-gift them. The other bonus? They were only twice as much as the paper gift bags.... worth the extra $1.50 in my opinion. I was so excited to find these, I knew I must share my find with the hive. (Oh, and that soy candle is from the same place as the bags, in case you're wondering. And, yes, it smells delicious!)

Are you incorporating any eco-friendly items into your planning? Please share!

Trending

Are fabric flowers a growing new trend? When I was looking for inspiration in the beginning of my planning process, it was impossible to find fabric bouquets. Now, fabric flowers seem to be popping up everywhere.

Etsy shop: Jilliann's

Etsy shop: Bloom & Co.

Etsy shop: fffflowers

Etsy shop: Hapitat

Etsy shop: Design Whimsy

And finally (and quite possibly my favorite), I'm loving these flowers from this DIY kit that was featured on the Purl Bee. Aren't the soft colors just dreamy? The kit comes with all the materials (pre-cut!) needed to make this luscious bouquet and it's made from organic cotton jersey.

source

*swoon*

What trends are you incorporating in your wedding? Is there another DIY flower kit or tutorial you would like to recommend?

The Aftermath

Lately, I've been thinking about what my life will be like post-wedding. Like many of you out there, this wedding has become my baby. I spend so much time thinking about it, molding it, perfecting it,... it's hard separating myself from it. And often when I'm not physically working on it, my mind is turning over new ideas for it.
As we near the four month mark at the Beagle house, I'm realizing that this whole post wedding depression that was once looming in the distance is speeding toward me like a bullet. Will I continue to get my daily fix of wedding blogs after the big day? How much will I miss all the projects I'm constantly working on? Even though sometimes I just want to get the wedding over, I know that deep down, I have thoroughly enjoyed this process in my life and will sorely miss it once it's gone.
To prevent being overwhelmed with change, I've started to plan out map out my married life. With the wedding said and done, I'll be able to spend more time with my new family (Mr. Beagle & Kingsley dog). No longer will weekends be filled with project deadlines and we will be able to enjoy the outdoor spaces in Austin with our hound (which I know he will enjoy). We can plan out vacations with the $$ that has previously been diverted to wedding expenses and start get back to doing weekly projects around the house. I can focus on career goals I've been avoiding since getting engaged and there is always the possibility of expanding my crafting to a side business on Etsy. The more I think about it, the more I have to look forward to.
What will your life be like after the wedding? How do you plan on dealing with PWD (post wedding depression)?

Changing It Up

For our ceremony, I'll be wearing a finger-tip veil (that I'm almost done working on and will post about soon!) and some jewelry pieces that belonged to each of my grandmothers (for my something old and something borrowed). But after we finish getting hitched, I would like to relax my look a little before heading to our reception. Perhaps by adding a few of these pieces:

The Hair Flower (to replace the veil):

I found a few small, but elegant pieces from none other than the talented Myra Kim. I think I'm leaning toward the one on the left the most. I've never worn a hair flower though and I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be with one on my head for the entire night.

Myra Kim, Twigs and Honey

If I was as brave as Mrs. Perfume, I might wear this huge flower piece. But I'm not, so for now, I'll just admire from afar....

Cultivar

The Flower Necklace (to replace the old and borrowed):
I know I already posted on this before, and now that I have decided on a supplier, I just need to narrow down the right necklace. :) A few things to note: I don't want something that will distract too much from the dress and I really love the necklaces with the off center flowers.

This one is very simple, but not off centered. Has anyone done a custom order with Luxedeluxe?

These have a little more "bling" to them. The one on the left is a little too blingy for my taste, but I like the one on the right because it's a little simpler.

I like the flowers on both of these. They are similar (one in gold and one in silver). Here's the problem: the ceremony jewelry is gold, the dress has silver threading. Since I'm already pairing silver with gold for the ceremony, do I repeat for the reception? Will anyone even notice?

All necklaces are from Luxedeluxe

The Bolero/Shawl/Cardigan (because I'm self conscious):
My dress is strapless and really doesn't look right with straps attached. Don't get me wrong, I love my dress, but I don't feel comfortable in strapless tops, much less dresses. Even tank tops make me want to grab a cardigan. I think Ill be okay for the ceremony because my veil is longish, but I know I won't be able to feel at ease throughout the entire reception without one. Plus I'm hoping I'll get lucky and we'll have cool weather so I'll need a light cover-up. I've bought material and a pattern so that I can hopefully recreate one of these inspirations. Although if the sewing doesn't pan out, I think I'll be just as happy with a light colored, 3/4 length cardigan. The material I bought was dupioni silk (on sale!) and which is nice and simple so it shouldn't detract from the dress details, which if you don't remember, looks like this:

Are you changing your look after your ceremony? How will your "married" look be different?

Dinner Music

Lately I've started thinking of what types of music we would like to play during our reception. I've got our cocktail hour taken care of (and I promise to blog about it soon!), so now I just need to square away the dinner hour and the dancing that will follow. I recently became smitten with local Austin artist, Kat Edmonson (one possible factor might be that I hear her songs daily on KUT). Her new cd is just lovely. After hearing her songs, I envisioned our dinner with soft jazz playing in the background. This is a snippet from one of her recent performances in Austin:

The jazz theme has evolved into a folksy, "Austin" sound, but I would really like to include Kat in the mix. Now I'm considering Austin/Texas music playlist and I just need to come up with other local artists. This one will probably make the cut:

Iron & Wine, 'nough said.

Not necessarily a love song, but Carrie Rodriguez is awesome and who doesn't love the fiddle?

Here are a few of my concerns:

1. I will probably be the only one who is aware that the dinner music is all local. I have considered making a cute sign for the buffet table or each individual table that mentions this to bring it to our guests attention. Is the time and effort really worth it though? And does anyone else listen to music playing during dinner?

2. Is this range of music too broad? Do all the songs have to be mushy love songs?

3. I'm probably over analyzing this whole dinner & music business.

Are you playing music during your dinner hour? Will it be themed?
Oh, and if anyone has any other artist suggestions, I would love to hear them! :)

Over It

I can officially say that at this point in my planning process, I am over it. You're probably thinking: Whoa, Miss Beagle, what does that mean?

When Mr. Beagle and I became engaged (almost a year ago!) I had my heart set on a small, intimate wedding. In my mind, I envisioned something small- even a casual back yard shindig would have been fine, as long as I got to marry my mister in a cute, "weddingish" dress. However, when we started looking at the guest list I knew that keeping our party small and quaint was going to be impossible. Between the both of our families, we came up with around 100 people. As we added in our friends, and some of our parents' guests (I should note that these are people very close to both of our parents), our guest list ballooned to 200.

I wish I could easily "x" people off, but all our invited guests have been significant figures in our lives and I think they would be disappointed (and we would probably feel the same) if they weren't able to witness such a big event in our lives. The cut from "large" to "small" is a lot easier said than done. This, paired with the possibility that the two people who are most near and dear to me may not be able to be there with me on our wedding day, has left me feeling a little numb about our wedding.

Even though I may be over the size of our affair, I'm still planning to follow through with all the DIY projects (even if they are a little overwhelming) that I have planned. They keep my mind busy from dwelling on the negative; and, I'm hoping they will infuse, even if it is a small amount, originality in to our event and create the intimate atmosphere that I so desperately want. Plus I love crafting, sewing, and such- it is my outlet for dealing with stressful situations.

There's just a part of me that is just a little sad that we didn't follow through with a small wedding surrounded by just our immediate families at our side.

Why did you choose to have a big or a small wedding? Do you have any regrets?

To Ring or Not to Ring...

I love my engagement ring and I'm really excited about adding a wedding ring to my finger to join it. Since the engagement, I've gotten pretty used to wearing my e-ring everyday. In fact, it even feels a little odd when I don't have it on. I don't think wearing a wedding ring with it is going to make of a difference (except when I start frequently stealing glances at my finger...as I did when I first got engaged :)).
Mr. Beagle, on the other hand, has never been one to wear jewelry. We are getting him a wedding ring, maybe more for symbolism than anything else. He will probably put it on when we have "date night" or go out as a couple. However, I'm not sure he'll end up wearing daily, as I will be wearing mine. Honestly, this really doesn't bother me. Although I can always remember my parents their wedding bands, Mr. Beagle has always remembered his parents not wearing bands. Perhaps this is why he may go sans wedding band a majority of the time. Does it make his parents less married then mine? No. The rings are merely a symbol of something much greater.
Will you be a dedicated ring wearer after you get married? Would you be disappointed if your partner was not?