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?

Weekend Wedding Warriors: Part II

Continuing from Part I, the third task that I accomplished was finally finding a pair of wedding shoes. :) Well, actually I found two pairs and I finally narrowed it down to one pair.

I bought pair #1 online. Pair #1 had the round toe that I was desperately searching for and I really liked the vintage appeal they had. However, the gold color was a little too gold for the dress, which has silver threading. (My jewelry, at least for the ceremony will be gold. It will be my "something old" & "something borrowed", so I was thinking a light gold shoe might tie the jewelry in with the dress.)

I bought pair #2 when, by chance, I peeked into DSW while running errands and found them in the clearance section. Pair #2 was very comfortable and I loved the color, but they were a little plain.

So, I fixed them a la Princess Lasertron.

My inspiration:

from here, here, & here

My Wedding Shoes (yay!):

I'm really happy with the result: they are still simple enough, but the flowers add that "something" I was looking for and they will look cute in pictures! I may test out some smaller flowers too because I'm a little unsure about the size of those. Once I've decided, I'll either hot glue them on or make them into shoe clips (right now they are just taped on).

Any one else adding ornamentation to their shoes? What projects have you taken in to your own hands?

Weekend Wedding Warriors: Part I

Two weekends ago (I'm a week late on posting this :)), Mr. Beagle had off of work, so we were able to check some things off our wedding "to-do" list.

Task #1: Make a decision on tuxes. We reserved our date with the Men's Wearhouse & chose a jacket and vest style. Below, the vest is shown next to one of the bridemaid's dresses:


We are planning on pairing the vest with this purple tie:

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I like the contrast against the light color vest. Even though it's not an exact match with the bridesmaid's dress, it's close enough in color and will be far enough away that the difference in shades won't be noticeable.

However, while I was running last minute errands for Mother's Day, I came across these from here & here:


I love #2 & #5 from the top pic (I think Mr. Beagle vetoed #1 & #3) & I'm smitten with both of the ties in the bottom pic. I think these patterned ties would go best with a non-patterened black vest because herringbone pattern might be too much. The only problem is that I wasn't able to find five ties that were exactly alike. So, if we were to go the black vest/ purple tie route, the guy's ties would probably not match. I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet, but since we will be able to make changes to our tux rentals until to 2 or 3 weeks before our date (and I have 90 days to return the ties), I have time to change my mind. :)

Task #2: Find wedding rings. This was not nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. Our experience with picking out and buying an engagement ring was an exciting learning experience and we both had a lot of fun. This just felt like work. And the thought of spending more money for rings is kind of painful. Especially now, when we are knee deep in paying for other wedding related expenses. Also, has anyone else noticed that men's wedding rings seem more expensive than they should be? Mr. Beagle's wedding ring will be the first jewelry item he will continuously wear and he was really looking for something simple without diamonds. Just metal. Something similar to this:

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Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anything in our price range during this shopping trip so we will be going ring shopping again soon. On a happier note, I think I found my wedding ring, and I will be sure to post pictures if/when we decide to purchase it.

How are you using your weekend to complete wedding "to-do's"?

Not Just Another Bolero

Yet again, Etsy has proven to be a fabulous site for wedding inspiration. Seller Bonzie was recently featured on the site. Here's a sample of her lovely handmade boleros & wraps:

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After seeing these, along with the amazing bolero Miss Cheese was gifted and how awesome Miss Peeptoe looked sporting one with her dress, I must find a bolero or wrap to wear for our reception. I usually live in sweaters and cardigans anyways, so it makes sense to wear something similar on my wedding day. I think I'll also feel a little more comfortable in my strapless dress with a wrap/bolero on than I would without one, and who knows, maybe it will actually be cold in October. :)

Will you be wearing a bolero, shrug, or wrap for your wedding?

Shoes, Shoes, and, Yes, Even More Shoes

I love shoes- this is what happens when you work in a shoe department for 5 years. So of course, in the beginning, I was super excited about the search for wedding shoes. I really wanted cute shoes so I could get cute pictures:

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Looking back, I think I may have stressed a little too much over finding something that would look so perfect for pictures (there will probably not be enough pictures to justify the time/effort I spent searching!). Nevertheless, with images of cute shoes floating around in my head, I began what seemed like a never ending task. The contenders:

Too High (I fell in love with 1, 3, & 5... I think maybe I was in denial that the heel was to high, but you can never be too sure when ordering online :) ):





Uncomfortable (2, 4), too cluncky (5), too short (1), just not right at all (3) :

Too casual:



Didn't really go with the dress (I think they were just too much, you know?), but are oh so cute (it pained me to return these). I couldn't justify keeping them when I have nothing to pair with them:





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Too blue. I loved these shoes, even though the heel was a tad short. When I gushed to several of my peeps about how much I loved them, they just didn't understand the "Something Blue-Shoe" concept and I started second guessing my decision. I think the vintage-y style of the shoe would have gone perfectly with my dress, but I sent them back before I could find out and now they are unavailable. :(

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I think the most frustrating part of my search was that I knew what I wanted, but could not find it! I had my heart set on round, closed toed satin pumps with a 2.5" - 3" heel. This was impossible to find *within* my price range. This is key, because even though J.Crew, Kate, and Stuart know how to make a really nice round, closed toed satin pump with a medium heel, I couldn't, no, wouldn't pay $200-$300 for a pair of shoes I will more than likely wear one time (even if I tell myself I will wear them every time I go out).

Luckily, this story has a happy ending, but you'll have to wait until the next post to hear more about my wonderful weekend finds. :)

I know Miss Peeptoe can relate to my woes of shoe searching. What has been the most difficult find for your wedding? Has there been one part of planning that has more stressful than the rest?

(Yes, I really did order and return ALL of these... good thing endless and zappos have free shipping.)
*all shoes are sourced from here, unless otherwise noted

A Tale of Two Dresses: Part II

Once upon a time, there was a dress. I bought tried her on, I liked her, I put down a deposit and ordered her. About two months after this chain of events, I started feeling really anxious. I couldn't remember what I looked or felt like upon trying on the dress, despite the fact that I had pictures. I became really unsure of the style and fit and I was nervously waiting for the dress shop to call me to say my dress had come in. However, I knew it would take four months for her to arrive and it was driving. me. nuts. Looking back, I probably should have gone to try on the dress again.... it would have made sense to do so, but I guess I didn't think of it at the time (or subconsciously didn't want to?).

One day, I was casually browsing the nth wedding blog I was stalking, and somehow, I came upon another dress. (I think you know where this is going). Now I want to make it clear that I wasn't purposely looking for other dresses. I thought it would be fun to browse. (Even though I was a committed woman, it doesn't hurt to look, right? In case you are wondering, the answer is YES.) Anyways, I accidentally stumbled upon this other dress and I fell head over heels. So after a few moments of panicking from the realization that I may have made a huge mistake in purchasing the first dress, I emailed one of my bridesmaids relaying to her my discovery. Shortly after sending off the email message, I decided to check if any of the bridal stores in Austin carried the particular collection to which this new dress belonged. One did AND it was located very close to where I was working. Filled with a new mix of anxiety and excitement, I sent another email to my BM telling her this new information I had just unearthed and to also tell her that I was going to the bridal store during lunch to 1) see if they had the dress & 2) try it on. At this point, I decided it couldn't hurt to try it on the dress just once. I was sure that it would be way out of my price range, and if it was, I would just walk out empty handed, with no regrets.

When lunch time arrived, I headed to the bridal store, with the dress number in hand, expecting the worse. However, after I asked one of the saleswomen if they carried the particular dress I was looking for, I found out that they had one in stock! She pulled it out from a rack of dresses and I took the dress back to the fitting room. After hastily getting myself in the dress, I anxiously walked out of the fitting room to see what it would look like in front of all the mirrors. Minus the length, the dress fit perfectly (I'm talking no need for alterations perfectly)! And I felt soooo happy while wearing it that I was dreading the moment I would have to take it off and return to work. As I soaked in the euphoria from wearing this gorgeous dress, I spoke with the saleswoman about the cost and any sales they were having. Unfortunately, I found out the dress was about $200 over my original budget and my heart sank a little.

I like to think of myself as a pretty frugal person. I knew I did not want to spent over a certain amount on a dress, much less two dresses. I agonized over the new dilema I was facing as I was driving back to work. Out of curiosity, I looked up some online dress shops to price compare and discovered some wonderful news: the dress was available online and the dress was cheaper online. My giddiness returned. :)

After a few more return trips to the dress shop to model the new dress for my mom, FMIL, BM, & MOH, I finally decided to take the plunge and order the dress online. I placed my order with Netbride because I heard many wonderful stories about this online retailer from the boards on Weddingbee. (yet another reason why I love you!!!) The order process was fairly simple. Since the dress I tried on was in my size, I just ordered the dress accordingly in a shorter length to prevent the need for altering it to be shorter. I corresponded with Laura from Netbride concerning my order and once it was placed all I had left to do was play the waiting game again. I have nothing but good words to say about Netbride. If you are wanting to order your dress online, Laura was very helpful and I would highly recommend them. About a month after I ordered the new dress, I received notice that the first dress came in. I debated whether or not I should eat the cost of the deposit or pay the remaining due and pick up the dress. I finally decided that I would pick up the dress. I will try to sell it online, but if this plan doesn't pan out, I will happily donate it to a good cause.

Last week, I received an email stating my dress had shipped. Mr. UPS man and I crossed each other's paths on the way home from work on the day of the delivery, so I had to wait yet another day to pick up the dress at the UPS shipping center so they could verify my signature. It took all the strength that I had not to try on the dress then and there, but I slowly drove back home, with my boxed-up dress in the backseat, occasionally sporting a goofy grin from all my excitement.

Mr. Beagle, this is your cue to leave!

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When I finally got the dress home, I opened up the box:

I am happy to report that the dress was 1) not wrinkled & 2) did not smell like the box. I am also happy that the dress still fits perfectly (I will only need to get the bustle sewn) and I still love it!!!! As I type this, thinking about it makes me smile and I want to go try it on again right. now. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait to see what it looks like because after I casually mentioned to Mr. Beagle my excitement in blogging about the dress, he had some requests. He would prefer it if I did not post pictures of me in the dress or even of the dress itself. And since this is one of the few wedding/planning related things Mr. Beagle has asked of me, I will happily oblige! (Plus, I think it's kind of cute that he wants to be the first one to see the dress. :) ) Though, I will leave you with this tidbit:


My favorite detail of my dress!
Are you an unintentional two dress bride? Did you order your dress online?