Countdown! 26 days till Wedding!

Yep, I'm breaking blog silence in readiness to burst into action. Less than a month until Vows Day and I think there's still plenty to be done.

On my mind at the moment - schedules and lists.

To Do List (MoH style)
Make and Distribute schedules
Bachelorette Party Invites
Make a "To Pack" List
Shop for Bridal Makeup
Check on wedding day transportation
Shop for wedding nail polish
Charge camera battery
Reunite with bridesmaid dress

Now having published my to-do's hopefully I'll start crossing things off.

Note on Bacheloretting - Bachelorette party to immediately follow the rehearsal dinner at my family's house in Manteno. All ages welcome, everyone is welcome to stay the night. Beds available first come first serve. More info to follow :)

Paper Votive Cuffs

I saw these guys on Apartment Therapy today. They remind me of those paper snowflake things. They don't actually have a snowflake design, but I think the leaves in white could be a cute and inexpensive table decoration for the December wedding. (I'm not sure if the lemon theme is still what Sara wants since we've changed seasons). They're only $16 for a set of 4, so they won't break the budget.

Any thoughts? Here's the link to buy the cuffs so you can see the other colors and designs:

http://www.publiqueshop.com/r_votivecuff.html

Hello?

Hello!

Hello?

Heeeeeellllloooooooooooo!

... Did I just hear an echo? (And not the Eliza Dushku kind)

So... what's up m'ladies? Anybody else watching Dollhouse only for Victor/Sierra?

Bridal Magazine Showdown

Last week one of my favorite sites, Jezebel, posted an amusing article comparing the merit of some popular wedding mags. Bride's Head Visited is a play on their weekly (and extremely entertaining) feature Midweek Madness, which pits the weekly gossip rags against each other. (The title is a play on Brideshead Revisited, a book I fully intend on reading, a BBC miniseries I fully intend on watching, and a 2008 feature film I fully intend on avoiding.) Bride's Head Visited isn't as fun as Midweek Madness, but it's worth a look. For even more magazine-related fun, check out Cover Lies.

Hey girls-

Update: I've picked up my dress, it is lovely!

Hope all is well out there ladies :)

Two Down!!

Dress ordered! It was quite busy at DB, I thought it would take forever, but I was in and out within about 20 minutes. I think it helped that I had printed out a picture of the dress and when I walked in I just told them that I needed to order the dress, but that I wanted to try it on in my size first (just to make sure, different companies cut their sizes differently). Super fast! Weirdly, they didn't even bother asking me if I wanted alterations. Maybe when I go to pick it up?

My dress should be in about April 6, and they told me that they would contact Sara when it came in. 

One Down.

Ladies!

I bought my dress today, success! The dress is on sale, unfortunately the discount is only available on full-price items. Anyway the sale is more than the discount would've been. When I ordered I had to give them Sara's info. They asked for her last name (and spelling), wedding date (June 26th) and it helped to know she was registered at the Orland Park, IL store. Since I was buying at a different store they gave me my own account. Just my name, phone number and email address. My dress should be in Feb 28. and they will email me to let me know.

She also asked if I would be needing alterations. I said 'no' because I don't want them in-store. She said that they require a first fitting 6 weeks before the wedding for in-store alterations. Hopefully no one will need their overpriced alterations so it won't be an issue.

Good luck and happy shopping girls!

Abby

Dresses!

I've sent this email to all the bridesmaids (except Kylie, I don't have her email address). Here is a copy:

Hello Lovely Ladies!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am happy to report that after an exhaustive search, Sara has chosen the bridesmaid's dresses for her wedding. The dress is at David's Bridal, style 8355 in the color "clover". The dress is marked down to $79.99 on the website. It should be the same price in the stores as it is online.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=1353&prodgroup=110

I strongly recommend you take a trip to your nearest David's and try on the dress as the sizes can be a little unpredictable. Sara has requested we all order our dresses as soon as possible, but February 19th (her birthday) at the latest. This will ensure that all the dresses arrive nice and early so we have plenty of time for alterations and delays.

Speaking of alterations--I have tried on the dress and the length is a little weird. I believe it is described as "tea length" but on my 5'4" it was more like "top of the ankles length". Sara and I determined that the most attractive length is for the dress to hit the bottom of the kneecap. This should be an easy way to make sure all the dresses are the same. Probably everyone's dress will need the hemline lifted. It is a very easy alteration, anyone with a sewing machine and a little know-how can do it. Alterations at David's cost between $40 and $60 (just for the hemline). This is really expensive. If anyone needs help finding someone to alter their dress please let me know, I know several people in the Wilmington-Kankakee area who would do it for free.

Okay, I know that was a lot to throw at you. I'm really excited to get these dresses and get Sara and Andy one step closer to being finished with their wedding planning! If you have any problems with finding the dress, meeting the Feb. 19th deadline or anything else, don't hesitate to call me (see my number in the real email!).

I'll shoot another email Friday, after I buy my dress and let you all know how it went and if there is anything we missed.

Love!
Abby, Maid of Honor

p.s. There is a Junior Bridesmaid dress that may be better for Kylie. David's style JB2815. I don't know her size, but Sara thought that the the junior dress might work better for her. The junior version has similar lines and is the same color, but has straps and a better fit for the less full-figured :)

Another One (this could be the one) *bats eyes*

What do you think of this one? It's similar to the other one and available online too. http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_bycolor_detail.jsp?stid=3332&sid=18802&cfid=79

David's to the Rescue!

Well, I had thought that David's Bridal was going to let us down, but as I was losing faith, I found the dress mentioned below and called them. It's only available to order online, but the good news is they do have all the sizes. If you have any questions let me know! :-)

One Dress, Two Dress, Red Dress, Blue Dress, Big Dress, Small Dress, No Dress at all Dress (Yes, you can tell I teach first grade)

Alright girls, we have options, but we also have "the no dress at all dress" right now lol. So I went to the Nordstrom dress, other sites with clover dresses....and then I landed back at David's Bridal....where I actually found some dresses I really like! The link is posted below, but I was thinking that this is the dress that I want: http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_bycolor_detail.jsp?stid=3688&sid=26789&cfid=79
It looked like it was available for ordering. I think you would all look great in it too!

Thanks, :-)

Sara

Other Bridesmaid Dresses in the Same Color

If the dress from Nordstrom doesn't work out, then I found some others from David's Bridal that are about the same color. I hope they're not discontinued!

http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_return_by_color.jsp?nxpg=5150

Back in Business with Bridesmaid Dresses

Hooray! I found one that I like, and I think you will like it too. I love the color! It's not yellow, but after looking at it I was imagining what kind of yellow and white flowers could go with it. I thought it'd be pretty. We could still do the lemon center pieces lol (can you tell I really want those? haha). The dress that I found is from Nordstrom. It's available to order online. Here is the link: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2971447/0~2376776~2374327~2374331~6014164?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6014164&P=6
I was getting worried about the bridesmaid dress situation being that David's Bridal hasn't been much help :-). I wanted to look at more department stores lately, but I keep on getting sick *blah*. I decided to try out the Nordstrom website Anyway, I think you'll like the dress!

~Sara~

Parties on a budget

I'm thinking this list will be more helpful planning the shower or rehearsal dinner than planning the actual wedding, but here's yet another link to Apartment Therapy:

9 for Under 5: Cocktail Party Necessities on a Budget

Like one commenter said: I'd rather splurge on what's going into the glasses than the glasses themselves.

Cheap Centerpiece Ideas from AT

Apartment Therapy has a post up about inexpensive ways to decorate your table. While the post is technically geared towards Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other fall/winter dinners, I think a lot of the ideas could be applied towards a wedding.

MoH in the house.

Checkin' in. News? New Bridesmaid dresses! David's Bridal style 8933.

This isn't about Sara's wedding either

Sarah Haskins is my newest hero. I found her videos on Feministing and I posted a bunch over on CoffeeandHairspray, but since this one has a wedding theme, I thought I'd post it here.

We don't get WE, so I haven't actually watched any of the wedding shows she mentions, but the clips Sarah shows from Bulging Brides leads me to believe it might be the worst show ever created, in every sense.

"Hell's Bells" Garb

I was watching the season 6 episode of Buffy with Anya and Xander's wedding (6.16 "Hell's Bells") the other day and I realized that I really like Anya's bouquet, dress, and veil. I realize this post doesn't have anything to do with Sara's wedding as much as it's about wedding-related things that I like, but nobody else is posting so I might as well.

Bouquet

Dress and Veil. The bottom of the dress sort of mimics the vail.

Willow: Wow. You look lovely. Really... lovely.
Anya: Thanks. It's probably the blush of imprudent spending.

And let's just take a moment and be grateful that Sara's not an ex-demon who would put her friends in dresses like these:

Side note: This picture is from the very begining of the episode, and the first time I saw it I thought Willow's dress had sleeves because she's actually Xander's Best Man, not a bridesmaid. But it turns out that everyone except for SMG and Michelle Trachtenberg (who plays Buffy's little sis) are wearing the ugly sleeves. Makes me wonder if perhaps Smidge was too vain to wear sleeves that would make her arms look that fat. Or maybe they had to give her short sleeves because she has to fight later on in the ep. Who knows.

Not as cute as lemons, but...

I saw this today on Apartment Therapy.

Very cute, but I think a tad too atumnal for a summer wedding. Although I think the deep red table cloth adds to the atumnal feel. Just thought I'd share it, because nobody's posted in a while and I thought you would at least be moderately amused that I found this on an interior design blog.

Blackboards vs. Brides

Hi everyone, I wanted to apologize for being so busy lately! I may not be posting much for a bit. The beginning of the school year is in full swing, and as a first year teacher, I pretty much am eating, sleeping, and working. The first couple of months I will be home from school late most likely. However, I will still be checking the blog and my email if you want to post anything. On a 3 day weekend I am planning on going dress shopping, so I will keep you updated on that. The dress will not be posted on the site though because it's bad luck if the groom sees it (yep, I believe that :-). I feel we got a lot accomplished this summer, and I want to thank you all for your comments and help!

~Sara~