Don't Forget Stamps!

On the list of things that I think are probably the most overlooked by brides, stamps just has to be one of them.  Perhaps that's because I didn't give a second thought to purchasing stamps until my printer informed me that they would be ready in a week and I wanted to get them mailed as soon as possible.  After a failed attempt to buy the stamps I wanted in the quantity I needed at the post office (and losing a half hour of my life waiting in line), I found it easiest just to go online and order everything from USPS.com, which has a collection of wedding stamps!  If you're in a hurry to get your invites out, make sure you avoid my mistake and think ahead and get your stamps in plenty of time.  I'm majorly hearting these royal love stamps, a new addition to the wedding collection.

Another thing to remember: Weigh your invitation set, as many sets are made of thicker (translation: heavier) paper and/or include lots of additions (RSVP cards, directions, etc.) and that means that your standard $0.44 stamp might not be enough.  I purchased these pretty $0.61 stamps for the outsides of the invitations, and used the royal love stamps for our RSVP card envelopes. Etiquette tip: Don't forget to stamp and include a return address on the outside of your RSVP card envelopes so your guests don't have to do it!

Wellies Under Your Dress?

Ok, this might sound crazy, but I'm considering getting a pair of Hunter boots to wear under my wedding dress while outside. Although I bought a pair of navy heels, I realized that satin peep toes might not be the most practical shoe to wear outside for traveling and pictures during the middle of winter in New England.  As I want to take photos outside and don't want my nice heels ruined by the mud or snow, and need a new pair of rain boots anyways, I thought, why not get a pair to wear under my dress? I think it could make for some cute pictures as well, and I love that Hunters are available in a plethora of adorable colors (though I would probably order traditional navy ones to match my colors).

Even better, I found cute shiny boots and white ones to go with your dress! The colorful shiny ones would also be great for bridesmaids to wear as well, particularly if it happens to rain on your wedding day. As the Boy Scouts say, always be prepared!

I though maybe this was a weird idea (and perhaps it still is), but I felt that I could validate my craziness if I found other brides who wore these at their wedding. To my surprise, I did a quick google search, and found another bride who had the same thought as I!

So what do you think? Am I totally crazy? Or is this practical footwear for me as a winter bride to keep my dancing shoes clean and pretty?

The Knot Wedding Shop Sale!

Hey peeps. Hope everyone is having a lovely and productive weekend! Here is a little deal for anyone out there shopping for their wedding. The Knot's Wedding Shop is offering $10 off orders of $10 or more using the code BRIDECASH.

They are also having a huge sale! I just ordered wedding bubbles on sale for only $5.99 for a pack of 48, and got personalized navy ribbon to adorn them and other accessories for only $19.99 (origninally $39.99). Yay recession specials!! Better act quickly, as the offer is only good through tomorrow!

Hair Inspiration: Floral Fabulous

Well, I promised to put up another post about using fresh flowers in your hair, and here it is.  I've included some of my favorite finds, though the bottom center picture of the first collage is my absolute favorite.  I love the beauty and elegance of natural white flowers, and am strongly considering using them to complete my wedding day look.  I also admire the brides of the second collage, who chose to add a colorful flower to their hair to create a bold, fun look. 

With my hair trial quickly approaching, I'm really excited about all of the possibilities for my wedding hairstyle, but also feeling overwhelmed at what look is more "me."  

What did you choose to adorn your hair on your wedding day, if anything? Do you prefer traditional, white flowers or would you go a more spunky pop of color?

My Clutch!

As I promised to share with you all the purchases I've made for my big day, here is another item I'm really excited about! I had this gorgeous bag custom made for me by Robin of UPSTYLE Design, another great Etsy vendor. I told her I was looking for a navy bag to go with my wedding colors, and said I would love to incorporate a brooch or embellishment onto the bag to fit with my vintage theme.  Instead of a brooch, she sewed the embellishment onto the bag, and I think it looks just lovely. It is so sparkly in person, and reminds me of a snowflake, which will be perfect for my winter wedding!

Here is the real life picture of the bag:

Hair Inspiration: Sexy Updos

Another challenge to planning a destination wedding is finding your beauty experts.  There are a lot of bad hairstylists out there, and I was really worried about booking one without ever having seen any of her work.  My main goal was to find someone who does hair in a natural, modern way.  I asked for a recommendation from my makeup artist, with whom I also graduated high school, and she gave me a great referral.

Now there is only one more week until I head out East and have my hair trial. I am eagerly awaiting the appointment, and am really having trouble deciding what I want my look to be. I am strongly leaning towards having an updo, but I love that these are much more tousled, natural looks, as opposed to sleek, tight hairstyles.  As my hair is really fine, it gets straight and flat easily, and I am really digging these voluminous, wavy locks, and hope I could pull something like this off. 

My other dilemma is what to do about hair accessories. I will be wearing a cathedral length veil, so I'm not sure if I even need hair accessories, but if I do I know I want flowers.  I'm going to do other posts about hair flowers (both real and fake), however, so sit tight ladies! I will be sure to post lots of pics from my hair trial, as I'm sure I'll be wanting feedback after!

 

I Won!

Super excited to find out that I won The Alternative Bride's Wedding Paper Divas giveaway! Got my gift certificate and I can't wait to order me some holiday cards with a photo of me and my honey, taken by our wedding photographer, Seth Kammueler, whom we just booked (more about that later).

Trouble is, I'm having difficulty choosing which design to order. I like the first design because the red is more holiday to me, and I really love the french toile design.  However, I also am a big fan of the unique, woodsy design of the second choice, and I guarantee this will make a statement!  I also like that we could include 3 of our favorite photos, instead of only one.  The downside is it's more expensive, so I wouldn't be able to order as many, and I would like to have as many as possible to send out to guests, especially ones who could not make it to the wedding.  Which would you choose?

Free Personalized Card!

Just saw this on A Chocolate Lover's Confessions and wanted to quickly share that free personalized cards are being given away by Traylor Papers.  All you have to do is send them an email by October 28th at VIP@traylorpapers.com and include your name, address, favorite colors and/or style (whimsical, classic, girly, etc) and they will mail you your card! Also, for you bloggers out there, if you post this on your blog and include the link to the post in your email to them, they will send you a few extra cards free as well!

Their cards are really cute! Here are a couple of my faves (can you tell I'm a fan of all things preppy??):

My Shoes!

As a frugal bride, I had several requirements for potential wedding shoes, the foremost of which was price of course.  In addition to being cheap, they needed to be comfortable, have low heels or be flats (for the height and comfort factors), and be navy blue.  Wanting navy shoes, combined with my limited budget, was what made my quest for affordable footwear the most challenging.  Had I been willing to spend a lot, I could have gotten any of these:

Yet, I think every couple on a budget has to choose what they are willing to splurge on and what compromises they are willing to make.  I knew that because my dress will go to the floor that my shoes will rarely be seen, so expensive footwear was not in the cards for me. I didn't have a price in mind per se, but I went to DSW and found a pair by Caparros that met all of my standards.  They were navy and comfortable, their heels were only 2.5" tall, and I like that they have a little rhinestone accent that will match the rest of my vintage style jewelry.  Best of all, they were on sale and under $50.

Our Cake Toppers!

Just have a quick tidbit to share with you! If you recall my previous post about cake toppers, I featured a couple of great Etsy vendors.  Well, I decided to go with Italian designer Samyii, who created figures that represent me and my groom.  She emailed me this morning to tell me that she completed them and shipped them today, and included the picture below.  I'm so excited! I think they are adorable and I cannot wait to see them in person!

The First Dance

I'm just gonna throw it out there.  My fiance and I are not good dancers.  We dance like white people.  And not white people like Justin Timberlake.  My fiance in particular is terrible, and my dancing abilities go way down due to his inability to properly lead.  Thus, we need a nice, slow song to gently sway to for our first dance, so people don't comment on our horrendous skills.  We also need to get a dance DVD stat to start practicing, so recommendations are appreciated.

Music is also very important to me.  While I enjoy the classics, I also like to keep abreast of new music that many people may not be familiar with.  My latest find is European singer Katie Melua.  I adore her angelic voice, and fell in love with her cover of the classic 80's song, Just Like Heaven, by The Cure.

Just Like Heaven is one of those fun, upbeat songs that you would normally never use as a first dance song.  But Melua sings an acoustic rendering, and it makes it sound like a completely different song! I highly recommend listening to her album, Piece by Piece, on iTunes.  Though I knew the original and could sing along easily, as I'm sure most people can, I never actually stopped to really listen to the words until I heard Melua's version.  Here are the lyrics from her version (slightly different from the original, as Melua changes "she" to "he"):

"Show me how you do that trick

The one that makes me scream," he said

"The one that makes me laugh," he said

And threw his arms around my neck

"Show me how you do it

And I promise you, I promise that

I'll run away with you

I'll run away with you"

Spinning on that dizzy edge

I kissed his face and kissed his head

And dreamed of all the different ways

I had to make him glow

"Why are you so far away?" he said

"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you

That I'm in love with you"

You, soft and only

You, lost and lonely

You, strange as angels

Dancing in the deepest oceans

Twisting in the water

You're just like a dream

You're just like a dream

Daylight licked me into shape

I must have been asleep for days

And moving lips to breathe his name

I opened up my eyes

And found myself alone

Alone above a raging sea

That stole the only boy I loved

And drowned him deep inside of me

You, soft and only

You, lost and lonely

You, just like heaven

You, soft and only

You, lost and lonely

You, just like heaven

My Jewelry: Part 1

My love all of things vintage began with my engagement ring.  My engagement was not a surprise by any means, as my fiance and I had been talking for awhile about getting married.  My fiance was also hesitant to buy a ring without any guidance from me, worrying that he would not know what I would like, other than not to buy yellow gold as it is not as flattering on me.  I knew I wanted a vintage style and loved this halo ring that I saw at Tiffany & Co:

 

But I also knew that rings from those chain stores are greatly overpriced, so my fiance and I were referred by a friend to a local jeweler by the name of Edmund D. Schmelzle & Sons in the diamond district of Chicago. 
 

Long story short, my fiance choose a round diamond, which I actually prefer, and I ended up with the above ring and couldn't be happier.  My advice to ladies and gentlemen when ring shopping is to always go to a diamond district if possible and avoid chain jewelry stores, unless you have money to waste, because the diamond that my fiance bought is actually valued at practically double what he paid!  It is also much better because these jewelers tell you where your diamonds come from, so you can wear it with a clean conscious knowing that you are not getting a cruel "blood diamond."  Most of all, I like the idea that my fiance took the time to custom design something for me.  Everytime I glance down at it I think of him and smile. 

We of course decided to go back to the same jeweler to have our wedding bands made.  I had a band made that matches my engagement ring (though the picture below is taken from Tiffany's, but it looks identical).

 

But my biggest dilemma was what to do about a necklace.  I was not feeling any of the costume jewelry that the bridal store had put on me when I tried on my dress and veil.  It was too gawdy and I wanted something more classic and simple.  Then I remembered that when my grandmother passed away, she left me her engagement ring.  It was not something I could wear the way it was, so I decided to have the jeweler take the diamond from it and turn it into a necklace.  I found a setting I liked, also from Tiffany's, and he created it using my grandmother's stone. I'm happy that I found a way to have a more green wedding by upcycling an old piece of jewelry instead of buying something new.  Even more, I love that this can not only be my "something old," but that it is also a sentimental piece of jewelry that I can wear long after my wedding day!

DIY Project: Cameo Brooches

As a bride on a budget, I'm so excited to begin my DIY project series and share my first project with you!

Since my wedding is having a vintage vibe and I'm incorporating brooches (for example, I'm wearing one on my bracelet, to be featured in anther post), I knew I wanted to use one to jazz up my bouquet.  I really feel like it's the little details in a wedding that make it special, so I began scouring Etsy for affordable brooches ($10 was my maximum) that would fit with my Christmas winter wedding.  I initially found some lovely ones that were in the shapes of snowflakes and wreathes, and was strongly leaning towards one of them because I loved their combination of crystals and pearls, which I will also be wearing.

 

 

The above all fit within my budget, but then I also though it might be cool to search for pins of the letter G, as that will be the first initial of my married name.  I actually found one here and loved it, it was in immaculate condition, but over budget at $25 :-(

I was really tempted to blow the budget and just purchase the G brooch, but something inside me told me to keep looking, and I decided to change course and do a search for cameo brooches.  I've always admired cameos because they really take me back in time, as my grandmother loved them and always wore them.  I have fond memories of being a little girl and rifling through my nana's jewelry box and admiring all her lovely cameos.  

So when I came across a set of three cameos featuring mermaids, my heart literally skipped a beat. Not only did they cost a mere $1.50 for all three, but the mermaids on them are very sentimental for me.  My mom has made a tradition out of always including something with a mermaid in our Christmas stockings, and every year my sister and I look forward to her latest find.  I knew that this would be the perfect addition to my Christmas wedding, and loved the fact that I could purchase three, one for me and two for my bridesmaids, who include my sister and future sister-in-law, so we can continue our tradition.  And who knows, maybe mermaids will become a part of our family's wedding tradition too now!

I only purchased the cameo featured on the bottom, of the single mermaid, from Cathysjewels.  There was only one problem: these were not set in anything, and the vendor didn't have anything in which I could set them.  So after a lot more searching, I found a vendor who sells antique silver plated settings that fit the cameos.  The settings were only $2.75 each from Dangled, and here is a picture of them:

The great thing about these settings is that he sends you the pin backing to attach any way you'd like, which works well because my brooches are horizontal, and it was challenging to find a setting that was oriented correctly.  So basically all you have to do is superglue (or, the vendor recommends using E6000 glue, which you can buy here) the pin onto the brooch in the correct direction, and then attach the cameo to the front of it and walla! You have yourself a cheap, cute DIY cameo brooch!

I don't have a picture of my final project to show you yet (I promise to add some after my wedding), but here is a picture of a gorgeous bouquet with a cameo. I will not be adding a bow to the cameo, but it is really pretty and I'm sure it would be easy to do.