Shabby Apple Giveaway

November is a very exciting month for me because I have more giveaways to host! I love using this blog to gift free merchandise to my readers, so I'm excited to announce that I have partnered with Shabby Apple to give away a free dress!

Shabby Apple is an online boutique that specializes in vintage-inspired women's dresses. They also sell adorable frocks for infants and little girls, and flattering maternity wear at their Mama Apple store. I love that their dresses offer a modern spin on the vintage dresses of the 1950's and 60's. Their conservative style makes the dresses appropriate for work or play, yet their very feminine shape shows the world that you do not have to bare all to be sexy. Finally, I like that the website offers a quiz to learn about your body shape and provides recommendations to suit your figure!

 Without further ado, here is the dress that one lucky reader will win:

I love this dress because it is elegant and feminine, while still being fun and flirty. The flower applique detailing is gorgeous, and makes it unique from many other dresses. I also like that the dress appears to be two separate pieces, since I think that makes it very versatile. This is a dress that could easily be dressed up to attend a bridal shower, for example, or dressed down to attend a weekend brunch.

Here are the details on how to enter the giveaway: You get 1 entry per item. Make sure you leave a blog comment below for each entry!

1. Leave a comment stating where you would wear this dress if you are the winner.
2. Follow A Cape Cod Bride blog with Google Friend Connect.
3. Subscribe to A Cape Cod Bride's RSS feed (on the right side of the page)
4. Follow A Cape Cod Bride by email (enter your email on the right side of the page)
5. Follow @CapeCodBride on Twitter.
6. Follow @shabbyapple on Twitter.
7. Like Shabby Apple on facebook.
8. Tweet this giveaway using the following statement: I just entered to win @CapeCodBride's #giveaway to #win a gorgeous dress from @shabbyapple! Enter here: http://acapecodbride.blogspot.com/2011/11/shabby-apple-giveaway.html

You have until 11:59pm CST on Monday November 14th to enter, and the winner will be announced on Tuesday. This contest is open to U.S. residents only. 

Finally, while there can only be one contest winner, Shabby Apple is offering an exclusive discount to all Cape Cod Bride readers! Simply enter capecodbride10off at checkout and you will receive 10% off your purchase. 


Happy shopping!

Wedding Season Oh'Ten!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post folks. Turns out this grad school thing is hard work! Ok, I already should have known that since I'm in my 4th year, but it's the end of the semester, which equal finals time (boo!). I have some ideas for great posts in my head though, which I promise to churn out soon.

On the plus side, wedding season is near!  I want to give a special shout-out to my friend Cupcake Wedding, whose wedding will be my first of the season (we go way back to our liberal arts college days).  I cannot wait to attend her nuptials next month in Florida and rock out with her!

My hubby and I have reserved our hotel room, purchased our plane tickets, and I recently ordered her gifts from her Macy's registry. We are pretty much all set to go (still need to get a rental car), and I purchased this pretty ditty from J.Crew to wear on the big day, which I'm gonna glam up with accessories:

To me the dress is perfect for her wedding as it's bright, pink, and fun, themes I know her wedding is all about.  I still have to buy a killer outfit for her bachelorette party pub crawl, though, which gives me a great excuse to go shopping soon! I'll certainly need some retail therapy after the end of finals!

Do you have lots of weddings to attend this season? Which one are you most excited about?

Engagement Session Outfit

I am getting super excited to have my engagement photos (finally) taken next weekend with the great Seth Kammueller. Amidst the anticipation of the event and the process of narrowing down a place to hold our engagement session, I didn't leave much time for planning what Cape Cod Groom and I were going to wear.  Thus, we went shopping for my fiance and easily found a nice button down shirt and sweater at Express to wear with his Seven jeans and converse (he insisted), but I was a bit more difficult.  I knew I wanted a look that was classic and feminine, so I headed to my favorite store for all things girly: J. Crew. Because it's fall here in Chicago, I needed something that would keep me warm without looking bulky, so I also wanted a sleek layered look. I found this pretty blouse at J. Crew, and then a gorgeous long cardigan at Martin and Osa, another one of my favorite stores.

I bought my cardigan in a dark grey color below, which I think is really flattering against the pale pink blouse.

I love the way the ruffles of the blouse peek out from the top of the cardigan against my neckline, which is also nice because I don't have to wear a necklace. Other than my engagement ring, however, I still wasn't sure what to wear for jewelry, until I saw an amazing champagne pink pearl bracelet at JCrew, which compliments my blouse perfectly.

I didn't get this exact bracelet, but one in the same color and similar style (they didn't have any pictures of the one I bough online), so you get the idea. I also remembered that I have a pair of champagne pink pearl earrings that my mother gave me for Christmas last year, which I think will coordinate exactly with this ensemble.

I'll be completing my look with a pair of Seven jeans and my dark brown Zara suede boots.

I know many couples wear two different outfits, and I debated about doing that as well, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, especially since I love this ensemble, though I do have another look I could change into, just in case. I also thought about wearing a LBD with heels, for something more dressy, but then decided I would probably freeze.

How did you decide what to wear for your engagement photos, and do you think it's worth it to do an outfit change halfway through for a different look, or just stick to one outfit you really love?