Sometimes the Devil is in the Details

I get the feeling my mom is ready to wave the white flag, move on with her life, and hire someone else to work with me. This is mostly because for about two months we have been trying to decide what we should have for tablecloths.

I think the trouble is that I came into this wedding with a vision; a vision of paisley and patterns in avocado green and slate blue; of vegetable and garden details. My maid of honor was quoted as requesting a Sound of Music style bridesmaid dress, and I actually loved the idea! Well, after months of looking for bridesmaid dresses, and the strikingly few that come in slate blue or avocado green, we ended up with more of a cornflower color. I love the blue, and it will look fabulous on the maids with their lovely blue eyes.

The other thing that was pre-decided was that hubby-to-be will be wearing a tailored navy blue suit, and his guys will be wearing navy slacks, and a matching shirt and tie. After the maid dresses were picked and ordered, we went shopping for the tie. I found a fabulous polka dotted tie that matched both the navy and the dresses perfectly!

Trouble is, this evolution (polka dots, cornflower) is not sitting well with my original patterns/avocado/slate/vegetable plan! We bought this gorgeous green paisley fabric (in the middle below), which I love, but now I am having second thoughts about having green at all! I mean, I am just not sure it fits into the motif! Should there be green in the tablecloths at all? Should I scrap the original green altogether and go with another color? Should I do the green and the blue in another pattern , or a darker blue version of the same pattern? Should I do all green, and forget about doing blue? Triple sigh...

I myself have almost waved the white flag in surrender, abandoning any hope of a cohesive "theme"... does anyone have an idea??

I am loving the far right fabric, the color is closest to the cornflower. The green in the middle is the green paisley I love. Far left is the dark blue version of the green paisley pattern; not a perfect match for the girls dresses, but not bad either.

Here is the girls' dress color...

And the guys' shirt, tie and navy blazer...

HELP! Does anyone have an idea or opinion what would make for good table coverings (any or none of the above?)

New Vintage Photography Rocks My World

We got a preview of our engagement pictures this morning (from the photo session just this Monday!) and I am absolutely floored how awesome they turned out! Jen Howell with New Vintage Photography surprised us with a bundle of colorful balloons, chalk and bubbles, and combined with the old cars, tractor tires, rust and country fields, what resulted was an amazing mix of colors and textures. We had so much fun at the photo shoot, and all the foxtails and stickers we are still picking off of our shoes (and the dog) were well worth it! Thanks Jen for such a wonderful experience. It should have been no surprise considering how well my sister's photos came out, but I love them!

Engagement Session Inspiration

Our engagement photo session is next week, and one of my top studying procrastination techniques this week was compiling engagement photos I love! The first one below is my very own sis and her then-fiance by hers, and our, photographer, Jen Howell of New Vintage Photography. I am also hoping that looking at all these pictures will make me less nervous....

So awesome! Stay tuned for how it goes...

My First Ever Inspiration Board, AKA "Country Vintage"

I made an inspiration board! My wedding will have a hint of country to it, and I love antique and vintage looking things. The two combined I think make for a really fun mix!

You will notice that the barn is from Oak Farm Vineyards that I posted about last week. The dress is Claire Pettibone's Harmony and the parasol is from Pink Frosting. The picnic idea and photo are from A Practical Wedding. The basket of antique hydrangeas is from Cote de Texas.

Chalk It Up

At a friend's housewarming party recently, my fiance and I had the joy of creating entertaining photographs for the housewarmers. We had so much fun doing it, and when I got the Picasa album of the photos, it was great to look through all the pictures of their close friends and family, and their hilarious messages and expressions. Ours was no exception; the funny thing is I had no idea what the hubby-to-be had on his board in that photo!

Photobooths have become really popular, and other people are including them in their wedding. And, I can totally see our guests creating lasting memories for us, that really capture their personalities.

But here's the issue: I have only seen it done by professional photographers (fancy camera, remote control, professional background, etc).

I really want to do one of these at our wedding reception; I can totally see it with chalk boards! But I don't have any room in my budget to add more photographer fees. We are maxed out on that front! Do I have to hire someone to set it up? Can I do it myself? I am convinced there must be a way to do it on my own, but I need ideas! Inspiration! And most of all, encouragement that it is possible! Anyone have suggestions?

Guilty for Reading the Cartoons and Pretty Much Nothing Else

I thank my evidence professor for nuggets of cuteness to break up the torture of studying for the exam... ...and really hope that there will be at least one multiple choice question on the exam that I can answer because I read the cartoons.

Bye Bye Berkeley. I'll miss you! Well, not really.

*

I know a lot of people that love Berkeley, but I am just not one of those people. I am super excited about moving! To justify my less-than-enthusiastic opinion, I have provided a list of the five things I know I will miss about Berkeley, and ten that I definitely will not miss.



Things I Will Miss About Berkeley

1. The Weather


2. Living within walking distance to Anthropologie


3. The Dog, and Dog-Friendly, Parks


4. Puppy Play Dates


5. Running into my fabulous friends at school

Things I Most Definitely Will Not Miss About Berkeley

1. The Crazies - They are everywhere


2. The Potholes - My car totally needed new alignment after living here two days


3. Crappy Apartments & Crappy Slumlords - Not to mention the ridiculous rent prices


4. The 51 - Anyone who has experienced it knows what I am talking about


5. Playing Paperboy everytime I try to drive somewhere


6. Cash-only restaurants - Seriously?


7. The grocery stores - So stressful!


8. Bad customer service - Ok, my bar is kind of high on this one, but I can't think of good customer service I have had here.


9. Parking - I really don't know how many parking tickets I have received while living here, but I am sure I spent a small fortune paying for them.


10. The overpriced, and really not that good, restaurants - So many people think Berkeley has great restaurants, but I have only found one restaurant that I actually care about (La Mediterranee, and from what I can tell, they started in San Francisco), and a few that are so-so.

Anyway, it was worth experiencing, and maybe some day I hope to look back at my time here with nostalgia.

*I admit, I am not moving to Colorado right away, but it's the eventual destination... the light at the end of the tunnel...

Venue Fantasies

If I could do it all over again, and had no wedding budget, I think I would have my wedding at Oak Farm Vineyards in Lodi. Rustic, quaint, remote, and lovely; a little country and just beautiful. Did I mention overpriced? Yeah, that too.

Anywho, budgets make for much more interesting, involved and DIY planning, so I am not saying I would actually do it differently... But a BARN turned into RECEPTION HALL?! Perfection!

Ok, back to finals. Only one week and I will be COMPLETELY DONE with law school!

It's in Writing!

I LOVE getting packages in the mail, but the package I got earlier this week was particularly exciting. I got my wedding invitations! I didn't expect to be so... overwhelmed... when I received them. It was a moment that made me feel like it was all for real, a lot like the day(s) I was saying "holy crap, I just bought a wedding dress!" It was a no-turning-back-now kind of moment, but in such an awesome way!

But the most exciting thing about the invitations is that I love them and think they really capture our country, informal wedding perfectly! I had to talk the future-hubby into the doily monogram, but now that we went with it, we are totally into it! And hopefully will figure out other ways to incorporate it elsewhere. Plus, we did postcard response cards to save on paper and postage, and they turned out so cute!

Mostly, I feel so lucky to have found the most accomodating, yet affordable, invitation designer, Emily Ley Paper, who was referred to me by a friend, but who also has a shop on Etsy. Emily kicked major butt in the customer service and responsiveness department, and when my first round of proofs had some flaws, she bent over backwards to fix the issues. I love the design, colors, and fonts, and how simple her style is.

It's official!!

One Size Does NOT Fit All!

The current trend of allowing bridesmaids to select their own, non-uniform, style dress is long overdue, in my opinion. Designers in the bridesmaid business have responded (encouraged even?) this trend by providing a variety of styles in the same colors and fabric. Here is a where I am proud of you, Mr. Wedding Industry.*

Where I take serious issue with you, Mr. Industry, is in your utter failure to provide bridesmaids (and brides, for that matter) around the world the opportunity to try on a dress in their size or a close size! I get that there are limitations on how many samples a given designer can send to bridal shops for folks to try on, but what I don't understand is why those designers couldn't at least give brides an option to order a sample in a smaller or larger size, should she need one to try on. Not only that, but once a maid orders the dress, she is stuck with it if the style doesn't suit her or doesn't fit her.

Designers are more than willing to charge out the patootie for the dresses (more than a reasonable person would pay even for a gorgeous dress that she really LOVES, let alone a dress that, let's admit, she will probably not wear again), but can't seem to work any kind of customer service into the equation. How can they expect us to pay so much money, with the risk that we are not going to love it?? Extortion, I tell you!

As a former bridesmaid and current bride, this situation really hits home for me. My sisters and I are different shapes and sizes, and I know so many bridal parties are made up of a variety of different looking girls.

That is why I am glad that my maids and I decided to go to vendors and dress shops that have an assortment of sizes available to try on and purchase, and to not support those designers that lack what I believe is a fundamental element of customer service. And I hope that other brides will think about this when they make their maid dress selections.

*This entity must be identified as male, because there is no way that a woman would expect that all women wear a size 8 or 10, nor would she expect that women with their variety of sizes & shapes would be able to select a dress without trying it on!!

**The dresses that adorn my beautiful sisters above (from Alfred Angelo) are not what we picked, though we went with a similar shape.

The Beginning of the End--The Countdown Begins

I never really was the girl who dreamed of having a big, fancy wedding, and when my fiance proposed, my first of many wedding ideas was to elope. Now that we have decided to go with the big, though not too fancy, wedding, I can't believe how into weddings I have become! I spend so much time online searching for inspiration and ideas, and research every little detail until my eyes go blurry.

I think my sisters and mom legitimately think I am a little nuts. This is not only because of the tremendous turn around in terms of wedding plans, but also because in the next four months, I will be graduating from law school, moving, studying for and taking the bar exam, getting married, moving (again, but this time 1,300 miles away), and starting a new job. Plus, I insisted on a honeymoon, despite the crazy schedule (or maybe because of it?).

Needless to say, it will be an action packed period of my life! But, I know I am going to make it.

Since my mom and sisters are tired of getting links emailed to them by the dozen, I decided to start this blog to share what moves and inspires me, in wedding planning and in life.

P.S. I love this picture I found, courtesy of Esh Photography. It captures my excitement for the coming adventures!