{party attire} the other dresses

Time is just flying by and things are getting pretty real with my wedding planning.  I am just 7 months and 29 days away from my big day! (and I am SO excited!) So, here's what I have been up to recently:  My bachelorette party is set (thank you Monica!), we are sending out Save The Dates this week, and creating our wedding website. This month I am committed to locking down our photographer, wedding planner, and DJ. In the meantime, I'd like to daydream about the other dresses I plan on wearing this year. Here is some inspiration for outfits I would wear to ....

The Rehearsal Dinner:

Bachelorette Party:

Bridal Shower:

A lot of the dresses I want to wear in November are in season NOW, so it looks like I should start shopping. What are some of your favorite places to shop for a little white dress?

Lifting the Veil

As I haven’t found a dress yet (but did go shopping again – more on that to come), I am still a long way from choosing my veil. But on my recent dress shopping excursion, I noticed that every bridal shop employee, in what I assume is an attempt to seal the deal, puts a veil on your head as soon as you express even the slightest interest in a dress. Maybe seeing the entire package makes a bride-to-be more likely to commit? Hasn’t worked on me yet, but it did get me thinking about veils and what I like and don’t like. Out of the gate, my favorite veil is the mantilla. Technically, a mantilla is a lace veil worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb, popular with women in Spain. It's also often associated with devotional practices among Catholic women. However, in the bridal world, mantilla veils are circular-shaped and rest on top of the head. The outside edges of the veil are covered with lace that frames the face.

I think my 12 years of Catholic schooling might have influenced my preference here. I just think this is such a beautiful look! But it could be hard to wear this type of veil with certain dresses, specifically dresses with a competing lace pattern or a more modern dress.

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I also love birdcage veils, mostly because they just seem incredibly less fussy than a traditional veil. But I also like that they immediately give off a vintage, sexy vibe – a bride with some spunk!

And if you want to go even more non-traditional…

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

If I don’t go with one of the above options, I'll likely pick a more traditional elbow or finger-tip length veil. I think the chapel and cathedral veils are stunning, but maybe a little too elaborate for me.

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And of course there is the option of no veil at all. I’ve been to several outdoor ceremonies where the veil blows off and the bride ends up putting it aside, and she still looks just as beautiful and radiant. Plus they are not the cheapest accessory. Veils can run north of $300 at bridal boutiques. I’ll be scouring Etsy or even DIY options before making a purchase for sure.

Will you be wearing a veil on your wedding? Tell me about it!

Dapper Dude {your best man}

dap·per/ˈdapər/

Adjective:

(typically of a man) Neat and trim in dress, appearance, or bearing.

When brainstorming what I should write about today it occurred to me that I haven't mentioned Vinnie's attire yet. He recently locked down his Bachelor Party, (which is in Austin, TX by the way) and it made me think to make a little inspiration board for what he may wear on our big day. As I've mentioned before, we are a pretty classic couple; we love Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and the style of the 1950s & 60s. When it comes to our wedding I imagine Vinnie in a suit, not anything casual. I LOVE suspenders, and he looks pretty dapper (ala Mad Men) in a skinny tie ;)

What kind of look is your future hubby going for? Tux, suit, casual wear? Please feel free to share your ideas and inspiration!

Dress Rehearsal..

I haven't given a whole lot of thought to my attire for the rehearsal dinner, but now that most of the big things are taken care of, I feel like I can spend some time on finding a dress.  I am not entirely sold on wearing white to the rehearsal dinner, I'm already pretty pale so I'm not sure I want to match my dress!  So I may mix things up and wear a bright color.  I don't want to be too dressy, but it is a good excuse for a cute new dress!  Here are a few I'm considering.

A bright green dress from Modcloth with a fun puffy skirt, and pockets! I'm a sucker for a dress with pockets. This bright blue dress from BCBG looks adorable with the bright belt and sweater.  I just love the color.

I also like the idea of a yellow dress, since yellow is one of our wedding colors.  This one shoulder dress is definitely a contender. Or I could go the more traditional route with a white (well, maybe more like cream) dress.  I love the tie on the back of this dress, so pretty.

This mint dress is pretty, maybe a tad bit low cut though. I originally wanted this white dress from modcloth, but I waited too long and it sold out, bummer.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

What do you think, which one do you like best?  Virtual shopping is a lot of fun, too bad I can't buy them all!  What will you (or did you) wear to your rehearsal dinner?

They Are Back :: Stacked Bracelets

When you were little did your arm become a place for anything and everything that would fit around your wrist in the form of a bracelet to gather? Mine did. Who knew what started as a fad for rubber bands and water park wrist bands would turn into something like this trend today. Stacked bracelets are my current all-time favorite thing right now.

Source: 1, 2, 3

Gone are the days of the statement necklace. I hate to say such a statement seeing as I was pretty obsessed with always adorning my neck with the chunkiest most awesome piece I could find. My take on bracelets a year ago was that they were such a strange piece of jewelry. I just didn't understand them. But now, now I can't seem to get enough of them. But not just one, and not just two, but a whole slew of them that creep up my arm. I like them big and bulky, and with a watch or two shuffled into the mix.

Source: Watch, colors

So why explain my love affair of bracelets with you? Well because this fabulous idea is something that I am dying to see at a wedding. I have yet to see this happen, but maybe one of you lovely brides share my insane love and passion of stacked bracelets and are taking the plunge. Anyone?

Source: colors, gold, colors, gold

If you aren't feeling it and you love the statement necklace till the end, that is quite alright. But this is also a great idea for the bridesmaid bunch.

Suiting the Groom {and His Men}

For some reason this week, I've been starting to feel sad about no longer planning a fantastic party with a respectively gigantic budget anymore after this year. I am having so much fun! Sure, it gets stressful sometimes. But I really love dreaming big and figuring out the details and making crazy wishes come true. My poor friends are probably going to have to put up with me planning their entire weddings for them on Pinterest (right alongside every other formerly-engaged woman on Pinterest). Do any of you feel the same?

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Anyways, I've been looking for suits for my groom for months, and we finally went this past weekend to try on the one (yes, boys have "the one" too)! Let me start by clarifying how this process has been going for us... Since we are planning an eco-chic, vegan wedding this means that we are looking for wool-free suits. Let me tell you, it is hard to find a gray 3-piece suit without any wool! Plenty of linen, or 2-piece suits, but a 3-piece gray suit is a toughy (thank you, Kyle, for that very specific style request). But we found a great vintage-y cotton suit that we both LOVED from J. Crew, and they just got it in stores for Spring shopping. So we wandered in this past weekend and made our way straight to the fitting room!

He tried on this suit and this tie with a white shirt, and looked amazing:

Because they only sell the vest online, he wasn't able to try on the whole thing. So we ordered the vest and will go back to the store to try on the whole ensemble. We also ordered a second vest for our dear friend and only local groomsman to come to the store with us and try on the probable groomsmen outfit (why do guys hate it when you say "outfit" by the way?), which we're thinking will be just the vest and pants with a white shirt and slightly different cotton tie.

I also saw this absolutely adorable tiny 3-piece seersucker suit for the ring bearer that I just fell in love with. Isn't he cute?!

Source

I guess my biggest concern here is that it feels really, really early to be buying the clothes for everyone. But in order to get cotton or linen suits in stores for everyone to try on, you need to buy them in the Spring/Summer season (even if your wedding is in Fall/Winter).

What do you think, is it a bad idea to buy wedding suits 8 months in advance? Is there too much risk for my overall wedding style to change, or people's (especially kid's) sizes to change? I really need some help here!

Should'a, Could'a, Would'a :: Stripes

I swear, I look at weddings now and just think, "I really should have gone with my gut on that one!" Stripes is a perfect example. I had all the ideas lined up, but just like those games you play when you are little where you find the thing that doesn't belong, stripes was the odd man out in my equation. It just didn't work. But looking back, it could have worked, and I should have fought myself a little harder, gotten a little further out of my confort zone and looked a little more at HOW it could have worked. These are the little tidbits when you have your 20/20 vision looking behind. I knew I loved the look, and it is something I should have investigated a little more. Even though you don't see tons of photos of something doesn't mean it doesn't work, and if you just spread a little creativity, you might discover some awesome ideas in the back of your mind that lead to an incredibly good looking piece of decor.

Source: bow tie, hair, cake, cake, bridesmaids, table

Oh well, there are tons of other places to use stripes, right? My closet is inundated with them, and every wall in my house has the potential to become them. And I just love it.

Source: Home, Fashion

These stripes stole my heart this time around, what is stealing your heart at the moment?

Honeymoon Shopping..

With our wedding just over a month away I am getting pretty darn excited about our honeymoon!  Two days after our wedding we're going to Antigua, and I can't wait!  Neither of us have ever been to the Caribbean, and since it's finally starting to feel like winter around here  a tropical getaway sounds perfect.   I mean look at this, can you blame me?  I can't wait to be on vacation with my husband (whoa, 'husband'!)!

Now, this brings up a very important wedding task: shopping for honeymoon clothes!   I always like to do a little shopping before any vacation, a few new outfits for the honeymoon are a must in my opinion!

 Swimsuits: I tend to buy a new bathing suit every summer, I can't help it!   J. Crew is definitely a go-to spot for pretty swimsuits. I love their simple, but stylish suits.

 

 I love this next swimsuit, a little reto & fun.

 Hats: I have never been big on straw hats for just any old beach trip - but I feel like they seem just perfect and super chic for honeymoon beachwear!

Dresses:  I am looking forward to our relaxing (and delicious!) dinners, maybe even one on the beach!  Our resort has 11 restaurants, so obviously I'll need a few new summery dresses for these dinners.  I love this striped maxi dress, it seems casual and very beach-appropriate.

I recently read an article here that says packing in a specific color scheme for your honeymoon makes things easy, so you can just mix and match most outfits.  I thought it was a pretty good tip!  I always like blue, so I might try to keep most items in the blue color family.  Although a LBD couldn't hurt, and still matches everything!

And of course a cute cover-up (or two) is always fun.  I like these two a lot.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 11

Are you doing any honeymoon shopping?  I would love to know where you're going on your honeymoon, and what you're packing!

The Little White Dress (LWD)

In looking through my closet last night I realized that I don’t own a single little white dress (LWD). And that’s likely because a white dress is tough to buy. So tied to the tradition of getting married, white is not a color us ladies tend to gravitate toward when purchasing an ensemble for a special event. Unless you are the one getting married, you can’t really where white to a wedding without a lot of “What was she thinking” stares, which of course lessens the re-wear value of a dress. On top of that, it’s hard to look good in white this time of year when the short winter days prevent any kind of sun from touching your skin (even here in California!). Despite this, I decided that as a bride-to-be, and since I have several events leading up to my wedding, I really want to take advantage of this time to where lots of white! There’s really no other time that I can easily get away with wearing a color out of season (although I don’t exactly believe in that rule). And maybe purchasing a LWD well get me primed to actually pull the trigger on buying THE dress.

I will be having a traditional shower back East – likely an afternoon with a lot of ladies – and I think these white frocks will be perfect.

Credits: 1, 2, 3

I will also be having a Jack & Jill shower here in SF that likely will be held at night, so I think I can get away with something a little more cocktaily…

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4

And then of course I will need a fun white dress for the bachelorette!

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And then maybe one more for the rehearsal dinner.

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Finally, to extend the bridal feeling just a bit, I’ll pack one more in my suitcase for the honeymoon.

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What about you? Did you go out and splurge on a white ensemble when you got engaged?

But You Can Wear It Again!

I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about just by the title – yep, bridesmaid dresses. If you’ve been in a wedding, I bet you’ve heard the above statement and so desperately hoped it would be true as you handed over your credit card to pay for a very pretty, yet, likely, very expensive dress. Unfortunately, bridesmaid dresses do not grow on trees, and despite how beautiful they are, the second-time wear is probably rarer than the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (seriously, look it up). Since several of my bridesmaids live across the country, I really wanted to keep the cost of the gown in check. I’d rather the ladies spend it on airfare to come to my wedding or bachelorette than a dress. But, that being said, I didn’t want to stress about finding a gown that would suit the taste and body types of eight different women! As we all know, I haven’t had the easiest time shopping for myself!

Luckily for me, the trend of letting your bridesmaids pick their own dress has really taken off. This allows the bridesmaid to wear something that they feel amazing in, hopefully at a price point they are comfortable with. And, an added benefit for me is that all my bridesmaids have AMAZING taste, so I know they will all look awesome!

Hmm, but what color…

When we were originally planning a more rustic, outdoor wedding I was definitely leaning toward gray.

And I also loved a more neutral tan as well.

But then we decided on our present venue, The City Club, which I felt called for a darker, more formal color.

I liked navy, but my sister called dibs on that shade way back in high school, so that was out.

And then I started seeing images of black dresses and fell in love with them – especially long black gowns. There was a chance (I admit small) that the ladies may actually already own a black gown. And if not, maybe they knew a friend they could borrow one from (again, wishful thinking – but a higher likelihood than other colors!).

And of course if they decided to buy a new one, they are ubiquitous so it hopefully wouldn’t be too hard to find one they loved (or even just liked!) at a reasonable price.

I also love the way long black gowns look with a classic tux.

I actually haven’t officially made my decision about bridesmaid dresses – I am waiting to do one more round of dress shopping for myself before I make it official. But I would love your thoughts – did you let your bridesmaid pick their own dress? How did it turn out? Or were you able to wear a bridesmaid dress again? I want know!

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10