Thursday, February 23, 2012

Getting Some Floral Inspiration

Inspiration and ideas I found online incorporating some of the flowers I liked earlier at the florist shop.
I found this bouquet in a catalog at Bloomfield's today. That is one of the two local florists that are associated with our venue, The Perthshire. We get credit towards our table floral arrangements through our wedding package, so I wanted to check out the place this afternoon (while Jeff was off from work with me) to see what we could work with and to get some ideas. I like this bouquet as inspiration, but I would take out the deep orange Mango lilies and insert the button mums instead perhaps. I already know that I want the bouquets to be small and tight in a ball mason jar tied with twine and set on a swatch of frayed edge burlap. I want to create a contrast between rustic, harvest, and October, but with neutral vintage feeling elegance. The photos of the flowers below are the different types I'm currently considering including in the table bouquets.


Miniature green hydrangea
Green button mums

Sahara Rose
Vendela rose
Bupleurum flowers

Sealing the Deal--Putting on the Ice Skates!








I am off from work today so I convinced Jeff earlier in the week to take today off as a vacation day and take me ice skating. I've never been before, and he hasn't been since he was in middle school, so we were a little nervous...but I told him we couldn't get married till he took me ice skating, (even though he had intended to take me on the day he proposed in Rockefeller Center, we weren't able to go there). This weird stipulation stems from a joke I made early on when we began dating, when I told him that every boyfriend I'd ever had said they'd take me ice skating and never did...so I was convinced I'd marry the man that took me. So here I was today, at 28 years old, finally putting on a pair of ice skates.
Open skating was from 11-1pm. We got there late and didn't stay long. When we walked in and saw all the people there, I knew my day dream of us laughing and spinning around alone as I learned to skate with him was not going to be a reality, after all, all these kids were out of school for the week, so it was probably even busier than normal. I had to use a stack of five gallon buckets to lean on as I went around the outside of the wall hanging on with all the other small children and a few other inexperienced adults. Anyone I made eye contact with, I felt the need to explain it was my first time. When I stepped off the ice to retie my laces I lost my stack of buckets and my sense of security.
I went around one more time with Jeff without the buckets to prove to myself that I could--but I pretty much clung to the wall that whole way around too. I joked that I was just there for the pictures, to prove that we did it, and to fulfill my silly quota of ice skating before marriage. He had told me he wanted to take me ice skating and propose on the rink in Rockefeller Center--and after today, I'm so glad things worked out the way they did and we had our private moment on a bench looking up at the tree instead. If he had dragged me out on the ice in front of hundreds of people in NYC I would have died--or killed him. We laughed over this fact, and over the fact it is not likely that I will ever be a figure skater.
We decided to cut our time at the rink short and head to lunch at Perecca's instead. It's our favorite Italian eatery from when we used to live in our Schenectady apartment years ago. We followed lunch with a trip to the florist to look at wedding flowers (see the next post), and had a great afternoon of little adventures together.

Wedding Dress Fiasco: Super Mom Saves the Day!

I'm a little behind in my updates, but there hasn't been too much to tell until recently--except one big hiccup. Back in the first week of February my mom and dad went back to the David's Bridal in Raleigh, NC where my mom and my sisters and I found my wedding dress during my visit. They were supposed to approve the alterations and have the dress shipped to me. When they went back to look at it...my mom was horrified to find that it was in worse condition than when I tried it on.
I was already a little taken aback by the fact they were fitting me for alterations on the floor model dress and that they weren't ordering me a brand new one. I didn't have the foresight to insist on a new dress or a discount, which after the fact, I wish I had done one or the other because I didn't think it was fair to pay full price (even sale price) for a dress that so many other girls had tried on. There were slight deodorant stains under the arms and some loose beading, and I was assured it would be good as new and they'd go over it with a fine toothed comb before turning it over to me after alterations.
Well, here it was over a month later when my parents went to see it with the sleeves and bustle added, and my mom went straight to the store manager and advocated for me when she found so many runs and small holes in the top layer of fabric on the dress. It's a sheer organza-type fabric on top, and either we hadn't noticed them in the fuss of the day I initially tried it on, or the people handling the dress since then had been very careless. My mom insisted they couldn't have been there before because several spots were pretty bad and she thinks we would have noticed.

Either way, the holes and runs were there, and the manager was quick to agree that it was disgraceful and she apologized profusely to my parents. (Evidently, even in the condition it was in, seeing the dress on the hanger made my father cry--so I can't imagine him on the day of the wedding!)
Thankfully, in the end my mom insisted the only option was to order me a brand new dress (like I think they should have done in the first place) and they are able to take the measurements off the old dress to make the original alterations to the new one. After that is done and approved, then it will finally get shipped to me. I am not even going to open the box when it arrives. I'm taking it to the local David's Bridal in Albany and trying it on in front of people there to verify that it's what it's supposed to be. At least I still have time before the wedding if something else goes wrong with it, but let's hope that's the only issue there will be. I do feel like everything happens for a reason though, because I'm so much more content with it now knowing it is a brand new dress and I'm the only one that will have worn it before my wedding day!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Wedding bands & The Great Pumpkin Pillow



A few weeks ago I found the perfect ring bearer pillow for our autumn shabby chic wedding...this linen and burlap pumpkin made by Nancy Ellen Studios on Etsy. I had a wonderful experience working with this artisan. She was open to custom orders, and had great communication and turn around time. Her pricing was reasonable, if not surprisingly low for the quality of work I received. I can't wait to see our wedding bands tied up in the "vines" and carried down the aisle by our equally adorable ring bearer.
Link
Jeff and I made a return visit to Glennpeter Jewelers this afternoon to take another look at wedding bands--this time with considerably more success! We had discussed our expectations and budget and went in with a plan that we felt comfortable with, and within a few hundred dollars were able to stick to it. The buy one get one free wedding band deal that came with Jeff having purchased my engagement ring there, made us feel better about what we spent on my ring, and the value of Jeff's totally made it worth it.
I had wanted diamonds on three sides of the band to match the engagement ring, but we went with diamonds just on top instead which cut the cost tremendously and is more practical for where we are financially right now. The mil grain detailing on the ring I picked was just what I needed to feel like it would stand on its own and compliment the engagement ring. It is also made by the same vendor as my engagement ring so it works well together. Jeff's band is also 14k white gold with the mil grain detailing and the hammered metal is so cool. I love that we both fell in love with the same ring for him. Another big decision down, this one will be on our fingers for the rest of our lives. Wow!