Flower Girl Dress ✔

I just got word that Christian's cousin, our flower girl's mother, found the cutest dress for Emma! It's springy, it will look great with the pewter bridesmaids dresses, and it's not traditional, which is what I love about it.
Great work, Nicole! I know it's not easy with 2 small children and one on the way! Thank you so much!

Emma is going to sparkle - love it!

Dressing for the Shower

I've been looking for a dress (or outfit) for my bridal shower for weeks now. I thought during the holidays I'd find something. There was a dress that I did buy on sale but I don't think it's that great for my shower, maybe to wear to one of the many weddings coming up in 2010. The shower is in the evening and I'm typically a jeans + t-shirt kinda girl. What is a bride supposed to wear to her shower?

My concerns...

• Is black ok?
• Most dresses are really short on me because my legs are so long
• I'd love to hide my oversized-knees, if I can, since people will be watching me
• My shower is march 27, is it going to be too cold for a 'little party dress'?
• Sundresses just don't look right on me, ever
• Are there dresses out there that are longer but not granny-looking or too gownish? if so where?
  
• Can I wear dress pants and a party top? or is that too casual?

HELP!

True Dress Debacle

Ha, so I guess I spoke too soon with that last blog! I thought there were issues with my bridesmaids dresses before... now I'm told that Jim Hjelm can't do the colors I chose from their swatch book. One of the associates at MB Bride called me this morning to apologize... if only they would've discovered this a month ago when they told me the colors would be fine! After I spent hours upon hours in that store debating on colors and after most of my bridesmaids put money down, got measured, etc. Wouldn't it have made sense to check if the color combo was alright BEFORE you told me "YES, WE CAN THAT!" You guys are supposed to know more about these dresses then I do! Grrrrr.

So yet AGAIN back to the drawing board. We are most likely just going to swap the colors for my Plan B scheme. But this whole thing is so not cool!

Tonight Nikki, Rachel, and I are going in and I'm telling them what's up!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dear MB Bride & Special Occasions,
With the exception of one really nice associate who works there (Linda), I think your service stinks! If people hadn't already paid I would go elsewhere for my bridesmaids dresses. Oh and your lighting makes even beautiful people look gross.
Sincerely,
A Very Disgruntled Bride

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Plan B and final color combo... Pewter / Black / Black

Dress Debacle

So on Saturday morning Tara and I went into MB Bride so she could get fitted for her bridesmaid dress for my wedding. I just found out the orders need be in for all 5 of my bridesmaids by next week, yikes! Good news is that the girls only have to put half down to order them, bad news is that they can't order any of them til all 5 girls come in, get measured, and put half down.

It would've been great if they would have told me the last time I went in that they needed ordered by like now!

So please ladies, get to MB Bride as soon as you can so they can measure you! I'm so sorry for the rush and for this expense coming during the Christmas season.

Store hours: Open 7 days a week
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 11:00am to 8:30pm
Tuesdays and Fridays: 11:00am to 5:00pm
Saturdays: 10:00am to 5:00pm
Sundays: (Jan - April) 11:00pm to 4:00pm; (May - Dec) 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Bridesman

I just thought I'd embarrass one of my "bridesmaids" by posting a video I forgot I had of him. :)

{in rush hour after work - the mohawk makes it that much better}

The Holidays

Christian and I had a wonderful thanksgiving with our families. We cooked our first thanksgiving dish, which turned out very well (even if it was only a side). We also bought our first Christmas tree on black friday, yay! The intent was to shop after Christmas and get a seriously discounted tree for next year but I talked him into a 6' tree that was on sale for $25! It's now almost completely setup at his house. Our tree / holiday decor is all whites, silver, and warm grays (surprise surprise). We walked around - for what felt like hours - looking at all the colors trying to decide and ended up with gray and white (like the wedding colors).

I love the holidays and I can't wait for next year when we will actually wake up together on Christmas morning!

Recently, we've also been accessing Christian's house trying to figure out how to get all my crap into it when we get married. It's going to be close and I will probably have to give a lot of stuff away. We're hoping that for Christmas our families get us Home Depot and Ikea gift cards (or similar) to ease the transition... wink wink, nudge nudge.

Photographer ✔

Tonight we booked our wedding photographer! We are so excited. It's so important to meet with photographers and discuss your individual needs. We were so picky and we have faith that they will do a great job!

Cool Cakes

I am constantly researching each different piece of the wedding from cakes to flowers to ties. I have found some beautiful cakes along the way. Not so much for me but unique cakes with very interesting details.

I LOVE the eyelet cakes, they aren't for me but I think they are so pretty!
This cake seems so fare and dainty to me even with the bold/contemporary circle pattern.I love the modern design of the buds streaming down this cake.This is the cutest ugliest cake ever, ha!Tuxedo shirt detailing - very cool.

Venue and Date ✔

We are officially getting married at The Barn at Fallingwater on May 22, 2010!

Dear God,
Thank you!
Love,
Lauren

The Barn

My fiance, my mother, and I drove up to The Barn At Fallingwater today. It was really nice. They LOVED it, so I'm pretty excited about it. At this point I'm waiting on the events chick to get back from vacation so we can discuss the specifics. So it's looking like we're getting married at the Barn!

Groomsmen Style

I love the darker suit for the groomsmen and the lighter gray for the groom...
(I know this isn't really new but I just love it)

Bridesmaid's Dresses ✔

I am pretty sure I've been driving my bridesmaids crazy since I keep going back and forth on the dresses! I had chosen a deep v-neck charcoal + black low back dress and of course now I've changed my mind (again). But here's the good thing... I'm done changing my mind :)

It's a Jim Hjelm and Carly tried it on in these photos at MB Bride in Greensburg. The dress was a few sizes too big on her so it's not going to look great in these pics. The color combos I like are Taupe / Pewter / Black or Pewter / Black / Black. (both shown)

Bridesmaids: Let me know when you want to try it on!

{ and yes my nephew was spiderman for halloween }

{ my bridesmaid inspiration board }

Why Sweet & Bossy?

I have to explain the title "sweet & bossy." Christian likes to jokingly call me bossy when I try to take charge of any given situation. I always thought it was cute.

One day after we got engaged Christian looked romantically into my eyes and said slowly
"you are sweet and bossy yet I love you" of course frantically immediately after he said "I didn't mean to say, yet!"

We laughed about it for a while and it just sort of stuck...

Plus every other blog title I thought of was taken. ;)

Hidden Potential, Perhaps?

So Christian and I visited Pluma today and were pleasantly surprised. It's very modern inside with what they called a 'southern caribbean' flair (which I guess means a big light-up palm tree is all you need to convey that???). BUT it was very nice and very big, the price wasn't too bad either. Unfortunately the guy (the owner) didn't have a date book handy with the available dates for 2010. We are pretty set on May 22.
For us, it is not in a great location. We would have no idea where to have photos taken or where to have the ceremony if we chose Pluma. So there would be a little more research involved in all that.
All in all, it's a good plan B (if the dates were to work out).

We are looking VERY forward to visiting the Barn next Sunday!

Developments 10.31.09

Less than 7 months to go and today we found out that our photographer booked over us. Now we have to go hunting for a new one. We spent a long time doing research on photographers that met our (outrageous, ha) standards... being designers/photographers makes us so picky! So now we don't have one. grrrrrrrrr.

Pink Details

In my search for ideas for my own wedding I've found many beautiful sample photos in other colors. Although I do not prefer pink, my sister is a HUGE fan so I've collected (literally) hundreds of pink images for her.

Green Details

In my search for ideas for my own wedding I've found many beautiful sample photos in other colors. Green is so versatile, it's earthy and it goes great with almost any color.

Plum Details

In my search for ideas for my own wedding I've found many beautiful sample photos in other colors. I love when the bride color coordinates her shoes with her colors!

Yellow Details

In my search for ideas for my own wedding I've found many beautiful sample photos in other colors. Yellow is one of my favorite colors.

Venue Options

It's been a busy week for us. We visited a movie studio on Monday as a potential venue, Thursday we are visiting another location, and today we got an email back from another! Here's the breakdown on each venue....

Studio: (visited Monday)
more than enough space (the total sq footage of the entire studio is over 300k sq ft)
no windows, black unfinished walls, super high ceilings
no restrictions on decor
probably a $$$ on the price scale because we would still have to rent tables, chairs, linens, etc
great photo spots nearby
most likely any date we want
still need to find a ceremony spot







Pluma: (visiting Thursday)
plenty of space, newer
centrally located
no idea yet on cost
not good for photos
still have to find a ceremony site
almost no dates available, we'd have to settle






Barn: (visiting soon)
our date is available!
150 guest max (125 - 135 comfortably) our list is roughly 180
recently renovated 'barn' converted into a modern event space
ceremony + reception on site
good for photos
a $$ on the price scale because we wouldn't have to rent tables, chairs, etc
35 mile drive for me, about 50+ for some guests








I gotta say that I'm getting excited about the Barn... it reminds me of the space we lost back in August. I never wanted a 'rustic' or 'earthy' wedding but it's a really neat space and I'm looking very forward to visiting! We've been praying pretty hard about our wedding so we're very anxious to find a place as soon as possible.

2010 Brides

I just wanted to say Congratulations again to all the bride-to-be's who are getting married right along with me in 2010 - Jen, Kacey, Rachel, Mandy, Jess - it's gonna be a great year, can't wait!

Did I forget someone?

Wedding Gown ✔

I FINALLY ordered my wedding gown today and it's the new one I found only Monday! It feels so good to have something accomplished!

We got to see my mom's dress which had just come in - gorgeous! I also worked a deal so my mother-in-law-to-be could get a "mother of the groom" discount! I won't be able to take advantage of the bridesmaid dress discounts they offer if you pick them from the same store you buy your gown from (they didn't have any that came in the right colors for me) so it seemed only fair :)

Now I have to work on the rest of the bridal party!

Flower Favs

I have some flowers now that I'm thinking about for my bouquets ranunculus, anenomes, and roses. Ranunculus and anenomes are my favorite as far as our bouquets go. I found a photo of flowers that I love but I can't find it at the moment. These are some other images that I like... I'll probably add more later!