Fabric

My mom and I have done nothing on the bridesmaid gowns other than gather measurements. Sounds scary, but my mother is extremely fast and good at sewing. Between her and I, we should be able to get all three dresses done in a day, and follow up in early July with 'final fittings'.

I bought 10 yards of Plum Polyester dupioni from JoAnns.com, after finding out that it was not only cheaper but that they were offering a sale on shipping in addition to a 50% off coupon they conveniently sent via email. This is the online photo of the fabric, of which the color is nowhere close! I double checked it with the one in the store, and plum was actually the color we wanted. For less than $60.oo I got that fabric, and should be able to purchase lining, notions, and lace for less than $100.

Not a bad total for three bridesmaid gowns, especially considering that the Watters gown we fell in love with (left) retails for $300 - $400 each!

I'm meeting my mom on Friday to choose the rest of the materials for these gowns, and sometime in June we'll cut and sew all three in a day. The skirts and sashes are super easy, it's the top that will be the time-consumer.

My future Mother-in-Law found a beautiful Coldwater Creek dress in a pink polyester duipioni with a bit of lace on the top; the style goes well with our bridal party and the pink has just enough grey in it to go with our colors (which are all grey-toned shades of green and purple).

I will post, of course, when we having something resembling a bridesmaid dress created!

Dresses Everywhere!

47 Days.

That's how long I have to get my stuff together for this wedding!

One major thing is that I need to do is get my (store sample) dress cleaned. This terrifies me, because it's silk (which unfortunately = hard to clean properly) and I love my dress so much that I can't imagine having to find another that compares.

Most of the time silk gowns come back fine, but it's a fact that cleaning does reduce the amount of sizing, which is the filler they use to turn silk into silk satin. Sizing provides the sheen and weight to the fabric, which is part of why I love this dress; it photographs beautifully. I'm considering just having it spot cleaned for the wedding, and then having it fully cleaned and preserved after. The dirty spots aren't very noticeable and are both around the hem and by the zipper; spot cleaning eliminates the chance that the sizing will get ruined, and after an hour of being outside getting pictures done the dress will be less than pristine by the ceremony as it is!

I found a dress for the rehearsal dinner, a $130 Calvin Klein dress that I got at Burlington Coat factory for less than $40! They had it in white, yellow, and brown; I got it in brown because yellow is an awful color for my complexion (very fair) as is the white (had it been ivory instead it would have been my first choice). I plan on dressing it up with a flower in my hair or pinned to my waist (or a bright colored sash), a nice clutch, a shawl, and some nice shoes. Please excuse the fact that it's wrinkled! When I bought it the rain was coming down like crazy and I didn't have an umbrella, so the clerk folded it super small and double-bagged it.

What was really fun was trying it on in my old size, and having to try on 3 more until it was small enough to fit! Even now it's a little big, and I have to get the straps shortened (not an uncommon problem for me). I have another cute dress (black with polka dots and pink ribbon accents, in the old size) that I wore to my first bridal shower; it's now too big and will have to be taken in if I don't give it to one of my friends (who loves it anyways!).

This brown Calvin Klein dress will also serve as my bridal shower dress for this coming weekend, a two day event organized by my Matron of Honor that includes my 'Bachelorette Party'.

My Matron of Honor (MOH) paired with one of my bridesmaids to rent a beautiful little secluded cabin in the mountains near our venue. They are hosting my second shower there, which will be followed by a girls night. My MOH knows me well enough to know that I would not be the least bit interested in the traditional (if it can be called that) night of bar hopping and silly games; instead we're spending the night in this cabin, watching some fun girly movies, and going for a hike the next day.

I'm excited for this coming weekend!

The RSVP's are coming back, usually coming in piles of two or three per day. It's been very fun to check the mail box each day, although today was mildly dissapointing. Mixed in with a few that we knew were going to be definite 'yes' and definite 'no' replies was one from Daves former boss and his family. We thought they would likely come, and because Dave has a good relationship with this boss both of us were dissapointed that they declined. Included in their response was a wonderful note explaining a previous obligation; however it was the first 'decline' we didn't expect.

All par for the course: it did open up some space on the guest list and I'm getting to work on a few more invitations *just in case*.

Unity Ceremony

Dave and I didn't want to do a Unity Candle, because if you really get into the symbolism of it what does it mean when you blow it out after the ceremony? Not only that, but it's not allowed at our venue where the meadow site is prone to wildfires.

I've seen the sand ceremony done, and think that it's a bit trendy (not to mention the fact that for a mountain wedding it makes no sense whatsoever. For a beach wedding, it works).

Well, one thought led to another and after many revisions (Small rocks? Large rocks? Rocks in buckets? Rocks in vases? Eeeek!) we've come up with the following:

Before taking the 2 minute nature walk to our ceremony, guests will be greeted by a table, covered in large, flat polished river rocks where they will be directed to write their names and a wish, prayer, saying, or piece of advice on it. They will take this stone with them, and hold it during the ceremony until after our vows where some of our attendants (flower girl, ring bearer, etc) will gather them for us.

Our officiant is preparing a speech for it, about how bringing all of these stones and prayers together symbolizes the coming together of two groups of friends and family, as well as how each and every one of our guests has taken part in us as individuals and helped us build a foundation for our marriage. It goes with our mountain theme, gives us a unique unity ceremony that includes everybody who is special and important to us, and even serves as a guest book! Dave and I will keep the stones in our home as a decorative item (probably in a vase) and can look through them when we need a 'boost'.

The stones we will use are the same ones that guests will find at their place setting with their name and entree selection: they are flat, polished rocks that are usually used for home decorating.

On Sunday, after meeting with our officiant and really nailing down this process Dave and I went 'marker shopping'. I had tried using a metallic sharpie pen, and while it looked beautiful the markings rubbed off. I could only imagine our guests writing something thoughtful on it, holding it during the ceremony, and then finding their writing all over their hands instead!

We stood in the Michael's for about an hour and tried every marker and paint pen they had until we found something that dried quickly, didn't rub off, and looked nice. The only thing that worked were black and white 'slick writer' pens.

We got gold and silver for the 'escort cards' at the reception. . .more on that in another post.

Ceremony Decor

One thing Dave and I talked about was how to create a defined 'aisle' at our ceremony venue, and draw the eye towards the alter which will not have any kind of arch or chuppah. I looked through photos of our venue that florists had posted on their websites, and liked the idea of lining the aisle with Shepherd hooks.

I contacted a florist in Estes Park, who rents the hooks out for weddings and quoted me $2.75 for small ones and $6.75 for large ones. In photos you could tell that her hooks were used.

Brides beware: shop before you rent! I went to JoAnn's, where all of their summer garden decor was on sale for 40% off. I bought 6 small Shepherd hooks for $2.25 each, and 6 large ones for less than $6.00 each! They are brand new, beautiful, simple, and I can use them after the wedding. It cost less to buy them than to rent them!

Since we're not doing fresh florals (especially not for the ceremony where they'll only be seen for a short time) we found some 2 qt buckets online and bought 12 of them (for much less than flowers). One ribbon bow tied to the handle, and a few programs thrown in make for a really elegant, rustic, inexpensive, and simple decoration! I will re-sell the buckets (which are popular wedding decorations) after the wedding, since we didn't hot glue or attatch anything to them.

We'll also have two large hooks at the beggining of the aisle (one on each side) with the pomanders on them, two hooks on either side of the bridge as you walk onto it to get to the ceremony (a bridge crosses the St. Vrain River), and two out from of the venue entrance.

DIY Menu Cards

I realize that menu cards are not only superfluous, but a serious waste of paper. It's one of those little details, though, that to me was an inexpensive way to add both elegance and formality to our reception dinner.

Instead of using a separate card, on the reverse will be printed: 'Did you get some great photos of our wedding today? We would love for you to share! Upload your favorites to our community photo album at www.Shutterfly.com' (Also included is the screen name and password.) This satisfied my mothers desire for us to put disposable cameras on every table (no thank you!), and it's a great way to get some of those candid shots the photographers might miss.

Hopefully, people will find our note on the back and take them home, making further use of the paper!

At any rate, the cards themselves were a clearance find (yup, another one!) at Michaels - I got 60 cards for less than $5.00. They are a nice weight of ivory cardstock, have a beveled (not sure if that's the correct word) edge, and came with the word 'Menu' pre-printed in an elegant font in black.

All I had to do was decorate! We took the photo crop of the Columbine on our invitations and 'stamped' it next to the word menu, then typed out the menu text using 'aramis', the same font we used on our invitations and will use to create our programs.

The menus will be tucked into a brown napkin at each place setting, and in another DIY project later each guest will have a large river stone with their name on it for their place setting.

Thinking about our yummy dinner choices is making me hungry :)

It's Official!

The invitations have been mailed!

After two long weeks of printing and assembling, calling for addresses, and addressing each envelope by hand I turned them over to the care of the Post Office. We even got our first RSVP returned yesterday (an 'accept with pleasure!'. No mind it was from my Matron of Honor. . . ahem. . .it was still exciting!)

Less than a week previously, we had the Post Office weigh one of our invitations so we could find out what to expect postage-wise. We were quoted $1.00 each (ouch!) which was to be expected because we made the mistake of using square envelopes (odd size = extra postage) out of heavy card stock (extra weight = extra postage). What we found particularly strange, however, was that in a return trip to the post office to buy the stamps we were quoted $1.17 each.

This was before the postage rate increase. The same invitation, weighed by two different employees, and a $.17 difference? It really makes me wonder how 'accurate' their scales are, or if there was a gap in one or the other employees training.

I politely mentioned this to the employee who quoted us the $1.17 (who was also the manager!) and he looked at me like we had made the story up and were trying to scam the Post Office out of $.17!

It wasn't worth the argument, although I'm glad I had it re-weighed (otherwise all of our invites may have hit mailboxes around the country with 'postage due'. Talk about a major etiquette blunder!). I also brought up the argument about one of our invites hitting another scale in their system; how do we know it won't come up with yet another (potentially higher) rate? The manager didn't appreciate my comment!

I also asked him that, since their wedding stamps don't add up to $1.17 and I'd be paying $1.22 for each invitation (two wedding cake stamps at $.61 each) if they would mind hand canceling each envelope (instead of getting the machined red bar on it they use a rubber stamp. . .it looks much nicer) and he very curtly told me he'd do it if he 'had' to and only if they weren't busy. He also said that the machine stamp isn't going to 'ruin' my invitations and didn't understand why I was worried about it.

Good grief. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm the farthest thing from a Bridezilla. I don't know if this guy had some bride in there making a fuss once and now he hates all of us, but I definitely think he needed an attitude check.

I wanted the hand cancel because we spent a lot of money on these invitations, and it's proper etiquette to have them hand-canceled (just like they are hand addressed).

But I digress. The invitations are out, and things are moving along! Two months from today we'll all be together at our venue, and I'm still in disbelief that we're already this close.

Details details. . . .

Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

I decided to send out invitations for our rehearsal dinner so that our guests can plan their weekend in Colorado accordingly. The city where our wedding will take place is a two + hour drive from Denver International Airport, and while I trust everybody to know there *will* be a rehearsal dinner, I thought sending an actual invitation would be a nice touch.

Not only that, but I needed a way to use up left over paper from the wedding invitations!

Our venue recommended a few restaurants, among which was an Italian restaurant known to locals. In my research, I found that they had hundreds of fabulous reviews, not to mention the fact that they were incredibly affordable. Other restaurants wanted to charge us a room fee for our rehearsal dinner, which is ridiculous considering that it really is just a large group like any other meeting they might have. The staff was very nice and accommodating on the phone, and I couldn't believe the fabulous quote they gave us.

They will serve our guests salad, rolls, drinks, and family style Italian entrees (great! Just what I need, a plate full of pasta the night before I have to fit into my wedding dress. . .oh dear. . .) while the river rushes by the patio where they host large parties. It is the perfect combination of mountains and great food!

Dave and I both agreed that we wanted the rehearsal invitation to have a lighter, less formal feel than our wedding invitations but still tie in with our mountain theme.

I found a velum paper with pine printed on it, and paired it with leftover 'Galvanized' and 'Opal' metalic paper to create this invitation.

The velum can be lifted up to make the text more readable, and reads the following poem:

Dave popped the question and Chris said 'Yes'!

Now all the planning is over from the dinner to the dress.

Only one thing remains for this day to be great

'Practice Makes Perfect' and (date) is the date!

We'll practice the ceremony
And iron out the kinks

Then it's off to (restaurant) for some dinner and drinks!

Please join the Bride and Groom to Be

(Time and location information)

First Un-Official Fitting

Dave doesn't read this blog, so I'm safe posting this.

As many of you know, I bought my dress on Ebay from a bridal salon that sells their samples online. While I was able to get a gorgeous expensive dress for not so much cash, I sometimes think that I've really missed out on the whole bridal shop experience. Unlike other brides, I don't have scheduled fittings, a seamstress, or that long wait for my gown to come in from the designer. I also do not have pictures of myself in the store sample gown to show friends and family who ask.

That aside, people ask me a lot about my dress, and I don't mind sharing unless their name is, well, Dave! For a brief time, I considered psyching him out by dropping hints about my dress; a 'fake' dress that is. I thought about making him think that I had some giant, poofy gown with lots of jewels, a corset back, and pickups in the skirt (no offense to such brides, it's simply not our thing). It might have been fun to make him imagine me showing up on July 12th in a mermaid gown and veil (two things he not so much as said 'don't even think about it' to), but I decided to play nice. While he doesn't know what my gown looks like, I'm pretty sure he knows that it's not a poofy princess dress.

Until now, nobody has seen me properly in the dress; going back to the bridal shop experience I never had that 'first fitting' when my dress came in. Instead, I've been at home with the gown tucked neatly away on the guest bed, laid out flat in a white sheet waiting for the day when I felt I had done enough workouts to actually look good in it.

I fell in love with this dress when I found it online, and while I never expected to land myself in a strapless gown we found that it really was the best neckline for my narrow shoulders. The caveat? It was a good size or more too small, and yes, I bought it anyways! Something about this dress begged me to bring it home; it was the perfect combination of simplicity and elegance.

So I've spend the last 6 months running with my dog and doing weight sets. I've really enjoyed getting back into great shape and it was so rewarding when I was able to put the whole thing together for the first time.

I found 'pearl' jewelry on clearance at Kohl's (A necklace and earrings that I would have paid full price for) which are an amazing match for my dress. Not only that, but after budgeting $100 for a strapless long-line bustier I was able to find one for much, much less. The dress fits and I couldn't be happier with how it looks!

I love how the color of the fabric photographs, and the silk satin looks so rich. In June my mom will help me make any alterations (right now it's a perfect fit, if I lose any more weight it will need to be taken in, wow!) and we'll decide on a bustle for the train.

The sash presents a unique problem as far as bustling goes. While it can be removed after the ceremony, the sash is 90% of the reason I love this gown so much, so that's not an option. The only photo I could find of this dress all bustled up on another bride is very tiny, so I did a Google Image search for bustle photos of Amsale's famous blue sash gown (of which my gown was inspired, I'm sure). I loved the way this bride bustled her sash gown: a simple french bustle on the train with the sash tied up over it, leaving a small sweep train to brush the floor.

I really like bustles on wedding gowns; it's very interesting to see how brides pick up their train off the floor. It's important to me that in doing the bustle, it makes the dress. The bustle is worn longer than the train is down, so it has to be something that makes sense visually and design-wise, rather than just be a way to get the train out of the way!

Miss Indecisive

Family and friends successfully convinced me to order a cake from a professional bakery and forgo making it myself. End the end I realize this is a smart decision, but as somebody who likes to keep a tight grip on money I had a hard time justifying $400 for Betty Crocker! Now I'm glad I ordered it, of course, but letting go of control to that project was difficult.

That aside, most other things have remained DIY projects and for all intents and purposes we've saved money and really been able to personalize our wedding this way. Our DIY invitations are beautiful, I love my hairpiece, and even small details like our table numbers are coming together.

One of our DIY projects never really set well with me, and at the time I liked the result but started changing my thoughts after Dave and I spent one evening stalking photos of beautiful weddings on our photographers website (www.SharberPhoto.com).

The more I thought about it, the more I liked some of the floral arrangements I had seen. Although the bouquet and pomanders I had made are very nice, I decided that I could either do better, or shell out the cash for real flowers. We're spending a lot of money on photography, and I want to make sure that in our photos we like the way things look. (The first bouquet, right).

Something about the bouquet I had made felt like it was missing something, and after putting several different extra little flowers into it I wasn't able to find the look I was going for.

Well, on Wednesday I went to Michaels to buy another vase for our centerpieces (I've been buying them one per week using the weekly 40% off coupon) and snoop around in the bridal area for inspiration. That's when I happened upon a gorgeous arrangement, sitting along by itself on clearance because it was missing a few flowers. It was all the inspiration I needed!

Not only was it less than $5.00, but the colors were perfect. I brought it home and added two stems of green hydrangeas, some of the same purple berries that are in my hairpiece, and a purple ribbon. I cannot believe how gorgeous it is in person, and when Dave came home he said 'WOW! That's cool, where did it come from?'

The sticks around the stem were a major selling point for me, and really go with our mountain 'wildflowers, pinecones, sticks, and river rocks' theme.

Brilliant :)

I will have a photo of the bouquet with the dress soon, in the next post actually. . .because I finally have pictures of me in my dress!

As if that we're cool enough, Michaels' also had similiar arrangements with the same sticks on the stem for $4.99 each. I pulled out the flowers they came with (very bright Gerbera daisy's) and will replace them with others. Once those turn out I will post another blog on them, as they will become the bridesmaid bouquets.

What about the 3 pomanders and original bouquet?

Well, the pomanders will be used as decoration for the ceremony; Dave and I both wanted something like that hung from Shephard hooks on the path to the meadow where our wedding will take place. The Shephard hooks, well, that's another story!

The original bouquet will either be re-purposed into the bridesmaid bouquets, or will stay as-is and will be used as part of my break-a-way- toss bouquet. I may attach two wedding ring charms to it and bunch the carnations around it, toss the whole thing and let it break apart. (See post 'Break-a-Way toss bouquet). We'll see. . .in either case it will still be used and no matter what, our floral budget is still way under what we would have spent if we bought all the flowers fresh (and then let them wilt in the July heat). I love how these will look fresh no matter what.