 Rocket Dog Silk Flats in none other than TEAL! Well, after a little time off from blogging for the holidays I'm back in full force and have a nice little list of blogs to write. I know I still have some major things to accomplish (photographer, DJ) but I couldn't help but start on the things on the more minor importance to do list.
And by that, I mean SHOES! My venue has brick courtyard so I know heels are going to be an issue. I'm determined to wear heels for the ceremony and pictures before the wedding. Andy is a lot taller then me so I'd really like some height in those photos.
But, I also know that the mere thought of heels gives me blisters. So, I'll definitely need some flats for the reception or else I won't be able to walk or worse... I'll go barefoot.
Luckily, while visiting my parent's house in Los Angeles, I had ample opportunity to go shoe shopping. When I got home my mom told me about some cute, cheap silk teal flats at DSW so I quickly scooped them up as my reception shoes. Now, I only have to keep myself from wearing them for the next 10 months!!!
Unfortunately, LA didn't turn up any heels I really liked. I found some wild ones and lots of patent leather pumps but none of them seemed appropriate. Many people suggested dying shoes but I've seen and heard that they run if they get wet at all. Given the frequency of rain in Mobile, I think dying shoes is a poor choice. Luckily, I have a few more months to find heels before we start dress fittings!
Anyone have any luck with dying shoes? I've heard scotchguard helps keep the dye in place. Anyone got any other creative ideas for amazing teal shoes?
After my last post about being nervous about vendors, I decided to seek some advice from other brides who'd been married at the Ezell House. Maybe they could offer advice on my venue? Perhaps in hindsight they're have some words of wisdom.
One problem... I don't know anyone who is an Ezell House bride!
I must admit, I am a complete Facebook stalker. I quickly went on Facebook and looked up a couple photographers in the area. Next, I sorted through their photos for pictures of the Ezell House and then I promptly sent FB messages to a couple of brides in the photos! I know, sort of weird. But, I don't know anyone else to give me an honest opinion on the venue so I thought soliciting some anonymous advice would be a good thing.
It took me a while to draft up a non-creepy message asking the brides some advice. But, it worked! I got two replies last night! And, now, a big sigh of relief. Both brides said their days went perfectly. Funny though, the one bride told me her only issue was with Port City Rental. Remember them with their billion dollar teal linens and $250 christmas lights? I had a chance to ask them some pointed questions and I'm very satisfied that I made a good choice!
Now, the one girl I messaged was actually whose wedding I went to see being set up with Andy and Shanna when we were trying to make a decision. Obviously, she doesn't know me, we just saw her in passing while she was doing photos. At the time I remember telling Shanna how I thought she had a nice dress.
Fast forward to yesterday. While in the midst of my facebook stalking, I kept looking at this bride's photos on the photographer's FB page for inspiration. Her wedding was in front of the fountain and set up exactly how I'd envisioned my ceremony so her pictures are helpful in getting an ideas for my wedding. But, I kept looking at her dress... then it dawned on me.... THAT'S MY DRESS! I called Shanna over (we share an office at school) and she confirmed. The bride I FB stalked about her wedding at the Ezell House is also my dress twin!
Well, the good thing is that at least I know we have similar tastes since we picked the same venue and dress. She gave the venue a rave review so this must be a good sign. And, I know what my dress looks like on a person in front of the house (I'm not sure why that matters).
 DRESS TWIN!
Did you think I was actually going to show you the whole dress? No way!!!
 And here is a crappy dressing room picture of the top of my dress. I assure you that this sweetheart neckline is indeed the same!
Note: I have actually tried on a veil, I just don't love it. I also don't love my hair down which is funny because I usually prefer it that way... ah, decisions for another day!
So, am I crazy for all this facebook stalking? I know I already booked the place so there's no backing out, I just felt like maybe there'd be some red flags to make sure I addressed before my big day. Any of you that are married or have experience, how did you pick a venue?
 A $2000 watters dress on bestbridalprices.com I don't understand this. Why are all these wedding dresses photographed on a white background???
For some reason this has been annoying the crap out of me for the last couple days. I started to find pictures of my dress but half of them are photographed in front of white. How am I supposed to see anything? I don't care that I'd blend into a cloud, that is NOT why I'd buy the dress. Its like blinding to look at these pictures.
 Another dumb dress picture This one is even worse! The dress is practically invisible. Instead all I see if a GIANT bouquet and and strange wood nymph head garland. Again, am I buying flowers or the dang dress?
OK, just a quick rant but I thought it was blog worthy because I really don't get it!
After a week without a post, I have big news. I bought a dress! My mom has been in town this week and we've been busy. I took her to the venue, we looked into room blocks and we even priced linens (another story altogether!) On Saturday I thought it'd be nice to go look at some dresses with my mom and Shanna. As we all know, I have several hangups when it comes to dresses. 1. I don't like white. 2. They cost too much money and its makes me sick. After combing through back issues of bridal mags, I'd come across some really pretty silver or pale pale robin's egg blue dresses. I spent a lot of time looking into designers that made these shades. I was surprised to find out that many designers make bridesmaid gowns with small trains. In hindsight I'm not sure why I'm surprised since I own a David's bridal bridesmaid dress with a train that I wear to Mardi Gras. Armed with a list of bridal stores in Mobile and all the brands they carry, we headed off to town. Before we left my mom said to Andy that I'd either come back really happy or pissed off. My vote was definitely pissed off. I randomly selected our first store to visit from my list. I Do bridal. Why do wedding things have to be sooo cheesy. Whatever, I thought to myself, suck it up, be a bride, go look at a freaking dress. We get into the salon and we're greeted by the obligate ultra perky young salesgirl. She asks me what I'm looking for. I tell her a wedding dress, then I immediately back pedal and say a bridesmaid dress. Finally, I blurt out... I HATE WHITE. And then explain how I am looking for dresses that come in any color other than white. I refrained from telling them I'd stab them if they offered ivory because that's white. If lavendar is purple then ivory is white. Just saying, I know my crayola colors. After looking around for a few minutes the perky young sales girl tells me that on Saturdays things are by appointment only so normally I couldn't try anything on but she just had a cancellation for a noon appointment. It was about 11:10am. Seriously, I have to kill an hour in this tiny bridal salon before I can even try anything on. Luckily, this hour of staring at dresses paid off. I pulled some lovely bridesmaid dresses that come in silver. I found a teal dress in the mardi gras section that would be lovely for Mardi Gras. We also spent time looking at some of the ugliest dresses I've ever seen. Mardi Gras is a time to wear an insane dresses but some of these dresses for Mardi Gras are like a kindergarten art teacher gone wild. Once boredom sets in I started looking at wedding dresses. I was starting to get disappointed. I don't dislike wedding dresses, I dislike their color. I wanted the dresses I saw to come in the colors of the bridesmaid dresses. Finally I pull 3 from the rack that are really pretty styles. To my surprise they're also not a billion dollars. We'd seen a few $3000 dresses on the rack so I had started to assume that everything there was outrageous. Apparently when you like plain (and by plain I mean classic, you've not allowed to call a dress plain) dresses they're cheaper. It was coming abundantly clear, I wasn't going to find my teal dress in a bridal shop. If I want a teal dress that looks like a real wedding dress I'll have to have someone custom make it. That's not gonna happen. Next idea, try on white dresses and figure out a way to add teal. The three I had already found had potential because all of them had a way I could add teal. I figured I would give them a try. When it was finally time for my appointment, I met Michelle, my bridal consultant. She was older than the perky girl. Her husband is a minister and does weddings all the time and she works there. She was AWESOME! When I told her I really wanted something not white she looked shocked and sort of suggested white gowns. She looked relieved when I told her I had picked out 3 dresses that were white. I headed into the dressing room for the fun that's trying on gigantic dresses. No article of clothing should be that difficult to put on. The first dress was really nice (made by Casablanca). I was surprised. It had thin straps and sort of wrapped around my waist. It had little sprays of pearls. Now, I'll tell you that dress #2 was the dress I ended up buying but I won't give away too many details since I gotta have a few surprises. One thing I'll tell you is that its a lot more formal than I ever envisioned but it was really nice. The best part is that it does have a removable sash that I can easily swap out. Oh, and it has pockets! The last dress was a full A-line with a flower. It was also pretty. Surprisingly, I liked all 3 dresses. Then, Michelle picked one for me to try on. The shape was to die for but it was very embellished. If that dress would've had half the embellishments it may have ended up as my dress. But, I'm not an embellishment person. Once again... PLAIN. I mean it. After trying on the dresses I was really overwhelmed. I didn't expect to really like anything. I was also surprised that the dress I liked was as cheap as one at David's Bridal but a fairly well known designer. Since we were ravenously hungry (dress shopping is straining) I decided we should go get some Ruby Tuesday salad bar and think about things. I still really want a colored dress but I want a real dress that's constructed and has the look of a gown. If dress 2 was in aqua it would've been my favorite thing in the whole world. But it was ivory. But it did have a sash that could add teal. After eating lunch, I decided to do it. I liked the dress. It was a good price. And I didn't want to think about having to buy a dress. I figure the dress has never been high on my priority list. I want to look nice but I don't have a vision in my head the way some girls do. Its a dress and there are a lot of them out there. I refuse to waste my time trudging around Mobile looking at dresses. This dress is nice and it does look really good. I look skinny. Its comfortable and the style is super flattering. I feel like I could try on 100 more dresses and I'm sure more of them would also look really nice. I'm not going to break down and have a Say Yes to the Dress moment, so lets just be practical and get the nice dress at the nice store at a nice price. So, after lunch we go back to the bridal salon and buy the dress. Michelle keeps asking "do you love it?" My response "I like it. I would love it in teal". And, that's still my response. Hopefully I'll still like it when it comes in in May or June! Yep, that's right. That's how long it'll take. Then the fittings begin. This bridal shop has a flat fee for alterations which works well in my position. I am trying to loose weight so I don't have to worry if I am successful that it'll cost loads of money to make it fix. Plus I know it'll need some significant tweaks to make sure it stays up and in place where I want it. My advice to other brides, make sure you find out alteration prices, you can always go somewhere else but it may be easier to do it there. Yep, so I have a dress. Its very lovely even if it is a shade of white. I think it'll work very well. My mom, Andy's mom and my bridesmaids love it. Now since its more formal than I originally envisioned I'm rethinking my bridesmaid dresses so I'm leaning towards long dresses for them! I'm very relieved to have this checked off the list. Every vendor always wants to know about your dress and this will really help me. Picking a dress definitely helped cement a vision and look that I'm going for, so I'm excited. Sorry to disappoint you by leaving out pictures but you'll have to wait until I reveal it and all the other ways I will make my wedding teal. Fair warning, I watched Private Chefs of Beverly Hills and they catered an all pink party where all the food was pink. Just saying... teal mac and cheese... it could happen. I will have my teal.....P.S. I apologize for no pics of anything. I was only allowed pics of the dress I choose so I can't show you the rejects. Also, its impossible to find them online but if I do, I'll share!
 I was back to looking at that website where cheap makes you look thin. I came across another stunner.
I know you can theme your wedding any way you please these days so I thought I'd highlight how easy it is to throw a kitschy wedding.
First, the dress has another brilliant description "Wedding is the symbol of the women’s vision of romance, but a symbol of the warm color pink stands for the health care to the women themselves. If you own a pink wedding gown you will be soft and gentle."
Um, are they making a reference to breast cancer?
To complete your wedding, you can serve a variety of hello kitty wine, register for hello kitty house hold appliances and you can top your wedding cake. And I found all this in 10 minutes on google.
I guess it goes to show, when it comes to weddings you can have whatever you want. I like Snoopy, maybe I should reconsider my theme. Something Snoopy has a nice ring to it. In case I go that route, I did find this article on How to Snoopify your Wedding.
 I guess her fiance got to pick the wedding theme? I once again present you with some truly uninspiring dresses.
Once you look through 15 pages of a bridal magazine, you've pretty much seen it all. There seems like there are only so many allowable wedding poses for models. You know, woodlands, draped on antique furniture or staring off while pondering love. But, in my search for alternative wedding gear I found this! Now, if pro-football is your theme, Matthew Christopher has a dress for you. If fireman or fighter pilot is more your style, that's covered too!
But, I don't get it! I don't get it at all. I mean, I watch E!. I know pro athletes are all the rage but do you really need that in an ad? I'm so confused. Also, I don't like football. Not at all. In fact, watching football with football fans is about as fun for me as hanging out with completely drunk people when I'm sober. Needless to say, Matthew Christopher, your silly football player ad has no power over me.
 'I've always wondered what Easter Bunny vomit looks like!' Since white dresses are frustrating me so much I decided to switch to looking at bridesmaid dresses. And big surprise, there is no shortage for bad decisions here either. The funny thing is that even if the dresses themselves aren't bad, so many lend themselves to such absurdity. The dress above isn't bad at all!
Same goes for these dresses. The dresses are pretty. But, geeze, every pastel color seriously looks like Easter gone wild! Less is more, especially when it comes to pastels!
 Ah, another multicolor wedding but this one is definitely more Skittles inspired! Now, I'm in love with the idea of being quirky and having fun with your wedding, that's pretty much my mantra, but yikes!
Is her theme rainbow?
 Because, honestly, this is what I start to think of when I see all those dresses!
I just can't picture how ALL those dresses fit into one wedding! Unless of course its this one I've just designed. But, at least it doesn't look like Easter Bunny vomit. I think these colors are a lot more flattering.
If you're wondering why I'm spending all this time trash talking bridal apparel, its really just me trying to find the line between unique & personal and looking like a lunatic :) Fortunately, the internet proves to be a wealth of knowledge! But, I think a lot of ideas don't end up translating as well as intended. I love teal and I love breaking tradition to create something personal but I still want my wedding to look nice. And, I don't want my bridesmaid to hate me.
Ahh, I LOVE wedding planning! This is going to be a fun year!
I'm TRYING to like white. I really am. I was at a wedding this weekend (which was amazing and will be the subject of tomorrow's post) and on the way home I bought more wedding magazines since I was definitely in the wedding spirit. What I bought was the The Knot fall magazine which is a million pages and costs $10. In the middle are ads that are cleverly disguised as a "look book" to give me dress inspiration.
Well, I can't help it. I still look at white dresses and I just cannot picture myself in them. It doesn't help that 99% of the ads feature ugly dresses. So, I bring to you my newest series of blogs. I know these dresses are supposed to scream romance but that's just not what I see. Here's what I see...
 Sorry Claire Pettibone but this dress is ugly! All I see is the kindergarten art teacher in Billy Madison eating glue. This looks like the art teacher glued crap to a dress. Seriously, what is the red thing dangling from the belt? For a person who doesn't like white dresses, this sort of thing is definitely not helping sway my decisions. Who looks at this dress and thinks "a man will know he's lucky to be with me when he sees this". No, he will be scared. It looks like dress up and art class shaken up and dumped on this model. Also, do I have wear that same blank expression if I wear the dress? I promise you this... I WILL NOT buy a dress from a designer whose models don't smile. For this being the happiest day of my life, I certainly don't want a dress that only looks good with pouty face.
 Or, there's this pose. Unfortunately, it shows up all the time. For the life of me I cannot understand by popping out your shoulder like this is sexy or romantic. It looks painful and like you have weirdly double jointed shoulders. It'd be so weird if my shoulders looked like this in my pictures. It sort of reminds me of the time I broke my collar bone and it slipped and part of my bone was sticking out higher than the other side. I want to put a back brace on this girl and slip her joints back in line. How on earth did this become a universal bridal ad pose? How can I look at this dress and imagine how I'll look standing at an alter when I see this contortionist? Unfortunately, the $10 look book hasn't gotten me even one baby step closer to finding a gown of my dreams but I'll keep looking. But, no more tonight. I'm also exhausted after a loooong weekend in Jersey. I'm still stuffed full of delicious Italian food and I need to go to bed so I can make it to work on time in the morning!
Seriously, how on earth are there so many hideously tacky things in bridal magazines. First is every dress I've ever seen in a Mary's Bridal ad. Why on earth would you pay $798 for this dress? (I wish I could post a picture here, you'll just have to follow the link. Trust me, its worth it.) This one is in the ads all the time. I finally decided to take a look on their website. Lucky for me I learned that they make even uglier dresses! I love that the collection is called "unspoken romance". I can't even imagine who buys these things. Also, I don't understand why there are so many white and red bridal gowns. I don't really get where that fad is coming from but it seems pretty common. In other good news, Mary's  I've also found the perfect champagne flutes to go with those dresses. For $75 bucks I can own those bedazzled keepsakes. Again, with the names, these are Park Avenue Flutes. I am willing to bet no one on Park Avenue would be caught dead with these things. And, of course, there's a coordinating cake serving set. Monograms and engraving are nice but putting personalization on everything is just insanity. When are you ever going to use those things again? I dare you to find me one person who uses a bedazzled engraved cake server. Please, I beg you people to stop wasting $75 and buy an Amazon.com gift certificate. Trust me, they'll like it better. In addition to ugly things, I'm having one of those days when I'm just generally appalled over how much brides are willing to dish out for small useless things. Modern Bride told me a trend is to "Belt it out. Brides are customizing their wedding dresses with bold belts, from obi-style designs to glittery version..." There example, a crystal encrusted $545 example. In all seriousness, I just spent the last two evenings ripping out my favorite ideas from magazines so I'm pretty excited. I'm all concerned, some of my favorite dresses and bridesmaid dresses are from David's Bridal. I finished my Bridal Bargains book and learned along with The Knot, I'm supposed to despise David's Bridal. If I want itchy fabric and crappy service then I can go there, otherwise I'm supposed to avoid them at all costs. Apparently, David's new trend is buying out other more famous designers to create new lines for David's only. I guess this is sort of akin to Target's new cheap designer lines. Whatever, I hate Walmart and I still go there. I'll at least make a trip to David's... I want to see these flowery bridesmaid dresses in all their ads.
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