The shoe saga continues.

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with finding my wedding shoes right this instant.

Ok I lied, I do know. It's because I wanted them in my possession before I went to my first dress fitting.

That being said, I was browsing everyone's favorite obsession site (aka Pinterest) the other day and saw these:

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

I don't even need to tell you why I'm in love. Just look at the TURQUOISE SOLES. Amazing.

I did some research (aka looked at the caption) and saw that the brand, Pour la Victoire, has a whole line of bridal/wedding shoes, many of which are sold on Zappos. Which is where I saw these:

Pour la Victoire Cristella 2

Are you dying yet? You should be. They're amazing.

So I ordered those babies on the spot at about 10:30pm. I woke up the next morning to an email from Zappos saying that they already shipped them, and got them in the mail the very next day. Seriously? I said it before, I'll say it again, and no I'm not being sponsered: I love Zappos. Big puffy heart love. That's twice in a row that I got my shoes in less than 48 hours!

So the shoes are totally gorgeous both off and on. They are a unique shade of ivory that I'm a bit cautious about, since I'm not sure it will "go" with the dress. Then again, I never really cared about that kind of stuff, and I'm not inviting the fashion police to the wedding, so I should be ok.

My one gripe is that the only turquoise is on the soles, and I really want something by the peep toe. If these work with the dress (both color and height wise), I'm thinking of shnazzing them up a bit. Maybe bling it out with some turquoise crystals or take off the bow in the back and put a flower in the front. I have no idea. But the world is my oyster and these shoes are totes-magotes the pearls.

Terrible analogy, but you get it.

Meep!

Lusting

I saw the following picture on Cole's blog earlier today and instantly fell in love.

via

How unbelievably perfect would this be hanging from the gazebo under which we will get married?

via

Or maybe by one of the entrances to the reception pavilion?

via

Ohh the options. Someone get Ashley Meaders to make one for me too?! And for free. Kthanks.

Featured!

So remember I told you that I might have some exciting news??

Well I do.

Today, on none other than the amazing wedding website Lovely Little Details...

...mine and Scot's engagement session by Anni Cee Photographie is being featured! So please go on over, check it out, say hi to Jacin, and leave some love!!! She wrote such a sweet write up about us (thanks lady!), and I only wish I knew this girl in real life (Facebook is close, right?!).

Engagement, take 2

I've been holding out on you.

But only for a week, so it's ok.

See, my good bloggy friend Anni was in town last weekend and was looking to do a photo shoot with someone to help build her photography portfolio. I? Was more than happy to oblige. Was there ever a better excuse to get a second engagement shoot done?! I think not.

We agreed to meet up last Saturday morning bright and early (cough:after a late night out:cough) at our local farmer's market to do a sort of "real life" shoot.. a light year different from our original one. Anni really wanted to catch the early morning sunlight, but it turned out to be a pretty dull and rainy day. No matter! This girl is amazing at what she does and the vibrant colors at the farmer's market totally offset the dreary day. It also helped make myself and Mr. Foxy more comfortable getting our pictures taken (ok who am I kidding, just Foxy. I'm a photo hussy.) since we already "knew" Anni. I'm telling you, it makes a difference!

So.. enough jibber jabber. Here are some of my favorite shots!

Ok. I may have a lot of favorites. But Anni is just that amazing! She took my hungover arse and Foxy's sleepy butt and somehow made us look cute and adorable and in love (well we ARE in love). Point is, I'm super excited to have this set of pictures in addition to the other ones!

Thanks Anni! (And btw, anyone in the Chicago area looking for a great photog.. Anni's your girl!)

Checkity check

It is unbelievable to me that we are almost at the one year mark until our wedding! I keep telling myself that's when "I'll really start planning." When things get real. When I actually have to start thinking about things concretely and not just abstractly. I have a bajillion inspiration photos and boards that I'll have to narrow down. Etcetera and so forth.

However, we all know I've been planning since the moment Scot and I got engaged. I always got mad at those fun little checklists in the wedding magazines because they only tell you what to do starting a year out from the wedding.. what about us cool folks who are engaged for over 2 years?? What are WE supposed to do?!

My solution was to plan as if I was getting married next month. It's amusing to me how much I got done in just the first two months of being engaged. Let's take a peek at what I have done already, a bit more than a year out from the wedding, shall we?

((For everyone's sake, I'll just go up to what should be done up to 6 months out.))

12 months
>Decide on a budget, and agree on who's going to pay for what. Done. Budget is higher than anticipated, but we are paying for everything. Minus the wedding dress (thanks mom!).
>Think about the big picture - the wedding's style, size, date, and site. Once we found the site, I had the style. And we had the date the night we got engaged. I might be slightly OCD.
>Mail save-the-date cards if you need them. Are you really supposed to do this a year out?? I actually need to get on this one.
>Reserve the ceremony and reception venues. DONE. Two years in advance, yo.
>Start looking at dresses in magazines and on websites. Well duh. I started and finished 18 months out.

10 months
>Start scouting for a caterer, florist, photographer, and DJ or band. Consider them scouted.
>Select your officiant. One thing I haven't done yet. I have ideas, but am nervous to ask!
>Choose your attendants. Again, did this the night I got engaged.. 26 months out. I didn't know you were supposed to 'formally' ask with cookies and cards and cute poems and all that. Oh well. They got a phone call and heard my lovely voice.
>Begin compiling the guest list. Pretty much done with this. We really just keep adding new friends we make.
>Hire a wedding planner, if needed. Psh. I'm my own wedding planner.

8 months
>Book the caterer, florist, photographer, and DJ or band; adjust your budget after getting estimates. Consider budget adjusted. Catering comes with the venue, got our photog 20 months out, DJ 24 months out. Just need those pesky flowers.
>Create a wedding website. Did this pretty much right away. Created about 5 through various sites then decided I'd make my own.
>Order your dress. Did this 18 months out. Wham bam thank you ma'am.

6 months
>Meet with vendors to plan details. Half and half.
>Register for gifts. Haven't yet but OMG I can't wait!
>Order the invitations, or start DIYing them. So our friend is making made them. I just need to get them printed and assembled.
>Shop for the bridesmaids' outfits. I've been looking online obsessively.. does that count?
>Order the wedding rings. Admittedly haven't done this yet but will probably in the next few months.
>Research and book the honeymoon. If we GO on a honeymoon. Don't get me started.
>Reserve and transportation you need. Staying at the venue. We like making life easy.

Checkity check!

So all in all.. we're kind of solid up to the 6 month mark, and have been since about the 18 month mark. Super awesome.

Who else is a super planner? And.. again.. am I really supposed to send my STD's (hah) out a year in advance?!

On having a spring wedding.

Pros: warmth, sunshine (hopefully), it can be outdoors, bright and pretty colors, etc.

This is pretty much exactly what I imagine.

Image via Lovely Little Details.

Cons: everyone and their mother gets married then.

That's a loooot of brides.

Image via Team Wedding

Honestly, I should have seen this coming when we decided on a June wedding. In the 26 months that we will have been engaged, loads of friends have also gotten (and will be getting) engaged. And they also have their eye on getting married around the same time that we will.

Which, on one hand, is awesome! I have more and more people to share wedding stories and inspirations with, and we're in this fun lovey-dovey "I'm engaged!" mentality where it's all rainbows and butterflies (most of the time). Huzzah!

However, things are starting to overlap, and I am not a fan.

It's not just because we'll be busy with planning our own wedding and such, but I also really want my friends to be able to attend ours, and I want to be able to attend theirs.

I already knew my friend/brideslady M would be getting married a few weeks before us. I've mentioned before that we kind of scheduled our wedding around hers, so that's no biggie. But I've also learned that a friend of a friend, who has become an acquaintance of mine as well (confused yet?), scheduled her wedding for literally the day after ours. So not only can't her and her fiancé come to our wedding, as I had hoped.. there's a strong possibility a few mutual friends will have to choose one or the other. Especially the friend I met her through, seeing as she will be a bridesmaid of the other girl. So there's that.

Image via I Can Has Cheezburger

Also, a good friend from my old job recently got engaged (last weekend!), and they were originally thinking a fall wedding.. but since this fall is here and next fall is so far away, they are currently opting for early June. So that's.. four weddings in three weeks-ish?

I really don't mean for this to come of as though I'm big snot ball and everyone should drop everything for our wedding. Because I don't think that at all. I really just want to have our friends celebrate our marriage with us and be able to do the same for them. I've made so many wonderful friends here in DC - something I really didn't know would happen when I first moved down - and I want to include them in our big day as much as possible.

I suppose it's true what they say - we're at that age where many of our friends are getting married, and it goes in cycles. We had 5 weddings to go to in the spring and summer of 2010, none in 2011, and now an undetermined (but greater than 4) weddings already planned for next spring and summer. Nuts.

Have you or are you experiencing any kind of wedding overlap and overload around your date??