My ladies

Oh how I hate the word "bridesmaids". I mean.. maid?? Really? I prefer brideslady. So brideslady it is!

(I know that's really not much better, but I call all my lovely friends "lady", so it makes sense in my mind.)

I realize that I haven't written much.. or anything.. about said bridesladies yet, even though I have been looking for their dresses since about a month into our engagement. I also chose and asked all my ladies to be in the wedding the very night I got engaged.

Lesson number 23 in wedding planning: if you have a 26 month engagement, do not pick out your bridesladies the night you get engaged. (I very much love all my ladies, but more on this at another time.)


Back to what's at hand: brideslady dresses! From the start, I knew I wanted them some shade of turquoise and some version of chiffon fabric.

Thank you, DB, for your super fun dress your wedding feature.

Just through the dress simulator, I quickly realized that I wasn't really a fan of the matchy-matchy thing.

Love everything about this.

Image via Green Wedding Shoes | Photo by Ashley Rose Photography

Image via The Bride's Cafe | Image by Jill Thomas Photography

I'm definitely leaning more towards a mismatched but matching look for the ladies, but I'm admittedly worried that different colors won't end up being as cohesive as these pictures and as I see it in my mind.

via Dessy Styleboard

The next best option would be to have the girls all wear the same color and fabric, but in a style of their choosing.

I also love the mismatching shoes.

Image via The Bride's Cafe | Image by Jill Thomas Photography

Dessy styleboard again

Right now, I'm leaning towards same color and fabric, different styles and different shoes.

Ughh, silly decisions! I feel like it should be easier to pick out the brideslady getup than my own wedding day ensemble, but that is clearly not the case.

What are your thoughts? What did you/will you do for your ladies on your big day?

Ur doin' it rong.

Here's the situation.

We have a venue, but no officiant.

We have invites, but no Save the Date's. Truth.

And? We have a rehearsal dinner picked, but not the actual meal for our reception.

Edit: I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do cheese wrong. Nom.

Backwards? Maybe. But hey, that's how we roll.

So.. about that rehearsal dinner. We want to do a Maryland-style crab feast!

Since living in the good ol' MD, Foxy and I have made eating crabs somewhat of a regular thing. I'm not just talking crab cakes or king crab legs. I'm talking full blown bash-the-heck-out-of-the-crab-so-you-can-find-the-meat-and-eat-it crabs. I still have no idea how to do it right, but it's SO much fun.

Well imagine our surprise (and luck!) when we learned that our venue was having a traditional Maryland crab dinner for one of their recent Monday Night Supper Clubs. Our initial question of whether or not they would be able to do such a thing vanished. They nailed it and then some.

No plates necessary!

And.. gone. Delish.

They way they set it up, each table got a big basket of crabs but could also go up to the buffet line for some potato salad, grilled corn, peel and eat shrimp, and/or fried chicken; thus, an option for everyone. While Foxy and I would love to watch and giggle at our guests trying to open up their crabs in order to eat (come on, it'd be a smidge amusing).. I suppose it'd be better if there were other options. ;) We're hoping to do something similar to the mini-buffet Vandiver did for the supper club, and we could even throw some crab cakes into the mix if people want crab but don't want to work for it. (Those lazy bums!)

We haven't set this in stone yet, as we still want to check out some local restaurants to see their take on the crab feast. But this is definitely a viable option!

Has anyone else had their rehearsal dinner at the venue? Why or why not?

Five for Friday

1. Shpoople.

2. We clearly have a weekly Family Guy reference.

3. You've been taking the lead with this whole house thing. Thank you :)

4. We're totes Marshall and Lily. I'm sorry: Marshmellow and Lilypad. And I know you agree.

5. You're always willing to Icy Hot and 'hot stone' my back after a long day.

Hangin' out

Are you guys as hung up (heh, get it?) on the whole personalized wire hanger trend as I am?

via Etsy seller wisconmon

via Jamie's Precious Peas

via Lila Francis

After seeing multiple photos with wedding dresses hung from these too-perfect hangers, I decided that I absolutely must have one. And not just any one, but specifically, a Lila Francis one (above). I love Lila's design in particular because of its simplicity and the fact that it is all wire; while the wood hangers are equally as beautiful, I'm just incredibly drawn to the more minimalist look of the aforementioned.

I initially fell in love and bookmarked the site in my browser about 6 months ago. Why not just buy it right away, you lovely bees ask? Well apparently Anna, the genius crafter of Lila Francis, only takes a certain amount of orders per week (smart cookie), and they go on sale Sunday nights, 7pm CST.

Of course I never remembered to go online at just the right time. It also embarrassingly took me a hot minute to calculate what 7pm CST would be in EST. Hush. (It's 8pm, btw.) I always seemed to remember to order it on a Wednesday or Friday. Seeing as these things sell like hot cakes, I was never able to purchase.

Long, pointless story made short: I left the site up on my comper when I inevitably remembered it one particular Friday in July, and lo and behold, our showing of Harry Potter the following Sunday got us out and home by 7:55.

Purchase complete! A short 10 weeks later, I was the proud owner of a wire hanger reading "mrs foxyslastname" to hang my dress on on our wedding day!

That is, if they ever figure out what they're doing with my darn dress. =P


Anyone else jump on the hanger bandwagon?

Not so official.

As of early September, we still didn't have an officiant. I know I should have gotten on this sooner, but with all the time I've had to plan, I got so used to putting things on the back burner wedding-wise that I just kind of.. let it go.

A little back story, first:

Both of my parents and my paternal grandfather are Lutheran pastors. One of the many questions I frequently get asked regarding the wedding is if I'm going to have my mom and/or dad officiate our wedding ceremony. From the get-go, my answer has always been a resounding HECK NO.

First off, the parentals are divorced and asking both of them do it would be dumb. Second, the parentals are divorced and asking just one of them to do it would be dumb. Third, and most importantly, I want my parents to actually enjoy the wedding, not work during it!

That being said, I still had a plethora of options. Having two pastor parents leads to a lot of pastor friends. Foxy Mama suggested a while back that we contact my godparents (also pastors) to do the ceremony, which was a good idea initially. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that I don't really know my godparents (I've met them but have no recollection of it, to be honest), and I don't know if they'd be ok with the kind of ceremony Mr. Foxy and I would like to have. I also think just one pastor would be fine. Seeing as I currently consider myself more spiritual than religious and Foxy is an atheist, we cannot and will not have a fully religious ceremony. Ideally, we will have a Lutheran pastor (for me) who will allow us to write most of the ceremony ourselves and be ok with keeping the God-speak on the light side (for Foxy and I both).

Enter long time family friend, Pastor Tom. My family and Tom's family have been friends since before I was born, and I grew up playing with his two kids, one of whom is just 6 months younger than I am. Tom happened to help officiate and preside over my mom's recent second wedding and did a fantastic job of keeping the homily both personal and lighthearted - two things high on my priority list for a wedding ceremony.

Pastor Tom is on the right

So the decision was to ask Tom if he would like to officiate for Foxy and I as well. I emailed him about two months ago and never heard back; I got concerned initially because all those silly wedding checklists are telling me I should have this one in the bag already. I sent a follow-up email a few weeks later and learned that he never got the original email, and also that he would love to do the wedding.

Super cool, right? So I was all excited, relayed my excitement to Foxy, and went to check this one off the list when I get a sweet but apologetic email from Tom saying that he didn't realize that he already has a wedding that day for a couple very active in his church.

Nothing says sad quite like an LOLcat.

Naturally, I did not have a second option at the time. Hive, you probably already know this but please listen up: lesson number 22 in wedding planning? Maybe get an officiant before you set everything else in stone, especially if you have a particular person in mind.

And so, the search continued!

Someone has to make decisions around here.

And no, it's not me. Yet.

A few months ago, I visited my wedding twin M in Philly so we could hunt for a bridesmaids dress for her wedding, which is three weeks before mine and Mr. Foxy's. If you recall, her wedding style is super swanky, classy, and glamorous (thank you, Fergie, for reminding me how to spell that) - basically 100% different from the vibe Foxy and I are going for.

We originally settled on a bold but elegant Lazaro dress.

Image via Wedding Style Magazine

M had a few hesitations:

1. The price. Not the cheapest.
2. The texture and weight of the fabric - while it's much lighter than it appears in the picture, it's definitely kind of stiff and formfitting. If it ends up being 90+ degrees in Philly when she gets married (a definitely possibility), this would not necessarily be the most comfortable dress.
3. The wedding party has people of all different shapes and sizes. The style of this dress just doesn't flatter everybody, plain and simple.

Those points aside, M (and I!) loved the dress and thought it would be a go.

Until she texted me the other day about a different option she just happened to find at David's Bridal. It's a Special Occasions dress that only comes in one color - which happens to be berry (the color above), which is exactly what she's going for.

She sent me a pic of our mutual friend Sam in said dress..

Pretty, right? (Sam and the dress!) While it's only slightly cheaper than the Lazaro, it's chiffon and much, much lighter. The style is also pretty universally flattering. The only catch is that since it's a Special Occasions dress and not a specific bridesmaid dress, it is on it's way towards being discontinued.

Commence mad dash to DB to try on the dress!

They fortunately had my size in stock, so I immediately put it on layaway.

I have to say, as much fun as it is to plan my own wedding and wedding day ensemble, it's super fun to be able to get dressed up for a close friend's wedding, too!

It also helps that I love the dress I'll be wearing. Have you ever worn a bridesmaids dress that you just loved?

Five for Friday

1. You like Party Rock Anthem. I'm clearly rubbing off on you.

2. You're strong when you know I can't be.

3. You wouldn't leave my side at the hospital, even though it was 3am and you missed out on pig roast prep.

4. You read puppy training magazines like it's your job. Can't wait to get a pup with you :)

5. Roadhouse.

Something Old

This past June, I got the heartbreaking news that my grammy had passed away. She was a wonderful woman who I got much closer with as I got older - she was witty, funny, sharp, full of life. I visited her and my grampy at least once a year since I was a kid, and have boatloads of memories that include her. Her health was not the best, but she could always put on a happy face when company was around or when it was necessary. While I knew that she wouldn't have been able to attend our wedding, I was at least hoping to show her some pictures and video from the day. While this is unfortunately no longer an option, I am forever so, so thankful that Mr. Foxy was able to meet her about two years ago when we went down for a quick weekend visit.

That being said, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend her memorial service down in Naples, Florida in early July, held at the church that her and my grampy have been a part of for almost 20 years.

Foxy and I stayed at my grandparent's condo with my my mom, stepdad, and uncle - definitely a full house for a 2 bedroom place! Everyone had been chipping in and helping my grampy sorting things out since grammy passed away, which included going through lots of old clothes, jewelry, books, and purses. Some were to be thrown out, some given away, some sold.. and some were "up for grabs".

In terms of purses/bags - my mom put two aside that she thought I might like for a certain special occasion (read: wedding).

I am so incredibly thrilled to say that I loved BOTH of the bags, but one definitely stood out and I just knew that I would be using this bag as a part of my wedding day ensemble. It's the perfect size, sparkly, unique, a bit vintage.. seriously perfect.

One side has a bit more pizazz..

While the other is a bit more subdued.

And it even has a little chain that easily slips out if you'd prefer a bag instead of a clutch!

So there's my wedding day purse - done aaaand done. I'm so very much in love with this little bag, especially since it will be a little piece of my grammy that I can carry with me.

What significant pieces did/will you use as a part of your wedding day ensemble?

Five for Friday

1. You got up three times the other night to make sure everything in the house was ok :)

2. Baa baa... sheep. Have you any... product?

3. You looked like a little kid on Christmas when you finally got that DD blueberry iced coffee.

4. It's super cute seeing how good with kids and babies you are. Makes up for my lack of skills.

5. Your 'birthday card' cracks me up every time. Jerk. <3

Dress Debacle Update

The very next day after I tried on my dress, realized it was missing buttons and was told they would fix it, Foxy Mama got a call from RK Bridal. They told her that the issue with the dress was already corrected and that she was welcome to go by the store any time to do a once-over of the dress before they sent it to me in Maryland. The earliest she could do so was about a week later, since I needed to mail her the original receipt for the dress.

Fast forward a week - she goes into the shop, looks at the dress.. and it looked the exact same. I'm not sure who called to say it was done and that buttons were added, but they were most definitely wrong. Right there on the spot, the associates at the store tell my mom to wait for a few minutes while they added them.

Apparently you can magically add lots of buttons to a dress in minutes?

Apparently. They told my mom it was actually ready about fifteen minutes later. She looked at the dress with the owner of RK.. and it looked, and I quote, "off". She thinks they just took the (old, dirty) buttons off of the sample dress and put them on mine.

Sorry, RK. No dice.

The owner wasn't thrilled with the button job, either (thank god). What I remember from the conversation I had with my mom a few weeks ago is that they will either: A) take off the old/new buttons and replace them with new-new buttons that match the dress, or B) order a whole new dress from the dress manufacturer and demand that they put the buttons on it before sending it.

I'm really trying to just let it go and not worry - we did still have over 11 months until the wedding at the time said debacle occurred. It just strikes me as funny/ironic/dumb that here I thought I was SO ahead by ordering and having my dress come in 20 months ahead of time, when it turns out I may be lucky if I actually get it within the 6 month mark. So there's that.

So I'm thinking of making a back-up toilet paper dress. Just in case.

I'm actually half-impressed.

Image via Meals and Miles

Fashionable AND cost-efficient, yes?
:)

Five for Friday

1. You asked me what I thought the H in "Jesus H" stood for, and we both said Herbert. At the same time.

2. I caught you reading my blogs :)

3. You somehow got me to start putting away my shoes. I still don't know how that happened.

4. Holy crip it's a crapple!

5. We're so set if when the zombie apocalypse comes.