Ceremony decor

I've got a few ideas now for the way I want to decorate where our ceremony will be held. We've got to choose decorations that are minimal and easy to clean up since our ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location. After we say "I do," the room is going to be reconfigured for the dinner reception. I really want to have rose petals lining the aisle on either side because since we're getting married on hardwood floor, we can't have an aisle runner. I'm not the most graceful person and a thin piece of fabric on a freshly waxed wood surface doesn't seem very safe to me. Add heels to the equation and it's just not a good idea! I know if we use the petals on the floor they'll have to be swept out of the way afterwards, but I figure if we use silk petals instead of real ones that won't take too long. Plus in not using real rose petals we won't have to worry about any residue being left over on the floors. I'm also debating using pomanders. I'm a little obsessed with them right now, in fact. I've read up on how to make them with tissue paper and it seems like an easy enough weekend project I could recruit FI for.

Shoe possibilities

The wedding dress I bought is simply gorgeous. It is, however, more ornate than I thought the dress I picked would be since I went into the store looking for something more simple. Because of all the embellishments on the dress and the fact that it is fitted so every step I take my shoes will be peeking out from under the material, I'm not going to be able to pull off the pink shoes I'd wanted to wear. The dress just has a lot of designs on it and the pink shoes absolutely clash and are a bit much with all the beading and draping going on. I don't want my shoes to be competing with my dress and the colored shoes just stand out too much. If it was a poofy dress we wouldn't have this problem! But I'm unwilling to change my dress simply to satisfy my desire to wear pink shoes to my wedding since the gown I picked is absolutely perfect, so it looks like it's back to the drawing board. I'm okay with wearing white shoes as long as they are not particularly 'bridal' looking. I don't want plain, boring shoes since I'm a bit of a shoe whore. The other problem I'm encountering is that the size dress I got fits me perfect...but because I'm so tall the length is only right when I'm wearing below a 2 inch heel. All the shoes I had in mind were at least 3 or 4 inches! FI and I are basically the same height essentially so when I wear heels I'm towering over him a little. But I LOVE wearing high heels all the same and with the shoes he was wearing having a bit of a raised heel and inserts, I figured the height thing wouldn't be a problem. Well now I'm having to find cute shoes with barely any heel and surprisingly, it's quite difficult. I refuse to wear flats so that's not an option here. I found some shoes that would work so I'm making plans to get to a bridal store to try them on. I want something fabulous on my feet even if they don't have a heel and aren't hot pink!

Our for real save-the-dates

I know I posted a blog on here before where I had a picture of our concept for our save-the-date magnets. Well, things change frequently in the world of wedding planning and our save-the-date design is one of them. We went a totally different direction (although still DIY because I think projects made on your own add a nice personal touch) and utilized my mother's help as well as her plethora of scrapbooking supplies and gadgets. It's tri-fold made with brown and pink and orange glittery cardstock. We also used a bit of vellum for the wording in the middle. I think they turned out pretty darn good! My mom deserves praise for working so hard on them :) The bottom portion is actually a magnet and I'm hoping that our guests will realize that they can take them off and put them on the fridge!

Mosquito netting

FI thinks veils look like mosquito nets. If it were up to him, I wouldn't be wearing a veil on our wedding day. But the way I see it, my wedding day is the only day I'll actually be able to pull off a veil...and I'd imagine I wouldn't feel very bridal without one. I'm not wearing a blusher since I think they're a little too old fashioned for my tastes, and it's not like I'd pick some horrible, multi-layered, fru fru nightmare so he can't complain that much. I initially thought I would buy one of those long, plain silk tulle veils because I think they look so elegant. For some reason though (maybe subconsciously to appease FI) I ended up purchasing an elbow-length veil with a beaded edge. It's very pretty but I'm having second thoughts now thinking I should've gotten a longer veil. I hate second guessing decisions...urgh! I was a little upset at my normally frugal self for spending $140 on a veil, but I justified my purchase by reminding myself how perfectly it went with my dress since the beads used on the edges are the same type as the ones on the bodice of my dress. Being matchy is important to someone as OCD as I am, so that realization helped me deal with the shopper's remorse lol Below is a picture of the type of veil I originally pictured myself wearing, and below that one is the actual veil I purchased from David's Bridal.

Va va voom!

So I'm a little disappointed with my funds, or lack thereof, even after my recent raise. Where does all the money go?!! I had planned on getting some boudoir photos done for my wedding gift to FI. It would have really surprised him and I thought it would be fun, so I was getting all excited about it! A friend of mine actually made a calendar for her hubby for their anniversary, and I was going to steal some of her ideas. She looked gorgeous and it was so tastefully done. Her photographer got some great shots and all the pics were themed. For example for the month of December she was in a chair facing away from the camera with nothing but Christmas lights wrapped around her, and then for February she had a heart-shaped box of chocolates placed strategically over her chest. I really wanted some va-va-voom pictures because I knew FI would enjoy them and in a completely vain way I would totally enjoy looking back on pics of me looking hot when I'm old and starting to sag! lol Sadly my B-pic dream probably won't be realized because we're scraping by as is. Maybe I can get some quality photos with a self-timing camera and put together my own album! On second thought...maybe not haha

Seating charts and such

After attending many weddings where tables weren't assigned and having to go through that whole 'first day of school, where do I sit' feeling, I'm a big believer in designating where people should be seated for dinner receptions. I don't agree with the people who say that it's rude to tell people where to sit, because as a guest I ultimately want to feel comfortable and have a good time when I'm at a wedding, and getting stuck at the geriatric table or with a bunch of people I don't know (or even worse getting separated from FI because there's not two seats together at any tables) is not my idea of a good time. I'm not doing assigned seating with the individual names placed at every place setting, but I am going to have table assignments to guarantee that people who should be seated together are sat together and people who don't need to be anywhere near each other (certain members of my extended family!) are seated as far away as possible from one another. I think if I'm smart about placing people who know each other and who have similar interests together at the same tables, the night will be a lot more fun for everyone without all the awkwardness of guests wondering where they should sit. In my opinion seating charts add structure to an otherwise chaotic portion of the reception! Below is an example of the kind of seating chart I'm leaning towards. A framed seating plan seems much less time-consuming and more organized than coming up with cutesy individual escort cards for everyone. I'm going to be DIYing the table numbers using wooden craft numbers, a bit of stain, and brown glitter.

Hair inspiration

I've been thinking a lot recently about how to wear my hair on the big day. FI likes it down and I was trying to take that into consideration, except for the fact that my hair is naturally hella straight and it's a pain in the butt to get it to do anything. I've worn it down and curly for a couple of special occasions and it always falls flat after a couple of hours no matter how much Aquanet the stylist uses. I don't want my hair to look limp and bedhead-like when I go walking down the aisle, and I'm afraid that if I get it done early enough for pictures and such by the time we go to the reception it's going to look like crap. So I think I'm going to just wear it up for the wedding so I don't have to worry about it (since I'll have enough things to worry about the day of anyway) and wear it down for our TTD photo shoot. That way I'll have a couple different looks in our album (and FI gets to see me in THE dress with my hair down like he likes) but I'll rock a no-fuss style on my wedding day. I've saved a couple pics to my computer that I'm going to show my stylist...who by the way I haven't picked yet since I'm not a regular anywhere. I want something romantic and relaxed, not princess-like or perfectly coifed. I was thinking loose, tousled waves/curls with a little pouf on the top for volume. I don't want it to look like those Bump-its infomercials though lol I'm open to anything that looks good on me personally, so I'm just taking these pics in as inspiration and not a guideline, but it is important that I have my veil underneath my updo rather than over it. I don't see the point in paying to get your hair done if you're just going to cover it up! Here's some updo pics I've found that I'm loving right now.