erin mcdermott

since mr. uva and i moved to charlottesville, we have met some awesome people. one night, last year, i was over at my friend erin's house. that night, erin so kindly introduced me to meg runion (our engagement session photographer) and the three of us got to chatting. wouldn't it be great if we started our own wedding planning company with a la carte services. meg would be the photographer and crafter extraordinaire, i would be the logistics planner, and the lovely erin mcdermott would be the creative side and jeweler. i do still dream about this plan and how fun it would be to work with these ladies...


erin moved to charlotte, nc over the summer to live with her fiance (a fellow bride-to-be) and design her jewelry full-time and has been designing up a storm making awesome custom pieces for brides and bridesmaids. what a great bridesmaid gift idea! i'm a little jealous of all of these ladies who get to work with erin. she really is fabulous!

she sells some awesome everyday pieces as well as her custom wedding delights. my little sister wears one of erin's charm necklaces that was a birthday gift almost everyday.

I <3 Miss Brache

Ok we're about to order the bridesmaid dresses from MissBrache aka Diane. She is a dream to work with. We haven't even put the order in yet but she's been so helpful! She'll work with you to design basically any kind of dress you want (I've only been talking dresses with her but she does all kinds of awesome clothing) and she's great with fabric suggestions, etc. All my bridesmaids (the ones in dresses anyway) have chosen this dress:

(source)

..but instead of the big red petticoat we are having Diane make simpler tulle ones (much cheaper). I put together this little mock-up of what my girls are going to look like, given the fabrics they've chosen (though the belts are not included in the order so they will not look like that exactly; also all of them will have petticoats). I'm really pleased.

And I've just found the perfect necklaces (I think), from FreshyFig. I'm hoping the little birdy is speckled enough that it would go with a number of different blues..?? And I think it would look great with that yellow too?

(source)

I'm still debating what to do for my MOH who's wearing a suit and wouldn't probably like this necklace. Somebody recommended cufflinks (was it you Miss Glen Echo? I can't remember), and I am strongly considering getting her these:

(source)

weee! every time we check another item off the list it all feels a little bit closer to happening.. not that this is even checked off yet but we're close! :)

bridesmaid gifts

It might be early for me to be worrying so much about this but.. I've been doing a lot of looking around online for bridesmaid gifts and I'm having some trouble figuring out what to do! First let me just describe my bridal party:

MOH: tall, masculine lesbian, wearing a suit in the wedding. does not do girly. cannot buy her a cute clutch or feminine jewelry or anything like that.

Attendant#2: oldest sister, kind of a hippy/tomboy, straight but not into much of anything girly. outdoorsy, all about being eco-conscious (she takes her own mason jar to coffee shops ok. not even one of those normal reusable plastic or metal to-go mugs. a glass mason jar with a screw-top lid. ok.).

Attendant#3: other older sister, totally opposite in terms of personality from oldest sister. Girly type things ok for her, but nothing Too girly.

Attendant #4: old college roommate. completely different from any of the above, this girl is the definition of feminine class. Never leaves the house undone up. A place for everything and everything in its place kind of a girl. Could totally do the traditional bridesmaid gifts for her, or I could do a more personalized thing.

Sooo HALP. Clearly the Sugared Lemon Clutch (pictured above) from eclu would not work as a gift for all of them, as much as I love it. So I've been trying to find a way to get Something that's basically the same to give to all of them (like a bag or a neato In Touch Clutch), and then maybe something else that's personal. But I don't have a huuuge budget for this.

I could of course just find a necklace that would suit the three more feminine bridesmaids (like THIS? LOVE), and then some kind of nice accessory for my MOH (personalized belt? pricey but awesomely androgynous ring?). I just want to do more than that. But I can't be spending $100 on each girl so I've got to narrow down my ideas.

What are you all thinking about doing for your attendants/bridesmaids/whatever-you're-calling-them?