Pretty pretty pearls

I bought myself my wedding gift that's supposed to be from Mr. GP. Whoops?

Really though, you see, it was just too good of a deal to pass up! I was in Boston a few weeks ago, as I aforementioned, to do wedding stuff with Mama GP, my Sister (MOH) and three other bridesmaids and I was exchanging a shirt in the Copley Mall JCrew that I had bought the night before for a different color (that they didn't have at the Cambridgeside JCrew) and strolled on into Iridesse. I love Iridesse, Mr. GP bought me my first strand of pearls ever from the store in Tyson's for our first Valentine's Day in 2007. I especially love that Iridesse was founded by Tiffanys! Talk about classic style.

It just so happened that the Iridesse store in Copley was going out of business and the entire store was...get this....50% off. On top of that, the first item was an additional 10% off, the second 15% off and the third 20% off. I got three items.

I texted back and forth with Mr. GP making sure it was okay that I bought the items, as I knew he wanted to buy me pearls for my wedding gift. But the deal! The deal was so incredible!

So I found a triple strand necklace, a triple strand bracelet, and hanging earrings. The total cost for the three? Roughly $220 with taxes. Originally priced the three items would have been over $500!! The necklace alone was $250 originally!

The necklace I got is similar to this, but an exact image could not be found...

The clasp is a bit smaller, originally priced at $250 I paid $112 for it (again, not the exact necklace is shown).

[Bracelet, Iridesse $150]

[Earrings, Iridesse $85]

Take 50% off those prices and you've got some pretty amazing deals! There may be time to check out the Iridesse located at Tysons II. Rumor has it all the stores are going out of business, however the website doesn't indicate anything about the brand itself going out of business. I recommend checking out the Tysons II location for some great, great deals!

How did you find your wedding day jewelry? What are you wearing??

[Addendum] as of Sunday (my 26th birthday) there is now less than 5 months till we tie the knot!!!

The Day Of Dress

No, no, not THAT day of dress, I'm takling more along the lines of what I'll wear to the hairdressers that morning and to grab lunch before heading off to the ceremony site to get dressed! I certianly don't need to buy another dress, but I'm really itching to grab this in the J. Crew final sale:


It's an extra 30% off too with the coupon code EXTRA30 for a limited time. Hmm...I wonder if I can squeeze this into my April budget? The wrap style is great since I won't have to lift anything over my head. I also don't typically wear a whole lot of white and if you can't wear white on your wedding day, when can you? I could probably even get double-duty out of it and wear it to a shower...

Are you planning a special purchase or outfit for the day of?

Everyone's Happy!!

Earlier this weekend, I trekked up to Boston to meet up with a majority of the bridesmaids, the girls all met and met my mother. We had a lovely, lovely lunch, laughed, chatted and everyone got along fabulously. Then we went to the appointments and the girls picked dresses!

We had two appointments - one at L'elite and one at Aria Dress both on Newbury Street about two blocks from one another. I had gone to Aria Dress in DC with Miss Jeff Memorial, and fell in love with the dresses. So I wasn't surprised when we got there that the girls (T, S, Sister GP, and L -Mr. GP's little sister) all fell in love with them as well.

The greatest part about the dresses is that girls all loved them which was what I wanted.

The color of the dresses is navy, with the green sash in "leaf."

We went after Aria to L'elite because I was curious about the Dessy collection. The girls looked through the styles and didn't see anything they liked, the prices were a little more than I wanted them to spend so I decided not to waste time having the lady pull out dresses thinking we were actually interested when the girls weren't and I too was not impressed. The service was good, but the dresses were just...a little too formal for what I'm looking for.

Anyhow, so the girls picked their styles, each one different, but all the same with the sash, so now Miss JM and I need to make another appointment so she can pick her style and then the dresses can get ordered and another thing checked off my list!

Did your BM's all match? Did you let them pick their own styles?

Bare Necessities

So tonight after a lovely dinner with the Future In Laws, we were going over the guidelines from the church that we recently received. The church recently redid them so they've changed a little since we got engaged last June.

The Future MIL finally noticed, as she's seen my dress, a little stipulation in the Church's guidelines...

"In keeping with the nature of the Sacrament of Marriage, all members of the wedding party must be dresses appropriately for church.
In particular, this means no strapless dresses or bare shoulders/"spaghetti straps" for the bride or any member of the wedding party, unless a jacket or sweater is worn over them."

Freaders, this is a problem.

My dress. Is strapless.

And freaders? I love my Church, I respect God and all that schtuff and for Mass? I would never wear a tube top or something like that. But freaders? THIS? Is my wedding gown. All paid for in it's beautiful strapless glory. And I'm going to be stubborn because that dress? Would not look nearly as lovely with a shawl or a sweater. No. Way.

Unfortunately, I am going to have to purchase shawls or pashmina's for my gals, thankfully it'll only be for the ceremony. But still...I just hope and pray (har har) that our priest doesn't say "oh no sorry. You'll have to wear a shawl...blah blah blah. I won't marry you blah blah blah."

Because you know, this is definitely something that could have been brought to my attention back in like...June when we signed up. Because this? I would have noticed. In the guidelines we only briefly got to skim over and didn't receive a copy of until a week ago. Oh bless you Church, for You and I, might have some issues in the coming months.

But contrary to my father's suggestion, it is FAR too late to be changing anything else major in the wedding like the location (another post for another time).

Have you had any issues with your religious ceremony? Are you having a religious ceremony that has similar guidelines? How did you comply/rebel?

Thinking of My Girls

Bridesmaids. They're on my range, my to do list. I'm trying to get my girls settled away so that they can begin to save because well, Aria dresses aren't exactly the cheapest dresses in the world (not the most expensive ones either).

So I've been looking at their shoes. How to complete the bridal party look. We picked out the groomsmen ties earlier this week - as I mentioned before, we're going with Vineyard Vines ties. We still haven't really picked out what color suits but m'eh. We'll get there.

In three weeks, I trek to Boston to go with the girls to go to Aria Dress so they can pick out their dresses and thus, I can get them ordered sometime in the next century (in case you haven't noticed? I procrastinate in all things wedding planning).

But I also want to have an idea about their shoes (I'm only mildly obsessed with shoes. Really.)

All my girls, sans two - one being my twelve year old cousin/junior bridesmaid - are significantly taller than me. I'm 5'2"...on a good day - my shoes are 2 1/2" heels, so that'll put me maybe at 5'4 1/2" but realistically, 5'4". When my tallest bridesmaid is 6'0" and my shortest is 5'2" like me, putting them in 3" matching heels? Not an option.

I know, I know, it's what "I want." But since my girls are mostly traveling to be here with me, and the one that's not traveling is getting married two months after me, I don't want them to spend TOO much money on the outfit. That's why I was careful about picking dresses that had styles that they could pick, that they'd be comfortable, and dresses that looked like they could be worn again. Makes sense right?

So I thought, what about classy flip flops. Not the 2 for $5 Old Navy flip flops but classy ones.

[JCrew $78] - a little too pricey for...flip flops. Let's be real.


[Victorias Secret $38.50]


[Gap $39.50]



[Piperlime $49]

and finally....


[Nordstrom $69]

I just know, I KNOW that someone - likely FMIL, or my own darling mother will say something. Too casual, too something that they don't like. But me? I like the style. I live in flip flops from nowish to like, October. So it seems natural to have my girls in flip flops. Especially the last pair because then - navy dresses, white shoes. Me? White dresss, navy shoes. Oh my goodness, this could be perfect.

I'll get a few more opinions, I like to reaffirm my decisions with my girls cause I know sometimes I'm irrational, neurotic and everything in between but this time? This is just me.

Thoughts? Are you letting your girls pick their shoes? Heels? Flip flops? Flats? Am I being too crazy for this??

Making Decisions!

With the 7 month mark looming ahead of us as of next week, Fiancé and I are still slacking on those pesky save the dates.

Whoops? My mother has been uber nag since January 1. Each time I talk to her it's "have you finished the save the dates? You need to finish the save the dates." Yes mother...yes. I know.

This weekend, we're looking at a *cough* new *cough* reception *cough* site. I'm not saying more because we're not ditching the one we have yet. Rumor has it we might get more bang for our buck at the one in question (that we'll be visiting Saturday) and if that's the case it doesn't hurt that it's merely ONE block from the church and the hotel where we're hoping to block off 20 rooms for our guests (that we're also looking at this weekend).

Of course things couldn't be that easy, as opposed to site #1 that we currently have a deposit on, a deposit that was only ~$100, the one in question has a $5k deposit, $10k minimum food and drink, thankfully that $5k deposit? Goes towards the minimum. Now, our proposal at current site, had us at $18k. We brought it down, cutting out just about EVERYTHING, to about $11k. So if we can keep it in that vicinity and get more for our money, we're golden and totally only losing $100.

No decisions have been made but if I can have a cocktail hour downstairs, dinner and dancing upstairs, with a full cocktail hour? I'm totally bailing on site #1.

I digress though. I'll hopefully more info next week and pictures.

In other happier news,

I picked out the Bridesmaids dresses, have a trip scheduled to Boston to go with the other girls, and should have them all ordered by May 12. The dresses in question?

[via Aria Dress]

The fabulous dreses from Aria Dress. They'll be short with an Aline skirt, in navy blue. The girls will then wear fuschia shoes. Carry green and white flowers. It's going to be fabulous. I love the navy/fuschia color tablet with a hint of green, like a spring green. Ahh love colors.

My vision? Something similar to this:

[via Miss Havy]

I've got the navy shoes, the girls will have navy dresses and pink shoes with white flowers with a dash of green in the mix. I'll have pink flowers. The men will have green mums as their boutonnieres with navy suits and vineyard vine ties.

All in all, it's coming together. If this ah-hem new reception site works out we'll save a significant amount on transportation. Like seriously - none needed. The men can stay at our apartment and walk over the day of, and I can stay at the hotel which is catty corner to the church. I'm pretty excited about this all, now if I could just sit down and get those stupid Save the Dates done....*le sigh*

Rush Hour Wedding Planning -- Veils?

Well, as you area residents know, traffic downtown has become a nightmare. With the Obamas in town and the inauguration right around the corner, I am currently stuck on a bus in traffic.

Slowly making my way from my office in NW DC to our apartment in SE, Capitol Hill.

With so much time to kill (and with it being 2009, the year we get married!) My thoughts drifted to the wedding.

More specifically the question of "to veil or not to veil."

I am not a short girl. Not even close. I will be buying extra length on my dress to accommodate my six foot tall frame.

Veils, while beautiful and something I always wanted, concerned.

Cut to my first dress expedition at David's Bridal. They threw a veil on my head to compliment the dresses I was trying on.

I looked like I had a lacey poofy white fountain springing from my head.

My mind was completely turned off to the idea from that point on. Then Mama JeffMemorial said that I just HAD to wear a veil.

Now I know I don't have to. While it is tradition, it has become a take it or leave it based on preference.

I kind of do want one now, but then another question arose.

My hair will be just above shoulder length, down, and straight. I am going to have one side of my hair swept up in a pin. How do you make a veil work with that, especially when you're a girl who adores symmetry?

Well I started researching and saw all these different kinds of veils. Long ones, short ones, sheer ones, birdcage veils.

Yet another time I learned that there are so many things that seem straightforward with weddings before you actually plan one. The amount of veil choices is endless.

I am still on the fence.

Some say you aren't a bride without one.

Others say it is an out of date tradition.

Then there are those who just don't care!

Where do you fall? Would you adhere to traditon or no? Or do you just like veils?

One of the neat things about researching veils is how there are so many modern and unique takes there are on the idea of a sheath of fabric.

What are your favorite styles?

I will end this as I have survived the pre-inauguration traffic and I am home!

Toodles!