Rehearsal Dinner Dress

Took me a while to decide on the rehearsal dinner dress, but after looking hard and long I made my final decision last week. I wanted something bright and vibrant, with a cool pattern, but it wasn't out there. The dress I picked is black on the top and white on the bottom. It's classy and cute with a little bit of funky! :) Here are some pics of the top and bottom. You'll have to wait to see the full pic when I share our wedding album! :)

Updates and Info

2nd dress fitting:  Yesterday was my 2nd dress fitting and it was WONDERFUL!  I wish I could show you all the pictures, but I can't risk Patrick stumbling across me in the dress.  The difference from the day I met the dress until the first fitting and then today is so significant!  I have gained so much tone in my arms and shoulders and the weight loss to this point makes the dress on me look better than I ever imagined.  My final fitting is May 29th and I'll be picking up my dress on June 11th.

Bachelor/Bachelorette weekends:  So, Patrick and about 8 of his boys are down in Myrtle Beach this weekend.  They are going to play golf everyday and probably get totally hammered and act stupid.  Isn't that what boys do?  ;)  Next week is the girls turn however we will be going to Charleston/Folly Beach.  Our trip will be more low key and relaxing.  There will be six of us and we plan to do a lot of relaxing by the pool, walking the beach, walking around historic Charleston, shopping on Market St and of course enjoy some cocktails.   

Wedding Day Makeup:  This weekend Andi and I are going to check out the new HD makeup line at Sephora.  I want to see how it looks on my face in different environments.  I will post an update after our adventure.

Cocktail Dress:  Still have not found a dress for the rehearsal dinner.  Andi and I are going shopping on the south side of town.  Hopefully I have some luck.  Problem is that I don't want to spend a whole lot of money.  If I find something this weekend I'll post it.  Prom's end down here this coming weekend, so I might be able to catch some great sales after this weekend.  I will post as soon as I find something.

Jewelry:  I've been talking to Dawn Vertrees about the wedding day jewelry for the girls.  Once we make a final decision on the pieces, I will post pictures. 

DIY:  I'm pretty much done w/ all of the DIY projects.  I still need to design and print a timeline card to put int he gift bags so that the guest will have that info handy.  I want to make a meet the guests sort of something, maybe just a one pager with pictures and a sentence or two about how they know us and where they live.  Also thought it would be cute to make some sort of door sign and decorations for each of the guest rooms so it's easier to find each other.  It also makes it easier to find your room when you come back from having a few too many!  ;)

Garter, Hair flower and more

Well, there's two more things to check of the list! I ordered my garter and hair flower from ETSY. For those of you not familiar, ETSY is a place to buy and sell handmade goods. They have so many items to choose from. I also found some cool applique's to dress up some of my other clothing while hunting for wedding goodies!

The garter was purchased from a vendor called Simply Weddings who specialize in hand made garters.  I'm not a huge fan of lace or ribbon or beaded strings on garters.  We all have our own style.  I searched for about an hour on Sunday before I decided on this one. 

The hair flower took a VERY long time to decide on.  I went to a shop here off from Park road while Mom was here.  I found one that I liked, but it was $60.  If it were anything I'd wear again, I could see spending that much.  We found one at a store in southpark for maybe $5 that I bought just to have an option.  I wasn't completely satisfied so, I went scouring the internet.  I finally found the ones shown here from ETSY vendor Heknowsmyname.  She carries Headpieces, Veils and Jewelry.  This option was great b/c I can either wear one, two or all three.  I really need my jewelry to come in and have my hair trial before I make the final decision. 

After our creating my Bridal Bling for the tank and bikini bottoms I decided to look for some appliques to help dress up some other clothing items.  I found a few pretty cool ones from ETSY vendors Mary not Martha and Deepwater Trading Company.  I have not decided what items of clothing I will use these for as of yet.  Once they come in I will play around with them to decide.  This should make for a pretty fun project.  We will see what happens. Who knows, I might have to buy some more to dress up tank tops and t-shirts.  I really love the one on the left that goes over the shoulder.  I have a good idea for that one, but it may just look good in my head!  :)

No tan lines before the wedding

I can't have tan lines in our wedding pictures.  The wedding is on Day 4 of  the cruise which falls on Wednesday.  I have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday to make sure that I don't get tan lines.  No t-shirt arm or neck lines.  No bathing suit lines.  No tank top lines.  I looked through my clothes and I didn't have many options to prevent tan lines.  My Wedding Dress is strapless.  I needed to get a bandeau bathing suit top but they don't look very good on me.  Fortunately tough Victoria's Secret recently came out with a Miracle Bra Bandeau.   I have two cover-ups that are strapless and two long sleeved.  I also have a skirt wrap and another skirt.  This past week I bought a maxi dress that stays up w/ out the neck tied.  I could easily tuck them in and have a strapless dress.  I also ordered another one of those maxi's in pink.  Would have bought it in the store but they didn't have any in my size.  When purchasing the bikini top from VS I also ordered an asymmetrical strapless shirt.  Here are all of the options that I have right now.  I still need to try and find at least one more item.

Bride Bling!

I just had to have some bride bling!

I have attached two pics of a tank top and bikini bottoms that I made for the cruise. Now I just need to determine if they can be worn before or only after the wedding!!! The wedding isn't until day 4 of the cruise.

Of course the iron on Bride bling was messed up on the bikini bottoms but Mom seems to think nobody will notice.  I'm not about to buy another pair of bottoms to fix it.  I agree that they'll be just fine.

Groomsman attire decided!

We finally decided on the groomsman attire. Mom and I went on a recon mission Friday prior to the boys shopping trip on Saturday. I found one shirt that went perfect with the bridesmaid dress color and one other that was ehh ok in the Belk Tommy Bahama section. So glad Patrick and Andrew picked the shirt that I liked the best.  We found Linen pants at Kohl's. Pants were on sale for $24 and the shirts were $110! Shirts were high but the guys are going to love the fabric when they are standing in the hot sun on the beach!! Here's the pic of the shirt. The pants are the ones shown in the khaki color.  Even Patrick's dad found a pair of linen pants and a Silk shirt!  Score for the boys!

Bathing suits and cover ups

I decided to go through all my bathing suits and cover ups this week to figure out what I'll take and what else I'll need. After looking at everything I think I need one more suit and one more cover up. I don't really have a good cover up that goes w/ the blue and fuscia suit and I need another upbeat colored suit.  We will pretty much be in our bathing suits, cover ups and tank tops during the day. Here's what I have right now.

Bridesmaid Dresses

Bridesmaid dresses have been picked!!!  Yay!  The color changed a little bit from the darker sapphire on the inspiration board that I posted earlier, so I'll have to re-do that at some point.  Details are below.

Maker:  Forever Yours

Color:  Sapphire - don't let the name fool you, it's more like a Carolina blue.  

Fabric:  Chiffon
Length:  Short
Style Numbers:  78112 and 79110