Accessorizing cruise wear

I went to Dillard's to buy make-up and I came across some sweet Jewelry deals.  They had a bunch of cool stuff on sale for 75% off.  Usually the items I see in that section are not much to look at, but my guess is that they must have just put out a lot of the pieces on clearance that day.  I totally hit the jackpot!!!  I paid anywhere from $3 - $7 for each.  I found 3 bracelets, 3 necklaces and 4 pairs of earrings.  Here's a sampling of some of the pieces.  Yay!!!

Wedding Jewelry is on the way

I will have a necklace, ring and earrings from the Dawn Vertrees Ocean Reef collection for my wedding jewelry.  She also custom made two necklaces that I'll be giving my bridesmaids.  None of the pieces are shown on her website.  To the right is a picture of the earrings and ring.   I received the ring recently and attached a picture of it below.  Once I receive the necklace I'll post a picture of the necklace.   They all have the fan coral and starfish.  The necklace also has a freshwater pearl.

The pictures do not do these pieces justice at all.  I fell in love with them when I saw them for the first time.  I haven't been able to find anything else that I would want more for my wedding.

They are just simply beautiful.  She has some incredible pieces on her website in other collections as well.  Be sure to check them out.   The Orchid and Bamboo collections are great also. 

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!  ;)

The bands

Patrick received a call this week letting him know that our wedding bands came in.  Yesterday we went down to Diamonds Direct in South Park to make sure they fit and to check them out.  Of course the annoying vulture guy tried to snatch us up.  You could see the disappointment when he realized that we had already bought our rings from someone else and that we were only there to look at them.  We really liked the lady that we worked with.  She was very nice.  I like it when a salesperson doesn't breathe down your neck and pressure you into buying something you don't want.  She did just that.  She let us shop, gave advice and opinions only when we wanted it and we ended up with two great pieces.  I'm horrible with names, but I will uupdate the blog with her info when I look up the documentation.  Funny thing is that she kinda looks like our photographer in Bermuda.

Both of our rings fit just right and look great!  They also look great together.  YaY!  Score!!!! We took pictures, but the lighting is so bright in there and the rings sparkle so much that we were not able to get great shots.  I know, what a shame that they sparkle!!!  :)  You can at least get the idea of what they look like.  In six weeks, we will be waking up with them on for the first time!  :)

Wedding Bands ordered

We went to Diamonds Direct and found our wedding bands yesterday night. Patrick was so cute when we picked out mine. He wanted to see it from up close far away and looked at so many options to make sure I had just the right band to go w/ the engagement ring. We forgot to take pictures....oops. But I can give you a sort of description. Will call them today and see if they have stock photos. My ring is a Platinum Princess Cut Channel band. I went with a smaller carat weight because the bigger ones just took too much away from my princess solitaire engagement ring. Patrick and I are both confident that there isn't a better band than the one we chose! :) Patrick chose a Palladium 7MM Crushed Center Band. It looks great on his finger. Very masculine with brushed white medal in the center and polished on the outside. It looks really good on him. The rings will be available in 4-6 weeks. Another thing to check off from the still very long list of to do's!!

Jewelry for the big day

Patrick and I joined Brad, Sandra, Kevin and Missy at Hilton Head Island this past weekend for a little relaxing weekend away from it all! Brad and Missy's Mom (Dawn) and her husband were in HHI at the same time so we stopped by to visit them on Saturday. I had completely forgot that Sandra told me Dawn was a jewelry artist. I'm looking through all of her stuff and what do I find??? Some amazing pieces that I just fall in love with. I've been looking for something that isn't too over the top but would go well w/ the beach wedding. I found a ring and earrings. She also told me that there was a necklace that she just started designing that would go w/ that set. How excited was I???? Her name is Dawn Vertrees. I recommend visiting her website. The site doesn't have a picture of the the earrings but here are some pieces from her site that are similar to what I'm considering.  She's also working on some new necklaces that can be found on her blog:  http://www.dawnvertrees.com/p/custom-designs.html