Bride and Bridesmaids Attire

This is probably the MOST exciting part of the wedding planning process thus far. I hear the registry is, but with the registry, you may or may not get some of the things you pick. But the dress... you pick, you buy, you keep :)

Since Cole and I knew that we were getting well before the actual engagement, I had the opportunity to start looking at dresses with Sharon one of my MOH's before she left for her year long trip in Asia. So, I have honestly been looking for a dress since.... September/August? I started out thinking, I wanted something new, modern and A line. something that still looks like a wedding dress, but not a princess dress, and strapless. I probably tried on 30+ dresses and visited 8 different stores, at minimum. I was determined to find THE dress, and didnt want to settle, and in the right price range. I was really hoping for something under $1,000.

This is how it progressed, first A line, Satin,  tube top and above all NO CLEVAGE. THEN I started liking something more sliming, and I loved the Anniston by Maggie Sottero. I loved it! But wanted to keep looking. Then I was searching online and found these beauties by Jim Helm:

But they are suprisingly hard to find, and I was not going to buy a dress I couldnt try on. I was starting to love the soft look of lace and in my head, it looked "bridal" and "elegant". SO I went to Brides by Demetrios in Bellevue. One of my Bridesmaids Stephanie, is also getting married this year, and this is wear she bough her dress!

Well, I happen to find a dress there, that was the best of all the dresses. Has the back of theJim Helm dress on the left and the front trumpet shape of the dress on the left. It has cap sleeves due to the elaborate back and is covered in beautiful lace. There is no pciture of it online or anywhere. So  i have no idea what it looks like on a model....which is good! Bad thing is that it was more than double what I was hoping for. I love it and Im happy. I have decided to add a ribbon to the front like the dress on the right, and my veil is fingertip length and is a double veil. More for the traditional effect of the wedding. Cole likes tradition. :) Lastly, I got a flower made of ivory feathers to put in my hair for after the ceremony. Im so excited! Now that I have spent SO MUCH $$ in that store and I call all the time for no reason, and try on my dress as much as I can, every associate knows me by name. Not just the one who helped me. :) (yes, im THAT crazy girl) I figure, I spent all that money on that dress, im gonna wear it as much as I want until the wedding! None of this "wear it for one day" stuff! hahaha

The only thing left is shoes.... Ivory or Eggplant shoes? hrmm.. the next big decision on attire.

Bridemaids dress has been another beast all on its own. I have 6 wonderful bridesmaids and I of course want them to be happy. So the top considerations is the way it looks, price, discount, rewearable and color. I started off with wavering between a long or short dress. Long is an option because the wedding being in Seattle in the fall. It could rain, which is good luck, or it could be warm still. So it opened up the option for more dresses to be considered.

The only kind of long dress I liked was a sweetheart top, very fitted and slightly mermaid. This dress, was difficult to find and when I did it was close to $400. NOT HAPPENING! More than half of my BM's have to travel for the wedding and I think its unfair to have them afford a dress that expensive when they may never wear it again. So slowly, the idea of the long dress was weeded out.

Now to the short dresses. This notation of having the bridesmaid dress ugly to focus all the attention on the bride is strange to me. Why would I want my closest friends and family to be in ugly dresses and then professionally photographed? Thats just a waste of money. Well, the one thing i knew was trying to find something rewearable was close to impossible since i wanted an eggplant colored dress. I was find myself really attracted to Satin plain dresses but I really wanted a pencil skirt. Now, there is a difference between a pencil skirt, and a straight skirt. A straight skirt comes straight down. a pencil skirt gets tighter around the knees and shows off the beautiful curves of a ladies hips and waist. You could turn almost any dress into a pencil skirt, but its easier if it starts off as a straight down. Well, it turns out, satin rarely comes in eggplant. Instead it comes in Plum, and yes, there is a difference. Plum is a brigther purple than eggplant. (I know... its sad I care)

WE finally found one that was reasonable in price (around $200), came in eggplant, short with a striaght down skirt, and gets a discount!(cause of where I bought my wedding dress).  Heres a picture, its the black one not the yellow one:

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, and I think all the girls are to!

Save the Dates and Invites

Aww, those very important things that let people know when and where you are getting married, but are really saying "please plan ahead, we would like to see you, we will feed you". Anyways, I have the please of working with a young and creative invitation designer! Since I havent worked with other invitation vendors, I can't do a huge comparision, but she is great from what I thought other invite designers would be like. I assume most invite designers would have a big company and you're one of a million brides that year. No matter how you go about it, your products will look like someone elses, and mass produced. Maybe in different colors, or sizes, etc. I am also assuming that with a bigger company, you can get lost in the mix. The many emails that come across, and all the specifics you may or may not wanted jumbled in with everyone elses.

The reason I have this impression is because with the many vendors I have met with, I get that vibe from some. If a vendor is having a busy day, and it happens to be one of the days you meet with them, they tend to forget everything about you. I've been called Teresa, Polly,and Paulie. (so far) The sad thing is, I dont even bother correcting them. (even though I should).

Anyways, back to my point, I am working with Tanya Williams at Designs by Tanya in seattle, and it has been like working with a good friend. She is very responsive and has a very fresh and young take on things. She is also very versitle in her designs. Even better, you dont feel like you have to come up with the design yourself! Either way, she is very flexible and makes you feel comfortable. (which is probably why I email her everyday :) )

Here is the WONDERFUL save the date Tanya did for us! I have not sent them out yet, website is under construction still.

Also, I've been working with her on a bridal shower invite for my friend Stephanie and my MOH's are working with her on my bachelorette party invites! Im so excited to see how they turn out!!! Obviously Cole and I love her work and are excited about workign with her for our invitiations too. But thats a couple months away.... wow.. it will creep up on me!

For any of you Washington Brides interested, here is her website. designbytanya.com

My Wedding Blog - sorta (photography)

So I was thinking of how my blog has no real direction or theme and decided that the best, and most obivous theme for now is a wedding blog. While reading other wedding blogs, I have come to notice how supportive and nice other brides are to helping one another. With ideas, planning and the stress of having the production of a not-so-simple wedding.

I had never really been the girl who always dreamed of my wedding day and white dress. It just dawned on me when I realized that Cole was truely the man I wanted to marry and no one could possibly compare. We've been through our growing pains as a couple and in the end (obivously there was no real end) the good more than out wieghed the bad and I couldnt image someone more complimenting and perfect for me.

So with this wedding thing. Our wedding is turning out to be a medium sized wedding. Although thinking back on when we first got engaged and thought about what kind of wedding we wanted, im starting to wish I would have picked something smaller. Cole proposed on Oct 16 2009 and we will be getting married on Oct 2 2010. In total its about a year to plan everything. Im gonna try to be more focused on a subject as I go through them for the wedding.

First things first. I wanted a very specific photographer and designer for my invites. Azzura Photography. When I saw their photos, I was speechless! All the pictures looked so fresh and yet so romantic! It matched perfectly to what we envisioned for our photos. Not only that, when we met with Tanya our photographer, she was so nice and her pictures also had such a great artistic twist that I knew going with anyone else would be settling. Here is one of her photos I found on their blog that I just loved! And my fav of my little ones...

This is at Newcastle Golf Course. SO PRETTY!!!!

Tanya did a wonderful job on our engagement photos! We can't wait to see what she will come up with for our wedding. I decided to not post any of my favorite pictures from the shoot on this blog or facebook since I will be using them for my save the dates, christmas cards and guestbook. She really worked within our pricing and we very happy and comfortable with what we will be getting as far as products and service! When I have been chatting with other vendors and mention that Azzura will be my photographer, great praise always follows. One person also said "They are the cream of the crop!" They have a great program for couples like the one im in, who are being very price concerned but also quailty concerned. We have smaller package that includes everything we need but decided to not get our wedding album in our package. They have a program where you can get your wedding album on your one year anniversary, and you pay for it during the first year of your marriage instead of pushing yourself to come up with that cost as well while paying for a wedding! Its perfect!

I feel like the photography is really import not to cut corners on. Many people will say "you'll look at them once, and never again". I think it depends on the person and the marriage. During christmas, I took notice to the many wedding photos that families and grandparents have of their kids on the walls of their homes. So it goes to show, you may look at them once, but your loved ones will have them on display for as long as they can.

Another reason its important is that as a bride, you spend all this time planning and preping for this one day, one ceremony, one dinner, and one party. Every detail has a purpose and is a decision you and yoru fiance made. OF COURSE you want to remember it and have it photographed!!! Hopefully, you'll never plan another event like it again! Its your wedding, small or big, you'll never forget that day, and the pictures will help remind you of the details you were too busy to notice during the day :)