Beautiful Bridesmaids

I let my bridesmaids choose their own dresses.

Let me clarify: I searched and searched for perfect bridesmaid dresses. I picked five and sent a Facebook message to my girls. I wanted them to all wear the same thing, but I wanted to get their opinions on what they were going to wear, because let's face it, I'm not the one who has to wear it and I want them to feel beauteeful.

Because most of us are poor recent college grads, I wanted to keep them at a reasonably low price, and I wanted to delude myself into thinking they might possibly wear them again. So all of these fall in the $160-or-under range, and are about knee-length.

I had two runner-ups that the bridesmaids liked, but were not unanimous on. This Mori Lee was one of them. I took Hyena Sis out to go dress shopping and she tried one on that was similar to this, but it wasn't as flattering in person as it was in the picture.

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I thought this scalloped hem was adorable, but I'd want to reverse the colors on the dress (hot pink with baby pink sash), like the flower girl's dress.

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I loooooooooved this one. This was another runner up from my bridesmaids, but Mr. Hyena thought it was horrible. This was from the Sophia Tolli Spring 2010 Collection.

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All four bridesmaids loved this halter number! Also from Mori Lee. And the picture is in the perfect color too! :)

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I thought this Dessy dress was cute, but none of them were that crazy about it either. They also didn't have it in the right shade for us, even though Dessy goes by Pantone colors (LOVE!).

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Another option was to go the David's Bridal route, since then each girl could pick their own dress in the same color. However, I was not thrilled with the options they had in pink - the color was either a little too loud or a little too soft, never juuuuuust right. :)

The one we ultimately chose was the Mori Lee #732! Ignore the peachy-pink and imagine this in the nice burgundy in the swatch below (which is also the same color as the image of the dress above).

Aww, my sister so prettyyy. Personal photos.

Are you giving your bridesmaids a say in picking their dresses?

Peonies and Potted Plants: Part 2

Okay, I can't hold off any longer on this!

Despite trips to various places to look at potted plants (because I can't let the idea go...), I was never really satisfied with the way real potted plants looked. The flowers seemed to be too damaged, or too sparse, or in the wrong colors. It wasn't something I wanted to chance, hoping the right colors would be in at the right time, and that they'd magically be full and healthy. (Also, I don't trust myself to keep plants alive between now and then.) But alas, I couldn't. let. go. Pots are so cute!

I had stopped thinking about flower pots, though, in favor of thinking more generically about centerpieces. Mom Hyena and Aunt Hyena had some nice glass vases they were willing to let us borrow, and I was on board with that, even though they would be a lot taller than I originally envisioned. I was also a little worried it would be obvious with glass bases that our plants are fake. I've done a lot of searching for flowers in order to find high-quality ones that look realistic! My cover will not be blown by see-through vases!

Then, Mr. H and I went to go visit his family (hi future family!), and on the way we stopped at IKEA. ZOMG I love IKEA. You never know what wonderful things you will find in there!

I picked up these cute pots in light pink and bright green for about $2.50-$3.50 apiece.

But when I brought them home, Mom Hyena thought they looked more purple than pink. I didn't think they looked purple, but she suggested spray painting them a brighter pink, and I'm always on board with BRIGHTER!

Pretty! Have I mentioned that Mom Hyena is awesome?

She was right, the hot pink is even prettier! The green pot we didn't change. Also, see how good I'm being at being a laid-back, accommodating, not-freaking-out-too-much bride? :) I am collaborating!

While at IKEA, we also got these stands for a couple bucks apiece. I got two tall ones and two short ones. Bear with me, you'll see what I'm envisioning for the church altar ...

Then, I gathered my supplies and put on some How I Met Your Mother, and I was ready to craft some centerpieces! (Note to other budget brides — buy your floral foam in bulk and cut it into the size you want. Each block was going to be over $2 for about the size you can see below, but I bought a big pack of foam bricks for $4, cut them up with a steak knife, and had enough to make 12 centerpieces.)

A couple hours of arranging later, and we had this:

This is kind of what I'm thinking for the church altar. One tall and one short stand on either side of the altar, with a pot on each. The church is very simple on its own, and we don't want to detract from the natural beauty, but we needed something small to decorate with!

Another option (and the one I'm kind of favoring at the moment), is to drape the stands with some type of maroon fabric that is not this one, because it's too wrinkly:

Cute! I wish I'd gotten a better picture of some of the centerpieces, but you get the idea.

Which do you prefer, the fabric or the undraped tables?

(All photos personal.)

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 3

Last July, Hyena Sis called me to tell me about a recent purchase she'd made. Real hair extensions! Because they're made of real hair, they can be curled, washed, straightened and styled just like the rest of your hair. :) Hyena Sis has the same hair color as I do, although I've dyed mine a few (okay, a lot) more times than she has, so my ends are a little bit lighter than the rest of my hair. But, because she's a good sister, she offered to let me borrow them from her for the wedding. Hooray!

Mr. H was not on board with this when I first mentioned it. He said he liked my normal hair. Duly noted. :)

My current hair.

The extensions were long enough that they'd probably look a little weird if I chopped my hair off and tried to pull them off, but if I let it keep growing, they'd probably look pretty natural. Hyena Sis also is considering cutting them to be a little bit shorter. But it's cool to know that it's an option!

Extensions! (all photos personal)

Obviously I'd like it to be curly, which will probably make them blend in better as well.

Would you try extensions for your wedding hair?

Taking Shoe Love Too Far?

My aunt believes in this concept called Seven Layers of Design. If I understand it correctly, no surface is complete until it has seven different elements on it. You can imagine how elaborate this can get. Therefore, as the wacky aunt she has a lot of really cool stuff, and ... a lot of really ridiculous stuff.

Take for example, this cake knife. Er, cake shoe:


It also comes with a white magnetic heel to replace the orange magnetic heel. You know, so it looks more bridal.

I think this is awesome, in a hilarious way. Matt does not, and thinks this is ridiculous. When my aunt offered to let us borrow it to cut our wedding cake, I had to turn it down because Matt said (direct quote): "I do NOT want to cut our cake with a shoe!" Oh well.

I went to Hobby Lobby when they were having a 50% off sale on their wedding stuff, and bought a faux-crystal cake knife set for $4.99. I hoped they were manly enough, because they were significantly cheaper than any of our other options, and again, I don't want to spend money on something I'll never use again!

Matt barely glanced at them, but decided they were fine.


Anybody else been offered something ridiculous to use in your wedding? Did you actually USE it?

Peonies and Potted Plants: Part 1

You may recall my newfound love for peonies.

Oooh pretty!
via The Knot / Photo by Cayton Photography / Bouquet by Design Works, Colorado Springs

Well, I've had my eyes peeled for quite awhile, and I found some peonies at Michaels that I adore ... when I touch the petals they feel like real flowers!

Hyena Sis' cat, Audrey, wants to help hot glue!

I was struggling to put together my bouquet on my own, so all the credit goes to Mom Hyena. She arranged them and rubber banded the stems together, and handed it back to me, and I wrapped the stems in floral tape and then again with maroon ribbon. (Wrapping it took like an hour and a half. Ugh.)

My awesome sister helps hot glue the whole thing together.

Once we were done with the wrapping, we spiraled some pearls around the ribbon to match the pearls on the bridesmaids' bouquets.

And ... you ready for this?!?!

Booooouquet! Sorry for the wonky photo color. It was nighttime.

I can has it when I walk down the aisle?!

It's byoooooooteeful! I'm glad it turned out so well! Not going to lie — I was a little scared to see how the artificial flowers would turn out, but I am very pleased with the results. Mom Hyena and Hyena Sis are awesome. :) With this out of the way, next I focused on getting the centerpieces put together! But you'll have to wait to see those... ^_~

Any other faux-flower brides? A prize for whoever wrapped theirs the quickest!

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 2

((NOTE FOR PENGY - the reason I used the same source for all of these images is because I know the celeb fashion blog that posted them pays for the image service. If it is an issue that they all come from one site, please let me know and I'll find some alternatives.))

I showed you what I would do if I somehow manage to go another few months without taking scissors to my own hair. But one of the things I continuously stumble upon is that your wedding is a reflection of yourself, and therefore you should look and feel like yourself during it. I like this sentiment a lot, but I wasn't convinced I wanted to be a short(er)-hair bride. So I went searching for inspiration. (Now, I apologize that most of these don't actually count as SHORT short hair, but these are about the length that I typically like to keep my hair at.)

Shorter hair is still capable of some types of updos:

via Go Fug Yourself / Diane, Elizabeth, Charlize, Anna

Or pinned back with cute accessories:

via Go Fug Yourself / Carrie, Julie, Kate, Diane

Or the standard down-and-curly:

via Go Fug Yourself / Charlize, Jayma, Emma, Carrie

I guess I'm glad that, if I do go nuts and have to hack all my hair off, at least there are some cute options out there! (And um, it's not fair that Carrie Underwood looks cute no matter what she does.)

Defining Moments

A while back, Mr. Hyena was working on booking the cruise for our honeymoon. We're going to be cruisin' around Key West, Grand Cayman and Jamaica, mon!

Woohoo!

But this post isn't about that. He was on his computer, and I was on mine, and I glanced over at his screen right as he was typing my name into the site. He clicked on the "Title" box - scrolled past Mr., Dr., Miss, Ms. ... and clicked on Mrs.

"Mrs.!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah ... we'll be married by the time we go on this trip, remember?" he said.

"But ... MRS.!" I'm very eloquent.

He started to scroll back to Miss, but I stopped him.

I get that I'll be a Mrs. No problemo. It was just that, in all these months of planning, it's easy to forget that there's a destination in mind. It was one of those moments where I remembered what we were doing all this for, and in the end he'll be my husband.

When I remember this, I'm really happy. :)

It still feels like the wedding is really far away, but I like these moments that remind me that it's real. What moments make you insanely happy (or make your fiancé think you're insane)?

Fitt'd!

via IMDB, text added by me

DIY Fails and Successes

I have realized that my true calling is to not be a florist. I was attempting to put together my bouquet, and failing miserably. Hyena Sis asked how it could be that hard, when I did the bridesmaids' bouquets and they looked so good.

Well, I have a deep, dark secret...

As I have mentioned, we decided to go the artificial route for our flowers. I found these flowers at a little tchotchke store next door to our venue. Mom Hyena was in town and she noticed them first. I fell in love with the beautiful ranunculus (the white-ish ones are actually a very pale green). So cute!

But these were totally pre-made. The stems were already stuck together in a "bouquet." The only thing I did to these is wrap the glued-together-looking stems in ribbon and stick the pearls on the front. Those aren't even round pearls. They're sticker half-pearls that I also didn't have to line up because they were all in one strand. It was the easiest/laziest DIY project ever, and also probably one of my most successful.

My bouquet is a little more ... challenging. Individual stems of flowers and I do not get along. After about 10 minutes of struggling, I had to ask for help from Mom Hyena, and she put the whole thing together while I watched and made suggestions. *FAIL* All the credit goes to her. She did a wonderful job, and I'm super excited about it.

If nothing else, at least my kitty-boo "helped" me "put together" the bridesmaid bouquets - this was the bag they came in, which took her about half a second to crawl inside. Awww.

(all photos personal)

What was your "laziest" (or easiest!) DIY project?

United as One

I have no real attachment to the unity candle tradition. I think my main problem with it is that I don't want to use something once at the wedding, and then have store it - having never used it again - and feeling guilty every time I want to toss it.

So I went searching for alternatives to the unity candle.

• Sand ceremony - Each family has its own color of sand, and the bride and groom each pour their family's sand into a new container, symbolizing the blending of their families. Doesn't really solve my storing-it issues, though.

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• Rose ceremony - The couple is supposed to give each other one red rosebud as their first gifts to each other as husband and wife, as a way of saying "I love you," and recognizing their new titles. This can also be used as a way to honor the mothers, giving each of them a rose as a thank-you for a job well done (raising you, of course).
• Wine Box (or "Love Letter") ceremony - The couple writes a love letter to their partner, telling them all the reasons they love each other, and are sealed up so the other person can't be sneaky and read it ahead of time (^^). During the ceremony, the two letters are put into a box along with a nice bottle of wine and two glasses. The maid of honor and best man nail the box shut. If the marriage is ever in serious trouble, the couple is to open the box, drink the bottle of wine together, and read the love letters before making any decisions. If the relationship never comes to such a point, then the box is opened on an anniversary way in the future (like, the 25th, or 50th or whatever). This is something I actually wouldn't mind storing long-term.
• Handfasting - A member of your wedding party or your officiant ties your wrists together with a rope, cord, etc. to symbolize the couple being bound to each other. I liked this idea a lot, but upon doing further research, I found out this was originally a pagan tradition, and I had a feeling that wasn't going to go over too well...
• Ring Warming - The wedding rings are passed around for the guests to pray over and bless, while "warming" them with their hands.

On top of these, I've seen a lot of couples taking communion at their weddings, and I really like that idea. I'm not sure if that's a tradition in Protestant weddings, as I've only been to one where they did that (and then only the couple took it, not the guests), but all the Catholic weddings I've been to involved the Eucharist (another name for communion).

Are there any that I'm missing? What unity traditions are you using for your ceremony?

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 1

Like many brides before me, getting engaged meant I had to stop regularly chopping off my hair and actually let it grow. Dang it.

I've had long(ish) hair on and off all my life, mainly because I always think it'd be nice to have it, but then as soon as I actually get halfway to having long hair, I get sick of it and chop it off. It always gets too unruly, or too tangly, or takes way too long to blow-dry and I decide, screw it, see ya hair.

But I'm holding out, because of this:




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Oooooh, and this:

From Weddingbee user ddubzz's wedding

Which means ... I needed to drastically change the way I deal with my hair if I don't want to hate it and chop it all off again.

• Split ends and damage - I started going to get my hair trimmed every six weeks. You know, the way you're supposed to. :)
• Breakage at crown - Supposedly combing wet hair causes less damage near the roots of your hair than brushing it does. I don't really get the logic of this, but I'm doing it.
• Greasy-looking within a couple hours of shampooing - I've always had this problem when I grow my hair, so I switched to a fancy shampoo brand. I kind of hate how much money I'm spending on shampoo, but I've noticed that this is MUCH less of a problem now. So I figure I'll just stick it out with the high-quality brand until the wedding, then when I cut all my hair off, then I can switch back to the $2-a-bottle kind.

Anybody else growing out their hair kind of against their will? :) Or any hair tips I should be following?