Two Rings To Rule Them All

Remember when I told you about my wedding ring and how much I worried I wouldn't like it, but turns out I loved it, and then I refused to show you pictures? Well, hopefully you can forgive me, because I've definitely got pictures now!

The rings were not sold together as a set, but the wedding ring was created by the same designer to complement this engagement ring specifically.

Now that we're married, I don't have to wear it sneakily around the house when Mr. Hyena's not there! That's an awesome feeling.

I think at some point I'll have them soldered together, since I'll never wear the wedding band without the engagement ring, but I'm not sure when. 

Did your engagement ring match your wedding band? Or did you find something cool and unique? Did you solder your rings together?

OMG Shoes

Oh-my-gosh-you-guys!!! I know there's been a lot of buzz around the interwebs about Anthropologie's new wedding dress collection, BHLDN, and I honestly hadn't paid much attention because, duh, I have a dress already. But but but I just found out they have their own line of SHOES! And ... they're BEAUTIFUL! I want to buy them all!

Here are a few of my faves! I wish these had come out sooner, because I would sooooo wear, ummm, any of these under my wedding dress! I can't stop using exclamation points!

 Elopement Pumps and Moonlit Peep-Toes via BHLDN

Pink Pompom Shoe Clips and Flouncy Peep-Toes (aaaaah bows!) via BHLDN

Agave Peep-Toes and Scalloped Platforms via BHLDN

These are so cute I just want to die!

You should check out the other stuff in their collection as well. What I thought was simply a "wedding dress line" also has cute shrugs, cocktail dresses, cute hair doodads and more. Seriously, why did no one tell me this sooner?

Which ones are your favorite?

(No one is paying me for this post.)

Let It Grow!

So I'm a glutton for DIY punishment. At least I can admit it; the first toward recovery is admitting you have a problem, yes?

Shiny! Part 3! and stories of somethings

I know this is a little late coming since Part 1 and Part 2 of the Shiny! series were um ... a long time ago. But! But! I now have all my wedding jewelry, and a couple of stories to boot.

Originally, I was going to borrow jewelry from Aunt Hyena as my "something borrowed." Over time, that kind of fell through as she didn't have a lot of jewelry that was silver or white gold, or I didn't find anything that I liked, or the things I did like were broken. It's okay though. I have an even better "something borrowed" now, which I am not going to share here because it deserves a post of its own. (Coming soon to a theatre near you: The Amazing Story of Two Women, Two Weddings and an Unexpected Swap! It will make you laugh! It will make you cry ... because you're laughing too hard! Ebert and Roper give it two thumbs up!)

Oh, the crummy things you can throw together in Photoshop... (top left and bottom pics by moi, top right pic by Bridesmaid J.)

Because I'm nice, I won't leave you hanging on any of the others. :)

My "something old" is this embroidered hanky that Mom Hyena had in her dresser. This dresser is huge and has a million drawers, and she has all sorts of cool and weird stuff locked up in there, like all our school photos from our childhoods, vintage perfume bottles she inherited and ... um, stuff I thought the Tooth Fairy should have gotten rid instead of keeping in a drawer. ANYWAY. A few months ago when I was home, she found this hanky, which belonged to Mom Hyena's grandmother.

It's not in our wedding colors, but I think it's pretty and it'll be something other than Kleenex to cry on when I inevitably start bawling during the ceremony. Now the question is, what to do with it?

While Mom Hyena and I were digging around for somethings, H-Dad got in on the action too. You know that last part of the line that many people skip over, the "and a sixpence in your shoe"? Well, H-Dad has been collecting coins for a really long time, and turns out he had a sixpence in his closet!

I already told you about my garter, which is going to be my "blue" something.

And finally, the part you've all been waiting for ... "something new." Now we could get technical and say that any number of things could be new. My dress, my veil, my shoes, etc. ... but for the sake of showing you shiny things, we'll call this one my jewelry.

Bling!

The earrings are also blingy like the bracelet, but I wanted to show you the cute flowers!

Think they'll look good with my dress? :) I was originally looking for something a little more delicate for the bracelet, but I kind of ran out of time before my bridal portraits.

In which I worry for nothing.

Remember how I was worried about my wedding band looking weird against my e-ring? No? Well that's probably because I didn't tell you. I was WORRIED. Even after they e-mailed me the picture of what my wedding ring was supposed to look like separate from my e-ring, I wanted to see what they would look like together. I went to the designer's Web site, but couldn't find my exact set. Instead, I found this:

(source)

It's a lovely set, but not exactly what I had in mind for my own wedding ring. I wanted my band to sit closer to the basket of my ring, not flush to the top of the ring. And I also wanted it to look more symmetrical.  Who knew I was so picky about jewelry?

So there I was, worrying we were going to have to get a second band to make my ring look even, and worrying I was going to hate it. A couple months ago it arrived at the jewelry store. Mr. Hyena wants to keep it there a little while longer, since it's still insured while the store has it, but over lunch one day we went to go visit it, try it on, calm my fears, etc.

It's perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I'm going to wait until I actually have it in my possession to go photo crazy, but don't worry, I'll get pictures up as soon as I can. :)

Have you worried a ridiculous amount about a particular aspect of your wedding? What was it?

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

... my true love gave to meeee ... myyy wedding riiiiiiiing!

Well, not yet. But Matt and I agreed to gift each other our wedding rings for Christmas, and yesterday I picked up his ring from the jeweler!

It's hammered yellow gold with white gold edging, so it matches both his Aggie ring and my rings.

I'm so excited about it, and dying to show him (and make him model it!), but I guess I'll just have to wrap it all pretty-like and forget about it for now. Easier said than done!

Are you doing anything special for Christmas?

(personal photos)

My Ring's Moment in the Spotlight

I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of my engagement ring up to this point! We've already been engaged for like, forever!

I wanted to post pictures way sooner, I promise. The problem was that the majority of the pictures I had of my ring were blurry, and the pics that weren't had my hand in them. (We got engaged in the winter, and that's when I get Elephant Hands — yes, that's a technical term. As soon as Mom Hyena saw the pictures of my ring on my finger she told me, "You have GOT to do something about your hands!" So I wasn't too keen on putting those out there.)

Now that my ring has had it's own little photo shoot, I can show her off for the Web to see! :) Please indulge me!

Back in October, Mr. Hyena and I went shopping for wedding rings. Since the basket on my ring sits a little wider than most rings, a regular straight wedding band wasn't going to lay flush to the rest of the ring, and I knew Mr. H knew that would bother me in the long run. (What can I say? I'm indecisive sometimes and he knows me better.) The only other options were to saw off (!!!) part of the basket so a straight ring would fit underneath it, or get a band that curves to match it. I love the basket and I didn't want them mangling it, so curved ring it is! My ring wasn't part of a set, but luckily the ring designer had something that would fit it. I'm so glad the jeweler sent this picture over; when we went in to purchase it, they only had a printout of the picture, which made me nervous. I have been so afraid the past couple days that I wouldn't love it when it comes in. But now that I have a larger, clearer picture, I think it will look beautiful alongside my precious. Now I just have to wait impatiently until it comes in!

via Natalie K, courtesy of David Gardner's Jewelers

Does anyone else get Elephant Hands? How do you avoid it?!

Shiny! Part 2!

So. We've talked earrings. Now it's time to think about bracelets! I'll stop talking and just get on to the pictures. Remember to wipe the slobber off your keyboard when you're done!

via DUTCHPEARL's Etsy shop

via lolasJewelry Etsy shop

via Exquisite Bridal Etsy shop

via eminjewelry Etsy shop

via Lulu Splendor Etsy shop

via TZTUDIO Etsy shop / Direct link

via Ami Designs Etsy shop / Direct link

via Sahara Amaya Etsy shop

via Sahara Amaya Etsy shop / Direct link

via Kirsten Kuehn Etsy shop / Direct link

via Londonxox Etsy shop / Direct link

via dmalia Etsy shop

What's your favorite?

Shiny! Part 1!

It's time to talk wedding jewelry! I don't like to over-accessorize, so when I started looking, I was looking for some very simple, pretty jewelry that was either rhinestone or pearl (the beading of my dress has both sparkles and seed pearls).

The accessories I've already picked are my veil, garter and shoes. In addition, I would like a bracelet and some sparkly, dangly earrings. My dress has enough going on at the top of the bodice that I think I can get away with not wearing a necklace. (I don't want to take away from the dress either.)

Although, isn't this cool????

via Bridesmaid Pearl Jewelry Etsy shop / Direct link

Oooooooh ... I do love a good statement necklace! If only I were cool enough to pull them off. :-\

Anyway, onto some earrings!

via Plumb Crazy Etsy shop / Direct link

via Roxy's Jewelry Boutique Etsy shop / Direct link

Normally I'm not really into vintage-y stuff, but I think these are so pretty!

via HeKnowsMyName Etsy shop / Direct link

Something blue!

via Sweet Bird Designs Etsy shop

Aunt Hyena offered to let me borrow a pair of earrings that was really similar to these, but they were yellow gold and I'd prefer to go with silver or white gold for the wedding. 

via Something Jeweled Etsy shop / Direct link

Are you rocking any statement jewelry at your wedding? Or keeping it simple? I want stories of sparkly things. :)

I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby.

I don't know how this will work with my veil, or whatever hair style I end up choosing, but I waahaahaaaaant a hair flower. I NEED one. I don't know why, but I will not rest until I get one! I've yet to make any purchases from Etsy, but that was the first place I looked for some purty hair doodads, and here's what I came up with:

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Or maybe I want a little pop of color. Do I want a maroon pop? My shoes and bouquet are pink...

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Oooh shiny! I love them! I want them all!

How would you/did you pull off a hair flower with a veil? Both together? Hair flower only for the reception?

I love shoes.

Shoes shoes shoes.

Hey everyone! Come see how good my shoes look!

I don't have super-expensive taste in shoes, but I do love looking at them and lusting after them and talking about them. Mr. Hyena and I have a deal where I don't tell him how much I spend on shoes, because it's better for our relationship. :)

I decided right away I didn't want white shoes. Because of this picture:

via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Ashley Garmon

Pink shoes it is! Wow, that took convincing.

My first loves were "Body Talk" by Poetic License:

I also love Zappos.

These were never once in stock in my size. They were a little more expensive than I wanted to spend, at $153, even though I knew I would wear these again and again. I did find them for $97 on Shabby Apple and ordered them, but received an e-mail from them saying they actually only had black ones in stock. Bummer.

I never SERIOUSLY considered these beauties from Dolce & Gabbana, but I did spend about 30 seconds trying to justify purchasing shoes that cost more than my dress, my rent, the value of all my possessions. :-D Zappos, you're such a tease!

 Original listing no longer on Zappos. :(  (source)

With both of these options out of budget or permanently out of stock, I started looking around closer to home. Mom Hyena came into town and we went to Payless Shoes. They recently started selling a collection of dyeable formal shoes, called Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose, which is where we found these:

(source)

Now, I am totally obsessed with shoes with bows on the toes. I seriously have, right now, in my closet, no fewer than three pairs of flats with bows on the toes. Maybe more. I had to have these. I had them dyed "fuchsia," and at a whopping $48, these were a fantastic deal and I luuuuuuuurve them! Take a look:

(personal photos)

I got some heel inserts for them so my feet won't slip out, and I've been slowly breaking them in for a while now. I can't wait to wear these as I walk down the aisle!

Have you discovered any sweet deals? And how often do you try on your wedding clothes or accessories? (C'mon, 'fess up! ^_^)