It's been a while...

Once I started to go a little loopy while managing the many hats I wear at Ballet Memphis, my long-distance fiance, and planning a long-distance wedding, my sad little blog was clearly neglected. Not that anyone was reading this thing anyway. But here I am, back at it again - with many new developments and wedding pictures to post! We have been married for 2 months at the end of this week and he's still my Prince Charming. Best, most beautiful day of my life, minus what is now referred to as "The Incident." More on that later.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures to hold ya'll over. (If there is anyone left reading this...)

Colors...

Just an FYI, the pink and green color scheme has been scratched due to the fact that I think it's totally over-done and I really don't want my wedding to look like a 5-year old's bedroom.

Wedding reception: champagne, pale blush pink and ivory with about a million (*300) pillar candles... no flowers... just candles. Let's hope the "wow" factor works.

The picture from my visit to Sitting Pretty Linens below may look lame now, but imagine it with 15 pillars glowing in the center of the table... (please note the pewter-ish charger plate... love it.)


Kind of like this... minus the rose petals because I'm just not so into that...

The Great Earring Debate

I made a rash decision to spend a *little* too much cash on a pair of earrings from Tejani because I was "convinced" I wouldn't find anything else I liked ... And I was a goober and didn't pay attention to my time frame and now I have realized that I really just don't love them, it's way past the 2 week return policy. The lovely owner said she would exchange them for me... but the problem is, I'm not crazy about anything else. She emailed me pictures of another pair I was interested in and I personally think they look a little odd on the model... Something just isn't right. Too long? Too pointy? Too something.


Just a couple days ago I discovered Regina B, which has caused serious disappointment in the fact that I'm $200 poor-er because of a pair of huge earrings that I'll never wear. I absolutely LOVE their earrings. I'm thinking that my Tejani's are going to find a nice home to someone on eBay *crosses fingers* and then I won't feel quite as guilty for buying a Regina B pair. Plus, the Regina B earrings are about $70 cheaper than the Pink Monsters. (Can you tell I'm trying to justify this??) So, here are the top 2 choices from Regina, my new BFF.

Style 1032...
Or Style 1157...
I'd definitely go with the pearls on both pairs and I have the option of having them made in the silver color (rhodium) or in an antique bronze... they are supposed to send me a picture of the bronze so I can get a better idea of what it will look like. Although I want to wear a gold-tone on the Big Day, I really do like these in the rhodium plating.

Help!! Opinions are appreciated.

Pens pens pens....

I recently purchased 3 different calligraphy pens from Hobby Lobby to begin much-needed practice for addressing 200 invites.

And I totally suck. Not pretty... at all. And I do have nice hand writing, but a slanted pen - or worse, one with an ink cartridge - brings me much shame.

Wish me luck... envelopes should be here in about 1 week!

Flower girls!

Has anyone else noticed that flower girl dresses are just - if not more - expensive than bridesmaids dresses? I don't know what the heck is up with that, considering the dresses are about 1/5 the size of an adult dress. Anyway, I have been on the hunt for a good deal on 3 adorable dresses and I hit the jackpot. I found the perfect dress for the perfect price ($33.00!) from Dillard's. They tracked down the other 2 sizes I needed and had them shipped right to my door. Perfect.

This past weekend, fiance and I went to Nashville to visit his sister, her hubby and their adorable little one, and they are all part of our wedding party! Little Loren tried on her dress and it was priceless. Here she is, a total ham and our mini-supermodel. Is she not the cutest??

She's crafty.

I totally ripped this idea off my fabulous friend Katie's wedding (p.s. her whole sha-bang was to die for). I think they look pretty good!

The inspiration...

Before...
After!I am sure that I will have floral foam all over my house for at least 3 more months - but a steak knife really cuts that stuff well! Who knew. I think I spent $45 on flowers (clearance hydrangeas, carnations and some other random pink/white flower that resembled a rose), foam, ribbon and floral picks. Not bad considering that my florist was going charge waaaaaaaay too much. I do have a million flowers left over and I never, ever thought I would be caught dead purchasing fake carnations.

A little bit of everything.

It's been nearly a month since my last post... So for anyone who actually reads this, I apologize! Once I came back to Memphis from the whir-wind wedding week/spring break in Ohio, I was forced to focus on work. Not exactly what I wanted to be doing.... but I will admit that it probably kept me sane. I definitely needed to detox from so much planning in so little time. But here I am, a month later... with a gigantic "to-do" list. Really all that is left at this point (besides invitations) are the little things. Little things that I'm totally stressing over. Little things that will - of course - cost much more than I could ever imagine. Little things that I can DIY and and go totally OCD with. The next 108 days are going to be interesting.

p.s. The ballet school semester is officially over in a little over 2 weeks. Once May 3rd passes, I can be much more wedding focused - which is probably hazardous to my health.

Here is a run-through of what we have accomplised since the last post: (don't get too excited... it's not a lot.)

I got my shoes (aka - they dyables) and they were stinking huge. And wide. And I have the feet of a platypus. Lucky for me, Nordstroms had the shoes (in gold) that I originally wanted in my size! I ordered them and they are perfect.

I ordered earrings from Tejani! I love the pair I ordered... but they are a little large and ridiculously heavy. So heavy, in fact, that I had them on for about 15 minutes and my earlobe started bleeding. I've been obsessing over the website trying to see what I could exchange them for... The designer/owner, Urvi, has been so amazing. She asked to see pictures of the dress and of me wearing the earrings and has been making suggestions as to what we could change about the current pair/new options to try. Here is a picture of the pair I have now:


I really love the shape of the earrings in the center... it is really the dangles at the bottom that give them too much width and a wee bit too much length. I'm thinking about taking them to our jewler to see if he can alter them and nix the dangles? But then again, here are pics of the pairs I might exchange them for:

The pair above would be made with the topaz stones, not CZs, similar to this possible option below:

So what do you think? Either way, there's no chance I'll be able to wear the pair I have now because they are waaaaaay too heavy. I'd love some opinions!!

Moving on - WE ORDERED GLASSWARE FOR THE CANDLES!!!! Hallelujah, we found the deal of a lifetime. Kind of. But who cares - its DONE! There are 36 cases of glassware in 6", 8", an 10" sitting in my parent's garage. HJK Imports was a goldmine (glassmine?) and I'm so excited. The tables are going to be covered in pillar candles! Whoohoo!

And the best thing we have to check off the "to-do" list? THE HONEYMOON! It's official, we're going to be in the Dominican Republic for 7 nights and I couldn't be happier. I found the resort months ago and figured it was way out of our range... turns out, it's really not! I scoured the internet for the best deal and it was nearly $700 less to fly out of the Canton/Akron airport rather than the Cleveland. (Clearly, that's the choice we made.) We read countless amazing reviews from people who have stayed there and every loved this place. The best part? Adults only! No kids!! YES! Don't get me wrong, I love kids. We just don't want children frolicking with us in the pool. Or screaming at dinner. Or throwing sand on me while I fry in the Caribbean sun. You get the idea. So here is our much anticipated honeymoon spot! We can't wait!

I have plenty more that I could write but it's too late to even touch on the rest of the "to-do's"... it's going to be a busy weekend with my family in town and a the Junior Company performance. Let's hope I survive.