Love is Sweet.

Yes, it is. Sweet like candy. Mmmm, candy. (This is how my brain works.) There will be a lovely dessert bar at the wedding, so I had a banner made to hang above it. I considered making it myself, but sometimes its just best to leave it to the professionals when you have a zillion other things going on.

And boy did the professionals over at Earmark on Etsy ever do a great job! Of course, I heart the packaging. Again.

What a cute bag!

And some free postcards for good measure.


Did I mention that taking a decent photo of this banner proved difficult?


Here's a better one:

Note me and my neighbor's houses in the reflection. Oh, and my couch inside. Wow. Not winning any photography awards over here, but you get the idea. (This is why I hired Abbey Hepner.)

Case in point:


Blurry photo of the heart spacers with our initials! But even with the blurriness, that's ridiculously cuteness. AmIright?

Something Old, Something New

So, I think I have my traditional wedding accessories down.

Something old: Milkglass bracelet.


Something new: Pretty necklace! (I still haven't tried it on with the dress, so I don't know if it'll work, but it is lovely and sparkly, just like I wanted.)


Something borrowed: the totally perfect earrings!



and Something blue: Again with grandma's hankey. Still madly in love with it!


Check. Check. Check. Check.

Gah! Necklace!

Remember this post where I whine about not liking pearl necklaces with my dress? Well, I showed this photo to my aunt:

[Please forgive me for forgetting which discount website I found this on.]

...and then look what she came home with! (*Ahem* for 1/6 of the price!)

I haven't tried it on with my dress yet, but doesn't it have such fabulous potential!? Kinda like my engagement ring, but, you know, a little different. The above photo really doesn't do it justice. (I swear I took it in daylight. Sigh.)

It's the perfect length.


Here it is with my hairpiece that I won from Abbey Hepner!

Aren't they just delicious together? Yeah, I think so, too. (PS - the vintage broach in the center of the hairpiece is *not* black...again, I should learn something about photography.)

I can't wait to try it all on with my dress and see if it gets the overall thumb's up. And I'm hoping I can find some time here soon to make my veil and my belt. Gah! I need more time in a day!

Divine!

So, of course, I love me some baker's twine. It's used by bakers. I heart bakers. And it's twine, so it also parallels my love of ribbon. I mean, obviously it was going to be a perfect match.


And when a certain someone told me about Divine Twine, which comes in a variety of lovely lovely colors, I jumped and immediately purchased a roll from WhiskerGraphics.


I love it. I'm imagining all of the uses for this goodness, and boy do they abound! I will be using the twine to tie the tags to the vintage skeleton keys for the place cards at the wedding. Yes, I will.

And you know how I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I love packaging? Well, Divine Twine did a fabby job of packaging this baby. Look at the adorable bird on the back...I mean, seriously!


And check out all the other little goodies that came in the mail with the twine!



A cute little thank you pouch with a sticker, samples of all the Divine Twine colors, some birdie stickers (!) and a business card, you know, for future purchases. How fun!

Something old...

and blue enough that I'm calling it my "something blue."

I was thinking about how I would love to wear or to have something at my wedding that reminds me of my grandmother. She's been gone for 16 years now (half my life!), but I still miss her. She was a tiny, ferocious woman. I think of her often, particularly since I live in her house.

My aunt looked around for something I could borrow and found the absolutely perfect thing.


It's the handkerchief that my grandmother gave my aunt at her wedding! And it is lace trimmed with a lovely little bird and two rings and oh my, do I love it.


I mean, seriously - look at that bird!


I plan to wrap it around my bouquet (perhaps with some tissue below it so it doesn't get further stained).


My aunt might have to fight me for it to get it back. :)

Shoe help!

So, I ripped the bow off my shoes. I have nothing against grosgrain ribbon bows. Except they just aren't right for a wedding. If you recall, they looked like this from here:
I think they already look more sophisticated without the bows, but obviously, they need a little help.


So, this lady here mocked up a kiss pleat for me.


I likes, although I haven't really explored other options. Maybe I'll mock up some fabric flowers and see how that looks, too. I'm not sure. I do like the shape of the kiss pleat, though. So many tiny decisions to be made still! And now there is officially less than 6 months left. Should I start freaking out yet?

Also, Chris bought me flowers. Pretty!


And, not surprisingly, I still love milk glass!

BHLDN

Ok, so this week is busy. Really busy. There's a rainbow cake to be made and delivered, and packing to be done for our trip to San Diego with Chris' daughter. (Which will be fun, once I get over the 'getting up at 4am on Saturday' part. Mornings and I are not good friends.)

I know I'm behind, because the shop came online on Monday, but, I have to talk about Anthropologie's wedding line BHLDN (pronounced Beholden)! So vintage chic!

Clutch, anyone?


From here and here.

And guess what! There are dresses, too! (Obviously.) For the girl who wants to go vintage all the way, the details on this dress are stunning:

I also love the taupe-y color of this dress. Perfect for those lighter skin tones!

This next dress would be an absolutely perfect bridal shower or rehearsal dinner dress. Or perhaps an "I'm eloping but I still want to look completely lovely" dress. Or, an 'I want to look stunning without looking like I'm trying to hard at my casual wedding' dress. Oh, the possibilities.

I could see myself wearing that if I were having a different kind of wedding. It's so preeetty.

The dresses are gorgeous and whimsical, but what I'm really mad over are the accessories in the BHLDN line. This feather hairpiece looks a insanely similar the one I won from my photographer, Abbey Hepner. So, of course, I likes.



This one is just the perfect amount of bling for one's hair. I could also see it being turned into a gorgeous belt. Mmmm.



I also love these hair sparklies. Yes, I think that's the technical term.



This necklace could be completely stunning. It's way out of my budget, and I feel like I'd have to see it on to be sure, but it's simple and delicate, yet intricate at the same time. And so unique.



But the thing I covet the most is this brooch:

I have such a thing for anemones. I know it's a broach, but how gorgeous would that be in someone's hair!? Yep. Love.

Veils, Earrings, Bracelets and Belts. What more does a girl want!?

I got to play with my dress and jewelry the other night! Yay! Pretty and fun! I went back to Blue Sky Bridal (because they're the awesomest) to try on veils, and I brought my jewelry too so that I could get a picture of the whole look.

I tried on a long-ish veil, but it's just not me. Although, if I was going to do a long veil, it would be lace trimmed, like this one from here:

Blue Sky had a lovely lace trimmed/mantilla style veil - it will be amazing for some bride. But again, I'm just not a long veil kinda girl, beautiful lace or no.

I didn't mind the fingertip length veil, which is surprising as I thought I would have a rather unpleasant reaction to veils in general. But, although it might be a current trend/cliché, I'm in love with the bird cage veil. It's just me. I can't help it. It's just part of my genetic code. There's nothing more to be said. Love this from here.


I'll wear it for photos before and during the ceremony, and then likely take it off for the reception. I don't want it to come over my eyes - I want it to come down over my forehead slightly off-kilter so that it's just a little somethin' somethin' that says "Hi. I'm getting married."

And then there are the borrowed earrings. How gorgeous are these? Totally perfect.


Perhaps a little $8 milk glass bracelet for something old.


I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do a necklace. I tried on all manner of pearls and it just wasn't working for me. So it's either something sparkly, or nothing at all. I'm certainly amenable to either.

And the last decision was that my lovely, lovely lace trumpet dress (and don't worry - even if Chris read that, he won't know what that means) told me that it needs a sash/belty thing. A lovely 1-1/2 to 2 inch silk ribbon with some trim on the front or perhaps a vintage broach on the back bow (but not both - too much bling). Something like this from here:


You know, except that's not my dress, and I won't have the scary giant flower eating my head.

So many decisions made! So many more to go - like how to fancy up very very bleh shoes.

It's the little things...

like personalized wedding dress hangers that make me swoon over weddings. How gorgeous is this!?




With that lovely swooping "f!?" Mmmm. The dress photos are going to be that much more gorgeous hanging from this!

I purchased it from lilafrances on etsy, but be forewarned, there is a 10 week turnaround time.

And, yes, for the record I will be changing my name. I have two last names, both beginning with "F" so at least my initials won't change. :) And after writing two last names for my entire life, I'm going to be happy to have just one. And, while I appreciate all of the name options I've been given by friends and family ("Triple F" topping the list), I'm very sorry to disappoint you all with my decision to stick with one name. Ok, I'm not sorry at all. So there.

It's my lucky day!!

What a fun and incredibly lucky day! I just learned that I won two giveaways today!

First is a very pretty hairpiece from Flourish by Lillie given away by our fantastic photographer Abbey Hepner.

Check it out here! So pretty with the feathers and the lovely small vintagey broach...plus just a touch of veiling in the center. Mmm... I'm not sure what I'm doing with my hair on my wedding day, but if I don't work the hairpiece into the wedding, then perhaps I'll use it for the engagement photos. I'm not sure, but either way it's so pretty!

Amazingly I also won Amy Atlas' giveaway for the cutest Williams Sonoma gingerbread house bunt pan. How cute is this!?:


I'm ridiculously excited to have my name on Amy Atlas' blog since she's my "job hero" (lawyer turned dessert stylist - I mean really, that's amazing!) and I have a big fat crush on her.

Also, on the job hero front, if I could make a job from wrapping people's gifts for them, I would. Then I'd be my own job hero. (?) I finally have all my Christmas gifts wrapped and ribboned and fancied up. Here are some of the prettier ones:




I'm madly in love with the red and turquoise combination, if you couldn't tell. Also, that little squirrel atop a present all wrapped in woodsy pinecone paper is adorable!


And sometimes when you keep your hot glue gun on the table so it's handy, and you can't figure out how to attach a giant sparkly star, you just glue it right onto the present. :)

I'm certain there are times when I actually spend more on the wrapping than on the gift, but it's how I show my love. :)

Love this...

I feel like I should use this blog as this year's Christmas list because it's filled with so many things I loooove, but I don't really have the money to buy all of them. Anyway, here's more to adore:



I found this here on etsy, custom made and reasonably priced at $25 (so, ok, I could probably afford this). I love the idea of having a pretty hanger for the gratuitous 'pretty dress on the hanger' photos and also as a keepsake! And, even better, it doesn't involve bows or puffy hangers like the hangers I had when I was little. *Shudder.* (This is when you all realize I'm a little judgmental...)

Accessorizing

I've been missing in action and have accomplished absolutely nothing wedding related in the last week due to sanding, sanding, sanding, staining, staining, staining, and cleaning up cat barf. (Yeah, Raya has made her displeasure at being locked in the kitchen known. Clearly known.) I think a post about pretty accessories is in order just so I can get that image out of my head.

I'll admit it, I'm kinda bummed that I have to wear flats on my wedding day. There are some amazingly sexomatic wedding pumps out there, but with even a small heel I'll be at least as tall as Chris. And let's be honest, if I'm going with pumps, I'm going all the way with some 4-inchers. But, I don't want to be taller, so flats it is. Sigh. (Perhaps this is why Chris told me that we almost didn't get matched on eharmony since I was almost outside his range of acceptable tallness. I countered with the fact that he was almost outside my range of acceptable oldness. HA! I crack me up. I like to tease him for being old-he's in much better shape than me, so I have to find something tease him about!)



I like flats well enough, but they really aren't very formal, and a lot of them tend towards being something my grandma would wear, or worse, something even my grandma wouldn't wear. I decided to try to find a peep toe to at least add a little bit of interest to the shoe, so I settled on these from The Dessy Group.

They're very wedding-y (meh) and a lot of my friends have said they are "adorable." I'm not sure I'm going for adorable, but it'll have to do as they have the nicest shape I've seen from a wedding-appropriate peep toe in a decent price range.

In an attempt to make the shoes more sophisticated, I'm going to replace the grosgrain ribbon with something a little more grown up. (And by "I'm" I mean my awesome friend, Chelan.) Perhaps tiny yo-yos, or, more likely, a giant ruffle all the way around the peep toe like the kiss pleat ribbon in this photo from here. It's a bracelet here, but I've seen it on some amazing wedding shoes as well, like these from here:






Mmmmmm pretty! Guess I'll have to visit the ribbon room at Nancy's Sewing Basket to find the right ribbon! Oh no! How awful! (Someone please come get me out before I spend my entire pay check. I love that place!) I am glad that the shoes are only $30. That seems like the right amount to spend on shoes I'll only wear once. Plus, I know me well enough to know that I will *never* stay in my shoes. I don't really "do" shoes. I get home and I take off my shoes. I get to work and I take off my shoes (apparently that's "weird" in a law office. But, whatevs). I get to dance class and I, you guessed it, take off my shoes. So, spending more than $30 for shoes that I'll likely only wear for about 2 hours really is silly, so I'm glad to have found inexpensive, appropriate shoes with a nice silhouette.

I also bought this awesome 5-strand vintage milk glass cuff bracelet from ebay. It's old and slightly discolored in places, but, that's part of its charm. I also love that it looks ok on my ridiculously tiny wrists (thanks, Grandma). Oh, and I also love that it cost me all of $8, and that included shipping. I think I'm going to have someone fashion a clip on it so it will actually stay in place - seriously, my wrists are tiny. It is something like this one one from etsy, but with 5 strands and without the black rhinestone studded bands (phew!).

I'm still necklace hunting. I bought a 2 strand milk glass necklace from ebay as well, but it's just way too chunky. Super cute for every day, though! I'd like a multi-strand vintage milk glass necklace to match, but the beads need to be exceedingly small and delicate-looking so as to not distract from the dress. Something like this, perhaps, but maybe with fewer strands and tad shorter so it is more of a choker. I don't know.



I'm also strangely picky when it comes to earrings. I want something dangly, but thin and streamlined. I have this bizarre hatred for chandelier earrings that are wider than they are long. Gah. Seriously, what's my deal!? I don't know, but I think I'm going to try to find something like these from Tiffany's, except, you know, not real and not $325. More like $20...

They are thin and interesting and matchy matchy with the bracelet, but not overwhelming. I hope I can find something like it, or have them made by someone.

I also love this hairpiece I found here.



With a little bird cage veil? Yes, that'll do. Now I just have to figure out how to make it!

Yay for pretty!