Our Wedding - October 6, 2012

Click here to view these pictures larger

We received our professional wedding photos this week from our photographer.   We love them!  It was fun looking through the photos this weekend.  How fast everything went!  So glad we have  it all captured in pictures!

Thank you Daniel Taylor Photography!

Floral Designer:  J Ross - Hothouse Design Studio
Photographer:  Daniel Taylor Photography
Cake Designer:  Dreamcakes Bakery
Ceremony & Reception Venue:  Inverness Country Club
Dresses:  Reem Acra (long dress) Gown Boutique of Charleston
               Anne Bowen (short dress) Maddison Row 
Shoes:  Jimmy Choo
Jewelry:   Tejani (necklace & earrings)
              Rose of the Mire (bracelet)
Wedding bands:  Southeastern Jewelers
Hair:  Moneer at Saxx Hair Design
Makeup:  Maryjane Clements
DJ & Photobooth - Feel The Beat Entertainment & Cool Shots Photobooth
Jazz Band:  Carlos Pino Band
Tuxedo:  Groom - Mr. Burch Formalwear
               Groomsmen - Men's Wearhouse
Officiant: Rev. Chauma Guss

Diving Into Wedding Planning

I have been diving into wedding planning again since we got back from the beach.  We are looking at a late June or early July wedding, but no dates set yet.  I picked up the spring/summer Grace Ormonde wedding style magazine at the grocery store today.  I love this magazine.   It's one of my favorites.  I have a huge collection of bride magazines on hand that I have been collecting since the engagement a year ago.  I am still just as confused and undecided as ever on how to pull it all together though.

I've been looking for wedding invitation ideas.  I don't know why it's so hard to decide on one.  There are just too many options.  I like all the vintage wedding ideas that are on the Internet, but somehow I don't think that is me.  I am more traditional, but I don't want to be boring.  I need something that is a combination modern and glamorous with just a touch of vintage and traditional. I also like sparkly and pink.  Is that possible?  And if it is, what the heck would that look like??  The last time we looked at invitations I thought the shop owner was going to throw me out.  That was almost a year ago.  I've been afraid to go back until I get a more concrete idea of what I'm looking for in an invitation.

Not having a clue about what kind of wedding invitation to order is not a problem yet, since we haven't set a date.  Once the date is set, the invitations will have to be ordered immediately.  There will not be much time.  We haven't reserved the country club where we plan to have the wedding.   We do know we want an evening wedding with the ceremony held outside on the patio overlooking the golf course and have the reception inside.  Cocktails first, then dinner and dancing.

Since June and July are poplar wedding months, we realize we might have to have the wedding on a Friday or a Sunday evening instead of on Saturday and that's fine with us.  We still haven't looked at bands or photographers.  We met with one florist last year and really liked their work, but even that is not decided.  Everything will be last minute.  I hope we can pull it off!

I purchased my dresses last year when we were visiting my friend S styleodyssey.blogspot.com in Charleston, SC.  I am really, really glad she was there to help me out.  I was totally clueless about what I wanted.  Well, ok that's not true.  I had an "idea" of what I wanted and that was the problem.   Sometimes when you have an "idea" and you can't find exactly what fits into that "idea", it can get extremely frustrating.  That's where Bridezilla starts to emerge.  That's what happened at the wedding invitation place and I didn't have S there to help me make a decision.

Back to the dresses, I decided on a  Reem Acra strapless silk gown with a tulle overlay for the ceremony and will change into a short Ann Bowen silk gown for the reception.  The Reem Acra dress was purchased at the Gown Boutique of Charleston and the Anne Bowen was purchased at Maddison Row in Charleston.  I got great deals at both places.  Maddison Row was having an Anne Bowen trunk show while I was there and the Gown Boutique was discontinuing Reem Acra designs.  I don't know why.  I love her designs!  I think it had something to do with Southern brides wanting something a little more conservative, less edgy.  I got the dress for 1/4 of what the original price was.  The dress isn't edgy.  It's a very traditional sort of wedding dress.

My shoes are strappy Jimmy Choo's in champagne which look more silver to me.  I might get a different more comfortable pair for dancing in later in the evening.  The dresses and the shoes have been sitting in the closet for almost a year.  I can't wait to get to wear them!

I still haven't picked out the bridesmaid dresses.  They will be either fuchsia or silver and short not long.   I have no idea what I will wear in my hair or what jewelry and accessories I will wear.  Too many options online.  It's hard to decide.  Once the date is set, it will get super hectic around here for awhile.  I can't wait!

My Favorite Oscar Night Fashions

Last night The Murph gave up control of the tv remote so I could watch all the fashion at the Oscars.  My favorite dress of the night was the white, sparkly Elie Saab dress worn by Milla Jovovich.  I would love to wear that as my wedding dress.  Beautiful!  However, I already have a Reem Acra dress picked out that is very, very nice too.   I liked Cameron Diaz's Gucci dress and Angelina's black Versace.  Those three were my top picks of the night.  Too bad we couldn't see a little more shoe action.  Would love to have seen more shoes.

All the talk today has been on Angelina's right leg and J Lo's nip slip.  I love Angelina, but I did think that walk was a little strange and the sticking out leg pose thing was odd.  As for J Lo, I liked her dress and the designer stated that there was no slippage, just an optical allusion.  I don't know...  looked like slippage to me, but just a slight hint of slippage.  The leg and the slippage were the most exciting things that happened last night unless you count the kiss George gave Billy. You can follow Angelina's leg and J Lo's nips on Twitter now if that's something you would want to do.  I'll pass.

I was really excited about Alabama native, Octavia Spencer winning supporting actress for her role in "The Help".  I loved the book and the movie and was thrilled that a fellow Alabamian won the Oscar last night.  I liked her dress too, although it wasn't a style I personally would wear.   Tonight we're back to Hockey.  Go New York Rangers!  (that's for the Murph)

Also, great news from The Boy from college.  He made a B+ on his English paper and a 93 in his Information Technology class.  Could he possibly make a 3.7 GPA this semester?  I sure hope so!  He is working on a speech for his public speaking class now.  He skyped me a couple of hours ago trying to con me into doing the outline for him.  Sorry, but he is very capable of doing it on his own.  I always help by proofreading, but that's about it.  He is has become a very good writer this year after spending most of high school struggling with writing.  Or maybe just trying to get somebody else to do it for him...

My Favorite Dress From Oscar Night
pic from stylefrizz.com

The Wedding Color Scheme Decision

Since it looks like a  January wedding for me and the Murph, I'm thinking we will have a silver and white color scheme.  We got engaged in January and were hoping to have a May wedding.  Then it turned into a June wedding, then a July wedding, then an October or January wedding....   We will only have been engaged a year and it gives us more time to plan.  January seems to be a good month for a silver, metallic and white color scheme.

In trying to pick a color scheme for the wedding, I wanted to match colors that are popular for that season.  When the wedding was going to be in May, the colors were more a blush or light pink.  In June, it was fuschia.  In July, it was more toward coral, but maybe with some pinks thrown in as well.  October was plum, eggplant or even orange, although I'm not too crazy about orange it does match the decor at the country club where we are planning on having the wedding.  January will be silver and white.  Sparkly metallics like a winter wonderland.

The bridesmaid dresses will be silver now, not coral or fuschia.  My two bridesmaids are my friend, the Running Nazi and the Murph's daughter, who is 21.  We really didn't have that much luck looking for coral/fuschia dresses this spring and summer.  Hopefully, we will find a spectacular silver dress this fall.  It's been decided there will NOT be ruching (makes you look fat) or anything that looks like something you'd wear at a square dance, not a wedding.  Strapless isn't a really good option either.

 I already have two wedding dresses picked out.  One is a Reem Acra strapless, ivory gown that is very fitted with an overlay of tulle for the ceremony and an Ann Bowen short, ivory dress for the reception.  I found both dresses with the help of my friend Steph when the Murph and I were in Charleston a few months ago.  I need to decide veil or no veil.  Sparkly jewelry definitely!  Shoes?  Silver, strappy Jimmy Choo's that the Murph bought for me at Saks Fifth Avenue in Atlanta a few months ago.

Flowers?  Probably white for me and white for the bridesmaids as well.  I like roses, peonies and anemones. In July the bridesmaids were going to have white flowers and I was going to have coral and fuchsia flowers to match their dresses.  Now I don't know yet... Hasn't been decided....

If we can't pull it together in time for a January wedding, I'm screwed!  Or maybe I could just start back over at May and recycle color schemes from there...

 March could be a green color scheme with shamrocks and our signature drink could be Irish whiskey.  I'd like to see the Murph in a kilt.  No underwear!

 (he just said he's not wearing any kilts)  We'll see...  ; )