Wedding Wednesday - Color Confusion and Bridesmaid Dresses

Who would have thought it would be so hard to choose bridesmaid dresses?  It's not like I have 16 bridesmaids in all shapes and sizes.  I just have two and both of them would look good in just about anything.  I did get one request from them  - no ruching.  Actually two requests, no THREE requests - no ruching, preferably not strapless, and not too short.

Easy, right?  Two bridesmaids that would look good in a burlap sac and only three easy requests from the two of them.  Since The Running Nazi is going to be one of my bridesmaid and she was a manager at Saks Fifth Avenue when I first got engaged, she was put in charge of choosing the dress.  It should have been easy since she was at Saks every day and they always get in new dresses that don't look really super bridesmaidy, but during the entire year, not one single acceptable dress came into the store.  We even looked online, but no luck.  

The RN doesn't work at Saks anymore so that opens us up to other places since she doesn't get that discount anymore.  We had been avoiding the typical bridesmaid dress designers, but now that may be our last hope.   I've been looking at such styles all afternoon online.  There really are a lot of beautiful dresses out there for bridesmaids that don't look like those dresses we were forced to wear back in the late 80's with those wonderful (sarcasm here) dyed to match shoes.  There may be hope after all.

 I never realized how many different versions of fuchsia there is out there depending on the designer.  Colors I've never heard of before that I threw out to the Murph, like I know what I'm talking about.  Honeysuckle, azalea, Caribbean.  When he finally got tired of pretending to be interested he said, "That color wasn't in my crayon box."  He also threatened to go hide in his man cave.

Wedding colors and bridesmaids dresses are things he could care less about.  Just "whatever I decide" is fine with him.  He's in charge of the beer and the band.

This disinterest in the dresses applied until he found out how much one of the bridesmaids dress that liked was going to cost.   He suddenly got more interested in the decision making process since he's the one paying for his daughter's dress.

She's one of the bridesmaids.

Actually I'm not really sure exactly how much the dress costs, I could only give an estimate but I do know that it doesn't have ruching, it's not strapless and it's not too short.  It would blend perfectly with my dresses.  And it's available in my colors of choice.  First choice being fuchsia.  Another one of those colors that wasn't in the Murph's crayon box.

Since the wedding is in October, I'm thinking about combining the shade of fuchsia I love with Pantone's honeysuckle or pink flambe with tangerine tango.  That's what I'm thinking today.  Tomorrow, who knows.

The dress is a Jim Hjelm Occasions design which I love.

Now all I have to do is get it to pass the bridesmaid test.  That's a tough test to pass.

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!