Bridesmaids
"Popping the question"
As with most things in my life, I put a lot of thought into who I wanted in my bridal party, and chose people who played a significant role in my life. I wanted to ask my girls in a way that reflected that, and decided to make a photo collage and poem for each of them, as well as a "Top 10" list of reasons they should say yes. I put them all together in a DIY frame done in the wedding colors, and also gave them some notepads. Below are some pictures of everything. I love how it all came together, but I have to admit, this "DIY" thing is waaayy over-rated.
Dresses
The bridesmaids' dresses were ordered on 10-17-09! But not before a mini-panic attack on my part. I had decided to come up to NJ for a few days to do some wedding planning. I timed it for when all my girls would be available to be measured for their dresses. Picking a bridesmaid's dress proved to be very stressful for me. I was down in NC, while all my girls live in NY and NJ. Bridal shops are few and far in NC, so I spent most of my time looking on dress sites and then asking my girls to try specific dresses on, take pictures and send them to me. Making it even more complicated was that not all manufacturers have the right shade of raspberry fabric. Finally, after tons of dresses, I decided on Alexia 2944, based solely on pictures. When I arrived in NJ, I decided to go to the bridal shop to see the dress for myself before my bridesmaids got measure. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was wrong. The fabric looked cheap in person and while it looked great in pictures, and everyone was telling me that after the wedding, all we would have would be pictures, I didn't want my girls wearing that dress the day of. Holy crap! Back to square one. I started looking through the racks of dresses and spotted a short Bill Levkoff dress that I had just seen in a bridal magazine and loved. I was really hung up on my girls wearing long dresses and wasn't prepared to change my vision. Then my Mom spotted Impression dress 1735 that I had seen on their web site. On the website, it was just okay, but in person, it was really very interesting and different. The saleswoman told me it was stunning on and compliments all body shapes. So....the next day, I discussed my concerns with my sister, who has a fashion merchandising college degree and understands more about fashion than anyone I know. She agreed to go to the bridal shop a few hours before the rest of the bridal party to try it on. As soon as I saw my sister in the Impression dress, I knew I had found their dresses. It was the perfect compliment to my dress. The top layer of the dress is chiffon, and it's folded over to give the 'striped' effect. Impression allows you to pick any color for the satin lining, which proved to be *interesting*. We found that the dress looked entirely different, depending on which under layer we put it with. While we seriously toyed with using fushia chiffon with an under layer of orange (giving the dress an irridescent look to it), we realized it could turn out to be a disaster. After much debate, I decided to go the safe route and go with fuschia/fuschia. I'm a bit disappointed that the stripes won't 'pop', but we should still be able to see them as a textural element. All my girls tried the dress on, along with the short Bill Levkoff, and the decision was unanimous. The sample is black chiffon over a white liner.
Their Dresses Are Here!
Shoes & Accessories
Flowergirls
My two little sisters will be my flowergirls. They'll only be 4 and 3ish at the time of the wedding, so I want them in 'true' little girl dresses, not mini-versions of my bridesmaids' dresses. I absolutely love the orange and raspberry dress on the left, but can not find it anywhere. Sweet Beginnings, on the right, has similar organza dresses that can be made in the same colors, and I can always go to etsy for the flower for the back of the bow. I love the sequins on the Sweet Beginnings dress. Not sure if I want to add sleeves or go to the expense of adding the raspberry band on the bottom, but I will have them hemmed to 'ankle' lengh