I just realized that tomorrow is our one year anniversary and I never even posted anything about my dress! Well, I posted that I had found one, but I never put pictures up or talked specifically about it. I first found it on the Knot. It's a Justin Alexander Couture dress. The tag-line on the site reads: Modern Interpretations of Traditional Silhouettes. Well... here it is...I knew I wouldn't look good in bright white so I wanted ivory. I loved the flowers all over the dress and the way they looked like they were crawling up from the floor. I did not want strapless or sleeveless but that was nearly impossible to find. When I saw this dress... I knew!Buttons all up the back of the dress. The top part is a jacket that had buttons to match so it looked like one fluid piece. Everyone was surprised when I took off the jacket later in the evening. Some people thought it was a completely different dress! And here is me in it...
Huge football mums, white roses and stephanotis. I had asked for white gardenias in the top, but my flower expert was afraid they'd turn brown too fast. I understood. This thing weighed A TON! I loved having such a huge, cascading bouquet, but my arm was sore the next day. Small price to pay for such gorgeous flowers.
Picked these up at DSW. They looked perfect with my dress and I love a good peep-toe. I wore them around the house to make sure they were comfy for the wedding. Unfortunately, once you add a thirty pound dress to your body, nothing is comfortable. I can honestly say, though, that I didn't feel a thing once I walked into the church. I was floating...
On a trip to Arizona to visit my brother and my future sister-in-law (they're now married), I had decided to pick up an issue of The Knot magazine. I'm a member of the Web site but I'd never checked out the mag before. Not only was there a picture of the gown I had my eye on, but I found an ultimate inspiration! Everyone around here serves the "late night snack" at their weddings. We've seen Gene & Jude's hot dogs, McDonald's cheeseburgers, candy bars (as in tables full of colorful candy) and numerous other snacks and treats that make their way to the masses after the sweet table.
We had been wondering what we would do. Should we do cheeseburgers? Should we do hot dogs? There were all kinds of justifications for all kinds of snacks we could entertain our guests' taste buds with. But none fit quite like what I found in the magazine that day. None fit so perfectly as popcorn. Not only my favorite snack, but also a staple of the movie-goer's experience. So what better to top off an event meant to reflect the glitz and glamor of Hollywood than yummy gourmet popcorn for our friends and family.
This is the picture I saw in the magazine that day. I loved the look of the jars. The different kinds of popcorn inside. The labels dangling from the lids. The scoops, so cute and the bags, so precious. I wanted this exact set up, only in our colors. Well, we can't always get what we want, but sometimes... that's right, we get what we need. Now maybe the powers that be didn't quite understand the purpose of the popcorn, but what we ended up with worked extremely well and we got lots of complements on it. The truth is that apothecary jars like this do not come in a size appropriate for inserting a scoop worthy of collecting popcorn and placing it into a popcorn bag. What we were able to get was a collection of giant tins of popcorn. Each had the words, "Thank You" written on the sides in a purpley-pink color and came with large scoops and tons of cute popcorn bags. The gourmet flavors we ordered from Garret's Popcorn were plain, buttered, cheddar cheese, white cheddar, caramel and pecan praline. I was so pleased with the turn out of the popcorn table.
Could we have found a cuter pair? Never! Wearing dresses that were handmade by my mom and sashes with giant bows in the same color as the bridesmaid's dresses (found at David's Bridal), Ava and Annie made their way down the aisle in style. Mini pearl necklaces and bracelets were their gift from me for being in the wedding and their hairbows were made by my friend Laura, Annie's mom. They wore white tights and black mary janes. The flowers they carried were balls of pink carnations with roses stuck in the tops of them that hung from brown ribbon. Ava's mom, Lara, a friend since I was Ava's age, made sure the two knew when to start walking and where to go. Annie was sure to guide Ava down the aisle too. What a couple of sweet peas!
I knew ahead of time that Joe and I would be exchanging gifts the morning of the wedding and I was informed that his gift to me could be my "something new" so thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that. Of course, I could have said my something new was my dress or my earrings or my shoes or any number of items I was adorned with that day but I took special delight in not knowing what exactly it would be.
That morning when Jackie, Joe's sister, arrived at the hotel for hair and makeup, she handed me a bag. A Helzberg Diamonds bag. There was a card inside that explained why his gift was so perfect for me. He said "You always give me X's and O's so now I'm giving you some."
He knows me so well. I sign most correspondence with XOXO.
I know you're dying to know what's in the bag.
So here... a diamond bracelet of X's and O's. My something new. You can see it here on my left wrist. That's where I wear it EVERY day.
I grew up attending St. Isidore's in Bloomingdale, IL. We got married in the chapel. It used to have a glittery ceiling. When we went to check it out it had been painted blue, which I hated when I first saw it. It sure made for some pretty pictures though.
The morning of the wedding, I woke up at The Residence Inn in Bloomingdale, Illinois.
The church was just a hop, skip and a jump away but we had hours to go until I got there. I jumped in the shower at 7:30 a.m. Allison and Christine were in the other bedroom in the suite and Nydia, Beth, Stacy and Amber were across the hall. Jackie was at her parents' house, but would be joining us later. At 8:00 there was a knock on our hotel suite door. Right on time. It was Angelica and Antje from Tigerlilie Salon. We had arranged that they would come out to the suburbs with their hair dryers, rollers, bobby-pins, curling irons and make-up kits to get us all prettied up. A consultation and a trial with Antje confirmed that I would be wearing my hair like Rita Hayworth's.
The bridesmaids would be sporting vintage style up-do's... like these:
Before long, we were taking turns getting our hair done, reading magazines, sipping mimosas and munching on the treats Beth and Nydia had gone to pick up for us, including Pirate's Booty.
After our hair was done, Antje and Angelica did our makeup. Antje had recommended that I get some MAC foundation and lipstick for the day so I got that out for her. We waited on the lipstick, though. She wanted to put that on after I put my dress on. So... on it went. Nydia and Stacy came in with me and my mom. It sounds like a lot of people, but there were a lot of buttons... and high heels.
On went the lipstick... the high heels... the veil. Time to be a bride.
For the cake we didn't want anything too over the top. Pretty, with flowers was the goal. Nothing pink or brown like the rest of the wedding, just some ivory colored frosting with some flourishes. I had found a pretty cake topper that we ordered online. It's two doves resting their heads on one another. I brought Patty Cakes a picture of a cake I found online at The Knot and they promised to recreate the four-tier cake. They drew out a plan for me and I couldn't wait to see it in person. To my delight, the cake looked just as pretty as the picture I had provided them. Of course, Joe and I never even had a chance to eat any of the cake, but on our one year anniversary, the bakery will provide us with a recreation of the top tier for us to celebrate with (instead of trying to defrost and munch on a cake that's been sitting in our freezer for a year). This is such a lovely bonus service they do for couples provided they send in a photo of the cake for their books. Now to decide which photo to send! The bottom layer has a lattice effect , created in butter cream icing, stripes on the next, then swirls and dots on the top. The flowers are white roses and white dendrobium orchids. Inside is marble cake with chocolate fudge filling. Each guest's plate was drizzled with raspberry sauce and garnished with a few raspberries. Decadent!
I love this sign. I love all old signs. Especially ones with my name on it. The photo above was taken early in the evening. Probably around 5:30 PM by a friend of ours, Eric. This is before the big party began, before the wedding party even arrived.
Eric took another picture of the sign. He took another picture later on in the evening. Well after several of the groomsmen got to the sign. This is what happens when you have men around you who don't know how important the sign is to you. Or who know and just really don't care.
I'm really not as miffed about it as I sound. A little photo editing will hopefully clear that right up. Photoshop... don't fail me now! We asked the photography studio to edit the photo for the album. We'll see if it turns out and if they're even willing to do it.
Joe Bernstein and Jamie Meo, I know you did this. I know where you live. There is no hiding. We're all family now!
I knew I wouldn't look good in bright white so I wanted ivory. I loved the flowers all over the dress and the way they looked like they were crawling up from the floor. I did not want strapless or sleeveless but that was nearly impossible to find. When I saw this dress... I knew!
Buttons all up the back of the dress. The top part is a jacket that had buttons to match so it looked like one fluid piece. Everyone was surprised when I took off the jacket later in the evening. Some people thought it was a completely different dress!
