I caved

I bought new shoes. I am not supposed to be spending money on shoes, but these were so cute, and really nice colors, and ON SALE!
Are they in our wedding colors? they are silver and blue, which is in the color scheme. Are they comfortable? they look like it! i won't be worried about tripping since there is no pointy heel! But the real test will come when they arrive.

I found these bad boys on 6pm.com but didn't want to pay the shipping fee, so I searched online until I saw that Overstock.com had them with free shipping! So worst case scenario, my $35 can be refunded if I decide to return them!

Yay shoes! Boo my inability to say "no"!

New Distractions

So I have been searching for more good ideas for interesting DIY projects, and I stumbled upon a doozy, which I want to start RIGHT NOW!

These are Tsumami Kanzashi, hairpins made from the Japanese art of fabric folding. Since I am half-Japanese, I think these little flowers could be great gifts to my little flowergirls, and I am sure I can think of many other uses too! So I am probably off to the fabric store tonight for some silk fabric and starch.

The other project I have been eyeing has been these adorable little knit pillows. With big needles, this could be a relatively quick project (nothing like the lace shawl I have been working on, which has made very little progress in the past month).

Picture Perfect

We recently took some engagement photos with a photographer who is looking to build her portfolio. We were her first engagement shoot (she had done a few weddings before), so neither us nor her really knew what to expect.

But when I got the pictures back this week, I was BLOWN AWAY! Jen Ing is pretty talented, and here is just a small preview of her work.


Overall, really good experience, especially for a first attempt.

Inspiration!

This is my first inspiration board. Since we already decided our colors will be blue and silver, I figured it was time that I start figuring out a "look" or "feel". I don't know if this is the look or feel that I am going for, but I do enjoy the "feel" of these pictures. This is probably a little more sophisticated that we will go for though...we want the wedding to "feel" fun too!

Anyone else having trouble balancing the wedding "look" and "feel"?

Learning new tricks

The first thing I worked on after we got engaged in January was the website. We bought a domain and I got cracking.

I used to build websites often in college (though they were all crappy), so I began by:
1. refreshing my memory on html commands, frames, etc.
2. teaching myself to use photoshop and dreamweaver (again)
3. figuring out more complicated technologies (css, cgi, server-side scripting, etc.)
4. trying to come up with a layout.

My first attempt was using a dreamweaver layout:
This took me probably 6 hours of work on the design, and then a bunch of time filling in content. I thought it was pretty cute (and fun), but the colors weren't quite right, and it kind or looked like a little kid made it.

So I started over....

My second (and what I think will be the final) attempt I created by adapting stuff I saw online.
This took me 3 hours on the site design, and another 4 hours teaching myself how to make forms, first using perl, then using javascript, and finally succeeding with php. I am pretty happy with it. I like that I created it myself, because it means I can make sure the website matches everything else!

I LOVE THIS DRESS!

Ivory BCBG dress, 100% silk, sold for $360 at Nordstrom. If they sold it in white, it would end up being my wedding dress. I bought it off Nordstrom.com because I wanted to try it on.

I loved the way it fit, but decided I didn't have enough room in my budget to rationalize the purchase. So I returned it to Nordstrom promptly.

I found it again on Ebay (same dress, same size, brand new with tags) for $95. I bought it. For that price, this dress is totally rationalizable.

Have I mentioned that I love silk? I don't know why all silk wedding dresses have to cost $2K and up, but this one feels SOOOO GOOD when it is on you! (and I only paid $95 dollars!)

I have no good purpose for this dress yet, but it makes me happy, just being able to try it on in my apartment. Maybe it can become a rehearsal dinner dress or something ... anyone have any ideas?

What's on hand?

So I decided to start this whole wedding planning process by looking at what I might not need to purchase. My mother is, of course, most excited about the dress shopping. After trying on a few gowns, I have also become excited about the dress, because I found that I fit samples perfectly!

As exciting as dresses are, the accessories are not as exciting for me. Especially with the price tags on veils, shoes, and hair accessories.

So one lovely Sunday, I think to myself, I wonder if I have any accessories in my closet that I could use? Lo and behold, I then discover a crystal hair clip and a pair of never worn (tags still on), white leather shoes!
We have already chosen our wedding colors (blue and silver), and my Catholic mother is very animate about my having a white wedding dress (not ivory, not off-white...)
So it seems that these accessories may be a perfect fit! Right out of my closet! I think that is $100-150 saved already!