Incredible financial sacrifice beyond comprehension

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I don't know how many of you are Jewish, or have a lot of experience with Bar/Bat Mitzvahs (Mitzvot?), but today my dad sent me the FIRST funny email forward I have ever received from him. Way back when I was a wee little 13-year-old, I had a pretty intense Bat Mitzvah—I led most of the 2½-hour service myself (I was always an overachiever), and we followed it up with a $10,000 party (which seemed awfully intense at the time... nowadays that's probably just a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what some people are doing). Anyway, hopefully some of you might find this even half as funny as I do.

It is with great stress, emotional and physical fatigue
and incredible financial sacrifice beyond comprehension,
that we invite you to join us as our wonderful son

Jacob Adam

is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah
Saturday, May 12th
(yes we realize its Mother's Day Weekend)

Temple Israel
14 Coleytown Road
Westport, Connecticut 06880
at the ungodly hour of 9 am

Even though you don't really need to be there
until 10:20am to catch the real action

If you make it through the 3 hour service,
please skip the kiddush (it's just cookies and cake)
and join us instead for the ostentatious evening meal
(Kosher, my husband's idea)
which starts at 7 PM
(not 8 PM.. or you will miss out on the 2000 canapes)

Birchwood Country Club
25 Kings Hwy S
Westport, CT 06880 20

(which we had to join just for this event and you would not believe the initiation fees)

Please have the courtesy of showing up if you RSVP that you are attending, or you will be billed for $210.00 a plate if you are a no-show.

Please RSVP as soon as you get this and not a day before the cut-off date. I can't take the stress.

The gift of choice is either green, or contains a routing and account number.

Hope you can make it!
Lisa and David Miller

Address collecting

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The Save the Dates should arrive by Monday, so I'm starting the arduous task of address collecting this weekend. Conveniently enough, since my mom is getting married in only four weeks, we've already assembled most of the addresses I need for her side of the family (although I won't be sending out Save the Dates to them until after her wedding passes; I wouldn't want to overwhelm anyone!). But my dad's side? And D's family? Ugh.

D's parents send out Christmas cards to all of their guests every year, so they have addresses. What they don't have are names. They have one couple that is unmarried, and they send invitations to His Full Name & Hershortenedfirstname... I don't even think they know what her last name is. The problem came up more than once when I was helping D address his graduation announcements last summer! And I kind of want to do this right, you know?

And don't even get me started on postage. Many of my dad's guests are in Pakistan, and I don't even want to think about how much it will cost when I actually mail them invitations! (And what kind of postage do you put on the RSVP postcards? My god!)

Oh, and of course there is the problem presented by my grad student friends. Most of us move away for summer internships (or fall internships), so even if I get their addresses this weekend for the save the dates (which I should already have because of how often I am at their apartments, but I am never paying attention to what street I'm actually on), I'll have to get them again for the invitations anyway. Annoying!

One Family, Two Names

After changing my mind about fifty times, Mr. Spaniel and I were finally able to reach consensus on the great name change debate of 2009-10: we will both change our names. This is a pretty big deal for us, since he was totally unwilling to discuss it until pretty recently.

Mine will definitely still be the harder one, since people will know me by a completely new surname, but we will both be known as First Middle Mylast Hislast, as will any children we may decide to have in the future. It's not an ideal solution (that would only happen if he said to me, "You know, Miss Spaniel, you're right! You shouldn't change your name!" but that statement does not appear to be forthcoming), but it's a solution I can live with.

I did consider a few other options, like dropping my middle name (which I have no major connection to) and hyphenating, but I decided to frame what we're doing as adding a family name rather than losing any of my individual names. And it does make me feel a lot better that he'll be joining my family just as I'll be joining his. I think it's only fair. :)

I intend to use my maiden and new last names whenever possible (so my current middle name will probably be dropped, de facto, even if not legally) so that my maiden name doesn't get lost.

(source) I know this isn't actually relevant, but it's still funny!

First wedding-related purchase

After deposits on the venue, our first wedding expenditure was our Save the Date magnets.


We bought 75 mini-magnets from MagnetStreet Weddings (we were planning on sending about 80 invitations, but that includes separate invites for adult children living at home and I don't think they need separate magnets for a shared refrigerator ;). I found a coupon at RetailMeNot.com for 25% off, which brought the total cost to $80.

We were going to wait until we took professional engagement pictures to make our Save-the-Dates, but we decided that our out-of-town family needed to be warned sooner since our repeated reminders were always forgotten by the next family gathering. We sent out magnets to the most essential people right away, and to school friends (whose addresses change nearly every August) in September (six months notice was enough time, we thought, to ask our friends to reserve their spring breaks).

Ordering our Save-the-Dates was incredibly exciting. It was the first thing that made the wedding feel "real" to me.

Was there a specific purchase you made that made wedding planning feel real to you?

Weight Watchers in the office

As I mentioned, I've finally reached my goal weight after month(s) of busting my butt (somewhat literally). And as I've also previously mentioned, I'll be spending this fall (and summer, too, actually) interning for an agency off-campus.

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These are great experiences for my resume, but are doing a number of my time management. Though classes kept me busy as all get-out last semester (you'd never know it from reading this blog, though, would you!), I rarely had to be out the door before 8:00 AM, which gave me enough time to work out in the morning during the week, to cook healthy meals during the day, and to take care of myself in ways I'd not otherwise done since college (so it figures that only after returning to graduate school and dedicating myself to my health did I get back to my college weight! ;). Basically, in the last semester, I undid all the weight-related damage I'd done to myself in three years in the corporate workforce.

But for the next seven months, I'll be working full-time on a regular schedule an hour away from home. I'll have a lot more personal time (time where I don't need to think about the homework I should be doing), but a lot less flexible time (time to spend an hour and a half in the living room weight lifting four days a week). If I fall into my old bad habits—habits like eating to alleviate boredom or relieve stress, or like going out to eat (and buying a fattening lunch) just because everyone else is—I won't have enough time between when the job ends in December and my wedding in March to lose the weight again!

Sigh. I'm on week 20 of Buff Brides, and I intend to do two weeks of nothing but cardio after I finish the program (four weeks from now) and before starting over again with week 1. I guess I'll work out after I get home if I have to, but we shall see...

Getting back to the to do list

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As much as I've enjoyed my staycation the past two weeks, I really haven't done much that was wedding-related since the semester ended other than a few attempts at dress shopping. While the dress shopping helped me get back in the wedding planning mood (a little—now that I know I can't find my dream dress in two days of shopping, I'm feeling daunted by how much work I think it might actually turn out to be), I really need to get back on the serious planning!

According to the to do list in the sidebar, I have until June 20 to book an officiant, and research DJs, florists, and photographers. My goal is to have at least two officiants to call (probably MoH's rabbi and the local Unitarian minister at the church D and I are actually thinking of eventually joining) and to meet with them both and make a decision by the end of June, and at least three (each) DJs, florists, and photographers to call as well (although I'm not in as big of a hurry to tie those down unless they are must-haves).

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For the florist, my only requirement is AFFORDABLE. I don't care about flowers, really. I need some kind of decoration for the ceremony area, a bouquet for myself, bouquets for the bridesmaids, and a bunch of boutonnieres and corsages. I don't care to make any of these myself! But I will be putting together my own centerpieces (glass jar + white candle = DONE), so hopefully that will save us some money and questions and planning and thinking about things I don't care about. :)

As far as the photographer goes, I'm going to hold off on the final decision until after my mom's wedding pictures come back in. If her guy is any good, we'll use him (cheap). If not, I've got a few local photographers in my bookmarks who fit within our budget. Honestly, I don't love any of the photographers who fall in our price range, but when you don't have $5,000 to spend on photography, you have to take what you can get, I guess.

Same goes for the DJ—we've got so many weddings to attend this summer that we'll consider it a trial run and see if we like anyone. If not, D is responsible for this one!

Anyway, I really do hope to have all of these things done by June 20 (list of vendors to call) and the end of June (officiant booked). Then I'll move on to the even less fun part of wedding planning—actually calling the vendors assembled. Bleh.

On the second day of dress shopping

We came up pretty much flat. My mom and I visited Rose Petals Bridal because they carry Allure Bridals, and I'd really wanted to try two of their dresses:

But, unfortunately, they didn't have either in the store. Instead, I tried a few other Allure Bridals gowns which I can't find on the website. The selection was pretty small, and none of the samples were too near my size, but I got enough of a sense to know: Allure Bridals gowns are reasonably priced, and they fit really well (even when they are a size too small or four sizes too big). They're made for women up to six feet tall without adding extra length (which means I could wear the heels I like without having to pay more for extra length on the dress!), the low backs are really beautiful, and they're nicely constructed. And the quality was about a gazillion times better than anything I'd tried on yesterday.

But I didn't love any of the dresses I tried.

So I'm either going to have to go to a bridal salon that carries a larger selection of Allure Bridals so I can try the dresses I like, or I'm going to have to wait for a trunk show and try again. I don't know if I want to wait until September to buy a wedding dress, though...

And I'm going to have to go without my mom. She can dress shop with me once I've already picked what I want so that it won't bother me so much that she's wasting time trying to get me to try on every dress I don't like in the entire store. As it was, she liked everything I didn't (and made me try them on), and was "meh" about all the dresses I thought had some potential (mostly because they were the wrong size; she kept commenting on how certain parts don't fit). It was REALLY ANNOYING!!

Wedding look 8

Or, the most reasonable, realistic look yet!

Dress: Allover beaded lace trumpet gown with cap sleeves, $799 at David's Bridal. Veil: Chapel length with pencil edge, $69 at David's Bridal. Jewelry: Vintage-inspired "Jackie O" wedding choker ($75), bracelet ($38), and earrings ($18) from Something Old; White fresh water pearl bangle pair, $100 at Gemwala. Shoes: Naturalizer 'Prissy' Sandal, $59.95 at Nordstrom. Flowers: anemone bouquet, image from Michèle M. Waite via Green Wedding Shoes.

I don't like this dress in all white, but it's really, really pretty in champagne/ivory. I love this look because I already know that the dress looks awesome (on me!), I want to wear bangles on my wrists and pearls go great with the dress (so pearl bangles? who knew?!), and the entire ensemble comes in under budget for my wedding attire. Which is pretty much magical. :)

On the first day of dress shopping

Today I went into David's Bridal with my MOH for my first round of dress shopping (round 2 is tomorrow with my mom). My goal was to limit my options, because I cannot commit to a style: one day I like satin, the next I like lace, and next thing you know I'll be walking down the aisle in a chic potato sack (yes, I actually googled "chic potato sack" to find this link... who knew that would work?).

I was completely unable to do this while engagement ring shopping, which is one of the reasons why I had to pick out the ring for D (that, and he just wasn't getting on the ball fast enough for impatient me). Sure, I liked round cut stones, but mostly only in six-prong solitaires. And I didn't like princess cut, but I might if it were in a clean, modern band. And I didn't want side stones, but I might if they were in halos. And I didn't like too much sparkle or bling, except when the band was a sparkly vintage style. Yeah, in other words, I couldn't narrow down anything until I saw it on my finger (but ended up getting the very first ring I tried on after we started seriously shopping).

It shouldn't be a surprise that I was unable to do this with a dress, also, but I did narrow it down to three at that store that I would consider (and they are all totally, totally different from one another).

---

Beaded lace gown with cap sleeves, $799

This was the first dress I tried, and may very well be the dress I buy for my wedding. I tried it in Champagne with an Ivory overlay, and it was gorgeous, and vintage looking, without too much ornamentation and without being too plain (and it looked FABULOUS on me except for the crazy racer back tan lines I sport year-round thanks to my Ultimate Frisbee addiction).

It's funny, because I wasn't too crazy about it in pictures, but I still felt compelled to try it. With a little bit of contrast between the lace and the lining, it's GORGEOUS. The pictures do not do it justice... although it may turn out to be a little more casual garden wedding than I ultimately want. But it looked like me, like something I would wear, and it did look truly special with a plain, ivory chapel length veil. I felt like a bride. A really sexy one; you should have seen how that dress fit. ;) I wish I'd brought my camera!

The only problem was that it was too short with the four-inch heels I'd tried the dress on with. :( And if four inches is too much, than my 4½" heel Pradas (which wouldn't match with the dress anyway) is even more too much, and I can't go buy fancy designer shoes with a two-inch heel, because that's just boring!

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Oleg Cassini brocade strapless dress, $1050

After trying a few dresses that made me less than happy to be there, I tried this dress, which I like more for being more formal and less for being strapless and a little heavy. The dress reminds me of Christmas, which would be great if I were getting married in December, but is less special for the first day of spring. Still, with the exception of a couple of key alterations that would be needed, it fit really nicely. It was a pretty dress. It looked interesting like lace because of the pattern in the brocade, but without being so fussy and delicate (I'm always afraid a sharp heel will go through an allover lace dress). But it probably isn't "the one."

I also tried this dress with the same plain ivory chapel length veil, but it was too long for the dress (I felt). I'd be happier with a fingertip veil for this one, I think.

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Charmeuse V-neck halter, $750

I knew my mom would love this dress, so I tried it on also. I thought it made my waist look a little thicker than it is, which should have annoyed me because I have worked REALLY FREAKING HARD to lose the weight I did (oh, did I mention I got to my goal weight? BECAUSE I TOTALLY DID and [today, at least] I'm like "belly? who has a belly? certainly not me because my abs are flat as a board, bee-yotch" and I'm kind of unreasonably proud of myself). But it didn't annoy me so much because the dress looked HOT. I didn't think so at first (it's a weird dress, and not entirely my style), but the more I saw it, the more I connected with it. I'm not sure it works in the setting, but it felt light as a feather on (by far the most comfortable, softest, easiest to move in dress I tried all day) and I might have actually loved it by the time I took it off.

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Anyway, I'll be sure to have my mom take pictures when I go in tomorrow. Hopefully they will let us take photos!

Must have

If I end up with a simple strapless dress (I might; it's what I'd originally wanted when I started thinking about wedding dresses... long before I got engaged), I Must Have this bolero!

(source, via Miss Beagle)

I'm just in love with these things ever since I found my La Sposa dream dress (that I no longer want ;).

Now that I think of it, it's a good thing I'm not buying a dress right away... I keep changing my mind!

Bought a new dress (for someone ELSE's wedding!)

Remember that teal Adrianna Papell dress that I liked for my mom's wedding? Well, I found it on clearance at Nordstrom for only $64, so I bought it! The size 4 fit perfectly (which means my "new diet" is working! I've dropped a size!),and I think it will look great with the silver Nine West peep-toes I bought to wear to my mom's and FSS's weddings in June and August (now on sale for $49.99)—they are probably the most comfortable dress heels I've ever owned.

One of D's school friends is getting married in mid-August in San Diego, so I'm planning to wear that outfit to their wedding. I hope I can get more uses out of the dress, too; it's darling!

Question: what kind of jewelry would you wear with something like this? Silver, or pearls? Or something else?

New thoughts on the honeymoon

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I've decided to leave the honeymoon planning more or less up to D—I can't do the bulk of both the wedding planning and the honeymoon planning, and I don't really care so much where we go as long as (1) we can afford it, and (2) we have fun (in THAT ORDER). He's been floating a few new ideas in addition to the wine country road trip. We talked about spending a week in Paris (too expensive!), a Caribbean cruise (the departure dates are all the day of our wedding or a week after, which doesn't fit my school schedule), a few days in the Pacific Northwest (although it may not be the best time of year for that), and a trip to Maui (yes, please).

D and I both like the week in Maui best (although we'd do Paris if we could fly there for less than half of our entire honeymoon budget!), but we are (um, he is!) going to keep looking for deals to see what we might come up with.

Wedding hair

My hair is neither particularly long nor thick (in fact, it's mid-length and pretty thin-looking if I don't take a lot of effort with it). But for my wedding, I'm hoping for something kind of like this:

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That's obviously not going to happen naturally: I'd need to get over a foot of length, and about double the volume of hair, in only a few months! So instead I'm starting to look into extensions.

I've heard enough people say that you shouldn't get extensions for your wedding day because "you won't look like yourself." I say, PHOOEY. I don't want to look like myself; I want to look better than myself! I would probably only want to add a few inches of length (mid-back is fine), but I think a bit of extra thickness would really make my hair look better. I'm sure it wouldn't be so big of a change that I wouldn't recognize myself in pictures later, and enough of one that I'd be really happy with the pictures if they are done well.

The problem is that I don't really know where to go for answers to my hair extension questions. I know that I want clip-ins (permanent extensions can cause a lot of damage, and I don't want to leave them in for more than a day anyway), but I'm not sure how important it is to have them dyed to my exact hair color (that costs a lot more), what quality to get, or where to get them from. And I definitely don't know how to style them!

Ugh, more research to do.

Ruby slippers

Do you believe in love at first sight? :)

Stuart Weitzman 'Pomp' Pump, $855 at Nordstrom

*Swoon* (They have them in black, too.)

And as for the cost, I can totally afford them!... if I go otherwise naked to the wedding!

Inspired

I am really loving some of the intricately designed mehndi-inspired wedding cakes I've been finding lately. This one is by Nicole Kokotilo, "The Original Canadian Mehndi Cake Artist". If only my wedding were in Canada. :)

I wonder if the woman I'm hoping to get my cake from could do something similar? I'm thinking a white or cream fondant "background," with black (or some shade of green) "mehndi" designs. I don't think I'd ask for anything quite this detailed, but I sure do love looking at it!

Rehearsal?

Adrianna Papell Pleated Two Tone Dress, $158 at Nordstrom

Naturalizer 'Princeton' T-Strap Sandal, $64.95 at Nordstrom

I actually went a little realistic this time! It'd probably work for a rehearsal dinner (depending on where we end up deciding to have it), but it would also work for the only wedding I'm attending this summer where I'm not in the wedding party (thank god for that; but what a shame that I have to buy three dresses for three weddings!).

Just found my ceremony music

Have you heard of the Vitamin String Quartet? Why has no one told me about this? We can now have all of the awesome, amazing pop songs that I wanted in the ceremony, only better. Woo! (I was hoping to walk down the aisle to U2's "All I Want Is You," but it's so much better in strings!)

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Getting it all out of my system

Here are a bunch of lovely bridal outfits from Bargello, all made in Pakistan. They range from around $1,600 to about $2,200, and probably weigh about a thousand pounds each! I'm not really into the red and gold people usually associate with South Asian weddings, as you can probably tell.

I was really considering something along these lines, but I started to chill out a bit because it's more than a little scary to order a $2,000 dress I've never laid eyes on in person before, and, as much as I love these looks, I'm just not sure that they are true to my personal style.

I wonder what my bridesmaids would wear, though, if I did... would I have them in saris? What would Mr. Spaniel wear?

Enjoying my time off

For the next two weeks, I have no obligations for work or school. It is awesome. Today, I stayed in, cleaned my room, and played Zelda (I'd been waiting until I finished finals to open the game, even though it was a Christmas present!). I'll probably spend the next two weeks similarly. :)

I had originally hoped to get a lot of wedding planning done on this little staycation of mine, but I'm running into one big problem: I can't afford any deposits until a lot later this summer. So why get my heart set on a vendor that might not be available by the time I can commit? I even had to cancel our engagement shoot because, even at a discounted price, it's too big of a splurge right now. We'll have to use our own photos for the Save the Dates, and get the professional shots for the guest book closer to the wedding date. Blah.

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So as soon as I can motivate myself to do something actually useful (so far I've managed to make two necessary phone calls, but absolutely nothing else on my to-do list for the day!), I'm going to at least try to compile a list of photographers, videographers, florists and DJs that I want to contact once I have some free cash again. At least that should speed the process up when I get to that part in a few months.

And in the meantime, I'm still going dress shopping with my mom in a few weeks. :) We probably won't end up buying anything that day, but at least we can do some research!

Totally rationalizing

Remember those Prada heels I fell in love with? Well, I totally want to wear them with this dress to my rehearsal dinner:

Maggy London Mock Two Piece Ponte Knit Dress, $104 at Nordstrom

Or this one:

JS Boutique Jersey & Taffeta Party Dress, $178 at Nordstrom

So if I get to wear the shoes to my rehearsal, and to my wedding, and to pretty much any other occasion where hot, sexy heels are appropriate, the price becomes less outrageous. ;) And that makes it worth it!!! (I'm talking myself into it right now.)

Anyway, $600 shoes really are not in my wedding budget, but maybe if there is money left after securing some other vendors I'll consider the splurge. I can let some of the cost spill over as just part of my annual clothing budget, but not all, so we'll see where I end up on this. :)

Who's afraid of color?

Though I will most likely go with a more traditional western/American style look on my wedding day in the end, I've found myself thinking more lately about how I might incorporate Pakistani elements and wondering if maybe a bridal lehenga might not be the way to go after all.

Dusty Gold Aurang shirt and lehenga, $2,000 from Bargello. Purple calla lilies, image from The Knot. Tejani bridal jewelry, image from Maharani. Bridal hair image from Maharani. Brian Atwood gold strappy leather 'Katie' sandals, $636 from BlueFly.

I'm not sure if I love it as much as the mint green lehenga (almost white) I came across a few months ago, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable with color these days (although I would probably want to still find color that is more subtle if I do go this route). And, if I can find something that I love as much as some of the Bargello outfits (which are made to your measurements, so at least alterations should be minimal) in my price range, I might have to give this even more serious consideration. If I did, though, I would probably avoid the heavier head ornaments and dark make-up often sported by South Asian brides... I still want to look like myself, after all.

Happy Mother's Day

Don't forget to call your mom today!

What's that about champagne taste?

Check out this gorgeous Oscar de la Renta wedding gown...

White Guipure lace gown with portrait neckline and full skirt

I'd love it for the nicest garden wedding ever. ;) Anyway, I'm going dress shopping with my mom in about two weeks... we'll see how it goes and if I need to try it again with my bridesmaids. I'm especially excited to try on this Allure Bridals gown.

Wedding look 6

Here's a look I'm not considering at all for my wedding day... but it sure is pretty.

Dress: Normandie by Monique Lhuillier, $2500-5000. Jewelry: Marina large blue quartz teardrop earrings, $800; Canary crystal cuff bracelet, $750 by Judith Ripka. Shoes: Drapinight silver lamé pumps by Christian Loubouton, $692 at BlueFly. Bouquet: "Green Tea" rose bouquet, image from Petals Florist. Hair: Eva Longoria, image from Wedding Hair.

I honestly can't decide if I love or hate those shoes. But the rest is pure gorgeous!

I'm not usually a big fan of Monique Lhuillier (I know, I blaspheme) because I tend to find many of her dresses overly fussy and complicated. But this dress is so pretty and simple and silvery. The jewelry reminds me a little of what I picked in an earlier board, only much, much better—I really like blue gemstones, and I'm always drawn to oval and teardrop shaped jewelry (you saw my ring, right?). I picked the cuff because the picture of the bangles didn't look quite as clear, but the bangle with the yellow stone, I thought, would look really nice among a stack of silver bangles. I think the ballgown style dress is formal enough that an updo would be appropriate, but I'd still want to keep it loose and flowy. And I picked the rose bouquet because it has just a hint of green (my wedding color!) but is still a traditional style that would work for a formal wedding.

Might be ordering invitations... REALLY EARLY

I've been really interested in letterpress Invitations by Ajalon since I first saw their ad on Facebook and ordered a free sample. The paper and print quality is gorgeous, and we all know how I feel about letterpress, right?

Anyway, for the past two months, they've been running a special on letterpress invitations, offering 100 invitations and RSVP postcards for $350, which is a really good price for letterpress! But I haven't completely loved the designs they've had available (they were nice, but not what I was going for). The special ended on April 30, but when I checked back this past weekend, the special was still posted, and MORE designs have been listed for the special! I really, really love the Baroque design, so I emailed them this past weekend to see if they would still honor the special price. And they will! So I'm going to make a deposit right away for those invitations. We're going to pay the extra $135 to get the return address letterpressed on the envelope (seems like a lot of money for that particular service, but it looks so much nicer to me), and I'll just have the thank you cards and ceremony programs digitally printed (or maybe do they myself!) to save some cash.

Unfortunately, I can only make a deposit and not actually order them right away, because I'm uncertain about the wording. For one thing, my mom still hasn't decided if she will change her last name after her wedding later this summer (she's been using my dad's name for more than 35 years, and has built a professional reputation with it, but it's her ex-husband's name...). And for another, we're not sure at exactly what time we're going to start the ceremony! So we'll have to figure that out first.

Actually possible wedding day jewelry

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I have decided (with near certainty!) that I will end up getting henna on my hands and feet for my wedding day. In fact, I think other than actually being married to the love of my life, it's the part of my wedding that I'm most looking forward to! I'm thinking of having mine done earlier in the day on Friday, before the wedding party and family start gathering, so that I can actually pay some attention to other people for a few minutes (maybe!) :). Or maybe not. I'm super, super excited about this part and I can't wait to see how it will end up looking! The last time I had this done was at a cousin's wedding four years ago... I took pictures on my cell phone, but that was two cell phones ago :). It was so hard to sit still, but so awesome to look at!

I'm planning to choose my bridal jewelry with my henna in mind—I don't want to cover too much of the design, but since I think I might prefer not to wear a necklace, I want to wear something on my wrists. In keeping with the South Asian style of the mehndi, I think I'll probably end up wearing silver (or gold, depending on the color of my dress) bangles (instead of some other kind of bracelet), like these that I found at Nordstrom for $48 and $58.

Question is, would I need to buy two of each (for each wrist)? If so, I think I'd ask my aunts to send some from Pakistan, or my dad to pick some up the next time he visits. More authentic, less expensive. :)

How could I forget about Lynn Lugo?

Seriously, although I have loved them from the day I first saw them, I didn't consider Lynn Lugo bridesmaid dresses until a few minutes ago... what was I (not) thinking? I'd let each girl pick the tea length dress of her choice in black, and any accent piece (sash, hem, whatever) in another color (apple or gold, probably). The prices are a little steep (approaching $300), though... and as much as I love the dresses and the length, I'm not sure anyone else would want to wear it again so it might be a lot to ask them to spend...

What do y'all think of these dresses? Cute? Worth the price?

Sort of love this

I have to admit, I love the wedding section at J.Crew. I love their wedding dresses, but most are out of my price range, and the rest are too casual for the look I'm trying to go for on my wedding day. But for a different, more casual kind of wedding than the one I'm having, I just looooove this dress (and can totally afford it!):

Cotton cady Alexa gown, $750

Elegant in crisp cotton cady with a subtle sheen. Sleeveless silhouette. Fitted cross-front bodice. Straight skirt with two sets of pleats at the front and a back vent. On-seam pockets. Back zip. Fully lined in silk charmeuse. Falls to floor.

This is so my style. I'm just going to be looking for a slightly more upscale version of this neckline and silhouette. :)