I had my first dress fitting last Thursday and it gave me an opportunity to give my new wedding accessories a spin to see how they look together with the dress. Now that I finally know what I will be wearing, I'd like to share some of my wedding accessories with you, starting with the most important one: the headpiece.
The days of rocking only a veil on your wedding day are long gone. There's an overwhelming number and variety of bridal headpieces that you can wear on your big day. I knew that I didn't want to wear a veil or a large flower, but that left a dizzying array of options from all over the internet. The biggest issue? Price. Many headpieces run anywhere from $100 to $700! I know girls who don't even have a $700 dress budget! Unfortunately, the very high cost deterred me from purchasing any of the lovely headpieces above, but I did use them as inspiration to find something more in my price range.
The other challenge was finding something unique that wasn't over-the-top; something that didn't overpower my overall wedding day look. This is actually one of the reasons I don't own many accessories, as I often have trouble wearing statement jewelry and not feeling self-conscious. I already have a "wow" factor dress, so to tone things down I am skipping the necklace and earrings. I actually don't even have pierced ears, so earrings have never been an option. And as if that wasn't enough to worry about, you also don't want to wear something that will look dated years from now. Granted, everything will look dated to some degree, but keeping it at a minimal is usually a good idea (says the lady who is having the shabby chic vintage wedding).
Here's the headpiece that I ultimately decided upon. It looks great with my dress, but I'm still debating whether not it's too much or if it accomplishes the look I was going for. In the meantime, I am going to keep my eye out for something that might work better (or I might get lazy and just stick with this). It is incredibly beautiful and well-made in person though! And it came beautifully packaged in a little keepsake box tied up with a ribbon.
The Jewelry:
As mentioned earlier, I am skipping the necklace and earrings in an effort to keep a healthy balance among my wedding accessories, namely the headpiece and sash that I will be wearing. I did, however, decide that I needed a bracelet and I found a really lovely one while shopping at Macy's. I didn't pull the trigger on it because it was $65, but it recently went on sale for $32! It has that classic, vintage look to it and I can't wait to wear it on my wedding day!
I recently watched Father of the Bride for the first time. I was looking for something to get me excited about the wedding and sometimes wedding films have a certain magical, nostalgic appeal. Mr. C warned me that I would likely cry, and I did. The worst part? When Steve Martin's character was up late the night before the wedding reminiscing about his daughter's childhood and her transformation into an adult. I cried, oh I cried. I'm telling you, something about planning a wedding has you constantly on the verge of tears. But apart from that, I am such a daddy's girl that it hit a very soft spot for me.
Do you sometimes imagine your wedding and try to predict the moments where you will become the most emotional? I think that moment is a toss up between the father-daughter dance and when I will look at my dad before walking down the aisle. How in the world will I overcome such emotional moments without turning into a hot mess of ugly tears and nerves? No one wants to see the bride bawling her eyes out as she walks down the aisle. And the father-daughter dance? Don't even get me started.
Just after I was born: March 20, 1983.
My dad and I have always been really close and I like to think that all the really awesome parts of me are from my dad's influence. At a young age he instilled within me a love for history, art, reading, and nature. He has always encouraged me, picked me up when I was down, and helped me develop a healthy self-esteem. He raised me to be a strong, independent woman. Through all my weird phases, he has stood by my side (or on the other end of the phone) and listened as I described the most recent book, TV show, anime, or movie I was obsessing over. He's always made me feel unconditionally loved and accepted.
My dad knows exactly how to quell the irrational fears and worries that I sometimes manage to conjure up. He finds a way to ground me and make me feel a little more sane and rational. He also gives great advice and he's always been the best listener. Some men are problem solvers and when they listen they do it with the intent to offer advice and remedies. My dad learned early on that sometimes people just want to talk, and he has always been there to quietly listen and offer his advice only when warranted. And it's never about him. He never complains about his life or his problems to me. He is kind, gentle, funny (in that pun-using dad sort of way) and he is the reason why I've always dated men who treat me with the utmost respect. He's also the reason I am marrying a man who not only respects me, but who loves me unequivocally for exactly who I am. Through his example he taught me that I should settle for nothing less.
He read to me constantly as a child. I can still vividly remember the books he read to me and I know they all played a pivotal role in turning me into a lifelong reader. The Little Prince, The Secret Garden and The Westing Game were some of my favorites. He encouraged me to wear sneakers with my dress on the first day of school in first grade. He took me to Dragon*Con in middle school so I could meet the actor who played Boba Fett in Star Wars (I still have the autographed poster, by the way). He built me swings and forts in our backyard. He took me to New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. so I could visit some of America's best museums. He introduced me to Terry Gilliam's films when I was eleven and I've loved the movie Brazil ever since. When I was fifteen he patiently taught me to drive a stick shift (and at the time I hated every minute of it) but to this day I refuse to own an automatic transmission vehicle. He once flew from LA to Atlanta just to load up my mom's minivan with my friends and me so he could take us to an anime convention in Atlanta. He was recently in Atlanta on a layover (he's a pilot for Delta Airlines) and he took Mr. C and me to Costco to buy us a grocery cart full of alcohol for our wedding. (By the way, are you getting the gist here that I was an uberdork growing up? Spoiler alert: I'm still an uberdork).
My parents were divorced when I was 13 and my dad moved to California shortly afterwards. That was tough for me, very tough. It felt like I was losing my father. Even at 30 years old, it still doesn't hurt any less that I missed out on having my dad around when I was a teenager. Even so, he would fly out to Atlanta once every week or so to see me. He still came to my school plays. He got to see me and my friends off before our senior prom. He might not have been around every day, but I was (and still am) thankful that he was in my life, regardless of the difficult circumstances.
With my older brother when we were living in Alabama.
I'm turning 30 tomorrow (I'm serious denial) and he gave me the sweetest card that had me in instant tears. Here's what he wrote: "A baby cries. 'It's a girl!' A man smiles. Heart full of pure and true happiness. Thirty years pass. He still smiles wishing for you all the happiness you deserve. All my love, Dad." Wow, I can't even type that out without tearing up!
At Todaiji Temple in Nara, taken when my dad visited me when I was living Japan.
It did not take me long to pick our song for the father-daughter dance. In fact, I've had it in the back of my mind for years, even before meeting Mr. C. When I was little, my dad used to sing me to sleep. He'd sing me all sorts of songs, songs that I will hear every so often, and though I don't remember ever learning the lyrics, I know every word. Among them, "Sweet Baby James" by James Taylor, "Waltzing Matilda," and "I Will" by the Beatles. I've always loved "I Will" so much. In fact, I thought it was called the "Miss Camel Song" for most of my early childhood. "I Will" was such a natural, easy choice, even if it is an emotionally charged one! And it's also rather short, which means I won't have to suffer through emotional turmoil for long.
Here are the lyrics: Who knows how long I've loved you You know I love you still Will I wait a lonely lifetime If you want me to, I will. For if I ever saw you I didn't catch your name But it never really mattered I will always feel the same. Love you forever and forever Love you with all my heart Love you whenever we're together Love you when we're apart. And when at last I find you Your song will fill the air Sing it loud so I can hear you Make it easy to be near you For the things you do endear you to me Oh, you know, I will I will.
My dad in his natural habitat.
In Father of the Bride a father is forced to face the reality that his little girl has grown up. He must reconcile the memories of his daughter as a child with the woman she has become. I hope my own father knows that even though I've grown up and I'm getting married, I will always be his little girl. The same little girl who stays up too late reading. The same little girl who loves The Neverending Story and listening to the Beatles' White Album. The girl who can get lost in an encyclopedia. The girl who thinks Boba Fett is so cool, who enjoys crafting things, who is always using her creativity. The fiery, spirited, and independent girl who is dreaming up her next big adventure. But most of all, I hope he knows that I'm the same little girl who loves her dad so very, very much.
Thanks to the wonderful advice and example set by our own Mrs. Wallaby, I decided to create our wedding website through Wix. It was actually quite simple and I had a lot of fun creating a unique look that reflects the theme of our wedding. I upgraded to a premium account and bought a domain name through 1&1. You can actually buy a domain name directly through Wix or through a variety of other providers. It was important to us to have a web address that is simple and easy for our guests to remember, plus it's incredibly inexpensive! I would highly suggest purchasing your own domain name.
I have a widescreen monitor so I was struggling with cropping these images and keeping the look of the website. Sorry they are a little wonky!
The main page really sets the stage with our wedding colors and one of our engagement photos. The flower graphics were actually from a Wix template but they worked perfectly for our purposes! And yes, because I apparently live on the internet of the 1990s, we have a song that plays when you visit our site. You can turn it off with the pause button, but I just had to do it, as stupid as I know it sounds. It plays a song from the soundtrack of Sophia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette.
I wanted to have a little fun with the website, so I added some 18th century fashion plate illustrations to tie it into our wedding theme. These illustrations won't have a place on our big day, but I thought the website was the perfect place to add them and incorporate some of that whimsical flair. You will see them on subsequent pages of our website.
If you can't tell from the screenshot above, I broke our website down into several pages: Our Story, Gallery, People (an introduction to parents of the bride and groom and the bridal party), Events (address and maps for the ceremony/reception and rehearsal dinner), Accommodations, RSVP, and Registry.
The "Our Story" page has a brief description of myself and Mr. C, how we met, and an abridged version of our engagement story. There are plenty of my distant family members or family friends who have never Mr. C (and vice versa) so this allows them to get to know a little about us before the wedding.
Since we are also having a lot of out of town guests, I decided to include sections that recommend local restaurants and bars as well as tasty local beers. I hope our guests check out some of our town's amazing local eateries!
And because our we have some family drama, we blocked out three different hotels and designated family/friends for each hotel. I know that sounds crazy, and I would prefer that everyone just happily get along, but it was necessary to keep the peace.
The "People" tab for the website introduces our guests to the bridal party and our parents. This means that these amazing people are recognized and appreciated at the wedding. Again, sorry for the weird cropping, but on the main site the rococo ladies are not cut off.
Wix is great because if you are ever unsure or confused about adding a feature, they usually have a step-by-step video in their help section to walk you through adding specific features to your site. I am definitely a hands-on learner who sometimes has difficulty translating written instructions into actions. That's why video tutorials have been my absolute savior lately, especially when it has come to creating our save-the-dates and invitation suite in Adobe Illustrator.
After setting up our website, I created an account with Google Analytics (it's free!) and linked it to our wedding site. This allows me to track the number of visitors and the location of visitors (even down to city) who have visited the site. So far, it's been quite a hit!
In the end, I hope our guests find our webpage easy to navigate and informative. Most importantly, however, I hope it gets them really excited about our wedding!
Hello everyone! Mr. C and I have been on spring break this week and have used this time to get a couple of important wedding tasks crossed off the to-do list. Mr. C has ordered his wedding band, I signed a contract for wedding hair and makeup (my trial is next month, exciting!), and we scoured the local thrift stores and antique markets for a few things to add to our wedding decor.
Have you heard the song "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore? (Warning, has some bad words!) Yeah, that's pretty much us but instead of buying clothes (and believe me, I have found some bargains) -- we are buying milk glass, silver platters, table mirrors, and any other bric-a-brac we think fits with our wedding theme. "I'ma take your grandma's glass, I'ma take your grandma's glass, no for real -- ask your grandma -- can I have her milk glass?"
I found these cute domed glass dishes for a steal at a thrift store. Now imagine them on a dessert table and stacked with colorful macarons! I think they are so pretty and dainty and they fit the theme of our wedding perfectly.
I bought these cute little figures for $3 and I thought they would make the cutest cake topper!
This little trinket box is going to hold our wedding rings! I thought it would make a really nice keepsake after the wedding. The inside is lined with light blue satin but it needs to be cleaned up a bit before the big day.
Next up, my massive collection of silver platters and vanity tabletop mirrors. This picture doesn't even show my entire collection! My idea is to have all of the milk glass and votive candles arranged on and around these mirrors and trays on each table.
Here's some of my milk glass with the votive candles to give an idea of our table centerpieces. We now have around 110+ pieces of milk glass!
If you remember, here was my inspiration for centerpieces:
I found these wire hanging wall baskets at Hobby Lobby for $5 each. I bought 12 of them and I plan to stuff them with moss and use them as aisle decor! My only complaint was the big gaps in the woven vines, but that is why we are going to use moss to fill in the gaps and make it look fuller.
Hey guys! I'm here to happily report that February was a month of extreme wedding progress for the Camels. We got a lot of the big wedding to-dos crossed off the list, and I know you ladies realize what a relief that can be!
So what have we been up to? Well, we booked our honeymoon flights and hotels. We also bought Mr. C a suit and gave suit instructions to the groomsmen. I finally found some bridal accessories that I can envision wearing on the big day and so I've picked out a hair piece and possibly a pair of shoes. I booked an appointment to discuss wedding hair and makeup at a local salon. I purchased my rehearsal dinner dress and I can't wait to share it with you guys! I've also booked my first wedding dress fitting at the end of March. Oh, and my favorite completed task thus far? I bought my wedding ring!
Finding a wedding ring to match my 1920's engagement ring has not been easy. I've been scouring the internet for several weeks now. I looked into purchasing a thin 1.5 mm platinum wedding band from a local jeweler and they quoted me at $1,200! I know that the price of platinum has been rising, but that was particularly high when you can often find beautiful antique wedding rings in the $300-700 range online. I knew that finding the right size was important too because re-sizing an engraved band without interrupting the design can be difficult. Plus I didn't want to spend the extra money (if possible) for re-sizing.
This adorable Eiffel Tower ring holder was a Valentine's Day gift from Mr. C!
So let's take a look at my wedding band criteria:
Platinum
Thin band: 1.5 to 2 mm in thickness
Somewhere around a size 4.5 to 5.5
Preferably from the 1920's
Preferably with an engraving from the previous owners
I found a few bands that I loved, but they were just way too big. Others were priced out of my budget. But then low and behold, I found this lovely on Ruby Lane (an antique/vintage site that is run like Etsy) a few weeks ago. I love this wedding band for a few reasons. First of all, I love that it is from the same decade as my engagement ring. It is also made of the same metal (platinum) so they will match with their aged patina. It has a design of stylized flowers that have been worn down with wear. Secondly, it has an inscription, which I find terribly interesting and romantic. In fact, I was searching specifically for bands with inscriptions. The hand engraved inscription reads: LFT - LM - 7-3-26 The year is 1926 and we are getting married on the 26th so I thought that would a fun coincidence for this ring. Funny story, I actually found a wedding ring with our exact wedding date on it (from 1934), but it was 18K white gold and it had just been sold. I was totally heartbroken! But that one had diamonds and I think the difference in metals would have bothered me over time. I'm so happy I held out and was able to find the one I have now.
There isn't much room for adding a new inscription, but Mr. C and I might look into adding something, even if it is just our wedding date or perhaps even the year. I love that we are giving this band a second life!
Showing off the new ring, wearing Essie's East Hampton Cottage nail polish.
So, the ring is pretty much perfect. The only problem? I need to stop trying to wear it out of the house! For a while I was even considering nixing the wedding ring and just wearing my engagement ring because I didn't think I would be able to find something I loved that had the right price. Now that I've found "the one" I don't want to take it off!
Did you have a hard time picking out the perfect wedding ring? What is your wedding ring like?
