Hair & Hair Accesories

I'm not an up do kinda girl. Besides, my fiance requested that my hair was down for the wedding, and that suits me just fine. So I've been trying to find ideas online and I found this picture, which I think is absolutely perfect. I would like my curls to be a little looser, but overall, I'm pretty sure this is how my hair will end up.

Then there was the debate over the veil. I fell in love with a veil...but it was $500, so that was absolutely out of the question. Then I found someone who could custom make a similar veil, but when I got it and tried it on...I felt like it was 1987 and I need a dress with big, poofy sleeves and big bows. Then I finally settled on a cute little birdcage veil.

I knew that veil or no veil, I definitely wanted a flower fascinator. It had to have feathers too. I searched high and low and finally decided on one...only to change my mind at the last minute. This is the winner:
Of course, this is all subject to change once the lovely Ms. Casey comes into town and assess the situation. It may all look stunning together. And then again, it may all not look so great together. We'll play it by ear. The only thing I'm certain of is that flower will most definitely be in my hair.

I Love the Dollar Tree

With my wishy-washy tendencies, I couldn't make a commitment to any certain centerpiece. First it was going to be a tall, skinny vase with a single flower. Then they were going to be candy dishes full of hot pink and black candy. Then they were going to be a small bunch of hot pink flowers in a short vase. Then it was back to the candy dishes.

After settling on my florist, the centerpiece dilemma was finally put to rest. Drum roll please...I'm going to have a small bunch of hot pink flowers in a short vase. Since my florist is a landscape architecht by day and a wedding florist on the occasional weekend, she doesn't have all of the florist neccesities. That meant that I was in charge of finding cheap vases.

My kick ass mother-in-law suggested checking out the Dollar Tree online. Jackpot! I found 4" vases for $1 each! And you can have them shipped to the nearest Dollar Tree store for free! YES! I was scared that the quality might be a little crappy, but there were no worries after I picked them up. The vases were amazing and incredibly nice.

Kick Ass Engagement Photos

I've known Sharon since 6th grade. We made it through our turbulent teens and college years and still remained friends. She was always an artistic girl, but she really found her niche in photography. Lucky for me, Sharon agreed to be my wedding photographer. I can't even express to you how happy I was that she wanted to be a part of my day.

The thought of engagement photos only crossed my mind because Sharon had brought it up. I decided to do it because I thought it would be nice to send some photos to my family back in Japan. Sharon is super silly and sweet and totally knows my personality, so she was 100% down when I told her I didn't want any normal engagement photos. Oh no. We went all crazy. The house is courtesy of my bridesmaid Susan and her man David. And make sure to check out Sharon's website http://www.sharonelainephotography.com/. Enjoy!

Hottest Bridesmaids EVER

It's a bold statement and I have no problem living up to it. No really....it's true. My bridesmaids are HOTT. That's hot with two T's hot! Take a look for yourself.

Here I am with Jenelle. There's a pic of her in a previous post about her recent Vegas wedding.

Introducing...my Matron of Honor, Stephanie (along with our friend Mark). We've been BFF's since 6th grade. We've been through it ALL.

This is Susan with her lovely man, David. She's my go to gal for style. Susan is a freelance make-up artist and stylist, so she'll be the one making me look pretty on my wedding.

This is a picture of Charlene and I rocking out at a Tesla concert. We like to get together and sing 80's rock ballads at the top of our lungs. We're putting out an album. Seriously. We are.

This is the lovely Ms. Casey. Casey is my hometown sweetie, and I was heartbroken when she moved to Seattle. She's a fiesty one, so watch out. Casey will be doing my hair for the wedding. No up do's here.

Next up is Hilary pictured here with her special guy Tommy. Although Hilary and I have only known each other for a couple of years, she's still one of my very close lady friends. She's super sweet.

Check out Crystal on her wedding day with her hubby, Brad (also a groomsman). I met Crystal through my fiance, and we've been friends ever since. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, and now she's returning the favor.

Not only do I have seven kick ass bridesmaids, but I also have one amazing "production manager." Amy is probably one of the sweetest, kindest people I know. She's going to boss people around and get things done on my wedding day. Here is a picture of Amy in a Charlene and Christine sandwich.

Bridesmaid Dress Fiasco

Bridesmaid dress are ugly. I searched high and low for a decent bridesmaid dress, but everything I found was cheesy or typical or just too damn expensive for a dress these girls will only wear once. It was my goal to find a bridesmaid dress my ladies would love.

Since the typical bridesmaid dress wasn't going to cut it, I searched on Etsy, a website of uber crafty crafters who sell their goods. You can find anything from furniture to jewelry to clothes. While searching through the site one night, I found the most adorable dress that would work perfectly for a bridesmaid dress. I emailed it to all my ladies immediately in hopes that they would all love it as much as I did. Only one problem: the dress was $150. That's pretty average for bridesmaid dresses, but I was really hoping to find dresses for less than that.

A few months later, I was trolling through Offbeat Bride and ran across a post about a girl's holiday wedding. There were pictures posted and this girl had the most adorable bridesmaid dresses I had ever seen. I posted a comment to ask where she found the dress and she replied that she ordered them off Trashy Diva. I was at work when I read the reply, and my work internetl filtered the Trashy Diva website out (because of lingerie), so I called my best friend Susan to check out the site and find the dress to see how much it was. Susan called me immediately and said, "You're not going to f-ing believe this. The dress is on clearance for $34." Woohoo!!!! Susan called Trashy Diva to make sure they had all the sizes we needed in stock, and they did. I called them immediately after that and ordered seven of them.

I waited patiently for the dresses to arrive...and I waited and waited and waited and waited. Nothing. According to UPS, the dresses were delivered to my house, but I never received them. I called UPS who told me to call Trashy Diva. Angie at Trashy Diva reassured me that she would call UPS to get an investigation started to find my dresses. Worst case scenario: they send me more dresses out or send me my money back. Unfortunately, I needed four mediums and they only had one left. Uh oh. I kept my fingers crossed that the dresses would eventually show up on my door step.

No luck.

Angie to the rescue. She told me that the dresses run big and suggested that I just get smalls to replace the mediums. In the meantime, another medium showed up, so Trashy Diva was sending me out the two mediums and some smalls. They sent the package to Greg's grandparents house, and I kept my fingers crossed that the dresses would show up and fit my ladies.

Score!

The dresses arrived and fit all of my bridesmaids! Perseverance and patience pay off. My bridesmaids look amazing in the dresses!

The Dress

I've dreamed my entire life of choosing my wedding dress. Finally...it's my turn.

The search began at the Filene's Basement crazy wedding dress sale...only I had no idea the sale was going on. Greg's Mom and I went in the evening after all the hoopla (thank god), so the pickin's were slim. I grabbed a dress or two just for shits and giggles. When I walked out of the dressing room in the first dress, Greg's Mom busted out laughing. The dress was big and poofy and ridiculous. SO not me.

We went to David's Bridal one day on a whim. The sales girl asked me what I was looking for and I told her, "I want a strapless, fitted dress, kinda mermaid style. I like lace too. Like the dress on the mannequin over there, that's very similar to what I'm looking for." She ran off to grab me some dresses. What she came back with...was nothing I had described; she didn't even bring the dress that was on the mannequin!

Then I went to a local bridal shop with my bridesmaids in tow. They picked dresses. I picked dresses, and the sales woman, Willie, picked dresses. There was one my bridesmaids loved, and there was one I loved, but for some reason, Willie kept telling me about another dress I had to try on. So after trying on seven dresses, she brings me the dress. My first thought: yuck. It was nothing I would have ever picked, but Willie insisted I try it on. So I did and I couldn't take my eyes off myself. It was stunning. There was something intriguing, different, and very couture about the dress. I now had it narrowed down to two dresses.

My last stop was the bridal district in Cincinnati (yes, Cincinnati has a bridal district). There was a store there they had thousands of dresses from designer to knock off. They had the intriguing dress there only for about $1000 more. I tried on a few different dresses, but I kept going back to that one dress.

That's when I decided that it was THE one. I made an appointment with Willie again to try on my two choices. It was a no brainer. I ordered the dress and that was that! I would post a picture on here, but I'm afraid my lovely fiance will run across this blog and see it. I will tell you that it's white, fitted, and it's a Melissa Sweet knock off. It's gorgeous and I LOVE it!

Viva Las Vegas!

Yippee!!!!!!!!!! My best friend and bridesmaid, Jenelle, married my fiance's best friend and best man, Josh. They got hitched in Vegas last month. I'm SO thankful we were able to make it. The ceremony was adorable and I cried. Greg and I thought about doing it up Vegas style at the Graceland Wedding Chapel (where Jon Bon Jovi got married), but realized we couldn't because our families wouldn't be able to make it. No worries for Jenelle and Josh! They had 30 guests fly out to Vegas for the occasion! Congratulations!