Kind of a Big Deal...

We FINALLY picked out Mark's wedding ring!!!

Like most decisions that we've had to make, this one took us forever! We first looked at wedding bands for Mark back last February when we got engaged. Admittedly, at the time we weren't looking seriously for bands yet....but, we were still looking. We began looking pretty seriously around last October and we've probably been on 3 or 4 excursions total to look for rings for Mark. He finally narrowed it down to the fact that he wanted something with milgrain (which is great b/c my e ring and band has milgrain too!) - other than that one specific, our search was kind of all over the place. Most of the rings we looked at were white gold (or as Mark likes to call it "silver"...ha!), although some also had rose gold or yellow gold on them as well. I think it was our expedition before this last one where he found a hammered finish ring with milgrain that he liked...BUT, he didn't like it enough to buy it. I guess it just wasn't the "one"! :)

After traveling around to a few jewelry stores yesterday we went back to our favorite Bham jewelry store...Diamonds Direct (it's where we purchased the setting for my ring). This store has the largest selection and we also have a sales associate there that we love - Angela. She's used to all of our indecisiveness! :) Plus, they don't work on commission there so you never feel pressured at all. After Mark tried on whatever caught our eye we were left with only 1 ring that we REALLY liked. None of them stuck out like this ring did....it was just something about it (um, other than the fact that it was the most expensive one out of the ones that he liked!). It looked really really good on him and I could tell that he really liked it. He was worried about the price tag, but I definitely didn't want that to affect his decision b/c this was something that he was going to be wearing every single day for the rest of his life. That's a big deal!! Although, after we decided to go with this band Angela told us that she could knock off a little over $200....um, okay! Sold! On top of that, Diamonds Direct offers a financing option to qualified customers with no interest for 9 months. With all of our expenses for the wedding coming up this was a BIG help. That way, after the wedding is over and all of my expendable income is no longer going toward pitching in for the wedding I can easily pay the ring off and not have to stress out about it being another "wedding expense" (cause I can certainly use one less of those in the next 2 months!).

Here's the ring he chose. It's a two tone white gold and yellow gold hammered finish ring with milgrain.

I love it! What do you guys think??

I'm so happy he chose one that is classic yet also unique. That's the way I feel about my ring. And if you're wondering about my band, remember, my wedding band came in a set with my engagement ring (after we had the setting swapped that is...you can read about that here if you're interested). Here's a pic of my rings:

I can't wait until we slip that wedding band under my engagement ring! Then it's real....then we're married. ....Just two months away!!!!!! :)

Now we just have to decide what we want to get engraved on our bands..... Hmm....

We're so happy to have this checked off of the list though and I'm SO HAPPY that he found one that he loves! :)

You've Gotta Be Kidding Me...

...damask printed toliet paper?? Seriously???

source

It's true. It's REAL. Can you believe it?? I randomly came across this looking up "damask" on google images.  Apparently these ladies used it as a surprise during a girls night out weekend or something. 

How crazy is that though? Damask toliet paper?? That's, that's....AMAZING. I'm almost neurotic enough to order some. For now at least it's "almost"....once it gets closer to the wedding who knows what will happen!?! ;)

Oh, and if you're a damask bride wondering "where can you possibly get this??"...well, you can get it here. 

Seamstress Wanted!

I wish the world were like Etsy's Alchemy. If you haven't checked out the Alchemy feature on Etsy then you are definitely missing out. It's no secret how awesome Etsy is....but, it took me MONTHS (honestly, years) to discover the Alchemy feature. I've commented on the awesomeness of it before, but it's just so good that I'm gonna have to do it again! I found my AMAZING invitation designer, Lindsey Ryan, through Etsy Alchemy. I simply posted what i was looking for with detailed information like quantity, quality, amount i was willing to pay, and delivery date. You can also post inspiration pictures of what you're looking for. I got around 30 "bids" from doing this and after sorting through them all I picked Lindsey to create our invitations. She worked hand in hand with me to create EXACTLY what we were looking for. I'll post more on that later...I can't WAIT to share those with you!! :)

Anyway...back to my original topic.....I need a seamstress. I really really need a seamstress. And I wish I could just post a wanted ad on Etsy's Alchemy and have amazing seamstresses contact ME and offer me bids to do the job I wanted....BUT, unfortunately that's not exactly how ALL things work! ;) So...now, I'm turning to you guys. Does anyone know a great seamstress in Birmingham, AL? They need to be VERY experienced with wedding dresses. I think my bustle is going to end up being a little complicated! :) And I'm gonna need it to be taken in pretty much all over (bust, waist, hips). I think I maybe could have used the size down...plus I think Jillian is helping me firm things up (yes!!!). 

Oh, and if you're wondering why I don't just get it taken in at the bridal boutique that I bought it from it's because that boutique is about and hour and a half away and they only take alteration appointments on Thursdays. Um, hello....I work....and I live in Birmingham!! Yeah, not happening!

So, Help? Please? :)

Beautify Me!

So I've kinda been debating on what to do with my makeup on the day of the wedding. I see different brides on weddingbee and such talking about hiring professional makeup artists for their big day and I'd love to do this BUT....I live Birmingham, AL. It's not exactly NYC or LA and we don't have a plethora of amazingly talented makeup artists that do the makeup of celebrities and such on a daily basis. So...I wasn't sure where to start or what to do. Throughout my planning process, I've hit this same road block multiple times.....living in Birmingham, things aren't as easy access as other places. I mean just look on the boards for the Knot or Weddingbee and you'll notice that there aren't nearly as many brides from AL commenting on those sites and there aren't nearly as many reviews of vendors in our area. That's just how it goes. B'ham (and AL in general) hasn't exactly picked up on this trend it seems. So, if i can't necessarily turn to the internet (where I find practically EVERYTHING for the wedding) then where could I turn??

Well, I tried asking different vendors that I'm using in Birmingham. That lead me to one makeup artist who seemed very good...but she was booked for my date. She then suggested a few others and I of course tried googling them. I found websites for two of them and from one of the girl's website I found a "cosmetic spa boutique" in Birmingham. Coincidentally, it was right around the time of my FMIL's birthday and my fiance was having trouble coming up with a present to get her. I suggested that we get her a gift certificate to NVogue (the cosmetic spa boutique) because they offered a service called "Makeup Lesson". This service included both the makeup lesson AND the cost of the lesson was redeemable in products. Sounds like a good deal, right? And who wouldn't love a makeup lesson from a professional?? (especially when they had a big event coming up like their son's wedding!!) :) So, Mark and I talked it over and we decided to get this for her as her birthday present. When I called to purchase the gift certificate I decided to inquire about bridal makeup. And guess what?? They most definitely do bridal makeup!! The fee to have this done was less than what i had been quoted previously (from the M/U artist that was booked) and it included a trial run, day-of, free lipstick AND a free makeup session for the Mother of the Bride on the day of the wedding! Um...sold!!! So, I made appointments for my FMIL and I to have our makeup done at the same time at the spa.

I told the makeup artist at Nvogue (Tammy) that I would like a fresh/natural kind of look that played up my eyes a bit. I told her I wanted something very soft and romantic, but something that would show up well and look good in pictures - not to mention last ALL day in the May heat of central Alabama!

Here's what she came up with:

So what do you guys think?? Do we have a winner??

Quick Decisions

okay, more on our invitations later (I promise!)...but for now I have a bit of an emergency decision to make.  [and yes, I might be blowing this WAY out of proportion...I realize that]

I've been working with the absolutely fabulous Lindsey from Lindsey Ryan Designs  on custom invitations. We've been working on these for a while now and she's been SO patient with me and my indecisiveness. Well, everything has been working out perfectly until just now....we hit a snag. The pocketfolds that we planned to use for the invitations are now out of stock and will not be back in stock for another 2 1/2 weeks. Um, yeah. My original deadline for invitations is next Monday (which we totally would have made had it not been for this little hiccup). So...now I'm faced with making a quick decision so that we can keep everything on track.... 

The pocketfold we planned on using was going to be a matte black. The invitation and inserts are going to be a pearl white (shimmer) and the aqua bellyband and aqua rsvp envelope will be a shimmer as well. Well, now the only in stock pocketfolds are either a shimmer black or a linen black. I'm afraid that the shimmer will just be TOO much shimmer (i liked the matte black pocketfold that was to balance everything out) and I'm afraid that the linen black will be too textured and too much of a contrast and a different tone against the shimmer. 

I NEED HELP!!!  I have to give a decision to her by tomorrow morning so that we can order the materials and get this show on the road! So which would you pick??

THE LINEN:

HERE'S A CLOSER UP PIC OF THE LINEN (ALTHOUGH NOT THE SAME POCKETFOLD):

OR THE SHIMMER:

Opinions Please!!!! Professing the fact that I'm crazy and making WAY too big of a deal out of this counts too!!! ;) (it's just that i've spent so much time tweaking every little detail of this invite and now when it comes time to put it all together one of the biggest pieces has been altered...ugh.)

Also, there is, actually, an option 3..... We could wait until April 9th when the matte black comes back in stock and then have them ready to send out April 13th (this would be MAILING them about 6 weeks out from the wedding).... technically, people are suppose to be receiving them 6 weeks out from the wedding. What do you guys think?? Chance it and go this route or settle for one of the alternatives???