{ Attire } Bridesmaids... Again

It's been awhile since we went on our second shopping excursion, but how about another set of fun times in the world of bridesmaid dresses?

Chrissy and Stacey went with my mom and I to David's Bridal to check out more options on dresses after the ordeal with the shop I ordered my dress from. There was no way I was letting my girls go through that shop and risk the same terrible service I got with my own wedding dress!

We started out just grabbing dresses. After a pile was gathered, it was on with the trying the dresses out!

I have to admit... I caught some excellent faces on this trip! Stacey's look is priceless!

Look! They both look happy! This dress was a contender right up until the end... Certainly not in that color, though!

 The next dress also wasn't too bad, but the girls decided against straps. Still, a nice choice!
 

This one was kind of all right, but is wasn't the most flattering dress over all. What's with the blue floppy panel?! Onward...
 

We have a winner!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen... The purple dress won out over all.

Such a pretty bodice. A little bling to go with my dress, a simple, elegant neckline... After much deliberation, we settled on this dress... But...
 

 In this color!

And... Just because I can... A few more goofy pics!

{ Tasks } Registry, Part Two

Well, we did it! I wasn't certain it would all happen at once, but Carl and I set out to do our registry yesterday. It was an epic battle that kept these kids up way past their bedtimes, but over all, we had a ton of fun. I can't even tell you how fun it was to scan things and think about ourselves as a married couple... with a house. Speaking of... we should probably start thinking about that whole "buying a house" thing. Eep!

We started our day out a Williams and Sonoma. They offered us coffee, little snacks and were so helpful and friendly the whole time we were there. When they reminded us to register for the little things, like spices and kitchen accoutrements, we hit that wall with a vigor. Can you say kid in a candy store?

We then went to have a quick lunch to try out one of the BBQ places we want to hold our rehearsal dinner at, Maverick's. The food was all right, but I think we have higher hopes for our other two locals we still need to try out.

Next, we hit AMC to see Hunger Games. Yep. I roped Carl into seeing the movie with me after I got hooked on the books over our vacation. They were a quick, easy read with likeable characters and a fast-paced story. Why not? I certainly enjoyed them for what they were. Even headed out for the day in my nerd gear:

After the movie, we headed to Macy's for our next round of registering. We picked out China, crystal, and all the bedding and bath things we could think of. Not to mention, any and every Kitchen-Aid product around! I'm really excited about our place setting. Something I didn't know I would geek over, but I love the simplicity of it. When they offered to set a table for us, I was a little baffled and confuddled. Carl got a good laugh out of it all!

Finally, we ended our night at Target. We hit the movies, cleaning items, housewares... All the little bits we didn't register for elsewhere. I think we were through here the quickest, and probably because we knew the road by now! We did, however, forget to hit the board games. Oh well -- there is always adding things online!

It was a great day, capped off with drinks at Jimmy's Food and Drink with my brother and his girlfriend. Anxiety was squashed, fun was had, and we were certainly happy with how everything turned out!

Oh... and strangest thing we registered for?..

{ DIY } Save the Dates

I'm back from vacation, and I think my motivation has been renewed. Maybe. We'll see how long this lasts!

So back a few weeks before the Most Epic Cruise Ever, I had my MOH and Attendant over to help Mom and me put together Save the Dates. After three nights of prep work -- cutting the pictures, measuring the backgrounds and other layers, etc -- I was excited to see them finally come together.

With cinnamon rolls the size of dinner plates from Isles Buns and other various snacks, we popped in Bridesmaids and go to work! Oh, I almost forgot the mimosas!!

Carl made us some delicious turkey bacon avocado sliders for lunch, and we continued on with the chickflicks. 27 Dresses, Juno... Ok, so maybe Juno wasn't really wedding appropriate, but still.

In the end, we finished all the envelopes, all the Save the Dates, and welcomed in a sense of accomplishment. Maybe that was just me... Still, it took me over a week to get the dang things in the mail. -sigh- I am such a procrastinator! I wanted them in the mail before we left for the cruise, and that was that.

What do you think? I think they turned out great! All the stamping, embossing, and double-sided tape was totally worth it!

{ Photos } Photographer Decisions

Over the last month or so, I had been researching photographers all over the Twin Cities area. It was almost as frustrating as looking for a venue, to be honest. You could look for years and year and year and never really have seen them all.

First I looked for style, then for price. If I liked the style, I bookmarked the website until I could check their price. It was early on that I realize that I couldn't do it all at once without driving myself simply insane.

Having originally thought we found a good match at the wedding fair, I now had a better idea of what we really wanted: a contemporary photographer who was fun, took great images that were unique and not old school posed; perhaps even a bit photo journalistic.

I narrowed it all down to three photographers and began emailing. One never responded to me (stop me if you've heard this one before... re: my wedding dress). Two responded immediately and enthusiastically.

The first vendor was out of town and unable to meed right away, so I scheduled an appointment with the second. On a not-so-special night, my mom and I met with the second vendor to talk over coffee. She was professional, friendly and we really liked her. Leaving the meeting, I just sort of had a feeling that I needed to talk to the other vendor before I made a full decision.

I was very happy I did. I had a phone call meeting with the first vendor and we hit it off right away. When I got off the phone, Carl commented "so are you, like, best friends now or what?". We decided to schedule the required engagement session with her; you know, to feel each other out and make sure everything jives and we like her style.

Working with Tracey was so wonderful. I was my normal uptight self and it took a little bit for me to relax, but we ended up with some really nice photos that we were quite happy with:

I'm happy to say that this end decision was very easy. On Monday, I sent out signed contract to Tracey Joy Photography, booking our wedding day. I couldn't be more excited to work with her and I can't wait to see our wedding photos through her lens. She was the perfect amount of directive (which, I admit, I need) and still like and fun the whole time.

My guy instinct to wait paid off, here! Sometimes, you just have a feeling about things!

{ Attire } Bridesmaids Dresses

Very early on in the game, my bridesmaids and I went dress shopping. I loved the idea of getting the gals together to go rummage through tons of dresses and maybe even trying on a few ridiculous ones for kicks. Unfortunately, with one long distance bridesmaid and one who has crazy schedules (love you, sister-cousin!) the whole group couldn't come.

Oh, and Carl? I love you, butthead, but this post might have a few hints about MY dress in it. So skitter away and distract yourself while I talk with the nice people here about this adventure, mmkay?

Still, my other two awesome, amazing, beautiful bridesmaids and I met up to try out some looks. We found some potential in the dresses, and started the trying on affair.

Oooh summer sunburns! This purple one we liked in the brown and ivory colors. Eventually we decided that it competed too much with the intricacy in the overlay of my dress, but it stayed a contender for quite awhile.

Gotta say it.. this one was a 'no' right away. It sort of reminds me of a dress an old lady would wear to high tea...

This blue one wasn't too shabby - it even had a little bling to it! Eventually it was counted out after we realized it was a little low cut for our tastes!

Then we started considering tea-length dresses... Which I believe we all agreed were slightly too casual for the whole ordeal.

 

I couldn't escape this escapade without having to try a few on, myself. We liked this one. It was simple and elegant... and the belt added a ton. However, for a summer wedding? This fabric was just too heavy and warm. I wouldn't want my gals dying of heat stroke!

Then we found this one... Again, simple, elegant...

And a belt added a lot to, overall. Only difference? This one was much lighter! We had a winner, and after some discussion over email and lots of picture sharing, we all agreed on this dress in brown with a blingy ivory belt.

As the story goes... this wasn't quite the ending. After the bridal fair, Carl and I discussed the fact that the bridesmaids would be in brown... and so would he and the groomsmen. Dilemma! Don't you think that's just too much brown? I panicked a little. Did I change the color the girls would wear? And does that mean we would want to do this whole shopping thing again?...

The answers are yes, and probably. After the holidays, there just might be a second shopping adventure for the girls and me!

Did picking the guys suits change how you thought about your girl's dresses?

{ Venues } Ceremony & Reception

It's been a while, but I thought I would let you all know... We're all booked! After days and weeks and hours spent looking for, emailing, and researching venues, we are all done searching. I really thought that looking for a venue was going to kill me. Carl and I knew we wanted an outdoor ceremony. We also knew we wanted to book a place that had ceremony and reception on site. I had been trying to stay within a certain ring around the Twin Cities area. We wanted to make sure there were hotels in the area and all that good stuff...

There was a time when, during the search, I yelled at my computer. I had sent out just about my one millionth inquiry and I might have snapped a little. Was it too much to ask that a place be somewhat affordable and pretty and do ceremony and reception on site?!!

It wasn't until I really started to spreadsheet out every cost and detail that I got good at narrowing down all the options. We only visited three sites and narrowed down all the other options. The first place was a dud. The second was pretty for a reception, but lacked any sort of good ceremony site. The third one was juuuuuust right.

Check it out! We have access to a patio attached to our room...

There are loads of pretty settings for photographs...

Not to mention the ceremony site. The pergola is beautiful! It's actually getting moved by next spring to be framed by a pond and a willow tree. I'm in love!

The reception hall comes draped, there is a fire place and a separate breezeway (which would be awesome for the little photobooth-y thingy I want to create... cause you know, why not?). And... chandelier! Again... in love. I'm super excited to plan out the table decor and all the other details.

That's two big things off of the list! Dress bought, site booked! Now we're rolling!

How did you find your wedding venue? Did you have any particulars you were looking for that made the search tough?   

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Five

To bring you up to speed with this last installment, we had left a beautiful tree for a secluded area on our way to the U of M pedestrian bridge thingy, then we were on our way to Stone Arch Bridge, but found another spot we liked better. Finally, we reached the end of the trail: Mill City Park.

The Mill City ruins are pretty cool. From the Mill City website:

Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The original A Mill, built in 1874, was leveled by a flour dust explosion that claimed 18 lives. That explosion and the resulting fire destroyed much of the riverfront business area, cutting Minneapolis’ milling capacity in half.

So, basically, it exploded and now we have this pretty park area with it's historically preserved remnants. History geekery? Yep. I dig it.

We wandered around and found a spot to set our last section of pictures. Here we go!

We had a great time taking pictures with Kate. It was a long day with a lot of walking and clothes changing (this was another fun spot in which I wiggled into a dress, trying to be subtle, while people walked around on the bridge above us, and Carl changed his pants behind a chunk of the ruins... I think by the end of the day we were pro at it! After all the walking and photos, we rounded out the night with a nice German meal at the Black Forest Inn. It was a rewarding meal after our journey!

Check out Kate's website! She's stellar and we loved working with our friend on these great photos.

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Four

Catching up, we had left a beautiful tree for a secluded area on our way to the U of M pedestrian bridge thingy, and now we were on our way to Stone Arch Bridge.

We stumbled over the end of the Minneapolis Slut Walk and found our way to the main bridge when we spotted something even better... A little wooden bridge surrounded by trees down closer to the Mississippi river.

A search for the entrance ensued! When we found it and made our way to the bridges, Kate snapped these great photos:

 

After we were done here, we had one last stop to make... Stick around for our final set!