Happy Early Birthday to Jake, plus a flower update!

Jake's birthday is Tuesday. Have I gotten him anything for his birthday? No.  Do I have a lot of "ideas" well, yes.  Luckily I have Monday off so I should have plenty of time to play birthday fairy.  Happy early birthday Jake!!

Florist meetings are in full effect. At this point, the frontrunner is Cydney with The English Garden, but I have one last meeting and I haven't received any written propsals at this point.  During our meeting, Cydney got up a couple of times with creative ideas, grabbing flowers from her fridge to illustrate.  She also seems to be very flexible working within my budget, and will incorporate what glassware/containers/materials I have in order to help derease costs.  Speaking of this, I need to get her some photos and lists of what I have already!  She's even helped me come up with a more official color scheme based on the color of the bridesmaid dresses.  Jewel Tones!

Photo credits in order of appearance:

Photo from the My Bouquet Floral Design Blog's, Jewel tone Purple post

David's Bridal Style 83312 in Sangria

*THE* Bridesmaid Dress?

This past Saturday, my local Bridesmaids joined me at David's Bridal for our first Bridesmaid dress outing. We had a lot of fun and I felt like it was a huge success.  If I had to decide on a Bridesmaid dress today, this would be *the one* - I know, this is completely different than what I had in mind when I went.  I originally wanted black, then greens and blues.  Well the dress itself (style 88312) didn't wow me in the green or blue options that they had.  But what I did really like was the color shown below, Sangria!

Here is a link to the dress on the David's Bridal website.  The best thing about it, besides the fact that its fun, flattering on everyone, and could definitely be worn again are (drumroll please) the POCKETS!  I have a few pictures from our outing that I'll try to get on here soon - they are on already Facebook for those of you who can view them already. 

So, if I go with this as the bridesmaid dress, then Sangria and green (with accents of yellow and orange) will be our colors!

My Very Own Inspiration Board

Out of boredom at work comes my very own inspiration board, from images that I've found across the web. Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to make this show up as a larger image in the blog post, but you should be able to click on it to be taken to the full-size image. Credits below from left to right.


Photo credits from left to right: Carrie Patterson Photography, Ink & Peat, J. Crew, lovethecard.com, J. Crew, Ink & Peat, Keily and Greg's Nestledown wedding shot by Dana and Jeremy, and Martha Stewart weddings

Bridesmaid Dress Ideas?

I've had some time today to surf the net looking for suitable bridesmaid dresses in the Emerald to Aqua range. This is what I've found so far. The main qualifications are that they need to be in the appropriate color range and be about knee length. My motivation for having non-matching bridesmaid dresses is so that each bridesmaid can choose a dress that 1) suits their body type, 2) they will wear again, 3) they can spend the amount they choose to spend, ideally keeping it from $50 to $150.

From left to right, we have:
Francesca's Collections, Blue Moon Dress, $38
David's Bridal, Style 83176, originally $120, on sale for $59.99
J. Crew, Silk chiffon Juliet dress (in tropical aqua), $180
J. Crew, Silk tricotine Cecelia short dress (in oasis green), $225
J. Crew, Embossed-cotton Aubrey halter dress (in sea green), originally $98, on sale for $78.00

I do know that a couple of these options don't meet the criteria, but I think this gives a good representation of what styles and colors go well together. I'm certainly open to more ideas if anyone wants to share some with me!

Being Indecisive, as Usual!

I've been thinking lately about colors and I'm starting to drift away from the Black bridesmaid dresses idea. I think if I had to pick two colors today, I would choose Emerald and Aqua. Here are a few pictures that I've found lately that are swaying me to use non-matching dresses.

From Sara & Ryan's Wedding

Image via Offbeat Bride

Image via Offbeat Bride

Bridesmaid Inspiration

Some of you may know that I don't want all of my bridesmaids to wear the same dress. I don't think its necessary to make your closest friends suffer through the process of getting measured, getting fitted, and then paying for a dress they will probably never wear again. In my opinion, the least a bride can do is let her maids pick out the style, that way they can each have a dress that is flattering and comfortable to them and there is a better chance they will wear it again!

I want to have black bridesmaids dresses - yes black. At this point I think knee-length cocktail type dresses will do. Nothing too frilly or fancy, but nothing just cotton either. I don't know the particular fabric that I want, but I love the pictures below. I think everyone looks great and hopefully it will be an easy solution for my yet to be announced bridesmaids!

(Images by Trever Hoehne, found here)