Blush and Bashful

Truvy: What are your colors, Shelby? 
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful." 
M’Lynn: Her colors are "pink" and pink." 
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful" Mama!                                                                                       --Steel Magnolias

Much like Miss Truvy asks the soon-to-be-bride in the chick-flick-of-all-chick-flicks, one of the most frequent questions I get after people find out I’m getting married is “so what are your colors?”

Since getting engaged and starting to conceptualize my overall feel for the wedding day (which is how I define “my colors” moreso then just what shade the bridesmaids will be rocking), I have gone through many, many iterations of color schemes (not to mention “overall feels”), but I think I have finally settled on “my colors.”  

And for all you all who have been dying to know…

I’ve chosen, drum roll please, grey and “coral.”

But here’s where it gets all Steel Magnolias…I’m very particular about the coral shade. When I envision coral, it’s a warm, peachy, orangey coral…but apparently most folks define coral as more of a reddish-pink shade, somewhere between “watermelon” and “honeysuckle” (which happens to be this year’s “it” color (http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20821&ca=4)…so I think I’m gonna have to invent a new name for my color scheme akin to “blush and bashful,” suggestions are always welcome, alliteration not necessary, but it does need to roll of the tongue nicely.  I feel very “bridezilla-y” when I want MY shade of coral…but I really do want MY shade…

What solidified my “colors” was a wedding featured on my daily-crack-addiction: “stylemepretty.com”. This wedding made me swoon. The colors AND the whimsical feel captured the sentiments I want our wedding day to have—fun, charming, laid back, and sweet.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/01/03/maine-wedding-by-corbin-gurkin-maine-seasons-events/

Other Coral inspiration from my fave website: 

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/03/23/santa-monica-beach-wedding-fiore-beauty-ian-grant-photography/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/03/28/napa-valley-wedding-at-beaulieu-garden/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/02/18/ontario-wedding-by-amanda-wilcher-hey-gorgeous-events/#comment-226828

say yes to the dress? cont.

So they all lived happily ever after right? Right? Well, maybe. I’ll let u all know in approximately 6 months J

So with the wedding less than 6 months away, it is still yet to be determined if I

a) have a freakishy large rib cage, or

b) just ate a few too many cheeseburgers and slices of pizza and ball park hot dogs and kc’s famous bbq and cupcakes and...and need to spend some QT on the ellipitical, or

c) am never going to have a career with  cirque de soleil as a contortionist who can dislocate her shoulders and give a big yank to the zipper on a fragile dress…

Obviously, I am hoping it’s a combo of b) and c)…that with some healthy eating, plenty of workouts, a sexy pair of spanx, and the help of another person working from behind instead of my ill-equipped-for-this-task arms which happen to face the wrong direction, I’ll be able to zip up the dress. Cuz it’s SO PRETTY. And SO LACY. And SUCH a great color. And makes me feel all fancy and twirly. And I don’t have a couple grand laying around to buy another one (details details). And did I mention it’s also SO PRETTY? (I hope I am not building up this dress so much that people expect something Princess-Di-like when I walk down the aisle. Please take all my hyperbole with a grain of salt. Maybe I am projecting more beauty onto the most expensive dress I will ever own. Or maybe it’s bridal myopia. I just think it’s totes amazeballs and hope you all do to, that is, if you ever get the chance to see it, which would you know, require that I can zip the darn thing up).

So anyway, in order to fit into this beaut, we’ve been eating healthy. For about 9 months (if I do indeed fit into the dress, I may have to wear a “sponsored by cooking light” sign).  And we’ve been working out. For about 3 months on the regular. And I’ve lost 10 lbs and toned up since our efforts began with the purchase of a scale and the startling revelation that if I was a college wrestler, there would be 4 weight classes I’d need to put on the rubber suit to cut weight for. So really I needed to do this whole eating better/working out thing regardless of the wedding dress situation. But nothing like a little added incentive.

Well, even losing the equivalent of a gallon of milk (and then some), plus wearing supersexyspanx still doesn’t seem to allow me to zip up my dress. So I’ll keep on keeping on with the eating and the working out. And I’ll try to be better on weekends (as the aforementioned cheeseburgers and pizza and cupcakes and nachos and Chik-fil-A and cocktails (oh I didn’t mention those before, yep, been eating those too)…tend to sneak in when we’re out and about on weekends, but seriously you can’t order a salad at a bbq joint, so what’s a girl supposed to do? And I’ll up the intensity of my workouts (thus far I’ve just been trying to get back my cardio as sitting on the couch for over a year doesn’t do much for the ole ticker…but now I’m getting my groove back…so I can push it a bit more). I’ll also start doing pilates again this summer…So hopefully between the combo of that and having a personal dresser to zip me, I’ll be able to slip right into my dress. And breathe too.

But what if it is option a)? that my (apparently) XL ribs are simply not designed to fit into this dress? Obviously, no amount of dieting or spanx will be able to change that (unless I went all Victorian style and removed a couple of ‘em). I hope it doesn’t come to this, but if it should, I DO have a backup plan (too be continued…)

for realz, it's been awhile

Exactly 6 months till my wedding day, I had one of those you show up naked for a big presentation, or you’re late for a final you didn’t study for nightmares. Except the bride-to-be’s dream equivalent—I dreamt that I showed up to my wedding and my dress didn’t fit. And that dream may not be so far from reality because, well, right now the dress does not fit. 

So here’s the story of my dress. Once engaged (okay, maybe even before) Bride scours internet looking at dresses. Finds herself very attracted to dresses of the lace variety.  Bride investigates pricing of said dress style. Bride learns she could either have food for her guests, or wear lacy dress (and that is a simple lacy dress, for the price of some of the ones I really swooned over, I could rent another reception hall). Bride temporarily resigns self to something plainer. Bride orders something plainer. Bride doesn’t feel all “bridey”. Bride looks wistfully at fancy dresses.  Clotheshorse that she is, Bride still cannot justify spending that much money on a dress that will be worn for only a few hours, no matter how amazingly gorgeous and perfect it is. Bride, somewhat of a fashionista and bargainista, is open to many options for finding dress, including non-traditional dresses (white is a very popular color right now), or non-traditional methods for finding dress (eg: secondhand, I mean as long as it doesn’t have bad karma, okay maybe even if it’s the right dress I’ll deal with a little left-at-the-altar-ness). Bride, whilst surfing the interwebs, happens upon Craigslist posting for a wedding dress that is lacy AND her size AND costs a lot less than the original price. In fact 90% discount off original price. Said dress is not even from the 1980s which 90% of the dresses posted on craigslist are (the other 9.99% are size 26 from David’s Bridal). Bride takes a minute to thank her lucky stars. A handsomesmartfunnyloving fiancé AND possibly the deal of the century on the dress of her dreams?  Even better, owner is happily married and just doesn’t want dress to hang in closet when she can use some extra cash for an upcoming vacation. And all sentimentalism aside, I totally get it. Especially cuz it works out pretty great for me.

So bride corresponds with ex-bride via email and sets up a time to go try on dress. I don’t know if you all have heard about summers in Kansas City, but it does get hot and humid here occasionally (aka: from mid May thru October) Which makes me wonder why there are buildings without AC in this town. But there are. And one of them is our church. And after sitting through a sweltering service, waving a paper fan (which contrary to all my elementary school teacher’s belief, actually DOES cool you off better than just sitting still) it’s time to go try on the dress. So, even with a 10 minute ride in air conditioned bliss, I am still a bit sweaty from church. I know it may be gross to discuss my perspiration situation this much, but it is relevant to the story. I promise.  When I see the dress in person, I am even more smitten.  When I touch it, I realize, oh maybe this is why you have to pay a wee bit more for these fancy dresses. You can tell each layer was delicately produced by an army of sweet little Russian grandmothers with glasses on a neck chain and polyester house dresses that get their hair done each week. It was breathtaking (even in someone’s study with shag carpet).  So I lifted it off the hanger (note: while they may look fluffy and floaty--all those layers of lace and tulle add up) and stepped into the dress. Actually I think I pulled it over my head (novice wedding dress try on mistake) and shimmied into it…well…I started too…then the combination of an approximately 1 year hiatus from the gym, sweaty limbs and torso and my respect for the hard work of all the Russian grannies, made me realize, I wasn’t going to fit into this dress without ripping something—either their delicate craftsmanship—or my ribcage. Bummer.

Well, at least I still have the handsomesmartfunnyloving fiancé thing going for me, I thought as I explained to the seller that while the dress was amazing and I loved it, I was just too big for it. And left, obsessing over the mermaid style. And drove back home obsessing over the beautiful ivory lace. And sat on the couch obsessing over the amazing price. And sat on the couch longer obsessing over how much I love lace. And sat on the couch and surfed the internet looking for dresses in that same price range. And, being the polite and well bred lady I am, wrote the seller thanking her for taking time to meet me, her dress was gorgeous, but as a result of consuming approximately 48 bags of chips and 7 gallons of salsa in my life/the past year, it, sadly, wasn’t going to happen. And I sighed. And obsessed a little bit more.  And do you know what happened then? In the midst of all this obsessing, she wrote me back and said “oh I had to lose a lot of weight to fit in it too. I used “Random Workout Video”. It was hard to do but totally worth it. If your weights the only issue, I’d be willing to sell it to you for $150 less”

At that price, how could I refuse? And a trip the ATM, short drive north of the river later, and the beautiful dress was hanging in my closet… (to be continued…)

it's been awhile...

"it's been awhile"
originally posted 8.19.10

sooooo, may huh? yeah...well, a suprising lot has happened since then...numero uno, i got a job. and well, wedding related, a lot has too. we have visited venues, met wtih photographer, dj, went to a "bridal craptacular," become slightly addicted to "oncewed.com" and "stylemepretty.com" (okay, well maybe just *I* have), and, gulp, maybe even gotten a dress. okay, well, i HAVE gotten a dress, whether i wear it or not remains to be seen. a $3000 dress for $300, yes please! i figured i couldn't go wrong. it's funny, how "easily" things have fallen into place. after lots of internet research and browsing, i set up a couple interviews with photographer (mellissa lin ellis) and dj (all ears mobile dj), both recommeded by the weddinghive, a local kc site. i guess that kinda "pre-screens" and is "self selecting" but they both seemed very talented and very much had the same "vibe" we are going for for the big day...silly to be "one and done?" or...wonderful? i honestly feel 100% confident and don't think i'm being naive. they fit into our budget and seem awesome, so real excited about that. saw lots of cool venues locally. and again, beginners luck, cuz we're going with the first place we saw...boulevard brewery! they have a very contemporary, elegant space with an amazing terrace and view of the downtown skyline, not to mention all the boulevard beer you want to drink, the cutest grooms cake ever, and personalize pint glasses for all our guests! we also checked out some other beautiful venues for our due diligence, Berg Event Space, Studio Dan Meiners event space, leVel, and all of them were wonderful--the people and the spaces. in KC, if you want an "urban" or "loft" experience, there is no shortage of event spaces and the vendors we met with were all very down to earth, not salesy, and great to work with (and kurt, at leVel, had the cutest dog on the planet. i am not joking). it made me want to throw lots of fabulous parties, just so i could use these spaces, and there are actually TONS of other options out there too that I looked at on the internet. god bless the interwebs! the only thing we're still looking for, in terms of major pieces of the puzzle, is a ceremony site. i have my eyes on the arts incubator, in the cross roads, but price wise, it may be prohibitive. if we were doing both ceremony and reception there, no biggie, but just for a ceremony, it's kinda out of our price range. that is definitely something i have struggled with a lot during this process. vision and reality. bleh. annnnnyway....so we are still looking for a ceremony site. our church is way down south, so we'd prefer something a little closer. Boulevard is located in a largely Hispanic area of town, which of course means, a lot of the churches there are Catholic. We're open to a non-church area, so just need to do some more digging to find the perfect spot. Grand Avenue Temple is in contention, but unfortunately has no AC which could be a problem in KC in September (we attended a service there this summer when it was 100 degrees and barely lived to tell the tale...obvioulsy it won't be 100...well, you never can tell...so like i said, we're still trying to figure that out). oh and i forgot to say, we have a date 9/17/11!!!!!! i will try to write a few more posts going into detail on a couple of the "details"...including, our CAKE, and the suprising hidden talent of my fiance!

to which i reply, oh just you wait honey

i'll take your ooops and raise you....

ooops.
originally posted 5.11.10
kinda let the blog slip for awhile there...wedding planning has started...in the general sense...endless searching of internet for inspiration (of which there is TONS), a purchase of a dress to try on (i am anxiously waiting for it to get delivered today), some rough guest list ideas, but still no date or place. in the meantime, i'll post a pix i like of us

beyond lucky

originally posted 3.23.10

Jeremy: i love u so much. everyday i tell myself how lucky i am to have you in my life

(from an IM conversation)

to that i reply. i am beyond lucky. beyond.

blessed

originally posted 3.12.10 (man i was on a pretty good little streak there...)

i guess this shouldn't really have surprised me, but for some reason it did. 

i am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and happiness i received upon announcing our engagement. 

i always have known i am blessed by a life full of wonderful friends and family. somehow, along all the places i've landed, i have been surrounded by incredible people and formed lifelong friendships with some of the most amazing people on the planet (imho). and their replies to my emails (or the squeals and hugs of the ones i was lucky enough to tell in person) brought tears to my eyes again and again. their words of happiness, support and cheer bowled me over. and this worries me.

already the sappiest of saps in normal life, and the most emotional of the kleenex-wielding saps at weddings, i know i am going to be in trouble on the big day.

my friend nellie (who is normally cool as a cucumber) told me after her wedding, how suprised she was at how overwhelming it was to walk in the church and be surrounded by literally all your friends and family, all in one place, all there to support you and celebrate with you. i can only imagine that the response to sharing our news is going to be magnified ten fold on our wedding day when i walk down the aisle. 

hello waterproof mascara, it's anna. we need to talk.