9 Months and Counting

When I tell people I can't wait to cut my hair in 9 months they look at me oddly as if I were trying to tell them I'm pregnant. No people! My wedding is in 9 months. From today actually :) I put up an away message in Google chat stating just that about 5 minutes ago and this is the message I get from one of my bridesmaids:

Andrea: Get pregnant!
me: NO
Andrea: You're no fun

Thanks for the support people.

In other news, how pretty is this dress? Can you imagine it in white??

Free Stuff and Martha Stewart

We went to the Martha Stewart Show on Tuesday. It was a special show for engaged couples and we had a blast! It’s airing Tomorrow, January 18th, so set your DVR! We got a lot of awesome stuff too, I’ll blog about that later. Pictures are below.

Waiting outside

The crowd is seated

We got great seats, 3rd row middle

Darcy from Martha Stewart Weddings

Pretty cakes

Us after the show

They announced we had to give back our ticket to get our free stuff so I took a picture of it!

Playing Dress Up

Growing up I had an idea of a wedding dress that I would like to wear. It would be, in one word, poofy. Something perhaps like:


Once I actually started the process of looking for a dress I found nothing that did “it” for me. It seems that I have a problem -- I don’t want to look like a princess. I don’t want people to say, “aw, she looks pretty, sweet, nice, beautiful, etc…"I want jaws to drop. I want to look hot. I want to be stunning.

I want a lower back.

Minus the lace.

Minus the ugly bow, of course.

I actually like this one. I don't want beading though.

These dresses don’t necessarily do it for me either but they are getting warmer.
I’ve looked at endless magazines and websites and I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m going to need to get my dress made.

Adventures in Bridesmaid Dress Shopping Part II

I did end up buying one thing at the store, an Ann Cares Card. We bought the dresses in October which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ann Taylor sells the Ann Cares Card for $25 and $20 goes towards breast cancer research. The benefit of the card is that it gave us free shipping on orders over $125 and an additional 15% everything including sale items -- double score! We drove home and called the one remaining bridesmaid I hadn’t asked yet (she lives far away and I wanted to do it in person but cheap dresses won me over.) After the excitement and tears she told me her dress size and I was off to order. My one last challenge was deciding if I should order 5 dresses or 6. I have one maid of honor, my mother, and 5 bridesmaids. My mother hadn’t decided if she wanted to wear a mother of the bride dress or a dress like the other girls. In the end I ordered a dress for her just in case since it was a cheap insurance policy in my opinion.

The one thing I do before buying anything on-line is check to see if the vendor is listed with Ebates. Ebates is a site the shares the commission they get from directing your business to another businesses site. They give 3% cash back at Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Bluefly, Brooks Brothers and tons more. Some sites offer more, as much as 25%, but the standard I’ve seen is between 2-6%. When you’re buying $400 worth of bridesmaid dresses it really pays off.

So as a re-cap:

Dress - $198
On Sale - $99.44
25% off Sale - $74.58
15% off Ann Cares Card - $63.39
3% cash back with Ebates - $61.49
Add the cost of the sash - $68
Shipping - Free with Ann Cares Card
Total Cost of Dress with Sash (shipped) = $68


The day the dresses arrived!:

Adventures in Bridesmaid Dress Shopping Part I

I will go out on a limb and say that I had the world’s easiest Bridesmaid dress shopping experience of any bride to come before me. My only requirements for the dress were black with an ivory sash and floor length. While reading Weddingbee one day I came upon a sale notification at Ann Taylor. They were having 25% off their already reduced Celebrations line. Never one to pass up a sale I took a gander and found a strapless floor length black dress on sale from $198 to $99.44. The additional 25% made it $74.58. I took a poll of the ladies and we agreed to meet at an Ann Taylor in the city so the dresses could be tried on. My only worry was that Ann Taylor only offers sizes up to 18 and one of my bridesmaids has a 46 inch bust -- the largest measurement on their size chart is 45.5 inches.

The dress

The dress in brown but with the sash

Three Bridesmaids made the trek to Ann Taylor on Madison Avenue in the pouring rain. The people in the store must have thought they hit a gold mine with all the trying on we were doing but I already decided we would be ordering on-line. 46 inch bust Bridesmaid got the 18 to zip past her waist but not her bust. She decided from past experience that it could be altered and for the price it was worth it. Below are pictures of the other girls.

Future Sister-In-Law

Friend

How Sweet It Is

My latest obsession has become our candy buffet. Getting married on Sweetest Day has made me oddly preoccupied with all things sweet and specifically white candy. I’ve found some awesome photos to use as inspiration but I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly what candy they used. I hate white chocolate so I’m trying to look for yogurt covered things or candy that is white-ish like dried pineapple.

So far I’ve come up with:
Rock Candy
Dried Pineapple
M&M’s
Jelly Belly
Hershey Kisses
Jordan Almonds
Life Savers
Yogurt covered pretzels
Flavored Licorice
Yogurt covered gummy bears
White candy tarts
Salt Water Taffy

I think that I’m off to a good start but I want at least 15-20 different kinds. I’m also in the process of looking for containers and scoops.

$9.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond

$14.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond

$20 for 12

If The Shoe Fits

Hello Blog! I took the holiday’s off and I’m back! It’s officially 2008 and that means I’m getting married this year! So much has happened in the last 6 weeks so I’ll get started with my wedding shoes. I am 5 foot 11 and Art is 6 foot even. Given this, I can’t exactly buy the first pair of heels I fall in love with. Back in September I posted about a pair of $165 J.Crew ballet flats that I wanted but could not justify spending that much money on. They are made in Italy with Italian viscose/silk and I prayed to the discount gods that they would go on sale. I waited patiently, checking the website every 2 days, until they went on sale for $98. I still couldn’t justify $98! What was a girl to do? I asked Art what he thought and he vetoed the $98 shoes. Crap! So I prayed to the discount gods for a 20% off final sale. Apparently there were a lot of other ladies waiting for the shoes to go on sale because sizes 8.5 - 9.5 vanished from the website in a matter of days. I was devastated to say the least but continued to check the site with some regularity out of desperation. Desperation paid off when a single pair of size 9’s appeared during my lunch break one day. After conferring with a bridesmaid, I learned my lesson to not ask Art, I decided to go for it. No sooner did the box arrive in the mail and the suckers go on sale for $89.99 with a 20% off sale! NOT FAIR! Only sizes 6-7 are available now so I don’t feel too bad about my $98 shoes. Maybe I should concentrate on finding a dress to go with the shoes…