My Beautiful Bridesmaids

When it came to selecting bridesmaids for my wedding, I knew I was going to have a large party. In my life, I have been blessed with four sisters (two on each side) and five best friends (three from high school and two from college). And while I briefly thought about somehow widdling it down to a smaller group, I knew it wasn't going to happen. When I walk down that aisle, I knew that I wanted each of those girls standing there to greet me.

The tricky thing with having nine girls though, is trying to figure out what they're going to wear. I could've been that bride and put them in whatever I felt like without a concern for their body shape and budget, but I wanted my brides to be happy to stand up in my wedding—not punished.

Now since the girls really do run the spectrum of body types/sizes, I knew the one-dress-fit-all approach wasn't going to fly. And with that many girls, seeing nine of the same dress seemed a bit redundant. Instead, I opted to let them pick their own dresses.

Since many of my bridesmaids are still in school, have families etc., I knew they weren't going to be donning Vera Wang. Though David's Bridal sometimes gets a bad rap, I was able to select several styles that complemented both my bridesmaids' individual styles and my wedding theme (my favorite style above). And each gown came in under $130! While it's not exactly couture, David's Bridal offers plenty of gorgeous, fashionable dresses in an array of colors. Plus, the fact that it's a national chain made it easy for the girls who aren't in the area.

We just ordered all the dresses yesterday, so they should be coming in by late March to early April. I will post pictures as soon as I have some!

A Little Taste of June 12th...

Today, B, our moms and I had our first dinner tasting for the wedding. Jordan and Pam from Jordan's Food of Distinction invited us to their Chicago studio where we sampled every morsel of food that will be served at our wedding—and we were not disappointed.


I can't give too much away because it will ruin the surprise, but we have some pretty unique and savory appetizers. I'm hungry just thinking about it! Jordan prepared several appetizers for us to taste and it was so hard to pick between. By the time he had brought out the actual dinner we were stuffed! The dinner itself had the most beautiful presentation that it was so hard for us to ruin Jordan's "artwork." Everything tasted absolutely amazing and while people say the bride and groom hardly have time to sit down and eat, I know there is no way I will pass this meal up!


They also let us sample some cakes from Tipsy Cake who we are actually going to visit on Tuesday. Their lemon cake with raspberry buttercream was absolutely delish. We're checking out a few other bakeries too, so stay tuned because B and I are on a quest for the best (looking and tasting) cake in Chicago!

So happy!

While I was in my office today, I got THE phone call that left me shrieking at my desk and in tears. One of my best friends called to tell me she just got engaged! I am so happy for the both of them. And after I stopped shaking and smiling for her (and my co-workers realized I was okay), I sat and reminisced about how great it felt to be newly engaged. 


While being engaged to the best man on Earth is pretty amazing, nothing beats that feeling of the newly-engaged bliss that overcomes you for a few days after he slips that sparkly diamond (that's her beauty above) on your finger. It's like walking on clouds. And I'm sure Jamie is floating on the highest cloud there is right now!


Being the organized little planner that I am (except for when it comes to my own wedding), I already have some ideas to run by Jamie, heehee. At least now I have one other friend to chat about weddings with!


Congratulations Jamie and Kevin! 


xoxo

The light at the end of the tunnel

B and I just got back from our first meeting with our day of wedding coordinator, Shannon Helmig—and we are just smitten. Our friends, Kelly and Mike (to be wed 10/10/10), have her as their full wedding planner and love her!

We met over $1 burgers at Bar Louie and had such a great time chatting about our weddings (she's getting married in July). She was so incredibly organized and pretty much promised to hold my hand the rest of the way (THANK GOD!)  And on top, of helping me plan the rest of my wedding, she's even doing my bridal hair. She's cute, she does hair AND she plans weddings—seriously...triple threat.

She already has some great ideas for us and I am so happy to have her join the team!

The Engagement Shoot

   

The fabulous Nick Gerber from Orange 2 Photography took B and I on an amazing engagement session around the city a few months back, and here are some of the highlights:

To check out more photos, visit the Gerber and Scarpelliblog!

It's been so long...

Wow... so I haven't updated this blog in awhile. But to be honest, B and I were on hiatus. Not a whole lot was going on in the wedding world, and then...well life got in the way. However, things are in full swing and all of sudden we are definitely behind on our Real Simple Wedding Checklist! Now we have so much to do, and only 130-something days to do it all within!!


Even with all the hustle and bustle, I do promise to be more diligent in my posts. In fact, here are some style boards I'm working on:








I made these using Dessy's new "My Styleboard" feature. You can start by choosing images based off of their color swatches, and then import you own to create your very own custom style board. I will most likely be putting several of these together, and will post them as I make them!

The highs and the lows of Bridal Expos.... (My rant of the day)

If bridal expos sound exhausting, it's because they are. In theory, it's a great concept: put all the different vendors in one large room so brides and grooms can make a one-stop shop. No cold-calling—saving your precious cell phone minutes, and no driving around—saving our precious ozone. 


But after a very long day at a bridal expo in Oakbrook earlier this year, my fiancé and I felt like we wasted our entire Sunday. As recommended we registered for tickets early to avoid a sell-out, and we arrived early to avoid the crowd. I honestly feel like they give away way too many free tickets, because when we arrived the place was packed, and the event space was poorly laid out. Rather than a large open space like at most conventions, the event was organized much like a maze. So rather than free roaming, we were forced to follow a line throughout the event. It was so packed that you couldn't even spend time to talk to vendors, just pick up brochures.


Oh and they have you leave self-addressed labels at each booth to increase your chances of winning a prize, but i have not won anything—unless you consider countless numbers of redundant emails and postcards about photography and hot pink bachelorette parties to be a prize worth winning. 


To be honest, everything they advertise at bridal expos fit into the neat "wedding box." So if you want a wedding that is truly unique, you should definitely visit a bridal expo—that way you can realize what you don't want.