bye bye

obviously, for those of you who still check back. I haven't posted in a really long time. I'm super busy with my research and honestly don't really feel the need to relive the wedding on the blog. It was amazing. The pictures are amazing. I would recommend all of my vendors. but not to leave you completely without some love - a few pics from the wedding.

My beautiful dress by Marisa purchased at Jacqueline's Bridal

The boys in their ties (Nautica from Macy's) and socks (Banana Republic)

My fabulous bouquet by Arenas (note the green strawberries and the succulents - love it!)

The tables - arrangements in my antique bottles by Arenas

*All images by the wonderful Tammy Swales (whom I just love)

so for now, good bye.

maybe one day I will have another blog or continue writing here.

Its been a good wedding day

After weeks of bad wedding feelings with lots of stress and unhappiness today was a good day. I awoke with clarity on the bridesmaid dress issue, did not confer with anyone and sent an email to the girls (for those who care, I decided on black dresses from Dessy). I called my mom, told her the issue was over and she said good.

I've been having issues with florist. The first one, I didn't like. The second one, I really liked but has a "minimum" which is a couple hundred above my flower budget. The third, my favorite at the time (after an email from me wondering where the proposal is) informed me that my date is no longer available. Ugh! So I kind of freaked, and made an appointment and a florist I've driven past for 8 years, have never entered before but yet somehow decided years ago that they would do my wedding flowers. I did not initially call them because I heard (and assumed) they would be the most expensive. I met with them after lunch and I really enjoyed talking to the older gentleman (Edward) who does their wedding designs. Edward seemed to genuinely like my flower visions and embraced them. He also gave me a quote on the spot - which was amazing (since I'm still waiting for a quote from place #2, which I met with on Nov 6th - they claim I'll have it soon). Also, they are not as expensive as I thought. Their quote fell $200 bellow the top of my budget and $400 bellow the "minimum" at place #2. So, I'm pretty sure I've found a florist!

Finally, I was avoiding studying for an exam tomorrow by browsing Guilt and found these lovelies. After several rounds of texting with one of my style gurus, C, I bought them.

Ben-Amun pewter chandelier earrings with Swarovski crystal; 3 inches long, 1.25 inches wide

Retail: $205, Guilt price: $85! Holla!

Yay, for good wedding days.

Yay, for less wedding stress.

Yay (kind of), for procrastinating studying dev bio...

succulent love

Recently I've totally jumped onto the succulent band-wagon.  A few months ago I couldn't tell you what a succulent was (apparently the are "water retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions" - wikipedia) now I'm all about having them at my (non-dessert) wedding...  I'm sure I won't, but still, maybe I'll buy some for the apartment.

I love how they look great on their own

Or mixed into arrangements with traditional flowers

Maybe I'll just have a few mixed into my bouquet...

*First 3 images from 100 Layer Cake; I've forgotten where the other 3 are from.

weekend with mommy

my mom came to visit this weekend and we got a bunch of wedding stuff done.  

1st - we finally bought my official wedding dress.  yay!  so happy to have that done with.

2nd - we did a tasting of the appetizers and one of the entrees for the wedding.  all the food was superb.  we also went over some of the logistics and figured out how many tables we would need so that I would know when I talk with florists.

3rd - we confronted at the people at Peggy's Bridal about how they over charged me for the first dress I bought.  they were very stand-off-ish and completely unwilling to compromise.  so i now have the first dress in my closet and it makes me angry whenever I see it - i'll have to find a new place to put it until I can list it online and hope to get some of my money back.

4th - we looked through lots of pictures of flowers and table settings and discussed the floral arrangements for quite a while.  my mom isn't feeling the antique bottles, but Beau and I love them, and so we are doing it.  also, the owner of the venue said we could definitely use her mason jars and any other glass-ware she has.  after i pick a florist i'll definitely go over there and rummage through it all.  

and she kept me company at the lab for 4 hours on Saturday and 2.5 hours on Sunday - what a great mom!

Practice?

I love arranging flowers.  I find it very soothing and meditative; its very be in the moment yoga-ish for me.  And then for 5-10 days I have a small bit of loveliness in my home (this is especially important during the long Rochester winters).  I love doing it so much that I'm seriously considering putting together my own arrangements for the wedding.  The reasons I might not:

• I have no idea how I would get the flowers to the venue - I really don't want to have to deal with it
• I'm not convinced I could make a bouquet, maybe with multiple practice sessions
  
• I'm a med student, therefore I have some OCD tendencies, thus there is a 50/50 chance of me freaking out and becoming some crazy bridezilla while attempting to arranging the flowers

Yesterday as I was doing my shopping, I passed through the flower area and they had two of the three flowers I want at the wedding in the right color, plus some filler that went well, so I clearly had to get some to do a trial run of the flowers in the antique bottles.

Flowers purchased:

• 1 bunch (3 stems) white hydrangea ($14.99)
  
• 1 bunch (10 stems) white lisianthus ($9.99)
  
• 1 bunch (4 stems) dark purple "filler #2" (might be aster) ($2.99)
  
• Total cost $27.97 - made 2 large and 2 small arrangements
• I think I will need around 12 large and 12 small arrangements for all the tables - estimated cost: $170
• I compared the Wegman's prices to American Floral Distributors (a wholesaler) and Wegman's beat them in each case.  For the lisianthus, AFD charged $7 MORE for a 10 stem bunch!  If I DIY the flowers I think I might order them from Wegman's

(At the wedding I also want to include ranunculus in white or light purple.)

Results:

(I'm still loving this rectangular prescription bottle)

What I learned:

• Even the wide mouth bottles are a little too narrow - I would have liked the option of fitting in more stems, so that I could vary the fullness of the arrangements more; mason jars might be a good option for tall bottles with a wider mouth
• The narrow mouth bottles are very narrow - only 2 or 3 stems fit in, but it works in groupings with the larger arrangements
• I generally like the look - simple, elegant, a little rustic (like our venue)
• I need to get more bottles, especially some shorter bottles with both wide and narrow mouths to allow for more height variation among the arrangements 

*photos by me

Bouquets

A thought I had tonight while dealing with some insomnia - do our female "honored guests" require bouquets? I had always assumed that they would have them, but now I don't know, it suddenly seems weird to me. Besides some of them have tasks, like playing the violin and holding a chuppah that would make holding a bouquet difficult, so do they not get a bouquet, but the others do? If we don't do bouquets will their hands seem empty? Will I seem cheap if I have a bouquet and the other ladies do not? Will anyone but me even notice?

*photo from The Knot by way of The Un-Bride - I love the simple elegance of these bouquets, plus, magnolias are dear to my heart since the street we live on is lined with magnolia trees and for 1 week a year it is the most beautiful place in the world.