Dessy Up

If you can't tell from my title - I ditched Jcrew and got Dessy -ed Up. The Dessy Group that is. After abandoning my JCrew dreams I had some serious searching to do. I look everywhere- but need dresses to meet the following criteria:

• Inexpensive- under $200
• Modern and tea length
  
• several different styles all in one fabulous yellow shade

It was a pretty exhaustive search and I was nearly settled on Simple Silhouettes but in the end their prices were too high. Although I wasn't paying for each dress it was important were low. Economic time are tough in this city and I really didn't want my wedding to be a crushing financial burden. So, I finally stumbled upon The Dessy Group, a company that includes many brands such as Lela Rose, Alfred Sung, and After Six. I narrowed it down to five dresses and told my ladies to try them all on and I would pick the top three. So without further ado ...the top three dresses:



And just because I love her and she is special, my maid of honor gets her very own style:


All styles are in Peau de Soie in a yellow called Mango! I think they are fabulous.

Not Worth The Wait- Or - How I Passed on J.Crew

So I have blogged all about my Jcrew dream dresses, and talked all about my intial visit to the flagship store in Rockerfeller Center . You must assume that my girls are the owners of one of three Cotton Cady frocks- think again.

I passed. Big time.

Let me explain. The dresses were lovely but- there was no yellow in the winter collection ! Not even a canary or a lemonade. Nada. Zilch. The bridal coordinator at JCrew hinted that I could wait to the spring, because it would be hard to believe that JCrew would not make a yellow spring gown.
I cried. I moaned. I considered mint.


I considered changing the name of the blog.But in the end I knew I wanted to stick to my original vision of yellow- for better or worse! I knew right away I didn't want to gamble and wait until the spring collection. They wouldn't release colors until the end of March - WAY too late in the year for my girls to look elsewhere if the yellow didn't materialize. Was I right not to gamble??

Yep. Check out the spring collection. Not a yellow in sight. What did I choose instead??

Here's a sneak peak:

Letter Perfect

One of the smaller projects I have been working on is finding the perfect gifts for my bridesmaids. Although this is clearly not a time sensitive project it just one of those little things I think I could get out of the way early and cut down on stress later. Plus- I know once we pay the remainder of our deposits spending extra $$$ on pretty necklaces or clutches will seem frivolous. My goal is for the presents to meet the following criteria:

1. Be personal and unique to each girl's personality and style
2. All be united in some way AND coordinate with my dresses so they could be worn the day of the wedding.
3. Cost NO more than $50 dollars each including shipping, packaging, and wrapping.

I also am leaning toward one bigger item as opposed to several smaller items - at least right now. I figure if I purchase one larger item now, if the budget allows I can add to it later. Previously I blogged about finding adorable clutches for each girl and possibly having them engraved with initals. But on a recent Etsy spin, I stumbled up on these lovely initial charms from a seller called Sweet Lavender and Leaf.




And in silver


But, I really like the way gold would look with our yellow dresses. I thought I could match the gem stone to each girl's birthstone or favorite color.






Maybe my MOH could get a special full name disc.



After a inquiring a bit with the seller, I think I can find a way to make these fit my "criteria."

Maybe even pick a little one up for me too.



With a yellow stone of course.

When Cancer Comes to the Wedding

Two months ago my fiance was diagnosed with cancer. CML Leukemia to be exact. I have tried to write this post a couple of times now, but it seemed too soon. I wasn't sure how wedding planning and Leukemia were going fit together. I wasn't sure how much my personal struggles mattered to a wedding planning blog. Truthfully, I wasn't sure how much wedding planning I wanted to do anymore.

But- I decided that planning a wedding was a lot more than just picking out flowers and color schemes. It was about planning a life together and learning how to communicate, trust, and support each other, no matter what. We decided that our wedding must go on- no matter what. Our desire to share and celebrate our love and friendship with our family and friends is now stronger than ever. If our wedding goes on, so does my planning, my blog, and my promise to be honest, open, and truthful, no matter what.

I should mentioned, that every cloud does have a silver lining. My mister was diagnosised with CML Leukemia, which can be treated with a oral chemotherapy pill. While he was hospitalized and out of commission for about a month, he is now back at work and feeling much better. With regular doctor appointments and a strict medication routine, we hope to beat this cancer into remission within a year. There is only one way to look at all of this ....in a positive, sunny, yellow light.

So, I will be back, blogging about my yellow wedding - and all the other bumps along the way.

Btw- the mister blogs much more elequently about his own illness at johnwtomac.blogspot.com

Also- here's a picture of us dressed up for Halloween. Because after reading my own post- I needed to smile :)

Meeting J

Today I had my Jcrew appointment at the "i do" desk. My main goal was to get an up close and personal look at the fabrics, quality, and cuts of some the dresses I have been looking at online. Overall, I have to say it was a very successful visit. I still feel confidant that I will chose Jcrew for my girl's dresses, but will make some slight adjustment to my plans :

1. I will not choose Light Chartreuse.

It is WAY more green that you would imagine. Think highlighter. Luckily, I will not even have the option to select this hue, it is discontinued. Thank goodness I did not go through with my plan of buying all the dresses on sale for my girls.

2. I will add this pretty lady to the three choices:

I originally thought it would look out of place with my other structured choices, but in person it was much less "flowy" . Plus it is super duper flattering.



3. This girl is one hot shorty:

I mean it. I'm 5'2" and this dress fell above my knee. Don't even ask what it looked like on my 5'10" maid of honor. This is part of the reason I am adding Serena to this mix.


4. Cotton Cady , pronouced ca-dee, is the perfect light weight material for the summer.


All in all a lovely visit.

Otherwised Engaged

Please excuse my absense for the next few days as my future in -laws are thowing us a lovely engagement party/bbq. There will be lots of bar-be-que, Italian food, and of course family. I promise to share all the pictures and stories. Have a great Labor Day!!

Cutest Wedding Favors Ever

Last week I was searching for fun ways to incorporate vintage ribbon and I stumbled upon the cutest wedding favors EVER on Martha Stewart Weddings. I'm pretty sure I can DIY with plan white boxes and yellow paper. I was thing the boxes could read:

Mr.'s Name loves

My Name 4-ever

or

true love
conquers all
or

love hope
faith charity

Actually, I think these all sound pretty cheesy! I will defidently have to put some more thought into this! Any suggestions?

Ribbons Matter

I now have another item to add to my list of "things I never thought I would have such a strong opinion on". Its funny how weddings make you care about so many little previous unnoticed things! I have heard through the "blog-vine" that you could find beautiful vintage style ribbon in different Etsy shops. I always assumed I would pop in to Michaels or a crafting store and pick up any old thing, but once you see the vintage ribbon....swoon. Here's some of my favorites:

wildheart515

These would be gorgeous tied around little favor bottles like these

Or gauzy soft ribbon to tie around bouquets and vases:

Assorted ribbons!

jenniferpriest

Stripped Ribbons

ScapwithStyle

perfect for recreating this beauty

I love, love, love when I find new things that really matter.

Calle it Lacking

My ongoing search for budget friendly - DIY-able fleurs has lead me to calle lillies. Sturdy and sophisticated they can be easily assembled the day before for bouquets and boutonnieres and maybe even centerpieces. And of course they come in yellow!


The problem - I find the bouquets ....lacking.





I think I would l like them a little better if they were paired with other flowers, something fuller.


The question becomes - Can I still DIY and afford the bouquets with the extra flowers?

La Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many forms and many places. Sometimes in places you totally forget about. Sometimes you give yourself credit for a great idea- or in my case - a color palette when in reality you really had nothing to do with it at all!

I already admitted my original ( however embarrassing) celebrity wedding inspiration. Recently the Mr. and I recently cemented our full palette. It looks something like this:

I saw a inspiration board on Snippet & Ink that really captured our colors but not necessarily our style.

The Mr. was thinking of yellow and navy but the whole thing seemed to preppy and nautical for us. I kept returning to this bright yellow and beachy turquoise blue. I hadn't seen a lot of palettes like this on the blogs and I wasn't quite sure where I had gotten the idea. I chose to believe I was a GENIUS. A wedding planning MAVEN. Clearly the ARTISTIC one in the couple.

Flash forward to two nights ago we were invited to a small birthday gathering in Hoboken, NJ. While I am a fiercely proud New Yorker, I will confess to living three great years in Hoboken. In fact, me and the Mr. met and feel in love in Hoboken. For us it was the perfect post- college, affordable, semi-urban environment to start our "adult"lives. Its chock full of restaurants and pubs, and me and the Mr. made an effort to wine and dine at all of them. We took the birthday gathering as an opportunity to return to one of our all time favorites, La Isla, for a quick bite.

La Isla is tiny ten table and counter- top Cuban Lunchenette that consistently puts our delicious Cuban favorites as well as gourmet fusion inventions. Back in the day we could be found there four or five times a month. As we were chowing down on black beans, yuca, and empandas we noticed something familiar.

Our Palette!!

Go figure. I'm not a GENIUS. The beautiful bright colors of Cuban seeped in my self conscious like the sweet scent of plantains. Our wedding palette was inspired by a Cuban Luncheonette!

A sweet find

Aren't these the sweetest little earrings. Simple, feminine, and totally summery. I found these and other sweet finds using the Etsy shop by color  option.  You can find the whole collection here.

Groomsmen Attire by C. Taylor

Me and the soon to be Mister have been weighing the idea of having his groomsmen wear Chuck Taylors with their tuxedos. I think they would make the perfect groomsmen's gifts. We both live in our Chucks - so it would be personal as well. Converse has a ton of colors and styles to choose from. You can even design your own! Here's the pair I like the best. 

When you Get Swine Flu Make Lemonade

So I have been off all week due to an unfortunate swine flu outbreak at my school. Really. Although I wish a speedy recovery to all my sick students, I felt fit as a fiddle and used the extra time to squeeze in some wedding planning. I stopped by a local dress shop in my Brooklyn neighborhood that carries a small line of bridesmaid dresses and I found this fun flirty fifty's frock by Lynn Lugo.  Although, I already have dresses in mind in a very different style, I couldn't help but share this with you all. It screams 1950's housewife out on the town on a hot summer night. The yellow is called lemonade dupioni - how perfect is that! It also let me imagine a totally different wedding palette and style. I love my colors and my clean, modern plans - but its fun to try on another wedding- just for a minute. Have you ever day dreamed about a wedding palette totally different than the one you chose?

My Original Yellow Inspiration

Well, the topic is slightly misleading. I have ALWAYS loved yellow. It is bright. It is vibrant. It shouts sunshine and summer. It is modern yet classic, oh I could go on and on. But, oddly this "celebrity " wedding was the one that inspired my yellow wedding dreams. Not realizing I could even have such  joyous, stylish colors in my wedding palette, I conceded to one day having some boring bluish b-maids. But one Sunday while vegging out on the couch, I stumbled upon Bill Rancic and Giuliana dePandi's wedding special on the E! Channel. While both "celebs" are pretty vapid , their wedding was gorgeous. Married in a small chapel in the picturesque (and very yellow) Italian island Capri, the couple marched in the streets to their outdoor reception overlooking the water. She was flanked by her ladies in yellow-bright whimsical yellow Oscar De La Renta gowns. The whole wedding was so fresh, sexy, classic, and romantic and I was totally inspired.

Oh and the lovely couple

Will you be mine?

So, I've been a little MIA recently, but I have been one busy bee. I have just placed a order for custom " Will you be my Bridesmaid Cards?" I went back and forth on how I should ask my ladies and ultimately settled on personalized cards and messages. Each card will be stuffed with a picture from our past. I found these simple little cards on  Little Lady Company  Esty Site.  She was a doll to work with, and although I loved her message, I actually asked her to change the text a bit, and she made me a custom order.  I don't want to share the final product just yet because I want my girls to be surprised! But here's the original listing... and of course they came in yellow!

GASP!

Its so perfect! This is precisely the headpiece I had in mind. Etsy has become like a wish fulfillment machine. I would order it up right now, but I am still feeling like its "too soon". I am not sure what I am waiting for, but I am plagued by this fear that I am making decisions too soon. Considering my wedding is still more than a year a way I think my fears are some what justified- but if I really love something I should snatch it up right? Particularly whimsical hairpieces with pretty yellow feathers and baby blue beading. 

Just the Right Pop

In an attempt to "de-winter" my wadrobe I have been scouring Jcrew.com and stumbled across these little beauties. They call their yellow "Saffron".

I think they could be just the perfect pop of color . My dress is super simple so I'm considering colorful shoes or a brightly colored hairpiece. And by colorful, I mean yellow !

My Yellow Wedding

Consider My Yellow Wedding launched!

Well.. the blog at least. 

After a couple months of wedding planning, I decided to start blogging so I can share my ideas and join this community of creative and intelligent women ( and men!) who are using their talents to plan their own celebrations of love and commitment. 

To start us off here is my first bit of yellow inspiration. I think they would make divine bridesmaid gifts. I found them from showmethebunny's collection on etsy, which never fails to make me swoon. Check back to be inspired or to inspire all things yellow!