And I'm Back...

The past three weeks have been such a whirlwind.

It was so wonderful being able to spend so much time with my parents since the beginning of the month. The trip to St. Louis was fast, but great. The shower that I had there was so beautiful and it was such a treat to spend time with some of the women who have seen me grow up. I was also entrusted with the care of a beautiful fur stole belonging to the grandmother of my gracious shower host. I am planning on wearing it over my dress when the weather gets a bit chilly during the wedding. So excited!

Saturday, I was lucky enough to have another shower in Baltimore. Many of our friends and some of JP's family were able to join us, yes JP made an appearance at the shower as well. The shower was so beautiful, and the stories that were shared about JP and myself were thoughtful and a nice reminder of the times that we have shared with some of the most influential people in our lives.

There are not many times in ones life when friends and family are all able to gather and celebrate together. It has been so meaningful to have friends who care enough about us to create and organize events that made some of these times possible. We can not express how appreciative we are.

One of the highlights of last week was having my parents in town to go with me to my dress fitting. It was completely unexpected, but really fun. Even though we forgot to bring a camera, we did get some good mother daughter shots in with the cell phone.

We are just over a month away from the wedding at this point and are jam packed every weekend until we leave. My best friend from high school was at the shower on Saturday and wanted to get together for lunch some weekend before the wedding. I said that we would love to, but then started going through my schedule with her and realized that realistically the next time we will be able to have lunch with them before the wedding will be in Telluride. I have my checklist made and it seems that for everything that I check off I have about two more things to add, oh well, I love making lists!

One of the items on my list is wedding jewelry. With the exception of my dress and vail, I have been trying fairly hard to ensure that everything else wedding related can be used again, and not for something as fancy as a wedding. The jewelry has been a challenge. I did not want to spend a whole lot of money, and I did not want crazy wedding jewelry. For a while I was planning on doing some kind of pearl situation, I thought that I might make something, but after trying on a few pieces decided against it. I found a great necklace and I love it, so I bought it, but did so at a place that if I do not end of using it I can return it. So now I need earrings, but I think that I have a pair that will suit just fine already in the jewelry collection. But I am still on the lookout for a great pair of earrings that I could wear if I choose to wear my hair up and forgo the necklace. Trivial I know, but I like options.

Oh, I almost forgot that I picked up the bridesmaid dresses on Friday and Melissa was able to try hers on after the shower on Saturday and she looked stunning. I highly suggest TwoBirds to any bride. If makes it so easy and the look ends up being individual, sophisticated and effortless. Three things that I think most women try to achieve. I can't wait to see Lexi in hers next weekend.

So that is an overview of what has been going on. But stay tuned because I really do have some new blogs planned for the upcoming days.

Finishing Touches

The one thing that I still do not have nailed down for the wedding is what jewelry I should wear. I think that for the ceremony I will probably go with a mid sized dual strand pearl, perhaps tapering in size from front to back. And I guess pearls for earrings as well, not a statement, I am aware, but I do like the simplicity of it. I feel like I should be very pulled together for the ceremony, but after that I am free to go. So, while some brides choose to have different dresses, for different times during the wedding celebration, I really like the idea of spicing things up a bit by simply changing accessories. I was looking at the Anthropologie web site this evening and found some nice pieces, well a necklace that I really love, and some earrings that I thought might be nice for someone who wanted to have some fun but not too much. But it is key to remember that you should keep balance in mind and choose either to have the earrings, or the necklace be the statement, not both. (I have been known to do this, but don't recommend it!)


I also think that a wonderful piece of jewelry makes a great gift for people who you are thanking at the wedding, but not necessarily for them to wear during the wedding. Try to find a designer who they really like, or if you are at a craft/art fair and see something that just so perfectly fits your maid of honor, go ahead and get it. Who cares if they can't use their gift in the wedding, probably better because they might be game for wearing it in real every day life. And if you are a laid back bride, I like to think that I am, you can let the attendants choose their accessories, and if you chose your gift wisely she will love it so much that she will want to wear it right away. So those are my thoughts on that.

A Good Friend

Yesterday I had a wonderful day, our friend Melissa, my bridesmaid, drove down from Philadelphia for the day to do all things wedding related. I cannot express how excited I was and what I wonderful time I had, it meant so much to me to have someone else as excited as I am and want to get involved in planning and details for the weekend of the wedding. We had a wonderful and story filled lunch at Atwaters in Belvedere Square, and then headed off to Jo Ann's Fabrics and found all kinds of great things for the wedding. I know everyone just took a deep breath in that I found things for the wedding at a craft store, but don't worry, they did not come from the wedding isle, and they are really only ingredients in a larger project. I think that I am most excited about the button press that I purchased. Melissa and I were playing with it last night and it is so much fun, but more to come on that later.



Melissa also brought down the Spring 2008 Philadelphia Home magazine to show me the loft of an Anthropologie friends that was featured. While looking through I found the above flower display and loved it. Happy Spring.

Gifts They Can Use

Trying to try and find good, useful thank you gifts for your bridal party can be fairly challenging. If you are looking for tacky, ugly, or useless you are lucky because there are endless possibilities out there for your friends and loved ones. However, I am not looking for any of these qualities in what I choose to thank my friends with. In addition, I think that a lot of people try to give gifts that are a remembrance of their wedding, while that is fine, it really needs to be thought out. Do your friends really want items with your names on them, or your wedding date? Probably not. You can choose jewelry, but make sure that it fits their personality and not yours. And I think that is the key point in trying to choose a gift, make sure that it is for the receiver, and not for the giver.

photo from Cherry Tee

While I was cleaning up old bookmarks on my computer I came across Cherry Tee, a great little tee shirt company that only makes high quality, well fitting, beautifully colored tees. There are a few style to choose from, but nothing fancy, no screen printing, no logos, just great simple cotton standbys. I think one of the best things that company has done is reached out from selling the single tee, to selling them in sample sets, gift sets and tee's of the month options. Wouldn't it be nice to be in your friends wedding and for the next year, the first week of every month, receive a great new cotton shit! What a great way to say thank you over and over, and give your friends something that they might actually wear or look at more than once. So check it out, I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Great Packaging

photo from Rust Belt

I love this new jewelry company that I discovered today. The company uses all re-purposed materials and tries to have as little impact as possible on environment. The line is designed by two women, Anna Bario, and Page Neal who are both committed to re-thinking the luxury jewelry world, which is filled with practices that have both negative environmental and social impacts. But I also really like them for the packaging that their items arrive in . Above is a great example of the reused glass bottles that they have adjusted to suit their needs. So while I might not be having a green wedding it is still nice to throw a nod towards something that is ecologically responsible. And what a great choice for the couple who is having a green wedding, nice as wedding party gifts, or as wedding day accessories. This company also has a really informative blog and site so if you have a moment you might want to check them out.

On the Wedding Front

As we have been taking to friends about the wedding and letting them know about airline deals and where to fly into we have had such an amazing response from people. My mom has been saying all along to expect more people to come than not because people love a chance to take a vacation and a wedding is such a good reason, and that seems to be what is happening. There has been such an outpouring of people who are so excited to come and cannot wait and we would not be happier.

photo from TwoBirdsbridesmaid.com

Also, last week I put in the order for the bridesmaids dresses. I had found them back in November and thought that I had a lot of time to get going on that front. Then to my horror, when I was flying to Telluride I splurged and purchase In Style Weddings, and the dresses were mentioned in the magazine. I knew at that point that I needed to place my order and get on with it. Fortunately, the line, Two Birds, just starting to be carried by a bridesmaid store in Baltimore and I was able to go, see the dress and try it on, and I loved it. While I was there the owner mentioned that the woman who owns the dress company was going to be on Martha Stewart in the beginning of February. At any rate I am really excited about them and think that they are such a good solution to the horror of bridesmaid dresses.