Jumping on the Bandwagon

Like so many others these days, I've been a very busy bee. In addition to the usual pre-holiday hubbub, I've started a new job and it's keeping me very busy. I feel like right now I'm also in a bit of a wedding lull. I've hired all my vendors, made all the big decisions, and now I'm just waiting to get cracking on all those DIY projects (like those Save the Dates I haven't worked on since July!).

However, I've noticed a lot of bees posting their engagements pictures lately and realized I never posted mine. We ended up getting our pictures done on two different nights since our first attempt happened on a cloudy, rainy night. We got our pictures back soon after and Mr. Chickadee and I love them so much! It was so much fun to get to see our photographer, Mark Romine, in action.

Once we got the proofs back we decided to order a photo guest book of our engagement pictures. Just yesterday Mark e-mailed me to let me know the design was ready for my approval!

You can see the entire guest book design here but I'll leave you for now with one of my favorite pages!


Photos by Mark Romine. I think clicking makes it bigger.

Attack of the Killer Veils

I've heard time and time again that a woman doesn't truly feel like a bride until she dons her veil for the first time. One of the employees of Michelle's Bridal Shoppe even told me a story about a bride who chose her veil first and planned the rest of her wedding day attire around that. For many brides, the veil is an integral part of her wedding day.

So I'm beginning to think I may have a problem.

The thing is, I fully appreciate a beautiful veil. There's something really breathtaking about a cathedral length veil skimming the floor as a bride makes her trek down the aisle. It's just that I don't really like veils on me.


Some lovely full length veils from Romona Keveza.

Gorgeous right?

Well...this is me in a long veil. I like to call it the bride-eating veil....for obvious reasons.



So I blamed this unfortunate tulle explosion on the fact that I'm a pretty petite person, and decided a long veil was just not for me.

However, the sad fact is that a short veil does not automatically reduce the likelihood of poof-overdose.


Also from Romona Keveza. I secretly love all of these looks and wish I could pull them off!

These are some more examples of my previous run-ins with veils of the shorter variety. You can tell by my face in the first picture that I'm a little underwhelmed.



So for now, I'm still undecided and decided to take a little break from the veil hunt, before I'm consumed by my biggest fear...

which would be, of course, these veils:


(I feel like I should mention that Romona Keveza is actually my favorite wedding dress designer...I just strongly believe these veils should stay on the runway!)

Anyone else in my shoes when it comes to the great veil dilemma? Any tips or suggestions of how to overcome my veil phobia? What kind of veil did you choose?

#4

Things I learned from my sister's wedding: #4

Try to get everything done a few days before the actual wedding. Ok, admittedly this is much easier said than done, but try to schedule all your do-it-yourself projects to finish up well in advance of your big day. That way you won't be up the night before tying ribbons and folding programs when you should be sleeping.

My sister got married on a Sunday and the Wednesday before my parents and I showed up at her apartment and helped her finish all the crafty projects, including her favors of Jelly Beans in little bags.



The Seville, my sister's reception venue, requires brides to bring in all their supplies several days in advance so on Thursday we dropped off toasting flutes, place cards, menus & menu holders, cake knife, fake rose petals, and favors. The Seville was super organized and while my sister talked to the manager, I went over the placement of everything with the guy who sets up the room on the day of the wedding.

It was wonderful, then, to get all the wedding clutter and day-of projects out of my sister's house for the rest of the week. I think we were all a little more relaxed knowing there was nothing left to do for the big day!

Bridal University

For all those Central Illinois brides out there (I know there are a few!), this Thursday is the second annual Bridal University in Champaign-Urbana.



This event brings together some of the area's best vendors (including my photographer!) in an informative session on choosing vendors, making the most of each vendor and his/her services, and answering all those plaguing questions. There's also a fashion show and creative workshops meant to "put the fun back in wedding planning."

The event is taking place this Thursday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Michelle's Bridal, 2210 N. Willow Rd. in Urbana. Tickets are $10 each, but all the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.

If you're feeling a little lost in the wedding plans, or need something to add the fun back in, come to Urbana for the night....or you could always come to meet me! :)

Three Adjectives

I'm happy to say that after all my initial trepidation, we have chosen a DJ! Unfortunately, Mr. Chickadee wasn't able to make it to the first meeting, but his mom and I did sit down with Ben Miller, of Premier Productions, and we were really impressed. We ended chatting for well over the allotted hour, and I was almost late for my engagement pictures!

One thing we discussed at length was what sort of tone I wanted to set at the reception. Ben asked me to identify three adjectives to describe the reception of our dreams. I have to admit, he sort of put me on the spot and with all my background in literature and writing, I came up with some pretty lame adjectives. Still, I maintain that I'd like our reception to embody these three things:

1. Fun - I don't know anyone that doesn't hope for a "fun" reception. For Mr. Chickadee and I, specifically, we want our reception to be like one great big party! We want our guests to dance the night away, which requires a great DJ like Ben to play some of our favorite tunes.

2. Emotional - In addition to a great party, that day will be the celebration of joining our lives in marriage! I want to feel a wide range of emotions that day - from excited to romantic to nostalgic to absolutely ecstatic. I want my guests to experience those emotions as well.

3. Unifying - I take the term "tying the knot" pretty seriously...Mr. Chickadee and I are literally tying a knot between our families. I want all our family and friends to get to know each other and bond that day. I want everyone to feel included and special on our day.

What three adjectives would you use to describe your dream for your wedding day?

10 Biggest Mistakes Guests Make

I stumbled across this article today, written by Miles Stiverson, and thought I'd see what the hive thinks.

According to Stiverson, these are the 10 biggest mistakes guests make at weddings:

1. Not sending RSVPs
2. Sending RSVPs with extra guests
3. Bombarding the bride with phone calls and questions
4. Buying a non-registry gift
5. Showing up late
6. Bringing a big, heavy gift
7. Giving unexpected toasts
8. Requesting songs
9. Drinking too much
10. Crashing your wedding

Would I be a horrible Bee if I admitted to committing one or two of these party fouls? Is it my fault I thought my sister needed a pretty set of Vera Wang toasting flutes for her bridal shower? Can I really be held accountable if I thought the reception was sorely lacking a few Barry Manilow tunes? Should I have been more watchful of Mr. Chickadee's drinks so he didn't end up like this at the end of the night?



Ok, all joking aside, what do you ladies think of this list of rules? What do you find the most heinous offense? Any you think can be taken off the list? Did Stiverson miss anything that ought to be added to the Polite Guest Handbook?

#3

Things I Learned From My Sister's Wedding: #3

If you're getting ready at a hotel, your house, or anywhere other than the ceremony location, you might want to invest in a hand steamer. We had a 20 minute ride between the hotel and the church, and when we climbed out of the limo we were all wrinkly. Luckily, my sister had thought ahead and had a steamer waiting for us at the church!

We were able to steam the wrinkles from all four of our bridesmaids dresses, my mom's dress, and even the bride's dress! If you're worried about taking a steamer to your own dress, though, at least have one there for the bridesmaids dresses. The steamer worked wonders and brought us back up to looking picture perfect!

You can find hand steamers at any of your basic home stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond or Linens n' Things...or even register for one like my sister and her husband did!


Taking turns steaming each other in the church basement.

Pass the Vino

What could be better on a rainy Friday than a DIY project!

A few weeks ago I tuned into Martha Stewart's show and saw Darcy Miller showing off some of her great ideas for weddings. I absolutely fell in love with one of her table settings, which showed up on her blog soon after.


Photo courtesy of Darcy Miller's blog.

Of course I loved the floral table runner, but what really caught my eye was the wine bottle. What a creative way to number the tables! Now, Mr. Chickadee and I are far from connoisseurs, but we do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner every once and awhile, and certainly wanted nice wine selections for our wedding reception. It just seemed perfect to use the bottles to label each table.

So today I did a little trial run of our numbered wine bottles. On the way home from the post office I swung by Friar Tuck's and picked up a yummy bottle of Merlot. Ok, I didn't really care what it tasted like, I just browsed the aisles looking for a pretty bottle!



Next I designed a new label, nice and simple. The dimensions were 3.75" by 5" but that could be changed depending on whatever bottle you choose. I made it really simple, with the number in the font Ecolier and the word "table" in DaunPenh. I printed it off on some scrap paper I had in my craft room, which was a pretty thick, textured white cardstock.




After cutting it in my handy paper cutter, I adhered it to the bottle, right over the old label! At first I thought I'd have to remove the original label, but Darcy said on the show that they just covered it up. If it's good enough for Martha Stewart, it's good enough for me!

I just took a glue stick to stick it on the bottle, but I think when I do it "for real" I'll use glue dots instead, as I don't think the glue stick will seal it permanently. But this is the finished product!



So, what are you doing to spice up your table settings?

Engagement Pictures

This afternoon Mr. Chickadee and I are having our second set of engagement pictures taken. We went down to Bloomington a couple weeks ago for a photo session with out photographer, Mark Romine, but the weather just didn't cooperate. It was cold, overcast, and got dark way too quickly for our 5:30 appointment.

Luckily today is a gorgeous fall day! The plan is to dress up in the same clothes as last time and combine all the best pics into one set of fantastic engagement pictures. But one question is lingering over the whole thing...what are we going to do with these pictures?

Our photographer does offer a great option of creating a guest book out of the pictures, but we just haven't decided if it's worth the extra $300. There's really no place for the pictures in our Save the Dates, either.

So what are you guys doing with your e-pics? Any fantastic suggestions or creative ideas for us?

#2: Mr. and Mrs. Who?

Things I Learned From My Sister's Wedding: #2

When making your honeymoon reservations, make sure you specify what your new, married name (if you choose to change your name) will be.

I think it's quite common for the bride to really take control of the wedding planning, and this often includes the honeymoon. My sister was no exception. She made the honeymoon reservations in Cancun, used her account to pay for it, etc.

Well, as a result, when they arrived at the Dreams Cancun, they were greeted as Mr. and Mrs. H (her maiden name) instead of Mr. and Mrs. V (married name). Things were labeled in their suite as Mr. and Mrs. H and when my new brother-in-law called down to the front desk he was referred to as Mr. H. Oops.

Luckily, my sister and her husband have good senses of humor. Still, I would suggest making it quite clear to your honeymoon accommodations what your new name is going to be!

Blogging Brides

Last summer our local newspaper ran an article about the growing trend of bridal blogs. At the time it was particularly interesting because my family & friends didn't know the extent of my own bridal blogging. The brides interviewed ranged from women who had created "wed-sites" to women who were letting online readers choose specific details of their weddings via online polls. Honestly, nothing there shocked me, as I am quite familiar with the online wedding planning sensation. Still, it did get me thinking about my own bridal blogging journal.

After getting engaged, I turned to such online sites like TheKnot.com and LiveJournal for ideas.
It amazed me that there were always new posts appearing on these communities and when I posted I almost instantly received tons of feedback from other brides just like me! It was only a matter of time before my iolvement in these communities deepened from occasionally commenting and absorbing ideas, to rushing home after dress shopping and posting tons of pictures. It was then that I revealed my new obsession to Mr. Chickadee. He was indulgent at first, laughing good-naturedly when I talked about my "friends" online. However, when I told him not to go snooping around my websites because there were dress pictures there, he changed his tune a little.

"You put pictures of yourself online?"

Um, yes, of course I do. (I also put pictures of him online). He knew this, of course, as I absolutely lived for the picture feature on Facebook. But still, he was worried. I tried to insist that these were "locked" communities, or message boards for brides only, but he was still skeptical, insisting all sorts of creepy people could be lurking about, looking at these pictures. I kept insisting that this wasn't the case, but maybe he had a point.

Sure, I use an alias here and blur out the names on my mock-up of the save the dates, but I was still telling people where we lived and when we were getting married, not to mention showing them all how smoking hot I was in a big white dress (hehe).

In addition to those predators out there who want to glean personal information from your wedding plans, there's the (perhaps more common) problem that arises when you rant about an AWOL bridesmaid or crazy family member in your blog and it gets back to her. I try to prevent this by never putting something on my blog that I wouldn't feel comfortable having my mom/grandma/mother-in-law/little sister read.

So what do you guys think about sharing the intimate details of your big day with the entirety of the internet?

I still maintain you can do it in a safe way, so long as you're careful about not giving away too much private information, but perhaps it is a big risk we're taking.

Still, it's a risk I'm, at least, willing to take for the sense of camaraderie and support I get from the other blogging brides-to-be out there.

(For more information about safe blogging, check out the articles at ConnectSafely)

#1

Things I Learned From My Sister's Wedding: #1

If you're not willing to spend a bundle on day-of makeup or don't feel comfortable with the gobs of foundation and powders your make-up artist slapped on during the trial, you absolutely can do it yourself (or at least have a trusted bridesmaid do it for you).

However, I do have a little caveat. If you're doing it yourself, I'd actually recommend getting it done by a pro well in advance. Just let the make-up artist know that you plan on doing it yourself for the big day and let her/him teach you how to make yourself over! If you're unsure about actually doing it yourself, take along a trusted bridesmaid or family member to learn how to do it. I would recommend, though, doing your own eyeliner and mascara, as it was nearly impossible for me to do that to someone else.

A couple weeks before the big day my sister and I stopped by her local Clinique counter. We worked with a really nice girl who helped us choose colors and taught us the best techniques to apply the make-up. Now, I do have to admit that my sis spent more buying all the make-up than she would have if she'd just paid for a day-of make-up artist, but this way, she was able to keep all the great stuff!

In the end I did both of my sisters' and my own make-up, and I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. :) We only had to re-powder twice (once at the church, once at the reception) and the make-up stayed all night long!

It's In! Now let's just hope it will zip...

Just yesterday I wrote about my dress. I ordered it in July (ok July 19th to be exact, and I'm probably going to take my dress out to dinner every year on our anniversary I love it so much) and wasn't expecting it to be in until December or January, but surprise! It's in now!

Right now in a little shop in Aurora, Illinois (which is woefully, 2 1/2 hours away) MY DRESS is hanging there are lonely and in need of me. Luckily my newly married sister lives there and I was planning to go see her this weekend anyway, so I'm sure we'll make time to swing by and visit my darling dress.

Now I do have a question for you though: my wedding is still a good 8 months away so I'd really rather not start the fittings/alterations process yet. Especially as I'd still like to lose a little bit of weight and haven't even begun the process of looking at shoes/elaborate undergarments (probably Spanx? Anyone have other recommendations?) How far in advance did you/are you beginning the fittings process? And do you know how many fittings you're going to need? Did you use the alterations person at your dress shop or find someone else?

And, if you, like me, just recently found out your dress is in, feel free to just squee and post pics in the comments. I promise I'll jump up and down for you in excitement!

Playing Dress-up, Part 3

So I was definitely intending to tell you more about my dress hunt after my last post on the subject, but I got so busy that I forgot! So now I'm back to finally wrap up the saga and show you my dress!

While my mom was still up north we stopped by Wolsfelt’s Victorian Bridal in Aurora, Illinois. We went into the experience thinking we’d just look around and try a few gowns on, but wouldn’t end up buying anything because I still had my heart set on trying the Watters dress. Looking around before we were helped only reinforced this idea. The dresses we saw were mostly over $2000, while I was looking more in the $1000-1200 range. Still, we figured it couldn't hurt to look around.

So anyways, when I made the appointment the lady on the phone was so nice and friendly and asked a ton of questions. When we arrived, she had already pulled a few dresses that she thought I might like and then I went through and picked a few more. While I was trying them on, Pat, the assistant kept asking questions to get a better feel for my personality and what kind of wedding I wanted to have. I felt like for the first time I had a sales lady who was using her expertise to help me. She actually told me what worked with my body and what didn’t, and I wasn’t offended to hear it since I knew she just wanted to help me.

They only had a few of the mermaid or trumpet style dresses so I ended up trying on a lot of the ball gown types as well. I even tried on one huge duponi silk dress that was so wide I don’t think both my dad and I could have gotten down the aisle together! It looked fine on me, but it just didn’t have the spark that I wanted. However, I had picked up one mermaid shaped dress early on that Pat had described as a total Barbie dress, which sounded perfect to me!

I always wonder how people would actually know when they saw "the dress" but I guess now I know! There isn’t anything I don’t love about this dress…from the color, to the train, to the slight beading, even the bow! It’s such a mix of trendy and traditional, sexy and demure. It was even within my price range! So I reluctantly left my dream dress behind but by the time my mom and I drove the 2 1/2 hours home, we knew it was “the one.” That night I called and placed the order. They even gave us 10% off for ordering on the same day I came in for my first appointment!

We couldn’t take pictures on the day I first saw it since I hadn’t paid yet, but when I took my mom back up to Chicago a few days later we stopped by with 2 of my aunts and 3 of my cousins (yes, I'm that girl) to see it again and take pics. Here are some of my favorites:

(Dear Mr. Chickadee, dad, and anyone else who doesn't want to know, you can stop reading now!)

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Please excuse the orange industrial clips in the back.


The simple beading on top.


With a veil on, though I haven't quite decided what length I want.


I love the back!

The dress itself isn't a fancy designer or anything, just a private label by Wolsfelt's, but that doesn't matter much to me, I love it! It should be here around the beginning of the year and I absolutely can't wait!

MOB Dress

Since my sister's wedding, I've gotten a few inquiries about my mom's dress. I'm planning a whole series of tips/tricks/lessons I've learned from my sister's wedding but for now, I'll tell you about the adventures of shopping for my mom's dress.




Picking out a dress was one of the things my mom was most worried about prior to the wedding...and the idea that she'd need to buy TWO dresses in a year made it even worse. Living 3,000 miles from my sister and I certainly didn't help either. She'd perused the Nordstrom's website and found a lot of promising options, but was disappointed by the selection at the actual store. So she made plans in July to fly up to Chicago from Dallas to go MOB dress shopping and to look for bridal gowns with me.

In the meantime I made an appointment at House of Brides in Schaumburg. We'd been in the store looking for bridesmaids dresses with my sister and they seemed to have a lot of options so we figured we'd go back. When I called I made sure they knew that the wedding was in October, only a few months later, and they told me that would be no problem whatsoever.

However, when we actually got to HOB that day, we were scolded like naughty school children when we showed up. Apparently everything in the store takes at least 4 months to order, despite what the lady on the phone had said. Disappointed, we headed down the street to David's Bridal.

We had been to this same David's a few weeks before shopping for a strapless bra for my sister and it was sort of a nightmare, but this time we actually had great service. The dress we picked out for my mom was only in a dark purple at the David's in Schaumburg so our salesperson called all over until she located the dress in mocha elsewhere in the suburbs that we could take home with us that day.

The dress was affordable, needed no alterations, and in the end looked sooo beautiful on my mom!

If you're looking for MOB dresses my biggest tip is to shop early! A lady at one bridal shop told my FMIL and I that MOB dresses can take nearly as long as a wedding dress to come in, so you can't start too early.

What are your moms wearing to your weddings? Where'd they find their dresses?

I have a little confession to make...

I've been a bad bride-to-be. When I first got engaged I rushed to book so many of our vendors. We had a date, a photographer, a reception venue, and the church before the first month was up. But then....well, I just got busy. You know, that sort of busy-ness when you graduate college and don't have a job yet and actually don't have anything to do on a daily basis except watch The Office on DVD? Yeah, busy, right.

So now I'm getting married in June and I don't have a DJ. That's ok, right? Well, I hope so. My FMIL and I are going to meet with our first DJ tomorrow but I'm sort of stumped. When I met with photographers I looked at their work, but what do you look at with a DJ? It's not like he's creating the music, just pressing the buttons to make it play, right?

So how did you go about choosing a DJ? Any important questions I should make sure to ask? Anyone have central IL recommendations for me? Thanks ladies!

Also, tomorrow we're getting our engagement pictures and I'm so so so excited! I'll let you all know how it goes after we get home tomorrow!

And, more info from my sister's wedding coming up as well!

New Bride on the Block

Sorry I've been a little absent the last week or so, but I've been a very busy bee. On Sunday, my big sister became a Mrs. Despite early forecasts of thunderstorms and cold weather, we ended up with a beautiful, but blazing hot day in the Chicago suburbs. In the coming days I'll fill you in on some of the details of my sister's big day, but for now, I'll leave you with some pictures taken by my FMIL, me, and other random people who picked up our cameras throughout the night. I ended up with some 250 pictures from the day, so believe me, there are more to come!


One of my favorites from the day: My dad with my little sister and I. I loved the guys' get-up, especially after they added the bright pink rose as a boutonniere!


The newly weds! I've never seen my sister smile so much in my life!


My sister and I up at the head table.


My parents looking all snazzy.


Mr. Chickadee and I...we're next!


Haley, one of the flower girls. She and the other FG, Amaya, were absolutely darling all day long.

And finally...one of my favorites from the night:

Mr. Chickadee catching the garter. Ok, so it doesn't appear that anyone else actually wanted to catch it, but I was still proud of him!

Going Green

Well, it's T-6 days until my sister's wedding... and, just in the nick of time, I've finished my biggest DIY project for her: the escort cards. As I mentioned before, we had previously bought up the entire stock of Martha Stewart's evergreen cardstock from Micheal's for the project. However, we hadn't planned on going green originally.

She had found this picture on the Knot (from the wedding of Andrea & Geoff in St. Paul, Minnesota) and thought it would be perfect for her clover green wedding:



However, I was a little skeptical. I had no idea how we would ever find pre-scored cards in just the right color. I'd seen the all white, easy to print on, pre-scored sheets at Michael's and figured that would be the only possible way, outside of hiring some fancy stationary place to do them. So, we resigned ourselves to this design instead.



However, then I read Mrs. Snow Pea's post about the Making Memories Kit, which includes a scoring tool that makes perfect folds. Problem solved! (Thanks Mrs. Snow Pea!)

So instead we worked up this design:


So how'd we do it? Simple!

First I cut the evergreen paper. This was a bit of a pain because it's 18 in. by 18 in. which means it doesn't fit into my handy dandy paper cutter. So I borrowed an extra-long scoring mat and a yard stick from my FMIL. Once I split the paper in half, I could slip it into my paper cutter. Each of the green pieces got cut into 3.5" by 4.5" rectangles, which means I got 16 cards from each big sheet of cardstock.

Next, I scored each of the rectangles. I wouldn't recommend scoring the paper right down the exact center because you'll end up with that little overhang when you're done. Instead, offset the score by an eighth of an inch or so. You might be able to tell that my scorer is wrapped in masking tape. That was because the area to grip the scorer is made of little metal bumps and it was starting to hurt my hands, so watch out for that!
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Next, I waited until my sister sent over her seating chart. When that was ready, I set up a template in InDesign. If you're setting escort cards up in InDesign, QuarkXPress, or something similar, create a master page first with all your guides set up. It'll save a lot of time and energy. I'd also recommend setting up all the names in Excel and alphabetizing them by last name. Many reception venues require the cards to be in alphabetical order when you bring them in. This is a screen shot of my InDesign file:


Each of the white spots on the escort cards measured 3" by 4", which would ultimately leave a quarter inch border of green on each card. I used 40 pt. Bickham Script Pro for the names and 10 pt. Cambria for the table numbers.

Next, I took my files over to Office Max. They'll print black and white really inexpensively there. They'll also cut your paper if you want them to (although it can get a little costly and it isn't always precise). I had already picked up a pack of white cardstock from Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off, so I just took that with me, which made it even cheaper. Altogether I got 28 pages printed (18 pages of escort cards and 10 pages of menus) and it cost me $2.52! Be warned, though, printing in color is MUCH more expensive at a place like Office Max or Kinko's than printing in black.

The next step was to chop up all these sheets of names. Unfortunately, I had worked a lot of random borders in (like a quarter inch in between each card) that made it a lot harder to cut. Luckily I assigned Mr. Chickadee the task of cutting, because he is far more precise and diligent than I.


When he had each card cut, I punched them with our pretty little Martha Stewart Floral Lace Punch. In order to make sure each punch was perfectly centered, I measured out the size of the card on the puncher and made little marks. That way I had some guides to go by.



After that, I stuck each card to the green backing. I started out with a more liquid craft glue with a pointy tip. It was really easy to apply, not messy at all, and awfully forgiving as it dried slowly. However, buckling and bubbles are a lot more common when using this type of adhesive so I quickly switched over to using an Elmers craft bond glue stick. If you're messy like me, make sure to put down some scrap paper, as you're sure to get glue everywhere.


Several hours, and many many sticky glued up fingers later, we had finished escort cards!

(Ok, I'm not good at straight lines, but you get the idea!)

Playing dress-up, part 2

At the end of my first dress shopping experience, I decided I wanted to look for dresses with a mermaid or trumpet skirt, but I still didn't know where I would end up finding a dress like that. Most of the dresses I had seen at Michelle's were a-line or ball gowns, so that option was out, and I didn't have much confidence in the other local shops. So I decided I'd look iat shops in the Chicago suburbs in July when my mom was coming to visit.

In the meantime, I was scouring the internet for some dresses in the mermaid style. I came across this dress by Watters that I absolutely loved. I've always adored the beachy casual feel of Watters dresses, but never thought I'd find one appropriate for our formal wedding. However, this dress, in my opinion was just perfect. Unfortunately, it was part of their newest line and wasn't in shops yet. I made plans to see the dress at a Watters trunk show in August at Michelle's, but in the meantime, I was shopping with my mom!



The first place we headed to was the House of Brides in Schaumburg. We had gone there to look at bridesmaids' dresses for my sister's wedding, so we knew they had a lot of dresses at a variety of price ranges. For those of you who don't know about House of Brides it's sort of like an upscale warehouse environment. Sort of like a David's Bridal with more variety of dresses. Our experience there was like a lot of girls' experiences at David's. We had a consultant, but she wasn't really around. She kept leaving us, meaning my sister had to get me in and out of the dresses, then scolding us when she got back and saw the makeshift jobs we'd done of clamping up the dresses in the back. It was a little obnoxious, but didn't bother me too much. It was sort of fun to just have a free-for-all with the dresses, not worried about the consultant being too pushy or bossy.

I did find some dresses I liked at House of Brides, but nothing that I absolutely had to buy right that second. One thing that is really nice about House of Brides is that they have such a great variety. If you're looking to try on a lot of different shapes or styles, House of Brides might just be the place for you.

Here's one dress that we snapped a quick picture of in the dressing rooms.

This dress only cost $399! That alone almost made me buy it!

We left House of Brides that day knowing we had another appointment the next day at Wolsfelt's Victorian Bridal. Little did we know, that would be my last dress shopping stop! Stay tuned for THE dress, coming up next!

Let's start at the very beginning...

This Monday a new season of The Bachelor started on ABC. Unfortunately, I've got to admit that I watch it every year, despite fully realizing it's pretty much a wasted hour of every week. I love to see them fall in love...even if it is a short-lived TV sort of love. Also, this weekend, one of Mr. Chickadee and I's good friends went on a date set-up by a popular dating website.

Together, these two facts have got me thinking about ways to meet significant others. Mr. Chickadee and I have an unoriginal story, as we went to high school together. However, our relationship really took off after talking a LOT online. It was really a way for me to get to know shy Mr. Chickadee before we started dating.

So, what's your dating story? Did you meet in any interesting circumstances? Any internet set-ups out there? Tell me how your love story started!

Playing Dress Up

So I have to admit, I love playing dress up. Always have, probably always will. And getting a wedding dress is pretty much like playing dress up for grown-ups. Needless to say, trying on wedding dresses has pretty much been my very favorite thing in wedding planning so far.

The very first time I went dress shopping was a mere 2 days after getting engaged. I was finally “allowed” to go do it and I couldn’t wait. However, that day was more of a fun time with my girls than anything else. There was only one dress that I liked that day: Maggie Sottero’s Grace, but it definitely didn’t give me the “this is it” feeling.

Fast forward a couple of months. I had graduated from college and gotten settled in my new apartment when my FMIL suggested we go dress shopping. So we drove down to Michelle’s Bridal Shoppe in Urbana because we’d heard it was the best in downstate Illinois and it’s just an hour down the road from my in-laws’ house.

Going into dress shopping I wanted pick-ups. Maybe not the crazy huge cupcake look of some dresses, but subtle pick-ups like on my bridesmaid's dress for my sister's wedding. Our assistant Melissa, picked up a new Alfred Angelo bridal gown in the same style. I was so excited, but proceeded to pick up a good 20 other dresses to check out just in case. They’re all so pretty, I couldn’t resist! At first Melissa seemed appalled I would want to try on that many, but I figured if I was going to pay a thousand dollars for a dress, I was going to at least try on every other one in the county.

I tried on the Alfred Angelo dress and decided right away it was just not the one for me. I’m awfully petite, and the dress just seemed to swallow me whole. Disappointed, I kept plugging away through the rest of the dresses. Despite my desire to have something drastically different from my sister’s dress (she’s getting married this October, I’m getting married next June) most of the dresses were simple ball gowns or a-lines. That’s not to say they weren’t gorgeous; they even looked pretty good on me, but none of them gave me that certain feeling.

These are the three that I ended up liking the best:





In the end I liked the third one the best with it's gorgeous train and even convinced myself that it could be the dress I get married in, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

But here’s where things get interesting:

The one dress I tried on that differed from the a-line ball gown type dress, was a mermaid shaped Maggie Sottero gown. I didn’t actually like the dress itself (something about the beading just seemed strange to me) but I kept coming back to the picture of myself in the dress. Finally my little sister pointed out that though the dress was just so-so, the shape of it looked fantastic on me! It was at that point that I decided I needed to switch gears and stop looking at dresses with pick-ups and focus more on the mermaid shape. It would give that little bit of something unique without a skirt so big that it overwhelmed me.

The dress that started it all:


I did have a great time at Michelle's and I'd recommend it to anyone, but there just wasn't anything there for me.

One Ring to Rule Them All

(couldn't resist a little Lord of the Rings reference)

Mrs. Bell Pepper's most recent post about ring holders really got me thinking.... How often do you take off your engagement/wedding ring?

I eat, sleep, shower, swim, cook, and craft with my engagement ring. In fact, the only time I take off my ring is to get it cleaned or when I'm making meatballs (for which I use my hands, and I'm afraid to get meat bacteria all stuck up in my ring).

On the other hand, my sister never sleeps or showers with her engagement ring on. She waits until she's walking out the door to work to slip it back on after a whole night of being ring-less. I can't do this because I'm afraid I'd forget it all the time, and my left ring finger just feels naked without it!

So where do you ladies fall in this spectrum? Do you take your ring off for specific activities or leave it on all the time?

If a picture's worth a thousand words...

...how many bajillion words will our wedding photography be worth?

In my "real life" (you know, the pre-wedding planning frenzy life) I'm pretty crazy about taking pictures. My little digital elph camera is always tucked into my purse, ready to make an appearance at the first sign of something cute/interesting/embarrassing. I've been known to take hundreds of pictures in a night of hanging out with my friends, and once, on a three week cruise with Mr. Chickadee, we managed to take 3,000 pictures.

So, you can imagine how important wedding photography is to me.

Prior to getting engaged, I thought I knew exactly who my wedding photographer would be. You see, when I was a senior in high school I had my pictures taken by David Lee. David Lee was the best around and back then everyone went to him for senior pics. When we got the pictures back, I was amazed! It was the first time I ever felt really pretty in pictures and I was convinced it was all due to David Lee's great skills.

So the first thing I did upon getting engaged was buying up all the wedding magazines at Barnes & Noble, but the second thing was calling David Lee. However, I was devastated when I found out he didn't do weddings! Apparently I had just overlooked the fact that there was no "wedding" link on his website. What? It could happen to anyone!

So I turned to my local wedding planning webpage to find the names of some other photographers. If you're feeling stumped about some of your own vendors, try seeing if there's a local board out there with suggestions. You can also turn to your local Knot board if it's at all active. Living outside of any one metropolitan area, though, I've never really found a "home" on the Knot boards. If you really can't find a photographer up to your standards, don't settle! Many awesome photographers will travel to your location for a pretty reasonable fee.

I narrowed my search down to three photographers in the Bloomington-Normal area:
1. Schilling Photography: This was one of the very first photographers I found that seemed to capture what I envisioned. My love affair with Schilling Photography was short lived though. After e-mailing them and finding out about their packages I was a little disappointed. One of my major concerns was that they shot in film, so the pictures were limited to (what I thought) was a pretty low number. I'm not that photogenic so I figured we would need unlimited pictures in order to get enough where both Mr. Chickadee and I were looking fabulous.

2. Bruer Photography: I still look at Bruer Photography's website and ooh and ahh over their pictures. I think they have a really beautiful and artistic style. Unfortunately, my attempts to contact them were wildly unsuccessful. I ended up e-mailing them twice and when I didn't receive a response within a few weeks, I started calling....like once or twice a day (I am persistent). No one ever picked up the phone, although I did eventually get a response from the emails I sent. I was already in contact with another photographer by this point (see below) but I did email them back to get some pricing information and see if we could meet. I didn't hear back from them until several months later when I had already signed a contract with another photographer. In my opinion, if a vendor cannot even return emails or phone calls, I will not feel comfortable working with them for something so important.

3. (Ok, so I saved the best for last!) Mark Romine: Mark is another photographer I found through the Bloomington-Normal wedding page. I contacted him almost immediately and was so excited to see an email back from him the next day! He's wonderful about responding to all my long and obnoxious emails . In the first couple emails we exchanged, Mark shared with me some of his photo album designs which really sealed the deal for me. Mr. Chickadee, his mom, and I met with Mark and his wife Susan last Spring and we clicked really well. I figured we would walk in, be handed some information about pricing, and be asked if we had any questions. Instead, we went to their gorgeous studio and chatted for over and hour. We saw albums & proof books of weddings, engagements, and family pictures. One thing I really liked about Mark was the vibrancy of his shots. Mr. Chickadee, on the other hand, was satisfied to hear that Mark had shot the wedding of one of his favorite U of I basketball players. If he was good enough for Robert Archibald, he was good enough for us!

Below are some samples of Mark Romine's work. All the copyright belongs to him, so please don't take and reproduce or anything.














Mr. Chickadee and I are planning an engagement session in October, so I'll keep you all updated on how it goes! Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about Mark. He's also got a portrait site, if you're like me and love to look through all the cute pictures of kids.