Bridesmaid Dresses

I have been envisioning sophisticated, soft yellow dresses, as shown in the examples/inspirations below:

I love the way the bright yellow flowers pop off the soft yellow dresses:

So, together with my bridesmaids, we agreed upon a designer, Mackenzie Micheals, which carries all of its satin dresses in a color called "maize". So the girls will each select a knee-length dress in "maize" satin, and they can each choose a dress style that best fits their body type. Here are some of the dress options:

The second and fifth dress are shown in "maize"; the others are available in maize as well, just not pictured on the website. So now I'm just waiting to see which dresses each bridesmaid chooses!

Saying "YES" to the dress!!!

Update:
So, I got the Mikaella 1209 gown, tried it on, and it is THE dress! :) I absolutely love it and I am so happy that I took a risk! My tailor says alterations will cost around $150, so my total cost is around half of what it would have been ordered locally. So happy!

Saying "maybe" to the dress

After about 6 weeks of searching for the perfect dress (which happens to fall in the price range of under $1500... Ideally under $1000...) I have come to the conclusion that the St. Louis bridal salon's selections are limited. Realistically I shouldn't have expected any stores to carry a designer's full line. Also, I probably shouldn't have looked at desinger's websites and picked out potential dresses before I found out which ones were actually carried in the area.

More specifically, I really shouldn't have fallen in love with the Mikaella 1209 dress, only to find out that: 1.Only two stores in the St. Louis area carry Mikaella, 2.There are no samples of the 1209 dress at either of these stores, and 3. This particular dress is from last season's line, so it may be difficult to find it anywhere.

So, having found all this out 2 weeks ago, I began researching alternatives, and found one option that is potentially awesome, or potentially awful: I found the 1209 dress, size 10, silk-satin, natural, at a Westwood MA bridal boutique, being sold online as a prior sample gown. The dress is priced at $800; regularly retailing around $1400-$1800. Wow!

Of course this is a bit scary given that this would mean buying my wedding dress online, without even trying it on first... Ill-advised, I know.

So, I investigated further- first I called the customer service line- I wanted to make sure this was a real Mikaella gown, sold from a real authorized retailer. I talked to the boutique's owner and she assured me that this was the case. She emailed me several additional close-up pics of the actual gown- showing the zipper, seams, etc. The gown is in excellent shape, and the only signs of wear-and-tear from being a sample are some small pulls near the zipper. Since this dress is a size 10, and I fall in between sizes 6 and 8, these flaws should be able to be elimated when I get my alterations done anyway. So the finished product will be flawless. Finally, she assured me that if the dress wasn't in a condition I considered acceptable, couldn't be properly altered, or any other reason- even if this just wasn't the dress for me- I could return it for a 100 percent refund! No restocking fees or anything sneaky. My only cost, then, should I decide to return it is the $15 it would cost me to ship it back.

So... This being my dream dress... And probably my only way to afford it... With no other viable options in sight... Is it worth the risk?

What would you do?

Well...
I did it!!! I ordered it Saturday morning and it will be here today! I'm really excited to see it, hopeful it looks and fits great in person, and that I can stop saying "maybe" and finally say "yes" to a wedding dress! Wish me luck!

Why I wanted a spring wedding...

Spring flowers!

Here are my ideas for the wedding flowers:

Bridal Bouquet:
all white flowers including peonies, tulips, hydrangea, paper-whites and stephanotis with pearl centers, hand tied in a clean round shape, handle wrapped in white/ivory silk/satin, with pearl pins

Bridesmaid's Bouquets:
all bright yellow flowers (to pop off of the pale yellow dresses) including tulips, daffodils, and craspedias, hand tied in a clean round shape with no greenery (keeping it modern-looking), handle wrapped in grey silk/satin, with silver or white pins

Groom's Boutonnierre:

white stephanotis on soft grey lambs ear leaf, over black tux

Groomsmen's Boutonnierres:

yellow craspedia on soft grey lamb's ear leaf, over charcoal grey tuxes

Mother's corsages:

forgo the traditional rubber-band-esque corsage for a 3-strand pearl bracelet, with a cluster of white orchids with yellow centers woven onto the bracelet

Father's Boutonnierres:
cluster of yellow orchids on lambs ear leaf

Reader's Bouquets:

Small clutch of yellow tulips

Usher's Boutonnierre:

Same as groomsmen

Flower girl's petals:
IF we have a flower girl (still undecided), she will carry a spring mix of yellow and white floral varieties

The aisle decorations:

To avoid taking away from the beauty of the church, our only ceremony decorations will be an aisle runner (white) and some pew markers: every other pew will have a cluster of yellow football mums and a white sash. (Or maybe white hydrangea instead?) We can afford to do every other pew, as the aisle is fairly short, with only 7-8 rows of pews on each side. We will forgo altar arrangements.

Reception Centerpieces:

The dining tables will hold short arrangements of bright yellow football mums, tulips, daffodils and craspedias.
The cocktail tables will hold short simple 1-stem white hydrangea centerpieces. (May possibly have some of these in bathroom, other tables etc)

Escort Card Table Idea:
Had the idea of creating (yes, this may be a DIY project) a large rectangular wooden box and filling it with fresh or silk white hydrangeas, and using this base as a location for the escort card arrangement. Would it look cool? Yes. Is it practical/realistic that I could DIY it? Ummm...

Reviews of St. Louis Florists

Over the past 3 weeks I have interviewed 3 prospective florists, and I would like to share my thoughts on each

The first was Les Bouquets. This florist came highly recommended by several other vendors. The owner's name is Melinda. She seems very nice, but during our interview it didn't seem like she was really listening to my ideas. (ie- no roses please, I think they're cliche and over-used; also wanted to use mainly seasonal/spring flowers to keep costs low and keep greenery to a minimum to keep the look modern and clean) it did seem like she eventually got the ideas, after much coaxing. Two weeks later, I still had not received the proposal, so I emailed her, and she finally returned a proposal 2 days later. This proposal confirmed my suspision that either she wasn't listening or our styles did not mesh- over half of the items discussed were incorrect representations of what I had described, roses were in everything, and the propsal came in waaaaay over budget- estimated at $2200- yikes! (Our requested budget range was $1200-1600)So, needless to say, she is out of the running. (Though, to her defense I have read many other satisfied reviews and she might do a better job with someone who has a different style and budget in mind)

The second florist is RW Designs. I heard about this one from multiple sources- it was rated best florist in St. Louis by St. Louis Bride Magazine and it was also the company that did the arrangements I had admired from a "real wedding" on theknot.com. The RW stands for Rich West- he was very friendly and open to ideas, and also had great alternate suggestions for ideas that were too expensive. He had the awesome idea of using craspedia to create a more modern and masculine boutonnierre for our groomsmen, and also suggested adding football mums to some arrangements to add some sturdiness/ structure. His proposal was created during our meeting and emailed to me the same day. It had specific desciptions of each item that were exactly what we discussed and itemized pricing, which is helpful in determining how much it would cost to add or cut certain items. The estimate came in just over $1600, so right around budget.

The third florist was Artistry. This florist's office is located in the St. Louis flower market. The rep was helpful and polite, no complaints, and the estimate came in right around $1600, but I think I just liked RW designs better. Also, the Artistry estimate did not include any descriptions of each item or an itemized price list- just one total estimated price. One thing I did like about Artistry is that they allow you to preview your flowers the day before the wedding, and determine if you would like any changes before the big day. (Cool if you are a perfectionist!)

So, at this point I am leaning towards RW Designs! Hope to decide by next week.

Men's Attire

After winning some savings at a bridal show, Jake and I decided to choose Savvi Formalwear. Jake's tux is free (sweet!) and the groomsmen/ usher/ dads get discounts. Also, by using them, I can get a 20% discount on my gown or a 25% discount on the bridesmaid's gowns at The Ultimate Bride- one of the nicer bridal boutiques in the area, which happens to carry my favorite desinger, Mikaella....

But we were talking about the men.

Jake's choosen formalwear:

Jake's choosen groomsmen's formalwear:

They are the same tux style (Calvin Klein), with sleek-edged lapel, but Jake has choosen to wear the same tux in black, and the groomsmen in grey, to make a distinction. Jake's vest and tie will be a soft grey, and the groomsmen will wear a vest in tie in a grey tone matching their tuxes, as shown above. I think these grey tuxes will look great paired with the soft yellow bridemaid dresses!

Engagement Party and Selection of Wedding Attendants

Our enagagement party was a casual at-home gathering of each of our parents, our siblings, and the friends we choose to include in the wedding. We served cocktails and hors d'ourves, which I am very proud of! (I showed off my culinary skills with some of my best finger-foods: lemon-curry seared scallops, spicy vegetable rolls, bacon-wrapped beef cubes, artichoke and goat-cheese crostinis, hot wings, red velvet cake balls, and white-chocolate cheesecake squares!) I had already asked my friends to be bridesmaids, but Jake was shy about it and/or procrastinating, so he finally asked them at the party. (though I'm sure they had figured it out by then haha)

So here's our awesome lineup!:

Groom: Jake
Bride: Angie
Best Man #1: Ryan
Groomsman #2: Matt
Groomsman #3: Alex (Jake's younger brother, 21)
Maid of Honor #1: Laura
Maid of Honor #2: Stacy
Bridesmaid #3: Sami (Angie's younger sister, 14)
Reader #1: Sammantha (Jake's younger sister, 12)
Reader #2: Mackenzie (Jake's youunger sister, 17)
Usher #1: Mike (Angie's youunger brother, 15)

It was very important to us that we include all of our younger siblings in the wedding, but we didn't want a huge wedding party when the wedding was to only have around 100 guests. Also, we didn't want half of the wedding party to be under 21. So we thought, we would invite my female sibling and his male sibling to actually be in the wedding party, and invite the rest of the siblings to participate as readers and ushers. We absolutely wanted to make everyone feel included in our special day. :)

Another option, which we have not decided upon yet, is the flower girl/ ring bearer. Initially we did not want to have these roles, but then again I have seen some pretty cute kids in ads or wedding shows over the last 2 months, so now we are reconsidering. If we do, I'm thinking 2 flower girls and no ring bearer. My 2 older brothers each have adorable little girls- Sophie, 7, and Alyssa, 5- so if we do decide to have flower girls ( and if the church permits flower petals being thrown, some don't) then I think they're perfect for the role!