The soul search continues...

I want to thank all of you who offered up opinions in my last shoe post. After much deliberation, and asking the opinions of my mom and Calvin's mom, I decided to return all of the shoes. The pair that most people liked (myself included), was the Charles David with a big bow on the front. Unfortunately for me, not only was the heel too high, but they were a half size too small. While the box said 10, the shoes said 9.5. I will say that endless has been an awesome- returns are free, I mailed the gigantic box of shoes on Saturday, and received an email today saying that my return has been processed.

So. I went back to scouring the internet, and came up with some more possibilities. First, Mrs. Bee alerted me to the fact that Holly Dunlap, the designer famous for her sexy Hollywould line of shoes, has just launched a line at Target. And that collection includes the following shoe:

Hollywould Peep Toe Pumps in Red. $30. Which looks pretty similar to these, right?

Luichiny Pretty, $72.95. Or compare the $30 Hollywould for Target shoes to the Hollywould Gertrud which sells for $395.

The other red shoe possibilities I found are:

Nine West Jojus, $78.95


rsvp Katelyn, $64.95


rsvp Nelly, $64.95

Kenneth Cole Reaction Get Rich, $82.95

I'd love to know which of the above shoes you like the best. :-)

(Also, as you may have noticed, most of them have a closed heel, which can be problematic for my narrow feet. So I'm still open for suggestions of gorgeous silk or satin red shoes that are $100 or less, with a heel that is 3.5" or less and are available in size 10.)

reception surprise

There are a whole lot of things that you can do at a reception to surprise guests- unusual desserts, an unexpected tribute to a family member, or fun activities (like a photobooth!). Or you can do what a fellow blogger did:



How awesome is it to pull off a "spontaneously" choreographed dance? Basically, the bride and groom choreographed the dance with the members of the bridal party that lived in town, sent out instructional DVDs to everyone else, and rehearsed it the night before the wedding. More detailed directions are given here.

Calvin and I had originally said no cheesy group dancing (seriously, this was on our list of "have nots" that we made before we even told our parents that we were engaged), but seeing this dance has made us (at least temporarily) reconsider.

What are your thoughts about group dancing at weddings? And do you have any fun surprises planned that you don't mind sharing?

Thousand Dollar Dress...

I recently stumbled across this site, which has a really different take on wedding dresses. The creator's mother purchased a wedding dress for her that cost $1,000. According to Sonya Neumann, the creator of the site and project,

"I went shopping for a dress with my mother, and in the end, she purchased a thousand dollar dress just for me; just for one day. The thing is, I realize now that it wasn't about the price which I was extremely uncomfortable with; it was about the dress. The beauty, the flow, the sparkles that awoke amidst the light. It was about the vision, my mother's vision, and her maternal desire to create that 'dream day' for her daughter. This was her gift; even if it was in a barn strung with Christmas lights."

Because she hated to see the dress just sit unused in a garment bag, Sonya has embarked on a project to photograph 1,000 individuals wearing her dress. Here are some of her pictures:






What are your thoughts about this project? What do you plan to do (or what did you do) with your dress after your wedding?

This takes the cake

Now, I'm not really one for cake, but I just had to share this wedding cake that I came across:

From indiebride mslish

Made by the San Francisco based inticing creations, it is designed to look like a tree stump. How awesome is that?

linens (and things)

Earlier, I discussed the overall vision/feel we have for the reception, and three things we are looking for: linens, flowers and lighting. Today, I bring you one element- linens.

Here is our inspiration for the tables.

From the Knot.

From New York Magazine. I know, it's chocolate brown, but it looks like it could be burgundy.

From Grace Ormonde Style.

I have no idea where I got this picture.

I have no idea where this came from.

We are planning on splurging (a bit) on burgundy linens. White, chair length linens are included in the package, and I (we) really like the look of floor length linens. One place I've looked at is BBJ. I contacted them for their pricelist, and floor length tablecloths of the basic polyester variety are $13 for 120" rounds (for the 60" round tables), including shipping and handling. While more expensive linens can be nicer looking, the reason for renting linens is for color, and there is a perfectly lovely shade of burgundy available in the lowest price. For $260, colored tablecloths will make a bigger impact than 2 tall centerpieces will.

Locally, I have found Lasting Impressions Event Rentals, which has the same tablecloths for $16. They also do lighting, and I am awaiting an email from them with their lighting prices and packages. A little bit more money, but the advantage is that someone else would deal with setup and delivery. Our reception venue also has them available for $18, which has the added convenience that we would not have to coordinate with another vendor.

Or we could go through whichever florist we choose, which would be at $25/table.

Who else is renting linens? Do you have any tips or suggestions? Would you recommend saving money by doing it online, or is it worth it to pay more to have someone else take care of it all?

Attire for him

While we still haven't figured out out exactly what Calvin and the groomsmen will wear, Calvin knows that he will be looking ridiculously handsome in a tux. A classic tux, along the lines of this:

Picture found here.

Or, if you are thinking more along the lines of how it looks in a wedding, something like this:

No hint of prom in this picture.

Check out the pocket square!
Both pictures are by Jessica Claire, from MrsHoya's knot bio.

I don't know about you, but I love the look of a classic tux- and I'm really feeling the pocket square in place of a traditional boutonniere. A little internet digging came up with several good possibilities.


Custom pocket square from Beau Ties Ltd. at a pricey $28.


Silk pocket squares available in a whole rainbow of colors at a much easier to stomach $6.25.

Given that pocket squares really are just a square of fabric finished at the edges, it would be really easy to do is to make pocket squares myself.

Picture above and good directions are available here.

And, of course, if you are concerned about the pocket square remaining nicely folded in the pocket, you can always go this route:

Silk hanky card for all of the look with none of the hassle. ;-)

Are you doing anything to dress up the men's attire? Boutonnieres? Pocket squares? Please share what your plans are. :-)

Product Review: Mascara

There are two things that I look for in a mascara.

1- It must be waterproof, because I cry. I don't always cry, but it can be guaranteed that if I am not wearing waterproof mascara I will cry. And if I am around my mother, and she starts crying (which happens fairly regularly- she is wonderfully emotional), 90% of the time I start crying too.

2- I can't have raccoon eyes at the end of the day. I already have dark circles under my eyes (thank you graduate school!), and I really don't need any help in making them any darker than they already are.

For the longest time, I used Maybelline Great Lash Mascara. And then after getting my makeup done at a Clinique counter about a year and a half ago, I switched to Clinique's Gentle Waterproof Mascara.

Maybelline Great Lash Mascara and Clinique Gentle Waterproof Mascara.

Sadly, although Clinique really was a step up from Maybelline as far as how it felt when I was wearing it, it did not resolve the raccoon eyes problem that I have whenever I wear mascara. I wear contacts, I rub my eyes a lot, and I get dark circles. That's how it is. Or rather, how it was until I was introduced to this amazing product from a friend.


Blinc Kiss Me Mascara.

Now, I originally balked at the idea of spending $24 on mascara (it is $25 on the Blinc website, but $24 at Sephora), but I had a $15 gift card to Sephora, and figured, why not? So I bought it, tried it and must say that I am very impressed. It works differently than other mascaras, forming tubes around your eyelashes that are supposed to come off only when using both water and pressure to pull them off. In practice, I can still rub them off, but it is a lot easier to pick a couple of small black tubes (these are really tiny) off your face than it is to deal with the mascara induced black eye. If I end up doing my own makeup on my wedding day, I am almost positive that this will be the mascara that I will wear- and if I don't, I may still request that the makeup artist use this mascara.

As a bonus, I shared my excitement with my chemistry student brother, who proceeded to tell me about the various polymers that were in the mascara, and then assured me that they are completely safe.

What is your favorite mascara? Are there any others that I should try?