Hangers

 

So the other day I was sitting around and decided to get crafty. One thing that I remember being a little confusing at Megan and Spencer's wedding was whose dress was whose. They were all the same so we had to check all the tags. Which like... big deal? No. But I decided that I wanted to do something kind of fun! ... Also it didn't occur to me until half way through that they are all going to have different dresses anyways... Whoops.

I had seen on Pinterest the night before these cool hangers that you could buy for like 25 bucks each. So I said hey I bet I could make those and I even have some wire upstairs from when I made Savannas flower crown! Which turned out pretty great I think and is cool becuse she can kee it and it won't die on her.

So I decided to get some pliers from the garage and give it a shot! They took about 30-45 minutes each to bend the wire. The longer the name obviously the longer it took. I used the decorative silver wire that I bought at Michaels. I got Cassidy and Robyns done before I ran out of wire an needed to go get some more. So I went to the hardware store which was a dud because they only had serious wire and it was very not bendy. But while I was there i went and bought the wooden hangers from Bi-Mart.

I went to Michaels and bought more wire and then came back and finished them up. The next day I spray painted them and took off the bottom support stick so I could drill the holes for the wire. I finished them up with some hot glue and then that was that!

I thin that they turned out to be pretty cool. My biggest problem was trying to do a cursive S on Savannas which you can see I ended up giving up on. I also ended up redoing Cassidy and Robyn because Cassidy's ended up with tons more wire than it needed. But all in all it wasn't too hard. I also thought about doing Mrs. Hughson for mine but eventually decided that it would have been too long and hard to fit in the span of the hanger. I might try it with making Hughson and then making a separate Mrs. that goes vertical. But I haven't committed to the idea yet.

Getting My Dress

So one night I finally got the email! My dress came in!!!! Finally!!!! I was really excited and called them the next day to set up an appointment. Robyn was there when I called and wanted to go so we set it up for Thursday after she was done with her drafting class in Salem. I let my girls and Shari know in case they wanted to come and then Mom invited Jean to come along because she had never seen it either.

I was really excited to see it all done together! But also a bit nervous to see how it fit. My last term of school was really stressful and so that sort of took a toll on my body and I ended up gaining about 12lbs. since I bought the dress. Since school has been out I've been casually been trying to eat/drink better. Mostly cutting soda and trying to just eat better in general. I have lost about 6 lbs. so its going alright. I hadn't been overly concerned about it but it was still a little bit scary that maybe it would be a problem.

We got to the store and they had us wait until everyone was there before they went and got the dress. Probably because then I wouldn't be too excited that I would just put it on and someone would miss it. I had also brought with me a slip that I had found at Goodwill, my veil that I wasn't very happy with, and a pair of heels that I had in my closet. Mostly just so i could see how all of that worked with the dress and to be able to get a sense of how much we would need to alter it so that it would be the right length in the skirt (I have sort of short legs for my size).

So once everyone had arrived they brought out my dress. And what a sense of relief it was when they opened it up. It was the right dress! It wasn't a pink sparkly tutu or all black or any of the other nightmare dresses that I had thought about waiting for it to get here! WHAT A RELIEF! After a great big sigh and a huge drop in my stress level, it was time to get that sucker ON!

I put on the slip I had brought as well as a strapless and then Lindsay helped me get the dress on. It was a little bit wrinkly in that it needs to get steamed but it looked really good. After trying it on and showing everyone we decided that I should try it with a bigger slip because it would look a bit better and also take more of the length of the skirt so maybe I wouldn't need to cut as much off on the bottom.

Once we put on the new skirt is when it really clicked for me. The dress looked exactly what I wanted it to look like and what I had envisioned in my head. With the new skirt it was even the right length! I don't have to get it altered at the bottom at all!

I also looked at the top and after talking about it with Mom and Cassidy we sort of decided that we didn't need to change it because of the way that the top hit me it sort of gives the illusion of what we wanted it to do so I am happy.

So then we tried it on with my veil and talked about why I didn't like it. Lindsay brought out some of the store veils for me to try and also so that I could look at them and see what they did. Robyn later told me that she thought my veil was better than the ones that were there for a heck of a lot more money.The ones they had with jewels on them were very large and tacky. But we did learn that mine will probably b better with a larger comb and that it would be smart to put rhinestones on the backs of each of the ones that I have on there so that no matter how the veil folds there are the rhinestones. So I will fix that and then see if I like it better. I also think I will put a few on the top layer of the veil as well.

While we were fussing with it, Jeff came to get Shari so Mom went out and got him to come in so that he saw my dress too which was kind of fun. I think the whole experience probably felt a little too girly for him. But it was kind of cool to show it off!

Overall I am really happy with it! It is definitely the perfect dress and I am really happy with how it makes me look. I don't have to get it altered at all which is fantastic! I do though need to get the bustle loops put on, but that is the only thing! I am really excited and can't wait to walk down the aisle in the most perfect dress ever!!!

The Best Tux Possible

One day I was invited along with Kacy and her bridesmaids to go look at dresses for the bridesmaids. Naturally dress shopping is not my forte and my knowledge and opinions about dresses is insignificant. Coming to this realization a few dresses in, I made my way over to Men’s Warehouse to look for the perfect wedding suit.

After spending a few minutes in the store I was approached by an older gentleman who asked if I could be helped. I informed him that I wanted to rent a Tuxedo for my wedding, he rolled his eyes a little and informed that I was fifth person to come in this morning, granted they had only opened 30 minutes before my arrival. I think he was upset because his job wasn't to help pick out wedding bundles so he was just bored. He did however take my measurements.

I spent the next fifteen minutes or so wandering around waiting for the Masters of Weddings to be available to help me pick out tuxedos. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember the exact colors of our wedding other than Purple, Teal, Silver, and White. The inability to recall the precise colors caused me to chose the wrong purple, luckily it was fixed later down the line.

We went through and found the right color of suits for me, the groomsmen, and the fathers. During this selection we picked out different color vests, and ties to help bring in the full theme of the wedding. I carefully selected my colors so that it would be clear who was getting married, I don’t want there to be any confusion for the guests. It was fun trying on different jackets and seeing how they looked on me. I must saying dressing up all fancy can be pretty fun.

Once we started to enter the information into the system to start the rental process, Kacy made her way over to help finalize colors and patterns. We only had to make two changes, get the right color of purple, and change the pattern for the Dads.

 I must say that it was quite a successful visit, I can’t wait to wear that suit down the aisle!

Bridesmaids Dress Shopping

So a few weeks ago when all of my bridesmaids were back in town, we went shopping for their dresses! After doing some research online into the color of dresses that we wanted, I discovered that Bridal Exclusives carries the brand that we were looking for! So that was exciting so we decided to go there and see what we could find.

I had been debating about having all the girls wear the same dress or having them wear all different ones. What ended up being the deciding factor that pushed me to one side was that we had learned just a few days before that Megan is pregnant! And due on January 19th! So she is going to be pretty pregnant at the wedding. So that was the factor that pushed me to the idea of everyone having different dresses so that we could find something that she would be comfortable in when she isn't probably going to feel super comfortable anyways.

Megan sat back down because she was feeling nauseous

 So we all got there and I had been told that my dress might be there so I asked and found out that it hadn't shipped yet which was sad. But that we could put my pieces together again to show everyone since my girls hadn't been there when I picked it out.

So we just started going through the rack of the designer that we knew carried the correct color. The consultant brought out the swatch books for the other designers they carried but we eventually decided against them and kept to the ones we came there for. The girls each grabbed a few that they wanted to try on. Of course none of them were in the right color but we could kind of get the idea.

They each had about 3 or 4 and they went into two rooms and would come out and show them to me. And then if they liked them we would trade and swap so people could try on a few different ones to get a different taste. It was an interesting experience being on the other side of the try on process. My main goal and what I really wanted to be sure of was that each of them had a dress that they would want to wear and something that they could look forward to wearing. They are beautiful girls already so I wasn't very worried about me liking it so much as them liking it. But I ended up liking all of them and especially more because they fit each of their personalities so well. We ended up deciding on all different ones for each of them which I thought was great!

I had a lot of fun going shopping with the girls because it was really cool to see them get excited about the wedding. They all seemed really happy with their dresses and I think having them all different is something really cool. I especially like it because they all look like a style they would have picked out themselves and they really show off their individual personalities.

  Kristen                               Robyn                               Cassidy

We put down out order but didn't place it because we were waiting for Megan to have her first ultrasound before we committed. Now we are sort of wondering what we should do about Megan's dress because we found out that the brand makes a maternity dress so we are looking into that as an option rather than buying a dress really big and needing to get the top taken in. So we are looking into that option and hopefully will be able to put in our order soon!

Florist

So a few months ago when we first got started with wedding planning, Dad sent me an email with the contact info for someone that he knows at work that does flowers on the side. She is a project Manager for Legacy and enjoys doing flowers as a hobby. So two weeks ago I decided to connect with her to talk about doing flowers for the wedding. I was a little bit nervous because I don't really know very much about flowers and don't really feel like people will be expecting a ton of flowers anyways for the wedding with it being in December.

Thad, Mom, and I went into Portland to meet her at a Starbucks. It was a little weird because we didn't know what she looked like and the Starbucks was a little crowded, but we texted her where we were and a few minutes later she showed up. She was very nice and if anything a little bit shy. What I really like about her was that she was really not pushy at all about anything which was super nice. She didn't make me feel stupid about anything and was really great about explaining things.

We decided on doing mostly roses and lilys with babys breath. To add in our blue color she suggested that we use tinted dendeidnaosnoasnas. Which I never really got what that was because she said it so fast everytime and it sounded so scientific, but its the blue and purple orchids! (I later looked it up and its tinted dendrobiums.) We decided that we only really waned to do flowers for people. This being corsages, or bouquets or boutonnieres. So I think that was an easy way to cut down on costs for flowers in winter.

 We got our estimate back and it seemed really reasonable! I was surprised! It actually seemed like boutonnieres were cheaper than I had ever seen them. I wonder if it is because she isn't trying to make a living out of it that it is cheaper or because she is buying a lot of the same flowers, but I am really happy with what we decided on and it's one more thing to cross off the list!

The Veil

I was really excited to have done the first round of dress shopping and it was exciting to be starting the whole process. During the gown trying on, they would periodically put on a tiara or a veil to make me like the whole thing more. It sort of worked but also made me like, really this really ugly tiara is $210? That is crazy! The one that Thad got me in Disneyland is way prettier than this and it was only like 40 bucks!

Through the process I have come to the decision that I want to make my own veil instead of buying one for a couple hundred dollars. I think it will be a bit tedious, but I like doing that kind of crafty stuff. A piece of fabric with stuff on it shouldn’t be that expensive

I looked up how hard it would be to make my own and it doesn’t seem to be too difficult. And my mom was saying even that just trying and having some failed attempts would still be cheaper than buying one. So I decided to buy some rhinestone things in my colors online and I’m going to try and make one! I looked at a few fabric stores and didn’t like the fabric election but I found out that bridal illusion is the fabric that I was looking for and couldn’t fine, and that you can find it online So once I know whether my dress will be ivory or white I can but the fabric and try it out! I think that as long as I am smart and realistic about how I go about making it, it won’t be so bad. Plus it will be a way to make my veil more personalized to our wedding and save some money!

I went to Fabric depot in Portland to find some fabric, and they actually sell pre-made veils there! They were about twenty bucks so  I figured might as well start there! So I bought one and then came home and started changing it.

I wasn't very happy with a white thread trim that it had because it made it seem more heavy where as I wanted the veil to seem really light and airy. So I cut it off so now the edge is raw and it seems lighter. I then glued on a bunch of little rhinestones that I bought on Amazon that are aqua purple, and silver. They are really small and I think just give it  little something. I bought  syringe and some glue that was recommended for fabric online, but it was pretty much the worst. I got it working but in terms of ease of use it was a real pain. I only put them on one side and only on the longer layer before I got frustrated. I didn't like how the top where it connected to the comb seemed to really puff up. So I got upset and stopped doing it. But I did take it with me to my dress appointment and got some good ideas for it. 

Cute Things My Flower Girl Said Today

Kacy:"So are you excited to wear a pretty purple dress?"
Savanna: "YES! And Puh-ple shoes!"
Kacy: "You will look so pretty!"
Savanna: "What are you gonna wear?"
Kacy: "Well I'm going to wear a great big white dress! So big you could fit underneath it!"
Savanna: *Scared face* "But how will you fit through doors?!?!?! I'll have to help you!!!"


Savanna: "You'll be my bridemaid when I get married right?"
Kacy: "Savanna I think I'll be too old!"
Savanna: "Not when I get married!"