Vintage flower for my MOH

Last weekend, my Maid of Honor (MOH, as dubbed from Anna's pre-wedding days), Trish was in town. Trisha lives in Nashville now so when she is home, I have to snag her for at least a couple of hours so we can catch up and visit our favorite (since high school) hangout: Coffee Times.

Adjacent to CT, and owned by the same woman, is Street Scene; a very fun and eclectic vintage store housing all sorts of goodies from days past. One of my favorite all time finds in that store was a Barbie airplane, made circa 1972. Well that, or the New Kids on the Block sleeping bag I should have bought when I had the chance. That's the thing with stores like that...you let it pass and it is typically gone forever.

Anyway, Trish and I made a quick stop in Street Scene en route to have a cappucino at CT. I told Trish several months back that I wanted to try and find a vintage brooch of some sort for her to wear in the wedding. Since I will have eight girls on stage with me, all wearing various emerald green dresses, I thought this would be a fun way to differentiate her as my MOH. And a great way to showcase our mutual love of vintage things!

While perusing, we came across this brooch:

Needless to say, we found ourselves Trisha's wedding day brooch. I absolutely love the bright orange color of it! Just what I was wanting. It will stand out beautifully against the emerald green dress. And it's just fun!

Happy Bridesmaids = Happy Bride

A wise man once said, “A happy bridesmaid makes a happy bride.” I think he knew what he was talking about. After being in numerous weddings myself, I decided early on that I wanted to make my wedding as easy as possible for those I wanted to share it with me...namely my bridesmaids.

Meaning: letting each girl choose her own dress, have the option to do her own hair/makeup/nails, choose her own jewlery/shoes, etc. I figure that these things would add up to a happy bridesmaid.

When I made the decision to have each of the girls wearing different dresses, I did not realize the extra job I was taking on. Add to that the fact that no bridal shop in Lexington carries the complete line I chose (Forever Yours) and you have a sticky situation.

Luckily, Ruth's Bridal in Lexington (where my gown was ordered) has been very easy to work with on this (as they are ordering the dresses). Since mid-August, I have been shuttling groups of my girls back and forth to Cincinnati to the mecca that is Bridal and Formal. And one by one, each girl chose the dress she wanted to wear.

My last such trip took place over the weekend with my Maid of Honor, Trish. (Anna joined us and we had a fabulous time BTW!)

The dress Trish chose is called a "crumb catcher" and I think it looks absolutely gorgeous on her! To be completely honest, I fell in love with this dress the first time I saw it. And practically every one of the girls has tried it on. But for one reason or another, other dresses were chosen. And on Saturday, Trisha tried it on...and loved it too!

To make her stand out a bit, we are thinking about the possibility of incorporating a brooch to her dress in some way...if we can find a suitable option. Keep your eyes peeled for something vintage that screams old Hollywood!


Here is the final dress line up:

What do you think? Keep in mind that all dresses will be in emerald green (even sashes) and the longer two dresses in this image will be hemmed to a shorter length to match the other dresses.

All in all, I think these dresses will make for beautiful bridesmaids.

Now to schedule fittings and get the final cost of these dresses...

Seven down...MOH to go

Yesterday, I took a drive to Cincinnati with my mum; youngest sister Kimberly; soon to be mother-in-law, Debbie; and sister-in-law, Rachel. What a good trip! Not only did we have a blast, but both of the girls chose their dresses to wear in the wedding. Success!!

Kimberly will be wearing this dress (right). I really like this dress! It will look stunning on her. And Rachel will be wearing this dress (left). Another super cute dress. Cannot wait to see it in emerald green! Both of these dresses were classic choices that can be traced back to the original dress shopping trip. I love both of them!

So then there was one. Seven of the girls now have bridesmaid dresses. So much fun! That leaves one. Trish, my MOH (Maid of Honor) is planning a trip to Lexington New Year's weekend so we can do a little shopping. I would love to make her dress look a little different in some way. I wonder what it would look like, if she chooses a dress with a sash or something, if the sash was a different color than the typical emerald green of the rest of the dress. Opinions? I guess it will really just come down to which dress she chooses. More on that later!

Once Trish has chosen her dress, I will lay each of the dresses out so we can look at them as a group. I think they will be the best looking (and best dressed) wedding party of 2010!

PS, I have decided that silver shoes are the best option. I think a silver satin shoe will do the trick. Hilary has found lots of cute ones out in Hamburg...planning an outing with her to take a look! (Note: girls can wear whatever shoes they are most comfortable in...they just need to be open toe/strappy and satin.)

Oh! One other update: I have officially chosen my wedding gown! Love it!! Tried it on for the group yesterday and it was a smash. Mom made an appointment for me tomorrow so I can go ahead and order it. Wow. Ordering my wedding gown. What a surreal feeling!

Coming soon: consultations with florists...ideas...opinions...thoughts... Big decision to be made in the next few weeks.