A Shoe Update!

Anyone who reads my blog regularly may remember this post that I wrote back in June about my quest for pink wedding shoes. I have probably looked at or tried on about 12-15 pair of pink shoes since that post, and haven't really found any shoes that I felt I loved enough to break the bank on. You see, ladies, my problem is that... I am not a shoe girl. I know, gasp if you must. I will probably lose all my readers on that comment alone! ha! I am most definitely, 100% a bag girl. I can justify spending any amount of money on a bag, but I just don't feel the same about shoes. A $65,000 Dior Detective Bag came into my workplace once, and I had my picture taken with it. Not kidding. I mean I like cute shoes and all, but I just can't justify dropping so much cash on them, even if they are wedding shoes. So anyway, I wandered into Payless on my lunch break last week and saw some black peeptoe shoes that I loved for my bridesmaids. I wanted something simple, with a heel no more than about 2.5" (because the ceremony is outside, and there will be some walking in grass) and preferably with some type of accent on the toe area. Well, these shoes fit the bill. The even better part? They were $14.99. I immediately sat down on one of those mirrored stools and started texting my bridesmaids for their shoe sizes. I knew we had to have these. Well, as the responses started coming back, I realized that the store did not have a lot of this particular shoe in stock, and I was out of luck on several sizes. I went to the sales girl for help, and we started looking at these particular shoes online. As soon as she pulled them up, I noticed a bright pink pair next to the black. I really almost knocked her monitor over when I saw them. She told me that they didn't have the pink in stock, but found my size in pink at a store about a mile away. She called and had them held for me, AND gave me a $3 coupon off my purchase since I had to use gas to drive to the other location! Score! I immediately went and tried them on, and subsequently purchased them because they are perfect. As soon as I got back to work, I went directly to the website and purchased a pair for each of my bridesmaids. Before I tell you the obscenely ridiculous deal I got, here they are:

I mean come on... Payless or not... how CUTE are these shoes?!?!?! I am envsioning one of those really cute shoe pictures of me and my girls, and I love the fact that everyone would have the same shoes! Back to the sweet deal I got.... I got mine in-store for $11 after the $3 coupon. I got each pair for the girls online for $15 each, then I also used a $10 coupon that I googled and found, and also got free shipping. So... I got all 6 pair for $76.00! Now, at first I did feel a little... cheap (?) about getting my wedding shoes at Payless.. but these shoes are SO comfortable, and exactly what I was looking for. .......and it just means I get to spend more money elsewhere.... like maybe on this... in the fuschia of course:)

Congratulations HALEY, and a Blog Award!

A lot of exciting stuff sure has been happening around here lately! I got some more exciting news last night that another one of my bridesmaids, Haley, is PREGNANT!!!! She is due in April, so I guess we will be adding another guest to our guest list:) I cannot find a good picture of Haley & I to save my life, so here is a picture of her with her adorable 4 year-old, Gracen:

Haley owns an awesome boutique called The Pink Pineapple, so you can only imagine how fabulous Gracen's wardrobe is! Congratulations, Haley! We are so happy for you!!!

My second exciting news of the day is that I received my first Blog Award from one of my favorite blogs, Pretty in Pearls. I received this pink diamond award:

Thank you for my award, it totally made my day!!!!And be sure to tell Cheese the Chihuahua I said thanks too:)

Congratulations, Brooke!!!

Congratulations to my great friend (and a bridesmaid!) Brooke on her engagement! She just got engaged this last week, and is in the beginning stages of all her planning! Here's one of my favorite pictures of us:


Feel free to hop on over to her blog to read the engagement story, see the ring, and tell her congrats! I'm so happy for you, Brooke!

And on a completely unrelated note, check out the cupcakes I made this weekend for a BBQ at Ryan's boss's house:


They were a HUGE hit and they were so easy to make! I have wanted to make these all Summer but didn't have a good opportunity until now. I highly recommend them for anyone's end of Summer parties this year!

Bridesmaids Dresses... Round 1

I'm not sure why, but at this point, I feel more concerned with what my bridesmaids will be wearing rather than what I will be wearing. I have this ideal dress in my mind, and that seems to be the only place I can find it. It is pretty simple really, I want a strapless a-line, tea-length dress in a raspberry color and a nice (but not shiny) fabric. My first love was this little number from J.Crew:


This color is called "Wild Peony" and well, it is just too purple. The color is all wrong. I'm also afraid that the fabric is too stretchy and it will give that "uniboob" effect. You know what I'm talking about. Nobody wants that in their wedding pictures. I love the simplicity of this design, although it is a little long. So, I'm afraid this one is a no go. Another J.Crew dress that I love is this one:

I know. I it obviously not strapless. But, everything else about it is perfect. I love the color and I love the length. This one is definitely still in the running. The only thing that worries me about J.Crew dresses is that most of them are not available in stores.. and ordering them sight unseen seems like a BAD idea.. even if it is J.Crew. The next dress is from Alfred Angelo:

Okay, so this one is almost exactly what I described. But.. I don't know how I feel about that bunching thing on the side. It almost looks wrinkled? I do love the length, and the fabric seems uniboob-proof. I think this length gives everyone "fierce" legs. It also costs less than $150.

So, as of now, these are my options. If anyone happens to run into my perfect dress while searching for your own, I will love you forever if you send me a link. If you're having this problem as well, let me know and I will try to do the same for you as I scour dress websites daily!

Oh, and P.S. - Sorry for the ranting, and for the use of the word (?) uniboob.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

It was very easy for me to choose the ladies that I wanted as my bridesmaids and Matron of Honor, but it was not easy to decide how to ask them. I wanted to do something different, something memorable and something that would surprise them. I searched the internet for ideas and advice on this, when I ran across some "Will you be my bridesmaid" cookies on various websites. I went to my local Cookies by Design store, and had them create 5 of these cookies, in my wedding colors. Then, I went to a scrapbooking store, and got some paper & ribbon to match, and wrote each of my girls a letter. Four of the girls live in my hometown, so I went to surprise each of them one weekend when I was at home visiting my family. I gained a lot more respect for my fiancée that weekend, because it did make me a little nervous when I had to "pop the question" to each of the girls! For my Matron of Honor, she lives about an hour away from me, so with a little help from her husband, we were able to surprise her with dinner along with her cookie and letter one Wednesday evening. Luckily, all 5 of them said yes, and now I have the greatest bridal party ever! Here are some pictures of the cookies & letters: