I am guest posting today!

Hi guys!  I just wanted to let you know that I am guest posting at my friend Megan's blog today.  She and her hubs got married in January just like Aaron and I, so I have been following her blog for a thousand years by now.  She had a gorgeous winter wedding, well worth checking out!

 

But yeah, below is a link to her blog, my post is about my fav fall outfits on pinterest.  Despite how I dress in real life, I think my selections are actually pretty cute, lol.  Go to her blog, show her some love! 

 

 

 

http://livingonthedreamsofbutterflies.blogspot.com/

 

 

And stay tuned for my Tokyo trip posts this week!

 

<3

Wedding Dress Blues...

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So I got my dress back from the tailor on Monday and tried it on yesterday.  It is hemmed and bustled and ready to go, it just needs steaming!  I wish I liked the way I looked in it better, I just really don't think poufy white dresses are my most flattering look.  The dress is beautful, don't get me wrong.  Just me in it is kinda meh.  And then the fact that I will be photographed a billion times and looked at a bunch while looking meh is making me feel queasy.  Maybe if I just look really happy it will make the dress seem better?  Happy people always look good in what they are wearing.  Maybe this is some weird version of cold feet I am getting?



Wedding Dress Bustles and Alterations

I took my dress in for alterations today, otherwise known as zero hour.  I was told that it will be ready one week before the wedding (eek!).  For all you brides out there who haven't gone through the alterations process, be forewarned:  if you have a big poufy ball gown with a long train, alterations are going to be pricey!  I opted to find a tailor on my own due to negative reviews online about the price and quality of alterations done by these big wedding dress stores.

I went with the place closest to my home - Ann's Tailor & Alterations (not to be confused with Ann Taylor).  I figured it would be less expensive and I would get my dress back fairly quickly.  Ann is a lovely little gal and her little tailoring operation has been in that shopping center for 20+ years I think - so I trust her sewing expertise.

So my Mom and I head to Ann's, I get my dress on and she is getting ready to pin the correct length.  Then she starts counting the layers of this dress.  It is 11 layers.  And wouldn't you know, my dress has this gorgeous detailing on the hem, so basically she is going to unsew the whole dress and take it up from the waist.  The thought of my dress in a bunch of unsewn pieces makes me slightly panicky, but I am trying not to think about it...

Then we had to figure out a bustling situation.  I was only concerned with it being secure to hold through the evening without it making my back end too big.  I already have enough junk in my trunk!  I didn't get to see the bustle due to my dress being on my body, but my Mom was oohing and ahhing so I assume it is fine.  The train has a bunch of detailing on it too, so this was the best way to show it off.  It is just a basic over bustle like this:

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I thought I wanted an under bustle when I first came in because I thought the look was cool, but I think it really depends on the style of your dress to determine what will look best.  This is an under bustle aka French bustle (can also come in double and triple too!)

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Then there is an Austrian bustle, but I don't really get it...  It looks pretty though!

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So that is my short bustle lesson, lol.  My alterations ended up costing $230 for the hemming(which is a way bigger job since she has to do it from the waist of the dress) and a bustle.  It was about what I averages, but I thought I was overestimating.  Can't win 'em all!  I can't wait to see the finished dress, I am sure it will be perfect and wonderful.  One other word of advice I will give - get your dress into alterations sooner rather than later!

Wedding Jewelry

"Before you leave the house, take one thing off." - Coco Chanel

I am not a big jewelry person at all.  It is sad too because I have so many lovely pieces of jewelry that get neglected.  I usually don't remember to accessorize when I am leaving for the day.  Then other times I just feel too flashy.

So when I was deciding on my wedding jewelry, I knew I wanted to look a little glam, but definitely not over the top.

Since my dress is pretty sparkle-tastic I opted for a fancy bracelet instead of a necklace.  Plus I think necklaces draw attention to my stumpy neck.

I did get some really great earrings that look pretty good on me, if I do say so myself.  If you have a round face like I do, picking some longing earrings can really help your face look slimmer.  There is a good article here about complimentary earrings for your face. 

Want to know the awesome news?  I totally got my wedding jewelry for $30 bucks.  Sweeeeet!

$25 at Macy's

$5 at Target

Just enough sparkle! 

Wedding Tuxedos

Getting the mens all suited up has been a relatively easy journey.  Well kind of.

My dream was to have midnight blue tuxedos way back when, but apparently I just dreamt them up in my mind because they only exist in suit form.  I would have been fine with suits, but it would have toned down the formality.  With bridesmaids in navy blue it might have been a little overkill though.

Then we have dear sweet Aaron.  He is so funny, for someone who is not that great of a dresser (but I still love him), he is awfully picky about what he wears.  So of course he decided that he was going to refuse to rent his wedding tux.  In his words - he is not wearing used clothes on his wedding day.  While I appreciate the sentiment, he acts like I am asking him to wear hobo clothes I bought at someones garage sale.  So I was concerned with this idea from the get go because I just want everyone to match and look like they are in the same wedding.  And I am so not about to ask people to pay hundreds of dollars for a tuxedo to wear once, after they are paying hundreds of dollars just to be there in the first place.  Also, I figure for $150 bucks (or however much it costs to rent a tux) you get to wear a nice designer tuxedo, and it fits you just right, it has all the pieces, they can matching the accessories with the bridesmaid colors, and it is just easy.  I am not looking for any extra complications with this stuff, you know?  And for the final portion of this rant...I think Aaron spending a lot of money on a tuxedo is beyond financially foolish.  We don't have hundreds of extra dollars in our budget to buy an expensive tuxedo, I don't want you to look like you are wearing a $100, ahem, cheap tuxedo, and I am willing to bet 5 bazillion dollars that this tux will never get worn again.  Make that ten bazillion.

But in an effort to choose my battles and keep the peace, Aaron bought a very reasonably priced tuxedo from JC Penney, and it actually looks pretty nice.

10 bazillion.  Any takers?

Oh, and Aaron also refused to wear a vest because he thinks they don't flatter his physique (which is totally ridiculous) and that it creates too many layers and he will be hot (which is also ridiculous, it is January!)  So the guys are doing just black cummerbunds and bowties, and Aaron has silver ones so he is special.  Mozart, to be precise.

Made in America, yeah!

So Aaron told the guys what was up, and they all agreed to purchase these tuxedos.  I still have ushers and a grandpa though.

I called my grandpa today and told him we were buying tuxedos and he really wasn't into that.  He told me about this guy Al who has a tuxedo place in the mall by his house (Al's formal wear) and that I should call Al and see what kinds of deals they have, lol.

Lucky for me, there is an Al's on my way home from work, so here's what I did.  I printed out the photos of the tuxedos from JC Penney and took them into Als and hoped I would not get stink eyed.  The lady there was super nice and showed me the matching tux model that looked just like the one the others bought.  Win!

So now everyone can be happy and rent or buy their wedding outfit, and I can check this off the list more or less!

Wedding Crocs!

I have successfully acquired comfy shoes to dance the night away in and horrify my Mother in one fell swoop!

My first pair of crocs that I have owned are these flat mary jane style which I wear to work all the time. ( I call them my business crocs) ((And even though I am not very fashionable, I wouldn't be caught dead in public in those ugly crocs that are like mules/gardening shoes))  But that being said, they are sooooo comfortable.  And I think these flats are pretty cute if I do say so myself.
I am such a glutton for comfort you guys.  My dear Mom, she is so classy and put together looking always, and she just doesn't understand how I did not inherit this trait.  We got into a tiff just the other day because she was trying to tell me I had to wear panty hose and I didn't want to because I don't think my legs will be exposed at all during the evening.  "When I got married, I wanted to look perfect and polished, I don't understand why you don't want to look your best." - direct Mom quote.  I am not defending it, I know I could use an upgrade in the style department 9 times out of 10.  I guess I just feel like 'me' when I am dressed down and comfortable.  Being a bride is proving additionally challenging, because while I want to look stunning of course, I am most comfortable blending in and not having attention on me.  I mean, I hardly even wear jewelry because I feel like I am being too flashy.  It is silly, but this is how it is with me, lol. 

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Don't look at me. 

So I have the fancy sparkley dress, and fancy shoes to be wed in, but for the party we are bring back the authentic Natalie who wears crocs and doesn't care.  And just for good measure I'll probably spill food on my dress while I am at it!  (...I hope not) 

So I have my business crocs, and now I have my wedding crocs :) 

Cute!

I am coming to realize that I am a sucker for being nickeled and dimed to death by cute and relatively cheap wedding things.  It is just money, right? ;)

Long ago I read an article on theknot.com about little details that every bride forgets, and wouldn't you know, the very first one was to bring a cute hanger for your dress.  Because everyone gets that shot of your dress hanging in a window, ready for it's debut stroll down the aisle:

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But if you are forgetful or this miniscule detail never crossed your mind, you may wind up with a picture like:

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Isn't that just so sad?

Well the lovelies on http://www.etsy.com/ have capitalized on this phenomenon and have created very cute customizeable hangers for your dress.  So of course I bought one.  And I got a phonecall that my dress is in, and I need to pick it up this weekend!  So I will get to try out my new hanger right away, which is fun :)

Fabulous!

Look what the mailman brought to my house today!

:D

Wedding Shoes?  Check!  

I took another internet risk (when will I learn...) and purchased these beauties from ebay last week.  I was in a bit of a shoe conundrum in regards to my budget.  The line item in the budget for my wedding look was all inclusive.  For $xxxx I need to get a dress, get it altered if needed, get the veil in shape (more on this later),  get whatever slips and girdles and fancy underpants I will need to go under the dress, and shoes.  Well my dress took a big chunk of those things, so my shoe budget was looking pretty slim.  Not so slim as I can only get $20 wedding shoes from the Ross dress for less, but I needed to keep it in the double digits.  

Here is where a big giant thank you is in order to all of you who visit bells and bows often and click an ad if you see something you want to check out...

Because of you wonderful people, Google Adsense is about to send me a check for approximately $107.80!

So those funds were utilized to bump up the shoe budget some.  :)

So anyway, if I were in fantasy land and had much more monies than I have, I would totally go all out and get some seriously fly designer shoes for the big day.  But those are unreasonably pricey seeing as I am not a millionaire yet.  Plus, I know me, and I dress up and wear heels pretty much never.  So unlike a designer bag that I could carry until my hair turns grey, these would most likely get worn once and gather dust in the back of the closet.  But I love to drool over them, they are works of art after all...

www.neimanmarcus.com

But back on planet earth, I figured I would just pick up some nice shoes at DSW or Macys.  Yawn, but who is going to see the shoes anyway?  

I smell a compromise....

So last week when I was cruising ebay I found these super fabulous Jimmy Choo's for an awesome and in budget price!!!

And they fit, and the heel isn't mega high, and they are just a wonderful gift from heaven!

I don't know what it is about fancy things, but they really make you feel like a million bucks!  And with this find, I still get to have some dollars in my wallet.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Fabulous!!!

I found the dress!

What a sigh of relief, I can cross this item off the list!!!

When I went dress shopping last week I found two dresses that I really liked.  They were solid 8's.

So today I had an appointment with Alfred Angelo.  If Davis's Bridal is Wal-Mart, Alfred Angelo is Target.  Not a giant zoo/freak show, but still a good selection and reasonable prices.  I was not really looking forward to this appointment at first because I looked at the selection of dresses for the larger gals and nothing really stood out to me.  I really should not be so quick to judge because they actually had several really nice dresses that I liked a lot.  But I tried on 'The One' and fell in love all over again (sorry Aaron!).  And my Mom totally cried, lol.

So the dress is going to wait to be revealed at the wedding of course, but let me just tell you that it is perfect!  I never really pinpointed what I 'envisioned' myself looking like on the big day,  which is the very first question these bridal consultants will ask you when you go in for your appointment.  But it was made apparent when I saw myself in the mirror.  The dress was so elegant and felt like 'Natalie'.  I felt like I looked undeniably beautiful, which I think every bride should feel.  And then we put on my Mom's veil that she wore when she married my Dad nearly 33 years ago, and it matched the dress spot on!  I loved the way I looked, and secondly, I felt really excited.  Like ta-da you are getting married, for real, not just throwing a giant party.  So that was cool and fun :)  And if you don't think it is possible (like maybe white dresses just can't get you all that pumped), you just need to keep looking, because the perfect dress is out there!  I mean seriously, there are literally 400ish dresses between the two stores alone....  Ladies, don't ever settle for less than a 10, because even if for only one day, you deserve it!

A Tale of Two Dresses.

Pretend there are only two dresses here.

So today was my first appointment to try on dresses for the big day.  My Mom and I headed back into the city after the morning of cake try-out 1 and headed to David's Bridal.  I was super nervous about dress shopping, and David's in general.  The first time I was in there for wedding related things, I was with MOH Katrina and we were just looking for fun at some bridesmaid dresses.  The dresses were good, but everything else was pretty terrible.  First of all, I felt like I was in a Wal-Mart, due to the clientele this establishment garnered.  It was just super crowded with people not watching their kids running around, or looking like they haven't showered in a good while, or had neck tattoos, etc.  It was nothing like 'Say Yes to the Dress'.  Plus the consultant who was working with us was totally weird, and not making any sort of small talk.  So basically when Katrina was trying on the dresses we stared at each other in silence.  Awkward.

And then there is the whole issue of me not really being into clothes shopping in general.  Don't get me wrong, I am obviously super excited to get married but the dress thing...I just feel like I am not super happy with my appearance usually, so why would a white dress change any of that?  It's nothing upsetting to me or anything, it just is what it is.  I prefer to not have the attention on me generally.  Which  is why Aaron is a good husband choice, he loves that stuff, lol.

Anyway, I was trying to keep an open mind and not have expectations on the day.  Well we arrived and met with our consultant Kristin, who was so wonderful and nice.  We sat down and talked about what I envisioned myself wearing (which was nothing aside from not being a fan of strapless) ((not wearing nothing, just no concrete ideas on what I wanted)).  Well all in all I tried on about 7 different dresses and I really liked two of them. 

What's a girl to do???

Dress #1

This dress is one I found on the website and I thought it was really gorgeous.  It was just as pretty in person, and the first wedding gown I have ever tried on.  I apologize for no pictures, I have to keep some element of surprise about the big day. ;)  When I think about dress 1, I think wow factor.  When I wore it, I felt very glamorous.  And the style is very unique.  I don't know what my style is, but a big factor in the things I find appealing is a uniqueness factor.  I don't like things that are overly popular or that everyone has.  But am I a wow factor kind of girl?  Plus the dress is kind of on the heavy side, but I don't know if that matters.

Dress #2

This dress on the hanger looks like a giant snore.  I later found it in the catalogue and on the website and it is something I bypassed for being so ordinary looking on several occasions.  This was the last dress I tried on at the appointment.  So I try the dress on and I look really really good in it.  And the back part and train blew me away they were so pretty.  The front didn't have the wow factor that dress 1 did but was still very pretty and looked more 'me'.  I even had a stranger comment that she had seen me come out in a few dresses, and this was hands down the best.  (but she didn't see dress 1)  And this dress has around 60+ reviews on the website, and dress 1 had less than 15.  So plenty of people walked down the aisle in this look.  So while this one seems like a clear choice, dress 1 is still lingering in the back of my mind

So I am going to sleep on it a bit, and I have another appointment next weekend to see if I can add more to the maybe list.  I don't know if I am the type that will just have a lightning bolt moment of knowing that this is THE dress, I didn't really make any emotional connection that I was shopping for a wedding dress.  ::shrug::  The times Kristin put a veil on me, I thought I looked like a lion.  And let me give a shout out to those girdle things they give you to wear under the dresses, that thing works good!  I almost cancelled my diet I am going on starting Monday, lol.  But yes, I am glad that we had a successful time.  And I take comfort that I have, at very least, two dress options that are, in my humble opinion, stunning. Aaron is one lucky guy, lol ;)  

Appointments and Faux Pas

Guys, I messed up.

I believe that last week I was going through a mid-engagement crisis.  Sort of like a mid-life crisis minus the buying a sports car and getting a new 22 year old boyfriend.

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 I was just so.over.it with thinking about wedding stuff, which is kind of out of character for me.  I think with the school semester coming up, I was letting my thoughts get clouded with all that was left to do and how much time school is going to take up, and how my seeing Aaron schedule is going to get smaller, and it got me kind of bummed/stressed.  Which is a horrible situation because I act impulsively.

So on Sunday night when I should have been heading to sleep, I was looking at wedding stuff and I bought a wedding dress from Asia.  It was a really good price.  But yeah.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  But after telling my Mom and BFF, I learned that this was an absolutely terrible idea.  Thankfully, I should be able to recoup my investment by selling the dress - it is a really popular style and was really very cheap as far as wedding dresses go.

After my temporary insanity, it lit a fire under my butt to start getting some of the wedding things scheduled in these last few weeks before classes start.

I have dress trying-on appointments with David's Bridal this weekend, and Alfred Angelo the following Saturday, so I will at very least have an idea of what I want to wear, and can get the bridesmaid dresses verified (I haven't seen the ones I like in person yet).

And I have FOUR, count 'em, four appointments with bakeries for wedding cake consultations!  We are going to visit Alphorn Bakery, Who Made the Cake, Cakes by Gina and Three Brothers Bakery in the coming weeks.

I feel super accomplished (minus my dumb purchase) and as always, excited about cake :)

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Something Blue?

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We are almost to that portion of the program where I must outfit myself for the big day.  I like hammering out little details first because they seem like much less of a big deal than the dreaded dress hunt.  Right now my attentions are focused on the 'something blue' aspect of my look, but I just can't decide on which way I will express this tradition.  I could go with blue shoes as seen above, and since blue is one of our colors, it wouldn't be totally weird?

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 Or if I don't find any blue shoes I love, some clever people thought of a way to bedazzle your wedding shoes with some blue 'I do's!  Very cute indeed.

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Or there is always the blue garter option.  This one has blue and silver, win!

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Blue underwears are also a good way to discreetly wear blue.  Or blue pantaloons for the extra modest ladies out there, lol.

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 I must say, some blue jewels would be a fabulous way to be wearing blue.  Aren't these gorgeous!?

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Or I could get a blue manicure?  My 16 year old self would be high five-ing me, lol

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Eeek, maybe not this.  

What was/is your something blue?

Bridesmaid Dresses!

For the past 3 weeks, I have been searching far and wide for the perfect bridesmaid dresses.  These dresses were to be elegant.  These dresses were to be reasonably priced.  These dresses were to be figure flattering for multiple body types.  These dresses were to be appropriate to wear in a church.  These dresses were to make my favorite ladies look fierce. 

and I think we've got it! :)

...Kate Middleton stole my look.

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Ok you guys, I totally didn't care very much about the Royal Wedding.  I have no ties to the couple, I never watched them on reality tv, or saw them on TMZ too often.  The whole thing was a big yawn for me.  I did want to see what dress she chose though - partly because she is a gorgeous girl, and partly because what she wears is going to mold upcoming bridal fashion.  Well I'll tell you, she looked stunning.  And my Mother can vouch for me that I wanted a dress with sleeves, because it will be January, and I had kind of envisioned a like strapless plain thing with a lace overlay for the sleeves, so I don't look too grandma, yet appropriate for winter and church.  I conjured this look in my head based upon this dress I saw this horrible Staten Island woman wearing in MTV True Life - I am getting married, which aired in like 2002 (where he lovely husband was telling the late arriving limo driver that he was going to gut him like a fish over the phone.).  Sadly, I cannot find a picture of her dress on the internet anywhere!  But if you take Kate's dress and replace the lace with just a plain toole looking lace and take away the sweetheart neckline, that is it! 
She totally stole my look. (lol)

Shoes!

www.offbeatbride.com

My friend JF shared this totally awesome article from Offbeat bride, about shoes with bows!  I haven't even begun to think about my fashion selections for the big day, but bows are a non negotiable (of course). 

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These are my faves, but JF and I are in agreement that they are all pretty great!