Sunday, August 29, 2010

New Obsession..

Thanks m.marie for posting these on your website otherwise I would have NO IDEA these necklaces existed!
Initial Reaction makes these amazing custom order necklaces with you initials on them. They come in silver and gold, 2 different sizes, and 2 different lengths! What a better piece of jewelry to buy for after my wedding!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I have a confession to make...

I am OBSESSED with Weddingbee! Their bloggers are AMAZING. Real people who tell real stories openly and honestly. They have a TON of different people chronicling the planning of their weddings. They have different personalities, themes, budgets, etc and I have fallen in love with each and every one of them. I secretly desire to be one! I love all their cute pseudonyms too - Miss Hippo, Miss Barrettes, Mrs. Lobster, Miss Plaid - I love them all! If you're planning a wedding and doing DIY projects, it's a great guide, if not, it's still a great read about amazing women going through this journey!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Something to get excited about!!

As always I've been cruising the blogs "researching" and came across a post that truly has me excited. One of my favorite stores that I ALWAYS go to for that splurge dress or skirt launched a bridal collection this past spring! Ready for it?!?! White House Black Market!

While it is a VERY small collection, it is BEAUTIFUL! However, the wedding dresses don't really fit with what we (who am I kidding - I) are envisioning for our ceremony (but maybe our reception?!!? that we can't seem to agree on - that's a different post entirely!) The bridesmaid dresses are beautiful as well. I'm even in love with the accessories and shoes!

Here's my favorite dress from the collection...



Amazing article I must share

A friend of mine posted an amazing article in the New York Times Magazine. It will be published in Sunday's magazine but is already posted on-line here. This article goes on to describe PERFECTLY what is going on with 20-somethings like myself. It's a great thing to keep in mind as I embark on this journey.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Doing some research

I'm not allowing myself to begin planning anything until I have found a job because it's hard to set a budget and timeline without one. BUT that doesn't keep me from doing "research".

So far this research has consisted of subscribing to about a dozen blogs. So far I haven't found any ideas that jump out at me but they are getting the juices flowing. The DIY bride blog is giving me hope that I can do some things myself like so many other people have done. A Practical Wedding has great vendors and such for a wedding on a budget (as much as I would love to spend every single dollar on earth on this celebration!) Wedding Bee posts A LOT each day with lots of pictures of different things. I'm sure it will be helpful with ideas once I start getting an idea of what our day will look like. There's a lot more but the verdict is still out on them.

On Sunday, Ben worked all day and I got a little bored without someone at home with me so I began looking at wedding dresses. That ended in about 30 minutes with a frantic phone call to my best friend. I have NO IDEA what I want to look like on my wedding day! I'm apparently not normal and didn't spend my childhood fantasizing about this day and don't have it all planned out to the very detail like apparently most women do. All I know is I do have a budget that won't be very large. My recently engaged friend already found her dress (within a month!) at Nicole Miller and it looks beautiful but not my style. Today however I found myself in the same situation as Sunday and decided to look at Nicole Miller gowns (for whatever reason I did not go there on Sunday). I found a couple by her that I like and may actually fit in my budget as soon as I know what that number looks like.

So today's "research" was a more positive experience than a couple of days ago. I no longer feel completely overwhelmed and stressed out that we don't know what we're doing yet or what I want to look like or all of those details. I'm just going to enjoy being engaged for now!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Engagement


Ben and I have now been engaged one full week! As we are spreading the news people ask one of two questions: How'd he do it? or When's the wedding? I can't answer the second one yet and the first one is the most logical place to start this blog...

Last Friday (8/6) was my birthday and Ben hadn't gotten me anything yet and I was starting to get a little angry by the time Sunday rolled around. Ben ran to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner and stopped by Duane Reade and FINALLY got me a birthday card. It was a great and beautiful card. At the end he wrote close your eyes for the perfect present. So I closed my eyes and when he told me to open them he was in front on his knee with the ring. He didn't have to ask (and he didn't) and I didn't have to say yes (and I didn't) to know that we were starting the next chapter of our lives together after four and a half years of dating.
Ben presented me with his grandmother's ring from 1952. It has a center stone and three smaller stones on either side. It's unique and beautiful. His grandmother and mother have worn it and now I get to! It turns out he asked his mother to send the ring back in May and he claims to have been coming up with clever ways to do it but couldn't figure out how to execute any of them. It ended up being a perfect fit for us though and we couldn't be happier to embark on this new journey together.