Finished!

Some of you may have noticed that my last post was over two weeks ago.  I can't help but feel guilty for my absence, but I have a valid excuse!  My invitations have totally kicked my butt, but I am VERY happy to say that they're finished.  

Our living room looked like this for two weeks...

120 Cricut-cut and gocco printed sleeves, stitched address labels, fabric backed invites and double sided RSVP postcards later, I'm dooone.  

Details will come soon.  Until then:

Were your DIY invitations as much of a pain-in-the-butt as mine?

Wedding Balloons?

The other day I emailed Mr. Doxie and casually mentioned that it might look nice to use balloons as ceremony decoration.  He couldn't picture what I was talking about, so I responded with this this photo so that he could get a feel for what I was imagining:

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"Wut?" was his only response.

I laughed, and then sent him genuine inspiration photos.  No offense, Two Ladies and a Helium Tank, but the balloon arch and pillars aren't really our style.  Those large, perfectly round balloons, however?  I think they're incredibly modern and beautiful if done correctly.  Do you remember this spread from MS Weddings a few months back?  

I love them; they're like a fresh take on paper lanterns.

I've been fretting a bit over our ceremony decoration.  Our ceremony is going to be outdoors, in a large, open grassy area.  Our venue offers a traditional white metal archy thing, but I dunno.  I didn't want an arch decorated with flowers.  It was a little dated to me, and I wasn't sure it would feel cohesive with the rest of our details.

Then, I saw this wedding featured at Green Wedding Shoes.  It pretty much solidified my desire for balloons-as-ceremony-decor.

*sigh*

And think of the pictures we'll be able to take after the ceremony!

I found these pictures late one afternoon while I was still at work, and I sketched out how I think I'd like the balloons set up.

I thought the balloons would make a pretty backdrop for the wedding party.  In my head, I imagined them to be red and a pretty, pale aqua.

I found these, and quickly ordered them to see if I liked the colors in person.  

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Weellll, I liked the red.  The blue wasn't aqua, but teal.  Like Cupcake's teal.  Sooo, I didn't know what to do.  Should I go with red and white?

I drew up a few "mock-ups."

I'm not sure what we're going to do.  The balloons are affordable at ~$2.75 a piece, and the shipping was very fast.  

Which do you think would look better?  Would you ever use balloons as part of your wedding decor?

Haarblume

My favorite part about Germanic languages is the ability to squish as many nouns as possible into one megaword.  Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft translates to "Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services."  Wut?  My favorite was always "Geschirrspülmaschine," meaning dishwasher.  Isn't it fun to say?  My stepdad's favorite joke to tell, (and he tells it often), is:  How do you say 'bra' in German?  Itkeepsemfromfloppen.  Get it?

Um, but I digress.  The point of this post is to talk about something with which I'm sure most of you are familiar:  Hair flowers.  Or fascinators, as they are one-in-the-same.  I think.  According to Wikipedia, fascinators have only recently come back into style.  Maybe Carrie Bradshaw had something to do with the come-back?  

Anyway, I never thought I was going to embrace the wedding flower/fascinator trend.  I don't know if I thought it to be too "fashion forward?"  (lol?) or if it had anything to do with the fact that I know my mom would laugh at it, but I just never felt that I'd want to wear one, especially on a day where all eyes will be on me.  *gulp*

But, really, they're EVERYWHERE.  Come on, tell me you can't open a wedding magazine without flipping to a page that showcases a beautiful feathery flower affixed to the top of a fake bride's head.  By fake bride, I mean model.  Everything looks pretty on models...

Even so, I was intrigued.  I had seen so many pretty hair flowers that I started to imagine myself wearing one with my veil.  I even added a cute little flower to the picture I drew of myself for the banner on my personal blog. 

See?

I decided I'd go ahead and make one.  If I don't like it, I don't have to wear it amirite?  I turned to woman whom everyone turns to should they need a DIY tutorial, Martha.  I remembered that she had a fabric and paper flower feature a few months back.  I know a few of the Bees have already blogged about their fabric flowers, but I figured I'd join in the fun.  Just because I really like how mine turned out!

I'm not going to write a complete tutorial.  They're very simple and all the instructions can be found at marthastewartweddings.com.  

I chose to use the garden rose template, which calls for you to cut out many flower-shaped layers and stack them all together.  I went to JoAnn last week and used a 50% off coupon on a yard of red silk dupioni fabric.  It had just the right amount of sheen and structure.  The only downside is that it frays very easily.  

The first flower I made used the medium sized template.  

I layered all my layers up, pinned each petal through the entire stack of fabric and cut them all at once.  Martha doesn't tell you to do this, but she's probably not as lazy as I am.  This saved a ton of time.  

Mr. Doxie resized these pictures for me, and the quality got a little bit wonky.  Sorry.

It took about five minutes to cut all the layers out.  Make sure your scissors are sharp!  I separated all the layers, then stacked them back up and sort of staggered them.  I didn't pay much attention to the template when cutting, and one side ended up with petals much smaller than the other.  I made sure to put each layer opposite of the last, so that my finished flower would be even.

Assembling the flower is really as easy as folding the circle in half, tacking it with a few stitches, then folding it in half again, and sewing the seam shut with a few stitches. 

It took about three minutes with a needle and thread before my flower was finished.  It was oookay.  A little small, a little boring.

I don't want a huge take-over-your-head sort of flower, but something a little bit larger than that.  It was probably about three inches across.  Cute, though.  Maybe I'll gift those to the bridesmaids for their hair.

I tried again, this time using the large template, and adding more layers.  I want to say the first flower was nine layers of fabric?  I didn't count, but that sounds about right.

Attempt #2 had 17 layers of silk.  I also purchased some red tulle* because I thought it might give it a little more dimension.

My camera battery died before I could get a picture of the finished product on its own, but Mr. Doxie did snap a few shots of it in my hair!

I apologize for my messy hair, guys.  

My cheap little camera really doesn't do it any justice, but I think the flower looks great.  The silk is so pretty; it really makes it look like it was expensive.  But!  With my 50% coupon, it only cost about $3.00 to make.  

Now I have to make the veil to attach it to!  My mom hasn't seen it yet, and I'm pretty sure she's going to scoff, but I don't care.  It's very pretty, and it's going to look great with my dress.

Did  you end up wearing or using something that you never though you would?

*When I went to check out at JoAnn's, the kid who rang me up told me that my "tulley" didn't qualify for my coupon because it was already on sale.  Really?  How do you work at a fabric store and pronounce it "tulley?"

THE ONE.

No, I don't mean Mr. Dachshund.  Though he certainly is the guy for me, I'm not talking about that "One".  This "One" is The One that I never thought I'd find!  The One that took my breath away, that I had to have.  This One is my dress.

While I personally wouldn't mind Mr. D seeing the dress before the wedding, he's pretty adamant about keeping it secret.  So, if by chance you're reading, don't go any further!

Vans Vs. Converse

I knooow my next post was supposed to be the big dress reveal.  But this is a matter of utmost importance!

Our groomsmen need to be informed about their shoe situation.  This is a difficult task considering I haven't yet made that decision!

And boy is it a difficult decision to make.  Waaay back in the beginning of our engagement, back when we chose  our colors, I had mentioned that I'd like for our guys to wear red converse with their suits.  I mentioned this casually way back when.  Yesterday, we received an email from a concerned groomsman regarding their shoes and what they should purchase.

I told them I'd let them know by Sunday.  Before I do that, I'd like your input!  I can't decide between Vans or Converse.  I'm a Vans girl myself, but Converse has so many more customization options!

The Facts: Our groomsmen will be wearing casual, grey suits.  I've given them  general color guidelines and have told them to purchase a suit that they'd be able to wear again.  Our bridesmaids will be wearing a minty aqua colored dress with red flats.  And well, you've all seen my shoes.

The Choices:

Vans:

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Personally, I've always found Vans to be more comfortable than Converse.  Maybe it's because I have wide Fred Flintstone feet.  *Shrug*  I'm not sure if the grey shoes will clash  with the suit if they're different shades.  The only custom aspect of the red Vans is the grey stripe.

Converse:

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The "make-your-own" Converse have many more customization options.  From the shoelaces to the stitching, you can even add a short ID on the heel stripe.  These shoes are (Product)Red and 15% of the price goes to the fight against AIDS.  So that's pretty cool.

They also have these (which I might have to buy for myself):

Buuuut, I don't think our groomsmen want hearts on their shoes!

Maybe some white "bridal" converse for yours truly?  : )

So what do you think?  Should we go with:
A.  Grey Vans
B.  Red Vans
C.  Grey Converse
D.  Red Converse
E.  Skip the tennies all together and stick with dress shoes

Thanks guys!

Biting the Bullet

Alternatively: The David's Bridal Rejects

First of all, thank you all so, so much for your kind words in regards to my last post.  I cried reading a few of the comments you left; hearing your stories touched my heart.  It really makes it easier knowing that I'm not alone in my fears and insecurities.  And y'all telling me that I'm beautiful?  Shucks guys.  We all are!

So like I said, a few weeks ago I finally got the courage to suck it up and go dress shopping.  We figured David's bridal was as good a place as any to begin looking.  I made an appointment and went online to search for dresses that I liked to use a starting point.  I was pretty surprised with a few of their newer additions.  Call me Debbie Downer, but I wasn't really expecting to find anything I liked.

I printed out this collage to show my consultant.  All photos taken from David's Bridal website.

When we pulled into the parking lot I was really, really nervous to go into the store.  I had no idea what to expect as I had read bad reviews of the consultants at this particular David's Bridal.  It was a madhouse.  I don't remember my consultant's name, but I do remember that her sweater looked like she had just pulled it from the bottom of her laundry hamper.  Don't people know how to iron?

Anyway, Wrinkly Sweater Girl (hereby referred to as WSG) took me aside, asked me if I'd ever been in the store before and then took my measurements.  She measured my waist to be seven inches larger than my bust.*  WTF, WSG?  I knew that had to be wrong... Your waist is the smallest part of your body, right?  By her measurements, I'd fit into a size 28.  Wut?

She took me over to the "women's section" which housed the plus-sized dresses.  I believe they went up to size 26.  After seeing them, I told her I think a size 20 would probably fit better.  I have a pretty good eye at what will and won't fit me.  I've had this body for a while, after all!  

Fine.  WSG asked me what I was looking for in a gown.  I told her I wanted something simple and modern, with a bit of a vintage flair.  I didn't want:  beading, excessive lace, satin, a train, shiny material.  Good luck meeting those standards in the women's section of david's bridal!

After she had shown me about eight dresses, all of which I shot down, she tracked down the dresses from the picture that I brought in.  I was able to try on dress 1, 2, and 4 (in the picture above) in my size.  I didn't love any of them.  (I do have photos of me in the dresses, but they're stuck in my mom's camera!  As soon as I can get them I'll share)

WSG brought me dress 3, which I was looking forward to trying on.  However, they only had a size 14 in the store.  Against my protests, my mother came into the dressing room and attempted zipping me into a dress that was  four sizes too small.  "You know, this would have been easier had you been going to the gym for the past year," she casually remarked.

*blink*

No shit?

I know that my mom isn't intentionally mean to me.  I say nasty things to her, too, on occasion, about which I always feel terrible afterward.  Sometimes I feel like mothers and daughters are biologically in-tune with one another, allowing us to tactically press each others buttons in just the right way to allow for maximum pain.  That and she's going through menopause, so I ignore her verbal diarrhea most of the time.  (Aunt Lori, if you're reading, don't tell her I wrote that!)

That was the low of my day.

The highlight?  There was a bride two fitting rooms down who was a few sizes larger than me.  I was fortunate enough to see her come out of the dressing room and to see the look on her face when she saw herself in the dress.  She lit up; she was absolutely glowing!  The dress was lovely on her, and you could tell that she felt beautiful.  I wish that I would have told her how pretty she looked in it, but I was too shy.  Instead, I just smiled.  

She gave me hope.  I didn't find anything I liked that day, but I knew then that the perfect dress was out there for me.  I wasn't going to stop looking until my face lit up like hers!  

All in all, my experience was mostly positive.  WSG wasn't very attentive, but she was nice enough.  As for the rest of the dresses, dress 5 was the same as dress 1 (oops) and dress 6 wouldn't be ready for the wedding if I were to order it, so I didn't bother trying.  

So I didn't find anything I liked at David's Bridal.   A few dresses came close, but definitely not close enough.  We were back to square one, but at least we got our first dress excursion out of the way.  The first hurdle is always the most difficult!

How many stores did you visit before you found your dress?


*A few days later when the woman fitted me for the dress I purchased, she measured my waist to be a whopping 10 inches smaller than WSG's measurements.  L2measuring tape, WSG!

I am a plus-sized bride.

I've struggled with my weight from a very young age.  I was a size 13/14 by the time I was in eighth grade and I've fluctuated between an 18/20 since I graduated high school.  My body image has been poor for as long as I can remember; it's only been Mr. Dachshund's love that has allowed me begin to view myself in a different light.  When he tells me that I'm beautiful, I know in my heart that he is absolutely genuine.  He makes me feel beautiful.  My self-image has improved exponentially in the time that Mr. Dachshund and I have been together.

It may have been more logical for this post to have gone up around the beginning of my blogging for Weddingbee because being plus-sized is something that so many brides relate to and identify with.  I agree that I should have written this much sooner, but I was so nervous that my size would be the one thing that became my identity as a Weddingbee blogger.  I’m not sure what exactly I wanted to build my blogging identity around, but I certainly didn’t want to become “The plus-sized Bee” right out of the starting gate.

It’s come time for me to share my dress shopping experience, and I don’t think I can do that without this preface.  As a plus-sized bride, every insecurity that I’ve ever had about my body has come flooding back in full force.  I can’t remember the last decision I’ve made for this wedding where the thought of my weight wasn’t in the back of my mind. 

I have an amazing photographer, but I was scared that I’d end up hating our wedding pictures because I didn't think I could be a pretty bride.

Remember my beautiful shoes?  I hesitated buying them because I was worried that they’d look ridiculous on me.

The same goes for veils, makeup, hairstyles… Anything that I can twist in my mind to make myself believe that they’ll draw negative attention and judgment.

The number one, top-of-the-list wedding task that has caused me an endless amount of anxiety has been my dress.  Most brides tackle this task first out of sheer excitement for finding their wedding dress.  It’s something they’ve dreamt of their whole lives and when they find “the one,” it is the moment they feel like a bride.  Me?  I was certain I’d never have that moment.  I was  dreadIng  dress shopping to the point where I’d change the subject should anyone mention it. 

I was terrified of being undressed in a room full of strangers and gorgeous, perfect brides.  I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to fit into any of the samples, or that the consultants would laugh or ignore me when I entered the store.  I didn’t want to imagine the disappointment that I knew I would experience, so I put it off.

I had been engaged for ten months before I considered looking for a dress, and I only did so then because I was afraid I would never find anything if I didn’t.  So, with only three-and-a-half months left until the wedding, my mom, aunt and I went to David’s bridal.

While I didn’t find anything at DB (I knew I wouldn’t), a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.  I had taken the first step, and it wasn’t bad at all.

I’m writing this because I know there are plus-sized brides out there who are postponing shopping for their dresses because they’re insecure, or just scared that they won’t find anything.  Please believe me when I tell you that I understand just how scary it is.  I’ve been in your position. I’ve shed tears because I never thought I would find a dress that could make me as pretty as the brides on SMP.  But honestly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined it to be.  Really and Truly.  There are so, so, so many options out there for you; by waiting, it’s you that’s limiting yourself.  You will find something that does make you feel as beautiful as you are in your fiancé’s eyes.

I found my perfect dress, and I’ll share it soon, but I wouldn’t have been able to purchase it had I waited any longer; I was lucky.  So no more waiting!  Grab someone you love and go find the dress of your dreams!

Has planning your wedding brought any of your old insecurities back to front-and-center?