Soon to Be Koo

Step by Step: A Fond Farewell

2010-03-14T17:02:00.004-05:00

If your mind has wandered from the Stiletto festivities because there's so much fabulous wedding eye candy out there, let me quickly refresh your memory.

I primped and preened all morning long...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...while Mr. S donned his finest and got ready with the guys over at the church.

Source: Laurie Peacock

We said "I do" before our closest family and friends...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...then headed out and about for some beautiful pictures...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...and funny moments.

Source: Laurie Peacock

As our reception went on, we danced some dances and had a wonderful night that ended too soon!

Source: Laurie Peacock

And, from start to finish, that's all she wrote!

Source: Laurie Peacock

Well, not quite all she wrote. I wanted to say thank you to each and every reader who has left encouraging comments, given advice, and even shared details of your own lives along the way. I started blogging about our wedding because I thought I had so many great ideas, I just had to share them. But I really, truly learned so much from all of you. THANK YOU.

Blogging about the wedding has changed my life in so many different ways. I've made new friends, both near and far. I finally found my "blogging voice." Each and every day I'm able to look back on our wedding with so much happiness and pride - the day was beautiful, we were surrounded by so much love, and we actually pulled it off! Oh, and if I get really sentimental about wedding planning, I can simply Google myself, look at Google Images, and see my wedding plans picture by picture. Blogging is awesome like that.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity over the past year to share our journey. I'm sure I'll still be buzzing around the site, but please feel free to follow me on my new blog, Growing Kooky Together, where I share silly little details about our newlywed life, fun recipes, and random stories.

xoxo,

Mrs. Stiletto

Step by Step: Groovin' to the Music

2010-03-10T12:56:00.005-06:00

I'm baaaaack! I firmly believe that I have loved doing my recap posts so much, I have stretched them out for as long as I possibly can. No seriously. My time on Weddingbee is rapidly winding down, as I think I've shown you almost everything there is to be shown.

::tear::

But, I just had to show you some live action from our reception. We didn't opt to hire a videographer, but we had many friends who used their digital cameras to take footage of the day.

As I watch these video snippets, as low quality as they are, sometimes it makes me wish that we had shelled out the extra bucks for some professional video. On the other hand, I wouldn't change a thing. Some of these clips captured the most random moments of the day and off-beat snippets of conversation that I doubt a professional would have captured/kept.

Beyond the special dances and other details that I won't bore you with, here are some highlights from the day.

A Great Night
Thank you, Black Eyed Peas, for giving us the perfect song to start off the dance party at our reception. It truly was a great night, thankyouverymuch.

Some Freestyle Love
We were introduced to Greg through our good friends when we were on the hunt for a condo. Turns out, Greg isn't just a real estate broker extraordinaire, but he is an amazing freestyler (freestylist?)! We were so excited to have him grab the mic toward the end of the night and give a little performance...I apologize that the quality of the video isn't 100%, but you get the idea.

Next up - a fond farewell, my Wedding Bee friends!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin’ Sharp - Reception Details
Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance
Step by Step: Some Toasts, Thanks and More Dancing
Step by Step: Get Low

Vendor Review: Jeremy Roeder, First Class Weddings

2010-01-24T11:52:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone...umm, remember me? I know, I know, it has been far too long since I've shown my face around here. I've been seriously dragging my feet finishing up ye olde recaps. But, in case your memory has completely been wiped of my existence - I'll give you the down and dirty highlights.

I had some rockin' hair and make up.

My husband got himself into some sticky situations before the wedding.

We had so much fun taking pictures around Oak Park.

I (umm, I mean, we) had a fabulous, fabulous cake.

Ok, so now that you're caught up and can kind of remember my Bee existence, let's dive back into the recaps!

Figuring out what DJ to hire was something that, quite honestly, I just didn't want to deal with. I had no clue how to choose a DJ or what to look for.

And then, we thought about our friends' wedding in St. Louis about a year before ours. Everyone danced. The DJ did his thing, wasn't cheesey, played great music. We heard through our friends that he was also interested in breaking into the Chicago market. That sealed the deal.

So, we contacted Jeremy Roeder of First Class Weddings and he was available for our date. Score! We booked him immediately.

Jeremy was really great to work with leading up to the wedding and open to whatever we wanted played. We ended up just making a master list of all of the songs that we would want played rather than giving a "yes" and "no" list. For during dinner, we made a CD for Jeremy to play because there were a lot of random songs that were meaningful to us but weren't really danceable.

Here's a shot of Jeremy hard at work:

Source: Laurie Peacock

And, of course, the results of Jeremy's labor:

Source: Laurie Peacock

All of our friends danced for the entire reception and there wasn't a single song played that I didn't love. Jeremy doesn't have a cheesey bone in his body. He's so professional and well spoken. Amazing!

And, in case you need more proof of Jeremy's fantastic-ness, coming up next are some dancin' videos from the reception.

Vendor Review: Laurie Peacock Photography

2009-12-15T21:19:00.004-06:00

As I've been traveling through my wedding day recaps, they wouldn't be complete without sharing about who made these recaps possible. The one, the only, the fabulous Laurie Peacock of Laurie Peacock Photography!

See this scrumptiousness that Laurie created?!

Source: Laurie Peacock

Mr. S, a photographer himself, is 100% credited with finding Laurie. We met with her and immediately booked Laurie well over a year before our wedding and never for one second doubted our decision.

Laurie has a very photojournalistic style, a great eye for detail and composition, and a fantastic, bubble personality to boot! She's so upbeat and fun to be around but still incredibly professional. I was completely put at ease the morning of the wedding when Laurie arrived at the hotel - I had my shoes, jewelry and rings all lined up and ready for Laurie to start shooting the details!

We were also lucky to have a second photographer for the day - Maggie Rife. Maggie was so much fun to be around, is a wonderful photographer and managed to catch far too much mischief with the guys in the morning!

There are so many talented, independent photographers in the Chicago-area and we were lucky enough to have two of them at our wedding. I could continue to rave about their work, but you should just go take a look for yourself. (Oh, and Laurie does some fantastic boudoir photo shoots for those of you who want some photos with sizzle!)

Step by Step: All About the Details

2009-12-13T17:57:00.008-06:00

It's a sad day when I have to say that my recap posts are quickly winding down! But, it's a fabulous day because I'm sharing a lot of the little detail shots that didn't end up in the other posts, yet are oh-so-spectacular.

Even though I experienced massive dress envy along the way, I still can't help but love the floaty, dreamy feel of my dress. After asking for no beading, no lace but some sort of detail and all for under $1,000, I really lucked out.

Swoon. I'm a sucker for shoe shots, and I simply adore this one.

Another glamor shot of my wonder necklace. I love how it makes a heart!

And, what's a wedding day without the obligatory ring shot?

Remember the vintage handkerchiefs I bought for my girls? They worked perfectly since their dresses had pockets!

If I can have shoe shots, so can Mr. S. We debated buying Chucks for all of the groomsmen, but ended up just having a pair for Mr. S. He wore black dress shoes for the ceremony and quickly traded them in for his Chucks.

I debated so long and hard about our flowers! In fact, I posted about it here, here, here and here. Whew, that's a lot of flower talk. And probably not all of it...I'm embarrassed to say that I think there might a few more posts out there.

Anyway, in the end we stuck with our green and white scheme for the flowers, featuring hydrangeas and dahlias.

Each of the bridesmaids carried one of these babies down the aisle. Simple and (hopefully) a little chic with the black and white ribbon loosely tied.

My bouquet was a larger version. When I'd originally met with my florist, we had discussed using all white flowers for my bouquet to keep it different than the rest. So, imagine my surprise when my green and white bouquet arrived! I was a little frustrated at first, but sucked it up. However, I absolutely love that mine featured green as well. It's MUCH more visually interesting in all of the pictures, and I love it!

Hmm, does that stem look somewhat familiar? Let's take a closer look.

Why, it's my Mrs. Lovebug-inspired stem! Remember hers? Mrs. Lovebug was my first introduction into Weddingbee, and I simply had to have L-O-V-E on my bouquet, so I picked up the typewriter keys off of Etsy waaaaay before I decided on anything else.

We gave the florist a piece of lace off of my mom's wedding dress and had her wrap it around the stem as well. I loved these little details!

Mr. S rocked a pretty great bouttonniere with some sort of white mum-flower-thing with some green accents, and all the rest of the guys had little pops of green kermit mums.

I worked on our programs up until two days before the wedding. Remember my program inspiration? Unfortunately I think these ended up looking better in pictures than they did in person, considering I printed them on our home printer and cut them with my little $10 Cricut paper cutter.

When I posted about our guest book plans, I was still doubting it all. Polaroid cameras and film are crazy expensive. That factor combined with concerns over a lot of our guests not even participating in the fun had me stressed.

But, it was SO MUCH FUN! Even though some guests never made it over to sign the book (which I'm sure happens at most weddings - I know I've been a guilty guest and not signed!), we still ended up with pictures of everyone. And, toward the end the night I took one of the cameras out on the dance floor and we took a ton of great dancing shots!

All of the pictures of our guests were so great, including that of our fabulous photographers, Laurie and Maggie. Seeing them posed there with their cameras is just the cutest thing, and you know you've got some great vendors when they take the time to sign the book!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - Review of Laurie Peacock Photography

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin’ Sharp - Reception Details
Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance
Step by Step: Some Toasts, Thanks and More Dancing
Step by Step: Get Low

Step by Step: Get Low

2009-12-07T19:54:00.007-06:00

All the toasts were shared and champagne sipped. Our special dances were done and thank you's complete. There was nothing left to do but hit the dance floor for the night!

However...before we get into the good stuff, I have a confession to make. I. Can't. Dance. Whew, there, I said it. Having absolutely no rhythm, moves, or confidence on the dance floor was a huge concern for me leading up to the wedding. Brides always seem so confident and happy on the dance floor, and I knew that wasn't me.

I didn't want to consume the required number of alcoholic beverages to give me the false confidence required to even enter the dance space. What's a bride to do, you say? Fake it till you make it!

Ok, confession time is over, onto the fun.

Our fantastic wedding party took to the floor...

...and later were joined by many more friends.

We celebrated their wedding a year and a half ago, and was by far one of the most personal, beautiful weddings we have been to! Needless to say, they set the bar pretty high for us as we planned.

So cute!

Ok, I'm selfishly putting this picture in because my arms actually look somewhat toned in it! I seemed to have flabby-arm-syndrome in the majority of our pictures (ugh).

Hopefully our children will be lucky and get some of Mr. S's moves...cause they definitely won't be getting any from their momma!

I had originally planned my attack prior to the wedding. Champagne and wine? Champagne and cocktails? Only beer. Or all of the above? Yes please! Bridesmaid Darcie kept me with vodka tonics for most of the night (thank you!!) but I kept it all within moderation. After 18 months of planning, I wanted to remember my reception, thankyouverymuch.

We had so many amazing dancing shots captured!

And to top it off? Prior to the wedding, Mrs. Powderpuff suggested we all learn the "Thriller" dance. With my lack of time combined with lack of skillz, I didn't join in. But, Mrs. Powderpuff and Mrs. Taffy ROCKED OUT.

Notice everyone stopping and staring?

As they should be - these ladies totally represented!

But don't worry, "Thriller" was open to all. Bridesmaid Abby's fiance, Josh, had some moves of his own (we can't wait to celebrate your wedding in just a few months!!).

We managed to get some slow songs in, too!

In the midst of it all, Grandpa S and I got a slow dance in. Grandpa has a great singing voice and serenaded both Mr. S and I earlier in the day. But, at the reception, it was all for me as Grandpa sang "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby." Such a special moment!

This is the man who sold us our condo. Not only is he awesome with negotiations, he's not so shabby on the dance floor. He freestyles as well and performed for us later on in the night - it was amazing!

Some ladies swoon over Ella Fitzgerald's "At Last." But my song at each and every wedding we attend is Flo Rida's "Get Low." Sigh, you had me at Apple Bottom jeans.

Some brides would freak out when their dress is stepped on and the bustle rips. Me? Just find me my day of coordinator, Marilyn, and grab me a beer.

Whew! Dress crisis averted, beer in hand, man on my arm. Can it get any better?

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - Never before seen details of the day.

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details
Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance
Step by Step: Some Toasts, Thanks and More Dancing

Ornament Inspiration: Stiletto Version

2009-12-03T12:19:00.008-06:00

It's that time of year already! I can't even believe it. I'd like to think that Mr. S and I will get our little Christmas tree out of storage and decorate with our el-cheepo Target ornaments (you know, the ones that come all in a big container for $4.99 and look like metal but really aren't?), but we're probably too lazy for even that.

Hopefully, though, Mr. UPS, Mr. FexEx and Mr. USPS will be dropping off the many gifts we have ordered in the past week so that we can get to wrapping and at least make the place look a little more festive!

Anyway, in the spirit of the season and in honor of those brides currently planning winter wonderland weddings, I give you my ornament inspiration board, full of silver, sparkle, and everything nice.

Inspiration:

Source

Blissful winter wedding:

Row 1 (L-R): 1 2 3

Row 2 (L-R): 1 2 3

That dress alone makes me swoon enough to want to plan my wedding all over again, sigh. Maybe one day I'll buy a dress just like it and sit around in it at home watching reality shows. Who says loungewear can't also be fancy?

Happy, happy holidays!

Step by Step: Some Toasts, Thanks and More Dancing

2009-11-29T19:22:00.009-06:00

After Mr. S and I had cut our cake and enjoyed our first dance as a married couple, we were able to sit back and relax for a bit. Finally!

Daddy Stiletto started off with a sweet welcome for all of our guests at the beginning of dinner.

While we were able to sit and eat (unfortunately, my dress was much better for standing and dancing than sitting and eating, so I felt like I couldn't breath very well and only had a few bites of our fabulous dinner), we tried to make it around to the tables and say hello to our guests. I'll be honest, having just 100 guests we still struggled to talk with everyone. I wonder how other couples handle making it around to 200, 300, 400 guests!

I definitely had some crazy eyes going on here. It was getting overwhelming and tiring, but so nice to making it around to (almost) everyone.

Toward the end of dinner, it was time for toasts (or, I think it was the end of dinner, we changed things up at the reception and I couldn't tell you what exactly happened when!).

Sister and Made of Honor Stiletto stashed the notes for her toast in the cute little clutch that I made for each of the bridesmaids - remember those?

Her toast was very heart felt and endearing, and even brought some tears to Mr. S's eyes, I think. She held it together much better than I would have!

Next up was Mr. S's best man, Matt. We had absolutely no clue about what he'd talk about, especially since he lives out of state and doesn't have stories about Mr. S and I together.

Once I realized where he was going with the toast, I could help but laugh! Matt and Mr. S love to talk sports, and I once saw an online chat between them where Matt had said "I'd love to be the best man at your funeral."

At the time, I didn't know that this was a line from some sports radio show, and was a little miffed that Matt had such a dim outlook on the wedding! Mr. S later explained it to me, and I didn't think another thing of it. Apparently Mr. S had also let Matt know I had seen it, so I quickly received an apologetic email from Matt.

Of course, all was good and who would have thought it would later be a humorous start to Matt's toast?

Overall, we were both so happy to be surrounded by family and friends and hear their kind words.

At the very end of the toasts, Mr. S and I got up to say a few words of thanks. Well, I said a very few words before quickly passing the microphone off to him! Public speaking (even with family and friends) makes my stomach flip flop. Mr. S was much more of a natural and shared some sweet words.

Finishing it all up, Daddy Stiletto and I enjoyed a dance to Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight." While I had been searching high and low for a great father/daughter song, I ended opening it up to him to choose a song that he liked, and this was a perfect fit!

Sadly, at some point our cake had to be whisked away to serve to our guests. Our topper and a bridesmaid bouquet held down the fort in its place.

As pretty as our cake was, it was equally as tasty! I had promised myself that I'd eat a slice of each flavor, but I stayed glued to the dance floor throughout the night. I finally gobbled down a piece after tracking down a fork from the catering staff!

The formalities were finally done so it's all dancing and fun from here on out!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - We bust out our dancing shoes!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details
Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance

Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance

2009-11-22T17:25:00.006-06:00

Even though we were able to sneak in a see the ballroom before the reception, it was SO exciting to come back in to a room full of guests! It was so fun to be introduced as the new "Mr. and Mrs. Stiletto"!

Because we nixed our head table at the last minute in favor of having everyone sit a different round tables, I had a momentary freak out about where the wedding party would go once entering the ballroom. We were all sitting close to the door we'd enter through, so it would be a rather lackluster grand entrance if people went straight to their seats!

Mr. S had the best idea - everyone lined up behind the cake and waited for us to arrive. Genius!

Note to future brides: your wedding cake may seem very intimidating when you go to cut it. Have your wedding coordinator or someone from catering give you a quick lesson. Even with that, we struggled to get through this sucker. It was too pretty to cut!

Nope, no cake smashing for us! I don't think we would have regardless (I get majorly weirded out about having food on my face in public!), but with a fondant-covered cake, there's no messy frosting to smush.

We played the song "All I Want is You" by Barry Louis Polisar during the cake cutting. It was Mr. S's pick and I wasn't sure how well it would work for this, but it was PERFECT. We had the most fun cake cutting and thanks to Mrs. Taffy, you can check out the fun!

Straight from cake, it was time to dance! Mr. S and I have always liked the weddings where immediately on entering the reception, the bride and groom cut the cake and dance their first dance. Getting it all done off the bat let us get two of those "must do's" checked off the list right away.

We danced to "Right Red Ankle" by The Decemberists. After many song debates between the two of us on out here in the blogosphere, this was definitely the right choice. But, as sweet as it was, 3 1/2 minutes seemed like a lifetime! I struggle having all eyes on me, and I felt like we were SO front and center during the song.

So, while I enjoyed our first dance, I was relieved when the song ended and all eyes could be on someone else for a minute!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - some toasts and more dancing!

Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details

2009-11-17T20:00:00.000-06:00

Without further adieu, I give your our fabulous, fabulous cake from Sugar Syndicate:

And, I give you my reaction to seeing our cake for the very first time. I was awestruck at how amazing it looked in person, and how it was even better than what I had ever envisioned. Oh, and it tasted as divine as it looked! (Half was chocolate cake with white chocolate peppermint ganache, the other was vanilla cake with mango curd and strawberries...and we get a complimentary mini-tier on our anniversary instead of having to freeze the top layer - counting down the days!)

Remember my escort card project? They turned out great and were a big hit with our guests.

Our granola favors that also incorporated a charitable donation. Purchasing of the granola plus the donation we made helped support programs for at-risk youth. And the granola was super yummy.

And, of course, my DIY menus. If I could do it all again, I would get back the hours I spent on these suckers! But, they looked cute on the tables.

Our table numbers were so popular with our guests - we even had one guest take home the their table's number! This was by far one of my favorite projects and was so super simple.

Since we didn't have a head table, I opted to place my bouquet in a vase as our table's centerpiece instead of the other centerpiece we had arranged, and placed the bridesmaid bouquets in vases on the gift / guestbook table.

Tables all set up...

Some yummy hors d'oeuvres. This was the plate they brought into Mr. S and I while our guests enjoyed cocktail hour. We opted to have some downtime together while everyone else socialized.

Also during the cocktail hour, our ushers manned the Polaroid guestbook. They took pictures of all of the guests and then gave them the opportunity to sign the book. After cocktail hour, it was brought up to the ballroom for guests to write in during the evening.

We left a little note to our guests asking them to write of messages of well wishes and advice.

Our guests definitely had a lot of fun with the guestbook! While not everyone remembered to come back and sign it, we had awesome pictures of everyone. And, later in the night we brought the Polarioid cameras out on the dance floor and took lots of fun pictures. We loooved looking at everything after the wedding, and have since taken the candids and added them to the guestbook.

Hmmm...do I spy a Bee in this picture?!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - We cut our BEAUTIFUL cake and take time for some special dances.

Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park

2009-11-16T21:13:00.012-06:00

Hold your horses, because I have a whole lot of fabulosity coming your way! While we had a lot of fun posing in the park after the ceremony, we had allotted most of our time for pictures throughout downtown Oak Park. We knew we didn't have time to head into the city for urban shots there, but Oak Park turned out to be a fabulous alternative.

For those of you who are familiar with Oak Park, we had our limo driver drop us off at the corner of North Boulevard and Harlem Avenue. From there we started walking east, stopping at whatever caught our eyes, and met the driver about an hour later at North Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue.

Straight out of the limo, one of my favorite shots. That needs to be framed and on my wall, pronto!

Oak Park has a great El/Metra train station, where we took some great shots. I couldn't envision how this would turn out, and I fell in love once I saw it.

Hmm...Mr. S can whisk me away on a train any day.

There happened to be a festival going on that day - "Oak-tober Fest"! We got a lot of stares and many well wishes as we walked through.

We were always very anti-jumping. It turns out, the jumping was a whole lot of fun! We didn't ask our bridal party to jump, but Mr. S and I gave it a shot. Sadly, this is the best out of the bunch, notice my feet planted firmly on the ground. Ladies, you must remember to SMILE when you jump. I did not, hence many angry looking jumping shots of me. And Mr. S and I could never get in sync with our jumps.

Love.

Yes, our wedding party was totally fierce. Don't they look like a force to be reckoned with?

Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I'm not a naturally laughy, bubbly person. So I adore that Laurie caught a completely natural, carefree laugh on my part.

And also a very serious, sweet moment.

Us trying to look fierce. Who knew Oak Park had so many great murals? I had never really noticed them until we were scouted for good photo locations.

Once we hit Oak Park Avenue, our wedding party was more than ready to put their feet up! My one mistake was not considering the fact that they may not have been as excited to walk around in their fancy shoes as I was. While I was totally fine with powering through blisters and cramped toes, they were not! Fortunately we were way ahead of schedule, so we bought them a bunch of water and let them chill out.

After a bit of rest (and letting our photographers rest, too - they were working hard!), Mr. S and I headed over to a nearby park for a few more one-on-one shots. This was definitely a stand out of the bunch. These kids were playing football and made their best "Eww, you're kissing faces" for the shot. I'm normally not into things that are so posed, but this is so stinkin' cute.

One more sweet embrace...

...and dress shot...

...and finally, a bit of lovely flare...

...and it was time for Mr. S to flag down our limo to take us on over to the reception!

Did I mention that I love flare?

The sun was setting so beautifully at that moment, our photographers just kept on shooting after our friends had piled into the limo.

Fortunately, by the end of the day, I was a master at getting in and out of the limo in my heels and dress! It was definitely a well-crafted combination of grace and gymnastics.

Time to head on in and see the ballroom!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - All of the fun little reception details, including the cake of my dreams!

Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park

2009-11-14T20:38:00.006-06:00

After the ceremony we loaded up in our supersized limo with our wedding party and fabulous photographers to go have some fun. We had allowed about 2 1/2 hours for pictures and chose locations very close to the church and reception, so it was a really laid back and fun time.

My first job as a wife? Making sure Mr. S's shoelace is tied!

Our first photo stop was Lindberg Park in Oak Park. We had scoped it out the week before the wedding and I loved the garden of prairie grasses with a path winding through it.

But before we could go anywhere, we needed to have a little married couple shoe love! We opted not to do chucks for all of the groomsmen, although we thought about it, but Mr. S wanted to pick up a pair for himself. I did make him wear normal black dress shoes for the ceremony, though...I'm a traditionalist like that. His chucks were a huuuuuge hit at the reception, though - everyone commented on how cute they were!

See what I mean by the beautiful path through the garden? You would never know that behind us was a huge soccer field and baseball diamond, filled with kids! I'll just let you enjoy the eye candy for a little bit...

Sigh. These trees are just an amazing backdrop.

I made him tie the chucks all by himself this time.

Mr. S hammed it up a bit with his guys...

...while I got to cozy up with my beautiful bridesmaids.

I've been getting a lot of great comments about the green bridesmaids shoes (only $25 from Newport News, what a steal!). When I picked out their shoes and dresses, this was the very shot I was envisioning...

Just a little more beautiful eye candy.

While the shot above of my dress may have been pretty, what you can't tell was how it was snagging on the sidewalk with each and every step. I was SO over having a train by this point! I begged and pleaded until my girls bustled it up.

Just a couple more group shots in the park...

...and it was time to pile back into the limo and head on our to our next location for some real fun! The park was pretty and all, but we're a lot less park people and a lot more urban street art and alley people. That's just how we roll.

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - Train tracks, murals, alleys and overpasses, oh my!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched

Changing Names in Chiiicago.

2009-11-12T12:13:00.003-06:00

Whew, as far as changing names goes, I'm grateful to just be changing a few cards and documents rather than changing one of these babies:

Source

Claudia is one lucky lady I'd guess. Anyway.

I was absolutely dreading the whole process from start to finish. It seemed very mysterious and confusing and like it would be difficult.

Fortunately, I found this fabulous Web site for Illinois residents to work through the name changing process. It walks through step by step exactly what order you should do things in, the forms you'll need to fill out for each office, and even form letters that you can modify and send out to notify your banks and other organizations about the change. And the Web site is free, free, FREE!

And, still, I put everything off. I absolutely could not motivate myself to go and pick up a copy of my marriage certificate, the Holy Grail to changing your name. Please keep in mind that my work is less than a 10 minute walk from the office where I can get the certificate, and their office hours (8am - 5pm) work perfectly with my schedule to allow me to make it over there. Heh.

Once I finally went there, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes! And about $20 poorer. I paid for two copies of the certificate (one copy is like $15, a second is $4, I thought it was smart to have a backup so as not to have to go back).

The next week, I headed on over to the Social Security Office to apply for my new card. Their office hours are not so friendly - 9am-4pm. What?! Really? Ugh. So I went over my lunch hour and after a 45 minute wait my number was finally called (I am guessing that I was lucky and this was a relatively short wait for that office).

My big concern was that I was taking my maiden name and moving it to my middle name, and then taking Mr. S's last name. There is nowhere on their Web site that states you can do this. From asking around and reading message boards, I learned that whatever you put on your application for your new Social Security card, you should be fine as long as you have your marriage certificate to prove the change. My name change on my card was accepted without the bat of an eye!

Less then a week later, I had my new Social Security card in my hand. And better yet, your social security card is FREE!

Feeling powerful with my new card and excited to put things into motion, I headed over to the DMV to get my new license. Mind you, the license I had was the one I got when I turned 21 and still had my parents' address on it (where I haven't lived for 5 years). I was sad to part with my old friend, but excited to finally have something with my new name on it to flash around (since flashing around one's Social Security card tends to be frowned upon).

There's an "Express" DMV in Chicago's Loop and I went there after work on a Friday (they are also open until 5pm!). There was NO WAIT, people. I worked with the nicest lady who autmatically asked me if I was moving my maiden name to my middle name and chatted about how much she loved my new Korean last name.

$5 and one surprisingly good picture later, I had my license!

Note to self: practice writing new signature before signing a card I will have for years to come. Doh!

I've since sent out all letters to my various accounts using the handy dandy form letter I found online, and am awaiting for new cards and changed accounts.

This weekend Mr. S and I are heading over to my bank, where we will change my name on all of those accounts AND add him onto the accounts, thereby starting down the road of the dreaded (on my part) joint account. Must. Stop. Buying. Clothes.

Part of me was sad to leave my maiden name behind, so getting to bring it right along with me and having it be such an easy process to do so has been fabulous. I officially feel like a Mrs.!

Did you have a hard time working the system to change your name?

Step by Step: We Get Hitched!

2009-11-08T18:12:00.010-06:00

Walking down the aisle was so incredibly surreal, but I was very, very happy that the aisle wasn't long - I was ready to get to Mr. S!

Our wedding party was ready and waiting for my arrival...

And Daddy Stiletto delivered me safe and sound to Mr. S.

It all was a bit of a blur...I focused on looking at the outline of the ceremony that Pastor Scott was holding to help keep the tears at bay!

I love this little sneaky shot of the bridesmaids.

And, wait - are those my pomanders?! I'm so glad that I did these and nothing more, keepin' it simple. (FYI - I have 10 of these pomanders for sale on classifieds, message me if you're interested, otherwise I'm trashing them!).

We were so excited to exchange our bling!

And while everyone looked on...

...we headed on up to light our unity candle (which was a last minute DIY of pinning damask fabric to a white pillar camera, easy and cheap!).

As we got up there, I started to wonder why I ever thought it would be a good idea to handle fire while full of nerves in a long flowing dress. Eek! Fortunately, no fires were set and after lighting the candle Mr. S and I had a moment to giggle and talk, just the two of us.

Finally, we were almost there!

Time for THE kiss. Remember my post about church tongue? Well, how do you think we did?!

Not too shabby! Simple and sweet.

This was it! To Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" we were officially Mr. and Mrs. Stiletto!

I finally got to look and see who was in the church. There were so many people that I knew were going to be there, but it was such an exciting surprise seeing them there!

Mr. S whisked me away into hiding until our guests exited the church...

...so that we could have a "grand exit" from the church with all of our guests around. While we opted not to do a toss or bubbles or any of the other fun options, just having everyone out there clapping was fine by us!

I love this shot - feels so glamorous!

Our limo arrived and it was time to load up and head out for pictures around Oak Park!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

We had just an amazing ceremony. Many of our guests commented on how nice it was and while it was a little more modern (we spent a lot of time choosing music and readings that were special to us), the messages were still very spiritual and meaningful.

Next up - Wedding party pictures as we stroll around Oak Park!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin' Ready to Walk

Step by Step: Gettin' Ready to Walk

2009-11-03T19:55:00.004-06:00

I love the calm in the church just a couple of hours before the ceremony was to begin. For a wedding of 100 people, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect church to be married in. Some of our guests even commented that it felt like a little country church...that is, until an ambulance came blaring by in the middle of the ceremony. Ahh, urban life!

Daddy Stiletto made sure Mr. S's flower was pinned on just right...

...while Momma Stiletto kept me cool and calm as we waited in a different part of the church. This was after the first look, but I was still all in knots!

The guys putzed around while they waited for the high sign that they should line up...

...while the ladies kept me company as I asked "Is it time yet?!" many times over.

When Mr. S was on his wait to the front of the sanctuary, I met up with Daddy Stiletto to get lined up behind the rest of the wedding party.

Behind the scenes story: notice my arms in the shot? Yeah....I was very concerned that I was going to sweat like crazy during the ceremony (not only out of nerves, but the sanctuary didn't have air conditioning!), so I was keepin' my arms out. But no worries, I was cool as a cucumber!

An encouraging smile from Sister Stiletto...

...and just to not have a completely big head about how great I'd like to think I looked on the day, I give you my ugly face:

Two of our fabulous ushers rolled out the white carpet, err, paper-like runner. That blasted runner (you'll see why in a second).

The bridal party made their way down the aisle.

And Mr. S was ready and waiting for my grand entrance!

Here goes nothin'!! (seeeee the runner?! Arrr.)

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I have to say while I was ready and rarin' to go down the aisle, it absolutely goes by in a whirlwind. An amazing and meaningful whirlwind, but a whirlwind nonetheless!

Next up - the Stiletto ceremony and officially tying the knot!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look

Step by Step: First Look

2009-11-01T12:26:00.007-06:00

We had debated doing a "first look" quite a bit. Mr. S was all about it, I was a little more hesitant. I even posted about it this summer. I finally decided that if it was something that he felt was really important for us to do, I would throw caution to the wind and go for it.

Our timeline was tight on the wedding day, so I left the hotel in the limo with the bridal party around 2:30, arriving at the church around 2:40. The ceremony started at 3:00 on the dot, so it was a quick look! I waited in the limo after the bridal party went into the church and waited for the "all clear" that Mr. S was all set and waiting for me in our designated spot - a little garden on the side of the church.

Mr. S waited patiently with his back turned in one part of the garden.

I was ready and waiting behind him, all anxious and excited. Having a second photographer for this was great - she was standing facing Mr. S and our main photographer (the fabulous Laurie Peacock) was facing me...you can even see Laurie right behind Steve. Love it!

As it should be, Mr. S came to me! (ok, I was going to go to him, but part of the garden was a bit muddy, and I wasn't ready to trash my dress quite yet!)

I like to think he's liking what he's lookin' at.

Especially as he goes in for a smooch.

I gave him the cheek, though. Why? I'm assuming I didn't want to smudge my freshly-done makeup.

And then it was just time to chit chat, share stories from the morning. Mr. S is most definitely my best friend, and it was nice to FINALLY show him my dress! Whew...that was secret I had kept for almost a year.

Aww, a last hand squeeze before we separate - almost time for the ceremony to start!

Oh, and maybe a funny face.

Or two. Mr. S is apparently great with the faces!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I had originally thought that our first look should definitely be in the church as I walked down the aisle. It would be meaningful, emotional and magical. But I truly believe that having those few moments together before the ceremony really was perfect. It eased some anxiety, let us reconnect before saying "I do" and helped us deal with many emotions. I can only imagine what kind of a crying mess I would have been in the church if I hadn't seen Mr. S beforehand.

Next Up - Everyone gets lined up and ready for the ceremony to finally begin!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready

Vendor Review: Morgan Blaul (Hair & Makeup)

2009-10-29T10:37:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure I contacted everyone in the greater Chicago-area who might do hair and makeup for weddings. I wanted someone to work on-site at the hotel I was staying at for the wedding, to do both hair and makeup, to be somewhat affordable, and of course, to be fabulous!

Morgan Blaul definitely personified fabulosity. She was super chill and great to work with for my trial. I showed her what I wanted for my hair, and she replicated exactly what I wanted. I had no clue what I might want for my makeup - I told her to do what would compliment me. She rocked it! Quite honestly, I looked so great after just the trial, I would have been confident walking down the aisle that day.

The trial was my first time ever wearing false eyelashes. Morgan applied them perfectly and I loved them. She even did extra long ones so they added this awesome, vintage feel to everything! In fact, Morgan's overall work had a general vintage 1960s twist that fit with the scheme of our wedding.

If you make the picture bigger, you can see my rockin' eyelashes!

Source: Laurie Peacock

And, still, I swoon over my hair! I kid you not, it looked as fabulous at the end of the night as it did at the beginning!

Source: Laurie Peacock

On the wedding day, Morgan brought another stylist (Heather) to help expedite things. Heather was great to work with as well and did an excellent job on my bridesmaids. We had 5 bridesmaids, my mom and me who all had our hair done and my mom, one bridesmaid and me who all had our makeup done. We didn't start hair and makeup until 10am and we finished around 2pm - not too shabby! Both Morgan and Heather worked efficiently but with beautiful end results.

I couldn't be happier with how things turned out and would recommend her a million times over to other brides.

Thank you, Morgan!

Other Vendor Reviews
Marilyn, Honeybee Weddings

Step by Step: Guys Get Ready

2009-10-27T19:27:00.009-05:00

While I was experiencing an odd mixture of gettin' pretty amidst nerves and anxiety, Mr. S and his guys seemed to be having a good old time! He, his groomsmen and our ushers met at the church to get ready, where they were joined by our fabulous second photographer for the day, Maggie Rife.

I love how excited he looks, like he's telling a great story (I like to think it was about me!).

We spent a very long time finding the perfect tie for him to wear on that day, and it looks like he's got it all under control in tying it perfectly for the big day.

Oh wait, maybe he just needed a little more help...

Oh, still not perfect? Nice to know his boys had his back - nothing like a crooked tie to ruin your wedding pictures!

Once dressed and with beers in hand, you can just tell that these guys were bound to get into a little trouble.

Oh, silly me, they're just posing for some glamour shots. Don't they all look great?! Mr. S did a great job of picking out a black suit with a very faint pinstripe from MW Tux for him and all of the groomsmen. Our ushers just donned their own black suits and we gave them black and white striped ties.

It was a bit of a joke between Mr. S and me that the week before the wedding he needed to be living in a bubble...he's a wee bit accident prone! I was very concerned that he'd show up with a cast on his hand or a bandaid on his ring finger. We actually had some close calls just days before the wedding, but when the wedding day arrived, we were in the clear.

So seeing these pictures of him climbing a fence makes me VERY relieved that I didn't know about this until well after the wedding, and that he made it to the wedding in one piece.

The climb up appears to be pretty easy.

Although I'm not sure what he expected to do once he got up there.

And, fortunately, he made it back down, safe and sound. I cringe at the thought that he could have ripped his suit just an hour before the wedding. Ahhh!

Apparently climbing fences wasn't enough. No, not when there's a random mattress laying in an alley! You or I might just pass that by (especially on your wedding day!), but these guys thought it would be a great way to demonstrate that Mr. S was the man of the hour.

Climb aboard!

If I'd known he was sitting on an alley mattress, I might have held back some hugs.

But really, you can't beat these pictures, can you?!

This is the man that I love more than anything. Swoon.

Safe and sound, yet again!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I know this post may have a slightly sarcastic tone, but in all honesty I'm so happy that Mr. S had a lot of fun before the ceremony. I was so tense that I could not relax until we said "I do." He was able to have some fun for the both of us!

Next up - Mr. S and I enjoy our first look before the ceremony.

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready

Step by Step: Girls Get Ready

2009-10-26T09:39:00.007-05:00

The morning of my wedding I was cool, calm and collected as everyone got primped and pretty in my suite. Ok, so on the outside I was calm, but there was immense turmoil, anxiety and exitement on the inside. I was a bit of a nervous wreck as the clock ticked closer to 2:15, when the limo would be arriving to whisk us away to the church.

Once we zipped up the dress, everything became real.

I was so glad that it fit - after our heavenly rehearsal dinner the night before where I'd eaten one too many tacos, it was anyone's guess at to whether or not this sucker would zip up!

We had ousted the bouquet and garter toss in the final weeks before the wedding, so don't ask me why I even slipped my garter on. Tradition? Rite of passage? Because it was there and I'd already paid for it anyway? I'd like to think it was for this sexy leg shot!

By this point, I'm pretty sure I just liked posing in my dress!

I was getting incredibly anxious once I was dressed, so I don't remember seeing the reaction of two of my bridesmaids as they saw me for the first time all done up. Apparently, they approved of the look!

I made sure to also get their seal of approval of the veil...

...which complimented my fabulous hairstyle to a "t." Swoon. I loved my hair.

One more check from my girls to make sure all was perfect. I have no clue what I had asked them, but everyone seems to be contemplating something, so it must have been an important question.

And, of course, Momma Stiletto is all "done up" and checking me out for the first time!

I was more than ready to get out of the suite. Staying in that space was making me a wee bit claustrophobic; good thing there was a beautiful staircase right outside the door for my escape.

Here we go down...

and around...

and around some more until we made it to the end. Aren't these shots such amazing eye candy?!

It's good to be backed up by such a great entourage.

Fortunately, my limo was ready and waiting for me. When I say that I was ready to get to the church, I was ready. I think if I'd had to wait more than a minute for my limo, I would have turned a little 'zilla. I was slightly taken aback when I saw the car, however. We were supposed to get a stretch Lincoln Navigator, and they ended up sending a monstrous stretch Hummer. H-U-G-E. I was more than slightly embarrassed by the size of this thing.

But I made it into the beast, packed in with layers of dress and ready to go!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I was lucky to have such a wonderful morning getting ready, surrounded by fabulous people and lots of love.

Next up - the guys get ready! Oh, the mischief they got into.

A Little Extra Wedding Buzz

2009-10-11T21:19:00.004-05:00

I'd hinted that there might be some Bees buzzin' around my wedding festivities. As our RSVP's were coming in and I saw that our guest count was going to be lower than we'd be planning, I was SO excited to reach out to the Bees to see if any of them would be at all interested in celebrating the day with us.

When Mrs. Quiche, Miss Snapdragon, Mrs. Taffy and Mrs. Powderpuff all accepted my open invitation, I was psyched! Blogging for Weddingbee became more and more important to me as the wedding day drew closer, and having some of my Bee friends at the wedding was very special for both Mr. S and I.

The Bees dined...

Picture by Miss Powderpuff

...danced (and even stole the show on the dance floor at one point - I can't wait to share those photos!)...

Picture by Miss Snapdragon

...and posed for a picture or two with me...

Picture by Miss Snapdragon

It was so lovely having four fabulous Bees with us on that day! And, my wedding day was the first time I met Mrs. Taffy - how fun to meet a friend in person for the first time on your wedding day. And added bonus of having self-proclaimed wedding enthusiast in attendance is that they take fabulous photos throughout the day and evening and upload them on Facebook right after the wedding, they leave lovely messages in your guestbook, and break it down on the dance floor.

Thank you again, ladies! We were so glad that you were there to help make the day extra special.

Vendor Review: Marilyn of Honeybee Weddings

2009-10-05T11:55:00.005-05:00

I'm pretty sure the day after the wedding, I wanted to email each and every one of my vendors and gush about how fabulous they were! True story. However, Mr. S urged me to hold off until after the honeymoon...while we were away, we stayed off of Facebook and made ourselves invisible on Google Chat. I did sneak in a little Weddingbee (shh...), but Mr. S snuck in a few work emails, so I guess we're even.

On our first night officially in town released the gushing emails onto our vendors - I think Mr. S was just as excited as I was to share lovely words with the individuals who helped me our day so special!

Vendor Review: Marilyn of Honeybee Weddings

Source

I shared a little while back about why I chose to hire a day of coordinator (DOC). I wanted to know that the little details were taken care of, and that while I thought my DJ was a fabulous great guy, I didn't want to have to talk to him or anyone else about the timeline on that day. I was there to celebrate and have fun, darn it!

Marilyn delivered a hundred times over on the weekend of our wedding. She helped ensure our rehearsal the evening before ran smoothly, taught our ushers how to work the aisle runner and kept us all in line.

On the morning of, it was a relief to have Marilyn show up at the hotel with binder in hand. The monster spreadsheet she'd had me fill out in the weeks leading up to the wedding - covering timelines, bridal party contact info, reception set up details - was organized and at the ready. It was Marilyn who was calling down to the front desk for the extra chairs needed for hair and makeup, running out to pick up lunch for everyone, and getting all of us out the door and over to the church on time.

After the ceremony (which started ON TIME and went perfectly), we went off to take pictures, and Marilyn headed over to the reception site to finish setting up the little details, be present for cake delivery, dj set up, and to light all of those pesky tea light candles.

We were ahead of schedule with pictures, so we arrived at the reception site earlier than planned and were able to check out the ballroom while our guests were enjoying the cocktail hour. Everything was simply gorgeous! All that I had left for Marilyn to take care of was done perfectly.

Throughout dinner, Marilyn would pop over to our table and give us updates - we were ahead of schedule, so if it was fine by us we'd push back the toasts, or, the catering staff was leaving our cake out longer because it looked so fabulous (yay!!).

As we danced the night away and after some guests had left, Marilyn quietly gathered different decor items off of the tables and packed them away. She had the DJ announce that guests could take the table arrangements (something I hadn't even considered as an option), which solved the question of what we would do with all of these tall and short vases after the wedding! And, once we'd danced the last dance and were ready to leave, Marilyn had all gifts and decor boxed up, on a trolly, and ready load into my parents' car.

In a day that was a mix of excitement and anxiety, I so greatly appreciated having Marilyn there. She was cool, calm and collected. She allowed my family and friends to enjoy the day and not worry about coordinating a thing. Our budget didn't initially include a DOC, but I think our biggest regret would have been not hiring one.

Thank you, Marilyn!

Picturing the Rhyme

2009-09-30T12:12:00.004-05:00

We are of course waiting for our fabulous photographer to give us our full disk of wedding photos, but we were lucky enough to see a big blog post from her this week! Since I'm sure the Bees who have gone before me would encourage me to wait until I have all of the pictures to then decide how to do my recaps, I shall force myself to wait!

But.

That doesn't mean I can't share with y'all my "something old, something new, something borrowed, sometihing blue." I didn't have nice pictures of everything before the wedding to share!

Withour further adieu...

Something Old

My earrings and necklace were made from vintage chandelier pieces. Are they gorgeous?! Swoon. I can't rave enough about the fabu-losity of Precious Meshes. I also had lace from my mother's wedding dress as a something old, but I want to wait to share pictures of my bouquet, so you'll just have to wait for further recaps!

Something New

What wasn't new during the wedding planning process? But, my official "something new" would have to be my fabulous Nine West shoes. At $40 they were a steal, and I definitely felt like I rocked these puppies!

Something Borrowed

I was at a loss about this one until the lovely Mrs. Avocado offered to loan her birdcage veil. I loved it! I absolutely do not regret not having a long, traditional veil. The birdcage was fun, vintage, and fabulous. I wore it the entire night - during pictures we ended up wrapping it to make somewhat of an avante garde netted poof on the top of my head, and it was equally fabulous. Thank you again, Mrs. Avocado!

Something Blue

Even though I didn't do a garter toss, I still had my cute blue garter. I'm glad we ended up not doing either toss...taking out some of those rituals meant we had more time for dancing and fun!

Please note: All photos are credited to Laurie Peacock Photography.

I hope this satiates my hunger for recaps a little bit more and that you enjoy these tasty little tidbits from our day!

Did you manage to find fun little items to complete the "something old" rhyme, or did you decide to chuck tradition all together?

One Happy Honeymoon Island

2009-09-29T19:50:00.010-05:00

Mr. S and I have dropped back into real life after a wonderful wedding and honeymoon! Leaving for the honeymoon the day after the wedding was the best idea ever - while we were exhausted, it was so great to just escape for some fantastic relaxing in ARUBA!

Check out Mr. S at the airport while we had a quick bite before our flight:

And, yep - Mr. S is sportin' his ring!

I'm also excited about the honeymoon, although this picture doesn't show it!

Aruba welcomed us with hot, hot weather, sunny skies and fabulous beaches. We stayed at the Marriott's Aruba Ocean Club, which we were able to stay at by taking a week of my parents timeshare that they gifted us and trading it for this location. The bonus of staying here (beyond a free week of lodging!) was staying in a "villa" which is a 1-bedroom unit with a living room, small kitchen, bathroom and balcony.

While it wasn't fancy-shmancy, having the kitchen meant we could make some meals in! Aruba is incredibly expensive, but the local groceries stores were very reasonable. We didn't rent a car while we were there, but the Aruban bus was only $1.30 each way. So, an hour and a half and two bus rides later, we had $80 worth of groceries - Cheerios, bread, peanutbutter, beer, bananas, spaghetti and sauce, etc. We were able to eat almost every breakfast and lunch as well as some dinners just from these groceries.

When we finally made it down to the beach on our first full day (Monday), we saw where we'd be spending the bulk of our time - the palapas huts. Since it was the off season, our beach was always pretty empty and it was easy to get a hut in a good location, which we could have for the entire day. Score!

We spent money on two special activities - one was parasailing. In retrospect, I think we were overcharged a bit ($120 for the both of us), but it was something that Mr. S really wanted to do. Let me just put it out there and say that it wasn't something high on my list. I get incredibly motion sick, hate roller coasters...I mean, I can't even ride in a convertible without getting sick! But, I told myself I could handle this whole parasailing thing.

They were going to let us go up together, but after being harnesses up, I completely freaked out and said that I was absolutely not going up. So Mr. S went solo. Look how excited he is!

They told him that if you put one arm out, it means you want to come down. If you put both arms out, it means you're having a great time. Mr. S was having a great time up there.

In the meantime, I was sitting on the boat with a huge knot in my stomach, debating if it was worth having Mr. S be annoyed with me for the rest of the day if I didn't go up. Sigh. Once he came down, I knew the guys would require me to make a decision immediately, and before I knew it my harness was hooked in and I was being given instructions on how to sit as the wind lifted me off the boat.

You can't see the fear on my face in this picture, or hear the screams.

Fortunately, once I got up in the air, it was fairly smooth and tolerable for me unless we hit an air pocket. They kept me as close as they could, though, which I greatly appreciated. It was a bit peaceful up there, but after a little while (what felt like an hour but was probably 5 minutes), I stuck out my arm so they could reel me in.

Fortunately, there was always happy hour to make things right. Our hotel did two happy hour drinks for $11.34 from 2:30-4:30 every day. The only catch is that it had to be one of the three drinks they were offering that day, and both drinks had to be the same. This led Mr. S to have to agree and take turns choosing. But, since those drinks would normally be $9 or $10 each, the compromise was worth it for the savings!

I believe this day was the Banana Daiquiri:

Mr. S chose this drink, but I ended up liking it more than him, yum!

One of the other special activities we chose was a snorkeling trip. We booked through De Palm tours (since we book this in our hotel lobby), and we chose to do a 4-hour snorkel trip on a Catamaran boat. They advertise it for $75/person, but as we were talking to the person she knocked off $10 a person. So, our $65/person covered transportation to/from the boat, snorkelling gear, 3 snorkel locations, lunch and open bar for the entire trip. There were a couple of different options, but we chose the Catamaran because we figured it wouldn't rock back and forth very much since I don't handle boats very well.

So, to prepare for our big snorkelling adventure we made sure to have plenty of Balashi, the local beer. They had these great mini cans so you could easily drink them in between snorkelling (probably not the safest idea!).

Look, we're all geared up!

We had a really great time! The guys in charge weren't exactly into teaching people (although I'm sure they would have helped if someone had asked) - they just let us loose at each spot. But we both got the hang of it quickly and had a really good time. The first two spots were clear, calm and we saw tons of fish! Unfortunately, the third spot was further out and unusually choppy, so I didn't get to see the Antilla shipwreck - I kept on get knocked back! All-in-all, it was a great day-trip and it was so fun paddling around the ocean with Mr. S.

Don't worry, amidst all the fun, I checked into Weddingbee from time to time!

We decided to stay close to our hotel for dinners just because restaurants were so expensive. Our "nice dinner out" was at Simply Fish, on the Marriott Hotel property. They were doing a 3-course dinner for 2 for $89, but you had to eat at 8:30 or later. Since we're poor newlyweds (and the prices are a bit inflated at all restaurants across the boar), we went for it. While it was quite romantic seated on the beach with our feet in the sand, the infamous Aruban wind made dinner a bit of a struggle - at one point Mr. S's champagne glass flew away!

While the food we had was great, I don't know that I would have been happy if I had paid full price if they hadn't been doing the fixed price menu. Regardless, it was great having a romantic dinner on the beach.

On one of our last nights, we ate at the Pelican's Nest, a little place on a pier further up the beach from where we were staying. It was touristy food that wasn't done very well (sadly), but the ambience made it all worth it! If you get there a little bit before sunset and it's just the two of you, you can be seated on the outer edge of the pier. The sub-par food was forgotten through a view like this at sunset:

One thing that we had been warned about before the trip was all of the lizards! They are everywhere...and, to be honest, if you're eating lunch outside they will stalk you at the table. I sat through a whole lunch shooing them away with my purse, fearful they would crawl up my leg. Ewww. Just look how big and creepy this guy's toes are!

There are also, of course, these big guys - the iguanas. We didn't see them as much - we think they slept and layed low during the hotest parts of the day (as did we!). But one day we caught this guy and one of his friends chasing each other around the pool. Hilarious! But, made me glad we didn't hang out at the pool at all because these guys would just crouch under the chairs. Fortunately, they never visited the beach.

After a week of fun in the sun, it was time to go. If you're ever planning a trip to Aruba, he's a look at what you can expect to find at the airport:

At the beginning of the mural above, you can't see the big Sbarro advertisement - there were tons of Sbarro's down there! So, our last Aruban meal was Sbarro as it was either that or airport sushi.

We didn't get into Chicago until about 9:30 on Sunday evening...we grabbed our bags and cab back to our condo then hopped in our car and drove 3 hours down to my parents house to pick up our baby:

Driving back up to Chicago Monday morning, we were exhausted, tan and relaxed! The last couple of weeks before the wedding were tense, crazy and overwhelming that taking the time to disappear, nap, have some cocktails and sit in the sun was exactly what we needed! Aruba was the perfect place for us to spend that week.

I'm chomping at the bit to get pictures from our photographer...can't wait to share!

Just Buzzing to Say Hello!

2009-09-26T08:47:00.004-05:00

Mr. Stiletto and I enjoyed the most fabulous wedding day EVER! I can't wait to share more with you once we get the professional pictures back...I'm already dying to do recaps!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the lovely sneak peak posted by our photographer, Laurie Peacock:

Source: Laurie Peacock

Wait?! You wanted to see my beautiful mug as well? Since we were lucky enough to have great friends and Bees in attendance, TONS of pictures were uploaded to Facebook right after the wedding!

The lovely Miss Snapdragon provided this fabulous picture of Mr. S and I leaving the church:

Can't wait to catch up on all of my Bee reading when Mr. S and I return from Aruba!

See You on the Married Side!

2009-09-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

Source: Laurie Peacock

Well, this is it. Finito. Done. My last post as a single gal. Wheeeeeeeeeee!

To Mr. S - I'm so incredibly excited to be your wife and continue on our journey together. You're my best friend, and I know that I would even be writing this post today if it weren't for your support and encouragement...I mean, you were the one who set up my first blog and told me that I needed to stop reading blogs and start writing one. Turns out, I apparently have what it takes to blog - thank you for believing in me! I look forward to all of the wonderful things to come for us, and I have no doubt that our future will be even more amazing than the past 3 years have already been.

To you lovely ladies (and gents!) out there - 18 months ago, I could never have imagined sharing the details of my wedding with the world. But, I also couldn't have imagined planning a wedding with so many details...and that's soley because of this fabulous site, all of you fabulous brides-to-be, grooms-to-be, husbands and wives. You've been a source of encouragement and inspiration over the past 7 months, and I'm forever grateful! I've shared all of the "befores" and I can't wait to share the "afters"!

...Soon-to-be-Mrs. Stiletto

PS Watch for some Bees buzzing around the Stiletto festivities!

I DIY'd Pomanders Too!

2009-09-16T13:32:00.003-05:00

Like the many Bees who have gone before me (think Mrs. D'orsay and Mrs. Spring Roll), I have opted to make tissue paper pomanders to decorate our ceremony site!

I had been searching high and low for options that would look great, be non-fussy, and affordable. I started seeing these pomanders pop up on Weddingbee and on other sites, so when I came across these instructions and saw how simple it looked, I picked up the supplies to make a couple of pomanders (I waited to buy all of the styrofoam balls until I was sure I wanted to make a lot of these).

I opted for 4-inch styrofoam balls, and would guess that it took anywhere from 15-20 flowers for each pomander. And, better yet, Mr. S got in on the flower making action and helped me make some!

I was only going to make 8 pomanders (so 4 on each side of the aisle, spaced out), but I had enough styrofoam balls and TONS of tissue paper and ribbon, so I just kept on going until I got 10 done.

Originally I had absolutely no clue how we were going to attached these to the pews. I'd bought some of these pew clips, but once I got them I realized there was just no way they'd fit over the top of the pews. I was getting SO frustrated...until, that is, we went for our last meeting with our minister a couple of weeks ago and checked out the pews. There are teeny, tiny little hooks on the end of the pews for just this purpose!!

So, as you can see below, I just took some string and, using a needle, pulled it through the top of the ribbon and created little loops. The pomanders should now perfectly hang!

This was by far one of the easiest DIY projects and I'm so glad that this is what I ended up doing! It's a minimal investment and will compliment the aesthetic of our wedding overall. Our church has a 100 year old sanctuary with dark wood and pale yellow walls, so keeping our ceremony decor as minimalist as possible will definitely compliment the space.

Are you DIY'ing your ceremony decor?

Wedding Programs...Penguin Style!

2009-09-14T13:15:00.004-05:00

The programs are done!!! Well, almost. But half the hurdle is deciding what you want to do, designing it, printing it, cutting the paper, and then putting it all together. As of right now, half of my programs are completely done, and the rest are ready to be assembled. Not too shabby, eh?

Mr. S and I were inspired by Mrs. Penguin's programs for her Thai Water Ceremony. We liked the way the pages fanned out, and from a DIY perspective, the actual process was pretty straightforward.

I love Mrs. Penguin's lovely flower design and cool, calm colors:

Source: Weddingbee

With our Mrs. Penguin-inspired programs, we took 8.5x11" green cardstock and cut the pieces in half vertically, and scored the pieces down the middle horizontally. So, they're a bit taller and skinnier than Mrs. Penguin's, but I was able to get two covers per sheet and didn't have to put a whole lot of thought into the cutting.

Instead of putting more of the "cover sheet" on the inside, we put that on the front (we'd originally tried it as Mrs. Penguin has it, but since we weren't decorating the front, it looked like it was missing something).

We also stuck with a 2-color combination, mostly because there wasn't a third color that we really wanted to add in. Page 1 is the order of service, page 2 lists the wedding party, reader, parents, etc, and page 3 is a thank you message from Mr. S and I.

The inside pages are just slightly smaller than a quarter of a page (so they're 3.75x5"). So, between the pages and the cover, I used 77 pieces of cardstock for 52 programs (I'm debating whether or not we'll need more...our headcount is only 100).

There definitely have been some bumps in the road, most significantly being the fact that our printer always seemed to want to change the margins! I did a test run with one at the end of last week, cut it perfectly and it worked great. The next night I printed out enough for 50 programs and went to cutting...only to find out that the margins were just slightly off! So, the words are much closer to the edge on a couple of the pages than I would prefer. Disappointing, to be sure, but I'm just going to slip my photographer one of the good ones for her to snap pictures of!

This is my last big DIY project for the week, and I'm almost done...hurray!

Where did you find inspiration for your programs?

Table Tent Cards...Done!

2009-09-13T21:31:00.004-05:00

Whew! Time is winding down until the Stiletto festivities, so every D-I-Y must get D-O-N-E. Fortunately, I've been able to spend the past two weekends hunkered down in our condo getting some projects started and finished.

Remember when I shared the pictures Mr. S took for our table numbers? Well, I've finally been able to get the project completed!

We had 5x7" prints made of the pictures (and ordered 2 copies of each just in case we had any problems and needed a backup!). I mounted them on white cardstock and created tent cards.

Because I was using 8.5 x 11" cardstock with 5x7" pictures, the cardstock wasn't long enough to make a tent card with what was there. So, I cut strips of cardstock 2.5 x 7" and used those for the bottom - if you look you can see the patch!

I'd been putting off finishing this project, but once I sat down and got it started, it flew by! I do have to admit that I was feeling a bit down about doing the tent cards instead of black frames, which I thought would look nicer (but which I didn't really want to spend the money on), but I love the final result! I think frames would have distracted from the pictures.

Did a simple DIY project turn out better than you expected?

A Musical Nutshell

2009-09-09T07:42:00.004-05:00

Whew! The Stilettos finally have their act together - we've chosen all of our special songs for the day, from ceremony to reception. I have to say, it wasn't an easy task choosing some of these songs - Mr. S and I went back and forth quite a bit.

Bridal Party Entrance

"Just Like Heaven," Vitamin String Quartet

Processional (MY song!)

"Sound of Settling," Vitamin String Quartet

I couldn't find this pesky song on YouTube, so you'll just have to settle for a link to the Amazon page. Even though the original version of this song, by Deathcab for Cutie, doesn't exactly scream wedding, it's gorgeous. Once I heard it, I knew I couldn't have any other song!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sound-Of-Settling/dp/B000S3LU3A

Lighting of the Unity Candle

"Alphabet City," Clare & the Reasons

I love me some Clare...

Recessional

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," Stevie Wonder

We finally decided to do something more upbeat than what we were orginally going to do, and I'm SO glad. This is a celebration....we're finally getting marrrrrrriiiiied!!

Entrance to Reception

"Wouldn't It Be Nice," The Beach Boys

Cake Cutting

"All I Want Is You," Barry Louis Polisar

Mr. S chose this one...

First Dance

"Right Red Ankle," The Decemberists

Love it! Swoon.

Father/Daughter Dance

"The Way You Look Tonight," Frank Sinatra

I sent Daddy Stiletto a list of song ideas, and asked him to pick whatever he liked, whether or not it was on my list. He came back with this song. Can't go wrong with a classic!

So, there you have it - the Stiletto wedding day in a musical nutshell. I'm so glad that this is finally done, and I love the flow of the day! All of these songs express us and our musical tastes in one way or another.

Did you spend a lot of time selecting each and every song for your day?

Some Breathing Room

2009-09-05T18:11:00.005-05:00

Way back at the beginning of June, I dropped off my dress for alterations. This weekend, I went back in to visit my dress, check things out, and identify any other changes that might need to be made over the next two weeks.

They had sent it out for cleaning, taken up the hem just a bit, did the bustle, but had held off on adjusting the bust (which was ginormous!) and replacing the defunct zipper (since it was a sample dress). Waiting until the last minute to replace the zipper meant that if I gained or lost any weight, when she replaces the zipper she can make adjustments to the fit all in one fell swoop.

Thank goodness for that, because despite all the working out that I've been doing, a couple of pounds have decided to plant themselves right on my torso! The dress I could zip myself 3 months ago required me to seek assistance this time around. Eek!

It may look like it fits, but I definitely could not fill my lungs. Let's just say, if I needed to yawn I would have bust a seam! The seamstress encouraged me to workout between now and then. I shared that I DO work out plenty, but we're past that point....just let it out a little and we'll all sleep easier at night!

I made sure the seamstress showed my bridesmaid S how to do the bustle. She'll also show Sister Stiletto when we go for the final fitting/pick up two days before the wedding, but the more the merrier when it comes to actually do it!

I love how the bustle looks, and more than that, how the bustle is done. I've seen a lot of people who just have hooks, and I've seen those bustles completely come undone during receptions. My bustle is constructed of a bunch of numbered white ribbons hidden under the layers. They'll just match up the numbers, double knot the ribbons, and snap one clear snap. Easy and secure, right? I hope so!

And, of course, we had to give a little shout out to my fabulous shoes. Love 'em! Good thing my photographer knows I love a shoot shot or two. These babies will definitely be getting some camera time.

It was great giving my accessories a little trial run as well. The bust of my dress is still a little, err, roomy, so you can't see my necklace. That will be taken in.

Now, the veil....I did have a veil that I'd bought last fall from Etsy. It was a very simple, nice veil, but I've definitely fallen out of love with it. I'd hemmed and hawed about doing a birdcage veil, but didn't know if it was for me.

Well, remember how Mrs. Avocado rocked a fabulous birdcage? She went all sassy and wore it flipped back. So cute! When I found out that she would loan it to me, I was beside myself! We're at the stage in the game where buying anything else is not in the cards. Being able to borrow a birdcage is fabulous. AND this is also my "something borrowed" from a "happily married woman," as the tradition goes. I honestly wasn't sure what I'd be borrowin' for the day, so this was perfect.

Thanks to Mrs. Avocado, I'll be birdcaging it up. I didn't put it on perfect for my fitting - I'd probably wear it a tad lower over my eyes and at more of an angle, but you get the idea. I'm also opting NOT to wear a fascinator. Huge hair flower/feathers/etc are FABULOUS on all of you lovely brides who choose to rock them...but they're just not me. I do have a small flower that I might slip in when I take the veil off, but otherwise I'm going to keep it simple.

I do have one question for you experienced birdcage brides. Mrs. Avocado rolled it up and sent it to me. So I've been working on getting the right shape. She said she steamed it around a volleyball before her wedding. I've secured it around a balloon and kept it in the bathroom during a super-steamy shower. That helped the shape immensely! But is there anything else I can do to help with the shape?

All-in-all, I was a bit bummed that my dress is snugger than I'd like, but it was definitely fun seeing it again! But it felt more like dress up and a lot less real that I'll be rocking my dress in just two weeks. Eeeh!

Did your fitting make you feel like a bride?

Change is Afoot

2009-09-03T12:00:00.002-05:00

No, not this kind of change, silly! Now that we're finally nailing down the details and making decisions for the big day that is just two weeks away, we've up and changed so many details that we previously thought were set!

Source

Head Table

I never thought we wouldn't have a head table. The head was just...there. Standard. But as I started playing around with our seating charts, I kept on getting stuck. There was no good way to divide people up and have it make sense. I was particularly struggling with who would sit at the table with my parents. Mr. S's parents won't be involved in the wedding (a detail I haven't really focused on, as it's Mr. S's personal business) and he has no siblings; my only sibling, my sister, is my made of honor; I only have one grandparent still with us. So, any other family combination that I could come up with was forever leaving someone else out.

So....I floated the idea to my parents that we would nix the head table. And, to my surprise, they really liked the idea!

Mr. S and I will be seating at a round table with my parents, my sister (MOH) and her boyfriend, Mr. S's best man and my grandfather. Perfect. Another benefit is that our wedding party can be seated with their dates, which I'm sure they will all appreciate!

I've never liked how after the dinner, the head table always seems to be abandoned. In my experience, everyone ends up going and sitting with their dates and friends. Whenever Mr. S is in a wedding, he'll come over to the table I'm at and steal my cake! Meanwhile, the piece of cake placed at the head table for him never gets touched. So not fair.

Bouquet & Garter Toss

Yet another thing I had always planned on doing - the tosses! I've had my garter for months (it's my something blue), and my florist was all prepared to create a toss bouquet for me. But we'll really have so few single people there...and the more we thought about doing it, the less we really wanted to bother with it. I think you also have to read your crowd - some will go crazy about it and fight for the bouquet (so fun!) and others will be forced up there. Let's just say that I don't think there will be any fights over the flower toss at our wedding.

So...the garter will just be for Mr. S and me and the florist is making some sort of arrangement to go on the escort card table in place of making the toss bouquet. Perfect.

Peek-a-Boo

I have been nervous about doing a first look. Remember? I was debating the pro's and cons this summer. This was something that Mr. S really, really wanted. As I start to think about how emotion I will probably be on that day, it's probably better for the both of us that we do it! Our timeline for that day is pretty set in stone, so it won't be an extensive photo shoot first look, but rather a "Hey, how ya doin' good lookin'?" moment. The ceremony starts at 3pm, I'll probably get to the church at 2:30, so we'll meet in a designated spot of a quick hug.

Grand Exit

We were absolutely not going to do a grand exit from the church, where everyone cheers and pelts us with things. Until recently, when Mom and Dad Stiletto requested one thing from us - pictures with them in the sanctuary after the ceremony. Photographically, Mr. S and I prefer more candid pictures vs. formals, so we hadn't arranged for any traditional formal pictures in the church. My parents would beg to differ.

So, we'll exit the church as a part of the recessional and loop around a side door and sneak back in. The rest of our guests will be ushered out of the church around the front steps. Mr. S and I will meet my parents and the photographer in the sanctuary, take a couple of quick pictures and then exit the church as our guests cheer us on.

We will not, however, be giving our guests anything to throw at us. I am incredibly paranoid about having bits of anything stuck in my hair. Just call me a spoil sport! And, photographers tend to not be huge fans of bubbles because they pop on their lenses...so we'll give our photographer and her lenses a break! (also, at the last wedding I attended kept on blowing the bubbles in my face, eww!)

Whew. It definitely feels like it's the 11th hour and we're changing everything around. But, as we're just getting those crucial things submitted to our vendors - timelines, questionaires, head counts - if we're ever going to change things, it's right now.

Did you go in for some last minute changes, or did your early decisions still make sense as you got closer to the day?

Leave Your Message...After the Picture!

2009-08-31T12:38:00.012-05:00

We went through a million ideas for our guest book - from an adorable "wish tree" to a typewriter tell-all to everything in between. We finally settled on the Polaroid guest book. It incorporates Mr. S's love of photography and it's an interactive element with our guests.

Since we knew we wanted to do one of these:

Source

We went on Amazon and got one of these (and later picked up a second at a garage sale for $5, and it works!):

Source

We then bought plenty of packs of these from Amazon (our high end was 120 guests, so we bought 6 packs or 60 exposures. We used one pack to test out the cameras and bought another to replace it, and now our guests count is hovering closer to 100, so we'll have plenty to spare!):

Source

Later, I searched high and low for perfect place to put the pictures. We finally settled on this album from Jenni Bick - I had a hard time finding an album with black pages that was the right size with the right amount of pages. We paid around $40 for the 14 1/4" x 11 3/4" album, but now it's on sale for $20, argh! There's an array of collors (we chose the green, in the second picture) and you can even have a message embossed on the front for an extra fee (we didn't).

Source

This weekend I picked up some great white gel pens from The Paper Source for our guests to leave their messages. I bought some white photo corners and using a Polaroid picture, Mr. S and I adhered the corners to each page, so guests can slip their pictures in.

We'll include a sign by the book that says something along these lines (I know I stole this from somewhere - thanks if it was from you!):

Please find your picture,
place it in the guest book,
and leave us with your words of
wit, wisdom and well wishes
to help us commemorate our wedding!

Word to the wise - a Polaroid guest book is a significant investment between the camera and film, unless you're lucky enough to have all of that on hand. In retrospect, we may have done something different and put that money elsewhere, but we know it will be a cute keepsake in the end.

So buying things, I can do. But when it came down to the logistics of it all, I was flabbergasted! When do we do what, and how will we make sure our guests will jump on board?! I finally settled on this:

During the cocktail hour (when we'll be taking pictures) two of our ushers will take the cameras and snap pictures of our guests. We could even have them give the guests a little card to remind them to look for their picture later.
The ushers and our coordinator will help make sure the pictures make their way upstairs to the guest book table outside of the ballroom (or, we could put the guest book in the cocktail hour room and move it up at the end)
Our coordinator will encourage folks to find their picture on the table, place it in the guest book and write a message

Hopefully having all of the pictures taken at one time when everyone is congregated together will be easiest. That will only leave out the wedding party who may have to do theirs after the cocktail hour (if we make it back too late). Then, it's just as easy as encouraging people to circle back, find their pictures and sign!

How have you managed the logistics of unique guests books? Do you have any suggestions for me so make sure it runs smoothly?

Grab Your Name and Find Your Number...

2009-08-29T16:00:00.007-05:00

In the early dark ages of my wedding planning, I found and fell in love with my great cake topper. Remember? I also developed the escort cards that will nestle into bed of wheat grass at the reception, as you might recall.

However, one topic I haven't touched on are my table numbers. How are my cake toppers involved in this topic, you ask? Well, I decided that I couldn't just have my cute little cake topper have such a short life. The mini Stilettos needed their time in the limelight. So, when I ordered my topper, I asked Goose Grease to not attach our mini me's to the round base - we needed to be able to move them around for a little photo shoot (we'll glue them onto the base ourselves before the wedding).

Oh yes, you heard me correctly. We let our wooden selves work if for the camera, and through this are able to share bits and pieces of ourselves and our life together to our wedding guests.

These are the final pictures we're getting developed, which Mr. S added numbers to using Adobe Illustrator.

#1
We wanted to have our pup Charlie in one shot. We assumed this would be quite tricky as he can be rather, err, rambunctious, but as soon as we set the toppers onto the floor, Charlie started posing for the camera. I kid you not. You would have thought we had sat him down beforehand and explained what was going to happen, with him nodding his head in agreement. Charlie, apparently, is an old pro when it comes to photo shoots.

#2
Linus, on the other hand, decided to give us some love and affection. Every single time, it was I who was about to topple over. At least we know how he really feels!

#3
I like to think that Mr. S and I were on the forefront of the Wii revolution. We had ours within days of it coming out - a friend of ours bought it and decided he didn't want it, so Mr. S bought it off of him. I gave him such a hard time about the purchase, but in retrospect we are lucky we got it when we did - these babies were difficult to get your hands on for quite some time!

#4
I devour books like it was my job. I've already started in on one of the books I bought for the honeymoon (oops!). I can never get books that are long enough to last me more than a week or two. Yes, I have a bit of a literary addiction.

#5
We've been engaged for 18 months. The ring had to make it into these at some point, didn't it? I like that it seems Mr. S is in the midst of the proposal!

#6
We've recently become Scrabble addicts, thanks to our downstairs neighbors. They even gifted us an extra Travel Scrabble set that they had, so we will definitely be taking it on our honeymoon. Yes, we're cool like that.

#7
We buy a lot of bananas. If you ever came to our house, you'd see a bowl on our kitchen island filled with bananas at all stage of ripeness (I prefer them when they still have a hint of green to them, yum!). I think we buy something like 15 bananas a week. I'm sure people at the grocery store assume we have triplets at home.

#8
I bake. In another life, I had/have a baking blog, but that's on hiatus until the wedding planning craziness subsides. You know, when I'm an old married lady. Oh yah, and when I'm not concerned about holding back on the calories because the knowledge of wearing a certain white dress in front of my loved ones is looming before me. Just sayin'.

#9
Here's our other sweetheart, Basil. I love that she looks like a giant here, because she's really our most petite pet (and yes, if you're counting, we have 3 pets).

#10
Mr. S is a fine art and wedding photographer. Over the past few years, photography has crept into every aspect of our lives, and has brought forth so many great friends and experiences!

#11
If you've been following my story at all, you know that the word "gym" is a verb in our household (ie - Are we gyming today?"). Working out/being healthy for us isn't solely for the wedding, but it definitely helps as we're getting closer to the big day.

#12
We like a glass of wine now and then. Our neighbors who introduced us to Scrabble also introduced us to this sparkling shiraz - The Black Chook. It's from Australia and is so incredibly tasty. I highly recommend!

#13
Mr. S loves to cook. I do not (remember? I got my own number above for baking!). Fortunately, he keeps us both fed. A few weeks ago he was really into making risotto with sweet peas and spicy pork andouille sausage. Mouth watering yet?

#14
We get coffee as much as is humanly possible. I normally stick with lattes, but when I was in Italy last summer I fell in love with just getting a shot of espresso - straightforward and to the point. I love that we're sailing away in our own little espresso cups.

#15
I can't say that our lives are dramatically influenced by eggs, but doesn't this make for a cute picture? The one thing I have to say about eggs is that Mr. S may handle the cooking, but every time I ask him to hard boil some eggs I have to remind him 18 times how to do it. It lets me feel a little superior in the kitchen!

Unfortunately, we may only end having 13 guest tables at our reception because of the way our head count is going. So, all of these might not be needed. If we put one at the head table (which I hadn't planned on doing) the espresso picture will make the cut! We'll see.

So I'm sure you're thinking to yourself "This is all well and good, Miss S, but what are you doing with all of these snap shots?" Stay tuned and I'll show you how these autobiographical table numbers will be displayed!

Are you incorporating anything about yourselves into the table numbers?

For Tired Little Piggys

2009-08-27T12:16:00.004-05:00

It's been a long while since my fabulous wedding day shoes have made their way into a post! I've had them for months and months, and while I've cheated on them a few times with some other eye candy, they're here to stay. I feel sex-ay when I slide these on!

They don't match my dress at all (they're more of a yellow-y ivory and my dress is diamond white), but I would never abandon them just for that. Plus, they were a steal at $40! They're the Nine West 'Gohana' for those who want stilettos like Stiletto!

Source: Overstock

While I can rock out a pair of heals when the occasion calls for it, especially when I'm running high on adrenaline, me thinks my toes may want a bit of a rest toward the end of the night. Of course, I may do just fine in my heels, but I absolutely need to have a backup plan just in case.

Enter, my back up plan...

Source: Gap

I had actually been searching for a cute pair of green flats, but found nothing I liked. In fact, almost everything I found I didn't like, and if I did like them I couldn't afford them. Most of the flats I was finding felt to business-y. Then, this morning I found these babies on the Gap's web site, on sale for $24.99. That's a great deal, if you ask me, and I can totally wear these after the wedding as well!

They are canvas, so they don't look incredibly dressy. But as no one will be eye-to-eye with my shoes (and if they do, that'll be quite the rockin' party!), I think the pattern helps dress them up enough.

What are your "plan B" shoes?

Some of Our Guests Will Be Flyin' Solo

2009-08-26T08:11:00.005-05:00

Source

I've been watching our guest count grow and grow over the past couple of weeks. The jury is still out for about 10 of the 72 invites we sent out, but the RSVP deadline isn't until this Friday. I think that's a pretty good response rate so far!

We've had very few declines...6 to be exact, in addition to the 5 invites we sent to some family members that we were pretty sure wouldn't be making the trip, but we needed to send an invitation to. Otherwise, people are apparently excited to celebrate with the Stilettos! Yay.

But what has really surprised me about the response cards is that so many of our guests are not taking advantage of their "plus one" status! I know that there are different schools of thought on this who plus one situation. There are some who feel if you're not in a relationship, you should forfeit your plus one. And I understand that - weddings are expensive and each additional guest can really add up!

However, I personally feel that our guests should be able to bring someone with them that they'll have a good time with! Especially if they may not know a lot of other people at the wedding - they should be able to have someone with them to hang out with throughout the afternoon and evening.

We also set our goal of having a max of 120 guests at the wedding, and sent out 72 invitations (or invited 144 people if everyone brought a plus one). If approximately 25% of your invited guests are not able to make it (a pretty safe assumption), we invited just under that 25% mark. So we most definitely have room for our guests to cash in their plus one!

This is probably a silly thing for me to be picking up on, but I just found it curious that we have so many "1's" on our spreadsheet. I guess this will make it easier to do those pesky seating assignments...?!

How do you feel about the "plus 1" debate - should guests feel free to bring a friend along, or is the "plus 1" reserved for significant others only?

A Bee's Life: Stiletto's Thoughts

2009-08-24T07:37:00.004-05:00

On Discovering The Bee...
I found Weddingbee before I got engaged, when I had a girlfriend who was looking for her wedding dress. We had already gone to various boutiques in Chicago, but she had hit a wall on finding "the one." I was digging around online trying to find new places for us to visit, and I came across Weddingbee and a post by a Chicago Bee (who? I have no clue!) and her dress shopping experience. I thought the site was cool and helpful, but I didn't dig any deeper...I mean, I wasn't even thinking of getting married!

Fast forward 6 months when a ring was slipped onto my finger, pushing me deep into planning. I came across ideas online of using a vintage typewriter as a guest book...we both loved it (and have since changed plans, ha!). Searching for typewriter-themed weddings, I came across Mrs. Lovebug. Swoon. I sat for hours pouring over her planning and recaps and thinking how cool it must be to have your wedding story chronicled in such a way. I started reading the 'bee off and on in the early parts of my engagement.

On blogging...
I had a baking blog for a couple of years before I started my wedding blog. I enjoy it, but I've never really found my voice there. Since getting engaged in March of '08, I was getting completely overwhelmed with everything. So in January of this year, I decided I was going to start a wedding blog and use that as an outlet for saving my sanity. As I started my wedding blog, I kept Weddingbee in mind. What would it take to be one of their bloggers?

I looked at the guidelines provided and the criteria for applying, and as soon as I had the minimum number of posts written, I sent my application in. In the meantime, I was blogging furiously...and absolutely loving it, feeling I had finally discovered my "blogging voice." A few weeks after applying, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from someone who said I could call her "Pengy," wanting to know if I was still interested in being a Bee and if so, what icon would I like to choose? I was floored, overwhelmed, and so honored to have been accepted!

On being a Bee...
Weddingbee is 100% always on my mind. Sometimes I wish I had more time to respond to readers, comment on the boards, and have more inspired posts...but it's hard! I generally write my posts in the morning before my workday starts - all in one sitting! By the time my posts make their way onto Weddingbee, it's usually late afternoon and I'm heading home from work, so I get flooded with comments that I want to be able to respond to. Sometimes I'm better at responding than others.

I'm always thinking about everything I'm doing for the wedding and if there's a blog post there. Do I need to take some pictures of a project? Research something out? Write up instructions for a project? Find great inspiration photos? But no matter what it is, I'm always bursting to share! I think back to how I ate up every single one of Mrs. Lovebug's posts. I'd love it if even one person was following me now, or will in the future, and use pieces of my wedding as inspiration as they go through the winding road of the wedding planning process. So I make sure I share everything that I possibly can!

...but my one guilty habit I'm going to admit to you here? Doing projects just because I want to blog about them! There, I said it. Wow, it feels good to come clean! Wanting to feel like I have the coolest wedding on the block has led me to be up to my elbows in projects half-started and projects I'm hoping to do. What's a girl to do?

At the end of the day, I can't even begin to think about what things would have been like if I hadn't sent in my application...and if I hadn't been lucky enough to be selected. I've never seen a warmer, more inspiring group of readers on any other wedding site. And as for the Bees...while I wasn't always an avid reader, I am now obsessed with each and every one of your weddings...from those that have passed to those that are just around the corner! On most days I am still in awe that I'm able to be a part of this group.

A Day of Good & Evil: Part 2

2009-08-21T07:54:00.007-05:00

Remember my lovely Part 1 where Sister Stiletto threw me a fabulous bridal shower? Well, once it was over we skedaddled out of there, drove into the city to our suite at the Hard Rock Hotel, changed, and then hopped into a cab for a mysterious destination.

Here we are, on our way...

When we walked into Circuit Night Club, where they have, err, review shows, I was quite hesitant and definitely had not had enough to drink at the point in the day.

See Exhibit A:

The ladies tried to get me in the spirit by bedazzling me with a sparkly tiara (which did not illicit a better reaction):

A bachelorette sash did indeed bring out a little excitement:

Although, I needed help in figuring out how to put it on:

And, of course, don't forget the veil:

Oh, and did I mention I was lucky enough to get my own special straw? That little extra accessory went with me EVERYWHERE that evening:

Here we all are waiting for the show to begin. I was still quite apprehensive and not excited about the fact that my seat was right in front of the stage. Fortunately, there were 4 or 5 other bachelorettes there that evening, so the torture was distributed evenly amongst the soon-to-be-wed ladies.

I learned a lot that evening, so below are my tips and tricks for navigating through situations like these.

#1 For any of you first timers like me, the gentlemen give you instructions on what to do when they come up to you. Notice him guiding my hands. Why, you ask? Because otherwise I would have crawled under the table to get away. When in doubt, act confused and uncomfortable, but also understand that any feeling of personal space will be completely thrown out the window.

#2 Take the term "dollared up" and live it, learn it, love it. In establishments like these, one must be "dollared" or the gentlemen are less gentlemenly and tell you that you need to be dollared up and then walk away in a teeny bit of a huff. Which was fine by me, but my ladies insisted that I be dollared up throughout the evening.

#3 It may look uncomfortable keeping those dollars in place, but don't worry. When the gentlemen come by, they perform magic tricks.

The dollars are going...

going...

gone...!

#4 Surround yourself by all of your best girls and a good time will be had by all.

Here we are by the end of the evening (minus a couple)...in fact, this is the only picture I have of all of my bridesmaids and myself all together!

I had so much fun out with all of my ladies! I'd been concerned that I would drink too much and have a rough night, but I did fabulous and ended up being one of the least hungover out of the group! (Of course, I did pass out by about 1:00am or so, hee) And, once I got used to all of my added "accessories," I was rockin' that veil and tiara like there was no tomorrow.

What new things did you learn at your bachelorette party?

Gettin' My Hair & Face Done

2009-08-19T19:39:00.004-05:00

A little while back I had posted about my hair inspirations in preparation for my hair trial. There's so much great inspiration out there, but I was nervous that I'd pick out styles that my hair wouldn't cooperate with, or that I wouldn't end up liking.

I'd finally narrowed it down to this great style:

Source: Flickr

But this was also a favorite of mine from long, long ago. I think it was one of the first styles that I had really liked way back when!

Source: The Knot

I had my trial this week with the fabulous Morgan Blaul, who I couldn't rave about enough! She was so fun to work with, honest about what would or wouldn't work for me, and completely open to my nosey dog and cats as they gave her hair and makeup gear a once over.

At the end of my 2 1/2 hour trial, Morgan left me with this lovely, lovely hair:

I loooooove it! I had only showed Morgan the first picture, above, but my hair seems to have ended up as a good combination of the two pictures above, which is great! I love them both, and Morgan executed my vision to a "T." I did try out little hair pins with crystals in them, as you can see, but I wasn't really digging them so I don't think I'll go that route on the wedding day.

And, of course, Morgan rocked out my makeup. I didn't really have any true ideas about what I might want...I had looked for some inspiration online, but I was incredibly open to what Morgan had to suggest.

Whatcha think?

I'll admit, I'm sure Morgan thought I didn't like it because I went into a state of shock the first time I looked in the mirror, but it's only because I wear so little makeup on a daily basis, and I've never had my makeup professionally done before. I looooved the eyelashes she put on me, I felt so vampy! Overall the makeup felt fresh and meticulously done.

I had Morgan put my veil on me to see how it would work. To be honest, I had been feeling a bit "ugh" about my veil for the past few weeks, and the trial confirmed for me that I just don't think I want to wear it on my wedding day. But don't worry, I have a Plan B up my sleeve!

I loved my day of beauty, but was so sad to wash off the makeup, peel off the eyelashes, and take all of the pins out of my hair (although I loved the beautiful curls I was left with!). And, without a doubt, Mr. S was in love with my wedding day look almost more than I was!

Did you hair and makeup person/people hit it out of the park on the first try, or did you have to set up some follow up trials to get it just right?

A Day of Good & Evil: Part 1

2009-08-17T18:12:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, Sister Stiletto threw me a fabulous weekend of celebration. We started off with my bridal shower, and since all of the wedding events were taking place in Oak Park, the shower was here as well. Sister S found the Oak Park Art League - doesn't it look like a little cottage tucked in the woods? So darling!

Source

This was a perfect location for the shower - personal, cute and the (very reasonable!) rental fee goes to support the Art League, which is a non-profit offering art classes and providing gallery space to artists.

Sister S made the space look so cute - I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in the room! Vases of bright pink flowers were scattered about the room and black and white touches made their way in as well. It felt very fresh and bridal and sweet! The boxes on the table were the favors for the guests - cupcake mixes with labels that say "Miss Stiletto & Mr. Stiletto - the perfect mix," and heart-shaped measuring spoons tied on top. Too cute!

Sister Stiletto, me, and Momma Stiletto all together at the shower! Momma Stiletto helped with a lot of the details for the day as well.

I had been VERY anxious leading up to the shower and having everyone watch me open presents. I won't lie, I was very relieved when the last present was opened and I could breathe again.

I did try to make sure I read every card...

...and show my excitement about things such as frying pans (wow that sucker was heavy!)...

...and do circus tricks with some presents (no, don't worry, I don't have three arms! A lovely bridesmaid helped me display these awesome green bowels from Crate & Barrel!)...

...and marvel at the size of this pancake flipper...

...and try and keep myself from asking "Are we done yet?" I could only handle prying open so many Crate & Barrel boxes before I was done in!

Fortunately, once presents were done it was time for CUPCAKES!! Sister S went to Molly's Cupcakes in the city that morning and picked up these lovelies. Half were strawberry shortcake and the other half were super-rich chocolate ganache with a raspberry filling. AND I got to keep the fun cupcake stand after the shower as an extra gift from Sister S, plus the leftover cupcakes went straight into my new cupcake caddy. Woo hoo!

When all was said and done, I had a lovely time at my shower! My bridesmaids never let my mimosa glass get empty, and I was only forced to play one game, whew. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Of course, once the lovely festivities were over, the day had just begun for some of us - the bachelorette party was about ready to get into full swing! Stay tuned for "A Day of Good & Evil: Part 2 - The Bachelorette Party."

The highlight of my shower was being surrounded by friends and family (and, err, cupcakes!). What was the highlight of your shower?

Where to Place My Words of Love

2009-08-14T08:12:00.006-05:00

For month's I've been hiding the gift that I'll give Mr. S on the wedding day. I'll tell you what it is after the wedding, but to give you a couple of hints, it is photography-related and very popular right now! Since he's a photographer I don't want to mention it and chance him finding it when searching about this "thing" online.

Since the gift has been squared away for so long, I've been stewing over the card that I'll write in to pour my heart out to Mr. S on the morning of our wedding. I love giving him cards and finding just the right one, and he saves them all. In fact, at my bridal shower we played a game where Sister Stiletto had asked him in secret various questions about our relationship, and I was tested to see whether our answers matched. When asked about one of my best qualities in our relationship, Mr. S said how I'm always doing thoughtful things for him, including last summer when I took a 10-day trip to Italy with my family and strategically hid cards all around our apartment for him to find while I was gone.

So...the wedding day card is very important! Am I witty, sappy or sentimental? I've scoped out some favorites from Etsy...

I consider myself Mr. S's biggest fan, especially as he's growing his photography business (I'm so proud of him!!).

Source

#2
Hmmm....is that the typewriter font we're using throughout the wedding? And, Mr. S and I did meet online...

Source

I love these oversized postcards, but I don't love that there wouldn't be an envelope to keep my lovey-dovey messages for Mr. S's eyes only.

Source

How fun would it be to have this card personalized with our names and wedding date? I love it! But, hand cut designs like this don't come cheap...

Source

This one is sweet....

Source

I think this one is so fun! I could spread my messages out to each of the five mini cards.

Source

These cards range anywhere from $4 to $13.00, so I also have to decide just how much I can invest in a card, no matter how fabulously clever/creative/special it may be. Oh, decisions!

So, ladies and gents - do you have a favorite of the 6 listed above, or do you have a link to share of a card that would be just perfect for this extra special love note?

Eating My Way Toward a Healthier Me

2009-08-12T09:01:00.012-05:00

In keeping with my little fitness/wellness theme this week (remember my 2-a-day crazy workout post?), I thought I'd give you an inside look on what I've been eatin' over the last year or two.

I've managed to lose 30 pounds, something I'm quite proud of. But in addition to having started a challenging workout routine, part of my success has been due to running far, far away from the foods I love - mac'n'cheese, spaghetti o's (yes, I still love these and yes, I realized I'm not an 8-year-old), frozen dinners, lots of pasta....the list could go on. I've also learned to stop skipping breakfast and to always bring my lunch with me to work. I'm often the girl sitting and eating carrots and yogurt at a restaurant while my co-workers grab yummier stuff, and I'm ok with that.

I always start my day with a high protein, high fiber cereal, usually by Kashi (I love the Kashi Go Lean and the Kashi Heart to Heart). I recently switched to skim milk and have never noticed a difference between that and the 2% I used to buy.

(Please excuse the old picture, but it's me eating cereal, nonetheless).

My lunch is always a peanutbutter sandwich on whole wheat bread, a lowfat yogurt, a bag of carrots or a mixture of strawberries and grapes, a banana, and if I'm feeling wild and crazy, some pretzels or string cheese. Lately because I've been working out so much, a pack of instant oatmeal has also been helping to fill my tummy. But I make sure that I'm eating all day long, which I think is key. I actually eat my sandwich around 10am, and eat all the way through 3pm, spreading the food out during that time.

(It's great marrying a photographer...you seem to have pictures of yourself in every situation!)

Dinner after the gym is usually on the lighter side as well. I love buying organic frozen burritos that are just beans and rice. They're great to have on hand, give you something hot, but aren't super fatty! I eat those a lot during the week. If Mr. S has time to cook, he'll make some sort of chicken dish (this week it's been a blackened chicken breast over salad with a lemony Italian dressing - yum!). For "fun" we make homemade pizza with a wholewheat crust (a recipe we've developed over time), topped with part-skim mozzarella, chicken sausage and veggies.

Finally, we drink a lot of smoothies in our house (Mr. S will sometimes have 2 or 3 a day!), especially after the gym. He experiments with different fruit combinations for himself, but I like to stick with a strawberry, banana and peanutbutter smoothie:

Handful of frozen strawberries
2 ice cubes
1 banana
Orange Juice, as needed
1-2 tsp of peanutbutter (smooth, not chunky!)

Combine all in blender, adding more juice depending on the desired consistency.

(This is what it looks like....yum!)

I personally think it's silly to go a little crazy on a pre-wedding diet. Keeping it healthy in the months leading up to the wedding will not only make you feel better through the last stages of planning, but will encourage you to maintain that healthier lifestyle after the wedding! I do not want the feeling of "crashing and burning" on my wedding day because I've been restricting what I've been eating. But that's just me, to each her own!

And so, without further adieu, I leave you with my "before" and "after."

The Before (OMG I can't believe I'm sharing these! And please ignore the dreadful sunglasses):

The After:

Source: Laurie Peacock Photography

Seeing these is an important reminder of just how hard I've worked to not only meet this goal, but maintain it, and how blessed my life is! I'm healthy, in shape, and Mr. S has encouraged and motivated me every step of the way. If fitness wasn't so important to me now, I don't know how ready I would feel for the wedding - I want to look back on the pictures and feel that I looked my best!

What steps are you taking to be a healthier you?

Invited for the Big RD

2009-08-11T08:36:00.004-05:00

Have you created your "Mad Men" avatar yet? When Mr. S suggested that we create avatars and use them on the rehearsal dinner, I thought he had lost it...just a bit. But once I placed that cartoon martini in my hand, I was sold!

Once we had digitized ourselves, Mr. S laid out a postcard with the little rehearsal dinner poem that I see everyone around the net. It might be a wee bit cheesy but I didn't have the patience to try and be clever on my own.

We ordered our postcards from Zazzle because they let you order any quantity you want (we only needed 15), and they came last week - I was so excited to get these out the door!

Unfortunately, the back was laid out all wonky and could not be sent as they were. Sadness! So it was DIY to the rescue. I laid out a little message and printed it out on white cardstock that was a bit small than the postcards. I then cut out green cardstock the side of the postcards and glued one on top of the other (I needed the green to keep the originally wording on the card from showing through...and it adds a nice little pop!). Instead of sending these as postcards, we'll just drop them into white envelopes and be done with it.

I know we didn't truly need to create rehearsal dinner invites - or dinner will be small and our friends and family would have no problem with a simple email. But I felt the need to add just one more project onto the pile, and these were (relatively) simple and fun!

How are you spreading the word about your rehearsal dinner?

Sunrise...Sunset...At the Gym!

2009-08-10T08:13:00.004-05:00

The countdown to the wedding is hanging precariously over my head, ticking away as the 30 day mark looms closer and closer...which will, of course, only speed toward the 15, 10, 5 day markers! And before you know it, we'll be at the night-before-the-wedding-point. Eeh.

I think Mr. S is starting to feel it too, however he's not feeling the need to get a jump start on DIY projects or plan out the timeline. He's instituted "two a days" in the Stiletto household.

Source

The Stilettos aren't strangers to a whole lot of exercise - in fact, our workout regime has changed little due to the engagement because we were already going to the gym 4, 5 or 6 days a week. But with the thought of the wedding and the beach honeymoon on the horizon, Mr. S thought we needed to kick it up a notch during this last month. When he mentioned 5 am workouts to me, I told him absolutely not. No way. Never going to happen. Too much on my plate right now (I mean, come on - I'm planning a wedding here!).

Eventually, I softened to the idea and have found myself getting up at 4:30 am to take the dog out, get changed, and dash off to the gym with Mr. S for 45 minutes of good cardio. Some evenings include returning to the gym for more cardio (and, I know, I need to get back to the weights, as much as I've been ignoring them!), or staying at home for pilates.

Between you and me, I love it! I have more energy during the day, I feel great, and I love being at the gym when they've just unlocked the doors. And, since getting workouts in at this stage is crucial, if I have something after work that conflicts with my normal workout, I know that I got at least one workout in for the day (rather than having to give up my workout completely for that day) and I can alway supplement at home with lifting some light weights or a quick pilates DVD.

Will 5am workouts be with me after the wedding? I wouldn't bet on it. But as we power through these final weeks, I'm motivated by how great I want to look and feel on my wedding day!

How early is too early for you to workout in the morning?

Umm...Church Tongue?

2009-08-06T08:06:00.004-05:00

There's no turning back now...it looks like Mr. S and I are really going to do this thing, and it's time to get down to brass tacks...the"I do" kiss. The big one. The one all of our loved ones are going to see.

The scene from the "Wedding Singer" between Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler has been in the back of my mind for months. Remember? Drew's character Julia was engaged to that awful way-too-80s guy, and Julia's sister was getting her to practice the church kiss with Sandler's character Robbie.

Source

Not ringing a bell? Don't worry, you can watch the scene and get up to speed - I'll wait for you.

This scene always makes me worry that there's more to the kiss than just a kiss and that I should be concerned about appropriate "church tongue." I'm not really a pda type of girl, so having everyone look on as we seal the deal is a tad nervewracking for me.

Fortunately, Mr. S and I practiced the church kiss last night and it seems we are on agreement as to what works. And, as far as wedding planning goes, this was by far one of the more enjoyable projects!

Did you pratice your "I do" lip lock before the big day, or did you leave it up to chance?

Messages in the Mail

2009-08-05T07:36:00.004-05:00

I was so excited to mail our invitations a couple of weeks back, and starting the day after sending them, we've received two response cards each day! I love seeing those little envelopes show up in the mail...and, our guests have really gotten into the Madlibs aspect of our response cards, so we've had some fun responses.

I thought I'd share some of the standout cards...the last line of the card says:

Don't forget to ________ [advice] after you _______[advice]!

In retrospect we wish we had set up our cards differently so that everyone would fill this out, regardless of whether or not they're attending (right now, this is for those who can't make it). Fortunately, our guests are having fun filling this line out whether or not they're attending!

Card #1 - Life Advice

From my dad's cousin and his wife - "Don't forget to brush your teeth after every meal!" Sound advice if you ask me!

Card #2 - Financial Advice

From my dad's friend who cannot make the wedding and enclosed a check with his response card - "Don't forget to cash check after the wedding quickly!" Duly noted.

Card #3 - Relationship Advice

From Melanie and Joe, our good friends (Joe is an usher in the wedding) - "Don't forget to consummate your marriage after the wedding I do's." Umm, we'll work on that one...is that built into the timeline?!

We've had a lot of other fun cards about eating our cake, saving room for dessert, relaxing the day after, etc. So great!

Our guests who are attending get to fill in the line that they will be ready to _______ [verb] with us...party, get crunk and celebrate are the most common for this line.

Even though we didn't set the card up perfectly, we're so glad we made the RSVPs interactive and I think it will be so much fun to look back on these after we have them all and then do something special with the funny ones!

Did your RSVP cards have a twist to them?

DIY Menus...Or What I Spent My Saturday Night Doing

2009-08-03T09:27:00.004-05:00

I randomly decided I "needed" menus and proceeded to invent what seems to be the most time-consuming method for creating said menus. And, considering the fact that I think I just wanted menus because I thought my photographer would take cute pictures of them, I probably could have just made one and pretended after the fact that they were at each place setting.

Rest assured, I'm not that jaded about them and I know they will look cute on the tables, but I did spend the better part of my Saturday working on these and I'm only 1/3 of the way done.

The principle behind the menus is very simple (which is why it seemed like such a good idea at the time!) - I took green card stock and cut each piece into thirds horizontally, so that each piece was 2.83" x 11". I then scored each piece into quarters for ease of folding. This, my friends, was the easy part...and the part of the process that I did over a month ago and left until now (crunch time!) to finish.

I laid out our menu items in Microsoft Publisher, each item in a 3" x 2" rectangle. I then printed the menu "innards" onto white cardstock and used my handy paper cutter to cut each rectangle.

Salad and entree:

Dessert and celebration message:

Each rectangle was taped onto the green card stock, strategically placed so that the heart-shaped hole punch I used would not go through the white card stock. I'm sure there is a much handier, craftier way than double-sided tape to attach the white cardstock. I know that Glue Dots are great but I didn't have anything like that on hand this weekend and, to be honest, I don't want to spend any money on this project! The down side to saving money, however, is the time consuming process of taping everything!

The skinny black and white stripe ribbon that I love so much is perfect for tying these closed, and my handy scallop punch strikes again for the menu cover!

Could I have done something easier or not have menus at all? Of course. Do I regret not testing out putting a few of these together before a cut and scored all of the card stock, leaving me no room for changing my mind? Definitely. But the end product is super cute...now only 90 of these to go!

Have you decided to make menus, and if so, what do they look like?

A Modern Blessing

2009-07-30T08:36:00.004-05:00

Source

Wouldn't it be a sign of the times if the reader at your ceremony got up there with his or her Kindle in hand? While I don't anticipate that happening at our wedding, it would definitely cause me to chuckle. And, it would most definitely put a modern twist on the proceedings...don't worry, we're not going to take things quite that far!

In any event, Mr. S and I finally asked one of my good friends - and college roommate of two years - to read during the ceremony. I had wanted to ask her for awhile, but we don't see each other very often and I didn't want to do it over email. I instead chose to ask her toward the end of my bachelorette party...to which she said she'd love to, but would I please ask her again when I was sober? I assured her I was completely serious with my question, but did follow up with an email the next day.

I came across the most beautiful reading that I believe we are going to use...

"Blessing for a Marriage," James Dillet Freeman

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.

May you want one another, but not out of lack.

May you entice one another, but not compel one another.

May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.

May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.

May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.

May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.

May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

I aboslutely love it. It's a little more modern than other readings I've seen and since we're having a ceremony that we'd categorize as more spiritual than religious, this reading to me is a perfect fit.

Have you chosen something special for your reader(s) during the ceremony?

The Perfect Trio

2009-07-28T19:03:00.004-05:00

I shared awhile back the story of where Mr. S bought my engagement ring, and the style of wedding band I wanted. Simple. A few diamonds evenly spaced around the band.

Well, a couple of weeks ago Mr. S and I took a trip back to Chicago's jewelers row to seek out our weddings bands. I bought along pictures of what exactly I thought I wanted and we tried on ring after ring. When I finally tried on the ring that I'd thought I had to have, it just didn't do anything for me as a wedding band (as a ring on the other hand? Perfect, sign me up! But not with my e-ring).

I ended up finding an AMAZINGLY sparkly ring with prong-set round cut diamonds. Swoon. But it would have put us at the top of our ring budget (we'd been looking to spend $1,200 max for both bands). Hmm. I put on my budget hat and tried on another happily sparkly band with round cut channel set diamonds over the top half of the band that was SO freaking under budget, there wasn't a question which ring I'd choose. I love me a bargain.

Mr. S wavered between a brushed white gold band and a shiny tungsten band...he happened to fall in love with the tungsten which was also very budget-friendly...woo hoo!

Here's some shots of the rings (please disregard the horrendous lack of focus...my camera was dying)...

Mmm...sparkly....

...I secretly love wearin' these together around the house, shhh....

We picked up our rings last week, all sized and ready to go, and while there they spruced up my e-ring...I'll be perfectly honest - bling looks a whole lot bigger when it's all shiny and clean! My e-ring has never looked better.

I'm so pleased that we both got rings we love but only spent $675 of our $1,200 budget. I definitely don't think you have to empty your wallet to find something special. AND with the leftover money that we'd allocated for our rings, we can go ahead and pay off one of our vendors now rather than in September (I'm so excited to have one less payment leading up to the wedding!).

Did you stay within or bust the budget when you picked our your wedding bands?

Showering with Thanks

2009-07-27T14:54:00.004-05:00

I'm fresh from my bridal shower/bachelorette weekend, and I can't wait to share the fabulous details of the day and night! While I wait for my lovely bridesmaids to send some pictures my way, I thought I'd share the gifts I put together for the bridesmaids.

Mrs. Latte's gifts for her bridesmaids had stuck in my head and I knew I wanted to do something similar...but lacking creativity, I decided not to reinvent the wheel and instead just take her idea (thank you, Mrs. Latte!).

Please don't mind my awful photography...these weren't completed until just before the shower, so I had to quickly snap some shots!

I bought these great gable boxes that were the perfect size, and using a handwriting font printed out the "thank you" message onto card stock, which I then cut out using pinking shears and glued onto the boxes.

Using a mixture of typewriter font and the handwriting font I printed the messages onto cardstock, cut them out, punched a hole into each with a heart-shaped punched and tied them onto the items with my favorite black and white ribbon.

...some yummy cinnamon scented soap...

...yummy smelling candles...

...and my favorite chocolate chip cookies using this recipe and sprinkling the top of each cookie with sea salt pre-baking to get the perfect salty-sweet combo...

I'm so glad I was able to give each one of my five bridesmaids a little thank you for giving me such a great weekend!

Coming up...the Stiletto shower and later the bachelorette extravaganza!

Did you do anything special to thank your bridesmaids?

To Look or Not to Look

2009-07-24T14:15:00.002-05:00

Mr. S and I have been debating doing a "first look." Well, I've been debating...he's been, err, demanding. At first I thought he just wanted to do it because logistically and photographically it would be great - fun first look pictures, get some shots out of the way, and get on with the show.

I refused to do a first look out of convenience, and he conceded. He even suggested we not have our photographer there if I wanted it to be more personal and just us.

I'm still just torn. It would be nice to have that special moment together beforehand, but I wonder if it will take away some of the anticipation and excitement of me walking down the aisle. With our timeline we'd have to do the first look right before the ceremony start time, and it would have to be at the church which wouldn't leave us a lot of options for great first look settings. I don't want to risk guests seeing me beforehand, so we'd have to be sneaky and find a private place that would look nice (should we choose to photograph it...which, knowing us, we probably would do).

I wish I could have my cake and eat it too...experience the first look, but also experience Mr. S and I seeing each other for the first time that day as I walk down the aisle.

Wasn't Mr. & Mrs. Cupcake's first look just lovely?

Source: Weddingbee

All you married ladies out there, how did you make your decision about the first look? For those of you still planning, what factors are helping you make your decision?

A-Ten Hut!

2009-07-23T10:58:00.007-05:00

Sister Stiletto is throwing me a big weekend of bridal celebrations on Saturday, starting with a bridal shower in the afternoon and followed by my bachelorette that evening out on the town.

As you might remember, I found two great dresses for this weekend, and both fit perfectly! The dress for the shower is even equipped with pockets, people...double bonus, in my book. Jamming both events into one day may seem like a lot, but with 3 of the 5 Stiletto bridesmaids living out of state (San Diego, New York City and Tampa), I couldn't ask the girls to come out twice to celebrate on top of travelling here in September for the wedding.

Needless to say, I've been in "bridal bootcamp" this week to prepare for the festivities...let's see what's been on the agenda:

Any bride-to-be knows that being in good shape is extra important, so I hit the gym extra hard this week.

Source

I also busted out those pesky whitening trays. Can you believe that if you actually use your teeth whitener more than once in one week, you can see the difference?! My pearly whites may not blind you, but they're on the road to recovery.

Source

I've decided to nix the "lovely" roots I've been sporting since I got highlights back in February and get my color done tomorrow. Not only will my hair be glossy and beautiful for this weekend, but I can start to determine the perfect shade for the wedding day.

Source

Bridesmaids A and D will be rolling into town on Friday, so we're going to get mani/pedis - I anticipate showing off my bling in style at the shower!

Source

I'm so excited to have this weekend to celebrate with everyone! I think this will finally start to make everything feel even more real...the Stiletto nuptials are getting closer and closer. Eeeeh!

How did you prepare for your shower and bachelorette?

Take It Away, USPS

2009-07-21T12:09:00.003-05:00

My invitations are officially out of my hands and out of my mind as of today! I lugged them all to work on the train and mailed them from the (oh so convenient!) post office in my building.

And, of course, who doesn't need an entourage when sending their invites?! My co-worker Megan was kind enough to accompany me down there to snap a few shots of the big ta-da (please don't mind that I rolled out of bed a tad late today and didn't put on a drop of make up, ugh).

Last night I sealed them all and packed them up for the journey on the train. Don't they look nice? That damask pattern across the top of the envelopes is one of my favorite details.

The only minor set back was the fact that the flap on the envelopes was rather large and so there was a big gap on either side after I had sealed the envelopes. Fortunately, we noticed this pretty early in the process, so it was nothing that a little glue stick couldn't fix as I sealed away.

Whew. Not only am I glad to get these into the hands of our invitees, I'm excited that some space will be freed up...these have been stored in our house since February!

Did you breath a big sigh of relief when you mailed your invitations, or were you sorry to see them go?

Card Box...Complete!

2009-07-19T21:09:00.006-05:00

Remember when I had this great DIY idea for a vintage suitcase card box? Yahhhh...my first attempt turned out so badly I couldn't stand to snap a picture of it before it landed in the trash. So, I went with my backup plan.

When I was planning my candy buffet, I picked up this black cake stand, which happened to come in a great box. I'm not using the cake stand anymore, but it's been sitting around my kitchen in that box. It only made sense to stop trying to think of something new and go with what works - a hat box turned card box.

Mr. S cut a slot out of the center with a box cutter, then I took some extra damask fabric I had on hand to cover the top. I didn't have big enough of a piece of fabric to cover the whole top, so I used two separate pieces.

I hot glued it in place on the top, then...

I flipped it over and gathered pieces, pulling the fabric tight, and glued it in place. I didn't have the patience to try and get it smooth, so instead I pulled it so that it looked gathered around the side.

To cover up some not-so-nice edges around the slot, I glued some ribbon in place and tucked it into the underside of the lid.

The finished box! It's simple and a little rough around the edges...but I finished it in less than an hour using materials I already had in the house.

I'm glad I ended up going with a classic idea rather than trying to reinvent the wheel for my card box - one more completed project is incredibly helpful at this stage of the game!

What are you using for the card box at your reception?

...you had me at duck nachos

2009-07-17T13:13:00.005-05:00

Source

The rehearsal dinner has been the source of some strife in the Stiletto household these past few months. We haven't been able to find any places to host it!

I know you're thinking to yourself, "Stiletto, what's the deal? You live in Chicago and are surrounded by so many fabulous restaurants." That may be true, but the wedding events are taking place just west of the city in Oak Park, and I've been bending over backwards to keep everything in Oak Park, within walking distance of the church!

While Oak Park has some fabulous restaurants, the ones that could actually accomodate our group just didn't grab our interests. Or if they did, we'd have to empty our wallets and then some to host our nearest and dearest.

So, we opened up our search to Chicago's West Loop, which is about 10 miles straight east of Oak Park. The West Loop has some fabulous restaurants to choose from - almost too many! Fortunately, a friend suggested de cero, a self-described modern taqueria.

The restaurant just happens to have a room the perfect size for our little group (20-25), availability on our date, and no room rental fees if we keep it to 2 hours or less.

Don't you just love this long table that's in one of their private rooms:

Source

And their list of drinks sounds absolutely scrumptious, including a raspberry basil daiqueri, a peach and chamomile cholada and a strawberry mint marguerita - only a taste of what's on their fabulous drink menu.

Source

They sent us a few sample menus to look at - all would be served family style - and after including tax and gratuity, their price per person is actually less than the places in Oak Park that I had on my list that I had considered reasonable. Score!

Of course, the true deal maker? The duck nachos - just try and tell me your mouth isn't watering right now when you read this:

five house-made tortilla chips served with
duck, queso, pico de gallo, mashed pinto beans and crema

Yummmmy! Now, of course, we haven't made a trip there to see the space and stuff our faces. That's next on the list and assuming all goes as planned, we'll be signing on the dotted line.

I was sad to step away from my perfect plan to keep the rehearsal dinner in Oak Park, but at the end of it all we both wanted a tasty place to take our friends and family.

How did you decide where to host your rehearsal dinner?

Semi-DIY Bouquet Vases

2009-07-15T07:54:00.008-05:00

Yes, the main decor element on the head table at my wedding will be a combination of cheap IKEA vases and tape...and yes, I'm quite proud of this!

My plan has always been to have the bouquets pull double duty and enhance the head table, but I didn't want to just put them in boring, clear vases and call it a day. I thought about silver julep cups - Save On Crafts has quite the selection -but it was more of a financial investment than I wanted to make. Plus, they don't really go with anything else we're doing. They're very elegant and for any other affair I'd be head over heals for them, but there isn't an ounce of silver anything at the wedding...excluding eating utensils, of course.

On a recent trip to IKEA, I purchased a 9-inch tall square vase for my bouquet...

Source: IKEA

and five 6-inch tall square vases for the bridesmaid bouquets...

Source: IKEA

One thing to note - if you're considering these vases, they have a thick base, so subtract an inch to determine how much room you'll actually have in them. Since the larger vase was only $5.99 and the smaller vases were $2.49 each, I couldn't pass these up and honestly just wanted to be done with it.

I've been unsuccessful in getting ribbon to stay put on vases, and had considered covered these with fabric or fun paper, when I found Etsy seller Nothing Elegant. She had this whole assortment of Japenese masking tape that comes in fabulous patterns and colors. But, the tape shipped from Korea. Hmm. In fact, I had a hard time finding it sold in the United States, except for this Web site Happy Tape. But, to get a black and white design from Happy Tape, I would have had to buy a set and probably spend around $30.

Taking a chance, I ordered this tape from Nothing Elegant (please note: in checking her shop, she has almost nothing for sale at this time; I'm hoping this is just for the short term because she had a fabulous assortment of tape!), and spent about $15.00 (including shipping). Aren't these stripes fabulous?!

Source: Etsy

Much to my surprise, I received the tape faster than I often receive items shipped from within the US...and the tape is absolutely fabulous!

I immediately took one of the shorter vases and started playing around with arranging the tape. I love that if I mess up, I can easily pull it off and start over. What do you think of the first attempt?

Since we still have a couple of months to go, I'm going to hold off on decorating the rest of the vases. I think these are going to look fabulous on the head table, and I won't sit there worrying about some ribbon or paper just popping off in the middle of dinner...decorating with tape was the best idea EVER!

What unique products are you integrating into your decor?

DIY Invitation Addressing With a Twist!

2009-07-13T19:23:00.005-05:00

I've posted about the in's and out's of our invitations...we've had them in our house since about February, but actually taking the final step - addressing these suckers - took some planning. We have these fabulous outer envelopes, but I just didn't know what to do in order to stay in line with the integrity of the design. Oh yeah, and in line with that pesky budget.

Source: Plush Paper

Along with many others, I fell in love with this easy way to mimic calligraphy, as posted on Project Wedding. I'm sure many others have hopped on board with this great project, including Miss Piglet (her invitations are fabulous!).

I liked this idea, but having done many a mail merge at work, I absolutely hate running envelopes through the printer because I've been witness to far too many fatalities - jamming, crookedness, black marks, you name it. I just couldn't subject my precious invitations to a chancy procedure. But since the whole project just boiled down to tracing, I decided there had to be a way to piggyback on this project.

I present to you my makeshift light box:

Taking one of the little click lights that we have on the underside of our kitchen cabinets, I took the glass out of a picture frame and propped it up on two books, sliding the light underneath. Voila! This setup was perfect for illuminating the addresses (of course, if I had dark envelopes this project would not work).

Here's a sample of a finished envelope (don't mind the messy blurring that I did to hide the full address):

It's not perfect, but it fits with our design exactly. The rest of the invitation was done in a typewriter font, so I used that for the addresses. This font also tends to be a little irregular, which lends itself perfectly to tracing! It would be fun to try this out with a more calligraphy font, but that's another project for another day.

If you're thinking of going this route because you can't stand the thought of running your envelopes through the printer, here's what I did:

Set up a labels mail merge through Microsoft Word
Use Avery Label 5168 (5" x 3.5")
Set up your font, centering and spacing preferences, and set your address text toward the bottom of the label (you'll need to experiment to find the right place; the first line of mine started at the 3" mark on the label)
Before completing the merge, also make all borders thick black lines
Complete the merge and go through the individual "labels" to make any adjustments, check for errors, etc*
Print your "labels" onto regular printer paper
Use a paper cutter to cut out the "labels" - the black lines at the bottoms of the rectangles can be used as guides when you're cutting them to ensure a straight line, especially if you don't have a paper cutter and are using scissors
What are intended to be labels are actually perfect for slipping right into your envelopes to then trace

*You will probably want to go through a couple of trial runs before you complete the merge to get the address located on the right part of the "label" so that it falls on the right place on your envelope.

For me, this was such a painless process, except for the pain in my hand as I addressed away! The mail merge makes it incredibly seamless, allowing you to pull straight from the Excel list you're maintaining.

Of the 73 invitations I have to address, all but six are done! And, I didn't mess up on a single invitation thus far...I think it's safe to call this project a success.

How did you choose to address your invitations?

Planning in the Suds

2009-07-08T12:04:00.004-05:00

Mr. S and I really laid a lot of the groundwork for our wedding over the winter. Sure, we booked our reception site last May and our photographer and church last July. But our florist, day of coordinator and limo were booked in the winter, while many planning details and projects were thrown around.

So, on a regular basis we held wedding meetings right here:

Source

At first we tried having wedding meetings at Starbucks. Even though it got Mr. S away from distractions such as his laptop, he still had that pesky iPhone. Which of course meant that getting his attention at home was virtually impossible...I could never get him to focus in on the task at hand. Since I opened Mr. S's eyes to the wonders of the bubble bath at the beginning of the winter, I knew I had him right where I wanted him!

We're blessed with a fabulous deep-soaking tub. No, it's not one of those big fancy corner units with lots of space, but with a little finagling we manage to fit - bubbles and all, maybe even a glass or two of wine on the side if we're feeling saucy.

From the very start Mr. S has been very engaged in the planning process, and I've done my best to get his input on almost everything, and I even try and listen and understand his feelings when he's going completely against what I want to hear! I'm very, very blessed that he doesn't roll his eyes as I show him three different examples of escort cards or when I have him weigh in on which white flower looks the most like "us."

So, when we held those fabulous meetings in the tub this winter, we were completely free from distractions, inspiration overload and real life. Instead, we could just pick a topic and plan it out from top to bottom. This was how I found out that he had a great idea for the guest book that he really wanted to do (when previously I thought he didn't care one way or another). Having that relaxed and focused "us" time really brought us together as we were planning, while also quelling some of my wedding planning stress and frustration!

Now summer is here (although it doesn't feel that way in Chicago most days) the baths are over and we're 70-odd days away from the wedding (eeeh!). While we have our disagreements about the wedding from time to time, I find that they're more grumbles than all out fights, and I truly believe it's because we've really invested the time in planning a wedding that reflects both of our wants, wishes and ideas.

How have you and your significant other approached your planning?

Makeup My Mind

2009-07-07T12:03:00.008-05:00

I'm not a big makeup wearer (shhh....I went all winter long without wearing a single bit of powder or shadow to work!). On top of that, I generally get told that based on my skin tone, brown hair and blue eyes, I can pull off any shades of makeup, hair color, and clothes. While it's nice to be chameleon, definitive answers like "you look best in blush tones" or "never wear the color yellow" would be incredibly helpful.

I mean, I don't want to end up looking like this:

Source

I received great feedback on my recent hair post and think I have settled on "option D" as my inspiration. I didn't even realize until today that this was the same picture that Mrs. Yorkie used at her trial!

It's great having hair ideas nailed down, but there's this whole face of mine to contend with. I don't have strong opinions on makeup, nor do I have celebrity inspiration or a picture in my head of what I might look like. Beyond, well, looking better. Hee. I, however, really liked Miss Cowboy Boot's recent trial. I liked the freshness of her inspiration looks and her makeup came out looking beautiful.

When I think about myself, my dress and my overall "look" that I envision for my wedding day, I think the word sweet encompasses everything. My dress is very soft and romantic. To each her own, but to me soft and romantic does not equal smoky eyes or bold red lips. I like the idea of "fresh."

So, here I am -

And here's some inspiration (the best I could do for finding pictures that were "rosy" and "fresh"):

Source

Ok, so maybe I could do without the blue eyeliner on that last one. But you get the idea. So I'll take these ideas along with me when I do my hair and makeup trial...whenever that might be!

Where do you go for great makeup inspiration?

United...and It Feels So Good?

2009-07-05T20:28:00.005-05:00

Mr. S and I met with our minister this weekend to begin discussing the type of ceremony we might like. The next time we meet we'll really get into the details, but this meeting was to get us thinking about what is important to us.

In the car on the way to church, we discussed how we didn't want a unity candle because it didn't really feel like us. Of course, the topic came up later in our meeting, and we shared our feelings about it. Our minister, however, gave us a completely new outlook.

Source

We had been thinking about the thing and the stuff more than the meaning. Wikipedia states that it "is to symbolize the union of two individuals, becoming one in commitment." Our minister outlined something similar to this, but she also made another great point. When we light the unity candle, it's our time as a couple during the ceremony to have our moment together - amidst the roomful of onlookers - to quietly say special things to one another. I liked that - our time. We're still in debate on doing a first look (he's pro, I'm anti), so maybe this unity candle time can be all our own?

We're definitely now considering making this a part of the ceremony, as we explore other traditions, verses, poems and songs that will make the ceremony special and a part of us. In true Miss Stiletto form, I've scouted some unity candle inspiration on Etsy, although you'd better believe if we choose to do this I'll be diy'ing this project!

Here's some inspiration I found that would fit with our color scheme:

Source: Etsy

What are you incorporating into your ceremony to make it feel special?

Will Time Be On My Side?

2009-07-02T08:55:00.003-05:00

Image 1, Image 2, Image 3

I'd prefer to have everything on my wedding day go in perfect order and on time - I mean, who wouldn't? But beyond that, even though I've been trying to pay close attention to the happenings at all of the wedding receptions I have been at over the past 15 months (since getting engaged), I'm still worried that I'm planning things out in the wrong order. What if the toasts come at the wrong time? Will there still be enough people there when we do the garter and bouquet toss?

On top of my timeline worries, I have my photographer to think about. We've only booked her for 7 hours, but we're hoping to tack an extra hour onto that, giving us 8. Within that 8 hours with her, we want to start with getting ready shots of me as I get my hair/makeup done and get dressed and have her shoot through the main events at the reception. I didn't think this would pan out quite as I wanted, but after playing around with things I think it may just work.

1:30

-Main photographer arrives at hotel, 2nd photographer arrives at church

2:00

-Hair/Makeup is Completed

2:30

-Bridal party heads to church

3:00 - 4:00

-Ceremony (probably will run less than an hour)

4:00 - 6:00

-Bridal party photos

6:00 - 7:00

-Cocktail Hour

7:00

-Guests ushered into the ballroom

7:10

-Bridal party entrance

7:20

-Mr. & Mrs. Stiletto First Dance

7:25

-Cake cutting/dinner served

8:15

-Toasts

8:30

-Dinner Cleared/Cake Served

8:40

-Father/Daughter Dance

9:15

-Bouquet & Garter Toss

9:30

-Photographers Leave

10:00

-Dancing!

11:30

-Last Call

So...if you're still with me - did I leave anything out? Anything grossly out of order? Any suggestions, words of wisdom from those who have gone before me?!

Hair, Hair, Hair

2009-07-01T11:42:00.008-05:00

I know I'm going to have to schedule my hair and makeup trial soon. Great, right? If I could nail down what I wanted, I'd be stoked. I've no clue about make nor do I have any inspiration (or know where to look for some!), so that's a post for another day.

I debated on different hairstyles previously, and even thought about being a short hair bride. Now it's time to stop debating and getting real...what's a girl to choose?

This is my hair currently...except I'd curled it for a wedding and I'm sporting some fabulously awful roots (I'm hoping to make the color a bit richer before the day). I've got a decent amount of length going on, but my hair is pretty thin.

So, please help me decide!

A. This is still my frontrunner - I had posted it before. Not only do I love the cool loops, even though I can't see the front I imagine that there's some volume/interest going on. I don't want my hair flat against my head if at all possible.

Source: The Knot

B. So great! I love this. Although I hate that on The Knot you often only get a shot of the back. As I said above, I want volume. But this woven effect is fabulous.

Source: The Knot

C. One of Miss Hot Cocoa's bridesmaids! I saw this and immediately dragged the picture onto the desktop! It's similar to the one above - I must really be digging woven hairstyles these days.

Source: Weddingbee

D. A bit of a departure from the rest! I'm not normally all into curls, but I'm liking this. It has textures and detail and volume.

Source: Flickr

So, what do you think? A, B, C, D or do you have a hairstyle that is just what I'm looking for?!

Invitation Innards

2009-06-30T12:00:00.005-05:00

I was so excited to finally have my maps, which meant I could then put the "innards" of the invitations together. Since we had this extra piece to include, it gave me a perfect excuse to create belly bands with some extra ribbon I had. What do you think of the final product?

After downloading Dafont's LP Flowers 2, I found a shape that would match our damask theme. I laid these out in Microsoft Publisher and then printed them out on white cardstock. Using my handy 2-inch scallop cutter (that I think I use for every project now!), I cut out the disks.

I had a bunch of black grosgrain ribbon that I was previously going to use for the bridesmaid bouquets. I cut the ribbon into lengths that would tightly "bundle" the invitation pieces with a little overlap for taping. I had enough to bundle over half of our invitations. Not wanting to spend any more money, I used some thinner white ribbon that I had on hand to finish the rest. I ended up really liking the look of the white as much as I liked the black ribbon.

Using super strong double stick tape (the package claims it's permanent), I wrapped each invitation packet with a piece of ribbon and secured it with the tape. I then taped a circle to the center of each one, hiding the place where the ribbon overlaps. Sneaky!

Stacking them as I went, I gathered quite the pile sitting precariously next to me on the sofa...and they magically didn't topple over, even when I got up! (to get the camera, of course, to document my stellar stacking abilities)

This was a project that I easily completed in one evening. Yes, it got a bit tedious toward the end. I was hunched over, sore, and my finger was shredded by the end of the tape dispenser. But I'm in love with the final results and hope that our guests - at the very least - appreciate that pieces of paper won't be fluttering to the ground when they open their invitations!

While I wouldn't claim that the tape I used ("Duck" brand double sided tape) is permanent, it seems to be quite secure. When I took the bundles out a few days later, only one of the 75 had come unstuck and the rest were holding strong! It's out of my hands once those babies hit the mailbox...

Were you able to complete an extra project from start to finish, using only items you already had?