Derby Theme

I have not posted in a long time because I was going through some wedding changes. I moved my location from New Orleans to Hickory North Carolina where my fiance and I fell in love. I found a great wedding planner and she has given me so many ideas for our wedding. I cannot wait to share!
First we are still doing a southern theme, but now it will also incorporate the Kentucky Derby. This means centerpieces of silver vases and mint julep cups filled with lush hydrangeas, peonies, garden roses, and magnolias.
My cocktail hour will feature my signature drink of a mint julep (there will be all other liqueur there too) and yummy passed hor dourves on silver platters such as miniature ham biscuits!
For dinner meats we will have a choice of lamb, shrimp and grits, or Smithfield ham. My mouth is watering just thinking about our yummy food!
I'm still debating whether or not I want my bridesmaids to wear hats or fascinators. I think it would be so fun!

My Steel Magnolias

I have finally succeeded in asking all my maids of honor and bridesmaids to be in my wedding! And thankfully they all said yes!
Here are my Steel Magnolias that I am honored to have in my wedding

Maid of Honor- Scottie Norris (sister of the bride)
Maid of Honor- Mariah Justice (cousin of the bride)
Bridesmaid- Logan Justice (cousin of the bride)
Bridesmaid- Alyssa Carlson (roomate and sorority sister of the bride)
Bridesmaid- Brittany Hall (friend of the bride)

Here is are the gifts I made for my ladies to ask them to be in my wedding- Mini bottles of champagne with satin ribbons in my wedding colors. I also bought card stock and printed out little messages that I tied to the bottles. How crafty am I?

Charmed

Wedding shoe

I have now not only chosen my wedding dress, but also my wedding shoe! I was originally set on Christian Louboutin's Marine glitter peep-toe pump for my dress, but I changed my mind when I got to Neiman Marcus today.They had sold out completely of this shoe!!! I tried on a few others that were sparkly (a necessity for bridal shoes for me), but none caught my eye the way this shoe had originally. Frustrated, I left to go make use of retail therapy at Kate Spade and Tory Burch. But, then a shiny shoe caught my eye!
It was the pink sparkly Kate Spade 'Charmed' shoe that I had originally planned to get for my engagement party attire; too perfect! And, then I bought my wedding day shoe!

My old favorite "marine glitter"

Move over Vera; I picked Monique Lhuillier!

After trying on literally over a hundred dresses since I got engaged, I found my dress today at Nitsa's Apparel in Charlotte!!!!! Nitsa's was above and beyond all the other dress stores that I have entered. They carry all the dresses that celeb's wear to get married (Monique Lhuillier, Vera Wang) and have amazing veils, belts, and diamond hair pieces. I tried on about 15 dresses there, but found my favorite after just 2. I kept going back to it even though it was all what I didn't think I wanted. I was set on A-line and lace when I walked in, but all the amazing couture gowns changed my mind! My favorite designer was by far Monique Lhuillier followed by Watters and Watters, and then Vera Wang. I really thought Vera was going to be the designer I chose; but it wasn't as ornate and couture as I had hoped. The Fall 2011 season of Monique blew me out of the water; it was all so unique. They had just got the runway samples in from New York for their weekend trunk show, and I was worried that the runway size would be waaaaay to small for my hourglass figure. But surprise of all surprises...I fit into every single runway size 0 perfectly. Talk about a confidence booster; guess my daily workouts with B are paying off!

Here are some pictures of the dresses that I didn't buy (not the best quality- they were taken on my iphone)

 

Two piece Monique like Carrie Underwood wore

Silk Satin Monique

Now for some celebs wedding dresses that inspired me to pick mine!

Ivanka Trump in Vera Wang (love the feminine lace!)

Jessica in Vera Wang- great detail on the fabric

Carrie in Monique Lhuillier two piece

Christine Baumgartner in Monique Lhuillier....so classic!

Invitation Inspiration

During my pre-wedding workout with fellow bride-to-be B, I began thinking about our wedding invitations. I have always just thought my invitations would be the simple-yet-classy black on white engraving with our family crest at the top, but now I'm thinking of doing a theme-y type of invite? Is this too modern of me? I have been googling some samples by a company in New Orleans called Scriptura, and have loved their unique ideas! Here are some of my favs for you to enjoy!

First some classic designs that I have always loved

 

Some of the more New Orleans themes ones that I'm sort of liking for save the dates!

Wedding dress shopping is going to drive me MAD!

So I have now been to a total of 4 stores looking for the perfect dress and I've yet to find one that I love enough to walk down the aisle in. I think I am just very hard to please and no dress is going to be unique enough for my liking. I have tried on countless different designers that have yet to satisfy me. I have tried on many dresses that look "nice," but they all seem to plain for me. I am not a plain girl. I want to wow everyone at my wedding with my dress and I am not stopping until I find it!


I have an appointment booked for next Friday to attend the Monique Lhuillier trunk show; maybe I'll have some luck there!

Here are some that I have been drawn to, hopefully they will look as great on as they do in the picture!

Wedding Dress shopping; A day of conflicting opinions

I know as a bride I am supposed to take every single person I know wedding dress shopping with me, but I don't think I can stand to hear every one's opinions. It seems to me that every time I find "THE" dress and tears are about to pour from my eyes, someone says something to the effect of, "oh it's okay, definitely not the dress for you though" and my heart breaks. And then they proceed to comment about how "Amazing" I look in a dress that I would never think to walk down the aisle in. I am so conflicted. I want everyone to think I look great; but I also want to feel that I look great for myself. I think this is why I like to go shopping with my daddy. He waits to hear what I think and then he agrees with me. That's all I really want to hear from the people I bring with me; agreement that I do indeed look awesome in the dress.

So since I did not purchase a dress today and I am going to keep looking I thought I would post the picture of  the dress that my mother loved and I hated...you decide who is right.


  Mom's favorite style by Lazaro (I think it looks like a nightgown)