Anyone that knows me well knows that I have an obsession with crazy shoes, a style only my sister-in-law can relate to. I own a plethora of shoes, shoved into any empty corner of our closet, of which my fiance can use against me when I try to  buy a new pair. I sneak in a few pairs every now and then and purposely wait a few weeks before I decide to wear them hoping that he won’t remember. It doesn’t work very well.

Anyway, that was more of a rant.

I really wish that I could have translated my normal shoe fetish into a wedding style that would satisfy me, but these are the few cases that I must pick comfort over style. I have decided against stilettos and will be wearing flats. This will help me walk easier on grass and down steps. I assume that I would be nervous enough walking down the aisle, I don’t want to worry about sinking into the ground while walking. Besides, noone will see my shoes anyway beneath the dress.

I want to wear purple flats, but I can’t  find any for the life of me!

Has anyone seen any cute ones anywhere?

I have been battling with myself about centerpieces for a long time! I love orchids of any kind, especially dendrobium orchids.

Orchids, via Jessica Claire

Orchids, via electic images

It would be ideal to have orchids at our wedding, but there are hefty price tags on those babies. Instead, I’m entertaining the idea of using carnations as our centerpieces. I always disliked carnations when they’re used individually, but I really like the look they have when bunched in a ball. Whatever it is we do, we’ll be doing it ourselves.

Carnation table setting, via hystudio

I have grown to really love the look of that. It’s so pretty and will definitely be affordable for 20-25 tables. I will post a DIY blog once we do a mock of one and it becomes DIY-blog-post worthy.

I shot up in bed this morning at the thought of only having 5 months to plan our wedding. The time has flown by, and now that we have our website out of the way… we are ready to move on to other things such as invitations. Except, we’ve been sitting idle doing nothing.

Wake up, Natalie. FIVE MONTHS!

Everything else has seemed peachy keen, until now. Things have come easily, I love planning and getting things together. But, there’s that other part of the equation. Noone else will work on my schedule. Therefore, we need to book our justice of the peace, entertainment and hotels.

The hardest part will definitely be paying for everything. It’s easy to sit here and imagine all the pretty, colorful purples we will have in our centerpieces or that nice photo booth we want. Then comes reality, where you have to dish out the cash for what you really want.

What we have left to do:

Today is a special today.
Today marks the day that I check another “To-Do” off of my “To-Do” list.

We have found the bridesmaid dresses and my girls have all purchased them.

I had a pretty standard criteria on what I was looking for. Of course, the purple had to be the perfect shade. I did not want my bridesmaids to wear something too typical or anything you can find from a David’s Bridal catalog. I wanted it to be a cocktail type dress that was simple and cute. It had to be a nice dress that they can wear again.

Albeit, it’s cliche of a bride-to-be to say that she wants her bridesmaids to be able to wear their dress again and then go on and choose a floofy thing that pretty much makes a mockery of the entire phrase “wear again”. But, I think I was able to do it.

For those who know me well, my style is anything but ordinary. Simple, yes. Ordinary, no. I want our wedding to be simple but not ordinary.

Without further adieu, I present to you the bridesmaid dresses.

I think it’s perfect. Heck, it even has pockets. Any dress that has pockets is awesome in my book.

We have also been planning our Bachelor/Bachelorette party.

I cannot believe we are only 6 months away. It is going to fly by!

I popped my head up from the very back of the room to try and catch a glimpse of the stage. I was wondering if I heard that right, and I was surprised I did. Why on Earth would Anthony be on stage, let alone the first person to go up there? What secret is he going to have? For a split second I was embarrassed for him, wondering what would motivate him to do such a thing because it seemed so out of character.

And then, I heard the question. I sat there engulfed in a feeling of who-knows-what and started getting butterflies in my stomach. Apparently, my reaction was too slow since Sara and Jonathan were urging me to get up and walk. My walk was even slower than my reaction. Mind you, I was in the back of a large room whose length could be compared, at the time, to that of a football stadium. The walk seemed forever and towards the end, I started speed walking. It didn’t help that I was hauling around a huge purse that equated to the size of carry-on luggage.

I walked up to the stage with a big smirk on my face and whispered “yes, of course honey…” only to find out that I didn’t say that loud enough nor did I lean in towards the mic to say it. Repeating myself, I forced a monotone “yes” into the microphone which ended up sounding lifeless and emotionless. Trust me when I say I was anything but emotionless. I was ecstatic!

A lot of people say that the dress is one of the most important things of your wedding. It’s what you’ve been waiting for since you were a little girl, sitting on the porch day dreaming about Prince Charming sweeping you off of your feet and getting married in a beautiful Princess ballgown.

In reality, I never daydreamed of my Prince Charming or getting married. I was too busy fiddling around with AOL chatrooms and learning how to breakdance.

When it comes to a wedding dress, I want it to reflect my everyday style. I don’t need that extra poof, lace or bustle. I want something simple and elegant. I am not sure I fall for the “perfect dress” stories that I hear or read about. As simple as I want the dress to be, I want the process of finding one to be even more simple.

I love Jim Hjelm, Monique Lhuillier, Lara Helene and several other designers I’ve seen in the, oh..about 50 magazines that I’ve bought in the last few months. I also know I want a sweetheart neckline with a chapel/cathedral train.

J Crew “Lucinda” Dress

Lara Hélène “Jessica” Dress

Mary, my sister-in-law, and brother are coming to New York from Dallas on Thursday. We plan on taking the better half of Friday to visit bridal ateliers so I can find a style that suits me. Pessimistically, I doubt I will find anything I will fall in love with but you never know what can happen!

I remember starting out looking at wedding dresses and being completely overwhelmed by all of the wedding dress terminology. Now, as warned by Jessica, I have learned it all due to overexposure to wedding dress pictures and endless researching.