No Two Ties Alike For Our Men

If the bridesmaids don't match, why should the groomsmen?

We will have 6 black suited young men (all wearing their own non-matching black suits), all wearing completely different ties I bought off of ebay. Quality is very different between them all, so I might just have to make them reach in and pull them out one at at a time to decide who gets what one. The tie total came out to less than $30 each.

The 2 ring ceremony ushers will get the 2 light gold extras, and my bridesman Trevor will get the dark metallic one.

Which tie is your favorite? I am not usually a paisley person but I think that tie is super classy.

Avocado BM Attire Assault

All my bridesmaids are LDS and so they all dress following the modesty guidelines I discussed once before. Finding a knee-length fancy dress with sleeves for one person is tough. Finding that same dress, for less than $150, in 6 different sizes in just the right color is impossible. I almost put them in this dress from Target.com, but I seemed to be the only person that liked it. Maybe I just wanted it because I have always wanted to smash the belief that the bride should only wear white into a million pieces. What a silly outdated rule. Is anyone REALLY going to confuse the bridesmaids for the bride? Why would you invite people to your wedding that don't actually know who you are and would wander around confused about which girl got married that day?

Thus, the Avocado BM Attire Assault was developed. I emailed the girls, told them the situation, wrote them each a check for $100 and put it in the mail. I told them to find:

A black dress to wear on the wedding day. No silver embellishments. Think fancy cocktail party dress. Look for dresses made with satin, silk, chiffon, etc. It's going to be hard to find dresses made with jersey, cotton, or polyester that are going to look fancy enough. I'm not looking for the standard "cultural hall reception" dress, I want something fabulous!
Shoes should be gold, or black and gold. Don't worry about them matching, none of yours are going to match mine at all, just find something you love and that you know you will wear over and over after the wedding.

I created a Google Notebook (Ms. Dahlia taught me about this once upon a time)and filled it with dress options and sent them the link. I emailed the periodically to check up and see how the hunting was going. I bought one girl her dress off of ebay. I made MOH Shay call them to check how things were coming along. What a surprise it will be to see what they all end up wearing that day!

Crafty BM Maggie sewed her dress with her mom this morning. I am so curious to find out what they came up with....

BM Beni Bop is going to be hot in her little Calvin Klein number that I purchased off of ebay for her. We don't really know it if is actually a CK or a reproduction, but she likes it so we decided to keep it! She has some black peep toe heels with a gold spike (Nine West I think?) to go along with the dress.

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I have no idea what BM Bree's dress looks like, but with shoes like this does it really matter? I mean seriously, I kind of want to tell her she has to give them to me.....

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BM Princess Jess has three different dresses she is trying to decide between. This little ruffled number makes me swoon (and she already owns it! Score!)

Not to mention her gorgeous heels.

MOH Shay will be attempting to steal the show in one of the most vivacous dresses I have ever seen her in. Seriously, looking this good at someone else's wedding should be illegal.

As for what everyone else is wearing (and what some of the above named are wearing for shoes/dresses)....I have no idea.

And it feels GOOD! I love my non-matching bridesmaids, and since they picked out their own dresses I would imagine they plan on wearing them over and over again. If not, hey it was free for them!

In what areas have you relinquished control and let someone else pick up the slack? How did you keep tabs on those you deligated responsibilities to?

The Bridal Lineup

It's my wedding week, and there is so much you don't know. I was hoping to help you understand what was going on through my blogging but now I have some major catch up to do.

Let's kick the "up-to-speed" series off by introducing you to my bridesmaids. I will let you meet the groomsmen through the wedding pictures because I fancy a few of them might not even want to be introduced so directly to all of you.

BM Princess Jess

Jess and I don't have a single picture of just the two of us that I know of, something that will be shortly remedied. She was a late addition to the bridesmaid crew, and what a mistake it would have been to leave her off completely! We met through her brother and I realized she was fabulous when I went into her room and saw she owned basically the entire collection of Elvis movies (yes they are terrible, as you might imagine). She loves pink, is a princess (sound familiar to anyone who grew up with me), and did half of the calligraphy for my invitations for me (that is some seriously dedication right there). We were able to survive the English Novel together in college, but our friendship was forever cemented when we ended up in the same Cormac McCarthy class and realized how far out of our league the material was.

BM Beni Bop

Little Beni Bop and I only lived together for 2 years (not much when you consider I lived with some of the other roomie bridesmaids for 5), but that hasn't made any difference for our friendship in the end. She definitely puts up with the most wedding talk out of anyone since she has a desk job and can gchat with me all day long, which I love. She is always up for a shopping trip, and manages to look great no matter what color her hair is! I loved her food cupboard the best and always tried to remember to tell her what little snack I took out of it without asking first (I tried, I really did!)

BM Maggie

Maggie, the personal trainer BM, is like my own personal fitness guru. We lived together all throughout college, and she introduced me to some of the funnest people I know (we love our Trevor!). She is always up for a run for a frozen yogurt and helped me survive a course on anatomy in college (the first time around :) ). She is not only beautiful, but crafty, and I expect her to create some fabulous scrapbook pages dedicated to all of the wedding fun that is planned!

BM Lova

Lova and I lived together for almost 5 years in college, and I say almost 5 because between my case of pneumonia and her study abroad to Spain it was a little bit less. I think she got the better end of the deal on that one. She just got married in July and so she is my go-to girl whenever I have wedding problems I can't figure out on my own. We share a love of Wicked, procrastination, videography, and film critiquing.

BM Bree

Aubree completes the trio of double cousin fun made up by her, myself, and MOH Shay Shay. She is outrageous and crazy and she always makes me laugh. She made me smile the day she sent me a text saying she would do absolutely anything I asked her to in relation to wedding stuff. All of the girls are wearing black and gold shoes of their choice, and Bree's just might be the hottest I have ever seen!

MOH Shay Shay

I can't think of the right words to describe my sister. She's sweet, honest, caring, open, humble, compassionate, outgoing, creative, and gorgeous. She really cares about other people, and constantly shows me up in terms of creativity. She's my go-to girl when life is feeling absolutely crazy, and I think we work really well as a team together. She is always inspiring me with her photography skills, and I can't thank her enough for all of the times she has let me borrow her baby, her "big camera" as I like to call it, and give photography a try.I love her and she has already worked so hard to accomplish the jobs that I have given her. I wouldn't want anyone else right beside me!

Junior BM KeeKee

Kee is Bridesmaid Bree's sister and thus another double cousin. We dont have many pictures together either, which is a shame. She's such a hot teenager and already taller than me. I just had to break the "no kids" rule for her and her sister Nay, as we are all so close I couldn't imagine not having them there.

Junior BM Nay

Nay really is old enough to be a Junior Bridesmaid, even if she doesn't look like it here. This picture was taken about 5 years ago, and since I have been in Utah for college every year the two of us haven't been taking many photos together. She is one of hte sweetest little girls I know, and we love to email and mail notes back and forth to each other.

Bridesman Trevy

The minute Trevy said he was coming to the wedding, I added him to the bridal party lineup. Bridal parties aren't quite the big deal in LDS weddings that they are in others, as most of the above mentioned people don't have temple reccomends and thus won't be witnessing the marrige at all. It's really just a way of saying "You are one of my favorite people ever!", and Trevy definitely falls into that category. Now that I am going to be married I probably should stop saying that I love him, but I really do. I just love him!

With 6 groomsmen coming as well, we are going to be a huge wedding party! How big (or small) is your wedding party?

Meet The Parents

I'm hosting my in-laws this weekend and it is exhausting. They are wonderful, and I know I am really lucky to be marrying someone with such easy parents to get along with, but I am unable to communicate with Mr. Avocado's mom, and so all conversation is with my FFIL. It's hard to force myself to take this break from the wedding planning. I am very happy they are able to see where I grew up and meet my family. And they brought me some presents and some European chocolate, so I guess I can't complain about that :)

Did you ever host your in-laws before the wedding? How did your first "meet the parents" experience go?

Chandelier Jazzing

We found this chandelier for $27 at the wholesale floral outlet. It was perfect, except I can't burn candles at my venue. I think the plastic electric ones always look fakey, so I wanted to come up with something that would still look cool without a flame or light coming from the chandelier. The ring ceremony is at 4:30 in a glass enclosed atrium, so I don't think the light would show that much anyways.

Step 1: Take one chandelier.

Step 2: Insert candle, begin to burn.

Step 3: Place fan on low and point toward candles. Keep fan far enough away from candles to keep them from blowing out.

Step 4: Rotate chandelier so that wax drips down all sides of the candles. Repeat as needed.

Step 5: Burn 1st candle down as far as possible. While wax is still in liquid form, insert 2nd candle directly on top of 1st candle. Hold in place to keep 2nd candle straight while wax hardens.

Step 6: Burn 2nd candle about 1/3 of the way down to help the look flow together.

Step 7: Admire the drippy, delicate, romantic outcome.

Step 8: Figure out how to transport something so delicated to a venue 3 hours away. (Suggestions?) I am thinking we might have to hang this from the ceiling of the car somehow to get it there!

The structure of the glass atrium allows us to hang this right above the us as we stand together and tell why we married each other that day. Other than 12 hanging votives, this is our only ceremony decorations. I think the simplicity of the decorations will really help this stand out.

Anyone else have to work around "no flame" restrictions at their venue?

It's Really Official!

For most, getting their marriage license is "the step" that makes them realize that they are truly getting married, that the big party is really going to happen. For me, and likely for others of my faith, there is a different event that brings about those feelings. After picking up my marriage license the government will recognize my marriage, but I couldn't set foot inside of the temple to actually get married until I completed a personal worthiness interview with my local church leader, and then an area church leader, at which time they grant and sign a temple recommend. Temple recommends are essential to entering the temple, I in no way could have been married inside of the temple without one. I never intended to be married anywhere else so this was an essential step for me :)

This is actually the Dallas, Texas temple. Isn't it beautiful?
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Tonight, I received my temple recommend. For those who are not a member of my faith, it might be hard to understand the significance of this event. although I am sure there are other belief systems which involve moments that evoke similar feelings. I have been singing of, reading about, and anticipating going to the temple since I was old enough to understand what it meant. It is undoubtedly the most important step I will ever take in my lifetime spiritual journey.

Tonight I feel happy and blessed. In 11 short days I will be marrying my sweetheart for forever.

At what moment was it official for you?

Belly Band Ripping

I knew the belly bands on my invites had to have a button. I didn't know what they would be made of, but the button was essential. We thought about sewing the wrap out of fabric. Did I want to do this 275 times? Fabric gone. We thought about creating dangling strings of buttons. Did I want to do this 275 times? Hanging buttons gone.

Mamacado comes home from Paper Zone with some crazy textured paper. The Avocado belly bands are born.

These sheets are huge. I was able to make 33 12"X2" bands. I tried cutting them, but as you can see, the edges have a beautiful frayed effect. I wanted all of the edges to look like this.

As with all of the That Bride DIY projects, I thought of a solution in my head, and just charged right in. I can get a little impatient sometimes, so once I come up with a way I think something can be done, I will usually charge through without stopping until it happens.

I decided I would rip the paper when wet, with the hope it would have the frayed edges I wanted it to have. I used the vinegar dropper that my mom uses when she makes salad dressing to put the water down.

I put the first strip of water down, and it looked pretty good. I was going to be able to rip that just fine.

I started to do more strips and realized that the plan wasn't working quite as well as I thought. The paper was so thin, and the water was coming out of the eyedropper so fast, that the whole sheet was basically soaked after a few stripes.

Like I said, I don't like to stop a project once I start, so I just kept going. I did about half of the huge sheet before I had a new idea. I would fold the paper over on top of itself in 2 inch sections and help disperse the water a little bit more evenly.

I used the dropper to wet the edges to make sure they would rip easily.

I then unfolded each 2" section one at a time and ripped it carefully off. Or sometimes not so carefully. I got a little impatient after a while. Sorry to those guests that got those strips!

I laid all 275 strips out and let they dry overnight. Once all of the booklets were assembled I took the belly bands, wrapped them around the books to know where to glue, and used super glue to apply the button.

How did you create your belly bands?