Never a Bridesmaid, Always a Bride

Shockingly enough, I've never *really* been a bridesmaid. I was a bridesmaid in my uncle's wedding when I was like 19 or 20, but my bridesmaid duties were limited to trying on the dress when it was sent to me, and showing up at the church on time. Oh, and I think I was there for the rehearsal. Now I'm going to be a bridesmaid for my friend Bonnie! I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it.

Plus, I'll have more material for the blog :)

That is all. Enjoy your weekend! I need to upload and prep some pics so I can get back on the blogging horse.

-C
xxx

Well Would Ya Look At That...

Remember Lela, my bridesmaid who was preggers? Some were skeptical, saying (others just thinking), "There's no way she's going to be able to make it to your wedding." I had to mentally prepare myself for her not being there as well. I knew she'd be there if she could, but you can't exactly control nature! And guess what - she made it, and TWO WEEKS to the day after my wedding, she had her baby! She wasn't due for another week or so, but low and behold... little baby Kirk joined the world this past Saturday. Congrats to her and hubby Brad!!

Everyone keeps commenting on how amazed they were by all that she did at both the wedding and bachelorette party. For the latter, she and I were like the last ones still dancing at the end of the night! Both she and Brad helped me out tremendously at the wedding. If she was experiencing any discomfort at all, she definitely didn't show it.

I know so many people who would have said they couldn't come because they wouldn't want to be on their feet that whole time, would be too tired... basically their excuse would be "I'm pregnant". But Lela never even thought twice. She was appalled that people thought she wouldn't be at my wedding. And she was - while 9+months pregnant!! She amazes me. I keep describing her as a nonpregnant woman in a pregnant woman's body (well, not any more!), because that's how she acts. She acts like her normal self, right down to dancing all night, just with a little human being in her tummy.

Brad, Lela, and baby Kirk the day of the wedding.

So welcome to the world, baby Kirk. Your momma's a trooper!

-C
xxx

PS Her MIL altered her bridesmaid dress and it looked awesome!

Bridal Shower Deets

I know I did a quick recap, but I think the details deserve some spotlight. Sorry it's taken a while, but I was waiting for pics to be posted by attendees! It was held at Roundtree Park in Falls Church, VA. It was a beautiful day! Ok, it was a little hot, but we were in the shade, and at least it didn't rain! There was tons of food - sandwiches, fruit salad, veggies, and, most importantly, mimosas! Everything was green :) green table runners, green solo cups, and all the little details MOH Cassie made were green, too! How did she know?! Lol. Check out all the details!

Such a cute area! Even though we didn't sit at those little tables out there, they were still cute (it was too hot out there).

Mmmm Mimosas.

She made this He Said/She Said shower game, using the same green print I used for my invites. How cute are the little sillouhettes? She even wrapped little pencils and attached them to each sheet!

And she made drink stirrers!

I don't know if you can tell, but she sewed fabric on the side of a pop up hamper and it says "Wishing Well"! That's where people put green glass they brought for me. In case you're not aware, I collect green glass, and it was such a great idea for her to have everyone bring me a piece! I don't think anyone really understands how much that excites me, lol.

She even sewed together a banner - which is amazing and I hope FH doesn't mind me hanging it in the house somewhere... only half kidding. :)

Me and my super cool ribbon hat. Oh, and balloons tied to my sash. I walked around with those on for quite a while, wondering why people outside of the shower were staring at me...

No, I'm not angry here. I have like 80 gumballs in my mouth because we were in the midst of playing the infamous gumball game (where they ask you questions about your FH and if you get it wrong you have to chew a gumball, and keep them all in your mouth til the end). I did pretty well, but Bridesmaid Amanda made sure to get the big gumballs. I was glaring at her for this reason. Lol. And probably stumped on a question... But I did really well, I swear! They were just really big gumballs...

And another little DIY project from the weekend for lil ole me? MOH Ryann had her friend Chelcia made me a fun bachelorette fascinator! It had a silver base and hot pink feathers coming out of it and was awesome. It stayed on all night! I actually kind of forgot it was there... but that would be how people knew I was the bachelorette!

-C
xxx

Bridesmaid/Now Bride Amanda's Wedding

Last weekend was Bridesmaid Amanda's wedding. It was very beautiful, and also very DIY'd (with help by yours truly) so I thought I'd share some pics.

Bonnie designed the Philly skyline "logo" for the wedding that was used on the programs, placecards, etc., and looked awesome. Here's a photo of the "suite" if you will (the three of us constructed all projects pictured, times 125 for the placecards, programs, and water bottles!):


Bonnie and I did the decorating of the rooftop where the ceremony would be held. It was ABSURDLY windy and caused us a lot of problems, and completely changed the plan we had. Aisle runner? Nope. Canopied huppa? Nope. (Almost didn't even have a huppa at all!) Fabric backdrop? Check. Swag on the aisle side of the chairs? Check. I guess this is a lesson to be learned. In the future, we need to consider the physics of everything or have a contingency plan. Double-sided tape can't fix everything! We did do very well with coming up with alternate solutions, though, although it did mean we only had 10 minutes to get ready for the actual wedding. And hey, guess what - we're not the only ones who had problems! The florist set up the flowers and they crashed and burned majorly because they were on the thinnest poles you could ever imagine. I mean even I knew that wasn't going to work! Lol, but that made us feel a little better considering they've been doing this for a lot longer than we have! (In the end, no one noticed, the arrangements were just put on the floor by their feet.) Oh, and did I mention the huppa fell down as everyone was seated (but luckily before people started walking down the aisle)? A couple of guests helped me put rocks back in the buckets that were holding up the poles. Oy. But, alas, it was still beautiful, and Amanda even said later on that the aisle runner was perfect... lol. Yes, I then told her there wasn't one. Just goes to show you're so focused on the big day you don't notice everything.




-C
xxx

Hairy Situation

Grow hair grow! I suppose maybe I shouldn't have chopped my hair off up to my chin last September knowing I'd want it to be long for my wedding a year later huh? "My hair grows so fast - it'll be long enough!" It's true - it will me long ENOUGH, but I wish I hadn't caved to my cutting urge so it'd be longER. At the moment it's already a little past my shoulders, but I love when my hair's super long and it would've been great to have that length at my wedding. Oh well, not like I can stretch it or anything! And yes I know, I could wear extensions if I really wanted to but I don't think it's necessary since it will technically be long enough. Anyway, I found my perfect hairstyle in my Summer Martha Stewart Weddings mag!

I've had in my head that I wanted something Carrie Underwood would have. Her hair always looks awesome. Plus, I always wanted something half up. And I'm sure my stylist would have done a great job off of just me telling her what I wanted, but I'm so glad I found these pics of a Carrie Underwood-esque style to take with me!

Next up - bridal party hair. I decided I wanted my bridal party to have the same hairstyle, hair length permitting. They're all wearing the same dress, but different shoes and probably different accessories, so I thought it would pull it together more if the hair was all the same. I don't care if they come to the stylist with me, have a friend do it, or do it themselves. It's just a low side bun, nothing too fancy. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you? I got a couple comments that that seems "bridezilla"-y of me. I don't think it is at all. I didn't demand it, I just said that's what I'd like. I don't see how that would really make me a bridezilla. Brides have demanded much more of their bridal party. I like to think I'm being pretty easy going by A- picking a hairstyle that's easy to do yourself or have a friend do if you want B- not forcing people to go to a stylist and spend money if they don't want to and C- if anyone's hair is too short, I've already said we'll figure something out, not a big deal. Anyway, here are a couple pics of what I'm thinking:

haircuthairstyles.com - Scarlett Johansson

shoppinglifestyle.com - Becki Newton

Google Images - Michelle Williams

Bridesmaid Lela already has a jump on this... she did it as her wedding hairstyle! (Yes that awful looking person I tried to cut out on the left is me. TERRIBLE picture of me!)

Anyway, also in Martha's summer issue was a tutorial on how to do a low side chignon. In my eyes, same thing. So bridal party - check it out!

Martha Stewart Weddings
Ok how creepy is this? She looks like she's going to stab somebody.

Also got an email from Daily Candy the other day with a how-to video on the look! Perfect timing Daily Candy! Check it out here http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/video/84231/How-to-Create-the-Perfect-Messy-Side-Bun?refcd=email:457432:10.

What do you think of the hairstyles?

-C
xxx

Everybody's Got One...

Ok, maybe not everybody, but I've been noticing it happening more often than not these days. Yes, I'm talking about... the pregnant bridesmaid! (dun dun dunnnn) :) Yup, the one who has to wear a special dress (because she already bought the one you picked out and THEN proceeded to get preggers). Awesome for you, Bridesmaid Lela, and congrats and all that, but better you than me :)

Did you ever know someone who didn't know if they wanted to actually birth children? I mean, besides me of course. Yeah, that was Lela. When I had my bridesmaids get their dresses back in... what, September? October? I forget who it was, but someone actually said to me, "Well, a lot could happen between now and your wedding, what if one of them gets pregnant?" I remember laughing in their face! Well, I think it might've actually been on email or gchat, so I laughed in their face... via technology. "My bridal party? Seriously? HAHAHA!" And I'm pretty sure I even said, "and DEEEEFFFINITELY not Lela!" So I said to whoever I was having this conversation with (I truly don't remember, because obviously at the time it was a non issue in my mind!) that if someone got pregnant, they'd have to wear a "special dress".

Well, looks like Lela changed her mind and decided she wanted to have a baby! I had to keep it a secret for a little bit, but she's out of the closet now, so to speak. And she's even got a blog - inspired by moi of course :) Sooooo somebody needs a special dress! When I originally said that, I was thinking, "If someone gets pregnant I'm gonna make them wear the ugliest, brightest colored dress in the universe!"

This is even too ugly to be funny.

(If you've never been to http://www.uglydress.com/, you need to check it out.)

But obviously that's because I thought it seemed so far-fetched. So we've been trying to figure out some non ugly clothing options for her since I'm not really going to make her wear something hideous just because she decided to procreate! That would just be mean. The dress is pretty form fitting so it's not exactly going to FIT when she's 8+ months pregnant at my wedding. It's pretty stretchy, but not THAT stretchy! Since my girls aren't wearing dresses from a bridal shop, we can't just go to them for a matching one in a different style. Bridesmaid Lela and I have been trying to figure out what to do. At first she thought about cutting the top off the dress and sewing it onto another skirt, but it's a dress I think she'd wear again so I didn't want her to mutilate it (unless she wanted to). The newest development, however, is that her MIL is going to attempt to alter the dress - opening it at the seams and inserting fabric. So she may not look like she's in a special dress after all! I told her she should insert bright green fabric (the dresses are all black). That would look pretty funky! (I'm only half joking. I kind of think it could look cool...)

For other brides in this situation, take note: your girl may not be there for your big day. Bridesmaid Lela has assured me that she'll be there for mine, but know that there are some people who wouldn't even think of even trying. Maybe I'm being naive, but when Lela says she'll be there, I know she'll do everything in her power to be there. Obviously, if a doctor gave her a no-fly order or something, that's not something either one of us can help. You can't just hit pause on the pregnancy. It's the circle of life and all that junk.

So don't be naive and think that none of your bridesmaids will be pregnant at your wedding, because it happens more often than you think! Shoot, if you google "maternity bridesmaid" you get 533,000 results. There's clearly a market for maternity bridesmaid dresses!

While writing this I found a pretty helpful post on things to think about when you're a pregnant bridesmaid. Of course, they try to sell you on their dresses, but I think a couple of the tips are worth mentioning:

* Your body is going to continuously change for the next few months. Eliminate the guesswork (and the stress) by selecting a gown with an empire waist.

* Make sure you will be comfortable - steer clear of itchy lace sections and definitely don't try to squeeze yourself into a gown that is too small.

* Invest in a comfortable pair of shoes. You will be on your feet for a long time so be prepared.

* Make sure you enjoy yourself and don't hide from the camera!

You may be thinking "duh" to all of these. Yes, they may be common sense stuff that all brides/bridesmaids need to think about (like comfy shoes), but I think they're even more important for the preggers ones to think about.

Do you think there are any other special considerations to be made for preggers bridesmaids, besides attire? Maybe a doctor on call? A birthing room? Bachelorette party lamaze classes??

Happy baby-ing Bridesmaid Lela, and Happy Birthday this weekend!!!

-C

xxx

Last Week's Secret Project Was...

...a faux fabulous bouquet for Bridesmaid/Bride-to-Be Amanda! MOH Cassie and I joined forces to make it all happen. She made the flowers and I did the arranging and decorating of it. Amanda's going to use it as her bouquet for her wedding rehearsal (I hope!).

Here's how it was done:

MOH Cassie made the flowers (I'm trying to get her to do a guest post tutorial!) and glued stems onto the blooms. The stems are bound together using floral wire to form it into a bouquet.

I decided to add little tulle circles inbetween each bloom.

I think it adds a little something, don't you?

I wanted the "handle" to be thick and cushy, so I started with some scrap fabric to bulk it up a bit. I wrapped and hot glued, wrapped and hot glued, wrapped and hot glued...

...and then I wrapped and hot glued lots of navy fabric around it as well. I added the white lace at the top and bottom (hot glue again) to class it up a bit.

I only had a little bit of some shiny navy satin, so I cut it into strips and glued it on in a spiral, then added navy buttons on there. Want to guess the first thing that popped off when I gave it to her? Yeah, one of the buttons! Lol, but I was well aware that this could happen. Her nickname ain't "Hot Mess" for nothing!

People kept asking her to pose with the bouquet all day, so I guess it looks pretty good!
I'll fix the button before the rehearsal... :)

-C
xxx

Bridesmaid/Bride-To-Be Amanda's Bachelorette Bash!

Bridesmaid Amanda's bachelorette/bridal festivities were in full effect this weekend. We came up with the theme of "Hollywood Glamour" for the bachelorette party. Here's the pic I made for the evite:

We had everyone else wear black dresses because, well, just about everybody owns a black dress, right? And because Bride-to-Be Amanda wanted Bonnie (Un de Six) to make her a red dress. Pretty sweet being able to be like "I want this exact dress in this color to fit me exactly for my bachelorette party" and for your friend to be able to make it, right?? Here's the dress:


So Bonnie & I planned the bachelorette party last week. In a day. And it turned out awesome. But as soon as the plans were done I was like "Oh sh1t, I need something to decorate with and am NOT going to get a chance to go to Target or Michael's or any other large retail place that would have actual bachelorette party stuff!"* That's when the "Hollywood Glamour" theme morphed into pink and black (at least for the decorations). It just wouldn't have looked right with red and black unless we had like hollywood/movie stuff around to complete it, you know? And we were only decorating the first stop on our itinerary, so no use buying things like that that we were going to look at for like an hour and a half and then toss. So the typical bachelorette party color scheme of pink and black fit the bill. So, naturally, off to Dollar Tree I went. I went around looking through party stupplies, toys, and everything inbetween for just anything pink! I grabbed candy necklaces and jewelry for everyone, hot pink flamingo drink stirrers, hot pink and white polka dot ribbon, pink cupcake cutouts, and a couple other things I didn't end up using. Hot pink solo cups = so cool looking. But where would we use them? Guess we could have used them at dinner but oh well!

Then I hit up Hallmark which, surprisingly, didn't have anything for bachelorette parties at all! I thought that was odd. But I picked up some confetti there (that said "The party's here!"). The next day I hit up 5 Below (a cheapo chain in Philly, not sure where else they have them), and got some pink curling ribbon, sunglasses to complete the Hollywood theme, and some photo clips to hold up signs of the logo Bonnie made for the night:

(It's an upside down Philly skyline. Awesome, right??)

Didn't end up using the photo clips due to physics and gravity, but we put them up elsewhere (like on her chair, with lots of ribbon and balloons). Bonnie also hit up an "adult store" for some male genitalia straws and balloons and various other objects. I had no idea they made male genitalia whistles! Drinks were had, bulls were ridden (seriously), all in all it was a great night.

The secret project was for the shower. It'll be revealed next on the blog, so be on the lookout!

-C
xxx

*If you don't already know, I don't usually move my car during the week for two reasons. Ok let's make it three. 1 - The train into downtown Philadelphia is like 3 blocks from my house, so I walk there and take the train directly to the building I work in. Yes, it's pretty awesome. 2 - The neighborhood I live is notorious for its TERRIBLE parking. As in, it's really hard to find anytime after 5pm and nonexistent if it's after 10. I one time had to park my car so far away I took the train back to my house. Yeah. 3 - It's eco-friendly and wallet friendly. Do you know how often I buy a tank of gas? Ummm I'd say typically once every two months. Alright and we'll make a 4 - I sometimes forget where I've parked my car because I either haven't seen it in so long or just due to the fact that I have to park it in such different areas every time I move it. :)

Look Out World!

There are a few things I'm well known for not doing: hugging, calling people on the phone (outside of work), and wrapping presents (I tend to stick to gift bags). And, I mean, people know this about me. My friends will warn other people not to hug me lest they receive an awkward half hug back and think I hate them. Some *cough* Amanda's FH Mark *cough* like to hug me simply because they KNOW I hate it. Some will say to each other, "You want to know how bad it is? Cyndi CALLED me. That's how bad this situation is." And my friends and family have just come to expect their presents in gift bags.

This is even less awkward than most of my hugs.

In the past week, I've done them all. People in Kansas hugged me. A lot. I've called people on the phone because texting just wouldn't suffice for all I had to b1tch about. I wrapped bridal shower presents. And I have a feeling that's going to continue through the weekend. At least the phone calls and probably even hugging. Oy. Because... this weekend is Bridesmaid/Bride-to-Be Amanda's Bachelorette Party/Bridal Shower Weekend!
And it's going to be awesome. It all starts tonight, so look out world! Or at least Philly.

-C
xxx

KCMO, yo

I'm going to see MOH Ryann this weekend! Woo hoo Kansas City here I come! We're going to do so much DIY it's ridiculous!! I'm bringing all my supplies in my carry-on and she's SO excited to help me with all my projects!! She's been telling me for weeks how she can't wait til I get there and we can DIY our faces off!






Ok so yeah we're just going to drink a lot. It's kind of what we do. Plus I'm not even sure she knows what DIY stands for.

Obviously no craftiness will be getting done this weekend... or next because it's Bridesmaid Amanda's bachelorette party!!

See ya'll on the flip side.

-C
xxx

My Vows...

For this weekend. To myself. :)

I, Cyndi, vow to...

~get seeds started inside so I can have pretty flowers to see this spring/summer
~tend to my garden so it's ready when the seedlings are
~work out!
~add a couple things to my registry that I can't do online
~return things to Michael's... and buy things at Michael's (I have coupons, and a gift card I keep forgetting to use!)
~get started on VIP corsages (ok, at least THINK about what I want them to look like)
~spray paint my mini chalkboards (awesome yard sale find)
~not spend too much time at $ tree this weekend ($ tree rocks my world)
~go to Ulta (yup, found one) after the recommendation from MOH Ryann on the beauty post the other day, assuming she lets me know what I'm looking for
~check DSW for green wedding shoes (and then when I don't find anything, buy the Louboutins I've recently fallen in love with)
~get black spray paint for painting some of the thrifty finds I've gotten and foresee getting in the future
~oh right, should probably do my taxes considering we only have until Thursday
~send out the mass wedding email!
~start thinking of things to look for at BARKS next weekend!

Oh I do love BARKS. So so so much! Well, actually, I'm sure the organization is fantastic, but what I really love is the BARKS Yard Sale they have twice a year! BARKS = Byram Animal Rescue Kindness Squad. Byram is a township near my mom's house (as in, so near they don't have their own zip code, they use ours), and twice a year they fill up Wild West City (the big "attraction" my hometown has - try not to be jealous) with donations that they receive. They then have volunteers who make up prices for things as they go, and you end up walking out of there with so.much.stuff for such.little.money. Since everything is donated, any money they make off of it helps the animals they rescue, so not only is everything super cheap, but you're helping the animals. I can't explain on how many levels I love the BARKS sales. And I can't WAIT to show you all the fun wedding stuff I got from there! Oh yes, I am predicting lots. They really have everything there: frames, furniture, glassware, linens, baskets, and lots of random stuff. The only downfall is... EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. it rains!! I'm not kidding. I've been there in torrential rains, I've been there the day after it rained and everything is muddy (it's all outside, and the sale sometimes runs Fri-Sun, sometimes just Sat-Sun), but I don't think I've ever been there when things haven't been wet. It's such a shame to see things get ruined, but they can't do anything about it because there's so much stuff they couldn't possibly cover it all. So usually I go into this just looking at everything without an agenda, but this year I've got a game plane. I've got a list. And I'm pretty confident I'll check off each thing on that list (and then some). Stay tuned!

Here's hoping I get a lot accomplished this weekend. Oh, and...

Happy Birthday Bridesmaid Amanda!!
And Happy Birthday to Aunt Wendy Tomorrow!

-C
xxx

Won't You Be... My Bridesmaid?

Just thought I'd share my bridal party invites with ya'll today. I sent them in, like, October or something, but didn't have a blog back then! I found a spool (or whatever you want to call it) of yellow trim (I also have pink, but that wouldn't go at all...) at my Meamaw's house when we were going through her things after she died. I kept a lot of things for no reason at all, but some I knew I'd find a use for! This would be one of them. I cut out pieces of the trim from the spool in a dress sort of shape and soaked each "dress" in a bowl of bleach and water so the dresses would be less yellow, not quite white, but a little off-white. (I'm not a very big fan of just white, usually I go for the off-white, maybe it's the retro lover in me??) I then hand washed each dress with detergent to get the bleach smell off (it took a few washes actually). I designed the cards myself with funky fonts and printed on off-white cardstock (the cards are double-sided, the pic is of two cards, one showing front and one showing back). I folded over the sides and top of the dress to make it more dress-y, then used glue dots to secure it onto the cards. Ouila! I love the 3Dness of it.

I also went to home depot, swiped a bunch of free paint strips, cut them up, and made each girl a color swatch to use for matching the wedding colors, then included that with the card.

$0 spent! Woot.

-C
xxx

Behind the... Yellow Veil?

Maybe I should change my blog name to Behind the Yellow Veil? I've started noticing an odd obsession I have lately with just about anything yellow. My love for green will never die... but I think I might have to say yellow is now my second favorite color. Last spring I bought a mustard yellow jacket... I then had to have an umbrella to match (white with yellow flowers)... then when I was in the market for new rain boots I became obsessed with a pair that are yellow, white, black and grey (by Kamik).How freaking awesome are they?? I mean, it was a hunt spanning from North Jersey all the way down to Southern Maryland to find these boots in my size. The mission was successful and I love them. Then Valentine's weekend I bought a new work bag... yup, mustard yellow. I really hate the term mustard yellow by the way. Mustard's gross. But, I suppose it describes it better. Otherwise you could be picturing me with this stupid neon yellow bag or something. Oh, right, and my bathroom has somehow become a haven for my yellow obsession, too. I've tried to limit it to sunflowers so I don't end up just throwing everything yellow into the miniscule bathroom that we have. Cuz that could, quite literally, get real ugly, reaaaal fast. Yeah... and I'm wearing a yellow and purple shirt today. I think that was when I truly realized I had become obsessed. If someone stopped me on the street today and asked what my blog name was (because, you know, that happens all the time), they'd be like "But, strange person I stopped on the street to ask what their blog name was, yellow appears to be your favorite color!!" They would be wrong. I would then have to tell them that at the moment, I think yellow is my favorite color to WEAR, but my heart will forever belong to green.

Ok to now prove my allegiance to green and assure it that I'm not leaving it for yellow, I've gone and found some super cute green potential bridesmaid-type-dresses (not for mine, they already have theirs). In order from most to least expensive:

Isabelle Oliver - The Asymmetrical Dress

ModCloth - Grecian Green DressThe Limited - Sleek Strapless Dress

LuLu's - Beyond Gloss Dress

LuLu's - Hello Sunshine Dress

oops... how'd that get in there... :)
(I may or may not have already purchased this one...)
If anyone's in the market for a green bridesmaid dress, or non bridesmaid, or actually any color really, check this site out:
http://www.camdendrive.com/green-dresses.html
Sites that let you sort by color rock my world. For obvious reasons.

-C
xxx