-1 Year Anniversary

Here we are! 1 year exactly until the best day of my life.  I am so excited.  The days feel like that have been flying by, which is both exactly what I want, and so scary.  I know everything will come together and so many of the big puzzle pieces are already in place, but its all of the millions of little details that will make the day perfect, and I don't think too many of those have been set into motion, yet.  That's what the next 365 days are for, right?

Back in Business

It's been ages since I've sat down to blog.  With the flurry of NWR [Not Wedding Related] things going on, I have been a bit off the Wedding Planning Path.  I'm happy to say I've made some decent progress on my shoes (THANKS MOM!!!) and will post progress pictures soon.

I also found something for my girls today.  I'm really excited about it.  It's a neat oldish necklace I think that maybe each girl could wear differently.  For example: necklace, bracelet, headband, in the hair (interwoven through curls), maybe as a belt even???  Could be a fun way to unify the girls but still let them have fun.  So excited!

I've also been putting some thought into the first dance.  Here are links to the song semi-finalists.  I say semi (1) because there's a few of them and (2) I'm not entirely unsure there won't be new ones introduced! haha. They are currently in order of preference, so if you have an opinion or suggestion, lemme know!

Andre Bocelli & Katharine McPhee "Can't Help Falling In Love"
Art Garfunkel "I Only Have Eyes For You"
Tyrone Wells "Use Somebody"
Righteous Brothers "Unchained Melody"
"Time of My Life" -Dirty Dancing

I've also played with the idea of only doing a "serious" first dance for a short time, and then do a montage with future hubby of all of our invented dance moves.  We'll see.

Starbucks and Wendy Kathleen McElfish

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of finally meeting with our photographer Wendy Kathleen McElfish.

After spending a handful of years working with various photographers, I knew what I liked, and what kind of feel I wanted my pictures to have.  Wendy's style is very soft and romantic, her wedding pictures make me think of fairy tales, and I can't imagine a better thought for a wedding to convey.

I made the drive to Huntington Beach, and kept my eye out for the Starbucks.  Even with my GPS, I still managed to drive past it the first time, and when I made my way back I ended up outside of an Albertson's.  Now, the Albertson's did have a Starbucks in it, and yes I did go in a look for Wendy (hello, my name is Megan).  After wandering back out of the grocery store, and eying the giant barbecue pit that was being set up by the Huntington Beach fire department, I finally spotted the Starbucks and headed over.

I met up with Wendy in line and we grabbed a seat, chattering from the second we said hello until an hour and a half later when we left.  I think we talked about Will and I and the wedding for awhile, and I got to see more beautiful pictures, but mainly we talked about photography and all the ideas we had for photoshoots.  It was truly a meeting of minds.  I think there's a possibility Ms. Wendy and I will be collaborating in the future, so excited!

Minus the creepy guy who came up to us and was talking about how we should have someone filming our reflections in the window, because it looked so beautiful, it was a really enjoyable morning.

I know it's still a year away, but I am so excited to see how Wendy captures my fairy tale!


Please visit Wendy's site and leave her some love, she's so so talented!
Wendy's Website and Blog

Fabric, Rhinestones and Donuts(?)... OH MY!

Our field trip to the Fashion District started bright and early on Saturday morning. Laurie picked me up promptly at 8 and we were off to join the others.  Once everyone was locked and loaded we made the trek down to LA, and began the ridiculous process of looking for a parking spot.  I think we may have spent more time searching for, and parking in, a lot, then we did actually driving to the city.  We ended up on a roof, where the lady attendant smiled and told us we wouldn't get blocked in.  As I had to race back to the car roughly 10minutes later (to grab my shoes!), she was already well on her way to creating a Tetris puzzle of epic proportions. But that is neither here nor there...

After solving our parking dilemma, we (quite eagerly might I add) raced across the street and into the first fabric store.  Grandma didn't make it that long, she had already started touching and oohing the second we were on the street.  My mom joked that she was going to get whiplash she was so excited by all the stores. We walked the few blocks down to where the bead stores where, only to find out Berger's was not opening for another 15minutes. 

Wondering where we should go in the interim, we wandered through an amazing orchid shop, it had the most beautiful mini orchids!!! They were Barbie size, truly breathtaking.  Then right as we were about to enter another shop Grandma spotted a donut store across the street.  As soon as the word donut was out, I'm pretty sure I heard everyone's stomachs growl.  As it happened there was a little donut stand directly in front of us, but after eying the little stand Grandma was not impressed, and Laurie and my Mom both put their wallets away.  As we walked to the other donut store, we came to find there was not a single donut in residence!  Rather than going back to the little stand, as a matter of principle I suppose, no one got any donuts.  

It was at this point the attention turned towards the purpose of the excursion, and we started wandering into various little Bead stores.  I was Not Impressed with the first few we entered, and Berger's was still not open, so we continued to wander.  Finally we found a store that was both clean (huge points for this) and well organized.  They had so many sparkly things, I think i was momentarily blinded.  They had acrylic, glass, wood, crystal, pearl beads.  Row after row.  I started off looking at the glass and acrylic, because the price point was just so nice. However, when you dream of your Cinderella slippers, it's inevitable you end up looking at the Swarovski crystals.  Nothing can sparkle like that, except maybe diamonds, which I am pretty sure was NOT an option. =)

I think this was the point I lost the support of my fellow adventurers.  As a point of reference, please direct your attention to the color chart below.  How the heck was I suppose to make a fast decision with so many gorgeous options!!!

After the lady stared at us awkwardly for about 15 minutes, I made up my mind and we made our purchase.  I had known, from previous research, what Berger's prices were, and this place was the same, but had we gone to Berger's I am sure the service (which had left much to be desired) would have been substantially better.

As it turns out, I got 4 different colors in 2 different sizes each.  Not that you can clearly read the names, but I chose: Crystal AB, Silk AB, Amethyst and Purple Silk.  I really fell in the love with the color Heliotrope, but it was just a bit too blue in certain lights.  Now that that decision has been made, I'm on to the next challenge, getting the stones on the shoes. As another point of reference, this is about how small the stones are (yes that is a dime):

This is one project thats truly a labor of love.

Here's a bigger picture of the amethyst stones:

I know, I know... amazing!

We then spent the next hour and a half puttering around and making various purchases.  Grandma has some great ideas in store for some presents! =) Finally, our trip had come to an end, but not before we got to witness the madness of the rooftop parking lot, and we missed the on ramp to the 110 about five times. Figures.

Oh, ps:  here's a picture of what my next stone project is going to be:

Ready Mom??? =)

Decisions Decisions!!!

So yesterday Mom and I were talking about when we were going the head down to Bergers in Downtown LA and start looking at rhinestones for my shoes. I think this is a pet project that is close to both our hearts and stems back to the dance costume days. For the record, Grandma is equally excited about tooling around the city and finding hidden treasures.

With the trip in mind I realized another decision loomed before I could even begin looking at stones: I HAD TO PICK OUT WHAT SHOES I WAS GOING TO WEAR!!! I knew two things going into this... I wanted them comfy, and I wanted them tall. I come by my shoe addiction honestly =) With a series of web tabs open, and the panic button a click away (for those of you who are unaware of the panic button, its an add-on you can download that will close all your tabs, in case you are like me and goof off at work now and again and don't want your boss to catch you! It saves your tabs and re-opens them when you click it again).

After a few hours of searching, I settled on Steve Madden's "Partyy" shoes. When I arrived at Nordstroms after work, I was ecstatic to find that not only did the shoes come in a beautiful champagne, they also came in navy and purple. I immediately tracked down a salesperson and requested a 9.5 in every color! The sweet soul literally brought me one in every color, including the fuchia. I apologized for not being more clear, and set the hot pink shoes aside (super cute by the way!).

Now a new round of decisions began. Do I want the purple ones to match my girls??? Do I use the navy and have my Something Blue??? Do I stick with the champagne because they will compliment any variety of stones, even if the color doesn't technically match my White White dress????

I walked around the shoe department in each pair, sometimes mixing colors, asking other shoppers for their opinions. I frantically snapped some pictures with my phone and started texting like I crazy woman. I called bridesmaid after bridemaid, finally realizing that I had no reception and no one was receiving my calls or my pictures. When the salesman made his 4th round and I was still wearing the purple and white shoe he echoed the decision I had reached: Buy them all, do a fashion shoe at home with my dress, and then return the two I didn't want.

I bought my shoes, ran outside into the freak rainstorm, and drove to grandma's (current home of The Dress) and called my aunt, mom, and grandma explaining the situation. =) We all met up at grandma's but no one could make a decision. Grandpa liked the white shoes because a bride is suppose to where white!!! (even if the white is not the same as the dress). Aunt Stacy likes the white, because of the stones, but thinks the purple are really fun. Mom likes the white. Justine likes the purple... and the blue. Will (yes fiance got a vote too) liked the purple, then saw the white and liked the white. And I like the purple and the white. I think we've unanimously ruled out the blue. But now what?!?!?!

I guess I will have to wait and see the rhinestone options to make the final decisions. Either that or I am going to splurge and keep the purple and the white =) Who knows... maybe I can wear the other pair at a shower or something??? ;)

For now, here's a picture of the shoes, well... at least the Before.

http://www.stevemadden.com/Partyy