To Match or Not to Match?

People come in all shapes and sizes and my friends are no exception.  When I started wedding planning and it came time to figure out what the bridesmaids and groomsmen would be wearing, I quickly decided that I didn't want to pick the dress for my girls.  Honestly, it just doesn't seem right to me.  I want these ladies who are so important to me to be comfortable and be able to enjoy themselves on my wedding day.  If they're wearing something they aren't comfortable in or think they don't look good in, that makes this wish of mine difficult to fulfill.

Although I do love the way matching bridesmaids looks:

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It's just so much more important to me for the girls to be comfortable than to match perfectly.  Besides, I actually like the coordinating dresses better.  I really like the weddings where the girls are in coordinating colors but not matching like this one:

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Even though I really like the way that looks, I'm not going quite that route.  I want the girls to pick their dresses, but in the same color and designer.  As I've mentioned previously, I decided that the girls would be in eggplant or dark purple.  As it turns out, there are A LOT of purples out there!  Every designer has multiple shades of purple and they're all actually different.  It's really hard to find the perfect one.  So, I bet you're all wondering what shade and designer I've chosen?  Well, you'll just have to stay tuned!   

My Shoes!

On to something REALLY serious... I'm talking shoes!  Oh, how I love me some DSW.  I love perusing the clearance rack at DSW to find the perfect shoes.  I work in a lab, so I have to wear closed toe shoes, but that doesn't mean they have to be boring!  I've found many a cute pair of shoes on the clearance rack at DSW.  And let me just say, I love shoes!  Well, let's be honest.  I love shopping in general, to the detriment of my checking account. 

But I digress.  My favorite searching I've done so far for the wedding was looking for my wedding shoes.  After looking for awhile I really loved these Manolo Blahniks

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They come in all kinds of colors, but the price tag was more than I wanted to spend on shoes for the wedding, so I was forced to look at other pairs.  I quickly realized that I was drawn to colored shoes over the white/silver/neutral colors so I started looking in that direction.  I found these great copies of the Manolo Blahniks, made by rsvp. 

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I really like these, and I love the purple.  As I talked about before, eggplant is one of my main colors in the wedding, so it makes sense to go with purple shoes.  So I started out on a hunt for the perfect purple shoes.  And after just a little bit of searching, I found them!! 

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 Aren't they gorgeous??  I am so in love with my shoes.  They are much darker and more like eggplant in person.  Here's some more "shoe porn" for you! 

They are beautiful, but so so high!  I'm working on that though.  Been wearing them around my apartment for awhile whenever I think of it so I can get used to the height. 

What do you think?? 

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Videographer!

That's right.  We found the one.  This is something that is pretty important to us because we have so many people coming from far away and we wanted to make sure that our family members would be able to experience the day if they couldn't be there.  So we started the search for a videographer that wouldn't break the bank.  There are a lot of really talented people out there and you really could spend a small fortune on just the video for the wedding, if you so choose.  We weren't as much interested in going that route so we started out trying to find a decent videographer for a decent price.  Sounds easy?  Not so much.

The first place I found was called the Pros.  The cool thing here is that they have multiple videographers to choose from based on what kind of video you are looking for.  But the reviews are a little sketchy.  The company is nationwide so they work with a ton of different vendors.  So, it's difficult to find reviews on specific videographers rather than the company as a whole.  I read some bad reviews so I decided to move on. 

Another one we liked was Old Glory Production.  They have some good video samples on their website and the package we'd want to go with was about $1200 for 8 hours.  Not too bad.  Definitely a contender.  We also really liked Cwest Productions but he's $1200 for 7 hours.  The video was good, but I was a little worried about the timing. 

The last guy we really liked and actually met with was Wes Haley. He was really laid back and his video is really good.  Here's some samples for your viewing pleasure:

Brian and Allison's Same Day Edit

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And the kicker?  We get 10 hours with him for just $995.  That's awesome!  So we have officially booked him and are excited to work with him!  What do you think of his video? 

Fingerprints are for Jailbirds and Wedding Guests

I'm not really sure what most couples do with their guest book after the wedding.  Personally, I think I would put it in a box in storage and never look at it again.  It honestly seems like a waste to me and I'd rather save the space and a tree.  I guess some people might look through theirs at some point, but that's just not me.  I think this is a pretty common concern because as I started looking I realized that there are a lot of alternatives out there for the traditional guest book. 

I've seen guest books that vary slightly from this theme by asking the signers questions to answer about married life or the bride and groom, incorporating polaroid pictures of the guests on the page where they sign, or making a hard cover book out of the engagement photos with spaces for guests to sign.  These add a bit to the traditional guest book. but they're still not really our style.

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Probably the most popular guest book alternative is the photo mat.  Basically, a photo from your engagement session is placed in a white photo mat and the guests sign the photo mat as they come in.  So later, you can put it on the wall to remember all the people who were with you on your special day.  The cool thing about this idea is that it's yet another way to use your engagement photos. 

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There are some variations on this theme, but overall they all have the same idea.

One of my favorite ideas was the puzzle book guest book.  You can get them cut into any shape you want or even have a photo of the two of you printed on the puzzle.  K and I have done many a puzzle together and really enjoy our game/puzzle nights!  So it'd be perfect for us.  I like this option because it allows our guests to leave their thoughts and wishes for us to read, rather than just their name. 

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After looking around for awhile I came upon this lovely.

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Each of the leaves of the tree is a fingerprint of a wedding guest.  They can write their names on their fingerprints if that's what you want, but they could also "leaf" just their fingerprint. I know, I'm so punny.  I love this idea because we can hang it up in our house after the wedding so it won't rot in a drawer or box.  We both also really love the outdoors so the tree is just up our alley. 

They sell these on Etsy, but they're pretty expensive.  So we've decided to make our own!  I'm excited to make this project and let you all know how it turns out.

The one thing that I wasn't so happy about with this guest book alternative is that it's just the names and our guests don't leave us with any of their wishes or hopes for our future.  So we've decided to incorporate this aspect of the guest book in a different way.  I know, you're dying to hear all about my idea, but I'll have to save this for another post!  So... stay tuned! 

Bling Me Up Scotty

To the complete bafflement of my fiance, I love love love jewelry.  Of course, I have some favorites, but I wear a different necklace almost every day.  Among my favorites are my flip flop necklace, my turtle necklace, and my new star necklace that I got for Christmas from my fiance. 

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Unfortunately for me, I have an allergy to any metal that's not real.  I don't know if it's nickel or what, but my ears get infected or I get a rash on my neck.  Needless to say, it's not pretty.

Shortly after buying my dress, I went to a veil trunk show.  They put "bridal" jewelry on me so I could get the full effect.  It was this point that I realized I had NO clue what jewelry I was going to wear on my wedding day.  Begin major googling now. 

I started out my search for the perfect necklace because it's my favorite piece of jewelry.  I've never really been a strand of pearls kind of girl so I knew that wasn't what I wanted.  But there's something about pearls that just seems so perfect for the bride.  So I set out on a mission for the perfect jewelry.  You want to see what I found??  Here are some that were in the running. 

These first two are both really simple and that's what I liked about both of them.  They're not overpowering and won't detract from anything else in my bridal attire.  I liked the 2nd one better just because I like the flexible chain better than the wire. 

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But I thought that maybe these were too simple.  So I started looking for something with a little bit more.  Here's what I came up with. 

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I loved this one because it's an illusion necklace.  You won't see the chain or anything so it will be just the pearls.  But I also liked it with the chain, like this one.

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 But, in both of those, I think the pearls are a bit too big for me.  But, finally.  FINALLY, I found it.  I found the one.  It's perfect. 

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It's perfect because it's simple and elegant and the pearls aren't too big.  I actually ordered this, it's from an etsy seller if you're interested, and it came so quickly!  Here it is on me so you can get a better idea. 

I'm so excited to have my necklace!  I'm still working on all the other jewelry, but I love this necklace and can't wait to wear it.  I'm currently on the search for my wedding earrings so stay tuned!  I think I'll probably need some help picking the perfect pair.  



What's in a name?

First off, major props to all of you who know the context of my post title today!

Okay.  Here we go.  I have a major confession to make.  And it's about my name.  I love my name.  I'm named after my grandmother on my dad's side and I have this beautiful, super italian, unique, no-one-can-say-it, 4-syllable last name that is shared with a gorgeous Italian castle.  I know I'm biased but all those other names out there just don't compare to it.

The castle that is my namesake:

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My whole life I've known my mom with this name.  I've known tons of married people and it never really dawned on me that at one point in their lives, they had a different name.  And one day my name would no longer be, my name.  I know that in today's world a lot of women don't change their names, but I think if you want to have kids one day it makes things so much easier if you have the same last name as your husband. 

But, I have to be honest that I'm not very happy about the prospect of changing my name.  Not that there's anything wrong with my new last name.  But it's just 1-syllable, simple, easy to say.  My whole name will now be reduced to as many syllables as my old last name.  Including my middle name.  It just doesn't seem right.

Oh, and one more thing.  I'm a published author.  That's right.  I'm in graduate school for Chemistry and my last name is on a few publications and one patent.  So changing my name means that no one will be able to find all my accomplishments. 

Do you realize how much documentation needs to be done in order to change your last name?  It's such a pain in the butt.  Here's a list of just *some* of the things I'll need to change, just to give you an idea.

Car insurance, car registration, health insurance, my bank records, all of my credit cards, my driver's license, social security card, tax forms, and the list goes on.... 

All this being said I do want to say that I do love my fiance and I am so happy to be marrying him.  Just not dealing with all the hassle of changing everything.  I am going to change my name legally.  But probably not for awhile in the workplace.  So I'll have two different names for awhile.  I've considered hyphenating, but it gets a little ridiculous with such a long last name.  I have some time to decide on that front.


Oh, and if you're wondering about the post title.  It's from Shakespeare and quite appropriate, I think, for me:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name which is no part of thee take all myself."