The Big Shoe Reveal...

No worries fabulous ladies!

I WILL show the shoes.  Promise.

That would be really shady not to, as someone wisely pointed out, after all the 'Shoe Saga' drama!

The only thing is that...ummm.... the drama is not over, and there is a weird and annoying back story currently developing since I have ordered the shoes.

All I will say is that so far it involves me, my mom, and the United Kingdom.

Yes, weird indeed.

Exquisite Fabrics

For my bouquet, I have decided to carry fair bianca garden roses and ivory/cream orchids. The pics below are my 'inspiration photos':  

pics probably from The Knot and House Martin

I've been thinking about what I want to wrap the stems in (I know I only want the stems wrapped half-way)...

So, a good thing about my recent office move is that I am now just steps away from the Washington fabric store Exquisite Fabrics, which lives up to its name indeed!  So I skipped lunch and spent one lunch hour browsing for something pretty and embellished to use as a bouquet wrap.

I decided on one yard of this:

wrapped around a diet pepsi bottle!

As usual, photos don't do the fabric justice.
Of course, I couldn't be shopping without thinking of my lovely bridesmaids. So in keeping with the lace thing, I also picked up a yard of pretty ruffled black lace that we may use to wrap their flowers--shades of darker pink roses and other flowers, something like this:

I'm taking this to my florist next weekend to see if she thinks it will work.

Never Mind all that Pimping Business...

I found shoes!
No further text at this time.

Pimp my Shoes?

OK girls!
I've been on a binge for the past two weeks.
An Ebay binge!
It started the day I decided I may have to get creative to be happy with what I choose as wedding day shoes.
It is no surprise that I have not yet found thee perfect pair of fuschia shoes...
So, I realize I may have to take matters into my own hands somewhat to up the flair factor of the pair of shoes that come closest to being THEE ones!

Now, if I decide to do this,let it be known this is no original idea. I'll be following in the fabulous footsteps of a few other brides who took things into their own hands--by puchasing cute shoes and making them much cuter via dye and bling.
Blingy clip earrings or small brooches are good candidates for shoe-makeovers.
And what better place to search than Ebay! Well, needless to say I got very carried away.
My purchases are still arriving in the mail daily, but here's what arrived today.

Warning: images of me playing dress-up with some of said bling to follow:

I love playing dress-up!
All of the shoe bling options together:

Yeah, all of that in one day...sad. But the good thing is that they are all vintage earrings purchased for as low as 99 cents to a max of about $8.99. They are all beautiful and much better-made than today's costume jewelry.

So...this is what I have in mind. To pimp my shoes, I would simply add a pair of bling to whichever shoes I end up with. Kind of like Knottie Vintage Glam did here (she also had hers dyed orange):

And how Knottie ilovemycoastie did here:

To be honest, I would rather just be able to find shoes that are perfect as they are and would rather not spend time doing this. But time's a tickin'...and I need shoes!

How To Make A Belly-Band

Of course this is only one way to go about it...

Below is a tutorial on how to create a very functional belly-band that will slide on and off of your pocket fold (or other) invite as a decorative element.

I hope it is useful!

1. You will need

• Satin double-faced ribbon or other ribbon of your choice
  
• 2X2 or 3X3 inch cardstock squares with a logo printed on them OR plain squares (and smaller stickers with a logo)
  
• Medium Permanent Zots (glue adhesive dots)
  
• Sharp Scissors
  

2. As I used 3X3 heavy paper squares and stickers, the first step was to place the sticker in the center of the paper square

3. Cut ribbon to about 1/4 inch longer than you'll need to wrap around your pocketfold (to allow for overlapping)

4.Press one edge of cut ribbon to Zots paper so that a few Zots stick to the ribbon edge. Do not pull Zots off with your hands. It is easy to just press the ribbon to them, and the zots will stick.

5. Wrap ribbon around the pocketfold so that edges slightly overlap and press edge with Zots adhesive to the other edge, making sure the ribbon is snug on the pocketfold but not super tight or too loose (so it can eventually slide it on and off) and then slide it off of pocketfold.


6. Take your decorative square and attach a Zot to the center back of the square then center it over your ribbon seam onto the ribbon.. Add a few more Zots to secure square to ribbon.

7. To speed up the process, pre-cut and adhere your ribbon and have your squares assembled:

8. Repeat!

Easy!

Small World

I just wanted to say thanks to the several hundred fabulous ladies (and maybe gents) who glance at this blog daily.
According to my stat counter, in one day I've had readers representing the below, and that's really cool!

The Eyes Have It

I'll be doing some make-up trials soon, the first with an Aveda makeup artist (a good friend of mine) in the DC-area and another with a former MAC artist who freelances in Cleveland. So I am starting to think about how I'd like my makeup to look for my bridals and the wedding.
I hear a lot of brides say they want their makeup to look, above all, "natural" on their wedding day.
And although I don't want to look "made-up" and certainly not "overdone"--I can't say I want to look "natural" to the point of looking like my every day self...

That said I want to look glammed up a bit, and I want the focus on my eyes.
I don't consider Oprah Winfrey a 'style icon' for me, but I must say, it is photos of her makeup--particularly her EYES--that have stood out to me in looking for 'inspiration' photos.

What do you have in mind for your makeup for the big day?