Adam-n-Andi Get Hitched

I posted before about finding jewelry to go with my dress, and I’m having fun finding cool stuff to go in my hair (and Piper’s of course).

I was going to stick with a flower.  A basic gerber daisy or something that fits the colors and theme of the day.  I was going to end up making it myself and bought all the supplies at Michael’s this week (which aren’t many – it’s really just a flower and a clip held together with a little hot glue).  But I thought I’d take a stroll around the web to see what else was out there . . .

Through Etsy (where else?) I found Teneisha (aka 10eisha).  She makes super cool hair ‘fascinators’ and her store on Etsy was full of dreamy fun things.  None were perfect for my needs though, or my colors, so I sent her a request to make something custom – a big one for me (thought not as big as this photo) and a little one to match for the baby. Her motto is ‘hair accessories for the brave,’ so I expect something funky and fun.

When else in my life to I get to spend this much time thinking about what I’m going to wear in my hair?  Serious indulgence.

And speaking of indulgence, I’ve been meeting up with Shante Sutherland, aesthetician and makeup artists to the stars.  Or, to me and my friends at least.  She doesn’t have a website yet or I’d link to her, but she’s doing all kinds of fantastic skin treatments and stuff for me, and will be doing the girls’ makeup on the wedding day (me, and whomever else wants to have it done).  I’ve never had my makeup done professionally, so I hope it’ll be awesome.  I expect to look 21 again, so she’s got some high expectations to meet.

Hey everyone.  Looking forward to hanging out with you on October 17th.  RSVP here – be sure to let us know your guest’s name if you’re bringing one.

Let us know if you need anything else.

We decided to hire a bartender.  And I guess we’ll be providing an open bar, of sorts.  We started buying cases of beer since the 4th of July sales are so hard to pass up.  We’ll go on a shopping spree at Total Wine to snag the harder stuff this weekend.

See, when you get 80-some friends together, all in their late twenties – early thirties, they tend to drink.  Kindof a lot.  So this is going to be one of the costliest parts of the entire night for us – and I don’t think there’s a liquor store in the world who would want to trade for a website.  Oh well.

Either way, the bartender we hired prepared a list for us of the ’staples’ and a few extras so he can mix a couple different shots.  We also need to factor in beer and wine.  A few handles of vodka, some generic whiskey and tequila and rum and and and lots of mixers and fruit and straws of course.  I will definitely be stocking up on the Captain, since I’m a big fan.

How do we account for everyone’s special tastes?  Their specific quirks or favorite cocktails?  We’ll not be able to please everyone I suppose, but want to have a decent selection.  What’s your favorite drink, everyone?   Leave a comment so I know what to stock the bar with for you.

While shopping for the dress was fun, I’m truly an accessories person at heart.  I love accessories – so much so that they take up half a hall closet, a good chunk of wall space (I use coat hangers to hang my necklaces) and a decent-sized jewelry box on my dresser.  Jewelry, belts, scarves – you name it, I’ve got 20 or more.

Looking for appropriately beautiful but still beachy and of course a little funky wedding accessories has been difficult so far.  There’s a lot out there, but most is either too traditional for my taste or too casual.

I tried on an amazing piece at the bridal boutique who’s name I shall not speak (remember the one I was so unhappy with? I hate to say I found a gorgeous necklace there too) . . .  And I’ve had that one in my mind since.   I’m trying to find something similar – it was choker-style, made of mother-of-pearl shells, kinda chunky with a big ‘flower’ made of those shells.  Pearly, whitish, very very cool.

I came across this semi-funky stuff at Abaloria.  The necklace is very cool;  but dang-  $425?  That’s more than I paid for my dress.

Then I found this gorgeous necklace on Etsy from Florasun.  Of course it’s the most expensive thing in her shop, but oh I covet it. It’s the most similar to the one I tried on that boutique-that-shall-remain-nameless.

In fact, there are a lot of really great pieces on Etsy – of course!  Or Overstock.  Cool stuff there too.  My dress is off-white with a ‘cinnamon’ sash.  I am thinking I could throw in some splashes of turquoise to really give it a little funk – or I could keep it traditional (booo) with pearls or gold.

Sigh.  It seems that wedding planning is all about the decisions.   To veil or not to veil?

We finally sat down and made a list of all of the things we need to do to finish the planning.  It’s a long list, but seeing it in one place means I’m feeling far less frantic.  And, truth be told, it’s all quite manageable.

We went ring shopping Sunday and both found bands.  We just need to order them.  Mine was difficult because it’s a family setting, and a strange shape.  A wedding band to go with it has to contour around the main diamond and also fit with the two diamonds on each side, without being strangely wider.  Plain bands look weird because they don’t sit right up next to the diamond.  Adam found a stainless steel band he likes and it’s quite cheap – we were planning to spend a bit more but that was his favorite.  So that’s *almost* done.

Then, Saturday night while we were enjoying a margarita on the beach watching the 4 or 5 wedding ceremonies going on at sunset, we caught a glimpse of the perfect ceremony setup.  Seriously – it was awesome. This huge bamboo ‘arch’ type thing with about a dozen chairs, elegant chair covers and the perfect splash of flowy fabric here and there.  After the ceremony, we approached the people cleaning up to find out where we could acquire that same setup, and found out about Gulf Beach Weddings.

This is the answer to the last pieces of the puzzle, in my mind.  They take care of the entire setup/tear down, even booking photography, officiant, music and whatever else you need.  Of course, I only need the physical setup (Adam’s close friend Pierce will be officiating and we’ve got a DJ booked for the music), but they will take care of all of it.   I would get the arch in this pic without the flowers, but I do like the flowy fabric.  That can stay.

The gorgeous bamboo arch thing, the dozen or so chairs, the ‘aisle,’ and even tiki torches. We won’t have to use the crappy rental arch I found at the Rent-All City, nor would we have to worry about picking up/setting up the chairs, etc.  Now, if only I can convince Adam to spend the loot on this . . . Help me out, will ya?

The website for the catering company, Catering by Miler’s Cafe, is finished, and if I do say so myself, it’s quite nice.  The search indexing is going fantastically, and we’ll be honing that over the next few months.  Plus, the response on the ‘contact form’ is outstanding – Todd is getting 2-3 inquiries each week – when he used to get 2-3 each month.

Check it out if you haven’t yet, and let me know if you offer an event service for which you’d like to trade web design.  Moving on to the DJ now – TampaBayDreamTeam.com.  Stay tuned.

I think I’ve tried on every single beach-appropriate (and many not so beach appropriate) wedding dress in the Tampa Bay region – all within the past week (see #5 for why they’ve all been within the past week).  I wish I had gone into this process with the knowledge I have now.

1.  Don’t ever take 6 of your best friends with you.  They all have different opinions and in the end, you’ll be no closer to ‘this is the one’ than you were when you left.  If you’re just starting to explore styles and stores, maybe.  But not if you have to make a decision within 48 hours.  You’ll try on more dresses than you need to because they think one is perfect and you don’t want to say no, and they will of course vote 3-3 when asked to choose between your two favorites.  Take your mom.  She knows your body (fat and thin) and usually your style.  She probably also has a clearer idea of your vision of the day.

2.  If you’re able to articulate what you like or want in a dress (i.e. neckline, cut, fabric), you’ll end up with a dressing room full of decent options rather than ‘best guesses’ from the consultant that don’t look anything like what you really want.

3.  Make an appointment.  You’ll get better service and be able to really explore the collections rather than pulling things yourself.  The consultants know what’s in the store, so when they learn what you like, they can make recommendations and bring you more to try that you might not have chosen.

4.  If a consultant is rude to you but you LOVE the dress, find it online.  I encountered one salon owner who was brisk and pushy – not so much rude, but it was clear she had better things to do and wanted me to make a decision or leave.  In fact, despite my 12:00 appointment, her accountant showed up mysteriously at 12:45.  Which meant I was able to try on all of two gowns.  Yes, two gowns.  Disappointingly, she had some of the designers I really wanted to try.  I couldn’t stomach spending my money with her.  (Also, her AC was broken and it was about 99 degrees inside – very pleasant bridal gown experience.)   Almost all of the other consultants I dealt with were fantastic.

The nicest consultant I dealt with was at Ambria’s Wearable Art in St. Petersburg (I found gorgeous dresses (though not “the one”)) and I had a very patient consultant (who dealt wonderfully with my half-drunk entourage who’d spent the morning at St. Pete’s Pride parade and came sporting their beads) at Alfred Angelo’s in Tampa.  I ended up buying my dress from the very lovely Monica at CC’s Boutique in St. Pete.

5.  Start shopping with at least six months time to spare.  The dresses take 12-16 weeks to order and I felt rushed to make a decision.  I still wish I had time to sleep on it a bit, but I know I’ll be happy just having it out of the way.

As I tried this week to juggle dress shopping with my mom, working when I could, taking care of the little one and entertaining 9 visitors, I realized something.

I need help.

I’d been in contact here and there with Estela Cabrero Kallweit of A Stellar Affair after she found my multiple calls for services bartering on Twitter, here and Craig’s List. She’s an experienced event planner starting out on her own, and offered her services in exchange for a new website.

Have I mentioned I love what I do?

It sounds crazy, but designing sites for little startups and especially, for creative types like Estela, is so much fun.  I love the freedom in design and then handcoding the sites for search visibility. I can’t wait to dive in.

(Had my appointment at the Dressing Room today.  More on that later.)

Lesson #1:  Don’t go wedding dress shopping when you’re hungover.  The bridal salons are all too warm and muggy, the salespeople ridiculously pushy.  How many times do I have to tell someone that I want something simple, sans elaborate sparkly beading and plunging necklines?

Lesson #2:  Bridesmaids’ dresses are much cheaper and closer to the ’style’ I’m interested in – and most come in shades of white.  Opens up a lot of options.

Lesson #3:  Feigned interest just to appease said pushy sales lady will end with a room full of dresses that you don’t even like.

Lesson #4:  Casual, flowy, beach-appropriate and simple don’t mean anything to commission-crazed salespeople.

So, after a morning of bridal salons and boutiques, I definitely know what I don’t want.

Problem is, I’m not really sure what I want.

I have an appointment tomorrow at a little boutique on Central Ave called The Dressing Room.  I suppose I’ll have to decide on my budget and just go for it because apparently, 3.5 months is not long enough to get a dress made to order.

I like a couple ‘Bridal Alternative‘ and other dresses at Thread – and they’re definitely reasonably priced.  I’d love to find something with a little color – if even just a ribbon or sash (sash? Do they even make dresses with sashes? What is a sash?) . . . Something to perk up the white/ivory/whatever I get.

I just haven’t found anything unique, yet.   I wandered a room full of dresses – all with features I have no interest in.  Now I feel pressured to decide because even the bridesmaid dresses I liked will take 12 to 16 weeks to order.  Or maybe that’s just a sales tactic?  Sheesh.

Any other reasonably priced dress makers out there that you can recommend?

Remember that super cute Swiss Dot tiered dress that I posted about a few weeks back?  The one I covet but can’t justify for Ms. Thang?

The brain (and hands) behind that great dress found my post and contacted me to offer me (and my dear, lovely readers) a discount at her shop, Velvet & Tweed.

Seriously, I knew there was something I liked about blogging.

Now I just have to decide if I should buy the dress and a sweater for Piper just in case it’s cool?  Or should I wait – I mean, she’s a tall girl. What if she stops growing or the opposite – grows outrageously for the next few months . . . Then I’m stuck with a dress that doesn’t fit.

Likelihood of a dress that has adjustable tie straps not fitting?  Probably nil.  I should just order it already.

Discount Below!

Anyway. Just enter adamnandi25 at checkout to receive 25% off your purchase at Velvet & Tweed.  If you’re looking for a special outfit for your little one, you’ll find gorgeous special occasion and really cute everyday items.