Beautiful dress! That style with the shirred waist is flattering on everyone, I swear! That's very similar to the bridesmaids' dresses my girls picked out. I tried on a dress in that style and I looked like my stomach was totally flat... it may be a miracle cut!

I'm already feeling better than I did before I went in to the hospital. Thanks for the get well soon wish!

Lafayette - What an ordeal! Glad you're feeling a bit better, wishing you a speedy recovery.

I love the coset backs on the Maggie dresses. I've been poking around on the website and found a few dresses I'd like to try on whenever I get time to go dress shopping again. I really like this one.

Oh, my God! That dress is gorgeous!

I've been geeking out over style #2189 from Eden Bridals (maybe without the sash). It's a lot like the Ann Taylor Elizabeth dress I love but it has a longer train. I wanted simple and elegant (since I am short and petite- though lumpy- even a little lace looks way too Dolly Parton on my build) and this fits the bill. Plus, I live two houses away from a sweet little bridal store that sells Eden Bridals so my non-driving life just got easier!

I also really like that it has a matching bridesmaids' dress style (#7063). I just have to get up the energy to walk over there and see if the green will work. The sash makes the dress very flattering and it's also very comfortable.

Wish me luck! I can't try anything on yet because my tummy is still pretty sore. I'm hoping they can accomodate my timeline since I will have to cut the ordering period short or risk major tailoring down the road. Man, I wish I could do a few sit-ups to hedge my bets!!!

So, what do you think?

I got up the energy after being excited while writing that last post! WooHoo! I walked outside with no support! Obviously, it's the little things... Sadly, the greens were all either too dark or too yellow but I'll keep hunting. The wedding dress? GORGEOUS!!! Now, I just have to get the body to go with it!

Lafayette- when are you getting married again? I'm having the same problem with the "greens", especially since we are having a garden/courtyard wedding. I don't want the bridesmaids to be mistaken for the shrubery! I also don't want them to look like a neon sign... Glad you are feeling better! When I was healing from that, just being able to stand up completely straight was a big to-do.

Shananigans- LOVE the dress! I would give anything to look good in a sweetheart cut. Very elegant!

Here's a pic of me in the dress. I wish the details on the dress were a little more clear, but it was a camera phone. After all the misery of dress shopping, I put this one on and felt just fabulous.... finally! And I want to have the bust adjusted because I don't have nearly that much and it will make my torso look a little longer (well, at least I can dream...)
http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/phot...1i0lfjj23cua53

Not sure if this helps any of you green-searchers, but this is what Alfred Angelo "Clover" looks like on actual bodies...which is funny, because it looks like this on the sample squares on their website:



Lesson: make sure you see actual dresses, not just color samples, before picking your greens!

Jen - that dress makes your collarbones look fantastic! You look seriously small in it - and the detailing is gorgeous!

I picked the clover from David's Bridal- I'm getting married March 29, 2008- because it is the same color as my mom's bridesmaids' dresses in 1973. It's a blue-based green and looks very flattering on my wild Irish bridesmaids. Our wedding will be formal and I wanted a way to have a cheerful spring color without losing the formality.

BUT... I keep coming back to the Ann Taylor Celebrations Tulip Jacquard Strapless Dress Style # 209892 in meadow green. My mom also had jacquard and, while this green is a little more sage, I know AT will give great service as compared to the David's Bridal horror stories I keep hearing.

Jen, thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one! Sitting up straight is much more of a challenge than standing up straight and doing anything for any length of time is pure ****. This Thursday, it will be two weeks since the surgery. I am surprised to be looking forward to two more weeks of recovery time. You look incredible in that dress! I think you've found the one!

Hi gals - checking in from the craziness! Just one month to go! I wasn't going to do chargers on the table, but then I got caught up in all the frenzy about them on the knot, and now I have gold chargers! $$ I wasn't planning on spending, but they will look so nice!. Got mine at BigLots - they have silver and gold; Hobby Lobby also has red, black and antique gold in addition to those 2.

Programs are done, this weekend is place cards and boxing up candy favors and adding bows. Oh, and cake table letters and finalizing signs for memory table, bathroom basket, wish jar and bar menus. Oh, and I really should finalize my table names/numbers - then I can get all that stuff printed at the same time at Staples.

A tip for you all - Vistaprint dot com! A number of people get invitations from them, I'm doing two different post cards for my OOT bags and my RD invites. All for "free", meaning I'm just paying the shipping. Sign up at the site, and you'll get emails with lots of free promotions. I'm recommending this site to all my friends, even for things like birthday parties, holiday parties, ...

That dress looks great on you Jen!

Mandalinn - hope your surgery goes well!

Yes, David's Bridal has a terrible reputation, but they were the only store open on the one Sunday I had for my girls to be together to look. So, that's where we went - no other choice! Luckily things worked out ok for us - dresses are in hand and there were no hidden charges or anything. Mine is from David's but I bought secondhand, so I didn't have to deal with them.

You gals have a great weekend!
Cindy

Cindy, I checked out Vistaprint... didn't see any great deals though... I'll wait and see what shows up in my inbox.

I just have to share- I'm sitting home alone watching What Not to Wear on this lovely Friday evening and I just had a wonderful moment. I feel confident that I can lose the weight before the wedding!!! After months of dieting and gaining weight from the medical madness, I know that, if I can just eat healthy and work my way back to working out, I can do this! Size 6, here I come!!!

Mandalinn, I'm not gonna lie... surgery recovery is a beast! On the upside, when you feel better, it will be the best you've felt in a long time (even before the surgery)! You can do it! Your success to date is great proof!

To ward off the recovery blues, I have been focused on healthy eating, avoiding boredom eating (easy since I can't go shopping or even go to the kitchen), and keeping motivating pictures, etc., around me. I'm even searching for a recovery work out buddy- someone who's been through a recovery and understands both the ouch and the need.

Lafayette – Glad recovery is going well, you seem to be in good spirits. Keep it up! That Eden Bridals gown is very nice, I want something relatively simple as well. Lots of beading and stuff just doesn’t look right on me.

Jen – You look so amazing in that dress, and quite slender! It will look even better once you get it fitted.

I am so exhausted. Last Wednesday on seems like a big blur to me, it’s so weird to be back here at work. I must say my friends and everyone involved did an awesome job and their wedding was really special, it was such an honor to be a part of it. I will post pictures when I get a chance.

I’m using celadon green (along with cornflower blue) from Alfred Angelo, it looks like this on the online swatch



and like the attached picture on a person. Totally impossible to tell from that little color swatch. Well, now that I’ve got this wedding behind me I’m feeling a little more inclined to focus on my own. I hope I can live up to the same standard, it’s gonna be a hard act to follow!

Pictures!


The bride


Under the chuppah


The bridal party


Groom with groomsmen (he sewed all those ties himself!)


My fiance (the best man) and me.

I'm sure your wedding will be fabulous, Shan! The Menona Terrace is a pretty class act and I'm sure people will be thrilled to celebrate your wedding with you!

Any good ideas from the other wedding? I must say the hand-sewn ties goes well beyond anything I can imagine my fiance (much less myself) doing...

Ooh, I HAVE to share this... several of my soon-to-be family members have recommended a wedding band through a company called Resonance Productions. Do yourselves a favor- check out their website and listen to their sample songs. I've always thought the whole "rolling on the floor laughing my a off" routine was overused... and then I literally was!

Lafayette- I wish I had a site like that to pick my musicians from. What's the band's name? I know a lot of couples just do not care about what music goes into the ceremony and reception, but a little goes a long way in taste when you express even a little preference! I have played tons and tons of ceremonies (it's how I supported myself my first couple years of college as a music major) so the music is a very big deal to me. I feel sorry for our DJ. Both of us are music freaks and will nit pick everything. Even the ceremony musicians are going to have special arrangements. Eh, at least we'll pay well

Shananigans- love those colors! They did a really nice job of picking bold colors that aren't overstated. I don't know about those ties, though Now the real work begins for you!

BFL: My gosh, you are a busy woman! Thanks for the site referral!

Thank you for all the compliments on the dress! I feel lucky to have found something I love so much and feel fabulous in early on, even if I find something I love even more down the road.

We went to my hometown to meet with the hotel coordinator. They just got new catering management, one person from the Stanley Hotel (from "The Shining") and one from the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. To us, this translates to "Hurry up and pick your menu and put down the deposits before we charge you double". I can't believe we're deciding on this stuff so early on, but this has been the wedding location since I was a little girl, so it's not really subject to change.

Gigmasters was great for finding our ceremony musicians.

http://www.gigmasters.com/

You can enter the details of your event, and different musicians that do what you are looking for will bid to do your event.

Thats how we found our ceremony guitarist! I got a ton of responses, too. Maybe that was because I'm in the SF bay area, though.

As for the surgery, I have had it before (other knee, when I was 16). Whats killing me now is the WAIT - I'm in some serious pain here, and it isn't going to be in any way relieved until at least a week after the surgery, so I've got at least another 2 weeks of serious pain. And its irritating not to do cardio.