a bittersweet farewell

to one of my favorite and inspirational bloggers, TTO.

she says good-bye to the wedding world.

i hope she picks up blogging again upon a different journey.

thank you, tto, for taking us along for the ride! hope to read you again in the future! the best to you and your hubs!

Aaaaaw...blogged!

Amy Jean of The Relentless Bride blogged about my wedding look. I'm so happy to inspire other brides! Thanks so much Amy Jean! Be sure to check out her blog too. She is the recipient of numerous blog awards and updates all the time!

And much thanks to Liz of Makeup by Liz. She's such an amazing artist. I used her for my boudoir pictures, my engagement pictures, and of course, our wedding day. She just started a blog! Check her out if you get a chance! Also, check her out on Project Wedding; she received perfect reviews!!

You can also check out my reviews on our vendors on Project Wedding! If you're in So Cal, please check them out.

Mom's/My wedding dress update: Amazingness cont'd

Last night was my 2nd to last meeting with Janet Brunton.

I cried like 102384712835 times. It truly is amazing. And I super love that it's my mom's dress, and it's my dress.

Dee, step away. Don't even try to look!

I can't do it justice without showing you its progress starting from the beginning:

My mom's dress...as she wore it...minus the right sleeve. =|

taken apart and the beginning of redesign.

with the redesigned top (which needs to be reshaped again) and the first 2 tiers.

with new top and all tiers added.

Janet added a train!

she's lookin gorgeous!

and last night:

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Janet attached the rest of Mom's lace to the sweetheart top. Amazing, no?

i'm super happy with how it's coming along!

my top, up close.

up closer...

the 2 styles of scalloped lace we're trying to choose from to use as the trim for the sweetheart top.

went with the smaller scalloped lace...this is how the lace will look on my top.

here's the rounded train.

i'm sorry...I can't get enough of this dress!

how the lace will look in the back.

from far away-ish

from the side.

bustled...amazing, right?

bustle from the side

walking...

and here's one of me crying...yea...she's the one.

what next? Janet will attach the tulle to the dress so that it doesn't pop out in random places as you've seen in the pictures. It'll help as I won't be standing still all night. Janet will attach the lace trim to the top, complete my bustle, and clean up anything else. And we're still trying ways we can incorporate the buttons from my mom's sleeves on the dress. Janet is one of my favorite vendors to work with!!

[+] obsess more

centerpiece mock-up

Met with my uber cute prego coordinator, and she did a mock-up of what our centerpieces could look like!

Oh, and she left us with 4 checklists...1 about our flowers, 1 on invitations, 1 on our preliminary timeline, and another for Dee to discuss with the hotel coordinator.

Back to the centerpieces...so we're (I'm) hoping for long banquet tables. The design my coordinator came up with was made for long banquet tables. I've voiced out our concerns about making the most of a small budget, and she was definitely ready to oblige us.

So a large part of the cost in the wedding is wedding decor. And one thing that can start to add up quick is flowers. I thought I knew what I wanted.

source: Martha Stewart

My coordinator would not have it though. And I'm glad I'm starting to listen to her. Yea, it's cute, and simple, but that's all. And remember how my colors used to be aqua and orange? Remember the table schemes she came up with? Well, I was super excited to see what she came up with for our now nude and plum theme. I told her that I really wanted to emphasize the nude...I thought it'd be cheaper. So she showed me this:

under natural light

We used the coffee table in my parents' house, so please excuse everything else. The linen will not have wrinkles, and there will be a little bit more flowers. This was just a mock-up!

with flash

Not bad right? She wanted it to look romantic and intimate while still fulfilling our need to keep within our budget.

She also showed me samples with a softer fabric:

in nude.

in blush.

The fabric would lay over some tulle for some volume, and there would be more fabric.

Then she showed me the tulle in pink, and I loved the way the color popped in photos!

under natural light.

with flash.

See how the color just pops. Now, these flowers aren't the ones we'll be using...these were only for visual purposes. We'll be using flowers in the purply-pink range. And hopefully, we'll be able to get long banquet tables, as the design will be continuous down the length of the table. If not, our coordinator has something in mind for round tables too.

What do you guys have in mind for your centerpieces?

more progress on my wedding dress

Had another fitting last night!! Yay!! The dress is turning out really great! I can't be more pleased!

Dee, I would much appreciate you stop here right now if you're reading...though i hope you're not since I asked you after my last fitting to stop reading my blog! Thanks babe! Those seeing my blog on readers and through RSS feed, I've made my posts expandable.

Here we go...

So let's back up a bit first...

Here is what the dress originally looked like:

One of the sleeves was already taken off. Please forgive the angle. and please forgive my scrubbiness; I had gone to the gym that day.

This was my dress a month ago:

We were adjusting the top, and trying to figure out how long the tiers should be.

I brought my earrings and bracelet, and i styled my hair (like at a stop light on the way to Janet's) the way I want it for the wedding...a side bun with my fringe sweeped over to the right.

And here is how it looked last night:

The lovely Janet Brunton sewed my mom's original lace bodice to the restyled top. And we're testing out the first 2 tiers to make sure we like the effect of the tulle underneath and to get the right measurements for all the tiers.

The top needs a little more work. I want more of the sweetheart shape.

Here's a look at the back. A hook & eye will need to be put on the dress.

Pretend the top is more of a sweetheart shape.

Playing around with the tiers. We're figuring out the length that will make the bottom 3 tiers equidistant lengths of each other.

Here's a close-up of the seam Janet suggested for the tiers (see first tier). I love it!

imagining how far the dress would come out with crinoline underneath.

testing the scalloped lace on the sweetheart top.

scalloped lace going through to the back.

testing the other lace (orig. lined the tiers) on the other side of my sweetheart top.

other lace on the back.

testing 2nd lace as belt. which lace for the top?

Janet, working her magic.

a peek at my Sergio Rossi shoes...the dress is missing the 4th tier.

Janet is going to make a train for me! Where her finger is where the would end...i think i want to go a little longer!

testing the belt in the front...pinned the bodice in a little bit more (on one side only...so i'll look lopsided in the next few pictures)

belt turned around. it looks better in pictures; i didn't really like it in person.

belt folded in half.

More dresses I had Janet work on...

Here's my day-after brunch dress. It was a size 0, but the top was made for someone with a C-cup.

My fancy dress for our engagment pix. The top was really loose on me...Janet took it in.

this dress is so much fun! this is where my camera died on us. =(

i love all my dresses! i can't wait for our next appointment!

next appt: next month

wedding gown to do list: pick lace trim for the sweetheart top. fix sweetheart top shape. have cups added to gown. take in bodice a little bit more. sew tiers to dress. decide on train length.

can't wait to share more!

[+/-] obsess more