Holy Eureka: Brilliant Invite Idea

So, I've been wondering: what do you do with your engagement photos? We've got the guestbook covered. For the next round of holidays, we'll have actual wedding photos to pass out as gifts. There is no possible use.

Then: INSPIRATION STRIKES.

Source: Etsy Seller regansbrain, via the adventures of bunny and chip

I mean, what better way to get some mileage out of these hot photos?

More engagement shots by Alea Moore.

Prepare to see them staring out of an invite envelope near you.

Teaser: Whoa.

Since when were we hot?

More to come from the brilliant Alea Moore.

Brigade: Shoes or Jacket/Cardigans?

The bridal brigade jacket finally came in all the way from Thailand in yellow from Etsy seller Ananya. Trying it on with the totally rad H&M bridesmaid dresses, we discovered that it really needs to be lined since the grey shows through, making the jacket look kind of greenish. Ananya is getting ready to have a baby, and can't find the same fabric, which pretty much rules out this option.

Luckily, I think our favorite mustard yellow is going to be featured in stores this fall. Check out these peep toe flats from Gap. $40, holler! 

Or, we could keep looking for a cardigan/jacket to keep away the October night chill. I'm thinking we could maybe find a local seamstress to recreate Ananya's jacket a fabric of our choosing, but I have no idea how pricey this would get.

What would you do? Shoes or shoulder coverings? Or give it up in favor of taking a freakin chill pill?

Wicked Wedding Weekend Extravaganza

OH EM GEE. Last weekend was so rad. Mr. B and I really do have the very best friends on the planet. 

My future brother and sister-in-law flew out from California to help celebrate our upcoming wedding [yep, the one that's in EXACTLY four months.] The men folk shipped out to the "wilds" of North Carolina for a weekend of rafting and Gentleman Jack. I use the term "wilds" loosely, seeing as their cabin had wireless internet, flat panel tvs and a hot tub.

Alternatively, the ladies hit the town of ATL and showered me with love and delicious eats:)

Here is my awesome future sister-in-law, who will be birthing our nephew right around the time of the wedding. Sadly, this means she won't be able to attend the festivities, so we were thrilled to have her around this weekend!! What a great sport at five months pregnant!

Headed to the Sun Dial's revolving roof top bar on Friday night. And yes, my sister naturally looks that way.

Saturday was off to a great start after a SURPRISE massage at the awesome Key Lime Pie spa down the street. Literally, my sister dropped me off at the door and pushed me in, I had no idea what was going on. Devine. Little did I realize they kicked me out of my own home to set up the most incredible, beautiful lingerie shower.

My bridesmaids were the Hostesses with the Mostesses. Literally, that's where they got the inspiration! The brilliant circles and the lemon+baby's breath bowl will likely be stolen/reused at the wedding. I mean, how freakin awesome??

The best surprise was from Mr. B. Though not present, he contributed nine pictures and nine reasons for loving me. Typical, he was touching, hilarious and adorable.

Laurie was apparently trying to out do the shower we hosted for her wedding last year. She made me a "bride to be" sash from scratch! On the right, the amazing chef of the weekend & real sis hangs with beautiful sis-in-law.

Whoa! Fellow bride Caitee from NC wasn't supposed to be there! I was complete shocked!

LOVE these ladies.

The panties are unwrapped! Let's just say Mr. B was very excited about this shower concept. Does this mean I have to get rid of my beloved granny panties?

And much, much later on, Sissy and I throughly enjoyed El Bar, a local institution.

All-in-all, the best freakin weekend ever. As evidenced by Mr. B's bruised outside and in [mainly in the liver region]. 

Please post.

VICTORY. Post bridal shower bachelorette extravaganza description please!!!!!!!

Love,

Samantha Livalittle.

Grace Kelly gets married

Oooh, friends! Look at this video! Grace Kelly, the most iconic bride of our century:



p.s. don't read her biography. It will ruin any romantic notions you might have about her!

Deliver me from myself!

It's only 92 days until our wedding and I'm starting to feel the pressure. I fear that I am becoming a bit of monster. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr!!!!!!!!!I think that part of my problem is my obsession with lists. I have made a monthly list of things to do that includes everything I think will possibly need to be addressed between now and when we return from our honeymoon. Sometimes I review the list again and again, trying to figure out what to do next and then my vision starts to blur and then I look around longingly, hoping that some magical person will bring me a glass of wine. Then I realize that I'm not supposed to have wine right now because I'm on a strict wedding diet. Then I think, "damn."

Buy a Flip, write an awesome marriage sign-off

OMG, back from Bonnaroo, so glad I am not a dirty hippie. Had the best time ever with my bffs/bridal brigade members and one dude friend. Tried out the Flip video camera and LOVED it. I highly recommend for documenting bachelorette parties and wedding weekends.

___________________

Those of you who know me in real life know about my complicated relationship with animals, and my affinity for a certain blogger who spends time hating on cute furry creatures. Well, now this can get wedding-related! That blogger, of FU Penguin, is getting married and has crafted the best wedding sign-off post EVER. Check it out: It's marriage time, bitches!

Headpieces!

After reading Victory's post about head gear, I got to looking at some photos of 1960s brides to see if I could find any inspiration. Check it out! Maybe you could bring back the idea of the interesting headpiece, which seemed all the rage. Or maybe you could do this!! Yikes!!

Ring in the new bride!!

Alright friends! So today is King Kamehameha Day in Hawaii, which means that I didn't have to work. On my day off, I went snorkeling at the beach near my house and saw a shark! Wild, totally wild. I am casper the pale, pale ghost so even though I lathered myself extensively, I got burned on my backside...so from the back, it essentially looks like my skin is naturally fire-engine red and I'm wearing a white bathing suit. Anyway, I digress.

On this royal holiday, I did tons of wedding stuff, including ordering the favor tags, ordering the maple syrup bottles for the favors, booking our wedding night accommodation, emailing the bridal brigade and updating our website. Yes, I'd say it was a productive day.

One thing that I am thinking about is the ring. My lovely Mr. L purchased a truly gorgeous ring for me and now I'm wondering what to do about the band? Should we get the matching one in the same metal for a whole lot of money or should I do something more simple? Ring below...drool. These are both from Scott Kay. This ring will hopefully last forever, so it seems like something to spend some money on. Agree or disagree?

Fortunately for me, the choice for Mr. L is really simple. He wants a very plain yellow gold band that has a comfort fit. Easy breezy.

Head gear

Originally, I was sure I would jump aboard the birdcage veil train. With my simple, retro dress, I though that would be a sassy way to dress it up.

But the more I thought seriously about it, the more I realized I wanted a classic look [and the 40s inspired bird cage technically does not synch with my early 60s inspired gown] [and I'm not sure I want some netting hanging in my face ALL DAY LONG].

Enter: the simple cathedral length veil. Such a huge 180-reversal-of-mind-for-me, the one trying to avoid looking like a bride. But what can I say? It's dreamy.

Notice the utter lack of crystals, beading or trim. Does not intrude on the face. May possibly not hate it in 10 years.

So I went and tried several traditional veils on at Kelly's Closet in Atlanta. The cut edge cathedral was perfect. But surprisingly, I also liked an elbow length number. It did have an appropriately retro, sweet and un-dramatic feel. Though the sales girls decided that it would cut off my dress funny, and recommended the cathedral length.

But wait, there's more! This incredible Etsy seller, VeiledBeauty, makes simple, cut edge numbers in this AMAZING fabric called Lattice Lace. So unique! And of course, the only images I can get are of it in this shorter length. [It comes in all lengths, however]

So, what do you think?

Cathedral or elbow? Will I get annoyed when people step on a long one? Will the short version cut off the back of my dress? 

Help please.

Flower Girls!

Hello friends. So Mr. L's little niece is going to be our flower girl and I couldn't be more excited! She is four years old and super adorable. Like me, she enjoys discussions about the color pink and Disney princesses. Anyway, we've picked a dress and it is so cute! I'm considering also sending my little two year old niece down the aisle with her (holding her hand), but we'll have to see how she's doing at that point. That is, will she be in a hand-holding phase at that point or just running everywhere? I always think that the flower girl provides the comic relief at a wedding. I've been to a bunch of ceremonies where the little girl dumps the basket of flowers at the beginning of the aisle and then makes a run for it!
The church where we will be married does not allow the throwing of flower petals. Has anyone else had this rule? What did you do about it? I'm thinking about just giving her a small poesy to hold, but I'm not sure!

Send in the Suits

When picturing W-Day, my mental image includes dresses, delicious food, beautiful images and super fun people. Attire of the men folk really doesn't enter the picture. I mean, how many options are there? Once we knew that the vibe was casual, and that instead of tuxes, Mr. B & Co. would be wearing grey suits, I figured that was the end.

Oh boy, was I wrong. Apparently there are VAST differences between a trendy two button and a classic three button suit. Vents? Flat front vs. pleats? 

Let's just say I've learned a lot. 

A few weeks back, Mr. B found this hot suit on sale at J. Crew. How very Mad Men. Yes, there will be tie clips.

JCrew.com, duh

But unfortunately, very few companies rent suits for our five/six groomsmen. Fewer rent grey suits. And still fewer rent the trendy, two-button flat-front style [understandable, since they are likely to be out of style in a few years]. If you're counting, that would make it impossible to rent said suits.

We heard that Groomsman Jack is purchasing a suit for another wedding he is in this year, for the same price it would be to rent a suit. So we looked. And looked.

And this past weekend, we purchased six charcoal, two-button, flat-front suits for $648 from K&G Fashion Superstore. SCORE. That is definitely cheaper per person than renting, AND they will fit perfectly, AND they won't have to worry about picking up/dropping off during the busy wedding weekend. Oh AND THEY GET TO KEEP IT FOREVER.

Now, to find a yellow tie that won't make Mr. B's pale skin look like death.

Workout Plan!!

I've written a million posts about my workout plan but I now am serious about this endeavor and have an official schedule, written in ink and on paper! Lovely Mr. Livalittle has been talking about P90X for a while and decided to order it, so it's coming this week! We have both decided that we are going to go into intense mode 90 days before our wedding, which is only 17 days from now! Since we are united in this front, I think we will both be more focused, since we won't try to tempt each other. I am planning to start tracking my eating again on http://www.thedailyplate.com/ and will be reading up on eating plans from Jillian Michaels. I have a plan for doing workouts with the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and also plan to do P90X with Brad. Finally, for the final month before the wedding, I am going to do intense Bikram Yoga, which doesn't shed pounds but lengthens and tones the body. Awesome!

Meet the Parents!

Today my parents met Mr. Livalittle's parents for the first time and thank the good lord I wasn't there! I would have been a complete wreck and knowing me, I would have nervously blathered on, adjusted my clothes and tossed my hair (this is what I do). Thank goodness our parents were just left to their own devices. Apparently, it went well and was nothing like Meet the Parents 2 when Barbara Streisand, sex therapist, made the fiancee's wildly conservative parents considerably uncomfortable. Have you ever noticed how many wedding movies include awkward parent interactions?

Let's see...there is Meet the Parents 2, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The In-Laws, Monster-In-Law...oh the list goes on and on. Do you remember this scene from Monster-In-Law? Oh man!!

Shoe mania!

Ok friends, I've decided that I am ready to start shoe-shopping! Shoes are my favorite thing, especially very high-heeled ones. I am slowly building my collection so that I have every color of the rainbow. Anyway, I digress. What do we think about the two shoes below? I love them both and am thinking that pale pink is the perfect color to wear with my dress, since my bouquet will look similar to this:


So what would be more perfect than these gorgeous, gorgeous shoes? The only problem is that they are nearly $300. Is it worth it? Should I just wear the white heels I already own?

Voila! Pair number 1- Badgley Mischka Carlo Pump in pink...so gorgeous!

Or perhaps even better...pair number 2 with fantastic detail and a great rosey-peach color.

So what do you say ladies, number 1, number 2 or the white shoes I already own?