Are You Ready For Some Football?

Fiance and I absolutely LOVE football. I've been a fan for as long as I can remember; while other girls were playing with Barbies or My Little Ponies, I was collecting football cards. Seriously. My dad not so ceremoniously dumped all my old stuff off on us that had been sitting in my old room for years and I found the football cards that I collected when I was kid -- when I was as young as seven years old.

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For Fiance, football is more of a recent passion -- say in the last five years or so -- but he is definitely no less a fan. We have bonded over our love of football and despite being from different areas, we actually do have two favorite teams in common! In fact, we had originally picked the month of August to have our wedding (though that didn't work out for reasons that I'll explain in another post) because we didn't want to interfere with football season. Seriously.

I would love to find some subtle ways to incorporate our love of football into our wedding, but I definitely didn't want a football themed wedding. So how do you incorporate football into a vintage themed wedding? Well, I certainly don't have the answer to that question, but I did find some cute football related things I hope to use!

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What a cute little cake topper! From Sandra Lee's Shoppe, she has a huge variety of cute and unique bride and groom cake toppers. From various sports to hobbies to a princess bride kissing a frog! Super cute.

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What about a nice sports garter? I absolutely love the second one -- it's one of our shared teams! The Notre Dame one is by The Garter Lady who also has a huge selection of beautiful garters -- from classic and romantic to funky and sporty. She also has a fantastic selection of vintage-y garters like her heirloom category.

How did you incorporate sports into your wedding?

Picking Out My Wedding Dress -- Part 4

I'm going on a weekend getaway with Fiance today and didn't want to leave you all in suspense over the wedding dress I picked!

Yes, I know that Option C was actually the more "vintage" of the three, but I didn't have the wedding theme back then, remember? But that bow in the front is DEFINITELY coming off. And the best part of this dress, in my opinion, is the back:

I love corset style backs.

Picking Out My Wedding Dress -- Part 3

After vetoing certain styles in Part 1 and adding others to my "favorites" list Part 2, it was time to venture to the actual store.

Bridesmaid L and I were greeted with bright flourescent lights, and massive amounts of racks; bridesmaids dresses on the left, wedding dresses on the right and shoes/accessories in the back. We stood by the desk by the front, thumbing through their catalogs as we waited for someone to assist us. "Do you have an appointment?" one of the sales associates asked when she noticed us. I nodded and she told me to start looking for dresses I liked while she found the consultant assigned to me.

I headed to the racks with Bridesmaid L, beginning in their woefully tiny size 0 section. There were exactly two dresses there -- one baby blue princess-y monstrosity (which looked remarkably like my ballet recital costume from 3rd grade...and even though I was going for something with a splash of color, I still wanted some semblance of a white dress!) and another that was simply too ornate for my tastes (think metallic embroidery and beading).

We found a couple of dresses on my list in the size 2 and size 4 section as well as a few others that I either didn't see online or looked way better in person. Our bridal consultant found us browsing through more gowns and led us to the dressing room. On the way Bridesmaid L spotted a gorgeous dress on the manequin and we asked our consultant to add that one to the pile as well.

The consultant stuck me in the room and handed me the most amazing strapless bra ever -- seriously, after a couple hours of wearing it, dressing and undressing, the thing stayed up the entire time -- and a poofy looking slip while Bridesmaid L sat in an adjacent chair, flipping through the wedding dress catalog.

We took lots of pictures, laughing about the truly hideous ones whenever the consultant left us to help her other customers or went looking for more dresses. I didn't actually end up trying all the ones in my initial pile because once our consultant got a sense of what I was looking for, she hunted down dresses she thought would fit my style. Unfortunately, many of those were on my "no" list and I didn't like them on me any better than I did in online. I tried to be diplomatic "I just don't think it's my style. It's a very pretty dress, though" but in retrospect, it might have been better to be firm. Then, I wouldn't have ended up trying on so many that I didn't like.

By the end of it all -- 15 dresses (including three from my "favorites" list and three from my "no" list) and 3 veils later -- I was tired of changing in and out of dresses and honestly couldn't stand to look at another one. I'm the type of girl who hates trying on clothes. Whenever I go to the store, I can fairly accurately guess whether something will fit and look good on me. I've mastered this talent when it comes to jeans, skirts, sweaters and tops. I still have some trouble with dresses and dress shirts, though. But I digress. As I was saying, I have very little patience for trying clothes on. Especially when, after I make an immediate assesment that I don't like it, I have to wait in the dress for 10 or 15 minutes because my consultant has run off again.* In the end I loved the first two dresses I tried on and the very last one. The first two were on my "favorites" list while the last one was dress Bridesmaid L spotted on the manequin. Ready to see which ones they were? Anyone want to go back to Part 2 of this saga and make guesses as to which two made my final list?


Yup! Option #5, the one that I said was probably my favorite ended up being the first dress I tried on and I loved it! It was very simple in the front and I loved the two tone split/cutaway in the front. The champagne color was gorgeous, the simple a-line has always been my favorite for skirts (though I didnt know the proper term for the style) and the beading on the train and very top of the dress was enough to give it something extra while still remaining somewhat simple. Bridesmaid L loved it too! We shall now rename this choice "Option A" for ease of description in Part 4 (forthcoming).



Option #4 was the second dress I tried on and it also made my top three! I hated the bow on the front, but the bridal consultant showed me how it was tacked on and assured me that it could be removed. This bride is definitely anti-bow. It was a lot more ornate than I wanted, but was something I could deal with. I also adored the back of the dress which was a lace-up/corset style which gave me a fantastic figure. The skirt, a trumpet style, looked great on me and I was surprised to find out that I did like trumpet and mermaid gowns. At this point I was afraid that I was going to fall in love with every dress I tried on, but luckily it didn't turn out that way. When I didn't like something, I knew immediately. While there were plenty of other dresses that I did like, they just didn't make my final cut. Bridesmaid L also agreed that this dress, Option B, was just as good as Option A.


Finally, the last dress. This one I had to try on in a size 14 because it was the smallest one they had in the store. Seriously? Me in a size 14? The consultant tried her very best to pull the dress back after I was in it to show me what it would look like on me when I got it in the proper size and had it tailored. She also showed me the view from the back which, minus the huge bow, I loved. I have to hand it to her, for something that I was swimming in when I first put it on, she made look really great. This one had no additional beading or embroidery, but I loved the rouching (is that what it's called?) and the twisted fabric around the shoulders and back. Option C definitely made the cut too. It was a nice way to start and end the day -- my first two dresses and my last one making the final list.

I have to say, that it was sometimes very hard to determine what would look good on me since all the dresses I tried on were massive on me -- I did not end up trying on anything in my actual size and most that I did try on were 4 or 5 sizes too big. They were pinned with clothespins and binder clips in so many places that sometimes all you could see were a row of clamps! Overall, the consultant did a great job and I asked her to write down the above three styles so I could bring my mom back with me to make the final decision.

*I liked my consultant, I really did...and I understand she was super busy. It's just that trying clothes on is not my cup of tea so doing it for so long, and doing anything that extended this period was hard for me. I also felt super bad for Bridesmaid L who had the patience of a saint.

Picking Out My Wedding Dress -- Part 2

In Part 1 of my dress-shopping saga, I learned about the styles I didn't like. To recap: no pickups, no tulle, no full skirted gowns, not too much embellishment. It was time to start figuring out what I did like. I was thinking something simple and classy, perhaps in an ivory or something with a splash of color. Had I picked our vintage theme before wedding shopping, I'm sure my dress would have been much different.*

Dresses I liked:


Okay, to be honest, I didn't really love this dress, but it was one of the only tea-length dresses I could find on the David's Bridal website. Since, at the time, my fiance and I were strongly considering a beach weding (and by strongly, I mean 90% of sites we researched would involve at least a beach ceremony . . . and possibly a beach reception, too), a shorter dress seemed like a necessity. I was pretty disappointed with DB's tea-length dress selections, though. So this was option 1.


This dress, option #2, was one of my favorites. It looks even better when you click on the actual dress link and zoom in to see the details. I loved that from far away it looked so simple, but up close there was some embellishment. Plus, I loved the
burnout** style (I have clothes in my closet like this). Unfortunately, I knew almost immediately that my fiance wasn't going to be crazy about this dress. He had made it pretty clear that he really wanted me to wear something that looked like a wedding dress and not just "some white dress."

Here was option #3. You can see that I really was going for the simple look. The picture shows it in pure white, but according to the dress details, it's also offered in ivory.

I wasn't crazy about this one, but I saved it to my favorites anyway. It doesn't hurt to keep your options open, right? I hated the bow on the front, but liked the rest of the dress. There was embellishment on the bodice only which I thought would be a fair compromise between the completely simple look I wanted and the whole "looking like a wedding dress" that my fiance wanted. I also started realizing that I really love the strapless look. My only concern was that the dress would fall down since I've had similar problems with other strapless dresses and tube tops I own. This bride is, shall we say, teeny-tiny in practically every way? No boobs to hold the dress up . . .

On to option #5. Again, a strapless dress. I loved the two-tone of this dress! And it wasn't too white...I loved the champagne color and the cut of the dress. It was, overall, very simple but also elegant and different. I kept going back to this one during my online dress search and decided that it was my favorite of the ones I'd seen.

Option #6 was probably my second favorite! I loved the sash in the front that goes all the way to the floor in the back. I wasn't crazy about the red, but it turns out you can make the sash any color you want. I was envisioning champagne or pewter grey. I'm usually not crazy about halters because I don't think I was blessed enough up top to pull it off. But, I still loved the dress. You can see that I was also falling in love with the split-front/cut-out style.

This one was kind of similar to option #3, above. I loved the bodice of the dress and liked that it had some embellishment on the top, but was very simple on the bottom. I thought it would show off my figure nicely, too. And, like many of the dresses I liked, it was strapless. Nothing in particular stood out to me for option #7, but I liked it all the same.

Finally, we have option #8. You can't see it from this picture, but there is no train on this dress which really appealed to me. It was a very simple, strapless dress that had kind of an asymetrical skirt. It's hard for me to really explain with my limited fashion knowledge, but if you click here you'll see what I mean. My only concern with this dress was that, although I loved its simplicity, my fiance (and mom, for that matter) would think it was too plain for a wedding dress.

When I went to DB, I tried on a lot of the above dresses, but not all. I also ended up trying on some that were on my "no" list (mainly because the consultant brought them over and I didn't want to be rude/hurt her feelings...yes, I'm slightly neurotic when it comes to pleasing people). And I found some others in the store that were very pretty...ones that I either did not see while browsing online or just looked a lot better in person. But we'll save that for Part 3.

Any guesses as to which dress I ended up choosing? Is it one of the ones above? One of the dresses on the "no" list from Part 1? Something completely different? Of course, you know that (at least in my opinion) my dress kind of (but not totally) fits in with a semi-vintage themed wedding...do any of these dresses have that feel to you? Stay tuned to find out!

*I do think that my dress still kind of fits into a vintage-y feel, but I've seen so many other dresses since picking our theme that I love. I still love the dress I ended up picked, though, so I'm not too disappointed that we didn't pick the vintage thing sooner.

**See, I was still expanding my fashion terminology knowledge!

Picking out my wedding dress -- Part 1

Despite the terrible reviews David's Bridal gets in just about every forum I've looked at (including yelp, bridal bargains, google reviews, etc...) I decided to take my chances. DB was the first place I went dress shopping and found my dress almost immediately. I did visit one other bridal shop, but did not find anything within my budget (and, quite honestly, didn't really find anything I even liked there).

About a week after my fiance and I got engaged, one of my best friends and I spent a morning at DB to try on dresses! I called to make an appointment and the girl on the phone told me to print out my favorite styles from their website to try on. Unfortunately, I honesty had no idea what I wanted. No clue at all. I've never been the type of girl who has spent her life dreaming about her wedding, sneaking peeks through wedding magazines or sketching her wedding dress in the margins of her class notes. And there are so many styles and choices out there! What's a girl to do?

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To make matters worse, I am by no means a fashionista. I buy things that I think look good on me, but I have no idea what "a-line" means! So when friends started throwing words out like "trumpet" or "mermaid" or "bias cut" or "corset" (okay, that one I knew) I panicked a little. "How will I ever find a dress if I don't even know what I'm looking for? And I can't use the right terminology to explain what I like and don't like?" I wondered.

Now, I'm an indecisive sort and it's always hard to pick any one thing whether it's a movie to watch, a book to buy, or what to eat for lunch. So I went through my typical route and started eliminating styles that I didn't like. And I slowly learned some fashion terms.

Styles I vetoed (all images courtesy of DB):

I didn't like the skirt on this dress...also known as a "pick up." I did end up trying on a couple with this style, but only because the consultant kept bringing them over to me and I didn't want to be rude. I think I live for other people's approval...even the bridal consultants who work on commission.

I also didn't want anything too "princess-y." No full ball gown type skirts, no feathers, and no tulle. Now, this decision was made partly because I'm not real into the princess look...it's just not my style. I did once buy a prom dress with a big full skirt, but I was 16...and even then, it wasn't really my style (but I was still figuring all that out). The other reason? I'm super tiny! I'd just get way too lost in a big poofy skirt.

I realized fairly quickly that I didn't want anything that had too much embellishment, at least embellishment that was super obvious. So, nothing that was overly beaded, lace or sequined. No surprises here, since all of my clothes are generally very simple and classic looking.

These three got three big "no!" responses from me. Just too over the top and detailed for my liking. (Especially the first two which featured the aforementioned "pickup" style skirt.) Initially, I also thought that I didn't want a white dress. I just felt that stark white wasn't a good color on me. So I was leaning more towards ivory and champagne. I felt like I wanted some color on the dress, too, and was strongly considering a sash. I wasn't too sure about the train, but was leaning against it. Most wedding dresses have trains, though, so I knew I'd probably have to at least try on dresses with the train.

So, after my initial narrowing down of styles, my summary: No "pick-ups," no tulle, no full ball gowns, little to no embellishment, and something off-white. After eliminating these styles, it was time to start looking into things that I did like. But we'll save that for Part 2!

...And you can totally shorten the dress and turn it into a cocktail dress!

When I first asked one of my dear friends to be a bridesmaid, she happily agreed. She excitedly asked me about a few details of the wedding then asked, "Have you seen the movie 27 Dresses? If you haven't, go watch it and remember that your bridesmaids are supposed to be your friends."

Keeping in mind that I want my bridesmaids to be happy with what they were wearing, especially since they are shelling out their own money to pay for these dresses, I tried to keep them full updated. I also wanted them to have a say in every aspect of the wedding that was going to affect them -- the dresses being one of these major points.

I thought it was going to be difficult because my four bridesmaids are so completely different from each other in skin color, hair color, taste and style. I figured that the dress style wouldn't be an issue because I was going to pick a color and let them pick their own dresses. I was, however, concerned about the color. Originally, I planned to pick one color and fabric and let each bridesmaid pick whatever style they wanted (with my approval, of course!). But then, when I went into David's Bridal to look for wedding dresses, I saw a manequin using two colors for the bridesmaid dress and fell in love. It's called Dress Up Your Dress

Source: David's Bridal

The dress in the shop was a beautiful chocolate color with pink accents and really caught my eye even though I wasn't interested in those colors! I ended up buying some fabric swatches in the colors that I liked, took pictures of them (because the colors online and in the catalog look tons different than in person!) and e-mailed them to my bridesmaid and told them all to pick a color (or two) and I would go with the majority.

Turns out there were 3 votes for pewter and 3 for serene (I have four bridesmaids) which made my decision super easy. Luckily for me, it was my favorite color combination too! While I waited for my bridesmaids to e-mail me back with their choices, I was secretly wishing for either serene with capri or serene with pewter. I didn't want to influence their choices at all so I kept silent until they each got back to me. When my last bridesmaid called to tell me her favorites (she liked serene with capri and serene with champagne then said, "I guess I just really liked serene,") I seriously squealed with delight. "That was my favorite too!" I replied, happily.

I wanted either all four of my bridesmaids to have the same color dress with the other color as the accent or have 2 girls wear serene dresses with pewter accents and 2 do the opposite. I was afraid that 3 and 1 might look a little weird (especially since I'm not having a maid of honor) and again lucked out -- 2 wanted serene as the main color of the dress and 2 wanted pewter.

I absolutely love how you can personalize these dresses by picking either a cuff, sash or peek-a-book skirt (or a combination of these accents)! (The serene color is much closer to a teal and darker in person.) I sincerely hope that my bridesmaids really can wear these again...

Dresses on sale

At David's Bridal until December 1. I know, I know. David's Bridal gets really mixed reviews. Personally, I think if you're strong enough to ignore the sales pitch of the rep helping you and bring a friend with you to give his or her honest opinion, you'll be fine. Some complain that the quality of the dress isn't that great, but they seemed fine to me. I can't imagine that it wouldn't hold up for one day -- which is exactly how long I plan on wearing it. At $350, I couldn't really beat that price for what I wanted (I didn't want a previously worn dress because I'm superstitious like that and couldn't shop the samples because dresses in sample sizes are about 8 sizes too large for me).

Also, if you purchase your dress from David's Bridal you can save your bridesmaids some money ($20 off each of their dresses) and get a discount from Men's Wearhouse for tuxes as well.