A head start

Until very recently I would have been hesitant to admit that there's a folder on my desktop that's bulging with wedding ideas since my wedding is still so far off (do I sound like a broken record yet? oh bother) but then I found this blog. The author started planning her wedding before she got engaged too, so now that I've got a role model I'm not afraid to share some of what I've found as well.

-- After browsing gowns on The Knot (so I already created an account, whatever) I decided that a drop-waisted A-Line gown in either champagne, gold, or ivory is my must-have. And then I found this beauty from Sottero & Midgley and I've been hooked on the Sottero brand ever since.


[While I definitely think this dress is to die for, it's no longer my favorite from Sottero. It is, however, one that my man has already seen. There's no way I'm going to post a picture of my new favorite because my cunning beau reads this blog and is not permitted to view any dress on my short list!]

There are two branches (if you will) of the Sottero brand--Maggie Sottero and Sottero and Midgley--and both offer gorgeous dresses that are very reasonably priced. Like the author of a $10,000 wedding, I'm also challenging myself to stick to a smallish budget simply because I think loads of vacations and a house with upgrades are more practical applications for my money than a one-day event. And since I'll only wear my dress once, I'm disinclined to budget too much for it. Plus, I saw a $5,000 dress on Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? (watch it if you are fortunate enough to get the Style Network because it's AWESOME) that was so dull that I probably could have made it myself (and I'm a design school flunky).

-- Sean and I live for the fall, so we're planning on getting hitched in October. I fretted over my color palette for quite a while because there's a really complicated history behind two of the loveliest fall colors--copper and burgundy. If I opt for copper I'm afraid it'll be called "burnt orange" instead and the beau and I will be accused of being unfaithful to our school. On the other hand, if I use too much burgundy people might (wrongly) assume that we're going for an A&M theme. (We're proud of our school, but we're not crazy!) I spent a few months trying to come up with different color combinations, but in the end I like copper and burgundy gosh darn it so there take that!

-- I have absolutely NO intention of putting the uber-traditional bride and groom figurines on top of my cake, but I searched for some vintage ones on Etsy just for the heck of it and came across these guys:

I may not be a carrot top bride, but the groom? He looks JUST LIKE Sean circa 2000. Precious!