My Dream Wedding

The 4th of July is may favorite holiday! Yep, more than Christmas and more than my birthday, I LOVE the 4th of July. Why? I really can't describe it, but I love BBQs and I LOVE LOVE LOVE fireworks. The 4th of July just makes me happy.
When Mr Frenchie proposed, I immediately told him I wanted to get married on the 4th of July. What luck, the year we're getting married my favorite day happens to fall on a Saturday, the most common wedding day of the week. I had already fallen in love with an inspiration board on Style Me Pretty.
As you know my wedding is not this weekend *le sigh*. Unfortunately, the 4th falls in the middle of my summer quarter at school. That meant, there was no way we could go on our honeymoon directly following the wedding, like we wanted. I aslo had no idea what would be instore for me with school projects and didn't want my grade to suffer. *Booo, hissss*

Was there a dream date you wanted to get married, but life got in the way? Make me jealous, are you getting married on the 4th?

Heat Stroke

This past weekend Mr Frenchie and I flew up to Northern California to visit his family and attend the wedding of my dear friends Alisa and Joe.

Girl Friends and their bling :)

We had a blast and the wedding was beautiful! The details came together perfectly and really represented the couple's "preppy" style.

The wedding was held at a Country Club where Joe, used to be a golf instructor. Check out that Cake and the Ring Bearer!

The only hitch in an otherwise perfect weekend was the heat.

For an area that is normally in the high 70s this time of year, the 100 degree heat was a shocker. As sweat was dripping down my legs durning cocktail hour I started to worry - What if it was this hot for our wedding? Although black, my dress for Alisa and Joe's wedding was really light weight. My beautiful Paigely? Notsomuch. I mean, it's not crazy heavy or anything, but it is still a full length lace wedding dress.
According to weather.com the average high in August is 89. I can live with 89, but I cannot live with the record high of 109! The website also says that July is the hottest month in Rancho Bernado, so I'm hoping this bodes well for our late August wedding.
As much as I would like to admit weather.com calmed my nerves, I am still worried it may be unbearably hot at our outdoor wedding. I'm thinking I should buy a back up reception dress just in case. If I don't end up needing it, I can just return it or sell it. One of the bridesmaid's at Alisa's wedding said she bought a back-up reception dress on sale at Neiman Marcus. Luckily she thought ahead, because at her wedding two weeks earlier, a heat wave hit in the normally cool town of Half Moon Bay, CA.
I would love to find the exact dress I wore this weekend in white, but unfortunately I bought that dress on sale at White House/Black Market and they never carried it in white. So, I checked out all the great suggestions everyone gave Miss Mary Jane and found a dress I really like.

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Are you worried about the weather for you wedding? Have you bought a back-up dress?

But, My Toesies Neeeeeed Them

When I went for my dress alterations appointment with Mathab I noticed something while I was standing there admiring my dress. My feet HURT! I brought two pairs of shoes with me. One was a light yellow pair of Calvin Klein pumps I've worn several times before and the other was my new pair of dancing shoes.


I've danced in these shoes for a couple weeks now. I think I finally "broke them in" this week, but they still hurt just standing there in Mahtab's studio. I'm going to be doing a lot of "just standing there" during our ceremony and I really don't want to be worrying about my toesies while I'm saying my vows. So, while I was standing there I daydreamed about a pretty pair of Cole Haan Nike Air shoes I'd seen months ago.

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They're pretty huh? But, the price, notsomuch. I could justify them saying that my toesies would be really comfy all day and I could dye them after the wedding and wear them again and again. Although Cole Haan doesn't offer dyeing, they say the fabric is fully dyeable and they even include two fabric swatch to test on.

The question still remains though, do I really neeeeed $428.00 shoes? My head says no, but my toesies say YES! What would you do?

Paigely and Me

Yesterday, was quite a busy day... After work I met my trainer at the gym, went home rinsed off, grabbed Paigely and Mama Frenchie, went to visit Mahtab, came home, made dinner, ate dinner, and then went to dance lessons with Papa Frenchie. At the end of the day I was exhausted, but it wasn't in vain, because now I FINALLY have pictures of me in my dress to share. YAY!

** Again, Mr Frenchie, Love of my Life, if for some reason you've decided to check out Weddingbee today, this post is not intended for your eyes...NO LOOKIE**

First off, let me just say that Mahtab is the sweetest lady I've ever met and she definitely knows what she is doing. She taught Mama Frenchie how to properly lace up my dress so that is made a lovely "V" in the back. Unlike the girl at the salon who, when I picked up the dress, laced me up so tight I looked like a sausage coming out of it's casing. She then took in the sides of the top a little so the sweatheart neckline laid nicely and covered my girls. Once she was done with the hem, we were finished with the front.

Next, she worked on my bustle. Since everything was happening behind me I no idea what she was doing, but I trusted her. From the sound of it she started doing one bustle, but didn't like the way it looked so she changed it to another. The bustle she switched to all that the pick-up folds on the outside of the dress. I asked her if she could do a bustle where the pick-ups where under the folds, aka french bustle. Although, she didn't think it looked as nice, she re-did the bustle and I was much happier.

I loved trying my dress on again, but was relieved to leave her at someone else's house. Paigely was taking up WAY too much room in my little closet.

What bustle did you decide? Was it what the tailer recommended?

I'm Just Not That Fancy

To say I don't change up my jewelry very often would be a gross understatement. I wear the same earrings, bracelet and watch everyday. I will occasionally wear a different necklace, but most days it's the Elsa Peretti Open Heart Pendant from Tiffany & Co.

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All thought I've worn them everyday since my Junior Winter Formal, for our wedding I'm planning on wearing the diamond earrings shown above. Papa Frenchie gave them to Mama Frenchie in the beginning of their marriage and Mama Frenchie gave them to me almost 12 years ago.
However, I do think I should wear a different necklace, so I've been trolling everyone's favorite go to shopping place, Etsy. I've found several different options and I need your help. What should I wear?

Option A - Eternity Pearl Ring Necklace by heatherberry
Option B - Single Sterling Branch Necklace by cj

Option C - Divine Lariat by lizix26
Option D - Rustic Little Nest (sterling silver) by lizix26

Option E - Multi Strand Swarovski White Pearl Bridal Wedding Necklace by shacara

Option F - Oh So Fancy - Fresh Water Pearl on Silver by LaraLeighDesigns

As you can see I have a Pearl theme. Mr Frenchie has expressed interest in me wearing pearls and I think a delicate pearl necklace would compliment my dress.

What do you think?
[poll]
Option A - Eternity Pearl Ring
Option B - Sterling Branch
Option C - Divine Lariat
Option D - Rustic Little Nest
Option E - Multi Strand
Option F - Fresh Water Pearl
Option G - I found something even better

Tie One On

A little over a month ago a learned about a great online shop to purchase ties called Tie Bar. After hearing from so many brides who had to drive to several different Macy's to find enough of a certain tie, I thought, "Score! All the ties in one place AND I don't have to leave my computer monitor." (What? I have withdrawals).

This guy gets it

I found our ties the easy way by selecting ties that matched grey suits, easy schmeasy right?

"View All" and Ta-Da - the perfect tie!

This tie even comes in extra length, which was a pleasant surprise when I realized that was something our 6'7" groomsman would probably need.

But wait, there's more! They also carry pocket squares, so I was able to order three aqua ("Tiffany Blue) pocket squares for our the guys to wear instead of boutonnieres.
Baring any complications in their delivery, this was probably our easiest wedding purchase. What was your easiest wedding purchase?

How did they meet?

This fantastic wedding invititaion has been floating around the bridal blogs the past couple weeks and I just can't get enough of it.

Designed by Matt Dorfman, it tells the story of how he met his, now wife, Jill. I think this is by far the most creative invitation I've ever seen. Check out Matt's blog to view the entire invitation suite.

What is the most creative wedding invitaion you've seen?