Glamour Brides

Am loving this Sonia Rykiel ad. They look like such glamorous brides. And totally loving the colorful handbags. It's like a handbag bouquet!

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You have my heart and we'll never be worlds apart...

J and I love to go to a record store in Capitol Hill (an area in Seattle) and listen to music. I'm a huge fan of "smaller" (as in not mainstream) female artists, and this record store we go to always has a really good selection of people I've never heard of but I buy the CD's anyway.

This past weekend I got these 3 CD's:


All are fantastic and highly recommended. Apparently Marie Digby is a huge "YouTube Sensation" (I swear it said something like that on the package). I'm not much of a YouTube person. Whenever I hear of something that's been going on Youtube, I never have any clue what people talk about. When the iPhone came out and they said one of the features was that you could watch YouTube videos and I thought that was kinda stupid. Well, proved me wrong when I was watching all these hilarious videos on my dad's iPhone last weekend.

Anyway, I googled her and her rendition of Rihanna's "Umbrella" came up (it's also on her CD) and I fell in love with it.

Have a listen...


I love it when people sing and play the guitar at the same time. I think it's utterly amazing. Now if only I could figure out a way to get somebody to do that when I walk down the aisle...

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What to wear, what to wear

I've been on a shopping rampage lately because in 2 weeks we are going to be taking engagement pictures with our fabulous photographer, Punam Bean. I am SO excited. BUT I need an outfit and I can not find one that I am loving. We hit every single department store and boutique in downtown Seattle this weekend and I walked away with nothing. Ugh, it's always like that, when you actually want to find something, you can't find it. But when you aren't looking, it'll be there. Anyway, I've got a ton of stuff on it's way to me, as I went crazy buying whatever looked cute online, so cross your fingers that at least something will work out.

I was a bit sad this weekend after not buying anything so I went on polyvore created two of my dream "if money were no object" outfits to wear with the my two new shoe obsessions, . Haha, I'm such a loser, but J gets a kick out of seeing me so happy putting these fake outfits together!

Aren't they adorable? Not for engagement pictures, but a fun night on the town, definitely! Anyone else on polyvore? Add me so I can see your sets too! :)

(Click on the pictures for credits of the items)

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Us in terms of shoes

J & I sorta got set up by a mutual friend. She was a sorority sister and was dating J's best friend. I had a long term high school to college boyfriend (one and a half years is a long time for high school! :) ) that I had just broken up with and she was so anxious to hook me up with her boyfriend's best friend. I still remember her exact words to me, "He's perfect for you because he doesn't smoke* AND he's got as many shoes as you do!!" Well, turns out it was true, he really was perfect for me AND he still to this day has as many shoes as I do!

So it's pretty obvious that J would want nice shoes for the wedding. The deal that I made with him is whatever I spend on my wedding attire, he can spend on his wedding attire... so we were at Nordstrom this weekend (not unusual since we are there at least 3 times a week) and found his perfect wedding shoes. They are Prada and yes they did cost as much as my Gucci's. Ohhh, what can you do with a guy with good (and expensive) taste. That's why I love him. He can never complain about me spending $600 on shoes!

I told him I wanted a picture of our shoes together because it so represents "us" so there you go, here's us in a nutshell!

*Yes I was always against dating smokers. I just never found it attractive.

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Bridesmaids gifts

What do you buy the best Maid of Honor and bridesmaids?

Bond no 9. Swarovski Bon Bons! ($700)

or The I love New York Double Decker! ($1600)

OK so they're pretty pricey but hey, they don't need the whole set! You can split it out amongst them! :)

Pictures Bond no 9.

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I need a new diamond...

J and I have been engaged for over a year now and my ring has already been upgraded. I told him that's the hazard of giving me a long engagement, the ring is just going to continue to get bigger. :)

This is what my wedding set looks like now...


These are the wedding bands on their own. They're 2mm shared setting eternity bands.
Without the bands, the center stone looks a lot bigger, but with them the diamond kinda gets lost with all the other diamonds, SO I've told J that I now want a bigger diamond and he said yes! :)

Now, I grew up with a mother who has a jewelry collection to die for and have known about the "4 C's" since I was about 10 years old. My mother even has her own jeweler's loupe, you know those little magnifying things that you can see the flaws in the diamonds with? So J did not have it easy when buying my diamond as I had a lot of specifications. I like to think that it's not because I'm a total princess but I really wanted to make sure that he got a really good quality diamond for the amount of money that he was going to pay for it.

Since I love my engagement ring, I'm mainly just on a hunt for a loose diamond. I haven't purchased diamonds on the internet before but through various other bloggers and forums, I've heard really good experiences, so I went searching for my perfect diamond. I found Abazias Diamonds and they had the perfect little tool for me! You can select basically everything that you are looking for in a diamond, price, cut, clarity, carat, color. I like that it has these sliders where you can choose between ranges. Like I'm looking for a 2 carat diamond so I used the slider and chose between 1.9 carats to 2.1 carats and I don't want anything less than E color so everything between those qualifications popped up in the search. It's pretty nifty for someone like me that definitely has certain specifications of the diamond that I'm looking for.

I know most my readers are already engaged but it's a really great tool to pick an engagement ring too because you can select a diamond and the ring and it will put it together to see what it looks like. I chose something similar to what my engagement ring looks like and voila! now with a bigger diamond!
OK, off to send this to J now!

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Plum Party is awesome

I just discovered Plum Party and I love it! It's full of really cute party supplies and party themes that are not on the cheesy, plasticky side. They have great stuff that you don't see on every other party supply website.

I liked the "Beach Party" section, great for a destination wedding. These are totally not my colors but I like this setting. Everything is made from a latex-based paper, so it would be light and easy enough to carry over in your luggage. My problem with having it at our venue is that I have no idea what their table settings look like so if I can bring something over like this, then I don't have to worry about hating their table settings.

I really like how they have these "beachy" things without being overtly beachy like these napkin holders.
I've been reading about Polyvore on quite a few fashion blogs and it seems to have caught on to wedding blogs as well, so I wanted to have some fun with it too!

Here's what I came up with for the table setting.

And how unnecessary but cute are these initial sugar cubes? Would be so cute to have for the after dinner coffee!

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Still not sold...

I'm still selling my second dress... any takers out there? :)

I'm selling it way below what I paid only because I'm hoping it will go to use and not sit in my closet for eternity! It's a beautiful dress!

Please see my original post for the details.

Thanks!!

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$100 Off! That's a good excuse to buy a dress...

I just got a coupon in the mail from BCBG for $100 off a purchase of $300 or more and I wanted to share it with my readers! You need the actual coupon to use in store, but the online code is SPRING08. What a fantastic deal huh!

I'm a huge fan of BCBG dresses and own quite a few of their cocktail dresses. I've been wanting a new dress for my bachelorette party so this was perfect timing! Here are my contenders...

Hot little pink number, the back is awesome but not sure if I'll have to go braless though. However when I do, I'm a huge fan of Hollywood fashion tape. That stuff works fabulously!


Love the style of this dress. Not sure of the color, I'm not a huge navy girl, but I'd wear it with silver shoes and some fun jewelry to spice it up.
I like that this one is a bit casual but still a fun little party dress.
I'm loving the print and the belt of this dress.
So, I'm going to have to stop by BCBG at lunch. I'll let you know what I end up with!

Hope you find something too!

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The amazing Jessica Claire posted yet another set of awesome photos. There are so many fun shots that I love. Like these...

And quite possibly my favorite ring shot ever...

Hehe. It's so appropriate for me, I get annoyed with people a lot. One of the reasons why I knew J was the one for me was because he is the only person in this world that does not annoy me (besides my family). Even people at work know that I get annoyed easily. I'm pretty open about it when people annoy me. I'm going to have to find this and frame it in my office.

Anyway, if you haven't seen them yet, go check out the gorgeous pictures. It looked like the most amazing wedding!

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TAG!

I've been tagged by the lovely Lyndsy at Yellow Brick Blog so here goes my first tag:

RULES:
1) you link back to the person who tagged you. {link above}
2) post these rules on your blog.
3) share six unimportant things about yourself.
4) tag six random people at the end of your entry.
5) let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs

My 6 random facts:

1) My whole life, I didn't like dogs at all until about 5 years into our relationship where I gave into J, who is a huge dog lover, and let him get a dog. It is without a doubt the best decision I have ever made. I couldn't live without my puppies!
2) I organize my closet by color, sleeve length and material (in that order).
3) I wore glasses starting when I was 3 years old until I was about 8 years old when I had eye surgery - this was way before lasik eye surgery where they actually cut my eye balls and did who knows what to it but I've had perfect eyesight since.
4) I am a really fast reader. On average I read about 4 books a month and I really don't have that much free time.
5) I have super thick hair, but nobody believes me until they feel it. I can only get a hairband around my ponytail twice. One more time and it will snap.
6) I travel internationally for work every other month or so. Last year I flew to Europe so often that I earned over 100,000 miles on British Airways.

I tag...
1) you love me and it's heavenly
2) P.S. I Love You
3) Stuff I like
4)Weddings Start to Finish
5) Love and Splendor
6) Designing Millie

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Cupcakes

I love wedding cupcakes. I'm pretty doubtful that my resort will bake me wedding cupcakes (I've asked, but to no response) but I still like looking at them. I found kylie lambert (Le Cupcake Australia) through Flickr. Check out her awesome cupcakes!





And if you want a pretty cupcake that won't end up in your belly, how about this beauty?

Judith Leiber Limited-Edition Strawberry Cupcake at Neiman Marcus

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Inflation

Fashionista posted this interesting little tidbit...
I've seen so many girls buy these shoes for their wedding. Were they influenced by Sex and the City or did they just like the shoes?

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Selling my 2nd dress

I am selling a brand new and unworn mermaid style dress. I bought two dresses because I wanted one for the wedding and then another one for a "Trash the Dress" type session, meaning I wouldn't care if it got in the water or if the sand got all over it. BUT the dress arrived and it's just not my size and I don't know if I want to go through the effort of getting it altered. It gives me hips that I don't have and I would need the boning taken out. It's a Watters gown, style 5299.

Description from Watters website: "Duchess satin dress with satin ruffled ribbon at empire and trumpet sweep train"

It's a size 2 and I would say it's pretty true to size, unlike most other bridal gowns. The measurements are:
Bust - 34
Waist - 26
Hips - 36.5

If you are interested please email me (click on the "About me" link on the side and then the "email" link) or comment on this post. I'm selling it for $150 + $50 shipping. Paypal or money order only.



This is what I would like it to look like to fit me correctly.


and here's the side view.


Specs about me: I'm 5'2" but I'm wearing 4 inch heels in the pictures above so you can see there's till quite a lot of room for taller girls or can be easily hemmed. I'm typically a size 0 but I ordered the dress in a size 2 because I seem to have a fuller bust than most size 0's and I'd rather not have them squeezed :). If you are my body type where you tend to have to get a size up to fit your bust and you don't have hips, then you will have to get this altered. Otherwise, I think that would be great for a true size 2.

There are ruffles at the bust line and on the train. I was going to have the ruffles at the bustline taken off so you have that option as well. Here's the picture from the Watters website. Their ruffles are green, but mine is white on white.

It's a great dress and I would keep it but since it's my second dress I just don't feel like going through the trouble of altering it. I'm selling it for under what I paid because I'd really like it to be put to good use by another bride. :) Feel free to contact me with any questions!

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The Most Adorable Penguins

I was looking at Love and Splendor blog today and saw this gorgeous wedding that they designed. I love the fuschia accents. Here's a collage that they posted and what caught my eye were the adorable cake toppers.
She mentions that they are custom made Kokeshi cake toppers which I just love since J is Japanese. I googled it and came upon this etsy shop called teenybeek who does custom Kokeshi cake toppers, but the rest of the store is filled with the most adorable penguins ever. Check out this little guy.I love him! So freaking adorable! I love her description "2" tall clay penguin, attitude included." I sent it over to J and he said "Attitude included. That was on the description when I bought you too." hehe.

Now check out the Valentine's penguin. Gotta love the chocolate smeared all over his face. So much cuteness I can't handle it!
She does wedding penguins too!
I think it would be really cute if we had custom penguins that reflected our personalities, like a shopping one for me and a penguin with Nike shoes on for him. (J has more Nike's than anyone I know. And he keeps them in pristine condition. If you looked at his shoes, you wouldn't think that they've been worn.)

You gotta check out the rest of her shop. She's got so many cute penguins in different outfits doing different things.

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Stamp Stamp

I came across this on Martha Stewart and was so impressed that I had to post it. All the stationary is hand stamped! This would be so pretty for a spring or butterfly-themed wedding. I have a feeling if I attempted to do this, it would so not turn out like this picture. Can someone just make them for me please? :) Instructions are here.

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New Obsession

Salon Shoes at Nordstrom is my biggest temptation. I can barely walk out of there without buying a pair of shoes and a huge dent in my bank account. We were there this weekend and I am now so obsessed with these shoes, it's not even funny. They're made by Alexander McQueen, you can find them here at Zappos. I tried them on and everyone in the department stopped and stared and the dept. manager had to come over and comment how gorgeous they were. J is fully supportive of me getting them, he has a fantastic appreciation of women's shoes, but I can't. And I'm so sad. J and I are going to New York in May to take engagement pictures and do some MAY-JUH shopping and then in June I'm going to Vegas with the girls for my bachelorette so I'm trying so hard to save money to be able to buy a ton of stuff when I go on those trips, especially get me a new Louis Vuitton bag. BUT these shoes are so getting in my way of saving for my Louis!

I went online to see his other styles and found this one. They are the perfect wedding shoes for somebody with a big budget! They're $1,689!! Check out the rhinestone bling!
And then I saw these and fell in love!Oh, Mr. McQueen, why must you taunt me with your beautiful shoes? Must. Have. Willpower.

And since I couldn't leave the department empty handed (I never do). I walked away with these, Stuart Weitzman Bowregard. I love the rhinestone at the end of the bow. I wore them to work yesterday and they are quite comfortable. On Zappos it says that the heels are 3 inches but I swear mine are higher than that. Almost all my shoes are 4 inch heels or higher and these seem to be about that height.
They also have them in white, which makes for a pretty little wedding shoe!
It makes me laugh that these are the exact same shoes but the black ones cost $228 and the white ones cost $285. I'm thinking because it's in the bridal collection it automatically gets a bump in price. Funny how they do that :)

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