Bridal Babble

The Random Bride

The Bride — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:54:41 +0000

My Maid of Honor and I finished our hair and makeup a little early. Neither of us really got to eat lunch and wouldn’t get to eat again until the reception, so we went around the corner to a little cafe to grab a drink and a bite.

While we were there debating the merits of soup v. sandwich, we noticed a gaggle of teenage girls holding some t-shirts and chatting up the barista. And then they noticed me.

“Oh my god, are you getting MARRIED?”

“Yes!”

“Will you sign our shirts?”

They were going to a Jonas Brothers concert and for some reason they needed special t-shirts (I know nothing about the Jonas Brothers except that they attract hordes of screaming teenyboppers). They had forgotten to bring t-shirts from home, so they had bought some plain white t-shirts and were walking around downtown, asking people to sign the shirts.

And so there are four t-shirts floating around somewhere on which my Maid of Honor and I signed “The Random Bridesmaid” and “The Random Bride.”

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One Toss, Two Toss, Three Toss, Four

The Bride — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:51:46 +0000

When I first started wedding planning, I assumed that brides tossed the actual bouquet during the bouquet toss. I hadn’t been to enough weddings (and am not that observant to begin with, as previously noted), to figure out that the tossed bouquet is much, much smaller than what the bride carries.

At my first meeting with the florist she asked me if I would be needing a toss bouquet.

“A what?”

“A toss bouquet. You know, for the bouquet toss.”

“You don’t toss the actual bouquet?”

“Uh, no. You’d knock someone out with that.”

Indeed. My bridal bouquet weighed about ten pounds. Toss bouquet? Tiny, like a be-ribboned Independence Day sparkler.

Doing a good bouquet toss is a lot harder than it looks. I recommend that future brides practice tossing objects over their heads until they can hit bouquet toss range with reasonable accuracy.

It didn’t help that there were only about six girls participating in the bouquet toss—makes for a much smaller target.

The first toss went way high but only traveled about two feet. As I was not eligible to catch my own bouquet, we tried again.

The second toss went way over everyone’s heads. Over the girls’ heads and over the spectator’s heads.

Finally, the third toss found its way to the back of the group of girls, where one of my friends grabbed it as it hit the ground. Practice makes perfect!

My husband was much better with the garter toss, sling-shotting it over his head straight at the group of guys. Another friend of mine snatched it out of the air with gusto.

Someone snapped a picture of the two lucky catchers with garter and bouquet, looking at each other with comically pained expressions. Awesome.

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The Dress, and the Moment

The Bride — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:31:55 +0000

It’s been exactly two weeks since our wedding, and it’s high time that I started recording the memories. It’s my goal to post a new story from our wedding every Sunday until I run out of things to say.

————————-

My Maid of Honor and I arrived at the ceremony venue, fresh from hair, makeup, and a snack. They showed us to the bride’s room and the first thing we noticed was: no dress.

The plan had been for my Maid of Honor’s mom to drive us from my parents’ house, where we had our hair done, to downtown to have our makeup done. In a little tiny car. After contemplating the odds of my big, freshly-pressed dress hanging nicely in the little tiny car, we decided it would be best if my Maid of Honor’s boyfriend transported the dress from my parents’ house to the venue in his very large truck.

But in the meantime, he was going to have lunch with a friend.

We got to the bride’s room on the second floor and couldn’t find the dress. It’s a small room—a bathroom, really (but a very nice bathroom in an Italian-style villa)—with nowhere for a wedding dress to hide. My Maid of Honor called her boyfriend and asked when he was going to bring the dress by.

“Uhhh…honey? The dress is in the closet.”

Oh hey! There’s a closet! Someone had even helpfully left the door ajar and we saw the dress hanging nicely inside.

The photographer arrived and I started putting on my jewelry. We chatted a bit. And then I noticed some flowers set up nicely in water by the window.

“Oh!” I said. “Those must be our bouquets!”

The photographer laughed. She’d already photographed all the flowers a while ago. I told her that’s why she’s the photographer; I’m so not observant!

A rush of people started coming in. First, a college friend and her two adorable children—our flower girl and ring bearer. I presented the flower girl with her little flower ball.

Then the extended female family members came in to help me get dressed. My aunt, who is well-meaning but generally overbearing and tactless, decided that she should be the one to put me in the dress, despite having not been present for any of the fittings. Of course, she insisted that it wasn’t her own lack of familiarity with the dress that was preventing her from lacing the corset up right, it was that I had gotten fat.

I wear a size 2-4 in street clothes, people. I AM NOT FAT!

After that, my friend of 20 years (incredible, for two people still in their 20s), came up to say hi. I hadn’t seen her in a while and she’d been through some very rough times lately, so it was great to give her a hug.

And she had a message: “I think they’re waiting for you!!”

I poked my head out of the room and indeed, one of the ceremony coordinators was motioning for me to come out.

The Bride’s head says: “OMG! IT’S HAPPENING! EEEEEEEEEEEEE! OMG OMG OMG!”

I tentatively stepped out, testing how well I could walk in three-inch heels and a gown with a train. I didn’t immediately trip, so I started walking with new confidence.

I was told to stop at the top of the staircase so that the rest of the processional could go ahead without having seen me. My Maid of Honor and my other friend skipped around my dress and went down, leaving me and the photographer. The photographer straightened my train and snapped some photos. I waited for what seemed like an eternity, hoping I didn’t look terrified in the pictures. And then I got the signal to go meet my dad.

My dad, standing there by himself in a new suit. Six months ago, this moment seemed like a pipe dream. My dad was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer in May 2007. The median survival time following such a diagnosis is well short of a year. The first six months post-diagnosis seemed to go well, but things got extremely difficult just after the holidays, as he suffered potentially fatal blood clots and heart failure. He was put on oxygen and his mobility was extremely limited.

And yet, there my dad was, looking better than he did the day he was diagnosed. A combination of a new drug treatment and an alternative therapy was shrinking the tumors and improving his energy. He was walking unassisted and without oxygen. I took my dad’s arm.

As I turned to face the aisle, my husband and I made eye contact for the first time that day. I smiled as my heart skipped a beat. He looked nervous, but happy to see me.

Our friend who was officiating flashed me a grin and asked the audience to rise for the bride. I heard the Pachelbel Canon reach its glorious peak, looked at my dad, and started walking down the aisle.

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Married!

The Bride — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:38:24 +0000

Apologies for the long absence, but the last six weeks before the wedding were pretty crazy!

Our wedding was fantastic and amazing and I don’t really know how to describe it other than to say I couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t cry, amazingly enough, but going through the pictures that people have been sending makes me tear up and sniffle.

I will continue to post updates, reflections, and maybe some advice on this blog for at least the next year or so, so please stay tuned!

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This Would be a Perfect Bridesmaid Dress…

The Bride — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:03:36 +0000

…if your wedding theme was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on Ice.

Also, is it just me or does that pose make it look like her hand is growing out of her shoulder?

And who thought “Stick and Stones” would be a good name for a line of bridesmaid dresses?

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Fortuitous Sales! I Succeed in Buying a Flower Girl Dress and Hair Combs

The Bride — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:57:39 +0000

We recently added a flower girl and ring bearer to our bridal party after I belatedly realized that one of my friends has kids who are exactly the right age. I was super excited about this until my friend asked me, “What about the dress?”

Oh right! Flower girl dress…

Did you know that flower girl dresses often run upwards of $100? And even $150? I sure didn’t! It seemed sort of insane to buy a tiny little dress that cost as much as my Maid of Honor’s dress (and unlike the flower girl, my Maid of Honor will not be outgrowing her dress in a year).

Our flower girl had a dress from a previous flower girl experience, but the colors weren’t quite right. I was debating between trying to alter the dress or trying to squash my obsessive matchy-matchiness*, when I saw this dress.

It’s a lot less than $100 and it’s also perfect.

It’s ivory with an embroidered taffeta overlay, just like my dress, while the color and the ruched sash echo our wedding colors and my Maid of Honor’s dress nicely without being too clone-y or disturbingly child bride-y.

In fact, the sash on that dress is exactly the color of the ribbon I used on our invitations. What are the odds of that?

After the jump: Hair combs! On sale!

I had my second dress fitting last week, this time with the right shoes. While I was at the bridal shop, I took another glance at their hair accessories.

They were still asking $100 for a comb, $200 for a tiara. Too rich for my blood.

Then I went online and discovered that the hair combs that match my bridal jewelry were now 50% off.

Even better, I discovered that I had been misreading the page and the price is for a set of two combs, not just a single comb.

I am now the proud owner of a pair of hair combs that match my bridal set.

If only I knew what to do with my hair.

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*Because I did not want to be an obsessive matchy-matchy Bridezilla, I told everyone up front to just wear whatever. Because if there is no pretense of trying to coordinate, then I don’t care if people don’t match. Celebrate diversity! Or something like that.

But as it turns out, everybody voluntarily coordinated themselves (I think they know me too well). And as I much as I want to think I could have let it go, having the flower girl be the only non-matching one would have made me bonkers. Clearly, Fate is also an obsessive matchy-matchy person because she dropped this perfect dress into my lap. Thank you!

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Wedding Invitations…In Japanese!

The Bride — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:12:04 +0000

Groom is from Japan and most of his family does not speak English. And apparently it’s weird to be decorating with cherry/plum blossoms in late spring. So as much as I love the cherry blossom invitations, I needed to cook up another batch for the groom’s family.

Ta-da!

Apparently traditional Japanese wedding invitations are written like a letter (not to mention the potential pitfalls in returning reply cards from overseas), so we nixed all the enclosures and made it into a folder.

This chiyogami paper is also from Paper Source, the Yuzen Oriental Fans Wine and Persimmon. The ribbon is the same 1/4″ satin ribbon, but in Moss. Paper and ribbon colors are closer to what’s pictured above than on the Paper Source web site. The backing materials and envelopes are the same as the other invitation.

Almost all of our invitations have gone out now and I’m actually kind of sad. I really like making pretty paper things!

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My DIY Cherry Blossom Wedding Invitations: Assembly

The Bride — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:00:08 +0000

Ready to assemble these DIY wedding invitations?

First, some tools:

I used a 12″ Fiskars rotary paper trimmer, though a self-healing mat, craft knife, and metal straightedge will work just as well. You’ll also need a corner rounder (mine has a 1/4″ radius), some scissors, and adhesive. I used Zots, which are basically some flattened sticky rubber blobs that let you do mess-free sticking. To replicate what I did exactly, you’ll need two 300-count boxes of the medium-sized ultra-thin Zots. All of these things should be available at your local craft supply store.

Step 0

If your Kinko’s also refused to cut your cards apart for you, then the first thing to do is to cut the cards apart with the paper trimmer or knife and self-healing mat.

Step 1

Take the corner rounder and round off the corners on all of the above invitation components, the pearlized paper pieces, and the 100lb A7 Oxford card stock.

Step 2

To make the invitation backing, stick the pearlized paper to the A7 Oxford card stock (these pieces should be the same size). Because I liked being able to flip apart the layers and to save Zots, I only used two: one in each upper corner.

Take the printed 4 3/4″ x 6 5/8″ invitation card, center it over the backing, and stick it down. Again, I only used two Zots in the upper corners.

Step 3

Cut a 3″ x 12″ strip of the chiyogami paper. Wrap it around the panel invitation so that the seam is centered across the back. Stick the ends of the sash together.

Step 4

Cut an 18″ length of ribbon. Tie a bow in the middle of the sash. Trim the ends of the bow so they’re even.

Step 5

Tuck the reception and guest information card under the sash, on top of the panel invitation. Stamp the reply envelope, tuck the reply card under the flap, and insert both under the sash, on top of the response card.

Done! Now you just have to address and send.

A Note on Postage

I’ve been mailing my invitations in batches and taking each batch to the post office to be weighed. Depending on the postal worker, the scale calibration, and the phase of the moon, I have been told that each invitation will cost me $0.41 (regular first-class postage), $0.58 (typical wedding postage) and even $0.75 to mail.

When I weigh it at home on my kitchen scale, the assembled invitation is just over an ounce, so I expect postage to be $0.58 (at least until the rate change). However, it seems that the pink bow around the sash can result in extra postage because it means there’s a bump in the middle of the envelope. A majority of the postal workers I talked to ruled that this makes the invitation non-machinable, and so they tack on an extra $0.17.

If you want to prevent that particular complication, nix the ribbon.

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My DIY Cherry Blossom Wedding Invitations: Materials

The Bride — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:15:03 +0000

Previously on The Search for the Perfect Wedding Invitation: I had decided to make them myself and was ordering paper samples galore.

After much layering, re-layering, test-printing, and polling of family and the groom, I eventually came up with this:

Me likey. *giddy giddy happy dance*

If you would like to create some variation on these for your own wedding invitations, read on after the jump.

The Paper

Quantities listed are for making 100 invitations.

From Paper Mojo:

Pearlized Floral Print paper in Ivory (7 sheets)—paper was cut into 100 5 1/8″ x 7″ pieces with their custom paper cutting service

From The Paper Source:

1/4″ satin ribbon in Blossom (2 30-yd rolls)—each roll will supply 60 18″ pieces to tie around the invitation
Yuzen Strawberry Plum Blossoms on Chocolate chiyogami paper (9 sheets)—each sheet will be cut into 12 3″ x 12″ pieces to make the invitation sash

From LCI Paper:

8 1/2″ x 11″ 80lb Oxford card stock in cream (2 boxes)—the Oxford line of paper is made of recycled paper and has a nice texture to it. It can be printed with both laser and inkjet printers and it looks and feels high-end while still being affordable.
A7 Oxford cards in cream (2 boxes)
A7 Oxford envelopes in cream (2 boxes)
Oxford response envelopes in cream (2 boxes)

Total cost of paper and ribbon (excluding shipping and printing): $209. So this isn’t an ultra-low-budget option, but it looks nicer and still costs less than the non-letterpress invitations I looked at.

I designed a 4 3/4″ x 6 5/8″ invitation card, a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ reception and guest information card, and a 4 7/8″ x 3 1/2″ reply card in Photoshop, drawing my own little cherry blossom motifs. I then laid all three cards out in an 8 1/2″ x 11″ file, added crop marks, and had the whole thing printed on my 80lb Oxford card stock at Kinko’s.

Kinko’s will also cut the pieces apart for you for a small charge per cut. Except at my Kinko’s, where the guy refused to do it for me because apparently their terrible cutter would ruin my pretty invitations. So I cut the pieces apart by hand myself, at home.

I printed addresses on the outer envelope on the reply envelope at home on my inkjet printer. The default print settings worked well for the paper.

Tomorrow: How to make and assemble the invitations.

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I Found My Bridal Shoes!

The Bride — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:39:34 +0000

When we last left off the bridal shoe hunt, I was hanging onto these shoes by David Tate because I hadn’t found anything that fit better.

That was then, this is now.

There’s a shoe store around the corner from my apartment. I’d been there before and struck out. But on my way home today, I spied a cute pair of strappy silver sandals in the window. I ducked in, discovered they were in my price range, and tried them on.

They are Loreen by Vaneli di Notte, and they are perfect.

As you can see, they are very, very similar to the David Tate shoes above and have roughly equal ratings on Zappos. But the shape of Loreen is a bit more graceful, the straps are more delicate and thus don’t put as much pressure on my foot and the footbed is constructed of a more comfortable non-sticky material.

The heel on the Loreen is 2 3/4″, a half inch higher than the other shoes. This will make my seamstress happier (I did my first fitting wearing 3 1/4″ heels) but is still a very comfortable height for me to wear.

I love these shoes. They are dressy/bridal-y enough to wear for the wedding, but would also look great with a cocktail dress or even jeans. I expect to get a lot of wear out of these shoes, and I paid less for them than I did for the others!

That’s one more thing off the list! Next up: my invitation solution.

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That’s One Way to Save Money on Bridal Attire

The Bride — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:34:11 +0000

On a sunny, August day in the Berkshire Mountains, 600 guests stood waiting to witness Pamela and Lee tie the knot. But as the bride walked down the aisle, no one marveled at her wedding dress.

She wasn’t wearing one. And Lee, her husband shortly to be, wore little more than a top hat and bowtie. As for the audience, some people wore hats and others had shawls around their shoulders, but most did not dress at all that morning. Only 12 were fully clothed.

Source.

There is nothing in the world that would make me want to be naked in front of my in-laws.

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Wedding Favors and Reducing Wedding Waste

The Bride — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:00:13 +0000

We’ve been going back and forth for a long time about wedding favors. Both Groom and I are adamant about not passing out favors that people would just leave on the table. Wasting money and resources like that gives us both the hives.

So no knick-knacks. No bubbles or bells, no tiny picture frames, no candles, and definitely no plastic fortune cookies.*

After briefly considering the idea of handing out some better quality goods and finding that it would break the bank, the only other non-wasteful option was edible favors.

I love these favors from Ghirardelli. Each comes with four squares of yummy chocolate and I like the unique box shape. At $3.50 each they’re a little on the pricey side for a wedding favor, but at least I have confidence that our guests would take them. And if not, I would eat the leftovers happily.

We’ve also been thinking of handing out bottles of some locally-brewed gourmet sodas. It would actually be cheaper than the chocolates and the pointless trinkets described above, would give our out-of-town guests some local flavor (literally), and it might reduce our bar tab.

But my favorite option right now is to just skip the favor entirely and donate the money to a favorite charity instead. It’s less work for me and the caterers, there is no waste, and it will help people in need.

—
*I’m picking on Exclusively Weddings products today because they just sent me junk mail about this stuff.

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Bridal Shoes for Narrow Feet: David Tate

The Bride — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:23:30 +0000

Previously on My Search for Bridal Shoes: I tried on a bunch of Nina shoes and had problems with all of them. I concluded that I should look exclusively at shoes with the around-the-ankle strap for better dancing support. Furthermore, I’d rather spend a little more for good-quality shoes I can wear again.

I tried some more local department stores and shoe stores, but had no luck at any of them. So I turned to the Internet. I found these t-strap sandals on AnnTaylor.com:

and these from Zappos:

From left to right, the shoes from Zappos are:

Grant, by Nina. These are the shoes I mentioned at the end of this post.
Sculpted, by Steve Madden
Infinity, by David Tate. These shoes come in both narrow and wide sizes.

I ordered all the shoes in a 6.5M, except for the David Tate shoes. Those I ordered in a 7N. I tried them all on in the comfort of my own home, taking them around the carpet and the kitchen linoleum.

The Ann Taylor shoes were ok, except for a bit of poking/chafing around the ankle strap. They’re really shiny, but I could still see myself wearing them on many occasions.

The Nina shoes were very nice, but a tiny bit too small. From my previous experience with trying on Nina shoes, I suspect going a half size up will make them much too big.

I loved the look of the Steve Madden shoes, but they were too wide around the ankle.

The David Tate shoes fit better than any other bridal shoe I have tried on so far. The secret, of course, is in the narrow sizing—all the other brands only come in the standard medium width. I can usually make do with a 6.5M, but my real shoe size is 7N.

All the shoes except the David Tate shoes will be going back. I haven’t quite decided to go with the David Tate shoes yet. First, the heel is a full inch lower than the heels I wore for my first dress fitting. I’m not sure how much this will upset my seamstress. Second, the straps at the front are a little uncomfortable. But I’ll hang onto them for now. They’re the best option I have so far and Zappos has a generous 365-day return policy.

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DIY Wedding Invitations: Paper Sources

The Bride — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:26:32 +0000

So after all my scouring of the internet, I discovered I can’t afford letterpress wedding invitations that I love, and none of the non-letterpress ones grabbed me.

Solution: DIY

And when I say DIY, I mean completely from scratch, not from one of the DIY kits, because none of those were perfect either. And if I’m going to spend a lot of hours assembling the invitations myself, I’m going to make exactly what I want.

And thus began my search for paper. I don’t live near a good paper outlet, so I would have to buy everything online. Here are my experiences in trying to buy paper online.

Paper Source

My first stop was Paper Source (which also has brick-and-mortar locations, just not near me), which is where I found the chiyogami paper that started my search for cherry blossom invitations to begin with. Paper Source has pretty much everything you need to make a nice invitation, from blank envelopes and cards to fasteners and ribbon, to all kinds of flat paper. I recommend buying the $5 swatch book so you can see all the different colors and paper textures.

Advantages: Really great customer service. When I e-mailed them about the feasibility of printing on a particular envelope, they were kind enough to send me a free sample. When I contacted them later about a product that was out-of-stock online, they were able to track it down in one of the retail locations and ship it to me.

Disadvantages: It’s a bit pricey. There are always things that are out of stock on the web site. And the web site itself is a bit hard to navigate; I never quite know what to click if I’m looking for glue or a paper punch.

LCI Paper

LCI Paper is a bit more affordable than Paper Source, and it also has a wide variety of blank cards and envelopes. LCI Paper has more options for different textured papers, but I found the color selection to be a bit lacking. The decorative paper selection isn’t particularly impressive and they also don’t offer much in the way of papercrafting supplies and accessories. You can order $1 samples for just about anything on the web site.

Advantages: Very affordable. The web site is also very helpful in terms of assessing what a paper is like—they tell you what weight the paper is, whether it’s inkjet or laser-friendly, and you can easily order samples.

Disadvantages: Several of the nicer papers come in relatively few colors, and often only in white or ecru. The ecru is pretty yellow.

Paper Mojo

Paper Mojo has the greatest selection of decorative papers that I found online. And if you’re not happy with it, they will special-order from the Japanese Paper Place for you. Paper Mojo also has a nice selection of linen and Stardream card stock. They can do custom cutting on the flat paper you order, so you’re not wrangling giant sheets of paper at home.

Advantages: Selection, and samples galore! For some types of paper, they have put together little sample packs for you. For other types of paper, you can select the specific designs you want to see. Samples run from $0.50 to $6.00. Shipping for samples is free.

Disadvantages: They don’t really offer much in the way of tools and other supplies, so you’ll have to get your eyelets and ribbon somewhere else.

Other

The sites above are the ones I ordered my wedding invitation paper from, but here are some others:

Envelop Me: Specializes in Envelopments®, but also has other cards, folders, and paper.
Envelope Mall: Lots and lots of different envelopes in different sizes, papers, and textures. You can also have your envelopes printed.
Mountain Cow: The site does both software and bulk stationery.
You can buy a number of different flat cards, folders, pochettes, and envelopes. They also have Envelopments®.
Paper Studio: Another nice source for decorative and chiyogami paper. I especially like the web site feature that lets you search by color. Samples are cheap and easy to order. They also have tools and supplies for crafting.

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More Cherry Blossom Wedding Invitations

The Bride — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:17:11 +0000

It’s a good thing that not all wedding invitations are letterpress. It’s beautiful, but way out of my budget.

So here, I will be listing the non-letterpress invitations I found during my search.

Magnet Street Weddings

Magnet Street Weddings has lovely cherry blossom invitation:

Simply Elegant Flowers (4×7 layered panel invitation)

Price for 100 invitations, reception cards, and reply sets: $545
Samples: Free

The invitations are printed on linen paper and come with a backing and a vellum overlay. Response cards and an enclosure are also automatically included. You can also get a version of the same invitation that’s just a flat panel and doesn’t come with an enclosure. That set will cost you $275 for 100.

Wedding Paper Divas

Wedding Paper Divas has this in addition to their letterpress invitation:

Little Bird (5×7 panel invitation)

Price for 100 invitations: $189
Price for 100 invitations, reception cards, and reply sets: $389
Samples: $2

The design is available in mauve, merlot, or meadow green.

Bumper Cards

Bumper Cards has this cheery invitation:

Cherry Blossom Pink + Green (4×9 panel invitation)

Price for 100 invitations: $500
Price for 100 invitations and reply sets (no reception cards): $625
Samples: $15

There’s also a very similar invitation in red and black. That one is $100 less for the same components.

Invitation Consultants

Invitation Consultants has a bright invitation with stylized flowers:

Spring Cherry Blossom (5 1/2 x 7 3/4 panel invitation)

Price for 100 invitations: $168
Price for 100 invitations, reception cards and reply sets: $327
Samples: $2.50

You can customize the font and font color, but the invitation colors are what they are.

Other

Here are some invitations that you can find in multiple places:

From left to right, top to bottom:

8 1/2″ x 5″ panel invitation, available from Invitations by Dawn and Invitations4Less.
5 1/2″ square panel invitation with foil blossom accents, available from Rexcraft, Invitation Consultants and Invitations4Less.
6 1/4″ square panel invitation with embossed cherry blossom border, available from Invitations by Dawn, Invitation Consultants, and LCI Paper.
5 3/4″ x 9 1/4″ panel invitation available from Invitation Consultants and eInvite.

Aylee also has a nice list of cherry blossom invitations and other items for a themed wedding.

I was going for a more formal look with my invitations, but you can also find more casual and whimsical cherry blossom designs at MyGatsby and MyExpression—order them blank or have them custom-printed [1, 2, 3].

DIY

LCI Paper has a whole section for cherry blossom invitation kits, but you can find cherry blossom patterns in their other invitation kits as well.

Paper Source has a lot of invitation kits that use their beautiful cherry blossom chiyogami patterns.

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In Search of Comfortable Bridal Shoes: Nina

The Bride — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:22:10 +0000

I have this rule of shoe-buying: Never buy shoes you can’t run in. And while I don’t expect to be running on my wedding day, I do expect to do plenty of walking and dancing. Comfortable shoes are a must.

However, heels are also a must, as I am both short and short-legged. I had my first gown fitting while wearing these (flimsy and uncomfortable) 3 1/4″ heels, so I need to find something about the same height.

The reviewers at Zappos seem to love Nina shoes for their comfort, so I decided to give them a try. Here’s a sampling of what I tried on:

From left to right, top to bottom, they are:

Halena, an asymmetrical slingback with a 2 1/4″ heel
Vergone, another asymmetrical slingback, this time with a 3 1/2″ heel
Fiore, a slingback with crystal accents and a 3 1/2″ heel
Fifi, a mesh pump with rhinestones and a 3 1/4″ heel
Gretel, a rhinestone-accented sandal with a 1/2″ platform and a 3 1/2″ heel

They were all super-cute on the shelf. But after trying them on, I discovered they were also:

Too low, and actually kind of ugly on the foot. The asymmetrical strap provides no support.
A better height, but the asymmetrical strap has the same problem as above.
Pinchy. The regular slingback provides more support, but still not enough to dance comfortably.
Stiff and painful.
Precarious to walk in, mostly thanks to the platform.

The Gretel might have worked, but negotiating a 3 1/2″ heel and a 1/2″ platform was a little too much for my uncoordinated self. But I did notice that the around-the-ankle strap helped anchor my foot to the shoe during tricky maneuvers (like…walking in a straight line). So I’m going to look for shoes with those kinds of straps.

After browsing around on the Nina site some more, I found Grant, which I hadn’t seen in the store. It’s a T-strap sandal with a 3 1/4″ heel.

If I don’t find anything promising on my next shoe-buying trip, I might order them off the web site and give them a go.

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