Hair-Oh!

 So, along with dresses for weddings, another thing to think about, obviously, is hair!  I am currently undecided when it comes to what kind of updo (Abbey-Shae has specified she wants updos, which is just fine by me!  I prefer updos, in fact.  It's way nicer in the summer, and you don't really have to worry about your curls really flopping.  I mean, yes, updos can come out, but even when they start to, they often still look nice!)

To the right is a French twist, which I've always like the look of, but have never had a chance to wear, myself.  They are quite elegant, I think!  But at the same time, I do wonder if it's too 'simple.'  Very pretty, though.  I'm also debating the bang situation.  Last haircut I got, I had front bangs, but they have now completely grown out into very long side bangs (it's been a while since I've been to the hair dresser)!  So, I'm wondering if I should stick with side bangs (and get them cut and styled, obviously), or go back to front bangs.  I do love front bangs, and they suit me quite well, I think.

To the right, we have a low updo.  (A lowdo?)  I love this kind!  Of course, I wouldn't be wearing that sparkly headband, and as I said, the bang debate comes into play here.  I think if I got this hairstyle, I'd get front bangs.  I've always had an affinity for the more low-style of updos (again, lowdos?)

 To the left, is the first Taylor Swift updo I found.  I think Taylor Swift has very similar hair to mine in lot of ways - well, except, mine is not naturally curly (well, it was when I was little).  Basically, her straight hair is almost the same as my natural hair.  So, she's a good person to model potential updos!  Plus, I think hers are always so classy!  To the right is another Taylor updo (lowdo) - actually quite similar to the other one I found.  I've never had a side bun like this, so it might be fun to try!  I also love the way the curliness of her hair is incorporated into the bun.  So pretty!  It's very romantic, I think.

 To the left is another hairdo I'm considering!  I like the way this one looks - I think, because it reminds me of my ballet roots.  So pretty and fun!  Though, do you think too casual?  Maybe it's best to go with something a little more complicated or something?  I mean, not being good with hair at all, I probably could still pull this off by myself.  It's basically a sock bun with a braid, right?  But still, super lovely.

The last hairdo I found is one with Keira Knightley, with a more side bang.  Quite pretty, I think.  She almost has a twist-thing going on.  I like it!  But there are so many hairstyles to consider!  What direction should I go in?  Good news is, there's a long time to decide still!

My Dress for Abbey-Shae's Wedding!

So I bought my Maid of Honour dress for Abbey-Shae's wedding!  This is it, to the left.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I bought it at Le Château, for about $150, including tax.  A bit pricier than I normally pay for a dress, but at the same time, it is a dress for her wedding.  The lace is absolutely gorgeous, and the back is scooped with a little tie at the top.  I wasn't even really looking to buy a dress, but I found this and fell in love with it.  I was out with Leigha at the mall, just shopping and catching up, and we were about to head to Boston Pizza to grab a bite to eat, when I suggested popping into Le Château to just see if they have any possible dresses.  Well, we ended up trying on basically every purple dress in the store.  There were a lot of pretty ones, but I thought this one took the cake.  I just thought it was so elegant and classy!  We texted Abbey-Shae a picture of the dress to see what she thought about it, and she really liked it, too!  She's being very flexible about what she wants us to wear - basically just purple, about knee-length and something we feel comfortable in.  And this fit the bill!  AND I really will get to wear it again! Every time I look at it, I just love it even more.
The other bridesmaids still have to figure out what they're wearing.  There's another dress at Le Château that is the exact same shade of purple, but it has little lace sleeves (almost cap sleeves, but not quite) and is more chiffon-y.  Really pretty - though it didn't really look good on me.  It looked great on Leigha, though!  So, we're wondering if perhaps the other bridesmaids should try that one on and that could be their dress.  Or, they might all end up in this dress as well.  Or another one altogether.  It just depends.  And if they choose another dress, it will be okay, because, as the Maid of Honour, I'm allowed to have a different one, for sure.  Another idea that has been going around is that everyone gets a different, but similar dress.  I think that could look nice, though it will be hard finding dresses that all 'go' together, I think.
As it is, I am SO happy with this one.  And it makes it really real - Abbey-Shae is getting married, and this is the dress I'll be wearing when she does!  Now, we just need to find HER dress....

End of September Already?

Ok, so it's been a while.  I honestly just don't have time to keep blogging anymore!  I'm still frightfully, wonderfully obsessed with weddings, but unfortunately, adulthood responsibilities get in the way of that.  Sad face.  Thankfully, though, with Abbey-Shae's wedding less than a year away, I do get some wedding planning bliss in my schedule.  A few weeks ago, she bought some cute stamps to use for invitations, and decided the theme of the wedding is going to be "Poetry and Peacocks."  (Her wedding colours are peacock colours!)  I think it's going to be beautiful.  We found the stamps (on sale!) at Michael's, and they include a lovely peacock, a dictionary definition of love, monogrammed letters of their names, and there might have been one more.  I'm looking forward to making the invites with her!

Abbey, her fiancé Krys and I also ended up going to see Acacia's wedding, the beginning of the month!  Acacia married Scott Sherman in a simple wedding in a garden under a white tent!  It was lovely.  There was no reception, just a kind of cocktail hour after the ceremony.  Her bridesmaid dresses were blue, and they were the kind that you can wrap around into different styles.  Scott wore an orange vest, and the bouquets were yellow, pink, and orange.  So lots of colour!  Her favourite photographer was there, and the pictures are beautiful.  Their cake was a firetruck (for both of them are passionate for firefighting), with the two of them leaning out of the windows.  Super cute!

But anyways, that's all the time I have for an update!

A Surprise Proposal!

So, I know I've been inconsistent with blogging lately.  It's just been hard to find time and energy to do so, frankly!  BUT I finally have something I need to announce!

Abbey-Shae is engaged to Krystian!

How exciting is that?

I've been in on the secret for months, now, and he finally popped the question on May 24th.  It was so exciting because Abbey literally had no idea it was going to happen.  It was at our church youth group, where all of us are leaders.  Abbey had planned the night with Krys and it was going stupendously.  But, Krys had the proposal up his sleeve, still.  So, near the end of the night, Krystian called up Abbey-Shae to the stage and she was dumbfounded as to what was going on.

All during the week, Krys had left little clues on our church group's Facebook page about the night, words like "games," and "nouns," and "galaxies," which all actually related to what we were doing at our church group.  But, if you took the first letter of each word, it actually spelt out "engaged," and so Abbey had to unscramble it.  She did so, but still didn't get it, which was okay!  There was a note taped to the back of the "d" of "engaged," which Krys read.  It basically said something along the lines of "Abbey-Shae, you're my best friend and I promise, in front of our parents, these kids, our friends, and the other leaders, to be your support always.  I want to spend the rest of my life with you."  (It was longer than that, but that's just a short paraphrase.)  It was so sweet, because you could see him getting emotional!  And halfway through, Abbey put her hands up to her mouth, and said "what?" - as if it finally clicked, what was happening.  Then, Krys got down on one knee and asked her, and Abbey just ran to him to hug him... But ended up sort of tackling him, and they both fell to the ground!  Haha.

It was an amazing thing to witness, the two of them getting engaged, and I'm so happy to be able to talk about it, now that the secret's out!  She asked me to be her maid of honour, and I said yes, of course!  So, it's another wedding on the horizon, and I could not be more thrilled!

P & P

Okay, in literature, which novel would you say is quintessentially ROMANTIC?  If you said "Pride and Prejudice" without even hesitating, you and I are on the same wavelength.  I have always been a lover of Jane Austen's work, ever since I watched "Sense and Sensibility" with my mom and sister when I was a little girl, and so when I finally read P&P (and watched the BBC version, and the Keira Knightley film), I fell even more in love with the era where love wasn't necessarily guaranteed, but it was oh-so-valued and seen as beautiful.  And so, when I discovered that Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers had started making a web series based on P&P, I didn't hesitate to spend a whole day, practically, going through the episodes.  And so, now, I share it with you.  One of the most beloved love stories of our time, a book which has become the archetype of many modern-day novels, in vlog format.  It is really amazing, and I highly recommend the series if you're a Austen fan like I am, or just in general, a wedding- and romance-aholic like me!  Haha.

Lace Me Up, Please.

Let me blog about a trend that all started in recent times with a person whose fashion sense is an icon to many, and whose wedding dress was no exception.  Of course, I'm talking about Kate Middleton.  (Or, should I call her, "Catherine, Duchess of Cornwall," now that she's married?  Why do we still call her by her maiden name, anyways?  No one ever called Princess Diana "Diana Spencer" after she was married, did they?  Why don't we call Kate Middleton "Princess Kate" even?  Anyways.  Tangent.)

There was much speculation about what Kate's dress would look like, before the wedding a couple years ago.  I remember thinking a bit about it, myself, wondering if she'd opt for a trendy, modern style, since she is a trendy, modern (if still very refined) style icon.  I thought she might have a strapless dress with a shrug over top, but she ended up wowing the wedding dress world (if there is such a thing, and doesn't include only me!) with a simply beautiful lace wedding gown.

I don't think that wedding dresses with lace sleeves had been a huge player in the industry much, before Kate's dress.  Well, certainly, lace was definitely considered a wedding fabric, along with chiffon, taffeta, silk and others, but it still wasn't what was trendy, in my experience.  And yet, conversely, it also has a timeless beauty to it, a tribute that made it even more loveable.  Suddenly, people (women) were seeing lace sleeves on a wedding dress in a whole new light, and gone were the days when only strapless gowns were available. Memories of other icons, such as Grace Kelly, started popping up, and there were a few comparisons made with her dress and Kate's.  I remember thinking they were quite similar at the time, but now, looking back, it's only really the lace sleeves they have in common, and those aren't even quite the same.

Still, more dresses started using lace in them, and to a beautiful effect.  Here are a few examples I've found online of beautiful gowns with lace sleeves!

This one, below, is one of my favourites.  I think it has such a romantic, almost old-fashioned look to it.  (And, on top of it all, I love the model's hair!)  Everything works so well together.  The belt is exquisite and the lace definitely adds a wonderful, timeless quality to the dress.  I think lace sleeved dresses are a trend we WON'T be looking back on saying, "what were we thinking?" but rather an elegant fashion spring forward, with a lovely throwback to the past, that will make our children say, "Momma, you had a beautiful wedding dress."

 

Purple-iscious!

So a while ago, Abbey-Shae and I were house-sitting and we were talking about... can you guess?  Weddings.  (Of course.)  She's always wanted a purple colour scheme, and she was thinking maybe with brown, but at the same time, she felt something was missing.  I just mentioned that I had come across this amazing colour scheme of purple and teal recently.  I thought it was so fresh - it can be elegant (like, including peacock feathers into the decor), but a little whimsical and fun at the same time.  And she loved it too!  Right away, we went and searched some pictures online and here are a few I saved onto my computer.

Invites!  So pretty.  I love the top one especially.  Aren't they absolutely beautiful?

And of course, part of weddings include flowers.  Below is an example each of an arrangement, a boutonniere, and a bouquet.  I love the peacock feathers.  I think you'd have to be careful not to go too overboard with the feathers, but I think they could make a lovely touch, at the same time!

Isn't it just a lovely colour scheme?  Ahhh, Abbey-Shae, I can't wait until you get married!