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!

It's been a while...

I don't know if anyone really follows this blog, but if you do - sorry it's been several months since I updated! I just haven't felt super inspired to blog recently.  But I figured I finally would post an update, since it HAS been so long.

Well, my cousin Jensen is engaged to a girl named Brooke, and their wedding is fast approaching.  I saw them yesterday and Brooke and I were talking all about her wedding.  She's having a pink and yellow colour scheme - so cute!  I'll be sure to take pictures.  Of course.  Her wedding gown is magnificent: a true princess wedding dress.  I'm really excited about their wedding, and am already thinking ahead to my outfit... Haha.

What else, what else?  Well, Rosie is now pregnant --can you believe it!!-- with a little boy!  Crazy how time flies.  She's still in her second trimester, but I know it will feel like the blink of an eye and she'll have a baby boy in her arms!

Hmm.  Abbey-Shae and Krystian are still going steady, but I keep telling her I bet he'll pop the question soon-ish.  She's still saying two years, buuuut I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen a lot sooner than that!

Anyways, that's pretty much all the updates I can think of at the moment.  I'll end off here, and maybe write some more posts using all the pictures I've been accumulating over the past several months! (Just because I haven't been actively blogging, doesn't mean I've completely lost my obsession with weddings!)

More later!

M.

November, already???

Okay, so I admit I've been beyond terrible with blogging lately.
I just haven't felt inspired, ya know?  Maybe it's because I've gone through Sydnee's, Rosie's and Shell's weddings all in the span of a year (as well as attended some other ones), and I just got wedding-ed out a bit.  And of course, there's the clichéd excuse that I've been busy.  Which I have.  Super busy.  And my thoughts have just been... occupied with something other than weddings lately.  I've taken over leading my church's pre-teen youth group. I'm working full-time at my job and am taking on some new responsibilities there (I just became a trainer and am taking over as Community Lead).  My aunt had a brain tumour and just had surgery on Monday, which has obviously been a stressor on the family.  (It sounds like she's okay, though.)  Plus, Christmas and all its craziness is coming up.
But I'm sure you're not here to read about all that.
I do wish, though, I could just take a vacation for a little while.  It's not going to happen, at least until the summer, maybe...
But, anyways, this is a just a post to say that I haven't forgotten about this blog, and I am planning on doing some more posts soon, if time allows.  I still have a million photos and subjects to blog about...  One day, I'll get through them all!

A Disney Princess Wedding: Ariel

So, the other day, I had just so much fun putting together an inspiration board of what a classy Beauty and the Beast wedding might look like, that I decided to make another post about a Disney Princess wedding right away.  Here is my Ariel-inspired wedding.

Ariel is another much-loved Disney princess.  The rebel of the lot, in many ways, she is not afraid to take charge of her own life and do something drastic, especially to have a chance at true love.  While she is admittedly a bit irresponsible and immature, her curiosity is wonderful and her thirst for knowledge, remarkable.  Ariel is the epitome of youth and her demeanor is as fresh and is imbued with as much texture and flavour as the ocean itself: she is altogether independent, a bit unruly, enthusiastic, and full of brilliant vigor.

More Disney Princess inspired weddings to come shortly! :)

A Disney Princess Wedding: Belle

I have decided to start writing a new series of blog posts, based off of Disney princesses.  The first up?  Well, as you can tell from the title, it's Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Below is a collage of different pieces of inspiration I have put together, for a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding (click to enlarge)...

Belle is probably one of the most loved Disney princesses.  And for good reason!  She's smart, independent, loves her father, and is able to see past the Beast's exterior... and even his interior, to help him become a better person.  Her ability to inspire love is beautiful and her way of (gracefully) speaking exactly what's on her mind is admirable.  Never does Belle shrink away with fear, but she often shows bravery and demonstrates a willingness to be selfless when faced with tough situations.  And I have always loved the fact that she reads so much!  A heroine with a brain is the best kind, don't you agree?

Stay tuned for more Disney Princess inspired wedding ideas! :)

Note: the blog post was inspired by this one: http://burnettsboards.com/disney-princess-you/ -- SO amazing!  Seriously.  Check it out.

Save the date, k?

Happy August!  Well, ok, yes, I know, August is more than half over.  Just humour me.  I've always quite liked the month of August, and sometimes, I think it's the month I'd like to get married in... one day... Whenever it happens...  It's just a nice month-- one that is good, usually, weather-wise.  Right now, for example, we are going through a bit of a heat wave.  But it's just so nice to see the sun where I live.  Love it!

But anyways, I was browsing through... Pinterest?  I think?  I actually don't remember which site I was on at the time.  Anyways, and I found these cute Save-the-Dates.  Enjoy.

Ok, this first one probably doesn't exactly fit the description of a Save-the-Date, but it's close... And I thought the fingerprints making a heart was such a unique idea!  Only thing that bugs me a bit is the fact that it says "Were engaged."  Sounds like it's past tense to me.  I know, I know, it's supposed to be read, "We're engaged."  Well put a freakin' apostrophe there, then, k?  Haha.  That is my grammar rant of the day.

I love this next one.  Wouldn't it be cute to do some shots like that in an engagement photo shoot, and then print them off and just mail them as is?  Probably wouldn't be super expensive, either, which, as you may know, is a must for me.

This next one is AH-MAZE-ING.  Seriously.  What a cute idea.  The ring is just the perfect touch.  Brilliance.

Again, another cute idea for an engagement photo shoot, I think!  Almost like a two-birds-(two love birds?)with-one-stone kind of thing, doing a Save-the-Date shot during the shoot.  I lurve it.

Have you ever seen a unique Save-the-Date?  And another question: do you think Save-the-Dates are 100% necessary, or just an extra little thing to add to the wedding planning?  I had the thought of skipping them altogether, when I get married, but after seeing these, I might just reconsider....! 

Late Night Wedding Dress Designs...

Fun with Abbey-Shae! :)  This is the dress she created... I made one, too, but...... Yeah.  I'm tired.  It's late. Enjoy Abbey-Shae's wedding dress.  Hehe.

Lights&Lanterns.

I was just looking through my "Wedding" folder on my computer and found these photos.  (Yes, I have a wedding folder.  ...How could I not?)  These are just some pictures I found online of beautiful sparkling lights at weddings... I'd love something like these at my own wedding, in the future!

        

There is just something I love about floating lanterns.  I think they remind me of Disney's animated movie, Tangled - one of my favourites.  I don't know.  They're so... romantic, in a way?  Imagine the amazing wedding photos you could get!  (However, my practical side says: I'd love to do a lantern-release at my wedding, though I'm not sure how that would work...  Like, do you have to get a permit to do so? Is it really safe to send up paper bags with fire into the air?  Even if you don't use a lit flame, and it's really a battery-operated light or something - would that work? - are you allowed to just send them into the air?  Do they make a lot of waste when they fall?  Umm... Hmm...  In any case...)  Aren't they beautiful?

Shell's Bachelorette

So, on with the saga of Shell's wedding!  As you can see about the title, this post is going to be about her bachelorette... It definitely wasn't the conventional one, that's for sure, but it was super fun!  Only bummer was that it absolutely poured rain that day.  But oh, well!

First, I went and picked up Sydnee and we arrived at Shell's house together.  Rebekkah (Shell's sister), Linnea, and Frank's sister Annabelle were there already.  We picked up another girl, Debra, and then headed off to our destination......  The oh-so-risqué...

Aquarium! (Betcha didn't see that coming!  ...Well, unless you saw the photo below :-| )

Photo cred to Sydnee Sagalla! <3

Right away, we divvied up into groups: Sydnee, me, and Linnea on one team, and Rebekkah, Annabelle and Debra on the other. (Shell split her time between the two groups.)  Linnea and Rebekkah had prepared a super cool photo scavenger hunt and we were sent on the mission of photographing a whole bunch of things from a list.  On the list were such things as:

- Get a picture of the group looking scared in front of the shark tank!

- Photobomb a tourist's picture

- Leap into a photo with some frogs

- Find Nemo!

- Get the group to agree on the cutest animal

- Find the biggest fish you can

- Take the most unique picture you can

... and two others stand-out photographs:  Get someone to wear the "Bride-to-Be" sash Shell was wearing (we got this old, grumpy-looking employee to wear it!  It was amazing!) and get someone to propose to Shell.

Here is our team's version of the proposal.  We got another employee, this young, geeky, cute kid to do it.  I edited up the picture, to remain Weddingaholic Anonymous, but I just had to include his face so that you can get an idea of what the picture looked like.  Because it really was amazing in real life!

I'm pretty sure it was one of the highlights of the bachelorette - just SO incredibly funny.

After about an hour and a half of getting pictures, we just kindda looked at different exhibits (is that the word when talking about an aquarium?  Or is that just a 'museum' word?), such as the dolphin tank, and the otters, and sea lions.  The two groups got together and we then got something to eat at the food bar.  We just kind of took it easy for a bit and sat down underground, by the beluga tank, out of the rain, munching on our food.  Then, it was time to leave.

After the aquarium, the seven of us went out for sushi (which a coworker of mine pointed out was kind of ironic, non?  But sushi is one of Shell's favourites).  I just got some plain old California rolls - but they were so good!  I'll have to remember that sushi restaurant and return there sometime... It was really pretty inside, with cherry trees to decorate it.  We all just hung out and chatted.  It was a lot of fun!

And that was pretty much the whole bachelorette!  Definitely not the conventional kind, which I really loved actually - it really was just so much fun!  I couldn't believe, though, how quickly Shell's wedding was coming up....  It was great to celebrate her last days as an Upton because, very soon, she would be Mrs. Rios!  Wow!!

Bee-You-Tea-Full

My sister and I were browsing Pinterest the other day, and we found THIS.  I love absolutely everything about this photo.  Her hair, her make-up, her DRESS.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Hair or There.

Hey, all.

Updates on Shell's wedding (and Sydnee's, and Rosie's!) coming soon, I promise.  But for now, just some pretty updos I  found on "The Knot"...  :)

I. Love. This.

This is seriously almost exactly how I'd love my wedding to look.  I lovelovelove the twinkling lights, and of course the splashes of yellow, and the clean white... it looks so elegant, yet still has a certain almost rustic charm to it.  LOVE!

Shell's Bridesmaids

For her wedding, Shell chose four bridesmaids: her sister and maid of honour, Rebekkah; her close friend, Linnea; her fiancé's younger sister, Annabelle; and myself.  I was so thrilled to be part of her wedding party, and was just beyond excited to go bridesmaid dress shopping with the other girls.  We ended up going to this wedding salon that was run from someone's house... Shell had heard of the place years ago from her internet travels, and we decided to go check it out.  We weren't too sure what to expect, really...  I think we were all kind of thinking it might be a little sketchy, but we also, paradoxically, had high hopes.

Linnea and Frank Austin drove the five of us girls to the salon.  We got out of the car and I, for one, was pretty impressed.  The lady who ran the place had a completely separate, adjacent little building to her house, where all the dresses were kept.  The way it was set up inside looked like it was a completely professional wedding salon.  I almost forgot we were at someone's house.  She had wedding dresses on display, a little changing room, a sofa to sit on, racks of bridesmaid dresses, shoes, jewelry cases, and everything else that would be in a conventional wedding boutique.  It was really beautifully set-up.  Linnea was the first to try on dresses and tried on some really cute ones.  But each dress kept getting better and better.  Her last dress (and consequently the favourite of the group was this one):

We then had Annabelle try this dress on, as well as some others.  This one was still a favourite of the group.  There was also a halter-top Marilyn-Monroe-esque chiffon one that was cute, but this one was definitely high up in the running.  Next, I tried it on, and just loved it.  A key selling point was the fact that this dress had pockets!  And, it was very flattering on everyone.  (I know, I know, they always say that about bridesmaid dresses... but it really was true!)  It was quite funny, though, because we had started the appointment by saying that it might be neat to have some different dresses for everyone, just with the same colour and fabric.  But we ended up buying this dress for everyone!  Though the coral colour was super cute, Shell wanted brown dresses, to contrast the pink flowers we'd be carrying while walking down the aisle.  It was hard to imagine what they'd look like, but we were confident they'd turn out well! :)

Fast forward a few months to the day we got to pick up the dresses.  Linnea, Shell, and I travelled to get them.  And they turned out beautifully!  Rebekkah and I had gotten straps on the dresses, and here I am, modelling the dress in a lovely shade of brown!

After picking up the dresses, the three of us went to a local shopping mall to see if we could find some jewelry to match.  I brought what was basically a fabric swatch (really, it was the excess from the corset ties in the back that we cut off from the appointment, if that makes sense) with us into my favourite store, Le Chateau, in order to make sure our jewelry "went" with the colour of the dresses.  Right away, Linnea saw these brown-ish pearls that were absolutely beautiful.  The necklaces also had three beads that were bedazzled with sparkles.  (I can never resist a little-- or a lot of --sparkle!)  She also found matching bracelets for herself and Annabelle.  I, on the other hand, chose a sparkly (see, I told you, I LOVE sparkle!) bracelet.  We decided we'd get a bracelet for Rebekkah another day, thinking she could chose exactly what she'd want. 

The three of us, Shell, Linnea, and myself, also looked at the dresses at Le Chateau, and the other two girls found some that they loved.  Shell found this really cute white dress - something that would be perfect for her shower, which was that weekend.  She had already previously bought two dresses that she was contemplating wearing... Only, the first one was blue, and the second one she'd found was black.  And she had this lovely notion to wear white to her shower.  And of course, the Le Chateau dress was white.  It had a somewhat sweetheart neckline, was strapless, fell approximately to the knee, had a slightly pouffy tulle skirt with sparkly polkadots and a white flower on the waistline.  It was lovely.  Only, she was torn as to whether she should buy it or not, considering the fact that she'd already bought two other dresses.  Linnea found two dresses that looked beautiful on her.  Both were very different.  The first was very show-stopping: bright yellow chiffon, with a V-neck and one flowy long sleeve.  It was sleeveless on the other side.  The other dress was a lot more conservative but it fit her to a tee.  And I mean, TO A TEE.  It was very flattering: form-fitting, to the knee, blue stripes, with cap sleeves and if I remember correctly a bateau neckline.  The three of us had lunch at the food court nearby to talk about the dresses and to decide which one, if any, to purchase.  Shell ended up buying the white dress and Linnea bought the blue one.  Shell also generously bought all our bridesmaid jewelry.

It was so much fun to get our dresses and jewelry together!  And can I say a piece of cake?  We never really had any problems finding the dresses or the necklaces or anything like that.  Almost like it was all meant to be, or something!  I know we were very lucky, because sometimes the bridesmaid look can be tricky to pin down - but definitely not the case with Shell's wedding!  I couldn't believe, however, how soon Shell's wedding was approaching........

You Are Invited... Shell & Frank's Wedding Invites!

So, I never showed an edited version of Shell and Frank Austin's wedding invites.  Aren't they lovely?  She made them herself, scrapbooker that she is!  I was SO incredibly excited to get mine in the mail.