Honeymoon Hangover

I'm sure you were asking yourself if I'd ever blog again. Wondering if now that the wedding was over and I was happily hitched why I would need to post floral arrangements, save the dates, and lots and lots of shoes. Well my blog readers (all five of you) I'm here to tell you that life goes on post-nuptials and so will this blog.

But for now, I have a lot of re-capping to do. I mean, I couldn't tease the wedding details out for months and then fail to cover the day itself. Unfortunately it's not a one-post sort of story so I'll start by working backwards with our honeymoon itself, which we returned from almost one month ago, and I'm still suffering withdrawals from.

If you think it's criminal for me to take three weeks off work, have the most joyous time of my life surrounded by family and friends I love with all of my heart, travel through my favorite city eating exquisite food and then complain about having to come home, you're right. But that's not going to stop me.

The following posts are taken from the journal I kept through Nice & Paris. They will be long and self-indulgent. Don't say you weren't warned.

Unveiling

Another important bridal accessory still in the works is the veil. Although I thought I knew what I wanted a long time ago - I had a momentary crisis when I found myself pining for a 50's bubble veil. My dress fitting was enough to put that out of my mind. I mean, I know I'm going for cupcake, but there has to be an end to the poof.

Moral of the story? I've decided to stay true to my original plans for a birdcage veil - but if anyone thinks I'm dropping a couple hundred on one of these models from Etsy or otherwise, you've got to be kidding. Yet another thing from the wedding industry that blows my mind: tulle + metal comb + sprig o'feather = $100. Thank goodness my mom is a costumer, my veil will be bespoke.

Still I'm not going to deprive you of the eye candy that is wedding veils (that are wedding veils?). Fluffy, sparkly and totally ridiculous. Behold:

The top image actually looks like a bird  landed on her head. I can't imagine carrying that around all night.

These options are all from Veil Trends - a CO veil designer - they are adorable - in fact it was this 50's bubble that had me questioning the birdcage.

More frothy fun from Etsy designer, Fascinating Creations

So like everything else in this wedding - after looking at loads of different options - we've decided to DIY this (along with everything else) So mom is already hard at work on it as we speak. 

Now all we need is a little bling to spruce up the fluff - and Etsy does not disappoint - next stop - sparkle-land.

What are you wearing?

Attire and song requests are the final additions to our fabulous website facilitated by world's greatest web designer/best man/future bro-in-law, Ben Watson. It rocks my socks off. We are probably the most difficult clients he's ever had/will have (and by we, I mean me) and I can't thank him enough for tolerating and accommodating every nudge, tweak and edit.  The final product is quirky, crazy and very us. I hope you'll look around at all the various details, add in your song requests and browse some of our favorite Denver haunts. It's over at www.abbeyanddan.com if you haven't visited yet!

Boot-in-ears

We've made some pretty big departures from earlier floral conversations on this blog. Restrained, tight color palettes are lovely, but unfortunately, not me. So for those of you who swooned over pretty purple and green compositions, I'm sorry.  No pics of bouquets tonight though - instead some lovely boutonierre imagery of D.'s choosing.

All of course courtesy of the Knot - which ones are we picking? Well we have to save some surprises for the big day....

Ballroom Blue

Thanks to Mal for the brilliant idea of looking for a pair of ballroom dance shoes - voila - blue and comfortable.

Any thoughts on these?

Blue Shoe Blues

So I know you probably thought that after all of that shoe blogging I had made up my mind, purchased a pair and was breaking them in as we speak, right? Wrong. Shoe decision fail.

I know there was a lot of support for the Tiffany blue vintage scalloped shoes from Hey Lady, and my little blogettes, you have rich taste. I can't see dropping the dough on these puppies, and I'm also not sure if they are "in-you-face-blue" (or is that "blue-in-the face?") enough for me.

Cue the "design-your-own" section at Nina shoes - what joy it is to mix different colors for hours. Bows, heels, tops and soles all in a rainbow of shades.  Here are a few of my creations... 

Unfortunately they take three weeks to arrive, and what if they don't fit? No returns on custom shoes, besides who else would even consider the orange and blue catastrophe above?

Thoughts? Suggestions? and don't you try to pressure me into the fancy shoes, I might be too easily persuaded and my poor abused credit card will have to pay, literally.

Pearls

These definitely fit with the black and white color scheme - but I don't know how well they match my superblingy earrings (photos to come soon!)

Bling

We're down to the details so details it is - only 27 days to go. Here are some sparklies that are on my mind today.

Bouquet Blitz

What would I do without The Knot?  The never-ending compendium of all things wedding. Floral decision still looming. I'm heeding the advice to go with color instead of white - but now I need to decide which color.

Here are some delicious pictures to chew on...

Hydrangeas w/ ferns and maybe a few sweet peas tucked in?

More hydrangea - a la Martha

Purple - but no orchids for me, just not my wedding preference. Thinking of something a little more wild, a little bit more (appropriately) English garden.

Sweet Peas!

Brilliant blues

I love these hydrangea bridesmaids bouquets with little pops of rusty red

What about PINK??? Peonies, hydrangea, ranunculus and lilies?

Poppies - and other fun things (what are those?)

 A mix!

More MARTHA!!

How is she so good?

We'll let her have the last word... for now.

Decisions Decisions....

My to do list is rapidly becoming filled with the word "decide" in angry all-caps with excessive exclamation. The overwhelming amount of beautiful research in the form of blogs and wedding mags has resulted in a sort of paralysis due to too many options.

Take last week's shoe blogging (still undecided) or the new decision du jour: floral. I'll keep the reception decor quiet for now (it's all good) but in terms of bridal bouquet, bridesmaids, bouts and corsages, I'm in a quandry. I just love everything too much. 

I'm sure once one thing is decided, the rest will come easily. So the biggest question now is color, or white?

I love all colors. Sometimes when I go shopping and a shirt is displayed in a series of shades, I freeze up, unable to choose just one and go with black instead... or white... or gray. It's like I want all or nothing.

So now you understand why the wedding colors are black and white. I had to restrict myself or else the entire affair would turn into the pride parade. Rainbows...everywhere. (not that I have anything against people who have rainbow weddings)

The specific flowers that make up my bouquet have already been selected for sentimental reasons, representing my great-grandmother, grandmother and mom through their favorite blossoms, each different. Of course, these flowers lend themselves to certain color choices, but still leave me with options (too many).

This is just a small sampling of the inspirational imagery overflowing my desktop. I still have a little over a week to decide, so I will share more soon.