you guys are driving me crazy...

i mentioned before that the whole guy's suit situation was one of the points causing me some major stress in this wedding planning affair. once we got mike his suit and decided what we were going to get the guys ( my brother, his brother and his best friend) i felt a lot better about the whole thing for a while, we had even stumbled upon a fantastic tie, below for those who might not remember.

the plan was for mike to pick up the other 3 ties, just like his, when he went to pick up his suit after it had been tailored. road block. the store was out of that tie. not just the harvard square store but all of the stores in all locations, the tie was completely sold out and unattainable. cut to bride spewing profanities - why on earth did we not get all 4 ties when we were there a month before? and if the ties are selling out we have to get these boys to buy their suits asap because i may have a break down if god forbid a similar situation happens with them. yeah i know - it's not good for my health to stress out about these small things but adding extra steps at this point in the game just equals stress to me.

stress. a mad search commenced for suitable replacement ties that could coordinate with mike's tie but not match exactly. i like the idea of him being a little different anyway and nothing else in this wedding is going to be matchy matchy so whats the big deal. oh yeah and we need to get something for the dad's too. am i really running around stressing over ties? oh boy it's time to get married already...

after a fruitless search for an easy order replacement i stumbled upon etsy seller hand made by emy who makes custom ties for wedding parties and has a really nice selection of fabrics. after contacting her to pick her brain about some fabrics that might mix in with our orange and blue madras design it was clear we were in good hands. i choose an orange gingham, a little bit country, a little bit casual, and a little bit funky i think for the 3 boys. i just received them in the mail today and they are beautiful. they are so well made, beautifully lined, and even wrapped in perfect little packages...oh and did i mention extremely affordable? emy really saved my day and i very highly recommend her.

we ended up ordering black and white piccolo gingham for the dads from j.crew, the orange seemed a little too young for them, and now that i have them all here i think it makes a pretty nice picture.

i have to say i do feel relieved to have one more piece of the puzzle accounted for, less than 2 months out my check lists are running long and every item taken off the table is like oxygen to me.

we now have all but one of the guys ( ehem...) suited up but it wasnt without a little extra leg work. as i had feared i went to an express to check on the vests and slacks and they did not carry the gray any longer - they were switching it out for black - the fall lines were coming in, i almost lost it. luckily we found a store in the area that still had them and walked mike's brother - his best man - in to buy it immediately. they look super cute on and i'm a happy girl - well i will be once the 3rd guy gets his but i'm on my way.

the final huge road block was the off white dress shirts. are you guys encountering any of this? since my dress is an antiqued white everyone is telling us the guys need to be in ivory or off white otherwise my dress will look dirty. great, another search. have you tried to google an ivory dress shirt? or an off white dress shirt? or even eggshell or ecru? the results are few and far between, i checked retailers, designers, even wedding message boards and forums for advice. i was pulling my hair out and about to say - screw this a white shirt is a white shirt when at express on our suiting excursion we found a perfect solution, beautiful off white shirts - called "stone" - that work perfectly.

so yeah, i can't count the times "why didnt we just rent tuxes" whispered through the back of my mind.* this part has really been a lot of work and energy for me. anyone else having any suiting troubles? the saving grace is that they do look darn cute but really, there needs to be a place that does suit rentals for the modern groom already, they could make a fortune.

* i have a friend who is getting married this weekend and when the guys went to mens wearhouse to pick up their tuxes a few days ago they all had gray jackets and black pants, so i know that a rental wouldn't necessarily mean less stress.

my fair wedding

ok, so i'm coming clean. while mike work's on sunday nights i have settled into a routine of doing homework while watching wedding shows. i feel like a bit of a closet drug addict, not wanting to admit it to the outside world - i even draw my shades so the neighbors can't see me indulging...but this week on my fair wedding david tutera designed a cowgirl wedding and the ceremony is fantastic inspiration for my own wedding. well, maybe not inspiration, lets face it i'm counting down the weeks not months now so there won't be too many changes, but last week when we took a trip to the farm where our celebration will be we found a seating option that really excited us.

originally we thought we'd rent one set of garden chairs to be used for the ceremony and reception with the caterers redressing while the cocktail hour happened. well, when we visited last week we noticed that Jon and Randy have countless old beat up farm benches, big enough to fit between 6 and 10 guests on each. if we use these in conjunction with some of the other mismatched antique furniture that already lives in the barn it could be a very cute ceremony seating set up, the benches almost like pews, and a lot less work (and worry, i've been stressing about making sure all of the chairs are moved in a timely manner.) so what does this have to do with this wedding tv? well, a similar effect was created for this wedding and i think it looks just darling..that's all! a clip from the venue below shows off some of the set up.

mad men bridal shower

my sisters and mother threw me my shower today, a mad men, 60's housewife themed brunch. though there were some minor hiccups- like my mom being on crutches the result of a minor bike accident - it was a really fun day. it was at my parents house and since a lot of the guests were the women in mike's family i thought it was really nice, there is something almost old fashioned about inviting my new family into my mother's home, the home i grew up in.

the girls out did themselves offering and belini's and mimosa's in vintage glassware, and a goodie bag full of vintage candy classics like wax bottles, necco wafers, lemonheads and candy cigarettes.

there was the perfect balance of games (just the toilet paper bride and a age guessing game with childhood photos of me) food, chit chat, and of course sitting around the bride to be while she opens mountains of gifts...i do not exaggerate...mountains. we received such thoughtful gifts and nice things for our home, and only one instance of tears. my sister gave me an engraved locket like the one i gave her for her shower, i wanted her to have something special to pass down through the generations and she returned the favor, we're such saps!

i had super cute outfit as well but i dont have any pictures yet - will be sure to post when i do!

(ps. my sister designed the invite's too - isn't she talented?!)