Engagement Photo

Our photographers, Powers Photography, were kind enough to send me a Web image of mine & Robbie's main engagement photo for me to put on my Facebook profile, so I thought I'd share it with you. It turned out really beautifully. The leaves and coloring look great, and I'm glad Robbie & I wore the colors we did. I was so into what I was going to wear, and it ended up that you can't really see the outfit anyway! There are some other photos that show our clothes more, though.

Have a great weekend!

Save the Dates ... Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

One of the more fun aspects of wedding planning for me has been picking out save the dates and invitations. I've always loved stationery and cards. Soon after the planning began, I fell in love with Wedding Paper Divas. They have so many neat, fresh designs ... I want them all! The save the date is their "Captivating Coral" design, and I think it looks chic and modern. Obviously, the image below isn't of my actual save the date because my name is not Frances Elaine Turner, but it's the same design. They were mailed about a week or two ago, so hopefully they have arrived in mailboxes!

You may wonder, why do you need a save the date? Why not just an invitation? Save the dates are fairly new and are getting more popular. At my last job, we always sent out save the dates before an event, so I kind of just didn't think twice before doing save the dates for my wedding. They are probably more popular for destination weddings since more people are traveling, but I thought it would be good to let people know the date since we picked it so far out.

Invitations will be going out in a few months!

Inspiration in Atlanta

I went to Atlanta last week for a conference and stayed at the Omni at the CNN Center downtown. I was surprised to find one of my potential wedding flowers in one of the lobbies - because it's not a common flower. {At least I didn't think so!} The flower is a pin-cushion protea, and as you can see it's quite tropical. What I like about it is that it's somewhere between orange and red. My florist is putting a sample bouquet together for me next week because I am having trouble picturing how all the flowers we've discussed are going to mesh. I will be sure to post photos of it.





I also saw pretty orchids in rectangular vases with ... AQUA marbles in the bottom. I thought they were cute and of course the right color!

Fun Photos

Here are some photos from the first days and minutes after Robbie & I got engaged. It's fun to look back on them. My only regret is that my hair was really short. My mom has always warned me not to cut my hair really short because it's not as flattering, but I continue to do it! Thankfully, it's grown out considerably now. Enjoy!

This was minutes after Robbie proposed. It was approx. 6:45 a.m. on Christmas Eve.



I obviously didn't get a photo of Zoe wearing the ring around her collar for the actual proposal, so I put it back on her to get some photos. Dad calls her "FedEx" now.

My ring. I painted my fingernails to make it show up better. :)

At Robbie's parents' house the next day, Christmas Day.

Lovely Lori London Flowers

I am using two silk flowers in the wedding. Well, in my wardrobe really. One is going in my hair, and the other is being added to my dress. The runner-up wedding dress had a flower on it, so I decided I would get the best of both worlds by adding a flower to my dress.

These flowers are by Lori London.

Hair flower. This is the actual one I am wearing.

In my hair. This is the sample from the bridal salon.

This is the actual flower to be added to the dress.

Me in my dress with a sample flower.

"I Do" Shoes!

If I ever find the magic wedding shoes, I know exactly what I want to do with them. Check out this photo.

Is this the coolest idea or what? I am totally stealing it. I will probably use blue (aqua) letters too!

This photo was taken by La Dolce Vita Studio.

Not a Winning Shoe

The good news is my aqua Nine West shoes arrived in the mail. The bad news is, I don't think they are THE wedding shoes. I like them, and I like the color, but I think they look a little too much like "going out" shoes. Since they were fairly inexpensive, I am planning to keep them to wear for something else. I'll probably take them on the honeymoon too.

Do you agree?

So the search continues!

A Turquoise & Red Wedding in Destin

I was recently looking at my bridal salon's blog and saw a few photos of a recent wedding that had a turquoise & red scheme. I looked a little closer at the bride and realized I knew her. She is a friend of one of my bridesmaids. I did some searching to find more photos from the wedding because I enjoy looking at photos from other weddings with similar color schemes. I found them on the blog of Pure 7 Studios.

I like the use of the paper lanterns at the end of each aisle below. {This wedding was in Destin.}

A Sneak Peek at the Bridesmaid Dresses

Picking out bridesmaid dresses turned out to be harder than I expected. Deciding on the color, aqua, was fairly easy; it was the style that I wasn't sure about. I had several people try on potential bridesmaid dresses: my bridal consultant, a bridesmaid, and even me! The biggest problem seemed to be that I would find a dress I liked, but it would come in the shade of blue I wanted. I had this color in my mind that I wanted, but it was hard to express or describe it. As my mom would say, growing up I would create something in my mind and ask her to find it. I wouldn't be able to explain it, but I would expect her to find it. (Sorry, Mom!) So needless to say, this perfect shade of aqua became rather elusive. The ladies at Solutions Bridal, specifically Tali, were amazing during all of this!

Another constraint was price. I couldn't in good faith ask my bridesmaids to spend $250 or $300 on a dress. So I decided to hit the Internet, as I often do, when I'm looking for something specific. It's just easier than physically going to a bunch of stores. I started searching J.Crew's Web site and ... voila! I some amazing dresses at a better price point and in a very neat shade of aqua. It's actually called "tropical aqua." (J.Crew has an amazing selection of wedding attire, by the way.)

My girls (five, possibly six) got to choose between two dress: a strapless and a halter. The idea was to hopefully have a few in each style, though. Thankfully, that's how it turned out! As of now, three are wearing the halter and two are wearing the strapless.

Here they are!







I am very happy with these dresses and can't wait to see them on everyone! If any of my bridesmaids want to agree to let me put the photos of them trying on their dresses on the blog, I would love to. But I won't do it without your permission. :)

The next decision that needs to be made is the shoe color. What do you think of silver? Or would a nude color be better?

A Winning Shoe?

After more searching for a cute aqua shoe, I came across a pair on Nine West's Web site. They are under $50, so I ordered them! If they don't work, I can return them; if they do work, they are much cheaper than all of the other shoes I have been considering. My main concerns, though, are whether the shoe is the right color and whether the heel is too high. If I get them and like the color, my plan is to take them to Solutions Bridal and try them on with my dress. More to come when I receive them!

Dear Mr. President ...

I've decided to add a rather prominent couple to my guest list. You may know them. Their names are Barack & Michelle Obama. No, really, I'm serious! Apparently you can send an invitation to the president, and he will send back a congratulatory letter. According to Savvy Scoop, OneWed's Bridal Blog, White House etiquette requires them to send their congratulations!

Whether I voted for him or not, he's still the president, so I think it would be neat!

All you have to do is send your invitation to:

The Honorable Barack and Mrs. Obama

The White House

Greetings Office, Room 39

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20500

So when I get my invitations, I'm going to send one to the White House!

Cats are Invited to the Wedding

When I initially went to visit our wedding venue, I noticed something amazing. Cats (about 5) live on the grounds! I was so excited to see an orange cat, and I thought it was a sign that it was the right place for the wedding. Here's a picture from The k Gallery, a local photography company, of one of the cats!

I really hope they are around for our wedding. Maybe I should put some tuna in the bushes to make them come out. If we can't have our own cats in the wedding, this is the next best thing!

Here are some other neat photos of a recent wedding at our venue, shot by The k Gallery.

Chic Aqua & Coral

Apparently I'm not the only person who is a fan of shades of aqua and coral/red together. The May issue of InStyle magazine features a two-page spread of coral and turquoise clothes and accessories.

I also came across a cool inspiration board that features more coral than red, which is making me think more about the exact shade that I want to use.

I love the coral candle holder!

So here's where I need your input. Should I go with more orange-coral or red-coral?

The good news is that the main flower I'm planning to use, pin-cushion protea, is an orange-red, so it could go either way. More details to come on the flowers.

I Love Shoes

So I have been doing more searching for aqua/turquoise shoe options that are 1) less expensive than J. Crew and 2) have a shorter heel. First, I found some flip-flops from OKAb, which is a cool line that I actually already have two pairs of shoes from. I realize they are flip-flops, but being that it's an outdoor wedding AND people won't really see them, I think it would be OK. {If people won't really see them, why am I spending this much time on shoes?!}

The other option is a pair of shoes from Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose. She is an upscale designer who did the wedding and bridesmaid dresses for Jenna Bush.

Source

This particular line is sold online and at Payless (yes, Payless!) and has about a dozen different designs. Each can be dyed in one of 64 different colors.

Yet another option is some shoe, I don't know what shoe, with shoe clips. Brittany of Tickled Pink Brides introduced me to shoe clips, and I think they are just so neat. These particular ones are by Erica Weiner, and I love them. Because I love them, they are currently out of stock. But anyway, you get the picture.

Ok, thoughts??

Father-of-the-Bride

Jordan of Green Flamingo Photography was kind enough to send me the pictures she took of me at Solutions Bridal recently. I'm only going to post one now, but more will follow soon. This one is just too cute!

Say Cheese!

One of the first planning decisions I made was regarding the photographer. We chose Powers Photography, a local husband and wife team who has been in the business for many years. Robbie and I had our engagement photos taken the day before Easter, which was a humid, overcast day, and our appointment was at 9:30 a.m. Most of you know I am NOT a morning person, so getting up that early on a Saturday, much less preparing to get my picture taken at that time, was a challenge! (After going through numerous outfits trying to choose the right one, I went with two outfits from my favorite store, Ann Taylor LOFT. I am in love with that store.)

Robbie wasn't too excited about having a photo shoot, but he was a good sport. We shot the photos in the Powers' back yard (their house is also their studio), and the greenery was really beautiful. At the end of the session, we decided to have some fun and play with bubbles! Robbie had the honor of blowing the bubbles, and I was supposed to catch them. We did that, but then Robbie started blowing the bubbles at me with quite a force!

So here are some of the proofs. I wish they were bigger and of better quality, but I had to scan them to get them digitally. The frame with three photos is one that we ordered. I thought the bubble photos were just so fun! We also ordered the last photo on the proofs page, which everyone agreed was the best shot. Enjoy!