Bridesmaid Dresses

M's sister Natalie is in town for the month of September taking a break between PA school and starting her new job, sooooo we decided to do dinner, which turned into dinner with both his sisters, which turned into dinner plus bridesmaid dress shopping (at her suggestion!) 

I think it's safe to say we annoyed the bajeezus out of the sales ladies, and I'm not sure why. They're guaranteed 6 sales (or at least, DB as a WHOLE is) from us... but man did we get some dirty looks trying on tiaras and veils. What?! every girl wants to be a pretty pretty princess bride. 

 

  

I honestly had written myself off as a "veil" bride. 

I think they look pretty on some people, but I felt a little cartoonish. Or at least I THOUGHT I'd look cartoonish. BUT between Katie talking about veils and putting a few on, I'm starting to reconsider. We'll see :) 

On second thought.. maayyybeee it was this that annoyed them:

 

Katie rocked the veil. 

Both the girls ended up falling in love with the same style! They didn't order yet, but these are the front runners (Katie on the left, Natalie on the right) (but in black, obviously): 

OH, and I impulsively (sort of) ordered my wedding shoes! 

I had tried these on for Meagan's wedding last October, since you can order them in any of the DB dress colors. I LOVED the style, and they were super comfortable. 

SO, when the girls were trying on dresses, I wandered over and tried them on again. Here they are:

 I really wanted a blast of color under the dress for the shoes, ...you're really not going to see them much/at all, so why not have some fun with them!? and let's face it, the "pulled up front of the dress shoe shot" is one of my favorites. I wasn't dead set on the "something new, old, borrowed, blue" thing either, but if I could find a pair of blue shoes I liked I was going to try to do it. 

old: my grandpa's law fraternity pin on my dress/bouquet

new: dress (cop out? meh)

borrowed: going to get a broach or some jewlery from grandma - she has FANTASTIC jewlery (and maybe get one of each, from each grandma)

blue: shoes 

My other stipulation was, I wasn't spending tons of $ on blue shoes that, lets face it, I may never wear again. These were only $50! I'm undecided, but I may add some bling like Syndal did on hers.

I got home around 9, and with M out of town last night for business.. TJ was extra snuggly. 

The up side of having a pet, especially a kitty, is when the bf/fiance/husband is out of town.. you never have an empty bed. TJ is such a good little snuggler. Until about 4 a.m. when he gets hungry and starts sticking his paw in your face and whiskers up your nose. Alas, he's worth it. :-)

Overall, a fun fantastic little Wednesday to get me over that hump and looking forward to the weekend!

-Kelly

Bridesmaid Dresses: a redo

Welp, I feel like I jinxed myself a bit with the "zomg look at me! Target bridesmaid dresses!" yippee skippy blog post.

Two of the girls had ordered dresses when another bridesmaid pointed out that they didn't have stellar reviews.

Oh yea... maybe I should have looked at those. Der.

Tis the trouble with Target .. I've found it's hit or miss in terms of quality. This is true of myself when I try on Target dresses, so I'm not sure why I thought it'd be different or easier for 6 very differently sized women.

Anyway, long story short, after one poor review and one "it'll work" review..rather then have the 4 others try dresses and hope that they worked, or that the "poor review" could be saved by a different style, I've scrapped the Target idea. I loved the idea, but I'm not going to force it. The cycle of buying a dress online, returning it in store, buying a new one online until we found a style and size that worked for everyone would've given ME a headache as a bridesmaid so I'm not doing that to the girls.

We've moved on to David's Bridal. People in the wedding world are quite opinionated when it comes to DB. Ideally, I'd love to have been an "alternative" bride and gone with a cutesy small boutique.. but cutesy small means $$$$$$ oftentimes, and I'm far far too anxious about having my girls spend a lot of money on these dresses. DB is easy, affordable, and they're located across the country-- as are my girls. I think they've also gotten a lot trendier when it comes to styles. Here are a few of my fav's:
1. 

 2.

3. 

4.

5.

 I love #3. Hands down, my favorite. It's so classy and modern. Which, conveniently-- is the "vibe" I'm going for with the wedding! haha

SO, there's the update on the dress sitch. I'm excited to see which ones the girls pick, and one of M's sisters has already indicated she wants me to come with, which I'm looking forward to! I gave them all the option of just going alone (I actually prefer shopping alone), or inviting me along.

I have a mini apple pie recipe I'll be sharing soon, so stay tuned for that! 


-Kelly

Bridesmaid dresses, photographers, engagement sessions

I've been a busy little wedding-bee since we last chatted. I was putzing along on Twitter the other day when imagine my surprise, I see a tweet that basically said:

"Target carries bridesmaid dresses. genius" annnddd my little heart leapt.

What do women love more then weddings and Target? Answer? NOTHING.

What I love even more? What you're about to look at, looks like they could be bridesmaid dresses from ANY boutique across the country. BUT? a FRACTION of the price tag. I lurve Target.

So, I put totether a few boards of the styles/colors/fabrics I liked. I've always wanted to do different styles. I think it looks nice, and I have 7 girls with VERY different figures/breast sizes, to be blunt. We have some busty babes, and some "just a handful" not to mention a 5'10" and a 5'0".. so, it was hard finding a "one sized fits all" approach to style. Or at least I thought so. That being said, all the designer lines where you can pick the same color/fabric but diff styles are insanely expensive. Call me crazy, but I was in knots thinking about asking people to pay $140+ for a bridesmaid dress.

Aside from my wedding dress, I never have and NEVER will pay more than $100 for a dress, unless forced to (i.e. I'm a BM myself). Prom dresses were both under $100. I just can't bring myself to spend that much money on any one item of clothing.

SO, imagine my delight in seeing target had a few styles of a few dresses in coordinating fabrics! Behold, my initial "design" boards made with MS Paint:

 I sent the 3 options to a few girls, knowing all the while I liked the chiffon best. I'm not even sure what "shantung" fabric is, but it scared me a bit. Looks a LEETLE like a garbage bag in the photos. and the sateen were a LEETLE bit too shiny for me. Sorry if any of you reading picked shangtung or sateen dresses, they COULD be gorgeous, but knowing we can't try them on before means photos are important. -- oh yeah, the dresses are all "online only"- which isn't ideal, but they all can be returned "in store".. plus, if they are a bit "off" in how they fit? at $70 a pop, I feel comfortable that alterations for a bit more still isn't unreasonable.

SO, the "chiffon" collection it is! I sent an email last night, and almost everyone responded right away, and so far we have 2 picking strapless, 2 picking 1-strap, one with the 2-straps... I love the variety, and I think the styles will look great together!

In other news, we met with a photographer on Tuesday that came recommended by a co-worker. I had the contract signed and deposit ready by Wednesday morning.

We went with: Agape Moments.

 I LOVE their style. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I wanted a photographer that

1) took the type of candid/non-posed "different" shots I liked naturally so I didn't have to feel like a crazy pants saying "did you get a shot like this? what about this kind?" and I could just relax and smile and put my total faith in them.

2) had the type of finishing style I liked. I LOVE the kind of vintage filter they use in a lot of their photos.

We emailed a bit today, and officially have an engagement shoot on the books for October 5 - a.k.a exactly 365 days before our actual wedding! How fitting! I'm sure the fact that it marks the 1-year mark will produce plenty of natural "grinning like an idiot" moments for the photos. Now begins the compulsive Pinterest scouring for outfit ideas for both of us. I cannot flippin wait.

Tomorrow we're having a long overdue small ceremony at Fort Snelling for my grandpa. He passed away in February of 2011, and was cremated. There was a lot of discussion about what to do with the ashes, and myself, along with others, were upset that there was not going to be SOMETHING at Fort Snelling. Scatter 98% of his ashes if you want, but I personally wanted a solid concrete place I could go on "important" days, to visit him, to leave flowers, to sit. Also? If anyone deserves to be at Fort Snelling it was my grandpa. He was the 2nd youngest lieutenant (I think that's the right designation, I could be off) in WWII. Fort Snelling is such a beautiful cemetery.. all the national cemeteries are.

Anyway, after that we're off to Moorhead for the weekend to visit M's dad and gf, his sister and her bf will also be up there, so I'm excited to get to spend some quality time together! She just found out she got into the U of M law school on a special program that allowed her to skip the LSAT! (LUCKY. soooooo jealous. hahaha).. so, I'll be sure to take some pics and post a recap Sunday or Monday!

-Kelly

KiKi La'Rue review: I am clearly not a fashion blogger

(Disclosure: I feel silly and a bit pompous doing this FTC disclosure, as if the frickin FTC cares at ALL whether I'm unduly influencing anyone.. but since I'm a few months shy of becoming an attorney, and my Bar Application is being gone over with a fine tooth comb, I have the legal-fear-of-god (yes, it's a thing) and therefore I am dutifully complying with the real disclosure: nobody paid me to say anything, I won a giveaway, was blown away by their customer service, and wanted to toot their horn. Mkay? Cool.)

SO, a while back, I won a giveaway on Raven's blog. (I'll wait while you stop over there, if you haven't already. She's hilar. --> does anyone else dislike these kind of abbreviations? I thought I'd try it on and I.just.can't. It feels awkward coming out of me... moving on.

Anyway I was sitting on my store credit for what felt like an eternity (probably was about a week) and I finally bit the bullet and got the Dancin' in the Moonlight dress in coral. Pretty, no? I've always wanted a one shoulder dress,... but with how small I am, it's a dangerous online buy. Sometimes it leaves a bit too much of my upper-boob area showing, and I look all sorts of unfortunate. I rolled the dice, because I loved the ruffles and the coral, but alas.. my freakishly small frame strikes again. It's a great dress! On a normal sized human. Anyway, I agonized over whether to sew some "bullets" in it (is that what they're called? to snug it up?) or doing something to make it work, because a) I felt bad after all the communication we'd had about GETTING the dress, and b) returning something is a lot of work.

I finally decided I'd give it a shot at returning it. YES it was free, but I may as well get something I like.

Silly me didn't pay any attention to the 14-day return policy. I emailed them and they SO graciously made an exception for moi, and worked with me to return the first dress, and get a second dress ordered. The shipping of both was on me, but hey, small price to pay for great customer service AND another "free" dress (using my shop credit/exchange). I ended up with a dress I like and that FITS wonderfully, and was not made to feel stupid or berated for missing the deadline! What more do you want in a clothing boutique? oh yes, for them to be in MN and not TX, but that's neither here nor there. ;-)

So I get home last night late after bar review and I see the hot pink envelope.. I rip into it, and try it on. I LOVE it. I had this great plan of waiting until M came home to take a "nice" photo of me.. you know, with my hair done..and preferably after I'd showered. Alas, I have no patience. (and I still haven't showered today... we have a wedding tonight so I wanted to do it closer to the time of the wedding so I look fresh)

Anyway, SO I started snapping away with my phone. Looked a little somethin' like this:

 Ah yes. Blurry. Oh and the only floor length mirror in the house is in the hall closet.. so, hey there broom in the corner!

 And then there was my attempt at showing you guys that my nails matched the coral stripes PERFECTLY.... just ignore my gnawed up fingers and ghetto chipped nails. My hygiene is apparently sub par while studying.

 And thennnnn I had the great idea to take an "artsy" photo in the mirror.. so you could see my cute little dresser and then me. Except, I look like I have no legs. Please, call me stumpy.

 Let's not forget the "instagram" style outfit shot. Fail. Gratuitous boob shot with awful lighting. BUT you can see the cool twisted roping detail at the neckline, that then turns into the straps!

 Another attempt at the full length mirror... this time my leg looks like it's disjointed and you can see not only the broom in the closet, but a roll of TP and some sunscreen. I'm so fancy, you guys.

aannnddd lastly, bringing it all back home, is TJ- keeping me humble. I think the photo says it all.

So, points to take from this post: 1) KiKi LaRue has FANTASTIC customer service, 2) adorable and affordable dresses! 3) I am NOT a fashion blogger 4) I got photobombed by my cat.

-Kelly

Thoughts on Thursday

Well, the dust has settled, for the most part. Still here, still engaged (still WEIRD to say that). Even weirder to think we're getting married. (I think M agrees, as you can see below). This week has been pretty busy, unintentionally so, or at least it's felt that way. Monday night I had coffee with 2 girls I met through M and his guy friends (one is a fiance of one of the guys, the other is an ex-gf).

Yesterday my Forever 21 dress came in the mail! I need to shop online more, it's much more fun to get packages instead of junk mail.

I posted the dress photo on Instagram (kellybea14) with the caption "somebody bring me a yacht!"...because seriously, that's all I feel like I'm missing. It needs to be shrunk a smidge (and with my luck I'll turn it into a bodycon dress instead of just shrinking it a teeny bit). But even if it doesn't shrink up a bit in the wash it's still a good fit. Now all I need is some bright jewelry and cute wedge sandals and I'm set!

All the exitement lately had my boys awfully sleepy every night this week. I snapped these 2 the other night. (I'm just waiting for an email or text about posting this on the internet, but I think he looks sweet when he's sleeping.) I had him wedged to my right on the couch....

and this little guy snoozing on my chest. That grey blob is M's leg thrown over me. I clearly wasn't going anywhere... not that I wanted to. I love it when these 2 cuddle up to sleep. It's precious.

I had a stupid day at work Wednesay.. I am sure it's pretty commonplace but I swear my boss only tells me when I'm doing things crappy and never tells me I've done a good job or at the very least whether ANY of the research memos I've turned in are remotely helpful. It gets a bit disheartening after a while. It's a little ironic that law students and lawyers are all Type-A's who want yes/no answers and clarity, when in reality the law is NEVER (or VERY rarely) made up of yes/no's.. it's always "well, it depends." Infurating, really.

Anyway, the point of that rant was to say that some days all a girl needs is her kitty to make her feel better. I barely get through the door and the little guy RUNS to see me and is purring SO hard he's squeaking. It's really the sweetest thing ever. He's nuzzling, rubbing, and crawling into my lap. He really has all the best attributes of a dog but the "I can crap on my own" beauties of a cat.

Also picked up this nail polish after seeing it on a friend's Instagram. It's Sally Hanson 07 Sea. A very pale blue. I like it :-)

That's about it around here right now. Headed to my dad's saturday to start working out some details about the list... I don't have a mom-zilla but I'm worried about dad turning into a dad-zilla. Who knew he'd be so opinionated about venues but he's already tossed out 2 and said he'd like to come to some of them when we go see them if possible. Pray for me, girls. I may need it. hahaha.

-Kelly