Cut-Outs and Greek Key

Now that we are in May we have begun to encroach upon Wedding Season!!!! This year is light for me, just one wedding and bunch of pre-wedding fun (see bacholorette parties, bridal showers, and dress shopping). Even though there is only one main event, I decided I needed a new dress for the occasion.

I popped down to LIT on Newbury and tried on what felt like 25 dresses. As much as I love the store, they are all about the short girls - most frocks barely covered my bum and the long dresses barely covered my ankles.

In the end, I bought a dress by The Addison Story. It is super comfortable but impossible to describe. After scouring the internet, I finally found some pictures. Voila!

The key holes around the neck and down the back are what really sold me on the dress. They are elements that just spark interest. Additionally, I sometimes have redness on my upper arms, so I am extremely grateful for having the coverage without having to have full on sleeves. Can't wait for June to wear this out!!

I do(ughnut)

First it was 7 tier cakes, then cupcake towers, and now doughnuts? Whenever my day gets a little slow at work, I will begin to peruse through my favorite wedding blogs. I like to see what is out there and often pass on cute ideas to friends. Recently I came across a couple who thought of using doughnuts as their dessert. I would have never thought to incorporate my favorite sweet morning treat with martial festivities, but who am I to judge?

In fact, this might be another detail to the wedding that my future self will have to plan out. I mean who can say no to a doughnut, especially since dessert always is paired with coffee!

100 Layer Cake

Wedding Dress Hunting

There are number of weddings slated for next spring/summer/fall. In one of these weddings I will be a bridesmaid. This is rather exciting for me as the only time I have been in a wedding I was about 3 years old and a flower girl. I have been helping the bride-to-be search for her wedding dress for a litle over a month now. The experience has been eye opening.

Together we have been to four boutiques in Boston, David's Bridal and Jessica McClintock in the Natick Mall. The service at the stores was, for the most part, consistantly good. Vicky at David's Bridal was no less attentive than the women working at the higher end stores like Vera Wang and l'Elite. These individuals all really knew what kind of dresses look good on a person's body. It was also refreshing to see that they were not afraid to let you know if the dress wasn't quite made for you. They always waited for our initial reactions, but if there was doubt about a look, they were perfectly willing to explain why that doubt most likely existed and also let us know if it was something that could be fixed.

After we had picked out the dresses we found to be interesting, these women would often suggest something that was overlooked or intentionally not picked. More often than not, these dresses looked breath-taking. Moral of this part of the story: trust the wedding dress shop employees!

There were a few heartbreaking scenes which all related to the fact that these places only have sample sizes on site. Usually the dress only comes in one size and the size can be from 6 to 10 (more likely a 6 or 8). My bride was able to fit nicely in most of the dresses. Occasionally we had to clamp her in because it was too big, but out of the 50 or so dresses we tried on, I think maybe 2 didn't zip up.

This was not the case for some of the others. I saw girls who had the dresses completely unzipped in the back and the dresses were clipped onto their undergarments. One of the women who I saw trying to envision herself in a dress that would actually fit her ended up just breaking down. She went out onto the stairwell and tears began to flow. It killed me to hear her friend have to reassure her that there was nothing wrong with her shape and that she was not too big for designer dresses, it was merely an issue of a store only carrying one size. The scene really broke my heart a bit as we were leaving the store and heading to our next appointment.

I do wish that these places could carry at least one or two dresses in a bigger size because it is awfully hard to visualize what a dress will look on you when it is so mis-sized. America is getting bigger so shouldn't the sample sizes?

In the end, my bride thankfully picked out her dress this weekend and it is AMAZING! She is very happy with the final decision. The funny thing is, is that it is nothing like what we have been looking for/at for the last few weeks, it was a just for fun try-on. I hope all of the other brides-to-be that we have encountered are also able to have that moment where they look into the mirror and start to glow. :)

Dear CA

It is a real shame what is going on over in CA. I haven't had much time to read CNN or any other "real" news source, but I did follow perezhilton.com's coverage of the rallies and Supreme Court Ruling.

I can't believe that CA upheld Prop 8 this week. I was really hoping the state would see the error in its ways of reversing legalizing same-sex marriages. Not only is it the decent thing to do, marriage should not be limited to the man and woman kind of couple, but there are bigger issues that should be placed in spot light.

Like the fact that we are in a recession.

And oh, wait, gay marriage would help stimulate the economy. Just killed two birds with one stone. Boston.com recently wrote an article which gave the statistic that since 2004 over 12,000 same sex couples have been married in Mass and pumped over $111 million into the state's economy!

The study that was used for the article also made mention that after the wedding many out of state couples will then opt to move into the state. Massachusetts is profiting off of other state's inability to evolve. Get with it! And yes, I am perfectly aware of the fact that RI has been dragging its feet far too long now.

Wow, the Sham WOW was named correctly

My friend is getting married this June. Thursday was her bridal shower. It was a really cute event hosted at a bridesmaid's house. Per proper protocol each of us went ahead and brought along a gift for the bride-to-be (or the BTB for short) to open up. After some mass emailing, we all decided to stick with getting something from one of her registries rather than deviating from her selections. As each gift was opened the BTB squealed with delight.

"SPOONS!"

"SALAD-SPINNER!"

"VASE!"

"TURKEY BASTER!"

"SHAM WOW!!!!"

Yes, she registered for a set of Sham Wows. We were all a bit jealous when we saw it come out of one of the packages, I experienced the same feeling when I learned a friend of mine had gotten a Snuggie...

Once my jealousy subsided -- don't worry it was a whole 2 seconds of my life -- I had a quick reflection which revolved around the question: "do you think those things actually work?" I figured I would just have to follow up with her in a few weeks to see if she had to use one.

Later on in the evening, our hostess went to go grab her cell phone that began ringing randomly and in doing so accidently knocked over a glass that had just a teeny bit of red wine left in it. The wine spilled on the off-white carpet!! Everyone went quiet for a moment and then BTB let out a "Sham wow!!". The box was grabbed, opened and an individual sham wow was passed to me, as I had gotten into position to help clean up the stain.

Now, I can personally attest to the fact that those suckers can absorb up the red wine like noone's business. We added in a little seltzer as well just to be sure that everything that could be done was done. After my blotting was completed, it was determined that you would never have guessed RED WINE had been spilt in the first place.

It really is a mircle maker.

I hope to someday own a set myself. Untill then, I will just wish longingly...