Wedding Shoes

These are so impractical but aren't they precious?!

They are sort of pricey and you can't even dye them (not that dark blue pumps with little bows are any less ridiculous than white ones). But I still love them! They are 3.5" tall, which isn't that bad for me (you can't date someone over a foot taller than you without getting used to high heels). I love the closed toe and the simple bow- it's like a poor gal's Vera Wang shoe!

But then again, how comfortable would I be in these:

Bridal platform flip-flops... who woulda thunk?

Wedding Programs

I got a wedding program DIY kit from InviteSite. The cool thing about InviteSite is that they are a Pasadena company and they are only a few blocks from my house. I learned about them because they also have gorgeous DIY invitations. The company is internet-based but I called them and made an appointment to see the programs in person. They were nice enough to pull out ones that would coordinate with my wedding colors (lavender and brown). These are the ones I choose- cream, handmade paper with a lavender raffia ribbon.

The inside is a nice heavy cardstock:

I ordered the kit for 50 programs and they called me the next day to tell me it was ready to pick up- very quick! I got over 50 sheets of both paper, a hole punch, 50 yards of ribbon, two glue sticks, a MS Word template, and a bone folding stick (which makes folding paper easier). I'm impressed with the quality of the materials and the price (~$1 per program). We'll see how easy it is to do the printing.

Wedding Colors

There's a bizarre website called COLOURlovers. People on the wedding message boards are using it to post their wedding colors (I have no idea what the site is really for- people just post about their favorite color combinations??). Anyway, here's what I was thinking for my wedding:

These colors were chosen because they appear on the wedding invites and the programs. Since colors differ on every monitor, the colors are: lilac (just like from the "Save the Date" cards), white (or "diamond white", my dress color), chocolate brown (also from the STD cards), cream (from the programs- I'll post about these tomorrow), and black (Bryan's suit). I'm not a matchy-matchy girl at all, but I think it would be good if the wedding decorations can somehow coordinate (or at least not clash) with these colors. I hope these colors do not offend your eyes!

Charity Wedding Favors

I wasn't planning on getting favors for the wedding. The only favors I really like anyway are edible and I think we're providing enough food at the reception already! (Those personalized M&Ms are cute, though...)

I guess it's becoming very popular to make a charitable donation in lieu of a traditional favor. Usually, it's mentioned in a placecard, like this:

There are several charities that will even print these cards for you. I think it can be a nice touch, especially if it has special meaning to the bride and groom (like in honor of a family member). However, it seems like there are mixed opinions on this. Several online comments I found thought that the donation favor was pompous and charitable giving should be kept private. Other people were worried that the guests would be offended by the choice of charity or that they would be upset that they didn't get a real gift.

I don't really understand the last points. Who would get offended by a charity that plants trees, for instance? I do think that these favors could come off as pompous though, depending on how the favor placecard is worded.

What do you think? Is this gesture gracious and meaningful or will guests feel gypped out of a memento and worse, see this as bragging?

Wedding Hairstyle

I got my hair trimmed today and my hairstylist and I discussed my bridal hairstyle options. I told her I wanted to avoid the big and piled on the top of my head look (that's just not me). She pulled out some bobby pins and started playing. It turns out my hair is not just slippery, it's extremely slippery. Now you know why I never wear my hair up. Normally, she advises brides to wash their hair the day before (not the day of) so that the hair is a little more grippy for up-dos. She asked me, "does your hair ever look visibly dirty? Could you go more than one day without washing it?" Apparently, I got to get at least a couple days of dirt in it to make it grippy enough to stay up!

Here's a rough approximation of how she styled my hair from the front (ignore her crazy expression and that feather thing):

My stylist kept a small part in my hair then brushed the rest of it back. By the way, theknot.com claims you get this kind of hair volume by using a golf-ball sized dollop of mousse. Uh, no. You get it with back-brushing (or teasing), lots and lots and lots of back-brushing. My hairdresser teased a large mound on my head and it actually looked nice and natural. In the back, the bottom of my hair was french-twisted and the middle was just clipped- I don't have the hair length yet to finish the style.

Unfortunately, my slippery hair texture rules out the super sleek styles. My stylist warned me that halfway through the wedding, the ends of my hair would start poking out- definitely not what I want. Probably, the back of the hair will be a bit messy, maybe pinned rings. For my last appointment with her in June, she'll do a trial-run with my hair and photograph it so that there's no problems with getting it done the way I want in Colorado.