Bridesmaids.

I had very good looking bridesmaids friends! Chantelle and Sarah looked absolutely stunning and even though the hairdo was painful (blow-dried, round brushed and back combed - eep!), I think it might have been worth it!

Dress: Aurelio Costarella

Tights: their own

Shoes: Wittner (Chantelle), Nine West (Sarah)

Necklace: Anthropologie

Hair: Jude Dierden for Identified Hair

Make up: Jane Wong for Beyond Aesthetics

all photos by NK Photography :)

Accessorizing.

Last weekend the girls and I went out to look for accessories for their dresses. Honestly, I am realising more and more than it's not that I just don't like styling fashion - I'm clueless! I feel so sorry for my girls because I can't look at their outfits and know exactly what I want/what would look good/what would work. I'm terrible to go shopping with!

So, after about 3 hours traipsing around the city we came up with these ideas:

The Dress:

The Legs:

via

The Shoes:

Either...

or...

We're leaning toward the latter

The Arms & Shoulders:

At first we really wanted a capelet/bolero/shrug but we just couldn't find one that would be appropriate to wear all day/that was nice/that was in AUSTRALIA. The girls are inside most of the day, so in the end we decided just to bring along a cardigan and they won't wear it during the ceremony....

The Waist:

We got our dresses from Aurelio Costarella's sale. We decided to style them with doubled-up belts a la Costarella SS08/09. We chose light grey and cream coloured belts to lighten up the look... They look awesome.

The Jewellery:

This necklace is from Anthropologie and adds a little bit of visual interest to the simple dress... and I think it's just pretty.

Puppies.

What is even the point of having pets unless you can dress them up for your wedding?

Image #1 via , Image #2 via Image 3&4 via

Seriously, our Alsatian could wear that pearl collar, she is the most delicate sissy-dog I have ever met. Zac's King Charles Cavelier would rock the bowtie, he is so sophisticated, he even drinks coffee. Lattes only though...

Hair.

Last week I sat with my Nana in what was probably the last warm sunny day for the next few months. We sat on her back verandah and went through piles and piles of family jewellery. I listened to all the stories, all the history that is kept in non-descript boxes.

We were looking for something I could clip to hold back my fringe and I narrowed it down to these lovely things:

The sure don't make things like they used too.

I took this box to Jude and we've narrowed it down to 2 brooches that we'll modify into hair clips and we'll just decide on the day which one to go with. I'm not wanting to go tooooo vintage-y, just something nice and simple I think...

Two Presents.

I had ordered a present online for my bridesmaid, now the company emailed me to say that's they are backordered.... until August.

That's not very helpful!

BUT>>>> I found something else I thought they may like.

BUT>>>> They won't ship that particular item to Australia... unlike everything else :)

I'm going to contact a friend in California to see if she can help out, otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

BUT>>>> Sarah gets back from India tomorrow, so (in a way) I don't really care about all this stuff, I just can't wait to catch up with her for the first time in about 3 months. Seeing her will be a gift in itself.

Amazing Lake Hotel in Udaipur, India. via

PS.

Zac's suit arrived along with his parents and about 100 photos of Hugo Boss stores all over Europe - just to rub it in, I think?!

The suit fits. Thank God. Zac looks great in it and the fabric feels fiiiiiiiine.

via The Man

If my dress budget was $25K more, this Vera would be lovely to try on... via.

Oh, and I got my dress pinned today so that it can be altered. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this for anyone remotely thinking about buying a dress (wedding or otherwise). Just having it fit properly, hemmed and shifted slightly made me fall in love with my dress, I liked it before, but now I am really excited and I feel much more confident wearing it.

Hair.

Stopped by Jude's place on Thursday to pay for something and then she FORCED me to sit down and read through some magazines and find pictures that inspirrreeeeddd me.

I hadn't really given my hairstyle a thought. Usually I say, "Jude do whatever you want," "Jude I want a fringe, do whatever you want," "Jude, blonde, do whatever you want" and that's it!

Now I have to think about my hair. It sucks. What a pain.

Here are the pictures I photocopied, Jude showed me the Victorian/Leia/Queen of Clubs and although we won't go that extreme, I like the look.

texture and folded and tucked hair. love.

I love the way the fringe is pinned here. Now I need to find a brooch. I want an onyx one...

I have my hair trial the week of the wedding, I'll post pictures then :)

Fun times.

This Week.

The past couple of weeks we've been busy little beavers.

Our cupcake boxes arrived, and saved us a pretty penny because Ebay is so much nicer to us than a brick-and-mortor store, about $50 nicer. Unfortunate but true. I almost had a picture but we ate the cupcake too quickly...

I had another meeting with the florist this week. I had emailed her the pictures that I showed her in our initial meeting, but she thought they were really different? Went in to clear up any confusion and hopefully bring the price down by simplifying the bridesmaid's bouquets. Found out all sorts of lovely information like when we can pick the flowers up etc.

We sent our paper off to the nice, scatterbrained man at the Print Shop. We are getting some films made up at the moment which he will turn into plates and then magically - voila! - Our invites will be done. Probably a week later than I initially hoped. I have been addressing envelopes all week. Sick of it. But I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I still have to line and stuff them....

I bought my girls a gift. It's on it's way. I hope they like it.... but I won't post a picture because they both check the blog. Haha, sorry Sarah - sorry Chantelle!

We had a meal tasting at The Old Brewery with Mum, Lisa and Phil. It was lovely and will make a good Winter lunch. I got full very quickly and promptly got grumpy because I needed to sleep it off. I'm glad I found this out before the wedding day. Poor Zac! I won't each as much on the day or else I will be like a sleepy winter bear! Sorry no pictures. Was too busy eating.

We also found out that they have changed the carpet and painted the big, huge, ugly red wall in our function room. I am thankful for small mercies. I had no idea how to decorate with that red wall clashing with all the neutral tones in the room. Yik!

Did I tell you we found some friends with nice cars to use on the day? I can't remember, but we have. They are even grey-coloured. How coordinated is that? I do feel a little bit bogan though. Riding in a Holden. Haha!

Photo via

We filled out our Notice of Intention to Marry form. Laughed when we had to tick Yes or No when it asked if we were related.* Mentioned to Paul Morrison about getting together to talk ceremony specifics. Trying to find a time to talk with him about it is like nailing jellyfish to a wall. Impossible! Haha... love that guy :)

Perhaps the biggest thing this week is that Lisa and Phillip bought Zac a suit in the UK, again. The UK is a much better friend than AUS. About $600 worth a better friend. Here is the suit on an model who has a seedy-looking-porno moustache:

from Hugo Boss UK

Perhaps the best thing about Zac getting a suit is that we can know for certain that he will be wearing something at the wedding. No more jokes about wearing his 'birthday suit'.

*We ticked 'no'. Just clarifying.

Ninja.

Yesterday we ventured into the city yet again, guess why? To look at suit stuff again.

We always end up at Hugo Boss concession in David Jones.

We always get served by the same young man.

It's embarrassing really, he knows what Zac is going to ask about now, before we even say anything.

So this time we decided to go to Myer instead. But yet again, we are drawn to Hugo Boss. Ridiculous.

So we're flicking through some suits, looking for sizes. Zac takes one to their little change room to try on a jacket and as he comes out, GUESS WHO WE SEE?

That's right. David Jones assistant was in MYER!!! Argh!

So embarrassing. So we high-tail it out of there to David Jones to make sure that we have a shopping experience without looking like Hugo Boss Desperados.

So I visit the Clinique counter at David Jones and then we make our way up to Men's Formalwear.

And we're walking toward Hugo Boss when all of a sudden WE SEE HIM AGAIN!!

We dodge behind Ben Sherman and make our way through Armani Collezione, past Ermenegildo Zegna, Ted Baker and around the corner to Studio Italia to try and see if he's still in Hugo Boss.

And he's gone.

Like a thief in the night. He appears and disappears like a ghost haunting us in our pursuit of white shirts and ties.

Our personal ninja shop assistant. So strange!!

Alice.

I know I'm a little late on the band wagon, but I love Alice in Wonderland!

I saw it a couple of weeks ago and I was expecting the amazing makeup, the wonderful computer graphics, the quirky interpretation.

What I wasn't expecting was the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G costume design.

Alice herself goes through about 6 costume changes (from what I can remember). We can all thank Colleen Atwood for combining whimsy, imagination and beauty into her costumes for this movie.

Here are some stand outs:

Alice shrinks and her petticoat becomes a dress, so nice!

My favourite, the Mad Hatter whipped it up :)

Notice her cute little slippers with bows around the ankles? Great detail!

I LOVE fashion sketches!

images via Rebels Haven, alice kingsley livejournal and flickr

Earring update.

I went into Oroton during my lunch break again on Saturday and bought the second pair of earrings that I posted about (the pearls). They look great, really happy with them.

The gentleman in the store was VERY excited that I was getting married. Here is how the conversation flowed:

me: Hey, I'm trying to decide between a couple of pairs of earrings, but I'm leaning toward--

him: NO! those ones are TOO GAUDY for a wedding, you want to be CLASSIC, CHIC, you don't really want to be looking back in 20 years and asking, "Why did I wear those earrings?"**

me: Uh, yes - that's why I was leaning toward these ones - do you think they are a good size?

him: Yes, absolutely, CLASSIC, CLASSY! What is your dress like?

me: It's an Aurelio Costarella--

him: OH MY GOD, COSTARELLA!! *dying noise* was it expensive?

me: Uh, no, cheaper than some monstrosities I tried on in the bridal stores...

him: Wow, oh that will be amazing. When are you getting married? Where at?

me: July, at The Old Brewery

him: Oh wow - Winter wedding! I think I've only been to 1 Winter wedding and that was when I was like 6 or something. OH MY GOD, THE OLD BREWERY IS SOOOOOO NICE.

me: Thanks

him: So what made you pick July?

me: Well, my fiance is still studying and there is a uni break then, plus we both really like Winter

him: What does he study?

me: He is doing a Jazz degree at WAAPA and an education degree at ECU.

him: ECU? Isn't that AGES away? Does he have to drive far? I study marketing and advertising.

me: The WAAPA campus is in Mt Lawley, so it isn't too bad.

him: Oh cool, JAZZ IS SO COOL. I'm a drummer, but I could never do Jazz, too fast.

me: Yeah, the drummers are insane!

him: So your fiance must be pretty young huh?

me: Yes, *slightly embarrassed* he is 21

him: OH MY GOD - how old are you?

me: *even more embarrassed* I'm 24 - slight cougar

him: NO WAY, that's not a big difference, but you guys are so yooooung!!

me: I know, "young love" and all that. It's pretty sweet. Zac says it's all about the person, rather than the age, though so I'm sticking with that!

him: Oh yes, definitely, and if the GUY is saying that then it's all good and it's all on!

me: Uh yeah, I guess so!

him: Ok, are you a member of the "O Club"?

me: No...

him: Oh you should be, definitely. OH MY GOD!!!! I'LL SIGN YOU UP UNDER YOUR MARRIED NAME!!!

me: Ok....

him: *squeak* how do you spell it?

me: g-a-g-e-l-e-r

him: There all done! Let me know how it all goes!!!!!!

me: thank you :)

I seriously, wasted so much of my lunch break in there. But it is nice when people are excited with you...

**hopefully this isn't what I will be thinking about in 20 years?!?

Earrings.

I am going sans necklace on our wedding day, I'm thinking I might wear some drop earrings and possibly a bracelet (but I'm not sure about the bracelet).

I saw these in the Oroton store during my break last week and they look nice.

Oroton 3 Hoop Crystal earrings. $150. Via

These are a bit more classic:

Oroton Audrey Pearl and Crystal earrings. $65

These are from an online store that copy celebrity earrings. I've always liked this style of earring that Oprah wears:

Hollywood Style Oprah earrings. $34.95

Any thoughts?