Etsy Bridesmaid Dresses

I am getting more and more comfortable with the idea of purchasing custom clothing from the craftspeople on Etsy. I mean, I buy things without trying them on ALL THE TIME from online shops. With Etsy, I can even get something custom-made for my measurements - what's not to love about that??

After reading this post from Something Old, Something New on Sarah Seven bridesmaid dresses, I am convinced that every bride in search of the perfect bridesmaid attire should scour Etsy for the perfect dress. Here's what you might find:

Sarah Seven

{Tulip Dress + A Peaceful Afternoon Dress}

Ouma Clothing

{Striped Carnival Party Dress}

Desira Pesta

{Wine Circus Dress}

Amanda Archer Collection

{Pleated Collar Dress}

Re-Cap: Invitations

Yep, that's right - another re-cap post! But this time I'm re-capping my posts about invitations! I love paper and subscribe to one of the coolest "all-things-paper" blogs - Oh So Beautiful Paper. You, too, should check out this blog if you're a paper-lover like me!


What I Wish I Would Have Known #1 (September 2008)

Wax Seals (December 2008)

ellothere Invitations (December 2008)

Etsy Invitations! (January 2009)

Minted.com Save the Dates (February 2009)

Paper Source Wedding Invitations (March 2009)

Cheree Berry Invitation Designs (May 2009)



I am totally loving EvaPaul's black & white designs (check out their Etsy shop!):






{M O L L I E}




{D E N I S E}

Handmade Lovelies

It's official - I am insane over hair accessories! TR could have proposed with a fabulous hair clip and I would have happily worn it everyday for the rest of my life. In fact, here's some dialogue I just dreamt up for this scenario:

Person: Why do you wear that in your hair everyday?

Me (nonchalantly waving my hand towards my head): Oh, it's my engagement hair flower and it's my wifely duty to incorporate it into my hairstyle daily. I only take it off when sleeping & showering. It proves I'm married.

I know, I'm strange. :)

Anyways, the real purpose of this post is to showcase a great little Etsy shop called Handmade Lovelies, which sells these gorgeous, whimisical hair accessories created by the fabulous Lauren of openField Photography! Please go check it out!!

{Clockwise, starting at top-left: Turquoise Poppy with Ribbon Headband, Light Yellow Birdcage Veil, Three Red Poppies, Purple and Polka Dot Ribbon Headband}

Etsy Invitations!!

Why, oh why did I decide to go hunting around on Etsy this morning for invitations?! I've been looking for at least two hours and have found so. many. amazing. invitations. It's insane the talent you find on Etsy!

Here are some flipping awesome invitations I discovered...

{Clockwise from top-left: A D E L I N E by EvaPaul; Brocade by Maida Vale; Bold & Modern Red & Chocolate by April Ink; Spring Daisy by Beyond Design}

{Clockwise from top-left: Concert Poster Invitation by Rasideas; Evangeline II by Mew Paper Arts; Fern Eco-Friendly Invitation by Kiss and Tell Cards; Chartreuse Poppies by Michelle Brusegaard}

Etsy: Modern Romance

I am SO EXCITED to share this Etsy shop with you!!! Modern Romance has the most chic & adorable accessories for your wedding day. Love, love, love the capelets & shoulder wraps; and of course, I wish I would have worn the silk flower & feather fascinator on my wedding day.



{Top row: Silk Shoulder Wrap, Sweetheart Birdcage Veil, Silk Flower and Feather Fascinator}
{Bottom row: Organza Flower Neckribbon/Headband, Russian Pouf Veil, Organza Couture Capelet}

{Image made using flickr's Big Huge Labs Mosaic maker tool}

P.S. I found this Etsy shop via the Something Old Something New wedding blog.

Hair Accessories I Love!

Mighty Goods' blog is one of my go-to blogs whenever I'm in need of some trendy/funky inspiration. Clothing, accessories, gifts, home goods... this site has it all and I love it. The latest compilation is that of the fascinator.

Definition: fascinator: [fas-uh-ney-ter] n. a scarf of crochet work, lace, or the like, narrowing toward the ends, worn as a head covering by women. {Source: Dictionary.com}

Here are a few of my faves from the "fascinator roundup" and links to their creators' Etsy pages (Added bonus! Support Etsy artists!):

{Holiday Black Curly Feather Headband ~ Etsy seller: FeatherBrain}

{Love Me Two Times Pink Felt Comb ~ Etsy seller: pnkkim}

I totally wish I had this in pink to go with my New Years Eve dress! So fun!

{Violet Puff Rose Headband ~ Etsy seller: CharmSchoolDesign}

{White Feather Flower Comb with Coque & Crystal Velvet Hat ~ Etsy seller: Satanica}

Ooh La La!!

I'm not normally a fan of garters (because I hate when anything constricts a part of my body that is more flab than fab), but I absolutely LOVE the garters from PretereneDesign. Why go with a boring cream or white garter (guilty!) when you can go with vibrant purple or rich amber or glamorous platinum?? And why not add feathers or leaves while you're at it?? Please enjoy the following garters that I wish I would have seen about 5 months ago so I could have bought one for my wedding (you lucky, lucky readers!):

Rodelinde...

Lady Roma...

Roxanne...

French Country Cottage...

Some of my Favorite LOCAL Etsy things...

I thought it would be nice to show some love to the super-talented Indy artists who sell their goods on Etsy! We have some incredibly talented artists nearby ~ and I love supporting local artists!! I made this nice collage to showcase their work:



{Clockwise from top-left: "see beth blush" felt brooch (can also use as a hair clip) from Accessoire; "Heather Bailey Mums" fabric covered magnet board from SteelDreamingDesigns; "Story Book" gift tags (set of 6) from Viva Variety; "Lots O Dots" round handmade stickers and seals from Keepsake Couture; Monogrammed note cards from Fresh Coffee; "you and i" cards from City Bird Designs}

I would totally be caught wearing the sweet pink felt hair flower (possibly even as a brooch, but we'll see...) ~ wedding day or any other day! Check out Accessoire's shop for more colors & designs.

I love the magnet board ~ you could give this as a gift, OR buy a few and hang them at your reception or ceremony. You could use them as "Reserved" seating signs or to post pictures of you and your fiance (or loved ones who couldn't be at the wedding). SteelDreamingDesigns' shop has other fabrics to choose from to coordinate with your wedding colors.

The storybook gift tags are so cute! Obviously, these would dress up your bridesmaid/mother/father/groom gifts, AND ensure the gifts get to the right person. :) Viva Variety's shop also has other paper goods and trinkets for sale, so be sure to stop by!

I can think of a bajillion ways to use the collection of round stickers: seals for thank-you-card envelopes... fancy-ing up clear candle holders or vases... labeling favors... I could go on, but I won't! Keepsake Couture sells a variety of chic notebooks & paper goods; perfect for a paper-lover like me!

The monogrammed note cards by Fresh Coffee are so adorable ~ I would love to have a stash of these on hand to send out little notes to my friends & family. I love snail mail! Fresh Coffee also has a bunch of lovely paper goods for sale, including wedding invitations!

Finally, (my favorite!) I must congratulate CityBird Designs on their fantastic "you and i" cards. Fill-in-the-blank/check-box cards are so fun! I can think of so many friends who I haven't seen in a while ~ I would love to send each of them one of these cards to invite them to coffee or a girl's night. I'm going to have to check in with this shop more often because everything is just so cute!

Happy Shopping!

Etsy Hair Clips

I just love hair clips. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I'm the queen of bobby-pinned hairstyles. On any given day, there's a 95% chance that I have bobby pins in my hair. Along this theme of hair and pins, I also love the look of flowers or other decorative items in my hair. Here's a wedding photo to prove it:





















(Photo courtesy of Lemongrass Photography)

I always knew I'd have a flower in my hair when I got married. When I started trying on wedding dresses, I found that veils looked stunning if the veil's style matched the style of the dress. When I settled on this dress (pictured above), I was further convinced that a flower would be the only way to go. I couldn't find a veil that made me feel as pretty as that little flower.

I found my flower through Etsy. Island Girl Designs has a super collection of hair pins, especially suited for weddings. Did I mention they are VERY reasonably priced, too?? I can't find a similar flower to the one I wore for my wedding in the Island Girl Designs shop, but Etsy seller AutumnsBlossoms has one (see below)!



{picture source}

While browsing through AutumnsBlossoms' shop, I began to DROOL over the rest of her collection. This lavender flower is so romantical!




{picture source}

I think a hair clip instead of a veil is perfectly acceptable for a bride. If you feel more comfortable/pretty/confident with a hair clip (or sparkly comb or tiara), you should wear it. Veils are beautiful, but not a requirement for your wedding day.

What I Wish I Would Have Known #1

You can easily make your own invitations

When I started looking online for invitation options, I knew I wanted a few things in particular:

• I wanted (my now-husband, then-fiance) TR to design the entire invitation (he's an amazing graphic designer)
• I wanted our invitation to be completely one-of-a-kind
• I wanted the contents of our invitation to be neatly contained within the invitation (the invitation should act as the holder for all of the inserts)

We decided to purchase our invitations through a small boutique. TR designed everything and the end result was pretty stellar, in my opinion. We received TONS of compliments on them.

Here are some pics of our invitations (photos courtesy of Lemongrass Photography):

Now, even though our invitations turned out great, I kept having this sneaking suspicion that we definitely didn't take the cheapest route. In fact, I kinda knew that we didn't even take the moderately cheap route. In reality, we downright took the EXPENSIVE-EST (if that was a word) route.

Here are two solutions I wish we'd thought of:

A) Buying the paper and doing the cutting ourselves. Paper Source has an excellent selection of paper, which we could have ordered directly from their website. After printing (the only part of the process I would NOT want to do myself), we could have had everything cut to size at Kinkos. I don't even want to know how much money we could have saved going this route!

B) Working with an artist on Etsy.com. I love Etsy! Just check out this amazing pocketfold invitation (below) from Crescent Moon Paper. For 125 invitations, this would have cost us $867.50 ~ more than $1,000 less than what we spent! This invitation looks sooooooo similar to our invitations ~ it's frustrating to think we could have had the same result for so much cheaper.

Readers, if you take anything away from this post, it should be that there is ALWAYS a cheaper way to get things done. You just have to be creative and willing to do a little extra legwork.