tutu or dress?

Originally, my plan I was set on was having Julia wear a tutu for the wedding. My inspiration came from this photo

{Style Me Pretty...I think.}

 

I fell in love with the tutu idea. Julia would be comfortable, cute, princessy, etc. I liked the fact that it would be different than the normal flower girl outfit. I found some other weddings with flower girl tutus and couldn't get over how cute it would be for our wedding. So, the search began. I found lots of different options online, but most tutus were the wrong color, too fluffy, or not the right length. My mom found one while in San Francisco that she bought, but it was too pink. I found a really cute one on etsy, but it had to be a custom order and couldn't be returned. My hopes for the tutu were dwindling. We did talk to one seamstress {who is actually altering my dress} that said she could make one for us, but that seemed a bit overboard...! 

 

I didn't give up hope on a tutu, but I started searching a bit more for dresses. All along I knew that if we had to do a dress, it wasn't going to be a typical flower girl dress. My first stop was Crewcuts/J.Crew bridal {of course}! We ordered this dress thinking it might work out.

Julia tried it on and of course loved it, but I disliked it from the moment I saw it. The color was off and it just wasn't formal enough for our wedding. Plus, the top part is sewn in odd ways and you could see the stitching keeping the fabric in place. So needless to say, that was shipped back against Julia's request. And the search continued. Shortly after we returned this one, I found another dress from J.Crew that looked perfect online. It is even has "vintage" in the name {which is a theme for our wedding}. Too good to be true? Almost...

 

The color is perfect! Matches the peach on the BM dresses perfectly! It's more formal than the other dress, but not too flower girly. And I love the detail on the shoulder....

Sold. I found the dress I wanted her to wear, but there was one small problem. There was a little tear on the seam of one shoulder. I took it into J.Crew to return it and order another one on the "red phone". {If you don't know about J.Crew's "red phone", you should! Free shipping when you order from the store AND I can use my teacher discount.} Long story shorter, I returned the dress and reordered another. But the guy on the phone said there was only one dress left. This made me nervous and made me think I should repurchase the dress with the flaw. The ladies in the store said I didn't need to buy it back, but they'd keep in on hold for two days until I heard for sure that the new dress had shipped. Close to the end of the 2nd day, I figured out {from calling customer service} that in fact the dress in her size had sold out and it wouldn't be shipping to me. Ahhh, I freaked out! I immediately called the store and thankfully they hadn't returned it yet. So, I went back and bought it {again}. They fixed the flaw free of charge. Phew, dodged a bullet on this one!

I can't wait to see Julia in the dress on the wedding day. She's going to look so grown up. She will be going with us the day before the wedding to get her nails done for the first time! And my hair girl will be doing something a little special for her. The make-up artist even said she could give her a little special blush or lip gloss to make her feel special. She's going to love it! I'm having a hard time finding shoes that I like for her, but the search is on. 

While I'm kinda sad that the tutu idea didn't work out, this dress makes me feel good thinking about how perfectly it fits into the whole theme of the day. And my cute fiancé informed me that the bottom of the dress is kinda like a tutu...which is true! :)

Garb for the Men

While it seemed quite easy picking out dresses for the girls, trying to think of what the men were going to wear simply stressed me out {which isn't very hard to do!!!}. Our wedding is pretty formal, so we knew we probably need them to wear tuxes. But I have a problem with rented tuxes...they are made to fit the "norm" population of men, meaning that they don't fit as well as a tailored suit or tux. Kurt's body build is not in the "norm", so everything we looked at seemed too small here but too big somewhere else, etc...ugh! We looked into the option of having all of the guys buy a black suit for the wedding. After comparing costs, the suit option would have been quite pricey for each guy, so we decided against it.

One thing I learned while tux shopping {that I still don't understand} is that most places don't have tuxes for men to try on before deciding which one to pick!!! What, really?!?!?! Kurt and I both agreed that we would not choose a tux without him being able to try the whole thing on. There was no way we were going to pick out something for the most important day of our lives without seeing it on. Anyway, we found a place in the Indy area that does allow you to try on tuxes. After Kurt tried on a couple different options, we picked the look we want for both him and the other men {including our dads}.

Kurt's Requirements:

-tux {he did entertain the suit idea, but really does want to wear a tux}

-vest {Not my favorite because I think it looks funny when the guys take their jackets off at the reception. He assured me that they have full-back ones that look okay with no jacket.}

-shoes {he wants all the guys wearing the same shoes}

My Requirements:

-simple

-classy

-not much color

-fit Kurt well

-comfortable

Finally we came up with two tuxes that we really like and think will look great on our wedding day.

Here's what Kurt will be wearing

Up Close {the tie has a bit of a stripe detail that you can't really see}

Here's what the other men will be wearing. 

Same thing as Kurt but different color tie.

Up Close shot {it looks kinda grey because of the flash...}

The strips on this tie match the one Kurt will be wearing.

I love the black tie because one of the stripe colors matches the grey bottom of the bridesmaid dresses! 

And yes, the vest is full-back so I'll feel comfortable with the guys taking their jackets off once the party has started!

I think these two tuxes match the requirements we both had for tuxes for our wedding. Let's hope all the other guys look great in them, too {if they ever go in to get fitted!!!!!}.

Colors & BM Dresses

One of the very first things I did once we were engaged was begin looking for bridesmaid dresses. I wasn't exactly sure what colors I wanted for the wedding. I think I worked on things a bit backwards because I wanted to make sure I could find the perfect dress for my girls that went with our color scheme....whatever that was going to be!

I quickly found a Lula Kate dress that I loved at Bella Bridesmaid in Indianapolis. My decision was made and I knew I didn't need to go searching around other places.

Choosing the colors was a whole other process that didn't go as smoothly as choosing a dress. I knew for sure that I wanted a pop of color but nothing over the top. I wanted to keep our wedding colors as neutral as possible without being drab. So, eventually I choose to go with a mixture of dark grey, ivory, and muted peaches.

Here are the swatches {that are beginning to get a little ratty from being in my purse for almost a year!} for the dresses. The whole wedding has somewhat evolved around these three swatches.

Meredith, my maid of honor, is wearing grey on the bottom and ivory on top.

All the other bridesmaids will be wearing grey on the bottom and the peach on top. 

I am beginning to get really excited to see everything put together. At first, I had a hard time envisioning how things would look, and I was worried that we weren't going to have a cohesive look. Ideas are starting to come together and I am hoping that everything will look beautiful...I can't wait! :)

There is one slight problem...at this point, my all the girls will be walking down the aisle barefoot! I have been searching for shoes for them to wear and can't seem to find any that go with the dress, are comfortable, and not too high of a heel. Let's hope I find something soon!!!