Weddingbee bios

Tony and I met in January of 2008. There are a lot of cheesey things people say to describe themselves as a couple but I am not really into getting into the details here besides to say that I have found someone who fits me perfectly and I have the brains to know how rare this is. Tony and I do share a love of music so I thought I'd share a favorite song of mine that reminds me of Tony by Sarah Siskind. It is also on our wedding cd. Love Erin! PS I hope you fall in love with this song too! It made me tear up just writing it out!

Reasons to Love

Hallelujah!

It ain't even Fourth of July

I'm already cheering for you. I know  you'll burst into the sky.

You're a precious stone. Don't throw it away, don't leave it alone.

You and I just got started, down this road. And I'll do anything for ya.

Feels like I'm breaking the law, when I'm being so foreign to ya.

I know you won't let me fall. It's a felony. It shouldn't be allowed, the way that I feel now

walkin around so proud...

Oh then Saturday comes and lonely is rainin. All the waters poolin at the door. And I want more, but change is all we know, it's all we'll ever see. Just keep coming home and I'll keep giving you reasons to love me.

Yeah I can chance it, once was all that I could dream, now is a gift so big,

only God could believe

that I was searchin for you, deep in the night. I knew that you were there...

but life had me so broken down and scared.

Now I walk beside you, not a shadow around to get lost in. Only equal ground.

I needed it, you needed it too, where everyday is true.

Please don't ever let it down...

Oh and Saturday comes and lonely is rainin. All the water's pooling at the door, and I want more, but change is all we know. It's all we'll ever see. Just keep comin home and I'll keep giving you reasons to love me.

Just keep coming home, and I'll keep giving you reasons...

 

 

 

 

So my bridesmaids are some pretty great girls. So great in fact that I chose a dress for them to wear that may possibly outshine my own. I know it's cliche to say that these dresses can be worn again, think every bride's favorite movie "27 Dresses" but I have to say in this case, it can DEFINITELY be worn again. and again and again. I love the gunmetal/grey color and the flattering heart-shaped bodice. To my point, this dress and many other Enzoani dresses can be seen on the red carpet lately!

 Lucky for my girls I love them so much that I didn't wrap them up in tulle like I wanted to. The new Cynthia Rowley line for Dessy is so stinking fabulous. See below for my runner up..

Good right? I purchased these enzoani dresses at The Wedding Accesory Superstore, in Phoenix, AZ. They were about $160 each which was slightly above my budget but well within reason compared to the other dresses we looked at which were not half as lovely. You can also order online from them.

I also purchased necklaces for my girls as bridesmaids gifts. I got these at Anthropologie (my all time favorite clothing store). I thought they were beautiful and romantic ( and were on sale). I actually picked the dress to go with them if you can believe that! Everyone thought they were incredible. I hope it turns out well in pictures...:) Below is my lovely Bridesmaid Carrie modeling the dress(without the sash) and necklace. Sorry I don't have a better photo for now! Also this sample dress was a size 20, so it was literally swallowing little Carrie. It took a good vision to know this was the one, but you could tell from the luxurious fabric and flattering draping that it would be perfect on all my girls.

My matron of honor, standing by my side will be my beautiful sister. My maid of honor will be Kendal, a nearly lifelong friend. My other two girls are new friends from Phoenix who I have grown to love over the years, Carrie and Megan. It should be an awesome  day with these beautiful fab girls by my side! Much love and thanks to them for all their help and modeling to find the perfect dress! Love, Erin

So above is me in my dress*before alterations. I love it completely. I can't wait to wear it. I hope I can bring myself to take it off after, I love it that much. The story of this dress goes like this. I fell in love with it and drove out to this fancy bridal salon to buy it but it was a little out of my budget. The girl helping me tried to help me find a similar dress that was also nice for less money. So she brought me this very pretty Mon Cheri dress.

I thought this dress was pretty too, and I decided to go with this one with the ivory version of the sash. Three weeks went by and I became confident I had chosen the right dress as I tried to be the practical bride...Until...I got a call from the bridal shop with a question about my dress. They hadn't cut it yet...I said "so you haven't started my dress yet?? Is it too late to change to the Enzoani dress??" The woman checked and said it wasn't so I took a half day off of work and drove out to Chandler to make my mind up once and for all. I debated between the two dresses for an hour. It was like tourture! The practical side of me was saying they were both pretty but the bride in me was saying to go for it! In the end my wonderful fiancee convinced me to get my dream dress! His support meant so much to me and it was a truley wonderful experience for me. I am so glad I chose the one I did. It was meant to be:)

So here are the top contenders for my wedding day locks. I definitely want curls, but not little childish wringlets! Think Kate Hudson not Shirley Temple. I have a real worry about my wedding day hair. I think that's the only real thing that would bother me if it sucks. My hair is so unpredictable. I have a lot of hair, it's just paper thin and straight. I am getting my hair and makeup both done at The Roose in downtown Phoenix. I hope it comes out okay. I have my dry run on January 7th. (I will try to post the pics). Anyone have any suggestions? I hope the braid will work with my birdcage veil, but we will have to see. Love, Erin

It was very tough to pick out the type of ring I wanted. Unlike many of the fleeting decisions that go into wedding planning, the ring you choose should last a lifetime. So what if you pick out dumb party favors or veil but if you don't like your ring, you have to live with it. I looked to my fashion icon (zooey deschanel) who was marrying Deathcab for Cutie's frontman, Ben Gibbard about this time for inspiration. As usual her wonderful vintage, timeless style lead her (or perhaps him) to choose a Neil Lane stunner with a beautiful Asscher cut center stone. It was simple, dainty, and the cut was a statement from any angle. See Zooey's ring below for my inspiration:

The Asscher does resemble a princess cut, but I hate when people think it is a princess(Asscher cuts are far more spendy)...not that it matters, I know how special and unique it is, even if other people just think it's a pretty pretty princess.

I am so in love with the ring Tony picked out! I am a lucky gal:)

Kinda plain but when you're 6'2" tall (and so is the groom) you gotta go with flats.:) I got them at Dessy online.

I guess two is the magic number for me. I bought one wedding dress and then switched to the lovely Enzoani a few weeks later. (Lucky for me my indecision didn't cost me anything extra, mostly because I bought a more expensive dress than my first). In the case of the veil though, well that was just plain silliness. I got a very nice (plain) veil that went fine with my dress for free from Uptown Bridal. See below:

But this one just didn't excite me! As dangerous as it was to do, I continued to shop around for bridal veils until the inevitable happened...i fell for another veil.:) This second one was a beautiful birdcage veil that really seemed to be made for the unique Enzoani and it's vintage, couture vibe. See below!

It's actually not quite as obnoxious as it looks in this picture. I think mine is smaller and has fewer feathers...or maybe my head is bigger. Lol Maybe I will wear them both at some point. Any thoughts? :)

So if you chose to get married in January like I have, expect to get the crap flowers. My favorites like peonies, ranunculus, anemones(with some exceptions) and others are a no go. I guess it's okay if you like a lot of suculents and I did see some beautiful stuff with succulents, they just aren't my thing...even though we live in the desert. To me they are like this modest plant, they don't waste any of their energy on being showy and that's not me. I hate being plain especially on my wedding day, so why would I want these prude flowers/plants in my bouquet or pinned on to my husband's lapel...then again that's just me.:) So since I have been left with not many options, the flowers will be mostly purples, roses, purple callas, a few yellow pom zennnias, some anemones if I am lucky, hydrangea and some other purple flower that looks a lot like of a carnation and a rose had a baby. I hope all this comes out okay. It's hard to get an idea till I actually see it. My bouquet will be slightly elongated(not a perfect circle) in shape even though I seem to be drawn to round bouquets. The aim of this "cascading" shape is so as not to distract from my large round floral design on the belt of my dress. Below are some of my favorite flower inspirations

I was shocked to find out that centerpieces are not easy to figure out. For one thing we have been inundated with huge floral centerpieces, beautiful linens, fancy plush chairs and hanging chandeliers and we find out that each table at this rate would be $1000 each! So then you think, after this info is tossed out at you like the notion there was no Santa Claus, that you will just do a smaller version of the same. You are then notified that even that is outside of your budget..for 12 tables. Boo. Then you look up at your would-be-florist as though they hold the answer to your dilemna and you are met with a blank stare. At least this was the case for me. The florist treated me like I was an alien when I asked her for some suggestions. If I heard "Depends on what you want and what you want to spend" one time, I heard it fifty. Isn't this true for anything in life? I'm an optometrist and I don't expect my patients to know exactly what there prescription is when they walk in the door. They have ideas, but I have the experience to help them get what's best for them... You know cause that's kinda like, MY JOB. To make a long story short, I came up with this idea after hours of scouring the knot and other similar sites. I decided to make a floral candelabra centerpiece, much like the ones below.

Only instead of red flowers, I will have ivory colored hydrangea in the center with four vanda orchids in the four holders surrounding. I had a particular challenge because I chose a very rich floral patterned linen that risked losing the flowers in the bold pattern. I went with a monochromatic flower in the centerpiece to stand out against the colorful linens. Each orchid was 4$(x4 per table) and each hydrangea was 8$! The candelabras were around 18$ each. You can see how this adds up quickly. I also went with a silver candelabra(because that was all they had). I think it will have a romantic vintage feel without breaking the bank. At least I hope~!

Our wedding invitations were so beautiful. The paper had this wonderful felt texture and the shape was so unique. I ordered them online at Paperstyle.com. I got a far better price than what I was quoted at local shops and the customer service with this company was EXCELLENT! Highly recommend.

I got this awesome ring pillow on Etsy. See Jesseciani.com for more info.

Though we are not artists, we do dig the laid back vibe of downtown Phoenix, so we chose to marry in a small art gallery called, The Monorchid. It is a favorite for small exhibits during monthly first friday art walks. We are excited to have such a fun, ecclectic venue to have our wedding in. The pictures should be amazing! Hopefully they will have some awesome art on display to be a good backdrop for our day. It changes monthly so we will have to see!