Gratuitous Ring Shots

Fi's ring came in the other day! So we had fun playing photographer.

Our sets together.

Not intential on my part, but I love that I captured the bottle of wine in the background!

Here, you can read part of the engraving: "Elephant Shoe, Jenny Rabbit"

Nice!

A ring for him

I bought Fi 's wedding ring today! And can I get an "Amen!" This maybe the hardest decision yet. Fi, bless his big heart, went through a million different ideas:

copper, rose gold, hammered, flat, matte, yellow gold, no ring, one fish, two fish.



So after months of playing online, I drug him last Sunday to my mecca of all meccas: Tiffanys. Although he knew and I knew there would be no Tiffany ring in his future, the sales people are gems (if you wear your Elsa Perretti collection in, like I do) and there is no pressure. We needed to get him sized and we wanted to figure out the width he liked.



Well wouldn't you know? He fell in love with a ring there. (Say it with me: Sonofabitch) The ring, was 3x the amount I had anticipated spending. Well, luckily for me, my guy is practical. And he didn't want platinum. I have palladium in my ring and he thought it would be cool if he had palladium too. Easy, with palladium a member of the platinum family, but for a 1/3 of the price, I was down.



So now I had to find THE RING somewhere in palladium. I looked high and low and found his ring on e-weddingbands.com. I just ordered it today! I'll let you know how it turns out, but a few hints: Check with the BBB to see if the online retailer has been in any hotspots. Make sure they have a size exchange policy. Although he was sized, you never know, so this sites policy (like many I saw) was 30 day exchange (minus shipping).



I also had it engraved. For $7.50 there was engraving and even if I get the wrong size, they can resurface it for exchange. Did you ever play that game in elementary school where you mouthed the words " elephant shoe" or "olive juice" because it looks like you are saying "i love you"? Well, fi and I ALWAYS say elephant shoe to each other. And one of his many nicknames for me is Jenny Rabbit. No one calls me Jenny, but I love it when he does, so the engraving reads: "Elephant shoe, Jenny Rabbit". I think he'll get a kick out of that.



So without further ado:




Not only is it Palladium like mine, but it also has the milgrain around it- like my set. I think we will complement each other nicely even though we don't match!

Necklace Debate 2008

So I ordered both. Both sellers on etsy only have a 3 day return policy, which won't allow me to wear them to the fitting, but I wanted to buy them before the disappeared, so...I should have them both by next week. I'll take pictures and we'll vote again! You can still vote for your favorite, poll is now at the bottom of the page.

Opinions please!

Whats a girl to do when she can't decide on a wedding necklace? She turns to her readers...so opinions please! Which one?

From CarmenMonique's etsy.com shop. I love the layers and the texture..and this is kind of what I've had in mind all along, but significantly cheaper that Tiffany's version at $1600.

From JC Jewelry Design, also on etsy.com. Then along came this. Pretty. I love the bit of bling, the sense of sass. But will it slip all day long? Does it go with my wedding style? Something keeps drawing me back to it, it may be the price, under $50.




As a reminder...here are my pretty earrings from Perfect Details.



So what do you say? Use the poll feature at the top of the page...let the games begin!

Packages Packages

I popped home for a quick lunch at home yesterday and I got a knock at the door. It was the UPS man! He had not only one package for me, but two! Yay!

I received my beautiful earrings from Perfect Details and my sweater from White + Warren.

I took quick pictures, so forgive me if the quality isn't that great, but I was soooo excited, I couldn't wait! (I'm rhyming now!)

Sparkly CZ with Majorca Pearls!
Great length, no? I love that they aren't too long, right at my hair line.
Sorry Mom, I think I'm keeping these!
I apologize for the weird leprechaun esque stance I am taking- I made a make shift tripod off of Fi 's dresser and Fellowship of the Rings, special edition DVD, so I wasn't too sure of the height I needed to stand at. I love the sweater. It is soooo warm and fuzzy and soft and light and I think it will be perfect!

And finally a lovely note from my new friends at Perfect Details! How touching! :)

Accessories

This week proved to be busy with accessory acquisitions! On Thursday I won these earrings from a Weddingbee contest. I have been a weddingbee reader for over a year, so to actually win a contest was thrilling!

The earrings are from Perfect Details. As part of the contest I was able to pick the pair I wanted from a choice of four. I loved the simplicity of these earrings. They'll be here soon, so I can't wait to try them on! If they don't work for me, I think I'll give them to my mom (they are so her style) to wear at the wedding!

Secondly, the procrastinator in me was rewarded nicely today. I was reminded by Linda's blog about cover-ups that I wanted to get a cover-up (thanks Linda!!). I had cut out a page from In Style Weddings magazine that was dated "winter 2007" so I must of bought this issue like the minute I got engaged! Anyways there was a spread on "Chic Cover-ups: Short and sweet options for keeping your shoulders under wraps". Since I purchased my strapless dress I've been thinking about a wrap or sweater or something for the possibly chilling October Tucson evening. And luckily I had cut out this page from In Style Weddings! There was one wrap, a cashmere tie front cardigan with shawl collar that kept grabbing my eye. It is so clean and fresh looking, but for $200 from White + Warren I wasn't quick to get it. I finally when to their site today, dismayed that it wasn't in the bridal collection, off chance I tried "Sale" and low and behold! There is was...for $75! $75 for cashmere is a nice deal, and if it doesn't work with my dress, I'll wear it with jeans!

Finally, I ordered my veil! Initially I wasn't going to wear a veil, and then I tried one on and I had a total "I feel like a bride" moment. Then my mom was going to make me one, because the ones I tried on and liked were $180-$300 for plain, boring, ole veils. Finally my mom and I both stumbled on the Occansey Design website on which you can custom design your veil from $28. They can get pricey based on the embellishments you get and the length, but no surprise, I ordered a basic little embellishment veil for $40!

Whew! Now I need to give my credit card a rest!

Colors Colors Colors

So a year after the wedding planning began I finally decided on colors. Thing is, the final decision isn't too far off from the first draft of colors. But I did a quick new inspiration board to reflect the new colors: Kelly Green and Black.

Inspiration: Kelly Green BM dress (one of five for their choosing), my beautiful ring set, a J Crew suit in black, Black and Green tie from Dillards.com.

Row two: pretty white bouquet, a green shoe (for me, where else? J Crew), Green & black damask invite from Wedding paper Divas.

Row three: The reception site set up for dinner, The front of the Z (both from Zmansion.com) and a pretty paper flower.

I'm pretty pleased with how things are coming together! I have contacted all the bridesmaids and given them the green light (pun intended) to get their pretty dresses. When the semester is over Fi and I will go out suit shopping again, although he did say he'd like to try on a tux (I've seen him in a tux..very cute!) as well! When Fi decides what he wants he to wear, we can contact the groomsman. We are on a roll!

Day of Jewelry

This is what I want. I want a multiple strand twisted pearl necklace. But for $1,850 from Tiffany & Co, I will not be wearing this particular necklace. It is exactly what I want. 16 inches in length and a lovely simple clasp.






This more affordable version for $135 from JC Penney is nice, but I don't want the mulitple colors. But I like the qualities. Again it is 16" and the clasp looks more sturdy than above.









Worn with my pearl studs, I think the necklace would really compliment my dress and add the right about of class, classic-ness (is this a word?) and bling to my day. More than just a single strand, a twisted strand would really add some punch!

8 months and counting........

A bit about the bling

We have officially been engaged since March (whew -time DOES fly), but didn't receive my ring until December. For a variety of reasons the ring was delayed, but we never considered ourselves "less engaged" or less official due to the lack of bling. Except for a few rare comments about how one couldn't possibly be engaged without a ring, or why did I say yes before receiving a ring, we got little response about me NOT having a ring.

That is until, I got my ring. Then there was a flurry of questions and reactions"does it feel more real", "It's official now!", "now you can begin planning!"*. Um, okay. I try daily to express to my lovely FI that I don't NEED a ring, and I would feel as loved without it as I do with it. But, I do have to admit, I heart my ring! I love seeing it on my hand and find comfort at looking at it through out the day. But to the curious, no, it doesn't FEEL more real. This felt real many months, years, moons ago.

*if I had waited to get a ring until planning, we'd be looking at 2010 for a date based on reception location availability! Yikes!

Photo credit: not sure who took it, but that was the Bling's debut out at the BDC '07 (and yes that is FI's hand not mine)!