Wedding Wednesday: finishing the bridal look pt 1.

Happy Wedding Wednesday everyone!

The wedding is (as of Monday) less than two months away (eek!)! and while the mister and I are definitely excited and ready to be married, we are really getting down to the wire with making our last minute wedding decisions and finishing touches. And while I picked out my dress almost a year ago (my last fitting is coming up and the end of the month!), there are still quite a few bridal look details that need to be finalized! 

Let's start with hair. Bridal hair. There are so many beautiful and fantastic looks out there but I found myself really question how I would feel prettiest and what would work best with my type of hair (curly) and my current length (short/bob). I'm not really one who wants to grow my hair out just so I can have an updo, and I also wasn't really sure that I would feel my prettiest with my hair up. I started thinking about looks that would be full of volume and work with my shorter do, I fell in LOVE with January Jones hair at the Academy Awards, and once I started looking I realized that the woman has FANTASTIC hair. Really. I am leaning toward doing either a big voluminous curl or doing a more relaxed curl, but really I love both options. 

What do you guys think? Would you go with the more relaxed curl? or more volume?

Next up after hair is the headpiece. I say headpiece because I don't really want to wear a veil. Not that they can't be beautiful, but let's just say that my independent streak doesn't seem to go with the gentleness of veils (I'm also not a huge fan of the fairly patriarchal history behind the veil...). That being said I do think having some kind of headpiece really completes a bridal look. I find myself being drawn to more quirky birdcage veils, facinators or even just little poofs.  I love love love what the bride below has done with her headpiece--the contrast of the black and white, the slight birdcage, the headband, even her hairstyle LOVE IT.

I also love the slight polka dot detailing on this blusher number below.

What do you think about taking more of a risky, nontraditional route with such a bridal staple?

And last but not least on the bridal-look to do list is: Jewelry. 

This one is a lot harder than I though it would be, I have to admit. 

There is just SO much out there that could work for bridal these days--such a wide range of quality, style and personality. I had planned on wearing a statement necklace of older pearls with my dress but when we tried them out at my first fitting it just didn't really work. It wasn't a bad look, but my dress just needed something bolder. Since then I've been scouring every department store jewelry case and Bauble Bar new arrival, looking for something that I loved--but nothing really spoke to me. I wanted something that made a statement but that also didn't compete with my ring (the real jewelry star of the day), I also wanted something that was really me--not just something bridal. When I first saw this Anthropologie necklace online I literally gasped, aloud, in my cubical. Is it traditionally bridal? Not so much. Could it really work? YES. Yes, I think it might. Needless to say, I ordered it. I'm really excited to see it with my dress at my next fitting. (and if it doesn't work, then back to the drawing board!). What do you guys think? Would you go bold with your bridal look?

Benefactress Bib Necklace at Anthro

In an effort to keep this blog post from being years long I've split it into two parts! Be sure to check back next Wedding Wednesday to see my ideas about a winter bride's warmer accessories--coats, sweaters, capes and fur! Be sure to check out my Wedding Pretties Pinterest board for more of my likes and ideas! 

Thanks for reading!

Fall Fashion: Faux Leather Midi Skirt

Hello! I hope you all have had a great start to your week. The weather here in Iowa has been dreary at best with rain, fog and daylight (non)savings making winter seem a little too near. So, if you are looking for a way to brighten up your fall wardrobe look no further! Midi skirts are a great trend that I can see lasting and lasting due to their truly classic style. Make things modern with earthy tones and (faux) leather textures and you a ready to twirl your way into a fabulous fall day!

I love how these two ladies styled their leather midi skirts with simple yet chic tops and more detailed and fierce accessories. The balance of fierce and ladylike it what makes this look work so well from a day at the office to dinner and drinks.

Below you can see that I amped up the ladylike elements of this look with polka-dots, bows and a little bit of sparkle. 

How would you rock a midi leather skirt? Would you keep it edgy or make it a classic?

Mango raglan sleeve sweater, $48 / Warehouse pleated skirt, $77 / Pointy toe flat / J.Crew structured purse / Red Herring necklace, $32 / STELLA McCARTNEY sunglasses

Bag of the Week! Fossil Memoir Novella

Happy Friday everyone! This week has been a long one, hasn't it? And there just seems to be no rest for the weary with this wedding coming up--though we officially booked our honeymoon this week (!!!) so there is rest in sight.Today I am so excited to bring you a new/modified feature! I've been doing my Shoe of the Week posts for a long time, and my love for great purses and bags is just as everlasting as my love for shoes so I thought it would be fun to mix things up with a Bag of the Week post every now and then. 

For this first Bag of the Week post I introduce to you the most perfect little cross-body bag you ever did see: the Fossil Memoir Novella! You all know that I have been wanting the perfect little cheetah print cross body bag since this Tumblr Tuesday post a few months ago. Well, my desire has not waned, and from the first moment I saw this Fossil beauty, and learned that it came in the perfect calf hair cheetah print, I willed it to be mine! And alas, it's on sale now. I am not sure that I have enough will power to resist it. 

isn't she a beauty? (sigh)

And if cheetah print just isn't your thing, the Memoir Novella also comes in a variety of really really great colors for fall, there's a perfect cobalt, a light sage, this season's it color:--cranberry, and a vibrant orange that is surprisingly must-have, as well as your classic black and camel. 

You can find the cheetah print Memoir Novella here and the classic leather version here.

Have a good weekend everyone, and thanks for reading!

Wedding Wednesday: Glitter Blast

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Like, I said earlier this week, my fiance and I are realizing that the wedding is actually scary close. Not scary because we don't want to get married but scary because we have so many things left to do! We just got our invitations in the mail this week, and we are finalizing our meeting schedules with our pastor and wedding coordinator at our venue but the list just keeps growing! This past weekend my friend/bridesmaid/awesome, Katherine came and helped me DIY some hand-me-down jars that we are going to use for candles as part of our center pieces. Now if you've ever watched David Tutera or even Four Weddings you might be aware that DIY weddings do not always go well and not everyone likes them. Regardless I was up for the challenge. Since our wedding has a gold/cream/evergreen color scheme I wanted to add a little new year's sparkle to our decor. I found a lot of really good DIY inspiration on pinterest, and was hoping to create something that looked like these pictures:

I wasn't sure when I started the process if it would be better to use a spray adhesive or to use an all in one glitter spray so I tested out both options. I was a little surprised that I really liked the outcome of the Glitter Blast spray.Disclaimer: there is no way to do this project without getting glitter all over yourself, your furniture and your dog, even when you go outside. 

We taped off the top part of the jars so that we could spray evenly and come out with a clean, straight line. 

Then we sprayed the jars with two coats of Glitter Blast so that the glitter part of the jar would be more opaque, though if you wanted a lighter glitter coating with just one coat I think that Glitter Blast would also work. 

And here is the (upside-down) finished product! I am really happy with how they turned out, I'm not sure that anyone could really see my vision for the jars before we started (ahhhmm) but I think the finished product will work perfectly to help build the kind of reception environment we are going for. 

We only ended up having about 30 of the jars total and I was hoping to have about two to three clustered at each table so I may go on a hunt for another type of jar to DIY and add to the mix. 

Check back next week for another wedding post, we are in full get-ready-wedding mode here now!