i <3 Gaelin

**updated: wording and font. this, i think, is the final draft.

not shoes, but still wedding.

I have an amazing group of friends, did I mention? My dear, dear friend Gaelin is a very talented artist, and when I asked her if she would help me do an invitation suite for the wedding, she was not only obliging, but so excited. After just one take, this is what she came up with:

What a beautiful concept on both of the images! I am particularly fond of the swirly one with roses. I think we will print them on a very ivory paper with brown ink for the text (to match the swirly branches). My problem is, I have no knowledge of things printing (ink choice, who to get them printed by, paper, etc.), so I'm hoping Gaelin knows more about that than I do!

Break!

okay, enough wedding stuff for now.

i am getting psyched up for the rest of the summer. this week, i'll be leaving to victor, idaho to mentor at a fantastic girls ranch called Quickwater.

when i get back, i'll be super excited to see harry potter and...500 days of summer!!!! 500 days was one of my very favorite films at the sundance film festival, and i'm stoked to see it again. zooey and joseph were dynamite, and marc webb is a fan-freaking-tastic director. if you can, you must must must see this film!



other than that, i'm just wrapping up some stuff at work and getting ready to go to new mexico with the fiance to visit his family, and start grad school at the school that shall not be named.

i'll post at least once more before i head to the wilderness, sans lappy, compy, cell, and ipod. i think it will be a post about...shoes.

hair, per request of Patti.

so, i came across this hairstyle on the blog of the fabulous jennifer skog. i knew i wanted it as soon as i saw it. behold, the perfect hairstyle:

from the back:
from the front (please ignore random other people. i don't know them...)

found on this post

i probably won't have a flower in it (definitely not my style), but i want a veil...i think i'll just stick it underneath the 'do.

isn't it magnificent?

finding the perfect dress

well, that title is a little funny for my situation because luckily, i don't actually have to find the perfect dress. a dear family friend has offered to make a gown for me. she is an excellent seamstress, and i know all i'll have to do is show her a picture of what i want and she'll whip it up.

now, the real question is...what do i want? when i decided on cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake, i immediately took the formality notch down a few levels. i also am not a fan of big, poofy cinderella dresses. another thing that accentuates the simplicity of my ideas is my ring--no center stone, just a simple row of diamonds. when i started my "dress" search for ideas of what i wanted, here is what i came up with.

first dress i loved, courtesy of Stephanie Williams, a photographer who did a killer vintage shoot that can be found here: part 1 part 2



and another dress from the same shoot that is beautiful and simple. i looove the detail on the bodice.
p.s. amazing lighting on this next image, no?



so, using these ideas, i went to brides.com to continue my search and found these beauties. (note, only a smattering of my favorites...i had so many more, but narrowed it down to these, for you.)





and finally this one.

which i immediately fell in love with. i will admit that part of me loves the dress because of the beautiful photograph in which it appears, but i also LOVE the dress--lacy, vintage, modest, etc. etc. the caption describes this dress as an "Alençon lace tea-length dress with a scalloped hemline..., $4,600, by Ulla-Maija Couture, ulla-maija.com". so i scoured ulla-maija.com to see if i could indeed find this beautiful dress or something even like it. to no avail. i found one similar on a blog that lifted an image from your dream dress,

but everything else i found was brides that LOVED this dress and couldn't find anything like it anywhere! so, i emailed the picture to my seamstress, and this was her reply:

"OHH pretty dress. We can totally make something like this...we can do the dress for much, much cheaper!!"

lucky me! thanks, steph!

planning away...

i'm doing some good research on photographers, because while i am not on a huge budget, i'm guessing that photography will be my splurge, and perhaps my biggest expense. I want to get the best bang for my buck and have a fabulous photographer. Here are my top three choices, and a favorite sample photo from each.

what do you think??

rachel thurston
http://rachelthurston.blogspot.com/
probably most expensive of the lot, but also good. $350 traveling fees to utah.
pricing is here http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=12217f853e64443f&mt=application%2Fpdf
shoots a mix of film/digital

allison cox
http://blog.allisoncphotography.com
simple, but also fun. seems to match the couple and convey their style in the photos.
pricing is here http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1217b0bf9c492db7&mt=application%2Fpdf .
I think that she is probably the most bang for your buck, including an engagement session and prints from both sessions.
extra cash for electronic files of the photos, though.
shoots mix of film/digital

duston todd
http://dustontodd.blogspot.com/
a little bit trendier and artsier, but could be more classy and traditional if asked, i'm sure.
pricing here: http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1217e0d11c0994f6&mt=application%2Fpdf .
i think that he probably has a fun personality and would be fun to work with.
also good bang for buck--includes a print of every image. shoots exclusively on film (= not photoshopped look).
includes engagement and bridal session.

forever.

It's official. Alexander Hale Lovett and I are engaged to be married in December. hooray!