Showered with Love
Nate and I had our bridal shower on August 24 and I'm still in awe of how many people came out to help us celebrate and treat us to wonderful gifts. We had the event in the wine cellar of Crystal Cork in Dixon and I believe we had right around 50 guests. My sister-in-law Megan spearheaded the whole shebang with help from Nate's and my family members and they all worked together to create an incredible afternoon. We had a full buffet of food crowned with a cupcake tower from the same woman who is doing our wedding cupcakes. Wine and other drinks were served as well (I, of course, had to try a Wedding Cake Martini).
Holy cow, did we receive great gifts. The very first one I opened came in every girl's favorite wrapping - a Tiffany blue box. Inside was a gorgeous crystal bowl with stars on it. We also got multiple Kate Spade quatrefoil frames (I registered for them in every size since the quatrefoil is both the shape of my engagement ring and sorority badge), new bedding, new silverware, kitchen goodies, towels, you name it. My head is still spinning from the generosity.
We were in for a big surprise when we opened the last box. A bit of back story: When my brother and sister-in-law got married, my mom and I spent months contacting loved ones and asking them to write messages of congratulations on squares of muslin for us. We then embroidered over the messages and pieced them all together with fabric from my grandmothers' stashes to form a quilt. We spent the better part of a year on it. Imagine my surprise to open a quilt of my very own at our shower! Mom told me she started on it the day after we got engaged and worked on it through marathons of Downton Abbey. Unfortunately, she was watching the final episode right when she finished it up and her joy with finishing the quilt was marred by (spoiler alert) Matthew's untimely death. She poured so much heart and soul into that quilt and I treasure it dearly.
After the shower, we had my bachelorette party. My maid of honor, Kelly, went above and beyond and found me a "Bride of Batman" veil to match our "Bride of Batman Bar Crawl" T-shirts. We started with dinner at Touch of Thai and then made our way to Crystal Cork, Tipsy, Zero's (where Nate and I had our first date!) and the Stables. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I suppose that means it was a successful night.
It was truly an unforgettable weekend and I'm so grateful to everyone who took part in it. You've made this bride feel very, very loved!
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I'm Going DIY
My wedding preparations are about to go DIY! (It's amazing they haven't already, given my love of making things.) I've been shopping around for a hairpin to go with my veil, but I've been underwhelmed since many of them look prom-y and I haven't found anything I like for less than $150 - for something I'll never wear again, this seems a bit silly. I was going through my jewelry box and found this gorgeous antique aurora borealis brooch that my Nana Marietta gave me shortly before she passed away. It's a stunning piece and I love how it captures the light. I'm going to wire it to a comb and wear it as a hairpin. Lovely AND meaningful - perfect!
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The Story Behind Our Save the Date
Chances are, if you're visiting this site, you've received one of our Save the Dates. If you know Nate, you know he's a comic book fiend, especially when it comes to Batman. We knew we wanted to have fun with our Save the Dates and we figured this was the perfect time to incorporate Nate's love of Batman in to the wedding. (No, you won't be seeing Batman on the wedding invitations!)
Nate scoured the Web to find comic book art that incorporated weddings. When he stumbled upon the cover art from Issue 89 of the Lois Lane comic books (I didn't even know those existed!) I knew we had the perfect Save the Date on our hands.
Here's the original comic book cover:
Nate reached out to his friend Jim, a talented artist, and asked if he would be willing to make some tweaks to the artwork. Jim obliged and soon we had the perfect Save the Date on our hands! We hope they make you smile!
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I Have a Dress!
When we got engaged, there were so many parts of wedding planning that I couldn't wait to start. The flowers! The venue! The food! The music! The one thing I wasn't excited about? The dress.Yes, I've admired wedding dresses on other women over the years. Jackie Kennedy, Duchess Kate and Ivanka Trump immediately spring to mind. Yet somehow I couldn't envision what I wanted for my own dress. Plus, each dress I admired seemed to be designed for someone with a flawless body, not me. I was honestly afraid that I wouldn't find something that made me feel beautiful.
Since showing up in jeans and flats wasn't an option, I sucked it up and made appointments at three bridal shops spanning Northern Illinois. Over the course of three weekends, I must have tried on 50 gowns. Here's what I learned about shopping for a wedding dress:
- You will think you know exactly what you want. You are wrong. I thought I wanted cap sleeves and lots of lace. The dress that took my breath away had neither and I had grabbed it off the rack simply because I liked the belt detail. The lesson: Don't rule anything out.
- Fear not, ladies with ample bosoms. Wedding dresses have so much infrastructure in them that they can stand on their own when you take them off (I tested this with a particularly voluminous ballgown).
- Veils are still around for a reason. I didn't want a veil. No way. That is, until my mom put one on my head and I saw that it complemented by gown perfectly. Darn it, Mom was right again. Veils are also a racket. I tried on veils that cost $500 and veils that cost $75 and all of them were made from the same tulle that sells for a few bucks a yard at fabric shops.
I won't tell you too much about THE dress because I want you to be surprised at the wedding, but I want to share one thing that makes it really special. It's from the same designer that my mom wore when she walked down the aisle 40 years ago. I love that I'm going to have yet another special bond with her.
As happy as I am with the dress I chose, I'm even happier that I'll only have to go through this process once!
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