Say Yes to The Dress AKA sometimes I watch wedding porn on TV

re: Say Yes to the Dress, a reality based TV show on TLC about Kleinfeld's bridal salon in DC.

Just a short thought, but why would anyone want to wear a dress that doesn't allow them want to spin and twirl like a little girl in a fairy costume? Some of those dresses appear to weigh more than the waify  brides do!

Also, some of those women must have very rich daddies. Walking into a shop and saying that your dress budget is $5k and then walking out having spent $9k to me says that your entire wedding budget is something like 1/2 a million USD. That's WAY too rich for my blood. If I had that kind of money to spend, I'd hire a planner right now, and then just have more food and a real band instead of a DJ. I don't think we'd change much about what we have in mind right now. OK, and maybe I'd ask my parents if we'd be allowed to pocket the change too. Just saying....

ISO Wedding Shoes

So I somehow got it in my head that it will be easier to pick out the silks for my wedding dress once I have shoes, since it's more difficult to match fabric swatches to online photos. This meant that last night I spent almost $500 on 8 pairs of shoes. Yes, that's more than I try and live off of each month in my current state of employment.

I'm hoping that of the 9 pairs of potential wedding shoes I ordered, at least 1 will make me feel like prancing around in the kitchen all afternoon. Once I have my dress and shoes and veil, it's going to be difficult to stop myself from prancing around in my wedding outfit. I had a hard enough time staying out of Mrs. Lady Bear's fluffy pink veil, back in July.

Many things were learned in my EPIC HUNT FOR WEDDING SHOES yesterday. Here's my ranking of stores at the Flatirons Mall in Broomfield, CO.

1. Dillards had the most helpful staff (I was being assisted by their shoe manager, that may have had something to do with it). But, not a whole lot in the store in ivory and I hadn't pre-perused their website because I don't have a membership thing with them and just never thought about it.


2. DSW was the black sheep. I somehow forgot how awesome they are! OMG, they had half of shoes I ordered online last night (only $200). Most o them, they had in the store to try on, if only in black or some other pedestrian color. Sadly, my favorites are no longer available in ivory.* I also bought the most amazing, make me smile, happy Deena, ballet flats. How can you not love these?** ->


3. Payless had lots of trendy shoes that didn't fit poorly! I'm always amazed when I can find something there, and I usually do, but then talk myself out of it. I did buy these (but am returning them after wearing them around the house for 20 min, in exchange for these mary janes) and seriously considered ordering these Lila Rose shoes, but the heel just seemed a tad far back on the shoe/foot to really feel balanced in. The shoe part fit beautifully and the custom dyed-to-order satins (for x2 the white pleather in-store version) felt and looked really nice.


4. Nordstrom's shoe sales people seem a bit shy. But, they have WEDDING DRESSES! OMG, I knew they had them online, but I forgot that you can return them to the stores. My body double (with smaller boobs) ordered a whole bunch of dresses and returned them. In petite sizes! Do you people know how hard it is to find petite sizes?! The lady in the Specially Occasions dress department even went hunting for (and found) foundation garments for me to try on under the dresses.*** Sadly, none of the dresses fit me well enough to seriously consider, even for only $175 (or the woman who ordered them originally either).


5. Macy's has lots of shoes, but they don't carry all the colors of each line, check online before going. Their sales staff also seems less reliable, though maybe I just got the new girl and her indifferent and matronly compatriot. It IS however a good place to go and try things on because they have SO MANY SHOES. Even if they did manage to loose the right foot of the only size 6.5  pair of these shoes they had.

Zappos isn't in the mall, so I can't rank them. I've never ordered from them before, but I've heard people gush. I ordered 4 pairs for shoes for almost $300. Their prices were the same as everywhere else for the shoes that I saw elsewhere, but they didn't have as many of the lower price range evening shoes in ivory. Here's a smash-up of the shoes I ordered from zappos, plus some other fun stuff too:

ISO wedding shoes by violarulz on Polyvore.com

Items in this set:
Calvin Klein Kaden, $98
Coloriffics Nola by at Zappos.com, $78
Caparros Danni, $73
Caparros Zora, $69

Oh, you want more shoe porn? Me too! Too bad DSW doesn't let polyvore grab pictures. Here are links and short descriptions to the shoes I can't grab photos of:

• I tried these gorgeous ruffly ons in black and they're beautiful and fit perfectly. I hope the ivory rocks too!


• I ordered these rosette sandals too, although they're not available in stores to try on (in 6 and 6.5).


• These strappy/knotted front sandals look a lot like my prom shoes from BP in high school.

*I emailed zappos and DSW's customer service agents to try and hunt them down for me. Neither one could find them, but both gave the same reason why: those shoes haven't been made in ivory since 2008. Zappos did go on to tell me that the shoes came out in 2006 and are unlikely to be revived, though they'll let me know if they find a pair.

**Oddly, the sparkly shoes are NOT Jones New York, they definitely say Nine West in the shoes and on the box. I got them for 40% off and had to buy jelly arches for them because they have NO support and I had to buy them a bit on the smaller side to fit and have been prancing around the house in them for the last 24 hours.

**note to self- when trying on wedding dresses a good strapless bra and spanxs are a must. Kelly green lowrise briefs are VERY obvious under white chiffon.

Are you related?

Today is the 3 year anniversary of our first date. So, we went back to where that was: Taste of Colorado. Roasted corn, rubbed with butter is amazing..... Anyway, while we were sitting (with Becca) chatting about nothing at Keegan Gerhart's demo some lady asked us if we were related, like brother and sister or something. Um, no. As far as I know, we don't look much alike other than with my hair all sun bleached, our hair is about the same color in the shade.

I find this especially funny because just the other night we were being sappy dorks and staring at each other while thinking out loud: I wonder what our kids will look like. Light eyes? My high cheekbones? His wider jaw? My pointy-ish chin? His chin dimple? Big hands? My baby-size hands?

Either way, I wonder if we should worry about getting genetic testing done. I know neither of my parents are carriers for Tay-Sachs, but I also know there are other diseases that happen in higher percentages in the Jewish population as well. is it worth it to know what to worry about before we have to worry about it?

midnight confession: I used a website where you can upload 2 photos and morph them together to see what your children might look like, apparently we're having hideous babies with neck growths and wagging tongues. OOPS.

Tentative Venue Decision

I think we're getting married at the St. Julien Hotel in downtown Boulder. The major decider: a weather backup plan. Although October is the sunniest month of the year in Boulder, I don't want to bet 100% that it will be beautiful outside. Yes, we're still planning on having an outdoor ceremony but if it rains we can all smoosh into 1/3 of the ballroom. They can set up something like 120 seats, and everyone else can stand around the edges/in the back. As far as I know, the ceremony will only be 30 minutes or so.

On thing I wonder is: Who is Saint Julien? Turns out, no one in particular (according to wikipedia), and I'm OK with that. I was just curious. Though Saint Julian is considered to be the saint of hospitality.

Now, I need to meet with the planner there again and hash out the financial details. As in, can we actually afford it? We'd be considered a budget wedding for this venue and would need to hire a coordinator for the ceremony, contact a rental company to get the fencing you see in the background of the photo below. That succesfully covers up Canyon Street and the Library. I love the library, but I'd rather have the focus on Ben, me, and the Flatirons behind us. Oh, and we'll getting married in that back corner, with people in chairs on the lawn. That gazebo thing, SO not our style. Plus, why would we want to put our awesome chuppah that my mom will be quilting for us under a gazebo AND face away from the mountains?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="427" caption="from customweddingsofcolorado.com"][/caption]

Back in Boulder

I'm back from traveling South America with my family for almost a month. Wow, that was a long trip. I'm never going to leave the dude for a month again while I go traipsing around. I missed sharing things with Ben.

Like walking into a lamp post, having a systemic allergic reaction, oh, and actual the fun stuff too. Want to see the photos? Visit viola_in_peru on Flickr.

and that's one venue OFF THE LIST (and one on it too)

Friday night, Ben and I went to check out the Hazel Miller Band at the Millennium Hotel, the place with the yurt. Remember how I couldn't check out the bathrooms when we visited because they were locked. I kinda wish I'd never seen them....

I told my dad that they reminded me of CCC park restrooms. His response: "Heh, oooh. Not good." Correct, not good. The public restrooms on Pearl Street are nicer! There is almost nothing that can be done with just a bathroom basket to nicen this place up, it's just BLAH. Small, cramped, un-heated in the winter and BLAH. So, we decided that lest our guests believe that we never checked out the restrooms before booking the beautiful yurt, we said good bye to the Millennium Hotel.

From there, where the music was too loud for Mr. Ben's sensitive ears anyway, we were still in search of dinner. The original plan had been to try out the food at the Millennium while there were other people there instead of being doted on in an almost empty hotel restaurant. I would have felt awkward when they asked where we were visiting from as opposed to going on a busy night meant for locals.

We decided to check out the Chautauqua Dining Hall for dinner. From inside the Millennium I called to see if we needed a reservation (we didn't), and we were on our way. 15 minutes later we were walking up to the Dining Hall. At first I thought we were under dressed, wearing jeans and all, but once we got there I noticed two things 1) there was a wedding inside the main dining room and 2) not only were were not under dressed, in jeans, hiking shoes and a fleece jacket we were dress EXACTLY like 90% of the clientele that evening who weren't wedding guests. Even the waitstaff were wearing kaki cargo pants/shorts and t-shirts with a silhouette of the Fiddler on the Roof with the caption of "a taste of tradition..." I like blending in.

We shared a very good salad caprice as an appetizer, Ben had the Trout Amandine and I had the Fusilli Primavera. I thought Fusilli were the bowties, oh well, giant elbows are good too. Both our dishes were perfectly cooked and delicious. After we inhaled the appetizer and were sopping up the balsamic vinegar with the crusty sourdough table bread, I said "I just got a waft of something yummy." Almost immediately, our food arrived! I'll have to take Ben's word for it since his dinner was covered in evil allergens, but he said his food was perfect too. Mine was so good that I couldn't resist digging in before I shot the above photo. Sadly both photos I tried to take of Ben's plate came out sad and fuzzy looking. Oh well. Low lighting is not the best for an older digital point and shoot.

Dessert was by far the best course. A lemon tart. Yum. Ben said the decaf was good too, again, I'll take his word for it since I'm not a coffee drinker at all.

So, now we're still deciding between the St. Julien, somewhere else (which is now the Chautauqua Dining Hall), and the elusive Flagstaff House Restaurant. We haven't gotten to visit Flagstaff because we wanted to try the food but it's too pricy for us while I'm out of a job. St. Julien is no wilting flower in the price department either, but we can still afford to go there for lunch and know that the food is wonderful. Flagstaff is only open for dinner by reservation only.

Would anyone like to gift us a fancy night out for two? We'll be responsible (fiscally and calorically) and share the starter and dessert, or main and dessert, and drink tap water too so that we can keep our tab under $100. Anyone? No?I didn't think so. My dad had better come visit soon, maybe he'll take us....

Photographer love and planning in general

So since I'm going to be with both my parents together, in the same place, at the same time in about 10 days I want to have all my ducks in a row (rubber ducks that is) about wedding planning, dun dun dun.

Dress. Check. Just need to sign a contract and put down a down payment. I've got a strong idea of what I want and the seamstress I met with didn't tell me I was nuts and may have thought I even had a good idea. As soon as I sign with her, she'll start working on sketches, then a pattern, then a muslin and finally my dress with all the fittings I need inc. for $700-900 (depending on fabrics). AWESOME. I might find it harder to find the perfect shoes, since it's not as price efficient to have those custom made.

Location. We're still working on this one. I'm a huge fan of the Sunrise Amphitheater for the ceremony, followed by a late lunch at either Flagstaff House Restaurant (a very classy Boulder locale) or the Chautauqua Dining Hall.

Flagstaff Sunrise Amphitheater, by Adrian M. Grey

For doing everything all in one place, the backyard garden party feel of the Millennium Hotel is probably number one. Though the mountain view, beauty, and casual/modern formality of the St. Julien makes it a major contender too. Crap. We have NO idea. Ben's going to take me out to dinner at either Flagstaff House Restaurant or the Chautauqua Dining Hall for my birthday soon and I'm hoping that we can stop by the Millennium Hotel this coming Friday (before I leave to go traveling with my family in South America) for their FAC party.

Photographer. I love Julie Afflerbaugh's and Otto Schulze's photography. Julie is more local and more affordable and therefor more practical. Plus, I liked her when we spoke on the phone this afternoon. I'm going to ask Ben when he wants to meet with her and set that up to look at her albums. Maybe she'll have some input on locations that will push us to make a decision.

Flowers. Decided. We're not having any florals. I'm going to make my bouquet out of fluffy tulle and curly ribbon, maybe silk flowers if I can find some great ones (I read somewhere that Pier 1 has the best fake floras, I'll check it out some time). Same for boutonnieres for the dads/brothers and corsages for the moms/Ben's sister. No flowers = fewer allergy potentials for me, my dad, and Ben's dad. And, they can be done WAY ahead of time.

Invitations. We have a laser printer. It prints in black. Now we just need some awesome paper and a layout. As beautiful as thermography and letterpress are, they're probably more formal that we're interested in, and WAY more pricey.

Music. We're hiring a DJ. Our musical tastes are too eclectic for a band. Heavy on the 80s and goofy pop music. I'd be more than happy with a swing/jazz/bluegrassy kinda band, but that's not Ben's style AT ALL. Though we will have to play some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy because the free concert at Taste of Denver was where I took Ben on our first date.

Guest list. It keeps growing and I'm kind of OK with that. I'd rather have a lot of great people there and great food and skimp on the stuff that I don't feel is super important (flowers, DJ, invitations, etc.)