Procrastination is the Name of the Game

So Jay decided... back in May... what he was going to give his groomsmen. He came up with a GREAT idea and I was soooooo jealous that I still had no idea what I was going to get for my girls.

Fast forward 7 months. 

My girls' gifts are done! They're awesome, practical, and I LOVE them!! They're all wrapped up and ready for their debut on Saturday at our Rehearsal Dinner.

My dear fiance... well he's been a little busy the past few months... you know, just painting and updating an entire house, running for public office, working... little things really. To say he hasn't had time to tie his shoes would be the understatement of the century.

So his grand idea for groomsmen gifts was slightly waylaid. Enter his amazing fiance and Super-Mom mother-in-law and their sidekicks, Alyssa & Cathy... 

Seriously, we saved his ass.

cut 7"x7" squares so that you have some seem allowance

My mom said they're 6x6 and 2 cups of corn... but we wanted to be sure so we did a little re-con. First, we asked my dad about the size of bean bags he said he thought my mom was right and he knew they should be 15 ounces... then my brother stepped in and told us to go here, it's a real website. 

My mom was right. Surprise, surprise! She's made quite a few bean bags in her day and was spot on. So we got to work cutting out squares... 48 squares since we needed 24 bean bags.

have someone who knows what she's doing handle this step

I cut. Mom sewed. Alyssa and Cathy stuffed. It was quite the team effort

In the end, it took us just over 2 hours to finish them.

 

And they look great!

  

 And just in case you thought the love of my life might have been slacking... here's what he sent me when we were finishing up and chatting.

"fabrication is done"

He worked all night on building the frames and puttying the holes/rough spots. Tonight's job is to sand them all down and prime them so that we can paint them tomorrow. We're on a pretty tight schedule as they have to be ready to go for our Rehearsal Dinner on Saturday night... plenty of time...

He better know how lucky he is to have me (and my mom, and my best friend, and my best friend's mom/mom's friend)!!

Wedding Practice

Google always comes in handy when trying to be crafty and clever at the same time. I simply googled "rehearsal dinner invitation wording" and this popped up in one of the first results. So cute, whimsical and fun for the pre-wedding day!

I was having trouble narrowing my ideas for the wedding decor, (which is evident on my pinterest) especially since we changed directions so completely from our original outdoor-rustic plan. Just when I was feeling down that my love of chalkboards, plaid, and beat up old wood were going to be sidelined, I remembered the Rehearsal Dinner.

The team over at One Fab Day really struck my Inspiration nerve with their beautifully perfect Christmas Wedding set up.  I almost died when my eyes fell upon this gorgeous set up of plaid and wild flowers.

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This is exactly what I've been dreaming about... Only in honor of my lovely groom, I will be incorporating more red roses into the mix and adjusting the decor to suit.

 

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Rehearsal Dinner Dress Overload?

Indecisive should be my middle name...

Currently, I am in possession of all 3 of these dresses. I have NO IDEA which one I'm going to wear. I bought #1 originally to wear for engagement pictures. I already had #2, it was purchased from David's Bridal when I returned the tiara because they only let you exchange and don't issue store credit for over $50 (the only complaint I have about that store). I figured I'd need a dress for the Rehearsal Dinner and that one was super cute so why not. Then I came across #3 while looking for engagement picture dresses and it was exactly what I wanted for the RD so I bought it... you can see that #2 and #3 are almost identical except for the sleeve length - both  even have the exposed zipper down the back. Clearly, I don't need all 3... just have to figure out which one makes the cut.

#1 is less fitted and more floaty, the only trouble with it is the lace panel down the front... it definitely is better for flat chested girls as the scallops stick out funny, so if I keep it, I'll have my mom tack down the edges.

#2 fits great and looks nice on but I am super-self-conscious about my arms and not sure how I feel about the cap-sleeves. I'm also not sure how I feel about cap sleeves for November... but I love how the top is sheer lace and the scallop hem and the zipper back.

#3 is exactly what I was looking for. I love everything about it, but I'm a glutton for punishment and ordered it a size too small. I can always exchange it but I'm really hoping I can loose enough to make it work :)

Rehearsal Dinner Dresses... the Search is (back) on

I've been looking for a fabulous Rehearsal dinner dress for a while now... I might have fifty-thousand pinned on Pinterest. Turns out, I have champagne taste on a beer budget. The good news, we're beer-drinkers where I come from, so I'm totally up for the challenge of finding an amazing dress and scoring a big deal on it!

Dress 1, Dress 2, Dress 3

I'm kind of obsessed with BHLDN. Their dresses and jewelry and accessories are gorgeous but let's be honest... even their sale stuff isn't really a great deal, and that said, their non-sale goods are just not in my budget. I love the lacy looks above but dress 1 costs more than my wedding dress. That's probably a good indicator that it's too much for the rehearsal dinner. Come on though... you can't say they aren't soooo pretty!!

Dress 4 (unavailable online store, similar), Dress 5, Dress 6

So I've continued the search and I actually bought dress #4 at the H&M store (can buy it on e-bay here)and it's SUPER-ridiculously-6-inches-too-short. I can wear it as a shirt, with leggings, but DEFINITELY not as a dress... especially not to church! Even if it were 6 inches longer, it would probably still be just long enough. So I love this dress, and 5 & 6 but I'm just way too tall for these tiny mini dresses, which are clearly made for petite tiny lil ladies (I'm neither of those). I'd even go as so far to say that watch your back (literally... and maybe avoid stairs) if you are over 5'5" because these might even be too scandalous on you! These are all really cute and inexpensive but just too short #tallgirlproblems.

So I've had too expensive and too short... so of course I'll have to Goldilocks it up a bit here and find something just right.

Ralph Lauren, Adrianna Papell, Jessica Simpson, Marina

Macy's is the old stand by... I can ALWAYS find something great there and it seems like they are ALWAYS having some kind of sale. For instance, I got a coupon packet in the mail this week that lasts til the end of August (3 months!) All of these dresses are great but I have to say, my favorite is the Adrianna Papell dress. It rocks, and it's got long sleeves which I love for November. It also has a great exposed gold zipper all the way down the back so it makes the dress a little more contemporary.

And lastly, David's Bridal has some awesome options that I'm totally excited about, mostly because they give you 20% off when you purchase a "reception dress".

1, 2, 3, 4

I'm not going to lie, #1 is totally my favorite but I don't really want something like that for the rehearsal dinner. #3 is exactly what I was looking for. It's very similar to the Adrianna Papell dress I love at Macy's only cap sleeves. As it stands now, I own #3 (from when I exchanged the crazy-crown and DB wouldn't issue a store credit for anything over $50... minor annoyance and my only complaint about the place).

But... I have a tendency to change my mind. A LOT. So we'll see what happens. I might have also ordered the AP dress from Macy's (with a 20% off coupon and a $75 gift card... today... while I was writing this post) that definitely happened.