Sigh of Relief.

Not too long ago I was in an utter panic over the fabric for my wedding dress. If you don't recall, I am having my dress made and had carefully selected a fabric only to find it was out of stock! Not only this but the liner fabric I had chosen was also out of stock!

Well, I know you have all been holding your breath, wondering if I would be forced to walk down the aisle naked (because finding an alternate fabric would never work...). I can happily tell you, that I will indeed be fully clothed and not only that, I will be in my first choice fabric UK-591. I know I told you I would not show the dress, but I will happily show you the fabric! It's Dupioni Silk and according to fabric.com:

"Dupioni silk fabric has a lustrous sheen and characteristic small slubs that run horizontally across the fabric. It falls in soft folds when draped and is the most versatile fabric we carry. Not only do many brides choose dupioni silk fabric for themselves and their bridesmaids, it is also perfect for blouses, jackets, skirts, handbags and dresses. Be creative with beautiful home decor accents (draperies, swags, pillows and duvet covers"

Would you like to see it? The texture is beautiful not as stripey as some dupioni silks can be. The color is also amazing. It says "white" but it is a very soft, warm white and matches perfectly the color of Step-mama Aardvark's dress. Which was called Ivory....



Image from Fabric.com

 I realize it looks a little like TV "snow" but i tried and tried and could not tack my fabric swatch on to the blog page!

Now, my dress will be fully lined, and this is where things get interesting. The lining that matched PERFECTLY was out of stock with no sign of coming back in. I had ordered a few swatches of substitute fabric, but nothing really knocked my socks off. After a little bit of waffling back and forth, I decided it would be ok if my liner fabric was half a notch brighter than my main fabric. Chances are, no one would see it at all, and if they did, I don't think it would ruin the look of my wedding dress. Also, the peace of mind knowing everything was ordered and on its way was well worth it!

The lining fabric I chose is a silk/cotton blend and supper soft. It will be so nice as the against the skin fabric. Here is what I went with:

Image from Fabric.com

Now, I ordered the fabric and was ready to check this off of my "things to obsessively stress about" list. However, right as I was clicking "confirm" on the order window, I noticed that auto fill had run rampant on the shipping address and filled in "South Dakota" as the city and Wisconsin as the state.... As far as I know there is no South Dakota, WI. But even if there is, my seamstress, most certainly, does not live there! It was one of those slow motion moments as I was clicking and there was nothing I could do to stop myself and edit it. Que full on melt down (ok maybe only a half melt down.) I e-mailed frantically, called fabric.com the next morning and sent a few more panicky e-mails just to be safe.

They were very nice about the whole thing and did not call me a crazed  idiot (even if I was feeling/acting like one). I have to say, A+ Fabric.com customer service.

Despite my address re-arranging they still managed to ship out within 48 hours and yesterday I got an e-mail from my amazing seamstress saying it had arrived. Que HUGE sigh of relief.

Now I have my first real fitting in the actual dress I will be actually married in on January 21st and I am SO excited to finally see it.

Did you have any stressful projects that just would not wrap up?! How did you deal with them? How did you feel when they finally resolved?

To Top It All Off!

This is something that I am so SO excited about. It may be my favorite wedding detail to date. I am totally smitten.

I know there are TONS of cake toppers out there. I know that some people search and search and become totally overwhelmed by all of the absolutely adorable options. We (I) did not have this problem. The first time I was  casually perusing ETSY for cake toppers I stumbled upon The Junk Bucket. These toppers were hands down the cutest ones on the whole internet and Mr. Aardvark loved (ok, maybe just liked but the fact that he had an opinion on a cake topper says something!) them too.

Eleanor was the sweetest lady and always quick to answer my questions. She even gave me a HUGE discount (on top of the already super reasonable price) because there was a bit of a delay in finishing my topper! I have to say this has been one of my favorite things so far. Ok ok, enough chit chat bring on the pictures!

 Pretty sure I didn't order and uncured chicken franks...but happy to see she recycles!

They're cute already and they're just blobs of bubble wrap!

Ok, are you read to be stunned with cuteness?? Hive, The Bride:

How freakin' cute is that!? (Can you tell I am a bit obsessed) Also the Pink has a bit of sparkle to it!

Of course a bride all by herself on top of a cake would look awful silly so there had to be a groom too!

I had her use an extra tall one for Mr. Aardvark since he is so leggy!

Don't they look sweet together?!

There little heads are on springs and bobble a bit! I am sorry to blabber on and on but really, SO CUTE! Ok, I may have gone a bit overboard with the photo shoot!

Look at there little bolt ears!

Besides the fact that they are just so much fun, they are perfect for us for a couple reasons. The are made out of nuts and bolts and bikes are held together with nuts and bolts! Also did you see her bouquet? Totally looks like a chain ring! On top of that, Mr. Aardvark is a computer guy, and they are robots! So perfect. 

Ok, I am done gushing (for now). I will have to just gaze at them on the bookshelf until April. Big sigh.....

Before I go, what wedding photo shoot would be complete without this shot?

Did you have a wedding detail that just knocked your socks off?

Pretty Maids All in a Row: Gifties

First off, Aardvark Dream Team... Yes you five bridesmaids... shoo. This is  surprise for you.

Everyone else,

I had this big plan that I would wait and do a post about the bridesmaid's gifts after I had all the parts in place, then these came in and I was so excited I could not contain myself and need to show someone.

I came home from a weekend of Thanks and turkey to this HUGE BOX.

It was packed full of Chinese newspapers... Funny, I don't remember ordering these....

Oooo what are these pretties inside!?

Five of these pretty boxes... Love the bows and the time save wrapping them!

OOh look at those I can't wait to make little name cards! :) 

At this point my socks had been blown off. The quality/cute factor of the packaging was amazing. If you can't see on the card above I had ordered these through Dress Rush from Angee W. They had been a bit slow coming and there was some confusion in the beginning as to whether or not I ordered one or five and how much shipping needed to be, but I was very impressed once they arrived!

Each one came with it's own bag. Oh! You want to know what goes in the bag?! You mean you didn't want to read a whole post about packaging? Haha Sorry. Ok, enough dilly dally-ing I ordered these lovely bags with custom liners for my bridal party!

The liners have each girl's name on the inside. I am not in love with the quality of the name (it's just a heat transfer, I thought it would be sublimated) but the bags are very nice and the price was good. 

(No that one does not just have an M, but I couldn't bring myself to blur out the whole thing with such a pretty font.)

I had been a bit nervous about the color. I was listed as "Olive" online and while it is a smidge darker than the rest of the greens we are using, I think it will be ok. Also how pretty are these? I am considering having the girls carry them in place of flowers what are your thoughts on that??

 Over all I give Angee W. a B+ and these bags an A-. I am SO excited to give them to my girls filled with other goodies.

What are you gifting to your bridal party?

Let Them Eat....Everything!

As I stated in my last post, last weekend was a whirl wind of wedding git-r-done-ness. Me managed to nail down our menu, get pictures of the venue and select/taste cake and get on the bakery's calendar. It was a little like we were just going from one meal to the other but it was totally worth it!

We started off by heading to Arcadia. There we order close to every (ok only about half) appetizer they offered. After much dipping, tasting and discussing we decided on these three for cocktail hour:

The Garden Goat Quesadilla I am not sure what all is in here but it was colorful and tasty and I'm pretty sure there was goat cheese in it.

Brochette Mama Aardvark lobbied hard for this one. and really how could I argue? 

This one we didn't even have to taste. We just knew. The Pepperoni Roll! A signature app from Arcadia, and soon, at my wedding!

After the appetizers we were pretty full but we managed to put our thinking caps on and figure out that we needed some of the famous Arcadia Beef Brisket. Our table of twelve ordered a single BBQ sampler platter and it was totally enough after all the food we had just eaten. The Brisket was the clear winner out of the BBQ and sadly all that was left on the plate were scraps by the time I remembered to take pictures. (oops)

Did I mention there are three AMAZING BBQ sauces that go with the afore mentioned brisket? Well there are. I did get a a picture of those! From left to right yum, yum and yum.

We will not only be eating BBQ. There will be a salad, but not just any salad, the Nuts and Berries Salad which is my all time favorite with mixed greens, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and candied walnuts.

There will also be sides of baked beans (Amazing from scratch with BIG chunks of bacon) and some of the best cornbread ever.

And for our herbivore friends, Pasta Premavera! 

And we will be serving a midnight (9:30) snack of a potato bar! Dress 'em any way you want. Our Chef has a mile long list of potato add ins that will rock anyone's world. That should help soak up any drinks that people may or may not have had at that point!

Oh and here are some pictures of the inside. Check out these cool camel lamps (Never thought I would say those words together!) 

Most of the tables are old doors with glass tops! How cool is that. We will be getting rid of the beer special cards and replacing them with doilies and candle centerpieces but otherwise no linens needed here.

The paper lanterns and snowflake lights will be gone and this area will be the dance floor! Those windows, look into the brewing room! 

Hive, this is where beer is born!

I also like the barrels and chalk boards. Can you imagine that as a seating chart? Or a welcome to our wedding sign?

After that food-fest it was on to the part of the weekend, nay, the engagement that I had been looking forward to most of all. Cake tasting. 

For me, and pretty much anyone in Battle Creek, there is really no question about where to get a wedding cake. Continental Bakery is the hands down winner. Not only do they taste like heaven, they are reasonably priced AND they accommodated our seven person tasting team at no extra charge! 

So in we went and they brought us A white cake, chocolate cake and two plates of fillings. The way there wedding cakes work, there are three layers of filling per level of cake. We decided on a four level cake with simple white butter cream, maybe some frosting dots... But the hard part was narrowing down and pairing up flavors!

On the far right plate is raspberry filling (amazing) on the round one the off white is custard, going clockwise, pineapple, apricot, and cream cheese. 

It was hard work we had to do a lot of mixing and matching. But in the end, we were able to come up a plan. 

So what's it going to be? 

Bottom level: White cake with pineapple, custard, pineapple 

Second level: Chocolate cake with raspberry, cream cheese, raspberry

Third level: White cake with raspberry, custard, raspberry

Top level: Chocolate cake with all custard. 

AND we get a six inch cake in one of our wedding flavors for twelve bucks on our anniversary! (Can I get a "Hell Yeah" for no freezer burn?!)

Are you full yet? I am after typing this!

Did you do your planning in bursts or gradually one at a time?

Dusty Boxes

The past weekend was a whirl wind. We got SO much done. I will get into all of the food/reception fun in a bit but one of the most exciting parts of the weekend was finding and opening a bunch of dusty boxes. Boxes that held wedding dresses!

In honor of my trip to Michigan my grandmother dug out my great Aunt's and Mama Aardvark's wedding dresses. Step-mama Aardvark also found hers and busted it open (from is cryogenically frozen state) for a great round of show and tell!

All of these dresses really got me into the wedding spirit and got me thinking about how to incorporate  little pieces into my own Bridal look.

Enough yip yapping on my part! How about some pictures?

This is the lovely box my Great Aunt's dress was in. I think someday I would like to be a wedding box illustrator.

Inside the box was this lovely. I loved the vintage look and feel. It had a high neck and was very heavy. I don't think I could get it on even if I was greased up and in the most super spanx ever made...

The veil, however, fit just fine. It was totally different than anything I had ever seen. Lots of layers....

A nun-like lace panel in the back....

And my very favorite part, was that cap! How cute is that! Totally not helping my veil problems!

Above is my mom's veil. I have to say I kinda love it. It was all wrinkled and smooshed in a much less fancy box than my Aunt had but it was still lovely. My mom and grandma made it together about 25 years ago!

View from the top.

Here comes the bride! Haha It could use a good steaming but it was really fun to wear!

My favorite part was this bow. I have decided that this bow will be making it's way into my wedding day look but you will have to wait to see how! 

One thing that was really fun (funny)  about this veil was that it had an under layer of extra short tule to give it some extra height! I bet it it had been all steamed it would have been pretty large! (Gotta love the 80s!)

Of course this post is not only about veils! There were dresses in those dusty boxes too! And what fun is pulling out an old dress if you can't even try it on!

Turns out my mom's fit! Barely! It was an effort to zip and a bit short but I got it on!

She of course had a big hoop skirt under it when she was a bride but this is how it looked on me... (Dig the sleeves?)

Sorry about the bra straps! I did not know we would be having a fashion show when I went to my grandma's!

I LOVE the way Mama Aardvark's dress looked bustled!

The next day Step-mama Aardvark had found her dress and wanted to break the super seal that it had been packed in some 14 years ago!

Papa Aardvark said it looked like an open casket without a head.... Morbid much?? But I must say it is a little creepy! I was glad to see it out of the box!

Showing off her veil! It was so Pretty! I may end up wearing it for the reception. It has a very fancy headband (crown?) that is so fun.  

Papa Aardvark wanted to get in on the dress up too! This was a bit of tissue paper from the packaging...Very chic.

Of course when the dress came out, so did the photo album! Not much has changed in 14 years!

(Apparently seeing Step-Mama in a veil brought back memories for Papa A too!)

Above is one of my favorite pictures of Step-Mama Aardvark and myself. I was nine when they got married so I remember the whole thing quite well. This was my first time seeing her all done up!

In the picture below I am dressed with the rest of the bride's maids and on the far left.

Fourteen years later and the dresses still look great!  Step-Mama Aardvark  still looks foxy in her dress. She kept saying how impressed she was that she still liked it. She had been afraid that it would be terribly dated by now but I think she looks a lot like Kate Middleton.

Of course there was no hope that I would fit into my bridesmaid dress but my bridesmaid Sis looked smashing in it! (She is almost 3 years older than I was at the time and quite a bit taller but about the same size in the shoulders.)

She's still got it! (Even with a towel on her head! (She wanted to shower before trying it on)) Grandma A in the back is very impressed! 

And then it was my turn to try it. I never went shopping for a dress, so these two days of trying on my moms' dresses were about a close as I came to that experience. It was fun to put them on, but I knew when I first saw my pattern that it was the perfect dress for me. 

Here I am in Step-mama's dress. Please ignore the hair. Not sure what was happening there. 

One detail of Step mama's dress that I fell for hard and fast was the giant butt bow. I don't know why I like it so much but it captured my imagination and I took it with me (along with her veil) when I went back to Wisconsin. You will have to stay tuned to see how t will be worked into my look the day of!

Did you play dress up with family members' dresses?