Although this isn't the actual start of the wedding dress search series (my various shopping experiences that i've posted about thus far include - Hitched Salon, Terri Lynn's Bridal, Carrine's Atelier, Filene's and David's Bridal and also my post about Ulla-Maija Designs), Now that I have ordered my dress ... I can start to share the various dresses that I fell in love with along the way to find "my perfect" dress.

One thing I learned through this process of dress shopping is this: There are sooooo many dresses out there. The reason? Because there are so many different tastes and different body types. I think the most important thing is how the bride feels in the dress. And this is so personal. Going through the various salons I went to and the dresses that I've tried on - the only reason I ended up with the dress I chose was not b/c something was "wrong" with any of the other dresses, but rather... I loved all these dresses, but i had to choose the one that made me feel the happiest!

So after my first dress shopping experience at the amazing Hitched Salon in Georgetown... the first two contendors on this journey were: 

Ulla Maija Anouk

A beautiful stunning dress that just draped perfectly. The material was just gorgeous and I felt beautiful in this dress.

Ulla Maija Cendrillon 

A little more romantic and flowey, but I loved the way it cinched my waist.

How was your first time out dress shopping?

i've been a bad blogger. With work being as crazy as it's been, i've been very bad keeping up with my favorite blogs... So i only noticed this today... but on my coordinator, Paola's blog (Just Chic Events. wordpress) - She just did a wedding for Jessi and Adam and I absolutely love it. Not only are our color schemes very similar - i just love everything she did with it, so i had to share. (Images from Nataly Lemus - who is an amazing photog, so go and check out more of the pics from Jessi and Adam's wedding)...

Here are just a few...

Absolutely love the details... these shots are amazing... makes me more excited for my own Gray & Yellow (with navy trim) wedding :)

I've been so amazing lucky to have friends who have amazing talent... And one of these friends i'm totally taking advantage of... I'm abusing my "friendor" who is going to be doing calligraphy for my big day. Kelly from Calligraphy by Kelly-Ann is set to do our outer envelopes - definitely check out her site and her work. She's very talented and so much fun to work with.

Here is a sample she used with our names including our pups names lol. Also note, she used our engagement date 04/04 as well as our wedding date 3/06/10 in the sample.

Kelly also volunteered to do "anything" I needed for my big day.... So aside from amazing outer envelopes, I'm super duper excited about her doing our place cards

I'm trying to think of other things that i can get her to do for me since she has volunteered. And I know it'll add such a nice unique flair to the big day...  So far we've come up with...

1. Fun Calligraphy Map

2. Table Names

3. Reserved Seating area Seat Placecards

4. Our vows to be nicely framed afterward

5. Bride/Groom Signs for our reception seats

6. ...

Anything else I'm missing that I can do?

Photos: Calligraphy by Kelly-Ann

So our STD's are ordered.... and after all that is said and done... here it is...

Flower Enchantment from Magnet Street Weddings! :-) I customized it to reflect the color theme of our wedding, Soft Yellow, Gray and  navy trim.... I used more navy than i planned to b/c the pictures are in black and white and i thought the gray may just blend in too much.

What do you think?

We have booked our hotel block. It's a splurge, but i'm UBER excited... an old friend who works for the Westin in SF helped to hook me up, but we got an amazing deal at this hotel...

This is the "standard" garden/resort view rooms.... Super luxurious!

 TADA!!! This hotel is the St. Regis Monarch Beach... and I'm super excited that many of our guests have agreed to the splurge... to hopefully make our wedding weekend a bit of a vacation for them and to really enjoy the super luxurious, awesome hotel we got for prices similar to the regular hotels down the road!! 

Super big shout out thanks to my friend who helped hook up this deal... and I have to say our sales manager Amit is super awesome, patient and very knowledgeable... he lets me call him like every hour with questions... and our group reservations Agent Linda is also SUPERBLY nice... i'm hoping that our guests will be treated amazingly at this awesome resort! :-)

Have i mentioned before how awesome my photographer (Hazelnut Photography) is? I just got to see Jordana's most recent engagement shoot and fell in love. The colors were so vibrant and the couple she shot -  Haleh & Itai are just adorable together... I had to share! 





Look how gorgeous her ring is!!!











I absolutely love the shots with the computer. It's so clever and original!

So, it's not official but really close to it... I believe i'm booking Allison with Flower Allie.  I'm really excited about this vendor b/c she has made me even more excited about my wedding. How odd is that?! I have a vendor who really gets me excited about an aspect of my wedding that to be honest, i did not put THAT much thought into... I know. I know... flowers and decor are a big part of any wedding even if its not a big part of your budget... and even the slightest accents can make a huge difference... so that's why i am even more thrilled about Flower Allie... b/c i am very lost at that...

Here are a few pics from her site, just to show you some inspiration (All photos are from Flower Allie):

I'm so excited b/c she's so creative and so talented... i really can't wait to see what she helps me come up with for our ceremony and reception! :)

Ok, Y'all know I love garters. From giveaways and launch parties - i'm a big fan of stylish wedding garters, and I Just love Julianne Smith's wedding garters...

Check out the small gift that I got made for my friend's wedding this weekend...

Beautifully packaged in a simple box, but a beautiful ribbon

Then in another plastic cover (just to keep it safe) with a cute little sticker

Completely personalized to bear the initials of the bride and groom and the wedding date

How beautiful is it... her wedding covers are that EXACT green and dark brown... its so perfect. i can't help but be giddy with this gift!!!

Big Shout out to Julianne Smith who made this awesome garter for me and was so willing to personalize this.  Make sure to check out her site and her blog!

Friday, after lounging by the pool for several hours and drinking one too many (is there such a thing?) of Tequila Sunrise, Drunken Monkeys, Bloody Marys, and Strawberry Daiquiris... I tagged along to the rehearsal to prepare myself for what I could anticipate for the "day of" schedule... Since i've never shot more than inanimate object or my pups, i figure I should try to be prepared.

I've attached a few pics of the rehearsal...

And then the Rehearsal Dinner... doesn't the bride just look glowing?

All in all, our second day passed by too quickly.  We had so much fun at the rehearsal and then at the dinner... afterwards we all rushed to the Japanese restaurant for some more food and fun :)

So as y'all know... my splurge area is in the Photography/Videography area. You've followed my journey on booking my photographer (Hazelnut Photography), my Photobooth (Cheesy Photobooths), my Videographer (Best Wishes Wedding Video), my Live Event Artist (Karen Wall Garrison) ... and you know, that whatever I can do to memorialize my day is my BIG splurge...

Well here's another great idea I wanted to share that can help memorialize the big day... or in fact any big or small event in your life...

Custom Canvas Art via GeeZees. Basically, you submit a picture, and pick your background and canvas size, and Stephanie at GeeZees Custom Canvas Art turns it into... well Canvas Art... What a unique and special way to display your wedding photos, Children photos, or any other big event in your life.

How cool are these... You can grab a picture, any picture for any big event ... add some color and words and boom, you've got art... wedding art that's not just normal pictures but instead... ART!

Using words without pictures can also be art... Words on Canvas - especially if you are writing your own vows. I love this idea. What is great about turning your photos into canvas art is that you don't have to technically do it on the "day of". In fact, at any point, you can create Canvas art for any occasion. So, as i've possibly stretched my splurge area to its capacity ... for now, I love that I can come back at any time and turn any photo into Canvas Art after the fact.

I probably should include this on my registry, shouldn't i? Are any of you doing anything like this? Turning images of a special occasion into wall art?