I LOVE this bag!

Silk gala Clutch $88 at www.jcrew.com

J.Crew bridesmaids dresses

My future sister-in-law F (bridesmaid) chose lovely J.Crew dresses for her bridesmaids, and it was the first place I looked to for mine. They truly have a beautiful collection of styles and colors. I hope the girls will actually wear them again! My sister C bought two of the styles to try on and e-mailed me photos that I will share. I love them both!

Earrings and necklaces and bangles, oh my!

Top Row (L to R): David Yurman Noblesse Pave Earrings $1350 and Petite Albion Pearl Earrings $1110 at www.davidyurman.com, Tiffany Pearl studs $275 and Tiffany Diamonds by the Yard pendant in platinum $975 at www.tiffanys.com
Bottom Row (L to R): Tiffany Pearls by the Yard Necklace $295 and Cultured freshwater pearl necklace $625 at www.tiffanys.com, Ippolita 2 Diamond bangle $335 at www.ippolita.com, David Yurman Confetti Pave Station bangle $425 at www.davidyurman.com

Just daydreaming about some potential accessories...

Shoes, glorious shoes!

Top row (L to R): Kate Spade "lover" $275-$295, Kate spade "muse" $275. Both at www.katespade.com
Middle row (L to R): Jimmy Choo "Macy" $595 at www.jimmychoo.com, Manolo Blahnik "Sedaraby" in white $715 at www.barneys.com
Bottom row (L to R): Manolo Blahnik "Sedaraby" in silver $715 at www.barneys.com, Manolo Blahnik slingback sandal $695 at www.neimanmarcus.com

I admit to having a bit of a shoe obsession! Recently I created a fun powerpoint with the above images and sent it to my sister J (MOH) and Sarah to help me decide on styles/colors of shoes for my big day. We all agreed that stylish (and hopefully comfortable) shoes you can wear again are well worth the expense. I think my fiance N would faint if he knew how much these cost!

My Mosaic

Inspiration Board

Inspiration

We've got a great team together, and it's time to start getting creative! I decided on Navy and Yellow for my color palette. Now we've been looking for inspiration to bring to the save the dates/invitation suite. We're also brainstorming design ideas for the ceremony and reception space. I'll share a board that Sarah created for me, and also one I put together with an online program at Mosaic Maker that I discovered from the Wedding Bee.

Beautiful blooms!

We are making great progress with all the plans! As I mentioned before, my close friend J got married not too long ago, and she's been a great resource throughout the planning process. One night, awhile back now, N and I had dinner with J and her husband, and I commented how much I loved her wedding flowers. She quickly sent me the name of her florist, and friend, Kelly Harris.

This photo is from her site www.beautifulbloomslive.com and is from J's wedding! We haven't had a chance to meet yet, but I've been flipping through magazines and a book Sarah let me borrow to collect ideas. I can't wait to share what we come up with.

Music

I have long imagined walking down the aisle to a string quartet playing Pachelbel's Canon in D minor. While discussing potential wedding plans at work, one of the NP's raved about the musicians she hired for her Boston wedding last year. She later sent me a very helpful e-mail she had put together for another bride-to-be with a list of all her vendors. My main interest was in Michael Reavey Music. I did a quick internet search and came up with a few others, which I also contacted. Michael Reavey was the most flexible for scheduling (prelude 15min or 30min, ceremony, and cocktail hour???) and also the most affordable of the group.

I ended up deciding to hire the DJ to start with the cocktail hour and then continue for the reception. Sarah had someone in mind, and he came back to me with the best offer, so this saved me alot of time! Oh, we're going with Top Choice DJ Select, Renzo Hernandez.

Adeline and Grace

With Sarah now on board, we picked up the pace and quickly made a list of potential vendors. We started with photography and looked at Adeline and Grace, Geneve Hoffman, and Jeff Dachowski. Sarah has personal experience with Adeline and Grace, and the others came highly recommended to me by my future sister-in-law F (bridesmaid) who is getting married in September, and a close friend of mine, J, whose wedding I was in not too long ago. It really was a tough decision, and I would be thrilled to work with any of these extraordinarily talented people! In the end though, Erica (Adeline and Grace) won me over!

Namaste

Potentially one of the most difficult tasks in my mind, finding an officiant (I admit that my experience with church is limited to weddings and funerals), couldn't have been easier! One evening as I was thumbing through my stack of bridal magazines I came across Edi Pasalis, a yoga teacher/wedding officiant. Interesting combination. So, I put down the magazine, picked up my laptop, and checked out her website, www.i-do-yoga.com For a couple like N and myself (consider us spiritual, not religious) I think she's a perfect fit. A few weeks later we met her in her studio in Watertown and from there we didn't need to look any further. I'm excited about meeting with her again to discuss our vows, and maybe to do some couples yoga!

Melissa Sweet

Ahh, the dress! My mother and sister J (MOH) came to Boston for a girls weekend of dress shopping in February. Separately, the three of us had amassed quite a pile of bridal magazines. Could you believe that we all tore out a photo of the same wedding dress that we absolutely loved? It's true. Well our first stop was Priscilla of Boston where I tried on beautiful gown after beautiful gown, but only one really stood out, the Melissa Sweet "Cossima" (the one we all had torn from the bridal mags). Later that day we drove up to Andover to Cristina's Bridal and an Alvina Valenta sweet-heart gown caught our attention. How to decide? Over a bottle of Pinot Noir we gabbed for hours. The next morning I announced the Melissa Sweet was my favorite (and there was much rejoicing!)