Score! Bridesmaid dress for under $40

I spent hours surfing J. Crew's online sale section, Nordstrom Bridal and David's Bridal for bridesmaid dresses for my girls, and nothing fit my budget, color or style. Then I found these flirty ruffled dresses at a local boutique (sort of like a Charlotte Russo or Forever 21) called Sway in Alameda, CA.

J'adore! I bought one for each bridesmaid and an extra one for fabric/alterations at $36 each, plus tax. Our wedding day was the first time I had seen the dresses on any of my bridesmaids and I was delighted how pretty they looked! I gave each bridesmaid free reign for the color of their shoes and gave them a choice between a small coral colored hair accessory or the ivory rose with feathers. The girls decided to wear their hair in side chignons with the ivory hair clip. I gifted them vintage, custom made earrings by Esty seller, Chouettes (see photo).

Black diamond art noveau (custom) by Chouettes

We're on Style Unveiled SF today!

Our engagement shoot with Steve Hughes at Piedmont Community Park was fabulous! Check out our e-session at Style Unveiled: Bride in the City, including vendor highlights and how our planning process has been going.

Vera and Fred - photo by Steve Hughes Photography

Va-va-voom: e-session outfit

I heart Anthropologie. Here's the outfit I'm wearing for our e-session tomorrow!

The "Silken Stitches" dress:

paired with this "Redux" jacket in black:

and Stephen Loewinsohn is taking photos of us at the Albany Bulb.

Etsy Find: Wrap it Up

Continuing on my hide-the-arms quest, I'm considering a wrap -- which ties behind versus having a full panel of fabric. It's less expensive than a bolero and I'm loving Bonzie's charming, Victorian style.

Ethereal Light Baroque ($69)

If I can find $145 to spare, I would buy this (it 's my favorite, the Silver French Vanilla):

The golden yellow Venetian raw silk wrap ($110) is darling too!

Coral Dupioni Silk Wrap ($79) would go with our orange-teal wedding colors:

How to hide your arms

I've lost about 14-15 pounds so far but I've still got the jiggly arms since I haven't been doing weight training consistently. My dress is strapless and I'm worrying about the chicken cutlets that threaten to hang out over the sides of my dress. Eeks!!!

Uptown Urban Craft to the rescue! For $74, I can get this cute bolero in taffeta and choose from seven colors. Unfortunately, teal or orange aren't among the choices (mostly pastel), but I suppose the brown will go best with my champagne colored dress.

{Photo from Uptown Urban Craft}

Another one that's really sweet is this art noveau inspired number, called La Belle Epoque.

 {Photo from Uptown Urban Craft}

Etsy Find: Romantic Garden Inspired Necklaces

The Perfect Palette recently featured a cowboy themed inspiration board and a necklace featuring a large flower caught my eye.

I ended up buying this one, but how cute are the other designs? And good news, they're extremely affordable (average price $29-32).

Here's the Mod Owl Necklace ($29.95) I just bought:

The necklace featured on Perfect Palette (Waverly, $32):

I adore this one (Teal Crystalia Gardens, $29.95):

This one's cheery (Sarita Butterfly Gardens, $29.95):

 

Mod Romantique, $29.95

Sophisticated look for less

This is really lovely, isn't it? And it's only $110! Local San Francisco designer, Christine Aiko Beck of Aiko Designs creates necklaces, earrings and bracelets such as these by hand. She describes her style as "sophisticated and elegant, organic yet ethereal." Her designs are "thoughtful" and she places great value on the details. Read my interview with Christine on the Bay Area Bride Guide. And check out more of her lovely designs, many under $150! The Stars earrings are my favorite! I can see that being a sweet gift. :)

{Green Amethyst Drop - $70}

{Stars - $58}

{Green Amethyst Droplets - $110}

{Black and Gold Chain - perfect for bridal shower! $75}

Eat my garter

I was at a dinner party yesterday night and the subject of edible panties came up (don't ask me how). And then everyone thought it'd be a great idea if I wore an edible garter at the wedding reception. Haha, funny guys. 

 

I didn't think such things existed, but oh yes they do.

Personally, this one (from Etsy.com) is more my style.

{"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend in Orange; Garter Lady on Etsy.com}

Inspiration #56: The Barong

Does your cultural heritage have distinct wedding attire? The most well known are probably the Chinese red dress or the Korean hanbok for brides, but what about for the groom?

{Photo by Gene Higa Photography, Destination Photography based in San Francisco}

I am incorporating my Filipino cultural heritage into our wedding byway of the dinner menu (e.g. lechon, or whole roasted pig), but I did briefly consider having Guitar Fred wear the traditional Filipino wedding attire, the barong. The barong is a lightweight, transparent embroidered formal garment worn untucked (similar to a coat/dress shirt), over an undershirt. It's made just right for the high humidity and heat of the Philippines!

According to Wikipedia, there are 3 different fabrics:

• Piña fabric - is hand-loomed from pineapple leaf fibers. And because Piña weavers in the Philippines are dwindling, its scarcity makes the delicate Piña cloth expensive and is thus used for very formal events.
• Jusi fabric - is mechanically woven and was once made from abacca or banana silk. Today, China is the main source of polyester Jusi.
• Banana fabric - is another sheer fabric used in formal occasions. Made and hand woven from banana fiber, it usually comes with geometric design details.

Here are two images of the barong from Gene Higa (who also happened to cover my sister's and a friend's weddings):

{Photos by Gene Higa Photography, Destination Photography based in San Francisco}

Also, check out this rockin' barong tagalog in gray, as photographed by Misha Media:

{Photos above by Misha Media}

Tied up.

Guitar Fred and I spent Monday night shopping -- not his favorite past time but it was all about him. After he spent 1.5 hrs buying a new pair of shoes (80% off of $169 -- good boy!), I dragged him to the Men's Wearhouse in the same shopping center to look at tux rentals (prices range from $89 to $150). MW has a deal that if 4 groomsmen rent a tux or suit, the groom's tux will be free OR if 5 groomsmen rent, the groom gets a $400 credit towards a brand new tux or suit. Guitar Fred liked the latter option, but we only have 4 groomsmen.

 

{Above: The styles Guitar Fred liked at Men's Wearhouse. Source: theknot.com}

He is going to ask the guys if they can wear their own black suits and we'll provide the ties. I'm not too keen on that since I had my heart set on him wearing either chocolate brown or gray, but I understand that since most of his 3 out of 4 of the groomsmen are flying in from the East Coast, we should watch costs. None of the ties at MW were agreeable to me -- the blues weren't peacock blue enough, and the orange selection was limited. A search on Google didn't turn up much. Then I went to Etsy.com and I found some possibilities, including an ascot (which midway through writing this post, he says he doesn't like.). I also liked the selection my sister's wedding photographer, Ann Hamilton, posted on her blog.

Short of heading to the stores, do you have any suggestions for finding stylish striped silk ties for under $40 online?

{Fred says no, but I think it's fun. Sapphire Blue Ascot Tie by ElegantAscot - $24.00}

{Only 1 of these Teal Paisley Silk Ties in stock at Rabbitstop's shop on etsy.com (guess it could be for the groom if the rest of the guys got solid ties? - $17.99}

{Peacock Blue Skinny Silk Tie at Rabbitstop's shop on etsy.com - $17.99 }

{Club Room Solid Tie - Macys.com - $24.00} 

 

{Jones New York Orange Paisley Tie - Men's Wearhouse - $49.50}

Inspiration #42: Pride & Prejudice's Regency Era

Currently jetsetting in Europe, Kate Harrison, is a San Francisco based photographer whose work I adore. Check out the wedding she just shot of Anita + Phil. Kate's shot of Anita's favors wrapped in a "Pride and Prejudice" page inspired me for this post. (Note: Jane Austen wrote "Pride and Prejudice" in the Regency era, between 1811-1818, not the restrained Victorian era as many mistakenly assume. Fashion of the time included empire waist dresses and the Regency design style moved from strict symmetry to asymmetry. The aesthetic was more relaxed and informal than Georgian style.)

{photo by Kate Harrison}

{Johanna Hehir Dress}

{Botanical English Garden Wedding Invitation from Minted.com}

{Karen Tran Floral - San Diego}

Inspiration #40: Bows!

I've been obsessing over bows lately. I recently bought a silver metallic bow headband at J. Crew (on sale for $9), a metallic pleather metallic bow purse at Payless (thank you for the 50% off, Oprah --only $9) and a white bow button-up top at H&M (only $12 with a 50% off coupon). How's that for going bow-crazy on a dime?

Here's what else has caught my fancy although they are well beyond my budget:

{Giorgio Armani-White & Black Pinstriped Bow-Tie Dress-’09 Fashion Fall/Winter Forecast}

 

{Ted Baker Bow Detail Leather Tote}

 

{Anthropologie Alcee Dress}

{Nanette Lepore Lovin' You Pumps}