Shall I talk to you about my bridesmaids?

I always said I wanted a small bridal party- I thought probably just my little sister Emma and my other “sister” and best friend for life Aubrey- but when it came time to actually think about it- there were people in my life who were way too important to not have standing beside me- Morgan, Heather, and Gabe. People who have seen me and Tim through the good times and bad times and who know me, some days, better than I know myself. Asking them to stand beside me was not about needing extra hands- it was about wanting 5 woman who I love and admire to warm up the water before I took the plunge- to put their hand on my shoulder and say, “You’ve got this!” when I got nervous. I never had any intention of making them run to Paper Source a million times to search for ribbon, or tie strips of fabric onto yards and yards of garland, or at the very last minute track down 12 umbrella’s and have them overnight-ed to our hotel in case it rained- I figured between Tim and I, I could handle all of that stuff on my own and I am kind of a control freak- but when it came down to it, boy did I need their help and not just with errands!

It was important to me to not stifle them. They are all stylish, strong, gorgeous women and the last thing I wanted to do was force them into some same color/same dress situation. However, I did have a certain vision for the whole look of the day and I wanted to choose something that would give them freedom but also reflect the general style we were going for. I have always had an affinity for vintage dresses and loved the idea of taking a “green” approach. I knew I wanted them to all be in blushes, golds, and creams…

….so Yelena Johnson and I set out one rainy LA afternoon to check out Shareen Vintage- otherwise known as a vintage-lovers heaven on earth. We combed through dress after dress in her racks and racks of beautiful vintage pieces and knew we had stumbled upon something gold! We set up an appointment with Shareen for a few months later and when we arrived with all the bridesmaids in tow she had pulled a bunch of dresses in our color scheme for us to try on!

This is what we ended up with that day….the color palette went into a much warmer salmon tone than we had planned but the dresses looked so great on the girls that it didn’t really matter at all!

With a couple tweaks, one new dress, and a bunch of gorgeous accessories made by the super talented Ashley Maxwell this is what we ended up with- following photos by Jasmine*

Throughout the year I picked up necklaces where ever I saw them in our color palette and then we styled ‘em up that day!

I sent lots of links to shoes I thought might look good, but inevitably the girls all chose their own and they came out perfectly! Heather found these vintage blue velvet pumps which worked perfectly with our color palette and Gabe and Aubs went blue too!

While we were downstairs taking family portraits Heather took some gorgeous shots of the girls in the ceremony room. I think these PERFECTLY capture the style of each bridesmaid. Wish I had one of me to match but these will definitely be a large spread in the album!!!!

Seriously, seeing all of these images together in this post just completely makes me giddy. These girls looked so fabulous and the colors and styling turned out exactly the way I had imagined!

{ Photobooth! }

Most of the dresses needed slight alterations but we added up the cost of all of the dresses and then divided the amount by 5 so the dresses definitely came out cheaper than any dress I’d seen listed as a “bridesmaid” dress online. Each dress had the perfect character for each individual girl and the whole look together really still said “Meg” !

I could not have made it through all of the planning stress and decision making without these girls. I love you all to the moon and back a million times!

What do you think???

My steps are lighter and smiles brighter this time of year. Are yours?

Some more of our holiday decor: I decided to keep it simple and used a whole bunch of the decor from the wedding to dress the tree. Our guest book for our wedding, implemented by the wonderful Yelena Johnson, was an ornament making station.  To help us trim our first tree as a married couple, our guests wrote notes to us and stuffed them inside clear glass ornaments with ribbons, glitter dust, and other pretty little things.

Here is the table with the ornament making supplies. Photos by Jasmine.

And here the ornaments are on the tree! I also used a bunch of the garland from the ceremony benches. Special thanks to my sister, Emma, for sitting on the living room floor with me and untangling all that garland- and of course to Aubrey, for tying each and every one of those fabric strips to that string.

I love to use the extra branches cut from the bottom of the tree as additional filler throughout the house. Nothing like fresh evergreen scent in the house!

I used twine to string holiday cards across the mirror above the couch. At the time I took this photo we only had a couple but now it’s full and a second tier has been added! Also, my dear mom and Carolyn sewed all these beautiful tool flowers for the wedding and, unfortunately, I didn’t see them anywhere in the wedding photos so I’m assuming they never made it out of the box but they make beautiful tree fillers!

Lots of personal posts this time of year- are you guys finding me annoying yet? I promise some clients will be on the blog soon

Okay, I am ready to talk about it. Why don’t we start with the single most important thing about a wedding (??) the dress. Now, this is somewhat of a drama queen-Meg here. This story is something that I am both proud of and ashamed of. About two months before our wedding I went in for my first fitting of my dream dress : Claire Pettibones Kristene gown. It looked and felt like something Jane Austen’s women would have worn and had so many gorgeous little lace details.

When I tried it on at the salon it, of course, was the sample dress and was way too big. When it was clamped at my waist the layers hit my hips at just the right spot but now, after the tailoring, it felt as though it was hugging me in all the wrong places…. Everyone kept assuring me it looked great but all I could think was, “Sh*t- I can’t eat and I have to go to the gym every single day until the wedding.” The seamstress said she’d be able to let it out in the right places and fix a few other concerns and that it would be perfect. What followed in the next two-three weeks was an inner dialogue that sounded something like this:

It’s a beautiful dress. But, Meg, is it a beautiful dress on YOU? No, Meg, it’s YOUR dress. You bought it, you loved it at one time you still love it. It will be perfect! Okay, I’ll go to the gym … but I don’t have timmmmme for the gym. But, Meg, your hips are going to look huge. Okay… I think…. no no don’t do it. This is your dress! You cannot be a bridezilla this dress cost you money! But… I don’t love this dress. I don’t. I do. I don’t. Yes, I think… I need …a new dress! MOM I NEED A NEW DRESS!!!!!!

I called my mom and in a very small voice said, “Mom……I know it’s a month from the wedding but I’m not feeling good about my dress. I think I might need to go look for a new one.” Did she roll her eyes? Did she sigh? Did she reprimand me for being a ‘zilla? Nope- she simply said, “Thought so! We’ll go this week. Do some research.”Bless Tim’s heart, he didn’t say a word.

Early on in my dress hunting we had gone to Glamour Closet on La Brea in Los Angeles and tried on some sample gowns. I didn’t find any that day but I remembered there was an SF location and I knew that when you bought dresses there you could walk out with them immediately. None of that “9 month ordering process” deal. So off we went on a Tuesday morning 3.5 weeks before the wedding to hopefully find a new dress. I was bracing myself for the worst but was definitely going in with an open mind. At first I really liked this Vera Wang- I had come to the conclusion that what I really wanted to feel like was a cloud. I wanted to float down the aisle and I could definitely see myself floating in this… but it just wasn’t really what I wanted- I felt like a cupcake!

(iphone photos)

and then….. hellloooooo CAROLINA HERRERA ….

I didn’t want to take it off. The sash even matched the bridesmaids dresses! I felt like a cloud, I felt comfortable, I felt pretty, I didn’t feel like I had to go to the gym- I seriously believe this was my dress soul-mate. I still felt like I was out of Pride and Prejudice but I could breathe! So here’s where I wrap it all up. I am slightly embarrassed that I was such a baby- that I bought a dress on a whim and that it truly wasn’t the dress for me. I’m embarrassed that it took me until a month before the wedding to admit to myself that I wasn’t happy with it. All that said, I am proud of myself for not settling for something less than perfect and for being open-hearted enough to find the dress of my dreams.

2011 brides.. my advice to you, don’t buy a dress too soon.. there are so many to choose from and especially if you are going to be engaged through new seasons take your time! And if for some reason you are like me and find yourself trying to convince yourself that you love your gown – give a place like Glamour Closet a shot, you never know! You might find your Carolina

www.jasminestarblog.com

and then of course- a girls gotta have a good dancing frock! Picked this lovely number up at Gabrielle’s in Campbell – it’s by Watters .. I think I am going to dye it, it’s too great to not wear again!

I will probably get about 20 e-mails after posting this blog from friends and family yelling at me to stop working and go get tan but I can’t help it. It’s time to reflect. Timmy is sitting next to me on this big bed in our hotel room in Hawaii reading Steve Martins biography and eating fishy crackers out of the bag. I just showered the sand off my body and am sitting here typing away in my Fairmont Hotel bathrobe. I am plenty relaxed and totally stress free so I promise, a wonderful dinner with my husband is to be had in an hour or so but for now- let me and my laptop be!

Last Saturday was, hands down, the absolute best day of my life. Every single bit of it (even when I freaked out right before walking down the aisle) was perfect. The day was exactly as I had imagined it both aesthetically and emotionally and I am still exploding from the excitement and happiness of it all.

I was a little afraid that once the wedding was over I would plummet into depression. How will I spend my time? I want to do it all over again? What if I don’t feel the same way about my work after I’ve been there done that? I am so thankful to see that while I had the time of my freaking life, I am so happy to be Mrs. Timothy Resudek and so thankful to not be talking about table linens anymore! And actually, my understanding and appreciation for all my clients go through has only gotten stronger and I feel as though I will be able to do my job from a wonderful new perspective.

I noticed early on in the wedding planning process that I really found a lot of it exhausting. I find it hard to make decisions in regular every day life and the amount of choices I had to make and answers I had to come up with during the past 9 or so months was constantly overwhelming. I thought I’d blog about every little choice- this shoe or this shoe? Blush or lavender? Vintage bridesmaids or Vera bridesmaids? But seriously, a lot of the time I agonized so long over things that by the time I finally decided on them I was way over sharing my craziness with the world wide web.

I had the most amazing team of ladies to help me through it all and the day was better than I could have ever imagined- and you know, all of those pain-staking decisions actually paid off. The whole freaking thing looked exactly as I had imagined it.

I want to share (and rave) about my vendor choices, tell you all about how different being a bride versus a photographer is, and talk more about all of the decisions we made and why we made them- and I promise I will- but I’m going to head back into honeymoon mode! For now, check out J*’s blog edits here and a HUGE shout out to Yelena Johnson of The Stylish Soiree for totally and completely taking my vision and making it look like magic.

One of my favorites

I started writing my vows last night and I could barely stop myself from crying. This could be bad!

I feel like I am in the eye of the storm right now. Most all decisions have been made, almost everything is purchased, we packed up and labeled all of the decor items. I have Yelena to keep me sane and my best friends are kidnapping me this afternoon for one last night of debauchery (ha!) … I look at Tim from over my computer screen and its like the world around us is spinning so fast but we’re solid- feet on the ground and steady. I started writing my vows last night after working for about 14 hours straight on album designs (holiday ordering deadline happens to fall during our honeymoon … peachy!) and suddenly it hit me- if everything goes crazy, if timelines get thrown out, if shuttles don’t arrive, if it rains, if, if, if….. I will still be marrying my best friend.

So clients, past, present, and future- please forgive me if e-mail is a little slower than usual or turn around times take a little longer than previously expected. I am working at my very fastest pace to get as much as I can get done before I am officially off the radar.

Come Monday- November 1st I am officially on vacation until November 17th.

It’s alllll happening!!!!!!!!

Here are some pics that Heather took at my bridal shower- such a fun day!