Perfect shoes for a perfect dress

If you know me, you probably know I love shoes, especially comfortable and cute shoes.  I'll spend a lot of money on shoes.  And after I got my dress, I promptly went looking for shoes on the Fluevog website.  Fluevogs are the most comfortable heels I have ever worn.  I adore them. And you know what?  They were having a sale, and I got the most fantastic shoes ever!  They came yesterday, and I have to say they're even more perfect than they looked.  The purple is a little darker than it is in this photo, which is what I wanted.

Well, what I really want are these shoes.  But I can't walk in a four inch heel.  Sadly.

Thank God for family

I spent this weekend with lots and lots of family, and am now preparing for more family visits later this week.  It's so great to have such amazing family to visit, though after the third family I am starting to get completely exhausted.

This weekend my moms met Kate's brother, sister-in-law, dad and bonus mom for the first time.  The introductory hello turned into a wedding meeting after the breakfast plates were cleared and we were on our third, then fourth, then fifth cup of coffee.  All I can say is thank God for family.

The meeting, while totally and completely overwhelming, made me and Kate think about event and logistic details that need to be decided in the next month.  Many of the things that we talked about Kate and I hadn't discussed yet or even realized we needed to think about.

I am so thankful that we both come from great families who can help us put on this great wedding ceremony and event weekend.  The meeting changed how we had been viewing the wedding, and I really don't know what would have happened without them and all the rest of our great families.

I bought my wedding dress!!!

There is so much I want to write about, but I'm simply exhausted.  We just returned from visiting family all throughout California, and I'm glad to be home.  But I wanted to quickly update about my "Christmas present" to myself.  I bought/won the wedding dress!  I have a wedding dress!

More wedding dress details are over at this link. I bought the dress for a total of $68, though I expect alterations will cost me a pretty penny (if I end up paying for them instead of having a friend do them.)  I can't wait to try it on!  I'm dreaming of simple accessories - a strand of pearls, maybe - and just being very elegant.

Yay!  I'm so excited!

Blessed

For those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas!  I am currently enjoying my third of four holidaies of the season.  Today we will be celebrating my second Christmas, after already celebrating all eight days of Chanukah (which will again be celebrated with grandparents in Michigan).  I am so very blessed to have such a great and loving family and have such fantastic friends.  Love to you all!

(And next year, my goal is to celebrate only two holiday celebrations!)

It's all about the dress - kind of

Over here on blog-central, it's been all about the dress.  At home too.  But not because I want the perfect dress.

I want to get the dress shopping out of the way.  I don't really care about the "perfect" dress, I just want a dress I feel and look good in.  I know generally what that is (an A-line with a little detail).  To go green I've been looking at used dresses online, on eBay, eBay classifieds, craigslist, and Amazon.  But going online shopping isn't the same as doing it in-person.

I want something tangible to prove that I'm getting married, to prove that there is progress being made in this wedding planning business.  But the wedding is just a day, it's the marriage I care about.  And I'm going to feel beautiful and radiant on May 29 no matter what I'm dressed in.

But I did bid on a dress yesterday!  Who knows if I'll get it.  But it was the style I wanted and a great price.  I'd prefer to go dress shopping with my mom- and I still may do that even if I get this dress.  But how could I pass up a dress I really liked for $65?

No wonder

I just told my friend that I haven't had a one-on-one fun outing with any friend in months.  At first I thought I was exaggerating, but I just looked at my calendar, and - nope - it's true.  No wonder I haven't had time to do wedding prep!  I simply haven't had time.

Though, while in Sacramento last weekend for winter holiday with the family, Kate, Izzy (brother), April (bestie), and I jumped quickly into a bridal boutique on our way to lunch.  (We were passing it on the way, and I thought it would be fun to go inside.)  Even with 75% off the dresses, they were still way outside my price range.  Why would I spent $3,500 on a dress for one day?  Plus, I don't even like beading!  I don't get the wedding industrial complex.  The dresses weren't even pretty, they were just over-the-top.

Delicious or acceptable?

Since the last time I posted here Kate and I have decided that we won’t be using Old Spaghetti Factory as our caterer.  We both want to showcase our California roots and Kate and I want our Oakland wedding to reflect our commitment to the local community.  We also care deeply about supporting local businesses and using local food.  OSF, a large corporation that doesn’t use locally sourced foods, doesn’t exactly meet these expectations, so we decided to nix the delicious browned butter and mizithra. 

I was surprised by people’s overwhelmingly negative reactions to OSF.  While Arizmendi’s (another catering choice we’re considering) was funky enough to pass the more traditional foodie inspectors, people though OSF was unclassy.  Comfort food – the theme for the reception food – is not, evidently, “acceptable wedding food”.  These criticisms don’t come from my family – whose opinion I deeply cherish – but often from people I don’t know exceptionally well and aren’t necessarily on the invite list.   

And really, who cares?  Most people aren’t going to remember the food anyway.  And I’ve had “acceptable wedding food” - half the time it only looks beautiful, and tastes disgusting.  I care what the food looks like, sure, but it also has to taste Oh My Goodness good.  And, afterall, this is a party Kate and I am throwing to celebrate this great union.  I never though it was very classy to tell someone else how to throw a party, anyhow.  Or maybe it is.  I've never really understood Ms. Manners, despite my  mom's attempts to civilize me.