Crinoline Dying

My dress doesn't need a crinoline skirt, so this does not pertain to me...
But this is something unique and fun that some brides are doing.  They are dying their crinoline skirts that go underneath their dress.  It's not visible from the outside, but if they lifted up their dress a little, the color would peek out.  I just thought it was something cute...  here are some pics that show what I'm talking about.
This won't happen with me, but I like the idea...

Black Friday Shopping

Well we really didn't partake in any of the pre-dawn shopping craziness this year (last year we went to Old Navy at 3am for some reason).  This year we just drove by solely to observe the Loonies.  

Here is a pic that we took on our way home from Thanksgiving dinner... it's of the folks camping out at our local Best Buy:

.  There were like 40 tents set up... and the store wasn't opening for another 7 hours!

We did end up venturing out in the afternoon on a hunt for a Christmas Tree sale.  We found an awesome 7 1/2 ft tree that was an amazing deal though!  Score!  We put it up that evening and it looks great!

We're really stoked about our Cyber Monday deal we got for our Bridal Party gifts!  I can't post that on here in case any of the girls are checking this out... but it's such a cool gift and we're happy we were able to find it at an affordable price!  We're happy to be able to check that task off our list... but even more excited to give the gifts to our bridemaids and groomsmen!

Browsing Boutonnieres

My new obsession has been boutonnieres.  I don't even know if I spelled the word right, but I like them!  I think they add a little pizazz to the guys.  I'm trying to steer clear of the prom look and go for something elegant, sophisticated, and different.  Just browsing, but here are a few that caught my eye (some of these are not even close to our color scheme).   We'll probably go with something more traditional, but I thought these were crafty creations...

Engagement Pics

We got our engagement pictures back from the photographer. We were photographed at the Glenview Mansion in Rockville, MD in early November.  It was a gorgeous place... but a little cold and windy.  After seeing the pics Scott and I learned that we need to relax a bit more in front of the camera and angle ourselves a bit better as well.  We also have to learn how not to be so "cheesy" and do something rather than just look at the camera and smile! We got 80 pictures back, but out of those we really only have about 15 that are our favorites.  Here are a couple taken from the day:

I said "Yes To The Dress"

Well I told myself that November was going to be my dress month... and I made my goal...with a day to spare!  Today I said YES to my dress!   I absolutely LOVE it.  It's perfect for a June wedding!

I went to the bridal shop with my mother to browse earlier this month. I must have tried on 15 dresses or so.  There were some that I was able to walk out of the dressing room, then right back in because I knew it just wasn't THE dress...  but there were also a few in my "maybe yes" pile.  One particular dress really stood out to me, but I thought I'd sleep on it before making the decision.  Well I went back a few weeks later, and tried that one particular dress on again tonight and still LOVED it so the purchase was made!

I'm NOT going to post a picture of MY dress on here (big day viewing only!)... but here are a few of the dresses that DID NOT make the cut:

Bridesmaid Dresses Revisited

So the BM dresses that I was originally debating on ended up not working out... the dresses were just not the same in person as they seemed in the photos.  So I am back to square one on that planning.  
Below are my other top two choices.  They are both from Alfred Angelo.  I stopped by there to check them out and they look great.  I'll continue my search, but these are the top contenders so far.  Just imagine them in the color NAVY...