This arrived at my house the other day:

An unassuming little box that carried something I’d been waiting for… my veil! I found it on Etsy – the talented Tessa Kim makes them and sells them for extremely reasonable prices – mine was $35 after shipping! Compare that to what, $100 for something the same size at David’s Bridal. It’s a no-brainer!

I ordered the veil and a few days after it shipped, I decided to check in on it. She works out of L.A. so I knew it would take a while, but imagine my surprise when the tracking data indicated it had arrived safe and sound in HAWAII that day. EEK!

I emailed her in a small panic, and let me tell you, she is totally the sweetest thing ever. She called the post office for me while I fumbled around on their website and they assured her it was headed in the right direction. It arrived a few days later and she kept checking in to make sure I got it. She even went so far as to offer to send a replacement.

So you wanna see it? (NEPA GROOM – you know the drill. If you don’t wanna know, do not click!)

Read more »

One thing that I’ve learned recently, the hard way, is the need to take care of yourself. It may be that you’re stressing really hard about your wedding, trying to please everyone. Or maybe work is dragging you down, and the stress from your office follows you home. Or maybe you have some bad habits, like poor posture or unhealthy eating, that are starting to take their toll. Whatever it is, take some time to STOP and re-evaluate.

I haven’t felt good since January. I started to have pain in my back and arms – burning and tingling nerve pain that got worse with each passing day. I know I’m very, very stressed, but I don’t think I realized how bad it was. While I’m lucky to be able to take steps now to eliminate the stress in my life, I had to hit the bottom before I started to change. I was falling behind on work, I couldn’t blog very well (hence a lot of half done posts that were scheduled for March are just appearing now at the end of the month), and I couldn’t get anything done. My doctor sent me to see a chiropractor and prescribed muscle relaxers as a temporary solution. They help, but they also make me pretty useless.

I was lucky enough to have my doctor refer me to Dr. Malcolm Conway at the Conway Clinic, who found that I had severely under used muscles in my upper arms. As a result, they were contracting and the tightening was pinching my nerves and causing pain up and down my arms. It’s been a long road, but I’m starting to feel better through a lot of physical therapy.

As brides, I think we really get overwhelmed with stuff and it can be easy to let things like your health reach the breaking point without even realizing it. This is my small effort at telling everyone to always remember to take time for yourself. If something is stressing you out to the breaking point, take a step back and re-evaluate the situation. Can you fix it, or should you look for alternatives? You don’t have to get stressed until you POP, trust me, I learned it the hard way!

This is the one totally completed wedding project I have done so far. I picked it because it was fairly easy to do, plus I had a $100 target gift card that I was lucky enough to receive so it helped defray the costs a lot. I think the idea is cute and simple, and is one of those small extra touches we can do for our guests. Plus, it didn’t require crazy artistic talents to pull off.

These are all my ribbons and some tiny little flowers I picked up at various sales at Michael’s. I’ve realized that any concerns I have about matching purples have gone out the window. Just as long as it’s not lavender we’re good!

I got these baskets for $1 each at Michael’s, which I’m totally proud of. Also, please enjoy the view of the all the boxes of junk I’m saving up to move once we get an apartment. My first step was to cut some ribbon and glue it to the baskets. I put a few dabs of hot glue as I went along so it wouldn’t slide.

Read more »

Back around my birthday in February, I decided to splurge a lot little and get myself a treat. Something small and pretty that would help me feel my best, especially with a wedding on the horizon. What did I get? Behold the Mia:

The Clarisonic Mia! I’ve been drooling over it for, oh, a year, and with a little bonus I got from work, I decided it was time. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to take some before and after pictures of my face, and I’m not sure I really want to get all up close and personal with all of you like that!

Anyway, I got it in pink, and it’s very cute and portable. It comes with the “sensitive” level brush, which has worked well on my skin. I was afraid I’d need to get the delicate brush, but this is just fine. I use it according to instructions once per day, usually in the evening before bed. I’ve noticed that a lot of my smaller breakouts have stopped, though I’m still sprouting the occasional stress zit. I also found that a lot of the blackheads on my cheeks and right across the bridge of my nose are smaller. The only issue is I have them pretty bad on the end of my nose and the vibrations make me sneeze when I use the Mia there, haha.

Overall, I think it’s been helpful for my skin, though I think it should be a little less expensive. If you’re looking for a skincare splurge, it’s a nice tool to have!

Have you tried the Clarisonic Mia? How has it helped your skin?

These came in the mail the other day:

Yay! I actually got them from The Knot’s wedding shop when they had a sale. There’s no way I was paying $35 for 100 matchbooks, but I ended up getting 200 (100 in each color) for a total of $30 after a sale they had plus a coupon code. They came out really well, though I’d advise anyone thinking of doing it to do it well in advance of their wedding. They estimated they’d ship in 5 business days, but it took almost 15 business days before they were shipped out!

Either way, they’re a nice little detail to have for the reception. Are you doing any small favors or extras like these for your guests?

So yes, we’ve finally come to the end of my dress search. And I have a confession to make. I knew what dress I was going to buy for months. Months. I went to David’s Bridal knowing full well my dress wasn’t there. I admired loads of other dresses, knowing they weren’t “it”.

So where did my dress come from?

The Intarwebs.

Now… I know what you’re thinking. “NEPA Bride, have you lost it? You can’t buy a WEDDING DRESS on the internet!”

Oh yes I can. I like to think of it this way – the reality is you’re trying on a sample dress. The dress that you wear on your wedding day has to be ordered, and can just as easily have issues or not live up to expectations like an internet dress. So there!

All kidding aside, I found my dress quite  a few months ago, and I was thinking about it when I tried on all those other dresses, and looked at all kinds of photos online. It’s cheesy, but I know it was the one all along. I specifically tried on dresses that matched parts of it to see if it flattered me, and they did. Now I’m waiting until it gets here and I get to meet that beautiful dress for the first time.

Soooo, what is it? I’m not going to tell you exactly which one (if you’re important you already know! otherwise it will be a surprise!) but I will tell you where I got it: Dolly Couture *squeal*I think her dresses are beautiful, and classic, but also a bit fun and more easy going than some of the traditional, more formal wedding gowns. Just about every person who has seen a picture of my dress has told me that it completely fits me and who I am. And that’s what I was going for.

Did you find your dress somewhere unusual? Were you afraid to order it online? How did your experience stack up?

I’m curious and I thought maybe the answer would lie out here on the internets with my dear friends. Have any of you ever used a decal on the walls or dance floor of your reception space. I’ve been eyeing up the decals at Ten23 Designs for a while now:

They’re supposed to be easy to pull off, but I wonder how they perform in real life. Do they stay stuck for the whole evening and not get pulled up as people walk on them? I’m not sure if our venue allows them yet but I plan on asking. Can anyone weigh in on if they are worth it?

Wedding registries are supposed to be one of the “fun” wedding tasks you have to complete. But I’ve seen a lot of posts griping and moaning about how uncomfortable it makes people or how they don’t need anything. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think it’s practical thing to do. Most guests expect it, and appreciate knowing that they’re getting you something you want and need. At the very least, you can always register for lots of sheets and towels, extra glasses, and maybe a few fun things, right? Right.

NEPA Groom and I have lived at home since college and won’t live together until we’re married, so we’re almost like the stereotypical couple doing the registry stuff. We need just about everything. Both parents have gifted us a few things already, like a coffee pot to keep my homicidal urges at bay wake me up in the morning, knives that I can’t touch before coffee, and a few other kitchen things. We also have some furniture we’ll inherit, along with some never used plates and flatware.

That being said, we still needed lots of stuffs, so I did the research and decided we’d hit two places, Target and Macy’s. We’ve been doing the Target stuff all online, though I want to hit up their scanners in store for a few furniture pieces. After our pre-cana adventure that’s soon to be chronicled, we stopped at Macy’s to start one there. The consultant was super helpful and got us started with no problem. And I got a free bag:

Yay <3<3<3<3 It carries my wedding pretties now. We spent about an hour in Macy’s scanning things like sheets, towels and some kitchen gadgets. We generally decided the things we wanted to be nicer, and in a higher price point, would go on the Macy’s list. Their sheets looked better than Target’s, though there are cute ones at both stores. Macy’s also wins with their Martha Stewart collection! After about an hour though, we were both pooped. It’s a little stressful trying to pick the right things all at once, so we called it a day and added more stuff online later.

My tips for choosing where to register would be:

• Check return policies. Make sure you’re ok with it before you commit.
• Check availability for guests. Older guests don’t want the intarwebs. They want to go to a store. Is there a retail location near the bulk of your guests that they can visit.
• Try to add more than the number of guests you have, but don’t feel pressured to “double” like they want you to. I can’t imagine needing all the stuff that I’m supposed to need. We’ll probably have a ratio of 1.3 items per guest on our lists. It’s a little extra to choose from, but not crazy big.
• Register for what you’re comfortable with. They’ll push you to bigger and better and crazier but if you don’t need fine china, by all means don’t register for it.

And finally, I’d say DO register for a few things, even if you’re against it. It’s a good thing to do, it provides your guests with some direction, and it’s not greedy. I hear a lot of brides have all this guilt over registering. Forget that. It’s a given rule that if you’re getting married, someone somewhere will get you a gift. They want you to like your gift. Hence, the registry.

How was your registering experience? Did you find it fun or exhausting? Did you go in store or do it all online?