bridesmaids reprise

i found this today and had to post it. sashes that i want + cause that is good = perfect. they don't come in apple green, or any shade of green, but they do come in white, which i'm starting to think i like better anyway? but seriously look how cute - with one of those rosettes attached, come on!
the website is www.whiteaisle.com - they print invitations, sell bridal jewelry and sell these cambodian silk sashes. you can click the picture to see the page on their site. what do we think?

also, mom says my beloved lilly dress from friday's post is "too casual" for a wedding in a cathedral. but they're made of silk shantung! nothing made of silk shantung to too casual! i refuse to believe that this dress is more casual than the strapless one, which is apparently acceptable. maybe if we did as i suggested in the last post and had a couple of different styles? i have fabric samples on their way to me in the mail, so we'll see if i'm satisfied with the color choices, then maybe we'll do a favorite-style-survey.

bridesmaids aka dressing my best friends

this is the picture that started it all, folks. i have no idea the photographer who took it or where it was or anything - i stumbled upon it in one of those embarrassing facebook stalking episodes many moons ago. at any rate, it shall be recreated at my wedding, no question. pretty much the one mandatory photograph i will hand to my fabulous photographer, josh malahy. love him. this photo also spawned my sash-obsession, because i think it pretty much necessitates sashes. they add to the effect.
so, glad that's out of the way. maybe start working on that shoulder tone, ladies, because if i have my way, this will be framed and displayed in the stone household until the end of time.

long before captain fantastic popped the question, but long after i knew he was The One, i had decided on my wedding color scheme. pink & green with accents of white. perfectly preppy. the more i stalked other people's weddings online, the more firmly i decided that i am allergic to both pastels and satin. bright colors and swirly patterns, though, i cannot live without. the inspiration for my wedding was thence dubbed vera bradley's pink pinwheel pattern. love. not exactly paisley, but close.
one of my most triumphant moments was when i found out that vera bradley makes TIES, and i almost had a heart attack from awesome at the prospect of the groomsmen smartly arrayed in these babies.

captain fantastic, however, in one of his unfantastic moments, crushed my dreams when he refused. le sigh.

so my original thinking for bridesmaid dresses was to do something like one of these dresses in a bright raspberry/fuschia silk dupioni with a bright apple/kelly green sash (tied in a big bow in the back, obvi) and white bouquets:
from aria bridesmaids
from charsa designs

then came my love affair with all things trimmed in ruffles and pleats. you can do a ruffly neckline and a sash, right? i think yes. my current obsession is this little number, in the same color scheme as above:
from coren moore (you can see the whole dress here)

HOW CUTE IS THAT?! come to think of it, the white sash is cute too, maybe with predominantly green flowers? hmmmm....

as far as bridesmaid accessories, i'm not going to force everyone to have the same hairdo or wear the same necklace or buy the same shoes , so don't worry (though this is extremely adorable)
i've also grown to kinda like the idea of bridesmaids in different dresses. the problems with that are a) usually you get a discount for ordering multiple dresses at a time, and i don't want to bankrupt my maids b) see above mandatory portrait with matching sashes c) i am somewhat obsessive compulsive, and it may drive me insane to have two girls in one dress and 8 in another. i'd probably try to make a certain number of people get each dress and then arrange everyone alternating for pictures...and no one wants that.

i actually like a lot of the dresses on the coren moore site. perhaps we could work out a style ratio agreement between the lilly, the julie, and the brooke? what do we think, ladies?

taking the plunge...into the blogosphere

i did it. i started a blog. about wedding planning. i am excited.

for some reason it took me approximately two weeks to work up the courage and pick the name. because i am a nerd, one with a tendency to stew and an allergy to decisions. there were many suggestions involving the dog's names, my favorite colors and patterns, my soon-to-be-mrs. moniker, etc. my betrothed made the following suggestion: "i have a good one! how about 'lauren gets stoned' - get it! you marry me, my last name is stone, your last name changes to…..never mind." i had to pass on that one though, as i'm only a dash of hippie; the kind of dash that comes from liking the outdoors, wanting to be more eco-friendly and still carrying traces of my sophomore year of college.

this blog came about when, after spending hours perusing wedding blogs, i realized that i, too, could have my very own, and it just might be a genius tool for keeping my slightly-ginormous bridal party abreast of my planning. because i know yall wait with bated breath for my next installment of wedding inspiration :) but just because this blog is for my nearest and dearest doesn't mean i can't do fun blog things, like only refer to my fiancé by a nickname. i'm thinking i'll use the one that my cousin created and likes to use, because it's cute and it makes me feel like i'm marrying a superhero (which i just might be) - captain fantastic. fabulous. he may prefer that i refer to him by his trail crew nickname, c-murda, or some other, manlier slash sketchier name, but too bad. my blog, my rules.

and so, without further ado, my first wedding blog post. today's topic: monograms. love them. need one. made one. i couldn't find my artsy paper and had to use a notebook, and my photographic skills last night were obviously lacking, but you get the point. it's a rough draft.

so that's the pre-marital monogram, for invitations, programs, etcetera. the post-marital monogram, for whatever i decide needs embellishment at the reception, shall contain a better-looking slash designed version of this:

i think i need a new camera. anyhoo, there you have it. what do we think - badass, yes?