06:
I have fun friends and we enjoy any excuse to dress up. This means theme parties and we really get into it.
A Retro Housewife Bridal Shower might be in the works for a friend of mine. My advice for the maid of honor would be:
1. Get this “How to be a Good Wife” bridal shower game on etsy for $8. Inspired by an actual article from Housekeeping Monthly in 1955, you get a PDF customized with your details. Just buy, download and print yourself.
2. Print 1950s housewife illustrations and add these hilarious captions from Anne Taintor. My favorite is, “The secret ingredient is resentment.” Stick them in white frames and voila – centerpieces.
3. You need to look the part and NO WHINING ABOUT IT. This is fun, remember? Here is are some retro worthy dresses over at ModCloth. Don’t forget your red lipstick.
4. Color scheme. I think you should choose cherry red and turquoise.
5. You’ll need this “Sweet Dreams” paper banner from Catbird because it’s turquoise and I love it..
6. Play 50s music and serve pie instead of cake. To really go over the edge, bake it yourself.
7. Put a few simple blooms in old coca cola bottles to add to your framed housewife centerpieces.
8. You’ll be drinking champagne, obviously. Champagne cocktails became popular in the 50s … bonus! Or try something else old fashioned, like um, an old fashioned. Martha Stewart recipe here.
9. Paper lanterns, streamers, honeycombs – anything you can find in you color scheme will tie this together. You can get these honeycombs on amazon for $1.29 each.
10. HAIR. This is very important and goes along with #3. Some call the 50s a simpler time but those girls really gave a shit about their hair. Here is a how to.
And since everyone knows today would have been Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday, why not draw inspiration from the funniest 50s housewife there ever was? Watch 6 amazing moments of I Love Lucy on the Google homepage.
Now get to it!
Noelle
13:
KARA AND SHAWN – 08.07.10 in Douglas, Wyoming
One of my best girls, Bird, was the Maid of Honor in her sister Kara’s wedding in August. I’ve never met Kara or her husband Shawn, but I love them. Enjoy these lovely photos as Kara tells us about their inspiring wedding.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Choosing the color chartreuse was simultaneously the best and most difficult part of wedding planning. There are A LOT of variations in chartreuse. My jumping off point for the rest of the wedding planning was the discovery of the bridesmaid dresses at ModCloth.com. The dresses were cute and economical for my bridesmaids given that most of them had to foot travel costs to make it to the wedding anyway. These dresses ended up being incredibly versatile and flattering everyone from the tall, twiggy girl down to the 6 month pregnant girl.
**Hey, it’s Noelle again. I’m so excited that Kara got her Bridesmaid dresses at ModCloth. I’ve even suggested getting your wedding dress from them.
My Dress: Was actually a cheap reproduction of a Manuel Mota dress. I had it made by an offshore company in China where I sacrificed details like buttons vs. zippers to reduce the price. I figured I’m wearing it once and it was worth the deficit in quality to spend part of the dress budget on other details of the wedding.
Headpiece: I found the headband on Etsy (Boring Sidney’s Shop) I was bummed out when offbeatbride.com featured a wedding with the same Lanvin right after I picked mine out- but I got over it when I realized like fashion itself, there is no such thing as a truly original wedding trend. For the ceremony I added a couple of cheap veils I had found at HobbyLobby and had the gal who styled me before the wedding add them so they would be easy to remove after.
Shoes: Shoes were another thing I didn’t want to spend a lot of the budget on given I had full intentions of kicking them off and wearing hideous (albeit comfortable) platform flip-flops. The shoes I wore in the ceremony were gold-detailed brocade heels I found on a costume website, stage-fright.com, as part of a Marie Antoinette costume. They were perfect, especially with the rhinestone details which worked perfectly with the Brooch Bouquet I carried.
Rings: The rings were another Etsy find. I knew I couldn’t wear my vintage 30′s old mill cut diamond engagement ring everyday to do hair. Plus that ring is already such a stunner I knew nothing wedding band wise would look right next to it. After a couple of months of my husband going back and forth with “Dude, we need to find rings,” “Yeah I know, we’ll totally look for some rings,” and never producing results we lucked out with these.
**The Boys
Theatre: The Princess Theatre in Douglas, Wyoming
**I just love the idea of the bridal party walking down the theatre aisle AND holding the ceremony on stage. Made for some pretty rad photos.
First Dance Song: “Did I Say?” by Teenage Fanclub
It was kind of hard to pace out a way to actually look cool dancing to this song, but it didn’t really matter because we were so caught up in each other we weren’t paying attention anyway.
More details:
Reception: The American Legion in Douglas, Wyoming
Planner: Maureen Morgan
**To see more photos of this stunning wedding, listen to Teenage Fanclub’s Did I Say whilst checking out her photographer’s site – Sarah Boyd, Photo de Novo
Love this – very Royal Tenenbaums.
Thanks for sharing your wedding with us guys!
Noelle
18:
Lovely Bridal Shop
Sara Seven at Lovely Bridal Shop
This adorable shop just opened on West 4th Street a few months ago. Some of the designers they carry are Sarah Seven, Watters (mine is a Watters dress!) Delphine Manivet, Nicole Miller and more. They also carry a great selection of bridesmaid dresses and accessories. (Dresses range from $800 – $5000)
Etsy’s Wedding Section
Your Fairy Tale Wedding Shop on Etsy
The perfect resource for something completely unique and different. You can find something vintage (might need some altering), handmade or custom, usually for way under $1000. It’s a bit risky to order something online, but I’ve been ordering a ton of accessories, down to the personal flowers over etsy and have been really pleased. There are also some super cute boleros for sale.
J Crew
J Crew Wedding
Look! J Crew’s Wedding line is so cute and affordable (around $400 – $3000) Bonus, they carry accessories, bridesmaids dresses, shoes, etc. I went to a J Crew sample sale with two of my best girls to try bridesmaid dresses for them and the three of us ended up having a Friends moment:
Friends, The One with all the Wedding Dresses
Anthropologie
Anthropologie's Wedding Line, Launches Spring 2011
If you can wait until Spring 2011, you will be lucky enough to have an Anthropologie wedding dress. The new line will feature gowns ranging from $750 – $5000 and they’ll have accessories, bridesmaid dresses, shoes, flowers, invites, wedding planning, honeymoons … the whole package. They make it so easy – I’m bitter that I can’t have one.
UPDATE (the BHLDN Shop is now available online)
Little White Dresses Everywhere
Top Shop $100
ModCloth $70
Your wedding dress doesn’t have to be an actual wedding dress. This is great for girls who like to keep it simple, chic and best of all you can wear it again. ModCloth has so many sweet options.
Noelle
