The ACCESSORIES: Bridesmaid Edition

Hey everybody! I hope all of you are having a good week so far and if you’re planning a wedding I hope that is going smoothly for you!

As the title states, today’s blog is about bridesmaid accessories! You may or may not remember this image from my inspiration posts, but I absolutely love this look!

I’ll start with the shoes. If you remember my shoe post you will know that I have strict guidelines for shoes. They have to be super cute, but still affordable. When faced with the task of finding shoes for four girls the stakes were risen for one already picky bride!

The Criteria

The girls will all be wearing knee length black dresses, so I wanted the accessories to offer a pop of teal, my other color to break it up and add a little something extra.

So my first task was to find some teal shoes for my girls. I found out that Payless offers some dyable shoes now, but they cost more than I wanted my girls to spend, and I thought the dye jobs they did on them looked AWFUL so that was out. While at Payless to check out those dyable shoes, I found these pretties.

They are really cute peep toe mary jane wedges in the perfect teal/peacock blue color. I was a little hesitant because they were patent and I wasn’t sure if my bridesmaids would like it. I kept looking but my mind kept drifting back to those peep toed beauties back at Payless. They were a gorgeous color and at $24.99 they were the perfect price, so I picked up a pair for Muriel to try on and see if she liked them. I got a call that night and she loved them, so I knew at least one bridesmaid had shoes but I still wasn’t sure if everyone would like them. Welllll three more bridesmaids later, they ALL liked them! It just goes to show I shouldn’t discount something before asking my lovely bridesladies!

Nextly, while searching for a feather fascinator to go with my veil I found some beautiful fascinators that were very bridesmaid friendly, so I knew I had to get these for the ladies… but not after I originally thought they wouldn’t wear them and then got proven wrong when I showed them pics and they all loved the idea. The one I found that I liked for them was $90, so that was out of the question, my next thought was to DIY it. I bought the feathers I could find but had trouble finding all the feathers I needed and in the process I stumbled upon these beauties at this lovely new boutique that I frequent; Targét.

I got 3 for the bridesmaids and found a slightly fancier one for the Maid of Honor at a convention of all places. I might add something to the 3 bridesmaid ones, I’m not sure yet, but I love both of the fascinators regardless!

Now I just have to find my fascinator! I would also like do do a cute necklace/bracelet or cocktail ring for the ladies too.

Next Up: The TUXES!

The SHOES

So, when it comes to shoes, I think I am quite possibly the weirdest, most picky girl around. I have a hard time spending over $30 for dress shoes and over $60 for tennis/running shoes. In a world where girls are dropping $1000 on a pair of shoes saying that they will last a long time or something to justify it is  beyond me. Even if a pair of $50 pumps only lasts a year, it will take TWELVE years to meet that $600 you just dropped on a pair of Christian Louboutins. Are you really going to wear the same pair of shoes for 12 years? No! So in the “in the long run” argument just isn’t going to fly with me. If you want to do that, then the more power to you, it’s just wayyy not me!

Comparison…

One of these is a $600 pair of designer shoes and the other is a $30 pair from Target. Is anyone REALLY going to notice the difference when they look at your outfit? Are the target ones any less sexy?

*Steps down from soapbox.*

So my point is, I have issues with the fashion industry. lol When I set out to find my shoes for the big day, my thoughts were no different. I looked at Target, Wal-mart, Dillard’s, Macy’s JC Penney, Ross, etc. and there was no shortage of gorgeous shoes… just none to my specifications. They had to be under $100, yes I upped my amount for bridal shoes. They had to be 2.5″ tall or less, but not flat, and the heel couldn’t be squatty. They had to be comfortable enough for me to wear all day. They had to be open toed because in that huge dress the feet would be hot and I wasn’t gonna go there.

Nearing the point of defeat and about to order some that “would work” from a dyable shoe company, I got a $10 off coupon in the mail for DSW. DSW?!?! I forgot all about them! I went in and they were having a sale in which you got an additional percentage off of Sale items. This was music to my cheap, cheap ears. lol

I pranced on back to the sale racks, because of course I almost only see the full priced items to and from them on my trips to shoe stores lol. Right before I went into the sale area this little sparkley number caught my eye:

Originally about $60, at 35% off made them $37.20. Then they had an additional 50% off for the sale which made them $18.60, and then I had a coupon for $10 off as some sort of customer loyalty incentive thing… so with tax, these babies came out to $9.31!!

I feel like that Kohl’s commercial where the girls are in the hair salon and they’re like, “Did she get this and this and this for under $100?!?!? Great Scott! She shopped… she scored. A legend lives!” hehe

They’re crazy comfortable and match the color of my dress exactly. I couldn’t ask for more.

Did you get any killer deals on one of your bridal accessories?

The WEDDING NIGHT PRETTIES

Hey there, girlies.

As a plus size bride, I don’t know about you, but I have had trouble finding pretty lingerie for the wedding night/honeymoon in regular stores. Cacique has some cute stuff but not much worthy for our special day, so I set my sights online to find some things for the wedding night.
I found a few different sites, but my favorite items seemed to be Fredericks and S&S. While a lot of the places I found online were chock full of tacky… trashy… gross stuff, what part of wedding lingerie translates to lady of the night for some of these people? And when they’re not totally gross, they look like grandma bras! Isn’t there a common ground between classy, plus sized and flirty? Relieved when I found a few pretty things on S&S, I ordered a bra/undies set and the customer service was great, the packaging was plain so it wasn’t obvious that it was underwear I was receiving… and it wasn’t even slightly old ladyish haha! When I got my them, it was even better than the picture and of suprisingly great quality. So I want to recommend them to any other curvy ladies on the lookout for a bra/underthings that wont get mixed up with something your grandma would wear.

While they do have a couple of raunchy items that I wouldn’t go for, they do have some cute things that I would. I was looking for something flirty-sexy and found some really nice goodies that were just what I was looking for.

Here are a some of my favorites:

This one is very cute, I like it a lot, but I wonder if the fabric will be clingy and look weird on me since I have a less than flat tummy.

This one is pretty and saucy! I like it. It isn’t old lady like, that’s for sure!

I am pretty sure one of these is where I’ll get my wedding night pretties, but I don’t know which one I’ll pick. Votes?

The VEIL

One of the best skills you can have as a DIYer … is aknowledging when something is beyond your skills, something is best left to professionals, you wont be able to meet the quality you desire, or when you just don’t have the time for it!

I am pretty darn crafty, and sometimes straight up MacGyver like… and then there are times when I try to make my veil 3 times and fail miserably each time. hehe
Well, maybe not miserably, but it just wasn’t coming out right. I found lots of good birdcage veil tuts online, and yes they were easy, but for some reason I’m super picky about how it lays on me, and mine just weren’t meeting my standards.

So starts the search online for an affordable birdcage veil that I love. I quickly found the haute couture Laura veil at Castle Bride. Her name was even Laura! It was MEANT to be my veil!

They make lots of lovely veils and accessories and whatnot. The problem? Waaaaaaay out of my price range. I mean by hundreds of dollars out of my price range. The solution? My dear friend ETSY! Since the veil I found is kind of uniquely shaped, I couldn’t find one just like it, so I contacted YJ Designs. She makes some of my faaavorite veils on etsy, and is uber talented, so I asked her to make it. She agreed to do it for $45! and even though she is out of *Australia* she responded super quickly, and had my veil out within a day or two! Shipping took a little bit because I’m a cheapie and chose the standard post shipping and she’s on the other side of the world from me. I started to worry a little bit because it was nearing the end of the time frame she told me it would be here, and then BOOM! Right on the day she said it would be here, it was. I hastily but carefully opened the little box and squealed with delight!

Just look at this little beauty!

Seriously… I love this veil. It kinda sealed the deal of reality to me. When I put it on, I heard the wedding march, and suddenly missed Russell a bunch and had to go give him kisses. I can’t wait to marry this man!

Giving in to not being able to meet my own picky requirements with my veil, really turned out to be a positive experience for me. I’m glad I gave in and let someone else take care of it. One less thing for me to worry about, and a little more time for me to spend with the Mr.

Have you had a DIY gone wrong turn out oh so right?