Because I secretly love short wedding dresses, I would like to wear a cute white mini dress to either the rehearsal dinner or a farewell brunch or something else during the wedding weekend. My fave is the following dress by Watters and Watters. Unfortunately it retails for $900, so it's not really an option for a bonus dress. 
Since I can't afford to go that route, I've been on the lookout for an alternative. I recently found this dress at BCBG. It retails for $198, but there was a special this week for $100 off. I was going back and forth on buying the dress when I found out that there was only one left in my size in the country and it was in New York. So I bought it last night and I'm still going back and forth. What do you guys think? It's made of a very soft cotton material and even has pockets--which I love. I'm also into how simple it is, how low the back is and the classic shape. I'm not sure I love the (ruffles?) on the neckline. What do you guys think? Here's a pic with the model and a few pics of me wearing it I took with my phone in the mirror last night.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Help me decide! (Matt warning: Mary in white dresses post)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
An Arkansas Wedding
I've been alerted that a girl from my high school also had a Steel Magnolia/Armadillo groom's cake. But they went for the post-road kill version and for some reason the armadillo was drinking a beer. So I guess he had it coming. But despite the spurious choice for a groom's cake and the rather really half-assed job of decorating the getaway car (I'm guessing the groomsmen were put in charge of this), it really was a pretty Southern wedding.
The Vittles
After deciding on Austin and figuring out that our venue allowed any caterer, picking a caterer was pretty easy. When people from out of town visit Austin, they want to eat three things.
1. Tacos
2. Steak
3. Barbecue
The fiance felt like tacos weren't fancy enough and steak was too expensive so that made it easy to pick barbecue as our fun party food. And once we decided on barbecue, it was an even more obvious choice as to what barbecue. Despite the fact that there are several delicious bbq places in Austin, our favorite is Salt Lick BBQ. In fact, we even considered hosting the wedding at the Salt Lick Pavilion, but the minimum fee was too high for our smallish/medium size wedding. The other thing we like about the Salt Lick is that it is $13/pp for all you can sausage, ribs and brisket and all the fixins'--including wait staff, set up, tables, tablecloths and clean-up. This is the same price as in the restaurant. Which seems reasonable to me b/c it's prepared in mass at the restaurant just like for catering (a limited, but delicious menu). They also said we could create our own appetizers which they would make at cost plus labor. No weird charges for going off the menu. This may sound like basic stuff for those not planning a wedding, but it's definitely not the standard. We also priced the Oasis, a beautiful lakefront restaurant in Austin. But their prices for a wedding reception were double the price in the restaurant! Shouldn't it be the other way? Shouldn't it be cheaper b/c we're buying a whole lotta one thing? But apparently they add the "wedding tax" and I couldn't swallow it. Which just made me happier about the Salt Lick policies. So the only thing left to decide is what to serve the vegetarians, how to display the handi-wipes and what kind of bib I'll need to eat ribs in a wedding dress.
And here are some pics of the delish bbq we'll be serving at our wedding.
A gratuitous plate of meats.
A sample of side dishes. Beans, potato salad and cole slaw are standard.
Where our meats will be 'cued.
Sorry, I couldn't find any pics of a Salt Lick wedding buffet. Obviously all the guests were too busy devouring the delicious bbq to stop and take pictures of it. It also seems to be a trend at the restaurant. In general, I believe this is a good sign. Also, we can change the side dishes and create which appetizers we want for the cocktail hour. Any suggestions? And what should the veggie-lovers eat?
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Venue
As soon as we got engaged, everyone wanted to know where we were getting married. And it was a good question. We live in New York but I grew up in Arkansas and Matt grew up in Illinois. Obviously no matter where we got married, it would be a destination wedding for almost every guest. So we picked a city that's fun to mini-vacation, affordable and driving distance for many. Austin, TX. It's also where we met while going to grad school so we know it pretty well. Then we got pretty excited about an Austin wedding b/c it was the perfect chance to show off one of our favorite cities to our friends.
The next question was more specifically where. After researching, contacting and pricing out literally every venue in Austin, TX, we settled on Mercury Hall as our venue. The decision was based on the following factors:
1) It's pretty.
2) It allows for an outdoor ceremony--a prereq
3) It allows for an indoor ceremony if it rains
4) It allows for an air conditioned reception.
5) It's not too far from downtown.
6) They let you bring in your own vendors. Even if you want to cater yourself.
7) It's one of the most affordable venues in Austin.
Also, we think the history of Mercury Hall is pretty cool. It was built in 1904 in Mercury, Texas. The 105 year-old Texas church was moved to Austin in 1997 to be used in the Richard Linklater film, Waking Life and has since been restored as a beautiful event hall. The hall itself has a beautiful, vintage feel with hardwood floors, white washed walls and stain glass windows. I also love that we're getting married outside and then having the reception in a church. B/c it's fun to be backwards. Here are some pics of Mercury Hall.
(the 4 acre lawn where we will be married)
(through the glass entrance of the hall)
(the main reception room)
(Inside the hall)
(roses growing on the hall)
(an evening wedding at Mercury Hall)
(hopefully this will be me at my wedding)
So that's it. My big question now is how to design that big white space into a reception. Anybody got any ideas?
The Engagement
In January, Matt and I traveled to South Africa with the rest of his family to visit his sister who lives there as a missionary. We spent the first week going on safari, riding elephants and ziplining through the wild and then headed to Cape Town for our second week. Our third day in Cape Town was spent on the beautiful Clifton beach and we'd planned to have dinner that night via picnic in the botanical gardens where an outdoor concert was happening. I was worried there wouldn't be enough time to explore the gardens, but Matt insisted we do the picnic anyway. As soon as we got there, I forgot all about not wanting to go b/c it's probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's like a cross b/t the sets of Jurassic Park and Lost. At the foot of Table Mountain, it's just one breath-taking view after another. And it's completely landscaped with vibrant indigenous flowers you've never seen before. We spent most of our time there wandering through the gardens and gaping at how beautiful it was. And Matt was having me take pictures of everything. I mean, everything. Take a picture of this bush. Now take a picture of it from this angle. After a zillion pictures, we came upon a secluded bench under a shady tree. Matt suggested we take a break on the bench before moving on. I put the backpack on the bench and when I turned around, he was on one knee in front of me. He pulled a ring out of his pocket (which he'd been carrying on his person for days now) and asked me to marry him. I said yes.
Blush and Bashful
In case any of you haven't seen the movie, the title of this blog is taken from Steel Magnolias. Julia Roberts' character is asked what her wedding colors will be. She drawls, "My colors are Blush and Bashful." And her mother rolls her eyes and adds, "Her colors are pink and pink. It looks like GD Pepto-Bismal." In that spirit, this blog is dedicated to decadent, traditional Southern weddings and making fun of them. Along the way, I'll be blogging about planning my own Southern wedding in hopes that it can be as memorable as the Steel Magnolia classic. But for very different reasons.
And here's another piece of Steel Magnolia memorabilia and Southern wedding tradition, the groom's cake. The Steel Magnolia's groom's cake, of course, was in the shape of an armadillo and when cut, the red velvet cake gave the impression of road kill.
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