Wedding Colors: the Bridesmaids

I’ve been super inspired lately by shades of blue. I’ve already decided to for my wedding colors to be a shade or two of blue. I really love navy, slate blue, and ivory together. The more I think about it, the more I love the palette. It’s classic and clean, still maintaining one of my all time favorite colors, and fits my not quite yet winter needs. The more photos I see, the more convinced I am this palette’s what I’m looking for. I’m willing to trade the navy in for a midnight shade, but I think I’ll play fast and loose ’til I know for sure.

My mom warned me that once we started wedding planning, it was all over. For my email inbox, I mean. Every day (especially the last 3 weeks of couch-dom) she and I have sent one another at least 15 emails a piece. The best part, though, is that she and I know each other so well that she could probably plan the whole thing without me. Everything she picks, I automatically bookmark it because I think it’s so fantastic. This morning she took it upon herself to stalk Nordstrom’s website and found unbelievably perfect bridesmaids’ dresses.

To get an idea, here are my bridesmaids. Or sanity-holders, since Morgan insists she’s no one’s maid (we’re very pro-feminism in my group).

Erica & Morgan

I may also have my ridiculously gorgeous cousin Amanda be a bridesmaid (if I can handle standing next to her-seriously, she’s model beautiful and I may have to put a bag over her head in my pictures), but I haven’t “officially” asked yet. Erica and Morgan already knew they had no choice. So I have two, possibly 3 wonderful ladies. I know it’s a small bridal party, but closeknit is how I am. Quality over quantity or something. I have a lot of great girlfriends, but these two, we’ve been through it all. I’ll save the how we met’s for another post, but these girls are my two besties. Luckily, they’re all gorgeous individuals who are skinny bitches and will look fabulous in whatever dresses we all decide!

Here’s what my mom picked out just this morning. Yes, all of these, just these morning-and these are only my very favorites. There were twice this many to choose from! Imagine my delight every morning-I know for sure I’m gonna have emails of beautiful things!

I think my favorites are the first or fourth one. I like the clean simplicity of the first one, but the fourth one has that cute top and looks like a fun party dress. The best part is that I know both girls can wear these again, whether for a New Year’s or cocktail party.

And because I love this one, here’s a dress my mom loves for herself. My mom’s blonde and beautiful and could totally pull this off. I think it’s just stunning:

Have a favorite? Let me know! The plan is to go shopping with my ladies and see what we can find. As I told Morgan the other day, I honestly don’t even care if the dresses match, as long as they’re in the color palette. I just want them to be able to wear them again, because I don’t want them to feel they’re wasting dollars. In any case, at least I know they’ll be beautiful in whatever they wear!

The Urban Bride: Swag Bag

I promised photos of the neat and sweet stuff I won from The Urban Bride and lo and behold, this cripple found the time! They had their giveaway a while back and I’m not gonna lie, I worked hard to win some free stuff. I’m a prizewhore. Don’t judge me. I blogged, liked, tweeted, and social media-ed the eff outta their website, but I do so because I am truly in love with everything they do. It’s too much pretty for a wannabe urban bride like me.

Inside my special package was a custom wall decal by Vinyl Silhouettes, a photo yellow cab art print by Abby’s Art and Photography, a Paris skyline belt by The Bare Tree, a set of cityscape notecards by Magpie Paper Works, a city journal by Nico Papergoods, and last but certainly not least a To Have and To Hold tote by Melangerie.

This post by Urban Bride will give you some more details on the vendors and their items, but for now, I wanted to share a few pictures with these fantastic things that I truly adore.

My so sweet letter from the UB girls

Look at all these goodies!

They say it's a men's belt, but I'll probably wear it myself anyways. That's how I roll.

In love with this stationery

I couldn't even get the whole decal in the photo it's so big! Can't wait to move into a house next Jan and get this up!

I'm a sucker for a pretty bag. This one's no exception.

There's nothing more I like than a fresh notebook. I immediately put my favorite stamp to use!

And here’s Fisher, clearly beyond excited with my winnings:

I’m so grateful to the Urban Bride girls, the amazing vendors who put their time and effort into their labors of love, and to the unique opportunities I’m being given to write about and cherish. I knew it before, but since I broke my foot and was stuck by my computer the last 3 weeks, I’ve done nothing but marvel at the wedding blogging community’s support and love, both for me and others. You make this Lemon believe people are fully capable of kind and wonderful things. You’re just the best!

Chucks vs. Stilettos

Not to be a big tease, but I’ve got fantastic news that I can’t announce quite yet. But in preparation for said news, I’ve had to sit back and think about my biography. How would you sum yourself up in less than 500 words? How do you manage to convey your personality, your love of all things nerd, your (hopefully) lovable wit and sarcastic charm, with just a handful of vernacular? It’s tougher than you think. Go ahead, open a fresh new sheet of Word document and try it for yourself. I’ll wait.

There are days when I think I’m an incredibly simply person. I pull my hair back in ponytails, choose Chucks over heels, and 95% of the time, choose to stay in with my dog rather than go out to “party.” But then I think to my wedding wants and realize that, like Shrek says, there are layers to every person. I threw a fancy New Year’s party just to buy a pretty dress and wear black heels. I imagine my reception to look very Hollywood glam. My imagination runs wild when I go to set up my photo shoots, with eye-popping makeup and beautiful colors. I drool over gorgeous, tall wedding shoes, but then remember I’d either break my ankle (or in my case, a foot) or immediately take them off at the reception because I’m all about comfort. Do I want clean, fresh faced makeup or have my eyes smoked up for wedding photos? I’m always torn in several directions; that’s the problem with wedding planning. It isn’t that I can’t find things I love-it’s that I find too much!

99% of the time I will choose comfort over fashion. There’s nothing I like more than pajamas the second I get home from work. But on the one day where I have every excuse in the world to get all dolled up, how will I choose to look? I want to be myself (meaning less than 2 inches of foundation and eyeshadow), but I also want to look better than ever before. I suppose I’ll have to have a couple of wedding makeup trials before making final decisions. Have you had, or currently having, this problem? What’s your solution?

I can’t wait to share my fun news with you. Soon! In the meantime, I’ll keep editing and rewriting that Word document and kick it in my Chucks…or just the left one, for the moment.

Lemon’s New Goal

I’m from a small town in VA. I went to college in an even smaller town-yes, called Farmville, VA (Longwood represent!). I was used to living in small areas. And then I moved to Nashville, with its largeness and big city lights. I lived there for 2 years; I don’t regret moving back to VA, but I do have one gigantic complaint: Roanoke has almost zero amazingly cool places to get married. At least none that I can find, anyways. In Nashville, there are a hundred and one amazing venues to get married and that’s not including the outdoors ones like parks or sanctuaries! My first thought goes straight to Mercy Lounge & Cannery Ballroom-that’s definitely where I would’ve wanted to get married and have a reception.

However, if you google (don’t you love that “google” is now a real verb?) “Roanoke, VA wedding venues”, do you know what the first suggestion is? The Holiday Inn. The Holiday flippin’ Inn, people. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve photographed a couple smaller weddings and one did happen to be at a hotel of some sort-it was nicely done, but it still wasn’t something I ever saw for myself. But it’s really quite disheartening when your choices are either the local hotel or somewhere outdoors on a plantation. And if you read my last post, you know that barns, plantations, vineyards, and-let’s face it-small hotels with cheap carpeting are just not gonna cut it for me.

After some serious digging (aka page 13 of said google search), I’ve managed to add a couple places to the “acceptable venues” spreadsheet.

There’s the Jefferson Center (which, conveniently, is directly across the street from where I currently reside, though we plan to be in a house elsewhere by ceremony time):

The Vinton War Memorial, which, while a gorgeous photo homepage, still seems a bit too “Southern sweet tea” for me:

And the O. Winston Link Museum, which seems to be the most affordable at first glance (but then there’s the whole “It’s a transportation museum and the art is of trains, and…are you asleep from boredom?!” factor):

I’m sure there are others, but I was really aiming for a location that offered space for both ceremony and reception. I figured this way I could not only save money, but save everyone the stress of driving to a new location, etc, etc. Of course, nothing can be decided on or even so much as considered until a serious talk and walk happens, so I’m nowhere near stressing…yet. I’m more or less annoyed that I left a huge city for a great, smaller city, but with way less party-friendly spaces.

If only the 5-star restaurant 202 Market had another space for a ceremony. Cause check this out:

How gorgeous is that lighting? I totally dig it; I really love the current trend of relaxing lounge areas. It’s also downtown, right around the corner from my store, chocolatepaper. It’s one of the more modern spots in town, from what I gather. Granted, the ceremony and reception in one location issue isn’t a total dealbreaker, but man I like the convenience!

There’s also the Hotel Roanoke, which is easily the most popular wedding venue in town. This makes me automatically shy away from it because for one, it’s not extremely unique (I hate a cliche), and two, I know how expensive it is and I can’t hire my own caterers (I kind of already have my heart set on one, wallet pending).

So my new goal is to overcome this silly “I live in the South, so here’s my barn venue” stereotype that google wants to put me in and find a fantastic, city-esque location that will put that picnic table in the park to shame. (Shame, I tell you.) I never dreamt a lot about my wedding, but now that I do, by god it WILL be indoors and city glam!

Florida Photos

Just a few photos from Florida I wanted to post today. I already want to go back to the beach! Urban Bride goodies photos coming later this week…

Happy Wednesday!

My sister's dog Rybo

Erica, my MOH, in her element

Inspiration: Urban Bride

Urban Bride, “the modern bride’s guide to a city-chic wedding,” has been my inspiration here the last couple of days. I owe them a photo shoot of the amazing swag bag I won and plan to handle those shots tomorrow so you can see the fantastic goodies! I am so in love with the cityscape stationery; I can’t wait for you to see it. However, for right now, I wanted to post some photos that I had my photography partner take earlier this evening. And just so you know, I’m never for serious.

The dreaded "duck face" pose.

I love their site for so many reasons-not only are Amanda and and Meghan kind and obviously generous with gifts, but they post gorgeous photos and innovative resources for the modern bride. I would just die to be on their team! Their newest contributor, Erinn Ryan, said it best- “Don’t get me wrong, I love gardens, I love soft vintage lighting, and I lovelovelove sweet romantic plantation houses in the deep south, but I’m ready for so much more. I’m talking big lights, beautiful downtown venues, and a gorgeous skyline as a back drop to your wedding day photos.”

I couldn’t have said it better. I live in the South and I love those photos of beautiful brides outside with their new husband, against a soft backdrop of flowers and sunshine. But I am simply not that kinda girl. I love modern, contemporary, sleek looks that are both gorgeous and artsy. If there’s anything about me I value most, it’s that I’m sort of an artsy girl-not necessarily in the “I paint like Picasso” way, but I have and will always be a writer. I enjoy painting; I am a photographer, so I am always looking at the world from a different viewpoint than say, Jason would.

Like here? This is not the face of the Southern barn bride:

I have never been a romantic type; I don’t like to put vignettes around my subjects in photos because it’s simply not my style. I adore sharp, focused photos. I love vintage anything, but don’t own any because it doesn’t match my personality. I adore brides who can pull off birdcage veils, but I know it’s not me. I consider myself fresh and colorful and definitely, DEFINITELY a city gal. Jason’s bandmate lives out in the middle of nowhere and I cannot tell you how miserable I personally would be without cell phone service at my fingertips and a restaurant around the block.

This is why the Urban Bride Blog (along with the likes of Offbeat Bride, RocknRoll Bride, Broke-Ass Bride, to name a few) is so great for me. I want my wedding totally indoors, along with chic, sleek, lovely details that aren’t necessarily DIY (because I’d honestly rather pay someone to handle the stress that I’d lose my head over).

Without further ado, here are my photos, taken by my partner/best friend/MOH Erica (co-partner of E Squared Studios), of my interpretation of being an Urban Bride. I live downtown, literally 6 blocks from my store and the rest of downtown. Erica’s apartment balcony overlooks Roanoke City, including the Mill Mountain Star. You can see the golden Wachovia Tower from outside the city-that’s when I know I’m close to home. I am DEFINITELY an Urban Bride (wannabe).

And don’t worry, I’ll get those photos up of the goodies I received from the lovely UB ladies. You’re gonna squeal just like I did when you see how fantastic they are!

Lemon Love to Urban Bride (and my ring)

Pretty Things to Cheer You Up

I’ve been feeling a little down lately, thanks to cabin fever. There are only so many movies/TV shows/video games I can watch/play from the couch. With Jason and everyone else at work, it gets a little lonely. It kinda makes me rethink the idea that I could live alone like a hermit all the time. Only a week and a half more to go (we hope)…

Luckily, I’ve got some lovely ladies on Twitter who provide me fabulous links to the great wedding finds. In case you’ve got your own case of the blues (or just love pretty wedding-related photos), here are some of my favorite ones from the last couple of days:

Check out these beautiful Mia Couture cupcake wrappers! I’m a little in love.

You can see the rest of them at this link: Mia Couture Cupcake Wrapper by Koyal Wholesale

This classy Jello Shot cake photo from BrideTide made me laugh a lot:

This photo from the Sassy Bride is so flippin’ cute. I love the way she laughs at him:

Lizzie & Isaiah’s $10K Wedding Blog is fantastic-they’re unbelievable at graphic design. Luckily, Lizzie is sweet enough to share these rockin’ table numbers for her readers. I told her I just want to print and use them for something around the apartment-I’m kinda determined to find a way! You can go to this direct link for the table numbers to print out:

The Knotty Bride had a great link to some of the funnest (that’s a word, right?) photos I’ve seen in a while. You can see all the pictures here, but here’s a couple for you to giggle over:

You can also find pictures of this couple’s wedding day right here. I seriously want their photographer. These photos are incredible. This couple is just so fun!

Sweet Jesus, I need to make these. Annie’s Eats, you made me drool on my keyboard. I’m no chef, but I may be using the recipe you provided to eat an entire batch of these by myself. Ladies, meet S’mores Cheesecake Bars:

To go along with the S’mores theme (I’m an addict, honest. I should just have s’mores something at my reception. Or right now is fine, too), Twig and Thistle posted these adorable kits. Yum:

And of course, because he’s just so darn cute, my Fisher boy. He always makes me smile:

Hope you’ve had a terrific weekend. I’m just glad True Blood Season 3 starts tonight (!!!) and I’m thismuchcloser to getting off those danged crutches.

For Better or Worse

You know those part of the vows where you promise to love each other for better or worse, in sickness and in health? My mom pointed out that Jason’s doing just that, just a little sooner than expected. He hasn’t just turned on the lights or carried drinks from the kitchen to the coffee table; he’s been concerned when I wince at pain shooting through my toes and yelled at me for putting weight on my foot when I get impatient.

He’s going out of town tomorrow for work and has asked me four times if he needs to go to the grocery store for anything I may want while he’s gone. He calls before coming home to make sure I don’t need something. He’s gotten up early and come home for lunch to take Fisher outside, because if the dog takes off, I will topple over like a cartoon character. And did I mention he’s yelled at me when he catches me standing like a flamingo without crutches?

I have zero idea what I’d do without him. Sure, I have very close friends who help when they can, but it’s not like I live with them. I’m stubborn-on my second day in the boot, I tried carrying a glass of water from kitchen to living room. I may or may not spilled it…lord only knows what would happen with soup! Thank goodness he does yell at me, otherwise I’d probably forget and just walk on my foot anyways.

We’ve lived together for 3 years and I hear all the time how things change once you get married. I have a hard time seeing how it would change for us. Maybe I’m wrong-did it change your relationships when you got married?

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this. I mostly wanted to brag on my almost-husband of a nurse 🙂 He’s been patient enough to wait on me hand and foot. It’s always nice to know that, for better or for worse, we’re both in it for the long haul. Even when they’re a giant college basketball fan and they dress like this for a big game:

Longwood Lunatic

I can post this now-hilariously-embarrassing picture of him because it’s my blog. And he’s already been out in public looking like a crazy. 🙂

Happy Wednesday!

Encounters of the Concrete Kind

You know from my previous entry that I went on vacation to visit my amazing sister Julie. It was a fabulous time-good food, fruity adult beverages, sun, sand, and lots of swimming. This pale Irish girl even got herself a nice tan.

My MOH Erica w/ Superman bangs on the boat; me on right w/ aviators and giraffe neck

However, the trip was slightly marred with an unfortunate incident. My sister had to work on Friday, our second day there. After a day of walking in the nicest mall I’ve ever seen (an American Express carrier’s dream: Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Saks, Sephora, an Apple store (!!)…the list goes on and on), and some picture taking out on Blowing Rocks, my brother in law took us out to dinner. Afterwards, we decided to go to the nearby bar by boat; I didn’t realize we were going to a bar, and had to run back inside to grab my ID. As I ran back outside, I tripped on a teke mat on the front stoop and my right foot went out from under me. I heard a “pop” before abruptly falling on my butt while Erica and Matt asked if I was okay and the 3 blonde labs inside tried to give me a pony ride out to the driveway.

The next morning’s visit to urgent care proved a broken foot. The rest of the weekend was spent on my sister’s couch in the evenings, but during the day, I laid out on the float, working on my tan and swimming since it didn’t hurt to bob in the water. My sister was kind enough to wait on me hand and foot, bringing us cocktails and anything else she thought I might need. She got me a pedicure so my unbroken toes still look pretty. I am so incredibly grateful to her and if I had to break anything anywhere, at least it was with her, who knew exactly how to handle the situation and save me some dollars in the process. Erica was chief navigator of the airport waters, getting wheelchairs and hunting down lunch on the layover. I am seriously so, so glad she was with me. I have zero idea what I would’ve done without her, besides be miserable.

A trip to my local orthopedic doctor put me in a giant boot that is not unlike Iron Man. I wear this 24/7, keeping all weight off, for 3 weeks. After that, an x-ray and hopefully a walking cast. This means I am out of work for 3 weeks. On the upside, this means I have lots of time to scour the interweb for wedding inspiration. I have no other option but to look on the brighter side of things-it’s not like I crashed my car and can still walk to work. I broke my foot for heaven’s sake! I know there’s not a thing I can do about it except keep off it and let it heal ASAP so I can get back to life as I know it. Crutches are tough, but at least it’s not surgery.

So the Iron Man boot and I get to watch movies, play video games, and spend lots of time on the computer looking at pretty images my Twitter wedding ladies provide me for inspiration. (XOXO)

I’ll be around…well, mostly in just the one place, but you get the idea. Too bad I’m not back here though!:

Happy weekend!

Vacation!(!!!!)

Bright and early Thursday morning, I will be hopping on a plane that will take me away to the first real vacation I’ve had in a REALLY long time. My MOH Erica and I are going to visit my sister, Julie, in West Palm Beach, FL!! My sister is a captain for the Palm Beach Fire Department; her husband, Matt, is a cop for the city police. They’re pretty hardcore. Just look at ’em:

I mean, they’re like the happiest people I know. They have 3 giant Labradors, a boat, a house in the Keys, and never mind Uh-MAY-Zing house in Jupiter. They just redid their kitchen, so here’s where I’ll be when I’m not in the backyard by the pool:

You’re jealous now, right? I totally understand. I’d be jealous, too.

I used to see my sister every summer from the time I was 10 til I was 19. (She’s got a few years on me, so she’s lived in FL for like 20 years now or so). I’ve always loved flying, I guess because it was so cool to fly over the East Coast by yourself at 10 years old (and yes, my mother did indeed have a near heart attack every year when I was too busy hugging my sister to call her immediately after stepping off the plane. Sorry, Mom). I haven’t been down there in a few years and I just flat out decided it was time to go again. I wish I had a picture with her I could show post super quick, but it would take removing pictures from frames and let’s face it, I’d rather pack 😉 I’m a younger version of her; we look exactly alike and often confuse photos of each other from when we were kids.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am. Okay, I’ll try.

I’m excited for this:

As soon as we step off the plane around 11.30, Jules will pick us up and we’ll go to lunch and then hang out for the day. She’ll probably have to work that Friday, but Erica and I will make up for it by spending our time on the beach or out taking photos. Then it’s the rest of the weekend with her and I’m so flippin’ stoked.

Also so excited for this:

I only recently, as in the last couple of years, started eating seafood (salmon, sushi, crab, lobster), so my sister will be thrilled that I’ll love anything off the menu. I even wanna try something new because I know it’ll be fresh off the boat 😉

There’s also a Sex and the City 2 party going on downtown. I have no idea if my sister even watches or likes the show, but if she’s up for it, we’ll totally be girly and go see the movie together. I mean, if she went to see “Can’t Hardly Wait” with me, she’ll see SATC, right? Right??

There’s also an Overeaters Anonymous group meeting while I’m there, according to an events page I found online. I’ll probably need that by Monday morning when it’s all said and done. I should start one of those in my city…

So I won’t be back until Monday, which means I’ll be off the grid. No laptop, no phone calls (except for maybe Jason and my mom :)), and best of all, no work. I could care less what we do, as long as I’m with my sister. We can sit by her pool in the backyard, drink adult beverages, and talk about anything and everything (except work!); Julie really wants to hear my ideas on the wedding and of course, see the ring in person! Have a fantastic holiday weekend, my peeps, and I’ll see you next week!