I've Changed My Mind...

...About my shoes!

Initially I was going to wear these shoes:

As you can see, I even bought bling for them! And posted about it! But way back when we were in Montreal, I saw and fell in love with another pair of beauties. And my heart was torn! But as the days get closer, I am convinced that I will be wearing these beauties...

Here's a better view.

And like many others, I tracked down some I Do stickers and stuck them on the soles...

Obviously I will make sure to get a much better pic of the shoes and the "I Do" on the actual day with our wonderful photographer! 

So what do you think? Good change or not so much?

The Guys Ties

I finally got my act together and ordered the guys ties! Can I just say how much easier it is to figure out the men's attire than it is to figure out the women's!

Once we'd decided on a dress, picked out colors, and ordered them, I started the hunt for ties that would match the ladies dresses. And to be honest this was pretty easy! It only took me a couple of websites until I came across The Tie Bar. They have sooooo many ties on there and you can search by color, style, pattern, and so on! 

And the best parts? Their ties cost just $15 (except if you want the extra length ones)! And the ties I bought are 100% woven silk! And they have flat rate shipping!

Once I'd placed my order I was contacted within 20 mins or so by one of their customer service staff letting me know that they only had one of the aqua ties in stock but would be getting some within the next 2 weeks, and would it be ok to wait till then to ship my order all together. So although I have yet to receive my order, I am still excited about it! I ordered the Herringbone ties cause I liked the texture and Mr. Milk approved. 

This raspberry tie is for the best man (to match the maid of honor's dress)

I ordered two aqua ties to go with the two bridesmaids dresses 

And finally a turquoise tie to match the third bridesmaid's dress

Images: The Tie Bar

Where are you ladies getting the guys ties from? Are you matching them to your ladies dresses?

Bling For My Shoes

As you may recall, I found the exact wedding shoes I wanted completely by chance. Well they were a little plain so I got on my handy dandy computer and started my online search for a shoe clip that I liked. 

I discovered a web site called Ruby Lane with lots of sellers selling antiques, jewelry, art, and so on. On Ruby Lane was a fantastic seller called Cheryl who owns Fancy That! Artisan Jewelry and she was selling some super cute shoe clips that I had to own! Cheryl was great! Very responsive to emails, fast to send out my purchase, let me know when she shipped them, and even wanted to know that the package had arrived, as she was unable to get tracking for that class of mail. I encourage you to check out her sight and see if there is anything you might like!

So look what came in the mail the other day

A package for meeeee?

Look at the pretty packaging!

My shoe clips!

And here they are on my shoes! I love them! Simple but add some sparkle. 

Don't you just love online shopping!? I sure do!

The Ladies Dresses

If you've been following for a while, you may have noticed that I like color. Ok, I love color! One of the things I wanted was to have a colorful wedding. It would bug me when people would say things like "you need to pick one main color" or "these colors are too close together" or "you can't have that many colors." Well pooh pooh to you! (mature, I know).

Anyway, I decided I was going to stop discussing such issues with said people and instead just do what I want. After all, if my wedding ends up looking like a circus I'll have no one to blame but myself! Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to look like the rainbow threw up all over our wedding, but I do want to use things like the flowers, the ladies dresses, the guys ties, the favor packaging etc, to add color to an otherwise white and natural backdrop.

So here are the swatches from the bridesmaids dresses and the colors that I will be incorporating into the wedding 

And here are the ladies dresses by Mori Lee (in the order that they will be standing). The colors are much darker in the images than the chiffon is in real life:

(click on the pic to enlarge)

My maid of honor will wear the raspberry colored dress, her sister and my first bridesmaid will wear the tiffany blue dress, my cousin the turquoise dress, and my lil' sister a tiffany blue dress as well. I picture the bridal party holding pretty bouquets of all white flowers to contrast the dresses and my bouquet being a piece of multicolored gorgeousness!

The invitations will include the tiffany blue against some neutral colors as will the favor packing, the groomsmen's ties will reflect the ladies dresses, and the flowers in the centerpieces will be colorful (more to come on these all soon).

So what do you gals think? Do you think I've lost my mind?

I Love My Shoes!

So I have known for a long time what kind of shoes I wanted for my wedding day. And I knew that I didn't have to spend hours and hours searching for them. Why? Because I could get them made!!!

You see, in my home town in Cyprus, there is a shoe store that makes custom order shoes! I love it! You can take them anything, a picture, an old shoe, a piece of patterned fabric, and they will make you your shoes. And any height you want! I had once seen a beautiful pair of strappy sandals on a magazine cover and was dying to have them! I looked everywhere trying to figure out where the shoes were from but to no avail. So I tore off the cover, took it to the store, and asked for them to be replicated. They were gorgeous!!! A baby blue insole, three thin straps around the toes, and then two long straps that criss-crossed over the foot and all the way up the calf! Super sexy!

Anyway, I have some teal raw silk that a friend of mine had brought me from India a while back, and have never done anything with. I knew I wanted a colorful shoe for my wedding day. Seeing other brides colorful shoes in pictures on the blogosphere only confirmed what I already wanted. So in no time at all, I decided I was taking my teal raw silk to the shoe store mentioned above and asking for pointy toe, three inch heels! I love pointy toe shoes! They are timeless and elegant in my mind. I figured I had plenty of time to get these done and wouldn't even think about them till the summer.

So here I am totally relaxed about the shoes, knowing that that box is half checked, that I don't even bother looking in shoe stores. I'm in the mall the other day, running some errands with Mr. Milk, when we notice that the stores are having a "side walk sale" in the hallways of the mall. As we head towards the bank, my eye catches these beauties!!!

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MY SHOES!!!! Exactly like I had pictured in my mind sans any embellishments. These shoes cost $110. How much did I pay? Just $46!! Nine West was having some kind of crazy 4-day sale and I lucked out by being at the right place at the right time! Guess I can cross out shoes from yesterdays list! :)

Here's a little interesting traditional and cultural fact about shoes and Greek weddings: Names of single friends are written on the bottom of the brides shoe. At the end of the night the names that are worn off are destined to be married. 

Now all I have to do is figure out how to embellish these a little. Any ideas ladies? Have you found your shoes?

I Said "YES" To The Dress!

So like I said in a previous post, this is a GOOD week! I hit and surpassed 100 followers, I am hosting my first giveaway (go and enter if you haven't already), and I BOUGHT MY WEDDING DRESS! OMG!

As you may recall, last week I asked all you great ladies for some assistance in picking a dress among the three that I was hopelessly stuck between. Before I tell you my decision I'll tell you the story of how I came to it - need to maintain the suspense!

I made an appointment to go into the bridal store to check out the dresses again. If you recall, the store had a promotion where if I ordered by Saturday I wouldn't have to pay tax. Well tax is 12% in Vancouver so that adds up. I tried on the first two dresses and another dress that was similar to the third dress I had posted about. There was a clear winner I must say!

To add to this, the dress that I fell for was more or less a new addition to the sample collection. Pearl, the lady helping me out (and I think the store owner) offered me 30% off if I wanted the sample gown! Thats 30% off on top of the 12% savings with no tax! Now that was a deal I couldn't not consider seriously! While I was initially apprehensive about purchasing a sample gown, when I inspected it closely I could totally see that it was a new gown that hadn't been tried on much. The bottom and underneath were super clean, no stains, no dirt, the inner seams looked good, there were no sweat marks or grub of any sort around the underarm area. 

So I took my new dilemma (see a pattern forming?) and came home. I waited for my mom to wake up (we have a 10 hour time difference between Vancouver and Cyprus) and chatted with her about it. I was surprised that she was encouraging me to get the sample! She isn't one who likes having things that others have owned or worn before! Oh what to do...

I went back to the store! I asked to try the dress on again and nitpicked it to death. I even put on a veil to see how that looked. The dress was a size 10 and I needed a 6-8. I asked questions. Lots of questions! About alterations, changes in shape, removing bits, adding other bits, and on it went. Until I was as sure as I could possibly be! And then I said the great big YES! I'll get it! And waaaaay under budget! 

Last night I went for my first fitting! It's so interesting to see the dress take shape on your body as the seamstress pins away! I have an appointment again next week and then probably one more after that, and then the dress and veil will be mine to take back to Cyprus over Christmas. I know I am doing the alterations rather early but my weight doesn't fluctuate much at all so I think I'll be safe.

So while I am considering keeping you ladies in suspense and posting the link to it tomorrow, I figured you might get a tad pissed off if I did that! So without further ado here is where you can see the dress I picked :) 

Finally A Post About The DRESS!

*MR.MILK! READ NO FURTHER! And whatever you do, DO NOT click the links!*

I have my heart set on a Pronovias gown. I love them. They are simple, and elegant, and romantic. I can't really imagine having another dress.

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I had tried on a few of their dresses over the summer and had thought I had decided on one. But being the indecisive me that I am and wanting to check out the 2010 collection, I decided that going in to try some more dresses would be a wise decision. WRONG! Now I am just plain confused, surprise surprise. So I want to put this out there to my blogger pals and see what you think. I will be posting the links to the pictures of the dresses, as Mr. Milk frequents this blog, and he is not to see the dress till its time.

1. First Dress

I love how romantic this dress is! My only concern is the way the material is bunched at on side. While it looks soft and flowy in the picture, it is more stiff in real life. The bodice of this dress is gorgeous! You can click here to see a picture of how the dress looks from the back 

2. Second Dress

Again I love how romantic and elegant this dress is. I think the top is beautiful. If I were to buy this gown, I would have the pleated layer on the bottom removed, I think it doesn't suit the rest of the dress. I asked at the store and was told this can be done. Try to picture it without if you can. 

3. Third Dress

This is the dress I tried on in the summer and thought would be the one. Now looking at it, I think it is a little plain and also more expensive than the other two. Here is a view of the dress from the back.  I think the back is what really made me fall for it

Sorry for all the links and clicking ladies. All opinions welcome!

Hunt for the Perfect Bridesmaid Dress

Ok ladies (and any men that would like to contribute), I am rallying up the troops to ask for advice! 

This past weekend Mr. Milk was sweet enough to drive me all over Vancouver (and then some) so that I could check out bridesmaids dresses. He was such a sport I have to say. In a world full of women, he came along, waited patiently, helped me pick out options. and offered his opinion. It was definitely a productive weekend. 

So I started out on a mad hunt for this dress by Alyce Designs:

It was one of the first bridesmaids dresses that I really liked. I can't believe how difficult it was to find! The only thing I could find was the color swatch for their chiffon dresses. But sadly, no dress. So then the lady helping me find something similar came up with these:

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This dress was beautiful. It's one of those dresses that flatters most body types. I would even buy it as a regular dress to wear out!

I fell in love with the color combo of this Alfred Angelo dress! Unfortunately it wasn't very flattering. The ruching at the hips makes them look bigger than what they are. I liked the colors so much I tried the dress on a few times just to make sure. 

So then we came home and I did some more research online. And I found this:

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I think this is my favorite. It also comes in the colors I am interested in! 

I am now putting it out there for my blogger pals to offer up any advice, suggestions, opinions? What do you all think? Which do you prefer?

To Dress the Groom

Mr. Milk wants a suit that he will be able to use after the wedding as well. He's thought about going to an outlet or two and checking out some designer suits there. Since our wedding is taking place in the summer, we've been talking about his suit being light grey instead of the traditional black.

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or a beige/tan suit

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The outfit-finding-process is so much easier for the grooms-to-be don't you think! Have others found their suits yet? What color are you going for?