Doesn't the picture above look so cute?! Having looked through many wedding photos in the last 7 months, I must say that some of my favorites are feet/shoe pictures. I definitely hope to find some cute yellow shoes to wear on the big day. While I am still searching for the perfect pair (something with a cute detail like a bow or a flower), I have had much better success finding something for Zac and his groomsmen.
Zac and I were on the hunt for some grey and yellow argyle socks. Not only do they look really good with a grey suit, but they are certainly something that Zac would wear even after the wedding. It's also a fun way (in addition to the ties) for the guys to show some personality and have some fun with their suits.
After a quick Google search for 'grey and yellow argyle socks' we found the perfect pair at Express.com. Other socks we found were upwards of $15 a pair so we were happy to see the Express price of $9.90 a pair. We were even happier to see that the store was offering a discount if you ordered 4 or more pairs of socks.
We decided to go ahead and order the socks now in case the offer had an expiration date. After adding 5 pairs of the yellow and grey socks to our shopping cart our total was $31.25. Thanks to the bulk purchase discount we were getting 5 pairs of socks for nearly $20 less than the full price cost. Even with the cheapest shipping cost of $8 we were still getting a pretty good deal...
...until the deal got even better. As fate would have it, we received an Express catalog in the mail today. As usual, the catalog came with some coupons, including one for $15 off an online purchase! Whoo hoo! The catalog was about to make it's way to our outside garbage can (since we never shop at Express) until we rescued it and put its coupon to good use.
After entering the promo code our total dropped from $39.25 to $24.25! That comes to an average of $4.85 a pair! Such an awesome deal. The socks should be arriving within 5-7 days and I am very excited to see them. I can't wait to see the guys in their socks next May and hopefully get some photos like this one.
Our engagement photo session with Van's Photography is only two weeks away. To prepare for the photos I've started hitting the gym hard again, begun tanning at Sunsational Tans, and am whitening my teeth.
I even got a hair cut:
Typing it out, it sounds like this will be a very vain couple of weeks but....well....whatever. (I weigh a little more than I did at this time last year so the work outs are necessary.... )
I was scheduled to work on the patio this afternoon but the overcast weather changed that and the managers called me off work. I took advantage of the day off of work by going to Forever 21 to look for a new outfit to wear in our engagement photos. At first I thought that I would just wear jeans and get a cute top but after talking it over, Zac made me realize that a cute dress was probably the better way to go. He plans to wear a light blue button up shirt and jeans and I think that a cute summer dress would go perfectly.
So today I went to our newly renovated Forever 21. After searching the three stories for over 2 hours and trying on (literally) 32 different dresses, I finally walked out of the store with two options. A yellow dress and a blue dress. I thought for sure that the navy blue dress would go nicely with Zac's light blue shirt. Still, I couldn't put down the yellow dress. I thought that it would be a good contrast against Zac's blue shirt. In addition, since our wedding colors are yellow and gray, I thought that it would be nice to have a little yellow in our engagement photos. We will be able to choose a few of our engagement photos to use as options for our save the dates, so adding in a little yellow might be nice to go along with the color scheme of our save the date stationary. In either case, I loved both of the dresses and whether or not I used the dresses for the photo shoot, I loved them enough to take them home and call them my own.
I tried both dresses on this evening to show Zac (as well as to see what they would look like next to his light blue shirt and dark blue jeans). We stood next to each other as I changed from the navy blue to the yellow and compared notes. In the end I think that we both agreed on which dress would look better in our photo session in two weeks. (I'll post the photos after we choose them.)
What do you think? Here are the two dress options. (Photos taken by my wonderful Zac :D)
Blue Dress
Yellow Dress
(*Don't mind the cocktail shaker and mango juice in the background of the yellow dress photo....it was mango martini time in the Banuelos/Chapman residence :D)
Since dress shopping is coming up pretty soon, I thought that it would be a good time to look through bridesmaid dresses as well. Sarah and Amanda live in Vegas so getting the girls all in the same place at the same time is going to take some planning this year. Everyone is going to be in town the weekend of my graduation (:D) so its the best time to get the girls in some dresses. We'll be making a trip to David's Bridal while all the girls are together, and we'll be able to see what the girls like and what dresses look good together. I would love for the girls to all wear different dresses. The color is still to be decided. I think that yellow dresses would be nice against the guys' suits. I've considered having them all wear different shades of yellow as well. In the end we'll just have to see what they all look like together and how the girls feel about them.
I've browsed through bridesmaid dresses on the David's Bridal website and sent a message to the girls telling them which dresses I like. I also sent them a few additional options. This way if they don't like the top three dresses, or if two of them like the same one, they have other dresses to choose from.
Hopefully the girls will all be able to find something that they like and will feel comfortable in. While all the dresses come in a shade of yellow, they don't all come in a shade of gray, so yellow might be the way to go. Of course the only way to know for sure what dresses we'll choose is to wait and see what they all look like in person. At least we have a selection of dresses narrowed down which is a great start.
I couldn't help but indulge in this moment. Who doesn't love a little My Best Friend's Wedding to make their day better?! :P (I'm sure Zac just immediately raised his hand somewhere!) No this post is not going to talk about how much it would be great to have a sudden singing outburst in a restaurant. (After the flash mob post I can only imagine what thoughts might be going through people's mind.) Nope, sorry to disappoint, but I am not crazy...well at least not that crazy.
One thing that has been going through my mind lately is the dress. Senior-itis has officially set in and during moments when I should perhaps be concentrating on class work or school projects I find myself thinking about wedding details. Lately, the dress has been sticking out more than the other details.
I kind of know the look that I would like to have on the big day but I am definitely keeping an open mind. I know that liking a picture of a dress in no way guarantees that I will love the way the dress looks on me. I've also heard that often you go in with a particular look in mind and end up buying a dress with a completely different look and feel.
I plan to go dress shopping with my girls when they are all in town at the end of May. I am so happy that they will all be in town for graduation! The day before I receive my diploma we're all getting together along with my mother and Zac's mom to find me a wedding dress. I am so excited. From now until then I'll be looking at dresses to get an idea of what I would like.
This dress by Alfred Angelo has been my favorite so far. After a little research I've discovered that they have the dress at Luftenburg's downtown. Our dress shopping adventure is scheduled to take place at David's Bridal but I think I might have to take a trip to Luftenburg's to try on this dress.
I love the details on the flared skirt. I wouldn't want anything that is too full too high on the body because I am a short girl. The top of this dress will make my torso look longer and not make me look like a big, old school cake topper.
The Alfred Angelo dress is probably at the very top of my dress budget. As there are a bunch of other things to take care of for the wedding I'm definitely keeping my options open and seeing if I can find other dresss that are equally beautiful but for less money.
Since the girls and I will be heading to David's Bridal to check out dresses, I started looking up dresses on the David's Bridal website.
1. This dress has a very similar bottom detail as the Alfred Angelo dress. I just love the simplicity of the top mixed with the fun detail of the bottom. The only concern that I have with this dress is that the flare out starts up at the waist. The skirt might be too full for my frame.
2. I really like the top of this dress as well as the detail that the belt adds. I'm not a huge fan of the small pick ups on the bottom of the skirt. I think that I would prefer that if the skirt is plain that it be not be too fussy.
3. This one is a little more flowy than the other dresses. I don't know how much I will love the flowy skirt but I think that it would be worth trying on.
4. This dress is very elegant. I would definitely need to make sure that I am in crazy good shape for this dress. It fits so close to the body that there is no way of hiding any areas that I might be concerned with. It is very pretty though.
5. Vera Wang now has a line of dresses available at David's Bridal. This was not really the feel I originally thought that I would like but I love the way it looks. The one shoulder is an unexpected glamorous look. The belt is an extra special little touch.
6. I really like this dress. It's simple and elegant but has a little bit of glam with the beading detail on the top. It's closer to the body which shouldn't make me look too wide the way a big flare would. I'm not a super huge fan of the bow on the side of the dress but I might love it once it's on.
We'll see what happens when the dress shopping day finally rolls around. Maybe I'll try on these dresses and totally hate all of them, maybe I'll love one that I didn't expect to....however it happens I am just so excited to be trying on dresses. I'm sure I'll find the perfect dress to marry Zac in.
