Baby Chapman: Telling Family and Friends

After I spilled our baby news to Zac and we had time to celebrate and take it all in, we got to work on finding a doctor. We wanted to make sure that I was indeed pregnant and that everything was okay with our little jellybean before filling our family in on our exciting news. A week or so later we found ourselves in a doctor's office answering a ton of questions and I geared myself up for the not so fun physical examinations I knew were ahead of me. The doctor confirmed that we had a little one on the way and estimated our due date as May 14. A few days after this appointment we went to an imaging facility to get the first peek at our little bean.

It was great to see that there really was something in there since I wasn't feeling pregnant in the slightest (this changed VERY soon...but more on that later). The sonogram technician estimated that I was about 6 weeks pregnant and that little baby's due date was actually May 20.

Now that we had confirmation that our family was expanding we started to discuss when and how we were going to let family know. We decided not to tell friends and coworkers until I hit the second trimester and everything was going great. Keeping the secret from our parents and immediate families for six weeks however was not something that we wanted to do.

We were inspired by this photo from our wedding:

We thought that it would be cute to put a little spin on this picture using the shoes that I had purchased to tell Zac about baby. This is what we came up with:

We put the pictures together in double frames, wrapped them up, and prepared to give them to our parents. Zac's parents were coming for a visit and my dad's birthday was right around the corner. We had the perfect opportunities to give these gifts and share our news. The funny thing about these reveals is that it took a few moments for our parents to understand what the pictures meant. My mom was the only one who got the idea right away. Once everyone understood that there were three pairs of shoes in the bottom picture and that the empty shoes were baby sized the hugs and kisses were countless and the excitement was unmeasurable. Both sets of parents were anxious to share the news with others as much as we were. The time couldn't pass quickly enough. (That changed pretty quickly, too.)

I have been blessed with an amazing group of ladies in my life. I have the sweetest most thoughtful and fun girls to call my sisters. I couldn't ask for better relationships! I knew that my baby was going to have some fantastic aunties and I wanted to find a fun way to tell these girlies the news. I got my craft on...

...and hand painted some tote bags for each of these special girls. I was able to see some of them in person and the others who live out of town were sent little care packages. The phone calls that followed the out of town deliveries and the moments that came after the in person announcements are ones I won't forget.

Pretty soon we had hit the second trimester and made our announcement to friends and coworkers. I posted our shoe photo on instagram (@cristina_chapman) and Facebook and the response was overwhelming. The sweet congratulatory messages were plentiful and Zac and I were happy to finally share our happy news.  

Wedding Shoes

Back in September I found these shoes on ninashoes.com.

I thought that they were a fantastic shoe to wear on my wedding day. The website said that the shoes were on back order until 11/11/11 so I decided that I would continue to look for yellow shoes to see if I could find anything better. After a month of looking, I came back to these shoes.

I fell in love with these 4" yellow heels so I went to the website to place an order. Unfortunately, after logging on and searching for what I hoped to be my wedding shoes, I saw that they didn't carry my size. Bummer right?!

I searched the web for another website that sold these shoes, and quickly found them at shoes.com. I was happy to discover that not only did shoes.com have the style I was looking for but they had also had my size. Better yet the shoes were available immediately which meant that I wouldn't have to wait until November 11th for them to be shipped.

The shoes were $89.00 (not far off from their $89.95 price tag at ninashoes.com). I googled a coupon code for shoes.com and found one good for 20% off (the code was SECRET20 if anyone is interested) which took $17.80 off the price. Shoes.com doesn't charge shipping so the total $71.20! Not a bad deal :)

My shoes should be here in about a week! I'm excited to see them and try them on.

Shoes Have Arrived

The shoes I ordered for Samantha's wedding have arrived!

I ordered the shoes from David's Bridal and within a week they were on my doorstep. Michelle and I will both be wearing these adorable white heels with a bow detail and the bride, Samantha, will be wearing the same shoes in Malibu.

The Great Shoe Detective....Case Solved

Not too long ago, I gave my bridesmaid, and personal shoe detective, Amanda, the mission of finding shoes for the bridesmaids. We discussed options for colors and style (check out the thoughts on shoes here) before we started searching for the perfect shoes for the girls to wear at the wedding. After a few days of searching through pages of grey heels we found three shoes that the girls love. They are all in shades of grey, have cute details, coordinate without being matchy matchy, and (the best part) are all under $50 with tax and shipping!

Check out our picks:

Aren't they amazing?! I'm in love with all of them! Unfortunately I can't steal any of these beautiful shoes from my girls for a night out since they are all different sizes, none of which will fit me. I might end up having to order a pair (or two) for myself!

#1. Sarah

Anne Michelle - Essence 42 Ribbon Heel ...........$33.99 + shipping

I LOVE the bow detail on Sarah's shoes!

#2. Amy

Fergalicious Montage Ruffle Bootie ..........$38.47 + shipping

Another adorable shoe! I have a very similar pair of ruffle grey booties with a light brown heel that I purchased at Charlotte Russe back when I went wedding dress shopping for the first time.

#3. Amanda

Dorothey Perkins - Grey Jewel Feather Heel..........$38.69 + shipping

Our favorite heels from the beginning, we were bummed to find out that they were only available in one size which didn't fit any of the bridesmaids. Being only a half size too big for Amanda, she decided that she would wear shoe pads to fit into these because she loves them so much! I don't blame her. They're beautiful.

So glad that we were able to find three pairs of shoes that go together so well and that are so inexpensive!

The Great Shoe Detective

Now that I have my wedding dress has come in (and is hanging in my closet!), and the girls' bridesmaid dresses are all picked out, it's time to move on to accessories. More specifically, it's time to find some shoes! I'm fine with leaving jewelry until a little closer to the wedding if necessary. (I have no doubts that I'll find the perfect accessories for the girls to wear with their dresses with plenty of time to spare before the big day.)

For my own shoes, I've known since we chose our wedding colors, that I wanted to wear yellow heels. I was hoping for something with a fun detail like a bow, flower, or maybe a ruffle. Over the last few months I've been looking online at several different shoe websites, checking out pictures on Pinterest, and browsing through other yellow wedding photographs to get ideas. I think that I have finally found the shoes that I want to wear on our wedding day.

I found these shoes on Ninashoes.com. Aren't they cute?!

All the other yellow heels I found were either too mustard colored, too high (not that I'm afraid of a little height, I just don't want to kill my feet that day), or didn't have a cute detail I was looking for. These shoes look to be just the right shade of yellow and at 4" I don't think my feet will want to kill me by the end of the night. I haven't ordered the shoes just yet, but according to the website they are only available for pre-order at the moment so I've got some time to get my order in. (The soonest they'll be shipped out is 11/11/11.)

I've had more concerns with the bridesmaid shoes than I have my own. Shoes can really make an outfit and I don't want to stick my girls with anything they don't like or won't be happy to wear again. Also, since the girls are wearing different dresses, and there are two different colors to consider (canary and pewter), the process of finding shoes has become a little more tricky. There have been a few things to consider:

1. What color should the shoes be? Yellow? Gray? Should Sarah have yellow shoes to go with her canary dress? Should Amanda and Amy wear gray shoes to go with their pewter dresses? Should we flip flop and have gray dresses with yellow shoes and the yellow dress with gray shoes to avoid being too matchy matchy? What about a black or nude colored heel?

2. Since the girls are all wearing different dresses, should they also have different shoes?

Honestly I'm not really picky and I didn't think that it mattered if the girls had the same shoes. (After all, they have different dresses.) I would love for my bridesmaids to show off some personality and get shoes that they like. None of them would ever wear the same shoes on the same night when we were going out so it seems kind of funny to have them wear the same shoes as one another when they have over 120 people looking at them. As for color I think finding different shoes in gray will keep things looking interesting but not distracting.

I'm hoping to end up with a look something like this.....

Image from Style Me Pretty

...or this...

Image from Explore. Dream. Discover.

...where all the girls have some unity in color but aren't so cookie cutter.

Finding different shoes for the girls also makes the search a little easier since the girls don't all wear the same shoe size. Since the girls' shoe sizes range significantly, finding shoes that were available in all sizes limited the search. Eliminating the need to find the shoes in three different sizes has opened up our search to a much wider selection.

The two things we'll have to look out for in searching for different shoes will be unity and cost.

1. Unity- There are so many different shades of grey, finding three different shoes with similar tones of the color might be a challenge. Though we're not looking for identical colored shoes and don't need (nor want) the shoes to match perfectly with the girls' pewter dresses, we don't want the shoes to clash next to each other either.

2. Cost- Some of the shoes I found at the beginning of my search were very cute....but were upwards of $100. Since the girls have each already spent over $100 on their dresses I'm not about to suggest they buy shoes that rival in price. The less expensive, the better!

So the search is on....

Thankfully I have The Great Shoe Detective on my side!!!

Meet my bridesmaid Amanda:

Amanda has an incredible sense of style and (more importantly) a shoe obsession that shouldn't be joked about. (Look out Carrie Bradshaw!) I once sent her a photo of shoes that I thought she would like...

Exhibit A:

Amanda fell in love with the shoe! Unfortunately, I found the picture on Pinterest and there were no details tagged regarding the designer, stores where the shoe was available, or price listing. Have no fear, The Great Shoe Detective was on the case. Amanda googled the picture of the shoe until she could track down stores that sold the item. When she found out that stores were sold old she skipped the middle man and went straight to the distributor. It took a few months, but wouldn't you know it.....Miss Amanda is now the happy owner of these shoes!

I am so grateful to have Miss Amanda's help in finding the right shoes for the girls to wear at the wedding. I've started a conversation on Facebook with the bridesmaids and for the past two months or so we've been sending each other links and pictures in the hopes of finding the perfect shoes to go with the girls' bridesmaid dresses. Here are some of our finds:

1. SM Luxe Zesty Pump

So sad that these shoes are sold out in this color and nowhere to be found!

2. Neva by Nina

Really cute but at $99.95 they aren't an option.

3. Anne Michelle by Journee Women's 'Kylie-01' Ruffled Platform Stilettos

The grey was probably a good shade to go with the dresses but the closed toe didn't seem fun for a May wedding.



4. Grey jewel/feather trim shoes by Dorothy Perkins

Our absolute FAVORITE shoe. Unfortunately, it only comes in a size 9....which none of the girls are.

5. Cement Smooth Velvet Cluster Beaded Decor Peep Toe Pump Heels

Our newest faves! I think the other shoes will all be coordinated to this one.

Our search continues on for three fantasic pairs of grey shoes for the girls to wear. Wish us luck!!!