a wee bit o'celebration & new hair

because our wedding was small and out of state, we weren't able to invite a lot of our extended family and friends. so, we decided that after the wedding, we would have a casual reception in cookeville in order to celebrate with the people who weren't able to come. it was important to me that they knew that they knew how important they were to us & that we wanted them to be included in the celebration. so we whipped out some invites that resembled our wedding invitations



and divied up food between our moms & voila - a party is born. we had it at my grandma's house & had a good amount of aunts, cousins, and friends show up. it was a lot of fun. lots of food and lots of chatting. it was so great to see everyone.

in other news, i have taken my first step in my go-crazy-because-i'm-married-now plan. i colored my hair last week. i was pretty nervous/excited going into it. i have never had my hair professionally colored before. i've only colored it once in my lifetime. i have always been afraid that once i start, i won't be able to stop...which is probably true b/c it was so much fun & i love it!



i was also going to cut it short but decided that it could be too much change to do the color and length all at once. so i started with the color & just trimmed and thinned, bangs included. the change in length might be happening soon though...

a flower for my hair

i got my hair clip from brasspaperclip in the mail yesterday & it's fabulous! it's really even better than its picture.



also, if you are considering purchasing something from her, do it! she is so great to work with and got the clip to me incredibly fast. i purchase it friday & received it monday. i can't wait to wear it!

updates

it's getting close! 33 days until the party. can you believe it?! it's kind of strange. 52 confirmed guests so far. there has been lots of wedding to-do fun this past week to catch you up on.

cake! we met with stephanie of sugar baker's on wednesday to eat some cake and make some decisions. just as a reminder, you can see our inspiration cake here. she had lots of cake flavors and homemade buttercream and fruit fillings...yum! choosing what the layers would be was the first time in all of wedding planning that i have seen danny make a decision within seconds and feel strongly about the results, so i didn't argue...chocolate cake with cappaccinno chocolate buttercream icing, red velvet with a cream cheese/buttercream hybrid icing, and yellow cake with chocolate buttercream...and now my mouth is watering.

dress! friday evening i had a second fitting with allison at allison anne bridal alterations, and my mom was able to come! it was the first time she had seen me in the dress & it was the first time i had seen the dress actually fit (please ignore my face)...

it's not quite ready to be picked up, so i have another fitting next monday. if everything is perfect then, i can take it home with me...scary! (i am still without shoes though, so if anyone sees any fabulous shoes with a 1.5-2 inch heel, please let me know! i need earrings too, so be on the look out for some gorgeous chandelier earrings too...)

suits! saturday we went back to mens warehouse to shop for suits for my dad and brother. the same salesman who helped us with the groomsmen's suits was there, so i felt like we should work with him again, right? he didn't remember us! i said, "yeah, we were in a few weeks ago & bought suits." nothing. then he thought he remembered us & he had us confused with someone else! oh well. he did help us find a suit for my dad, a suit for kevin, and a tie for dad. then mom and i found a tie for kevin and danny's dad at stein mart. success! i'm loving how they all go together without being matchy-matchy. here are the ties so you can see:

left to right: groomsmen, danny's dad, danny, dad, and kevin

hair! saturday afternoon i had a hair trial with marnie at perfections, a salon in madison. someone on theknot messageboards recommended her, so i gave her a call. she sounded super nice on the phone & i was not disappointed when i met her in person. she has a great personality. the purpose of this appointment was for us to meet each other & for her to get used to working with my hair, so the hair itself isn't finished & wouldn't look exactly like this on the wedding day.




as it is, i want to change a few things. i want to do fewer loops & i'm trying to decide whether it should be lower or not? like mrs. toucan's hair below. thoughts?


i decided that i definitely want something in my hair. i found this one from brasspaperclip (same shop where i bought the flower girl basket) that i love & will look perfect with my dress, don't you think?

the men have suits!

the men have suits! we thought this was something we were going to have done last weekend, only to find out that the local s&k could not get us all the suit sizes we needed. so we were back to square one.

this afternoon we decided to check out mens warehouse. with help from tony, our wardrobe stylist who almost broke my hand during the introductions, we found two nice charcoal grey suits. we decided to get one style for danny & have the groomsmen wear the other. tony is going to mail jimmy and scott's suits to knoxville so that they can try them on at their local mens warehouse and have their alterations done.

here is danny's:


huge check! we also got some other things done this weekend:

#1 - i have a hair trial appointment scheduled for august 9th. the stylist's name is marnie & she sounded great on the phone. she's, also, willing to come to us which would be really nice for the wedding day.

#2 - i have an alterations appointment this friday. hopefully i will have a bustier by then.

#3 - we officially have a rehearsal dinner location. the restuarant doesn't normally let you reserve their patio on the weekend, but they're going to let us!

let's hear it for productivity!

hair adornment devices

i really like the way it looks when a bride has something in her hair...flowers, pins, etc. i've been cruising etsy for options and discovered beadifulthings's shop. all of the hair adornments below are from her shop, and they're all beautiful....just have to pick one at some point...

a flower without dealing with a real flower...and it's orange flower so it pulls in our wedding colors.


this set is made of creamy pearls gathered with fine gauge wire. very pretty.


fine gauge wire wrapped into a blossoming with white swarovski pearls. this is actually very similar to what's being worn in the hairstyle that i like.


vintage hair pins with brass filigree flowers blooming with plump swarovski pearls in light cream rose. love the vintage feel of these.

hairstyles i like

i know that i want my hair up. i like how curly and kind of loose these styles are. i really like the first one, complete with the hairpin. i actually found some hairpins very similar to that one on etsy without realizing it. i like that it's simple & not overpowering or distracting but natural and beautiful at the same time. i'm definitely not a tiara girl.