Frock the Casbah

The attire for the wedding party ladies was finally wrapped up today. I know most people get that taken care of right off the bat, but we like to do things a little differently here at Casa Fight the Fondant. Well, putting off getting the dresses for the ladies wasn't really something that anyone wanted to do -- it mostly got sidetracked because of cancer. But things are going swimmingly at the moment, and while we had a loose idea of what all the ladies would be wearing, we finalized everything today. Woo hoo!

The adult ladies were asked to choose a J Crew dress in "Bright Alpine" taffeta. JT's sister, my bridesmaid, chose the Clementine. It looks fab on her!

My sister and matron of honor chose the Lorelei. I love that they chose two different styles because at first I thought they'd end up picking the same dress (not that that would have been bad, but different is fun).

A quick note for anyone thinking of getting J Crew bridesmaids dresses having only seen them online: order some fabric swatches! Initially, from browsing online, I liked the "Clover" green, which is available in cotton and chiffon. I thought the Bright Alpine looked too foresty. But the pictures above are not really accurate. In person, and especially in the sun, the Alpine looks much closer to the moss green that I am basing our wedding decor on. And the Clover looked downright lime!

Interestingly, the hardest part about dressing the ladies of the bridal party has been coming up with something for the youngest ladies, the flower girls, to wear (and there's 3 flower girls!). Finding something that is cute, affordable, and fits in the color scheme is practically impossible. JT's sister found some great green dresses, but they ended up being much too dark when placed next to the J Crew dresses, and it looked off. My sis found a dress that her daughter would enjoy wearing, but since JT's sis's girls are a bit older, it wasn't really up their alley. The solution? Let everyone's girls just be themselves! JT's sister's girls are wearing white dresses they had from a previous wedding updated with adorable green sashes courtesy of JT's mom. It's budget friendly, and the girls will be comfortable, which is what's most important. My sis's daughter is going with this creation by Etsy vendor Sweet Plume:

Though the three girls won't be wearing exactly the same thing, I think they will all complement each other perfectly. It's amazing to see these things coming together, because I'm continually surprised at how what seemed imperfect at first (like not having a handle on what all the girls were wearing) now feels absolutely perfect.

Hats Off To You

The past few days have been a little unnerving. Not because the wedding is quickly approaching (which it is, and there are still many details to sew up) but because I'm starting to once again feel like my wedding is the source of pain or conflict for my family. That is, of course, the absolute last thing that I would want. But with my sister's recurring cancer and her checking back into the hospital, I can't help but feel like my wedding is a giant inconvenience for everyone.

I try to remind myself that with so much turmoil in our lives, that our wedding is a much needed bright spot. And I truly, truly hope that is how my family sees it...because that is what I want it to be. Sure, travel can be taxing, but I hope everyone takes it as an opportunity to relax. No need to fret about the details -- just spend a couple of days soaking up the beauty of San Diego and come to our party while your here. I hope that's how everyone else is feeling.

That was a really long, drawn out way of introducing today's post: hats! I just recently started browsing for hats that my sister could wear at the event that might compliment her dress. The bridesmaid/maid-of-honor dresses will be from J Crew. I'm asking the ladies to select whatever style they prefer, so long as it is in the "Bright Alpine" silk taffeta. Here's an example, from the recently launched Fall collection:

Finding cute hats is a challenging task for many reasons, one of which is the reminder that my sister is experiencing my wedding in the worst context possible. She's been so positive about the whole thing, so I'm trying to be that way too and enjoy the cute hats for what they are -- cute hats! Here's one from Anthropologie that incorporates the others colors from our wedding scheme:

This one from Etsy seller NadineNewYork is darn cute too.

Got any good hat tips for us?

Internet Find: Tonic Living for Fabrics

Using large blocks of colorful fabric can be a great way to create a bold decor statement without spending a small fortune. I've been searching for unique fabrics in shades of green, marigold and brown. Making either table runners or a backdrop for a photo booth area are both on my list of possible DIY decor ideas.

Today, I discovered an amazing internet fabric vendor, Tonic Living! Check out some of these gorgeous designs in my color family:

Tonic Living is based in Toronto, Ontario, but don't fear -- they ship internationally. And, they even have a custom sewing service, which included table runners for weddings! How do ya like that?

Palatable

Sorry for the absence of posts. Work has been pretty overwhelming lately, and will continue to be for at least the next week. But here's some much needed catching up.

A few weeks back, when trying to plan invitations, our wedding website, fabrics, etc., I realized that I needed to select some "official" colors. As I mentioned in a previous post, our color scheme will be green, chocolate brown, and marigold. But it seemed like a good idea to get some swatches to have a comparison point for everything.

You want to know a great place to find color swatches? Your local home improvement store! My good friend Laura and I ventured over to Home Depot's paint department on our lunch break and picked up dozens of paint chip cards in every shade of green, brown and yellow that we could find!

Looking at all these swatches also got me thinking about all the cool projects you could make with them...maybe paint sample placecards? Not something that I think we'll use, but it sure would be fun for an art-themed wedding.

Color Me In

I didn't set out to find a wedding venue that would match a specific "look" that I had in mind for my wedding...quite the opposite. JT and I thought it best to find a cool venue that had a vibe we were natural drawn to and then match our theme to that venue.

So when it came to selecting a color palette, I didn't have any particular colors in mind. Bleu Boheme has, of course, a lot of blue in it's decor, but I wasn't really keen on the idea of a mostly blue wedding. It just seemed like a very safe, typical wedding color.

Instead, I tried to pick up on some of the other colors that were more subtley included in the decor. Like yellow.

And green. And brown, from all the exposed wood. Then, searching for wedding inspiration on Snippet and Ink, I found these two inspiration boards:

If these two boards had a baby, it would be our color theme: moss green, marigold yellow and chocolate brown. I'm so in love with the colors, that I could marry them. I guess I kind of am!