I am so over every version of this weird petal-y skirt. Who does it look good on??

No one, is the answer to that question.

It looks good on NO ONE.

Watters Fall 2011 via GinnyBranch Stelling via Martha Stewart Weddings

For the record, I think Quail Bridal was the first one to make the weird petal-y skirt back in 2010?
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Sidebar: I think my blogging has been suffering since I quit drinking coffee. I had a cup this afternoon and I feel terrific. Maybe a teence headachey, but TERRIFIC.

IS THIS TOO SNARKY FOR YOU??

I'm the biggest loser of them all because I'm not drinking tea or coffee at the moment.

Got incredible joy out of walking to Downbeat and ordering a fucking DECAF LATTE on Saturday. It wasn't even a good latte.

But the no caffeine is helping my headaches. A lot.





Sigh.

Fishs Eddy via amy*
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*So annoyed that permalinks for comments have disappeared. I need to speak to Google about that.

The Art of Bangs

Soooooooo. I started to write up a Resolutions for 2012 post.........

I got as far as "I will learn how to trim my own bangs..." (C'mon. Erin Featherston trims her own bangs every morning. How hard can it be?)

But then my resolutions got all serious/depressing and I made the mistake of asking H for his opinion and we got in this big stupid fight in the middle of the Phoenix airport about whether I'm wasting my time trying to quit drinking coffee and/or whiskey every other month (I think it's helping, he thinks I'm nuts) and whether or not I should go back to the neurologist (NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH).

I'm harboring this cracked little California dream that I can cure my headaches with organic food + hot yoga. REMEMBER MY RESOLUTIONS FOR 2010? I had no idea I was heading here, I swear to you.

whoopsies.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now you all think I'm a crazy person.


ohwell.





happy new year, you guys!!

Photo: Erin Fetherston by Vanessa Jackman

Help me put a ring on it

Hey, ESB. 

I'm getting married next September and am having the ever-popular accessory dilemma. I'm wearing this dress, a David's Bridal original (hey, I embrace my inner cheap and trashy bride. Plus, it has pockets), and I'm replacing the plastic bling with a brooch of my mom's.

My mom died just as I started puberty, and I've had thirteen years to get used to this life without her. Wedding planning turns everything I've gotten used to on its head, and the day will be bittersweet in her absence. My future mother-in-law wants to do something special to recognize my mom's life--I've already vetoed an empty chair and a song in her honor--so I'm choosing to do so with my accessories (my mom had amazingly awesome accessories). 

I realllly want to wear her wedding ring, but I'll be wearing my engagement ring on my right hand and my wedding band on the left that day; my mom's ring only fits on my ring fingers, as I inherited her hands (and her laugh and the way she signed the "N" in our last name). The obvious answer is to wear the ring on a chain as a necklace, but I'm open to and hoping for suggestions. So, lay it on me, pretty please. 

Thanks!

P.S. If you have any ideas about some sort of hair something that's not a veil, I'd love to hear them, too. 

*****

Wearing your mom's ring on a chain around your neck makes the whole thing too much about her and her wedding ring when it should be about you and your wedding ring.

Either MAKE IT YOUR WEDDING RING (why wouldn't you? it fits!) or tie a blue ribbon around it and carry it in your pocket.

As for "some sort of hair something that's not a veil" -- YOU GUYS MAKE ME TIRED. You know that, right? I love you, but you make me so tired.

Headaches and Weddings

Hi there!

You might remember me from such comment threads as headache fun-time - let me just say that girl, I feel your pain. I cannot remember the last time I didn't have a headache. I've had every test imaginable (CAT scan, MRI, allergy panels, spinal taps, blood work, chiropractor, etc) and the best they can figure out is "you seem to get a lot of headaches." I can't find a specific trigger food, but I try to stay away from all the main ones as much as possible (cheese, nuts, chocolate, citrus, alcohol). Stress is probably my main trigger, seconded by lack of sleep or skipping meals. But, as you said, they're never not there. It's certainly hard to live with and explain to people...

On a different note, I've been reading your blog for about a year and a half now, and as you must know, it's a point of sanity in an otherwise crazy-pants wedding-planning world. I got engaged at the beginning of last December, and started to immediately feel overwhelmed/underfunded while looking at the typical wedding blogs. We live in NYC, where everything is beyond-expensive and I had no idea how I was going to throw (and pay for) a wedding that looked like a blog-post.

And then 28 days after we got engaged, I got the worst news of my life - my younger brother, 22, was in a car accident and didn't survive. Our family was devastated. I didn't know how to get out of bed anymore, let alone think about a wedding. I thought about postponing the wedding, but it became clear that everyone needed something good and hopeful to look forward to, so forward we went with the planning. 

Looking at venues, looking at dresses - all while dealing with an unimaginable loss. The weddings of the blog world didn't just seem unattainable now, they seemed to exist on a different planet. It was so comforting and useful to come to your site and see that real people had small weddings that were about being together with loved ones, not about how many mismatched doilies you could collect from various thrift stores to decorate your DIY dessert buffet.

So we got married last month, and it was small and beautiful and fun and even though I had been afraid for months that I would be too sad to get married without my little brother there, it was a day full of happiness and love.

All of this is to say the following:

1) thanks for doing what you do. It's funny, entertaining, and really helpful to a lot of people.
2) weddings happen in real life, which is complicated.
3) you can get married in nyc (brooklyn to be exact) without spending a fortune.

p.s. Our photographer was Daniel Benjamin

The venue was iCi, a beautiful, delicious, affordable little restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Their events coordinator, Catherine, was amazing. 

The gorgeous flowers were by Kea Morgan at Sweet & Flower

And you guys, it's The Proenza Schouler. Even more beautiful on a real live bee-yoo-tee-ful bride.

p.p.s. d'you think Melissa would be creeped out if I asked her if she maybe might want to get matching headache-exorcising tattoos?? she is my HEADACHE SISTER.

♥