Ouma God

Came across these lovelies on Etsy in Ouma's store.  Custom of course and affordable as All Get out.  Based out of Phoenix.

Simplicity in Cotton and Tulle, for less than $300! A Whimsical Spring by Ouma.

I am currently Obsessed with this color.  Blushing in Pink by Ouma.

Wedding Feel v. Theme

The feel of our wedding is super important to Jesse and me.  I am trying Really hard not to use the word theme while describing our aesthetic (and also am trying not to use words like aesthetic but am going to for this post) because "theme" makes it feel a little cheesy.  And I don't think it would if the theme was less abstract, like Vintage Paris or Rustic Glamour, but since our aesthetics are derived from our attraction to science, nature, and the amazing discoveries that happened toward the end of the 19th century, it's a little harder to describe.


We were first inspired by this theme/aesthetic after watching the latest Sherlock Holmes movie.  We loved the alchemy scenes with test tubes and copper and raw machinery.  Juliane James also seems to have a rustic pioneer essence to it that we can't ignore.  I had never used the words Steampunk or Machine Age prior to researching the items that comprise that look but they capture the essence properly.  The issue is that those words convey less to those I am communicating with than saying we are having a Turn of the Century Science and Wonder influenced wedding.


Elements of Steampunk and the Machine Age are popping up in weddings.  Many people are using typewriters as their guests books, and we plan to incorporate the use of a typewriter into our wedding too.

Typewriter used in a display from a wedding featured on Style Me Pretty

I have seen a few weddings that have a similar essence in the last four months or so of researching weddings.  This wedding, detailed on MarthaStewartWeddings.com and found through a link from the fantastic, San Francisco-based letterpress company Hello!Lucky, prompted me to try describing our wedding as if it were like a World's Fair.  I'm still working on how to articulate that idea without it seeming too Carnivalesque, which we aren't too into since this is the first same-sex wedding most of the guests will have gone to.  In fact, it's actually the first one either of us will have gone too.  Not that I don't Love a good Carnival-inspired wedding.  And not that World's Fairs have all that much in common with Carnivals.  We just don't want to risk any misunderstanding.


The bride stated the following on MarthaStewartWeddings.com about the feel for their wedding that was held at a Fine Arts museum: "Modern medicine was emerging at the turn of the century, which inspired the general population to regard scientific fields with inspired wonder. This, combined with the World's Fair and other events displaying ideas about the fantastical future, made it quite a glamorous moment in intellectual history. It was easy to imagine curating an event that reminded people of that moment in time."  

The images from this wedding and the bride's eloquence in describing it helped me solidify some details for and ways to describe our wedding.  I am so into the idea of using DIY specimens as decorations but the reception booklets are My Favorite.  They included museum information and a map, a dance card, and paper for drawing the bride and groom, along with a frame to put them in.  Pencils were attached to the top of the booklets to draw with.  They are amazing and I absolutely want to incorporate something like this into our reception.

Programs designed by Hello!Lucky

The couple created Specimens that they used for table markers. 

Chemistry glassware was used tastefully as vases.  

    

Choosing a Wedding Date

To keep in line with how nuts Jesse and I generally are when we get out minds set on something, we decided to first move our wedding date back a year (to July 2012) and then up a year to July 23, 2011.  At first we wanted to have a September wedding but we realized we both loved the long days that came with the middle of summer.  Juliane James Place, our wedding venue, has so many flowers blooming all summer but we particularly fell in love with the red and pink flower below that blooms beautifully through June, July, and August.  I initially leaned toward not having a florist and just using flowers from the grounds to fill the test tubes and vases we have as part of our "turn-of-the-century wonder and exploration" feel.  My concern with that though is that I would end up cutting flowers that would make for lovely photos for others who are getting married at our place.

This date change has propelled us forward into full-throttle wedding planning mode.  To me this is more exciting than Christmas, and gift-giving is my favorite thing besides dogs and ice cream.  It feels so real and right to be getting married next year.  We want to have children in 2012 and I want the wedding experience and baby experience to be separate events.  There is just SO much to do before now and then.  And so much to blog about!!

I chose our date using The Old Farmer's Almanac.   You can download weather predictions for the next year specific to your area for $4.95.  It breaks each month down into small sections and lets you know if it will raining, sunny, hot or warm, etc.  It's not guaranteed to be spot on but at least I feel like I have something to go on!

Dresses, Round 2.1

Round 2 consisted of visits to the following three bridal salons with my bridesmaids Amy and Jessie who came up from Chicago for 36 hours of dress mania. It was Jessie's first trip to Minneapolis and although dresses were the point of the trip I also wanted to give a little tour of Minneapolis so I set up our appointments for Edina and downtown.  Our first stop was Priscilla of Boston in Edina and then we headed down to the Macy's Bridal Salon by Demetrios.

Priscilla of Boston

I really liked all the options they had in stock at Priscilla and the salesperson I worked with, Sarah, was fabulous.  The ambiance was great too but the fitting room was a little on the small side.  I like it when the people who are there for the experience can be in the room.  Especially in my case where all of my bridesmaids are flying or driving in for the experience.  I want to chat while getting into dresses!  There were refreshments provided to all three of us and I ended up liking quite a few dresses.  What I also liked is that there was a large price range and the quality of the dresses didn't take such a huge aesthetic dip as the costs went down.  There were plenty of samples for sale too.

These are the highlights...

Melissa Sweet Billie Short

This dress is around $3,000 and comes in a longer version too.  The dress feels great on and is super flattering.  I was told that the foof on top can be added to or taken away as desired.  I fell in love with the dress when I saw it on the Wedding Chicks blog in this post. I fell so hard for that particular bride's style though that I couldn't imagine it Without aqua pumps, which is when I knew I might need to move on.  If an extra $3,000 falls into my lap between now and my wedding I am absolutely buying this dress for the day of festivities before the ceremony day.  I love the idea of being super dressed up but having something on that is easy to move around in.

Kenneth Pool

I loved this dress on but when I went home to look at pictures of it I wasn't as excited about it.  The swirl on the side of it is my favorite part because it reminds me of the Vera Wang Diana I had my heart set on when I tried this dress on.  I also love the belt portion of this.  It looks great with a crystal flower in the hair.

Dresses, Round 1

I went for Round 2 of trying on dresses this weekend.  Two of the attendants in our wedding came in for a whirlwind tour of Minneapolis Bridal Boutiques.  Prior to this trip the only bridal shop I had visited was L'Atelier Couture, where I was lucky enough to work with Amanda, the owner.  I knew that experience would be hard to top but the saleswomen I had at the places I visited this weekend were really great too.

I will detail each of my experiences over the next few blog posts...

L'Atelier Couture

I had the most amazing experience at L'Atelier Couture.  There was so much space for trying on the dresses and such a huge selection.  There was also a bottomless cup of coffee for my bridesmaid Kristen who had flown in on a late flight the night before from New York.  Much appreciated.  Amanda was really understanding that this was my first time trying on dresses and that I had no idea what I might be interested in.  She was also super helpful in suggesting where my partner, who at the time was not sure if she would be wearing a dress or something different, could find something she would be comfortable in.  In fact, Amanda followed up with a link to La Sposa in an email after my visit because she thought that Jesse might find something she liked in their line.  So thoughtful!

The dress highlight...


Vera Wang, Diana
I love this dress.  The pictures of it don't really do it justice, which I actually find to be the case with most of the dress I like.  I think it has something to do with how they all move, especially this one.  The pictures of Chelsea Clinton in it walking down the aisle capture more of the liveliness of it.