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A One-of-a-Kind Ring

As I outlined about 18 months ago, my then-boyfriend (later – fiance, now – husband) visited a variety of jewelry stores (all together, eight) before settling on the one from which he would purchase my engagement ring.

He worked with them for several weeks to come up with the perfect ring. Here’s the process he went through.

First, he worked with the jeweler to choose the perfect center stone. Once that was decided upon, the jeweler chooses the other stones to match in color and clarity. My then-boyfriend knew that he wanted the ring to have 5 stones – 4 side stones totaling a carat and the 1.5 carat center stone. He was focused on cut, clarity and color.

After the stones were decided upon and my then-boyfriend signed off on them, they began the ring-designing process. Here’s how that went:
* Bring photos of other rings that he likes.
* The designer sketched out a few designs and he chose one that he liked.
* Designer creates a 3-D drawing of the ring in a CAD program, and presents to him.
* They discuss changes, and the designer makes them, and presents a second drawing.
* Once approved, they had a 3-D wax model of the ring made.
* Designer shows to him, he suggests further changes, and designer executes them.
* Once the proper design has been created in wax and agreed upon, the ring was made and set with the stones that he (my then-boyfriend) chose.

The process took several weeks – 8 or so, by my estimation, but I could be wrong.

He paid the remaining balance and then hung onto the ring for WEEKS – even bringing it to Mexico and back home, as he thought about proposing there, but ultimately decided not to – opting for a sweet, more intimate and personal proposal.

How he kept this secret, I’ll never know.

Details: The Dress & Bolero

My wedding dress situation was a saga! I purchased a Vera Wang from the Macy’s sample sale, but was unable to wear that because I had sent it to get a few alterations, and my seamstress sent it to the cleaner – and when I returned for a fitting, I noticed an awful, huge stain on the bodice, rendering it useless.

Dress #2 came from Priscilla of Boston – a fabulous little ivory fitted Melissa Sweet dress with sweetheart neckline and mermaid (fit and flare) skirting.

I couldn’t wear that because we discovered that I was pregnant in December (after 9 months of being engaged) and the wedding was set for May. We went back and forth a LOT on whether to move the wedding date or keep it. Ultimately, we decided to go for it on our designated date (May 16), even though I’d be 6 months pregnant. The Melissa Sweet dress certainly wouldn’t do.

After scouring the net for something that would work for a big old belly, I settled on a BCBG dress. It was only $380 – but it worked well with my body-shape at the wedding. I had some alterations made (at “Sew What!” in Saint Louis Park – love that place!) and the dress was ready to be worn.

I wanted a bolero for the wedding, on the off chance that it’d be cool (and it was – with gale-force winds and below 55 degree weather, it was downright cold!). I ordered a raw-silk shrug from LarimeLoom on Etsy. Luckily, the color was quite close to the dress’ color – so they looked pretty great together. In all, I was sad I couldn’t wear the other dress(es) – but pretty satisfied with how my “look” turned out.

As for the other 2 dresses, Melissa Sweet found a new home via Once Wed, and the Vera was donated to Mary Madeline project.

All photos taken by Laura Ivanova - and cannot be reproduced or used, on the web or otherwise, without permission.

We’re married!

Saturday was a blur — it was windy, I was stressed, but my awesome family and fabulous DOC pulled everything together for a day that was mostly perfect (and who wants pure perfection anyway?!).

The weather was sunny (in the mid to high 50s) and some news reports called it “blustery.” I’ve officially lost any trust that I may have had for weather forecasters. I don’t think the predictions could have changed much more than they did.

It was gorgeous, and I was so very happy that we chose the ceremony/reception site we did, it truly had amazing views.

Some guests chose to sit outside, while the majority sat inside (we did have a table or two inside that didn’t fill until after dinner) – we made the rounds between groups of friends and family, and I believe I was able to spend a little time with nearly all of our guests (with the exception of about 10 people).

So, hooray!

Coming up soon — vendor reviews!

More Cool DIY Coming Soon

I’m sorry I’ve been so absent. We’ve had a whirlwind last 10 days. Our venue surprised us with some information pertaining to double booking for our date, and also changed their liquor policies between April 24 and April 30. The prices tripled in 1 week! And, the policies changed, and we weren’t willing to make major sacrifices in order to appeal to their new situation (and couldn’t anyway).

On top of that, we’ve been preparing our new home (we closed on it on Halloween, have put a lot of work into it, worked with a contractor on a major remodel, and now need to prepare it for a family brunch on Sunday!).

To give you an idea, we’ve got 14 bags of yard waste (leaves, grass, sticks, branches, etc) waiting for the trash man on Wednesday.

In the last week, R painted and installed new closet doors in the entry, painted the exterior of our addition, and other projects, all while doing some very important work on our cardbox and cupcake stands (info coming soon!). We’ve been cleaning like crazy, because if we just leave the cleaning ladies to do everything, they’ll be here for about 6 hours (we’re tidy, but a major remodel = major dust!).

So, I promise a DIY project — probably tomorrow. And some decor DIY, and a sneak peak at our favors, and then we’ll be married (in 5 days!).

The Engagement Session

R and I weren’t sold on doing an engagement session, we both feel a little awkward in front of the camera (and in the limelight), but we decided, upon the suggestion of our fabulous photographer, to try it. And we liked it!

Laura Ivanova, our photographer, totally helped us feel comfortable in front of the camera and got some great shots of us. The only downside is that R kept cracking up (nervousness?) and I would then laugh for about 2 minutes straight (nervousness).

I am REALLY glad that we did them because we could get comfortable in front of the camera, we’re now familiar with Laura’s style, and we got some great photos in the process. Here’s a teaser:

See more at Laura’s blog.

Am I delusional?

Seriously, am I crazy that I’m thinking of buying these?

They’re FitFlops — they’re supposed to improve your posture and tone your calves (and maybe even thighs and bum).

I just can’t tell — are they actually cute? Or am I just imagining it, and getting sucked into some Croc-type (I have NEVER worn Crocs, btw) comfort-based awkward-shoe-wearing phase?

And, “no” — I do NOT plan to wear these on my wedding day, if I do indeed order them!

(p.s. I misspelled delusional when I wrote this post. Still laughing to myself about advertising my inability to spell – or spell check – such a simple word!)

Just Loving Our Photographer

I knew that our photographer was the right person for us as soon as I saw her blog. Then I met her, and I was so completely sure, there was no question that we’d be hiring Laura.

We ended up losing a $750 deposit because of her awesomeness, but… I know it will all be worth it.

Check out these great pics from my friend Rachel’s wedding to her love, Aaron.

Laura did such a fabulous job capturing the sheer joy of their day, that I just had to share.

Both R and I are beyond excited to work with her in less than 2 months!

My Wedding — Sweet Treats

I am a sweets junkie… Because of this, my wedding guests will be forced to endure several sweet treats at my wedding (but don’t worry, of course I’ll serve some savory items).

Our caterer will be providing cupcakes –
white cake with lemon filling and cream cheese frosting
chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse and chocolate ganache
white chocolate cake with raspberry mousse and white chocolate buttercream
carrot cake

But I want to put my fingerprint on the menu (or treats) as well.

I’d originally posted about making mini-madeleine cookies, and dipping them in chocolate (mmmm) for the guests. Then, about a month ago (perhaps I am just too antsy for our new kitchen and fancy Electrolux appliances), I decided that I’d also like to provide my guests with another surprising treat — macaron cookies. Not to be confused with coconuty-macaroon cookies, macarons are delicious, delicate little French cookies that sandwich a filling that can range from quasi-savory to sweet.

I plan to make my first batch as soon as our new double oven is installed and ready to run.

My first test will be to make 3 flavors — Macaron Caramel Fleur de Sel (salted caramel), lemon macarons and red berry macarons.

If these babies are 1/4 as tasty as they are gorgeous, they will be at the reception!

That D’Amico Dream Wedding — What Happened?

I got an itch to see if I could find the photos from the couple that won the D’Amico Dream Wedding contest — and I did!

I was surprised to not see much in the local blogosphere after the end of the contest, and even was neurotic enough to look for info around the designated wedding date.

I was thrilled to find, today, Bridget and Larry’s wedding photos!

This couple looks so “gosh darned” sweet-as-pie in love, it makes me a little giddy.

Best wishes (delayed) to Bridget and Larry in their life together!

Click on the image to go to the album

Photo is property of Noah Wolf Photography.