Accessories

I thought finding the dress would be the hard part, but it’s the accessories that ended up stressing me out (and costing) the most!

Necklace

My dress is really plain, so I want a big honkin’ necklace. I fell in love with this one from an ad for wedding dress designer Simone Carvalli.

I actually called the designer, and they were totally clueless about the necklace and had no ideas how I could track it down. Then I had my crafty friend look at it, and she figured out it was made of chandelier prisms. So I ordered a bunch of them (in aqua, cuz I’m so pale that clear would be, like, invisible on me), and my friend and I tried to figure out how to make a similar necklace.

I liked the idea of using this pretty aqua ribbon from her wedding, but I’m not sure about how it turned out… I think I want something that looks less crafty/handmade and more like a ginormous Harry Winston necklace…

Part of me wants to abandon that necklace entirely and just get this one off eBay. It seems easier, but then I’d have to track down earrings…

So I caught shopping fever and amassed a large collection of potential jewelry to wear with my dress, so I stuck it all in the lovely cake dome we got from our Crate & Barrel registry. I think I’m going to wear that necklace to the dessert party and my chandelier necklace to the wedding.

Speaking of the chandelier necklace, I couldn’t get it to turn out like I pictured it, so I finally decided to have a professional make it. I got a recommendation from a fellow Disney bride for Madame Fortuna, who sells on Etsy.com. She assembled the necklace from my crystals using this picture of them arranged in the basic pattern I want:

And the finished piece…

Earrings & the locket that hides at the back

Hair Accessories

So… the veil thing stressed me out. I bought two different styles on eBay and borrowed another from a friend. All are fingertip length, one is a single layer with sparkly tulle, another is two layers with rhinestones, and the borrowed one is two layers, oval, with rhinestones and edging (sorry I don’t have pictures!)

I don’t like how I look in any of them! (hence no pictures)

I’ve always been creeped out by the symbolism of the veil, but I figured I just didn’t have to wear it over my face, plus it would make me feel all princessy – and when else will I ever get to wear one? But the only veil I’ve ever tried on that I liked was a $650 ripoff at a swanky bridal salon. I tried to find a similar one, but nobody seems to do angel-cut veils except that one manufacturer. (I am not glamorous enough to pull off the birdcage veil across my face—plus I’d hear no end of it from the grannies, who want to see my face )

Anyway, I finally told myself I didn’t have to wear a veil, and it made me feel a bit better, but then I thought I’d regret blowing my only chance to look all princessy and bridal…

And then I discovered that the feathery hair clip thingy I’d been considering as an alternative  is called a “fascinator”  and is separate from a birdcage veil. I had just two concerns:

1) I planned to wear a ginormous necklace, but that might totally compete with the fascinator, so I’d be back to the drawing board in the jewelry department.

2) I was worried it will eventually look trendy and dated in my wedding photos. This is a big deal to me — I even passed up a gorgeous Pronovias wedding gown because I was worried the pickup skirt would look “sooooo ’07” in 20 years. I don’t want some future snarky teen of mine telling me I look like a can-can girl in my wedding album…

Here are some of the fascinators I liked.

So I bought a ton of supplies to try and make one myself, but now all my creativity has deserted me and I’m just staring at this pile of stuff… I think I’ll prolly just buy one!


OK, so, I ordered two – one I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like and one that I really liked. I was right!

The one I really liked arrived broken:

The one I don’t like as well is intact, but I think it’s just too much with my outfit. Plus, the netting was sewn in funny and would have to be redone.

Before, broken


After, plussed!


Also, I decided to switch and wear the second fascinator to the dessert party (and remove my glorious necklace, which won’t show with all that fuzz on the bolero – I may wear that blue topaz necklace I got on eBay instead). Here’s Stitch kindly modeling the alternate fascinator:

Wrap/Shrug/Bolero

I was having a heck of a time finding a shrug or a bolero for the dessert party so I don’t get cold. I finally broke down and bought the bland, overpriced bolero they have at David’s Bridal and hired a seamstress to trim it with fur.

Inspiration Picture

Original Bolero

How it turned out

Shoes

They had to be flats ‘cuz I’m about 4 inches taller than Patrick, and I wanted pointy so you could see them in all that dress. I was all about comfort until I realized all the comfy shoes are also hideously frumpy looking. These, on the other hand, are cute cute CUTE, and shiny, and they were on sale for $35, and they’re named after Audrey Hepburn, fer cryin’ out loud! Also, they are not horribly uncomfortable… just a little uncomfortable…. (please excuse the classy paper towel photo backdrop)

Purse & Emergency Auxiliary Back-up Earrings

I got this purse for $5 on eBay! The earrings were only $8 at Nordstrom Rack, but I still think I’m going to return them.

Wedding Rings

I am a bad bride – I do not have a picture for you. But you can use your imagination and picture two plain silver-colored bands that look like platinum, but are really cheap, cheap palladium.

I know… I had never heard of palladium either! But when we went to the Jewelry District in Downtown L.A. to get our bands, the salesman actually talked us out of $1,300 worth of platinum rings and into cheap, cheap palladium bands for $130 each! Whohoo!

Sure, the rings are the one part of the day that’s with you forever, but they’re also one of only about three aspects of the wedding that I am not micromanaging into perfection. I kind of really don’t care! And the only reasons we were going to get platinum were that I don’t wear yellow gold and we didn’t want to have to replate white-gold bands every couple of years. So when the guy told us palladium is stronger than platinum (12 whole percent stronger!) and shiny and cheap cheap cheap, we were sold.

True, I feel like I just bought a “Magnetbox” TV off the back of Fat Tony’s truck, but at the same time…we saved $1,000!

Ahem…sorry. OK, so the other part is that I really wanted us to each pick a secret inscription for the other person, but we were stumped as to what those would be. Finally, hours before we went to try on the rings, I hit on the idea of using lyrics to Muppets songs. Patrick became a puppeteer because of the Muppets, and now he teaches puppeteering at the Jim Henson Company because of the Muppets, so they’re kind of a big deal to us.

I printed out a bunch of possibilities, and we each picked one for the other person’s ring but didn’t say which. I can’t wait to see what my ring says on February 4th! (Unless it’s “Why do we always come here/I guess we’ll never know/It’s like some kind of torture to have to watch this show”…)

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2 Responses
  • Cliff
    May 14, 2013

    I had forgotten about having to purchase wedding bands. I’m definitely going to look at palladium now.

    • Carrie
      May 14, 2013

      🙂 That woulda been a funny moment at the altar…

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