To see Frank's work is to love it! Seriously, the man is incredibly talented. I don't even like having my photo taken, but I can't wait for our wedding day because I'm so excited about our pictures! He's also very flexible with his time and the services he offers, and will work with you to create a package within your budget.

Watanabe Floral were the most affordable and helpful of the 64,357 florists I contacted. OK, maybe it wasn't quite that many, but I got in touch with pretty much every wedding and non-wedding florist in the south of Oahu. It was a huge challenge to find a vendor who would provide such a small order (one bouquet and one bout) without charging an arm and a leg. I considered DIY, but because you have to buy South American roses in batches of 2 dozen (and I want several colors of roses), it wouldn't have been any cheaper - and we would have had a TON of flowers leftover!

I've booked the ever popular Dorys Foltin, who is highly recommended by Oahu knotties - I'm a little nervous because I won't be able to have a trial, but from what I've seen she's absolutely amazing.

  

Something blue...I'm joining the blue ring brigade! Mr.Redshoegirl asked me a few weeks before Christmas about the old/new/borrowed/blue tradition. I told him my garter would be my something blue and didn't think any more about it until he gave me this beautiful blue topaz ring for Christmas, saying that I should have a "better something blue" for our wedding! (Amazingly enough, he had no idea about the whole blue ring trend.) He liked this style the best, but it was only available in yellow gold (which I don't wear), so having it rhodium plated was the rest of my present - here are before and after pics:


PSA about rhodium plating - skip this if you don't want technical info...a few girls have seen that I'm getting this ring plated and have exclaimed what a good idea it is, so I thought I'd post some quick info in case you're thinking of doing this. You should know that this is NOT a good solution for everyday jewelry. White gold is a light grey metal composed of yellow gold mixed with a white metal - usually nickel or palladium - and then rhodium plated to make it whiter and shinier and harder wearing (rhodium is similar to platinum). Although you can plate yellow gold directly, it won't last very long with everyday wear - often only about 3 months - before the yellow gold is showing through and it will need to be replated. Since this is a special occasion ring, I estimate that I'll only need it replated once a year (or less) - but if you want to wear a piece of jewelery every day, you are much better off getting it completely reset. 

Boy bling...Mr. Redshoegirl and I compromised: he'd wear the stripey pink tie as long as he could get some funky cufflinks...do we go for Transformers, pirate, the patriotic Australian map, or the fun 'drinking arm' cufflinks?


(The minute hand looks blurry because the watch had been stationary for a while, so the kenetic mechanism had gone to sleep - I got a geeky thrill when the hands started whirring around to catch up to the current time again.)

Veil...I debated for a long time whether or not I wanted a veil - I wasn't planning on wearing one. But then I thought to myself, when am I ever going to be able to get away with this again? I love the sheer look of drop veils, although I have never seen one in action on the beach (I might be the first!), so I caved and ordered a custom veil from Occansey Designs:


Bonus links...since this isn't the most popular veil style, I had to search a bit to find great photos - this is not an exhaustive list, just the ones I was the most inspired by:


Update...my veil has arrived! It's exactly what I wanted, and I highly recommend Occansey Designs- excellent prices, totally customized products and owner Kathy is a very helpful and kind soul who patiently answered my many (probably dumb) questions. Mr. Redshoegirl took these photos for me, and got distracted halfway through, so I only have headshots. (Which is actually rather fortunate as my ass looks huge in that dress...) Excuse the bad lighting and how ratty I look - I'd just gotten home from a long day at work, but of course I was WAY too eager to wait for a better hair and make-up day:  


Side note: for those of you who complain about how your eyelashes aren't long enough: I envy you. I've been "blessed" with very long eyelashes, and the reason I'm making faces is because the tulle kept catching on them - I get the same problem when I try on sunglasses, and it SUCKS. 

Bonus details...I was a little obsessive over veils for a while. OK, a lot obsessive. I would stare at wedding photos and try to figure out the exact length and width of veils I liked so that I could get mine made precisely the way I wanted it. So on the off chance that anyone else out there is as much of a neurotic control freak as I am, here are the stats on my veil: plain cut edge, 70" wide, 118" total length with a clear comb attached at 30" to create a blusher. (The special 70" width is so that it's very sheer when draped over the top of the head, instead of bunching at the crown and creating creases over my face.) 

Garter...I never thought of myself as a garter girl until I saw the gorgeous ones made by The Garter Maker. Plus, how often do you get to wear one of these in polite company? My garter is baby blue with a white ribbon and a monogram patch sewn on the inside (I'm not really into the monogram craze, but eh - why not?):

  
 

  

Makeup...for makeup, I want something fresh looking with a bit of emphasis on the eyes. The Minka Kelly look (top left) is my front runner - if I could look as insanely gorgeous as her, that would be great, thanks!

  
 

Labels! That's right, I'm an etiquette rebel. Judge me if you want. (Thanks to to lisakeiko and Martha Stewart for the idea.)
PSA: I didn't use the Martha Stewart template, although I'm sure it's fine. I measured out the dimensions I wanted and then created the layout in Photoshop - you could probably use MS Word/Powerpoint/Publisher if you're not familiar with Photoshop. They were printed on full sheet label paper and trimmed to size with a paper cutter (5 labels per sheet).
Envelopments 5x7 portable pockets in Azalea.



As well as being my label muse, the fab lisakeiko did the printing for me - how amazing do these look?!?



I'm in love with my double layer bellybands, which I used for guest names in lieu of an inner envelope.



Detail shot of the liner paper ("Catherine" from The Paper Place) and the beautiful linen finish texture of the cardstock.

Guestbook pen...this is one of those instances where I let the Knot get to me. Couldn't possibly just have a plain pen now, could we? :-P Since the book will be passed around tables at the AHRs instead of sitting in one place all night, we needed a pen that would be easily moved with the book. My idea was to make a pen that would be a bookmark as well - this is a rough mockup (the ribbon on the pen isn't as smooth or tight as it will be when I do it for real):

Update #3 - we should start a club...knotties phattiusmax, LJKaucher, myday1708, texacaligirl, happysigh, mrshananoki, TheFutureQueen, TahoeBound2009, photogirltx, macdidlyicious, ErinlovesAdam, mcclaijr, kwynn, kenichi600, liubride510, whymercy, LaurenRachel, missmandy77, jennygrl4, melissainabq, Jord.Taylor, anniquious@yahoo.com, Jen4637, carriegrace31, blondeG8Rbride, Soon2BWilcox, sanae78, MauiMary, soontobemrshampton, Ms.Mongalo, toolongengagmnt, Louulouu21, blaynen, Jap-Rish Wedding, KatieSmiley and Nov08Bride, as well as WeddingBee blogger Miss Kiwi have jumped on the orb bandwagon!

Following along with the cookie idea, this is a very rough idea of what I'm thinking of (yes it's a total hack job in Photoshop - what can I say, I was tired when I made it). I think it needs something around the edge to act as a frame, but I don't like the poofy icing...any ideas? It's a very casual design, but this is a casual party. Maybe with a big bowl of bride and groom cookie on the side as well? Yeah...it is too cheesy, isn't it?

Poochbutt...my Christmas present for Mr. Redshoegirl last year was a puppy! He's an Australian Cattle Dog (aka a red heeler). Since Mr. Redshoegirl is an incredibly nerd, he named the dog Korben, after Korben Dallas from The 5th Element:

I have mixed feelings about the advice section of bios. Sometimes it's useful. Sometimes it's annoying. Mostly it's common sense. I'm not egocentric enough to think that my advice is any more valuable than anyone else's, but hey, you never know when someone might pick up a helpful hint - so here are some of my thoughts as I'm going through the planning process...

Negotiate. We have a modest budget for our wedding, and when we first started planning, I kept reading tips about negotiating with vendors. I hate negotiating. H-a-t-e. I'm not one of those women who enjoy going to flea markets and haggling down to the last penny. I don't like visiting markets in countries where bartering is a way of life - call me a cultural wuss if you want, but I'd rather just pay sticker price because negotiating is way out of my comfort zone and makes me extraordinarily uncomfortable. But you know what - it works! I knew the photographer we fell in love with was out of our price range; after I got his initial quote, I told him we adored his work and were dying to hire him, but that unfortunately we had to bow to the Almighty Budget Gods...so was there any way the price could be trimmed to fall within our budget? He was open and wonderful and willing to work with us, and agreed to adapt the package to meet our budget. Woohoo!

Compromise is OK. Maybe you have an unlimited budget and can ignore this part. If so, I'm sincerely happy for you. And also very jealous. Anyway, sticker shock hits most of us pretty hard; sometimes you have to step back and just say, "OK, this is what I want - but it's impossible. So let's move on to the next best thing." Case in point: my dress. It's not my dream dress. That costs thousands, and I simply can't justify spending that much on something I'm only going to wear for a few hours - yes it's our wedding, yes it's important, but it is NOT worth going into debt over what is ultimately just...a...dress. The gown I chose meets all the requirements: it's pretty, it's flattering and - tada! - it fits the budget.

Keep things in perspective. I know a lot of girls are probably screaming at me that I'm silly, that I should ignore the cost and buy my dream dress. But you know what? On our wedding day, I could be wearing a burlap bag and not care, because I'll be marrying Mr. Redshoegirl. The commitment we are making to each other is far more important than a piece of clothing. There are so many gorgeous weddings and fabulous ideas on the Knot, and sometimes I get all caught up in wanting to have the bestest, biggest, most fantabulous wedding ever - but ultimately, that's not what this day is about. 

Shop around. Then after you've done that, shop around some more - there's always someplace else selling the same thing for cheaper. Once again I'll mention my dress...it would have been easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment at the bridal salon and just plonk down my credit card, but I saved a stack of money by buying my gown online. I know some people think that naming prices is rude, I but I find it helpful...so here's a breakdown of what I ended up paying after I got quotes from what felt like a million different bridal shops (there are a lot of other great stores such as  Netbride - these are just the ones that carry Maggie Sottero gowns):

* prices are in USD unless otherwise noted and don't include shipping and insurance - conversions are using AUD/USD exchange rate as of June 24, 2007