Wedding Wednesday: Finding the Perfect Bridesmaid Dresses

Happy Hump Day!    

I'm back with another Wedding Wednesday post today on one of the most fun/most contested wedding choices ever: bridesmaid dresses. 

I think we can all agree that the age of purposefully making your bridesmaids look ugly is over (hallelujah).  I love my bridesmaids and I want them each to feel beautiful, but with five different girls, that can be a bit challenging. 

Click through to read my top tips for choosing the best bridesmaid dresses and see what my girls will be wearing in March! 

Wedding Wednesday: How to Register

For the next couple Wedding Wednesday posts I'm going to be talking about our wedding registry. This has been one of the things I looked forward to most, but has also been one of the most challenging. The registry is all about setting up your future home, which is really exciting, but can also be really overwhelming. I want to share our lists and some of the thinking behind them in hopes of offering some help to those of you who are planning your own wedding. When we've been married for a little while, I hope to do a registry update and detail what works, what doesn't work, and what we wished we had gotten instead. 

Happy Wedding Wednesday Y'all! 

I hope you're having a good week. This Wednesday,

Wedding Wednesday: How to Register

For the next couple Wedding Wednesday posts I'm going to be talking about our wedding registry. This has been one of the things I looked forward to most, but has also been one of the most challenging. The registry is all about setting up your future home, which is really exciting, but can also be really overwhelming. I want to share our lists and some of the thinking behind them in hopes of offering some help to those of you who are planning your own wedding. When we've been married for a little while, I hope to do a registry update and detail what works, what doesn't work, and what we wished we had gotten instead. 

Happy Wedding Wednesday Y'all! 

I hope you're having a good week. This Wednesday, I wanted to give you the steps we took for making our registry. This is pretty type A, but I found that the more organized we were, the more fun the whole process became. I may be a little crazy, but Kyle and I have enjoyed our registry process much more than we anticipated. Let's get into it!

Step 1

Make a Master List

The very first thing I did was to put a big master list of registry items together. I started by searching pinterest for a few suggested lists so I had somewhere to start from. Then I took into account our lives; we both love to cook/be in the kitchen and plan on entertaining.  One of my college roommates is getting married in September and they love to camp, so their registry has a lot of camp gear on it. Another thing I took into account was things we already have (see this post for a look at some of what we are starting with). Lastly, I had my mom look over the list we had and got her advice on things that were totally ridiculous to register for/she never uses and what she wished she registered for.

We took all that information and organized it into a spreadsheet. I separated it into sections that made sense to me and made sure I had places to add quantity, color, item name and prices.

*The prices part was important to us because we knew I had some expensive things on the list and we wanted to balance the registry for all of the people who want to bless us. In addition we both feel really strongly about getting the best price for things and wanted to extend that respect to people who are buying for us.*

The most important tip I can give for this section is to alphabetize your chart sections. I didn't originally and the entire time we were in the first store I was regretting it... bad.  

Step 2

Research 

You definitely don't need to do this step but it helped so much. We took a day and hit every store we thought we wanted to register at, just to get an idea of what we wanted from where. It also helped us price compare between stores. This helped us create a game plan and made the actual process of registering so much smoother and stress free. 

Make sure to print out your master list and take it with you for this step. I wrote all over our list. There were things we saw in the store that we had missed on our first list writing and things that just didn't make sense to register when we were standing in front of them. We noted prices, pieces we loved from specific stores and I started building my color schemes. Then we got home and started editing. 

Fair Warning: this is a looooong day. Make sure to stop for a snack and give your man a break. Kyle was lagging really hard at the end of our marathon and I know we could have benefited from a snack break.  

Step 3

Divide Up by Store

 Once we had a really solid list together, I started to make note of what I wanted (or wanted to look at) from which store. I hand wrote a little focused checklist before our first store and it was by far the best idea I've had during this process. It was so helpful to not have to sift through the whole master-list and it kept me from getting overwhelmed. Being able to check off things kept us from wandering around the store lost. 
After our first store, I color coded our master list both with what I knew and what I anticipated per store. From that, I made focus lists that were typed up and organized. Best decision ever. 

Step 4

Register

We took the master list and the focus lists and hit the stores. We did call ahead for Williams-Sonoma, but I don't feel like it seriously made an impact. We did learn some helpful tips on our journeys though:

a) Have a Designated Wedding Email Address

This tip is all around helpful for all wedding planning, but since you have to provide an email address for every registry you do, having a single place you can both access is really helpful. We chose an email address we can use long after the wedding (kyle.jessica.weir) but a wedding specific one (weirwedding, KyleJessica2017, ect.) could be fun too. 

b) Be Organized

The more organized we were, the less stress/conflict we had. Planning ahead also ensured that we made appointments where needed. We also made sure to hit the two flagship stores near us so that there was as much on display as possible. A lot of stores use an app for registering, so make sure you both have a fully charged cell phone and a way to recharge.

c) Eat

I cannot stress this tip enough. Registering can be a long and sometimes overwhelming process. Eating before you go/stopping for a snack break kept us both in good moods. 

d) Remember that the two of you are a team

Registering can get kind of.... interesting. There are a lot of feelings and thoughts at play and that can sometimes create conflict. It's really important to remember that you are a single team working towards a single goal: an awesome marriage. Your relationship is more important that the stuff you put in your house. Make sure to make good communication a priority. Kyle and I had to stop and just listen to each other a few times. Another thing to remember is that compromise is key. Kyle had a hard time with the price of dishes and some of my kitchen choices. We stopped and talked about the why behind my choices and the why behind his bother and found some compromise. 

e) Make it Fun

Registering for your future home is supposed to be fun! This is the coffee maker you'll use every morning and the waffle maker you'll pull out every Christmas. A few times we purposefully stopped and reminded ourselves that we needed to relax and enjoy the experience. As organized and practical as we tried to be, we were also open to whim items to encourage the fun. We also made an event out of it. After we registered at our first store, we went on a date to our favorite restaurant. This not only gave us something to look forward to, but it also reminded us that this whole process is more about our relationship than anything else. 

Step 5

Edit and Review

When we got home, I made a point to review our registry and make some edits if needed. This helped to keep our registries cohesive between stores and made sure we really liked everything we decided on. I ended up changing the quantities of a few items and even removing some items in favor of another store. We tried to be intentional about our registry and this step really helped us meet that goal. 

I hope this was helpful! Come back next week for a peek at our master list :)

XO,

Jessica

Wedding Wednesday: Pampered Chef Haul

For the next couple Wedding Wednesday posts I'm going to be talking about our wedding registry. This has been one of the things I looked forward to most, but has also been one of the most challenging. The registry is all about setting up your future home, which is really exciting, but can also be really overwhelming. I want to share our lists and some of the thinking behind them in hopes of offering some help to those of you who are planning your own wedding. When we've been married for a little while, I hope to do a registry update and detail what works, what doesn't work, and what we wished we had gotten instead. 

Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Ring Care

He got down on one knee, said those special words and put that gorgeous ring on your finger. Congratulations! I hope you get to enjoy and cherish this time together because it's awesome. 

It's not all about the ring, but it is a special piece that deserves the utmost care you can give it, right? But how does the normal girl keep her bling blingy?

I contacted my Aunt (who custom made my ring with Kyle) and asked for her insider gemologist tips to share with you.

Here are the best ways to take care of that gorgeous sparkler he picked out just for you: 

1) Be Smart:

 Your ring deserves to be shown off, but it's best to leave it somewhere safe when doing activities where it could get harmed or lost. Rock climbing? probably not a good idea. The beach? Probably shouldn't tempt fate. Gardening? nah. Moving something heavy? heck no.

This is especially important when moving; I can't tell you how many times my mom has bent her ring and lost a diamond while moving furniture. If you really want to keep the commitment, I suggest switching out for a qalo or cheap decoy ring during non-gemstone approved activities. 

2) Limit exposure: 

Similar to the point above, limit the substances your ring comes in contact with. Cleaning products are really harsh on the metal and gemstones on your ring. Lotions and hair products,  especially hairspray, are also things to keep away from. Not only can they hurt your ring, they seriously dull the sparkle.

 I have little ring spots in the areas where I most frequently need to take off my ring to make sure it always has a safe spot to land. A dish by the kitchen sink, an elephant on the bathroom counter and a ring holder on my nightstand. My ring is white gold, which is super sensitive, as the palladium coating wears off, so I try to keep it as unexposed as possible at home. 

3) Be aware:

Those pretty stones are held on by prongs, not super-glue. Don't take your ring off by the stones or the prongs, rather wiggle it off by the shank (the band). Check your ring often to make sure your prongs are still tight, especially after you tap or catch it on something (Towels, sheets, sweaters, hair, crazy fuzzy rugs...etc).  If you notice that it's loose, take your ring in; there's nothing worse than losing your stone. 

My roommate got engaged a week before I did and the stone fell out of her ring within the first month. It was a jeweler error not securing the prongs enough, but it came out because she accidentally hit her hand on the car door. Like the smart woman she is, she immediately checked her ring. After being horrified to find her missing stone, she searched around her and actually found the stone! Moral of the story: check immediately, don't wait to look down and find empty prongs.

4)Keep it Clean:

Diamonds especially like to collect grease and dirt. Your ring is designed to let all the light shine through, so make sure you give it a clean canvas to work with. If you can take it in, most jewelry stores give free cleanings. If you can't take it in, there are various methods to get the sparkle back at home.  

*Every gemstone and metal reacts differently, so check to make sure what is safe.* 

For diamonds and gold, like mine, here are two at home solutions:

A) a very SUDSY solution of toothpaste (not pasty) and water and a gentle scrub with a soft toothbrush  is a great quick clean. I put a small dollop of toothpaste on the brush, add water and work up the lather on my nails until it's sudsy. It's super effective and easy. Then I make sure to rinse it thoroughly with my sink drain blocked. 

B) if you have more time or a very dirty ring, you can fill up a cup with two parts warm water, a half part ammonia and a half part Joy dish washing soap (yes, the brand counts here) and soak your ring before giving it a gentle scrub and a thorough rinsing. You can adjust the mixture to what works best, but be careful with the ammonia.