Bridal Expo and Wedding Shopping Weekend

It's Super Bowl Sunday again! And I'm super excited to see all of the commercials. (The game, not so much...) I haven't watched any of the commercials online yet because I wanted to wait to watch them during the Super Bowl. :) We have gotten a ton of snow overnight, and it is still coming down today. We could get up to 10 inches! Needless to say, we probably won't be heading out and going to any Super Bowl parties...maybe just walk across the street to the neighbors' - aka Trent's aunt and uncle. :)

This weekend was full of productive wedding shopping and idea-gathering, and today I thought I would share a little from our adventures yesterday! Last year around this time, we attended the Davenport Jaycees Bridal Expo, getting ideas for my sister Haley's wedding. This weekend we went again, this time for my wedding! I brought along my mom, Haley, and Trent as my partners in crime. We had a good time and did some other wedding-related shopping afterward, too.

Like last year, there were a TON of bakeries and cake shops at the expo. Of course, Trent and I have already booked our cake shop - Olde Towne Bakery. But that didn't mean we couldn't look at ideas and taste some of the yummy cakes and cupcakes there!

These cakes were definitely my favorite of the entire expo. I just wish I could remember which bakery this was because it totally slips my mind! We saw way too many that day. I thought these were the prettiest, though.

We got our share of sugary sweets yesterday, that's for sure. We sampled tons of cake - my favorite-tasting one this time was a toss-up between the strawberry-filled cake from Olde Towne, and the salted caramel frosting on the cupcakes from Hy-vee. Yum!

I didn't take any other photos at the expo, but it was overall a good time, and we did a lot more than just cake tasting. The main thing we were wanting to get done is to register Trent for tuxes. We signed up with Men's Warehouse and will be making an appointment to try on suits and tuxes and get that taken care of soon. I also wanted to stop by the Pure Hair Studio booth, to talk about some wedding hair and make-up options, and I'm really glad I did! I got a few tips and ideas and just may be making an appointment soon!

It's always fun going to Bridal expos, because you never know what you'll learn, or even what you'll do. I got a free ring cleaning, got some wedding hair ideas, a lip gloss application, and even participated in a magic trick! Like always, it was fun and productive, and I definitely recommend going to one if you're planning a wedding.

After the expo, we headed to the mall to do a little shopping. Haley and I spent the majority of time in Sephora. I love this store but always get so overwhelmed at all of the different make-up options! She's kind of a make-up enthusiast, so she gave me lots of tips and ideas for the wedding. I had to take pictures of some of the products so I could remember what to buy for next time.

Apparently the Make Up for Ever brand makes a great foundation, and it's a good matte foundation for photos. I use their mascara, but have never tried the foundation before. Definitely on my list to do.

Haley recommended the Too Faced bronzers...they smell like chocolate! I'm planning on trying their mascara, too.

This Amazonian clay blush from Tarte is supposed to be great. I will definitely be trying this soon. I use a Nars blush now and want to switch my everyday blush, since I feel like the one I have is more for evenings and going out. It has lots of little glitter in it, and I want a more matte one for everyday.

I am definitely in need of a brow pencil of some sort. I've never really filled my brows in before, and that's something that I probably need to start trying. I've always been a little scared of it looking "fake", or not getting the right color. So some experimentation is needed! Will probably be trying the Brow Wiz from Anastasia Beverly Hills soon.

After getting a ton of make-up ideas, I met back up with Trent and we stopped at Helzberg to look at wedding bands for Trent. We found the perfect one almost immediately. 

The first one we saw and Trent tried on was the one we ended up purchasing! It's a 6 mm tungsten band, and the size was even perfect, so no ordering was even necessary. It was the perfect ring, really classic and looked like it was made for him. We took it home that day. So excited to have that done! It's my Valentine's Day present to him. :)

After the mall, we all ate at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Lunardi's, then Mom, Haley and I headed to our appointment at David's Bridal for Haley to try on bridesmaid dresses. We have a really small wedding party - no flower girls or ring bearers, and only one bridesmaid and groomsman each. Another way of keeping the wedding a simple, intimate, mostly family gathering. So Haley is my only bridesmaid that I needed to pick a dress for. This made it pretty easy...whichever dress looked the best on her is what we went with!

And this is the style that we ended up going with. Again, this is the first dress she tried on! None of the dresses she tried on afterward looked half as great, or fitted her as well. Instead of the royal blue color though, it will be in this peachy color:

The hardest part was choosing the color of the dress. The colors that were too light, weren't as great with her skin tone, but I wanted to keep it in the pink-peach family, and the coral colors were a little too bright for the look I was going for. So peach (or Bellini) it was! Yet another thing checked off the list. That's what I love doing these days..

Looking online afterward, it looks like this will be the dress, though the color looks a lot different online (much more orangey):

I like the look of the long dress, even though the wedding will be outside in August. I think it looks a lot more romantic and elegant and fits with the vintage-meets-modern style we're going for.

Overall, I feel like we were really productive yesterday, and I love seeing even more elements all coming together. Getting even more excited!