Wedding Planning Update: The Accessories

So, this past Easter weekend was full of lots of good things, including shopping, family, and nice weather! Friday, Trent and I spent some time in Galesburg, and Saturday, my mom and I had a day full of wedding shopping. One of the fun things about planning a wedding is that you get to shop for pretty accessories, and get pampered a little bit.

I had my hair and makeup trial bright and early Saturday morning, at 8:00 am. I went to Pure Hair Studio in Davenport, and they were awesome. It wasn't too busy on a Saturday morning, and it was such a nice day. I had my hair trial first, and it was styled just the way it will be for the wedding, which was kind of exciting.

I don't want to give too much away - we got photos of everything when it was all done, the front, the sides, etc. but I'll just show you the back view for now:

I'll have a veil on the day of, along with my earrings, and I'm also planning on wearing a flower in my hair. I'll probably get a faux one, and I've been looking around on Etsy a lot for the perfect one. I'm not sure yet which one I'll choose, but here are just a few that I like:

After Ashley at Pure did my hair, I then got my make up done! Once we tweaked it a little, I really liked the end result. I got the airbrushing, which was quite a bit thicker than I was used to, but it may be worth it because it does stay on a long time. I didn't want to take it off that night, because it was still so perfect! When I tried everything on - the earrings, the veil, along with the hair and makeup, I definitely felt like a bride. I won't spoil it all and reveal the entire "look," but here's a little preview of the makeup, too:

My mom and I went to Chili's for lunch and then shopped afterwards for some of my accessories. I needed shoes and a clutch. I also looked a little for a garter set, but didn't see much, and I think I'm going to purchase them online.

These were my favorite shoes of those I looked at online, so we searched several stores for them (and any similar wedding shoes) including Dillard's, Younkers, David's Bridal, DSW, and Von Maur. I didn't find them in any of the stores, and I wanted flats, which I discovered are not the easiest wedding shoes to find! These are the Cake Flats from the Blue by Betsey Johnson line.

I loved these because they're feminine and pretty, and the bottoms are blue! It would be perfect for my Something blue.

Online, I also found similar shoes from the same Betsey Johnson line that I liked as well - The Encrusted Bow flat, and The Joy flats.

In the end, I ended up buying the Cake flats online from Zappos.com. They're supposed to get here soon, so I'm anxious to see what they look like in person, and on my feet. :) Hoping they work out and are officially my wedding shoes!

I also ended up getting this pretty pearl clutch from DSW:

I had seen this one while looking online, and ended up getting it Saturday in the store. I love it, and think it will be perfect for the big day!

I already have what I think will be my earrings, and I'm not planning to wear a necklace. My mom has a small bracelet that I might wear for my Something Borrowed. So that takes care of my jewelry. My next step is to buy the flower for my hair, and my garters. Then pretty much all of my accessories (and my whole "look") will be taken care of. One step closer!

My Birthday Weekend: More Wedding Stuff, and Other Random Adventures

It's been a few days, I know. The last couple of nights our internet was acting up, and then there was the Bachelor finale on Monday that had me glued to the TV for 3 hours....Yay Whitney! Was rooting for her the whole time..wonder why ;) haha.

We had a pretty busy weekend. Of course, Friday was my 27th birthday. I worked all day, but that night we went out to eat with my parents at Thunder Bay Grille, a place I had never been before but have been wanting to try for a while. It's kind of a seafood/steakhouse restaurant. But they had a variety, and I even had a few pastas to choose from. I got the pesto pasta, and we each tried a dessert. Trent and I both got the tiramisu...which was amazing!

The night would not have been complete without some photos of us all to remember my birthday night! Not the most flattering lighting (for me anyway), but we got a couple of decent ones.

The next day Trent and I went shopping in the cities all day. We started the day out at the Antique Fair that was taking place at the Expo Center. I have been to one of these before, and everything was really nicely displayed in each individual booth, but they bring their best stuff to these shows! And you know what that means...lots and lots of variety, but everything is pretty pricey. It was no different at this one.

We saw several cake stands, but they were all more than I wanted to pay, and most were too small. These two were $68 and $58. A little more than I want to spend for a cupcake display at my wedding.

This booth got the award from me for the sparkliest...look at all that crystal! It was so shiny I didn't want to look away. So I took a picture so I wouldn't be the weird person staring at the shiny crystal all day. I can stare at it at home now. :)

This was one of the weirdest items I think I saw that day:

A cigar holder? Never heard of it. Then there was this really cool gold bull statue I told Trent he needed to have for his dresser. (He is a Taurus ya know). He disagreed, though.

One of the coolest things I saw was this blue glass poodle:

How in the heck do you make one of those?? That booth had colored glass everything.

The idea was that Trent was going to buy me something at the antique fair for my birthday, but even with all of the booths and thousands of items there, I didn't find anything I absolutely wanted or needed, so he just took me make-up shopping instead! We went to Beauty Brands, which I had never been to before, and I got some nail polish and an eye shadow palette. This one, to be exact:

(Image from here)

It's the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette from Too Faced, and I'm loving it so far. Thanks, Trent! :) We also went shoe shopping at DSW, and I got a couple new pairs of dress shoes for work. I have another conference to go to on Saturday, and I've been wanting new dress shoes, since I hate wearing tall heels. The new shoes I got have smaller wedge heels, so they're more comfortable and most likely won't make my feet sore at the end of the night. (Gotta be all about comfort at work conferences, ladies, let me tell ya!)

We then went to the mall where we did a little more suit shopping for the wedding. I say "suit" now because Trent is fairly certain he wants to buy a suit instead of renting a tux. And...he wants a navy blue one. Which I was a little scared about at first, but seeing it on, it didn't really look that bad. Maybe with a different vest, but this one at JCPenney actually made me kind of open up to the blue suit idea....

We're still going to keep looking a little, but we tried some different tie and vest colors, etc, just to start getting some ideas. So we're starting to narrow it down some.

We ate at one of my favorite places afterward - Panera. Love it. Does anyone else pick out all the onions from their sandwiches, or am I the only weird one that does that? Just me? Ok.

Trent's been having stomach/side pains, and he thinks he has gallstones. We've done some research, and he's fairly certain. And it's not pretty. But, he refuses to go to the doctor, because he's stubborn like that. He's passing them though and has been feeling better the last couple of days. We're trying to eat healthy together before the wedding, so we're doing a detox and trying to introduce more fresh foods into our diets like fruits and veggies, and eating more organic. We got groceries Saturday night, and this was our haul:

Trent's been cooking a little with the organic apple cider vinegar, and even drinking a little mixed with apple juice and lemon juice. We've also been eating greens every night, like green beans, asparagus, and peas. We're taking multi-vitamins, Trent's trying a couple of supplements, and I've been getting more into green tea. There's some weird stuff in there, but Trent is much more adventurous food-wise than I am! Kefir and Kombucha? Don't think I'm ready to try those things yet...

In other news, I'm still selling my old clothes and stuff on eBay, and March has been pretty successful for me so far! I've sold a ton of things already, and I'm almost running out of packing and shipping material...

Oh, and I did end up finding a couple of new cake stands for the wedding at Marshall's for $12.99 each. Compared to those at the antique fair, this was a much more reasonable deal, and they have a vintage/antique look to them, too! I think the mismatched cake stands will look pretty cool with all of our cupcakes on top.

So that was my weekend-slash-week. This coming weekend is the St. Patrick's Day parade and festivities, but I will be at a another work conference in Bloomington, Illinois all day on Saturday, so this may be the first year in a while that we'll have to miss it! Trent is wanting to stay home and get some rest, too, since he hasn't been feeling the greatest lately. Another week, and more adventures! Always something new....on the bright side, it's been feeling like SPRING this week! Hallelujah, I thought it would never come.

Make-Up Adventures

Happy Friday! How is everyone's winter going? Ready for it to be spring over here. Only a few more weeks of this stuff, right? Speaking of the winter blues, not too much has been going on in the home renovating department lately. I've just been doing a lot of Ebay selling and make-up experimenting. Ya know, my new projects to keep me busy. I'll have a post up soon about my recent Ebay selling adventures. Time for a (long!!) make-up related post today!

So, a couple of weeks ago, we went to the local Bridal expo and then shopped for a bunch of wedding related stuff. That shopping trip included a trip to Sephora where my sister Haley advised me on a bunch of awesome beauty products to get ready for our wedding. She's been a big help in the beauty department, since I have to admit I'm kind of clueless when it comes to that stuff sometimes. 

But, it's fun to play around with different products, so that's why getting samples is the best way to go when you're experimenting with new products and trying to perfect your look. For Christmas, Haley gifted me three free months of Birchbox, and it was super fun getting these little boxes in the mail each month. Monthly beauty samples, hello! So, needless to say, between these and free samples from Sephora with each order...the past few months, I've been doing a lot of experimenting in the beauty department!

I like to think it's all in preparation for the wedding in August, though it doesn't hurt to look good on a daily basis, too. So I thought I would do a brief little overview of some of the samples I've tried recently and am still in the midst of trying.

First up, these three products:

From left to right - 1. Number Four Lumiere d'hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect, 2. Juice Beauty Green Apple Brightening Gel Cleanser, 3. Davines Minu Shampoo.

The Prep & Protect spray is like a heat protectant-slash-leave-in conditioner for your hair. I've used probably half of the sample bottle so far, and it really is great for wet hair right out of the shower. I spray it on when I have a bunch of tangles, and it detangles it right away. My only complaint about it is it has a strong musty smell! I like my hair products to smell yummy, so it's kind of a downfall, but if you can get past that, it's a great product.

I haven't really used the Juice Beauty cleanser enough to give a review or really see a difference. But I like that it's certified organic, and it smells really yummy and fruity. I plan on using this when I travel so we'll see how I like it as I use it more.

I don't have too much to report about the Minu Shampoo either, it seems like it's a good shampoo and the smell isn't too bad. It's hard to tell if I've seen any results, since I've been using it interchangeably with my Aveeno shampoo. But no complaints yet!

Next up, the make-up! Some of these are products that I've purchased from Sephora and have just started trying, but a few of these, like the eye liner and the concealer, are Birchbox samples.

First, the Miracle Concealer, I've used quite often already. It said something in the description like, 'a little goes a long way,' and that's definitely true for this! I don't think it hides things the best, but it goes on really smooth and I really like the texture of it, so I've been using it everyday. And it blends really well with my other make-up. I still need a concealer with more coverage on top of my foundation, but this is great for underneath.

So I'm pretty much in love with this Supergoop CC Cream. Just started using it a few days ago, and I am loving it. I've been using it as my foundation under pressed powder, and it matches super well with my skin tone. This is the first CC cream I've ever used and it is a great color correction cream. I like it better than my BB cream, so might have to upgrade!

Next is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. I bought this from Sephora in a pack with the Too Faced mascara. Both came recommended by Haley. And I love both of these! My favorite thing about the bronzer is that it smells like chocolate. And it gives me a little tan, too, of course. The Too Faced mascara might be my favorite mascara yet. You can see that I also have the Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant Mascara, also from Sephora, that I've been using for a while. This was my favorite. Now, it's kind of being replaced. :) Both are great, but the Too Faced mascara is a bit more dramatic, and I like that.

The two items beneath the mascara are Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner, and the Brow Wiz brow pencil by Anastasia Beverly Hills. The eyeliner was a sample, and I'm not really a fan of liquid eyeliners. They're a little too harsh for everyday, and I try to apply them for special occasions, but I'm not really used to it yet. Liquid eyeliners can be difficult to get right sometimes, so they kind of scare me! This one is ok, but I feel like it has kind of a greenish tint to it - like it's not fully black. So that was one weird thing I noticed about it. The Brow Wiz on the other hand is pretty awesome! Another one of Haley's Sephora recommendations. I've always been scared of brow pencils too, but this one looks really natural and is just fine for everyday. It's a new part of my daily beauty routine now.

On to the Skin products...

I'll just give a brief overview for this one...there's the Clinique acne cleanser, which I got in a little sample kit - these products really work well, but I've found they're super drying (lots of alcohol and salicylic acid), so that's the only downfall for me. The Bobbi Brown Instant Long-wear make up remover works great - I've only used it on my eye makeup so far, but it is gentle on eyes and takes it off really fast. I LOVE both the Murad spot fix, and the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream. They both work really well, and I plan on getting more when these samples are finished. Good staples to have in your skin care regimen. I'm kind of neutral on the Philosophy No Reason to Hide Transforming serum, and the Real Chemistry Peel mask. I haven't noticed a difference with the Philosophy serum, and peel masks tend to dry out my skin. So I could probably do without both of those products. As for the Urban Decay eye shadow primer, I have several samples of these - some are anti-aging, some are shimmery, etc., and they're really nice. A small amount lasts all day long.

And finally...the perfume samples! Most of these are from Sephora, but there's a couple in here from Victoria's Secret.

I haven't even tried all of these yet (I have enough to last me several months at this point!), but I love both Victoria's Secret scents - Dream Angels Heavenly - an oldie but a goodie - and Noir Tease - great for nights out. I've tried Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb and it's not too bad. Trent has a sample of the Spicebomb cologne, and I think it smells really good. Hanae Mori is the little black sample - I've worn this, and it's not bad either. I'm looking forward to trying all of the others!

Well that was kind of a long beauty review, but this is kind of my life these days...trying lots of products and perfecting my skincare routine six months out from the wedding! Not sure what I'll be doing for my make-up, if I'll be getting it done professionally, or if there will be some DIY make-up going on! We'll see.....

Tux appointment tomorrow and picking up my veil! Super excited to get a couple of more things out of the way!

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!