Bachelorette Party and Bridal Brunch

I don't care what anybody says. I had the best bachelorette party ever. At least, everything about it was so perfectly tailored to what I wanted to do. Alana was such an awesome maid of honor for planning something that was so perfectly me.

I didn't want to go bar hopping. It's loud, and I really wanted to spend quality time hanging out with my groups of girls. So Alana decided on nice dinner in Ohio City followed by drinks in a private lounge at the Velvet Tango Room (an incredible old Speakeasy style bar that serves classic cocktails like Ramos Gin Fizzes, Sidecars, and Dark and Stormies).

I'll just tell the rest of the story in pictures:

Dinner with all my favorite ladies at the Flying Fig

Dinner at the Flying Fig. This was the special that night; a frisse salad
with wild mushrooms and pine nuts and a wonderful sweet dressing.
One of the greatest salads I've ever eaten, hence the photo. I ordered duck
for my main course, but it was too delicious to interrupt with a photo.

The bachelorette party right after dinner, before we headed to the
Velvet Tango Room for cocktails.

At the VTR where we played bachelorette party games (A How Well Do
You Know The Bride one and a hilariously entertaining Never Have I
Ever game) over cocktails, with lots of laughs.

An awesome shot of us all sitting at the bar.

The next morning, I wanted to hold an elegant tea party/brunch as a thank you to my bridesmaids for being such amazing ladies. So I corralled my mother into helping me to host, and we came up with a delicious menu (sour cream coffee cake, vanilla french toast, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs), delicate teas (Harney and Sons Wedding Tea and Tokyo blends), and a classy and beautiful tablescape. I'll tell you, there's nothing better than drinking orange juice out of crystal goblets. After we ate, I gave them all bridesmaid gifts (including the jewelry to wear with their dresses for the wedding), and handwritten letters of love and thanks. 

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little girly and mushy on them. They know I'm not generally all about that sort of thing, but I can get pretty sentimental thinking about the people I love, and this wedding just highlighted how much love John and I have all around us.

Sour cream coffeecake, and teapots with my favorite teas in them.

The tablescape for the brunch. I loved my mom's green tablecloth; it
really made everything pop.

The top of one of the gift boxes. It's a vintage floral image I printed and
glued to the top to make the white box less boring.

A complete box as it looked when it was opened.

Not only was this a fitting present, this happens to be one of my
all-time favorite teas! It's a wonderfully fragrant white tea with
vanilla, rosebuds, and lemon.

A champagne Swarovski crystal necklace, which they wore to the
wedding with their bridesmaid dresses. I stole the idea from
a J.Crew necklace that was $60-something a piece...

The original J.Crew necklace. I loved the color of the stones, but
not the rectangular shape or how they were vertically suspended
from the chain. So I bought gold crinkle chain (much more
delicate), champagne-colored Swarovski crystals in an oval shape,
and I set the stones horizontally.

Just a little pretty card I printed off to tuck in with
the jewels and other gifts.

Erin's locket and handkerchief

Erin's locket

Alana's locket and handkerchief

Alana's locket had some pink tint on the bows.

Priya's handkerchief. Daffodils are our sorority flower.

Priya's locket close up.

Dani's locket and handkerchief

Dani's locket

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

What was in the lockets, you ask? Photos of me with that bridesmaid. I had the idea a long time ago, about the time I started wearing my grandma's old locket. I have a mini collection of lockets going, and I got the idea to try to collect five for my ladies, but it was an expensive endeavor. Vintage lockets go for at least $20 a piece on Etsy (and most of the ones I liked were $40-$60).

I had almost given up on the project when I saw a vintage locket charm bracelet. It had 10 or 12 lockets on it in different sizes and was totally affordable. I not only had lockets for each bridesmaid (and it was pretty easy to determine which one should go to each bridesmaid), but I ended up with the ones that adorned my bouquet, and a few spares to add to my collection. Win-win in DIY-land!

I also wrote each bridesmaid a letter telling them how much I loved them. There were some tears flowing at the brunch. I'm just glad I had a chance to show them how much they mean to me.

It was an amazing weekend. I had the greatest time. It's easy to forget just how much fun I had because the following weekend really was the time of my life...

Bridesmaid Dresses

Here's my thoughts on bridesmaid dresses:

1. I don't want my bridesmaids spending a boatload for a dress (screw you, J. Crew). It's not fair to them to ask them to stand at my side and then have them have to shell out a crap ton of money to do so. If we end up with a dress that's much over $100, I will probably contribute to defray the cost of the dress.
2. I detest strapless dresses, but almost all the bridesmaids dresses out there are strapless. But I don't want what basically looks like a strapless dress that they threw some spaghetti straps on. It looks sort of dated to me.
3. I would like cocktail/knee-length, because we'll be outside in August. The sleeveless ones I've looked at are also for this reason, though I wouldn't be opposed to little flutter cap sleeves or something. It's just finding dresses that come in multiple sizes that come in the solid colors we need.
4. All the dresses I've looked at have pockets. This to me is a huge plus. I know I would want pockets!

These are our colors.

I won't be subjecting my ladies to peach dresses. I'm saving peach for details and paper things. I think my biggest bridesmaid inspiration was via Style Me Pretty, from an inspiration shoot:

via a classic inspiration photo shoot

The giant pearls are a little Wilma Flintstone for me, but I adored the shade and style of the dress, as well as the hairdo. But the dress was custom made, so I had to try to find some alternatives.

Option 1: Alfred Sung D440, in Fresh (minty green), Jade (the deeper blue green), and Paradise (the lighter purple).

This one is nice, because it's classy. It's got that Audrey Hepburn sort of neckline. And pockets. Pockets are pretty much a necessity!

But, how will it look with an *ahem* busty girl? I have no idea. Thoughts?

 

Option 2: Alfred Sung D447. In Dahlia (the purple), Niagara (teal in the middle), and Seaside (the seafoam). I think this is my favorite, as it is most like the inspiration picture.

 


Option 3: Alfred Sung D438 in Jade, Fresh, and Paradise. If my ladies didn't mind going strapless. I like these for the a-line skirt and the colors. We could always do a little cover up of some sort...

David's Bridal stuff was mostly tacky. I'm drawn to these Pantone dresses because the prices weren't bad (around $120) and I love the vibrant, saturated colors that fit perfectly in our color scheme.

What do you think? Any favorites?