dresses!

i bought my rehearsal dinner dress last week (i'll post pics as soon as i get it back from the tailor!). it's this dress from laundry by design, except with different colors. it is so comfortable and is the perfect mix of elegance and ease for mexican antojitos in a hilltop jardin.


and i can't wait for my first fitting. my dress is from nicole miller, and i love it. but i got it at a bargain price...three sizes too big. right now, if i put the dress on, it falls straight to my hips and hangs out there. not so hot. i am so excited to put it on and have it fit like it did in the boutique.

unfortunately, i HATE the bows on the back of the gown. so much that i'm not even going to show you the picture. instead of having an obnoxiously large bow growing out of my a**, my tailor is going to make the back look like this:


which i love. my only dilemma is that i can't quite figure out what to put at the butt in place of the bow. the dress is a rather slim sheath with a train that attaches at the rear. i'm thinking an antique brooch...and...to make the train detachable? what do you think? is it do-able?

jackets and capelets and pashminas...¡ay dios mío!

love this capelet - but it would make me look like an alien with supernaturally large shoulders...

and this little number is adorable, but probably won't keep me much warmer than having nothing on at all..

i'm in love with both of these creations from holly stalder's lovely etsy shop. they are so airy and beautiful...unless you have big shoulders and a little head. then not so much...

since we're getting married up in the montañas, it gets chilly at night, even though it is mexico in august. thus my dilemma: i am wearing a strapless and backless (yowza!) dress, and i have a feeling that i will be rather chilly by midnight.

this cashmere wrap from Magaschoni is gorgeous and sure to keep me warm. but is it too casual?

i like the idea of this jacket from jovovich-hawk. but it is a bit too casual, and needs long sleeves, or a bigger collar or...something.

i can't decide if i should go with a structured jacket to keep the whole couture thing going, or if i should opt for a softer option, like a pashmina or a silk wrap. so far, i've found nothing jacket-wise that would actually keep me warm while still looking haute.

help! what should i do? do i keep looking for the perfect jacket (or get one custom-made?) or should i make it a wrap?

kankalinhats

it's no secret that i love hats. when i was in high school, one of my mom's friends gave me a huge box full of her mother's hats from the 30's and 40's. it was heaven - pill boxes with little veils and hat clips galore...a vintage-lover's dream.

so when i started thinking about what kind of veil i wanted, i naturally gravitated toward the birdcage veil, and well...*a hat.*

now don't get me wrong...i don't want to look like sarah jessica parker at london's premiere of sex and the city. sorry sjp - i still heart you - but that hat is getting ready to flap off your head and back to the galapagos where mutants belong!

instead, i'm getting the lovely kristina from the etsy shop kankalinhats to create a lovely *hatling* for me, complete with an over-sized flower, quills, and a sweet little birdcage veil. i can't wait to see what she designs for me...but if her other hats are any indication, it will be whimsical and fantastic!

nirvana

Since we're having a rather untraditional wedding, we decided to forgo renting a venue in San Miguel (and finding a caterer, chairs, tables, etc...the list goes on forever). Instead, we're having our reception in the beautiful Restaurante Nirvana, a fusion restaurant that blends asian and mexican cuisine. The result? Hibiscus quesadillas, scallops in pistachio sauce, chicken with fruit confit in a guava mole, watermelon gazpacho, and salmon spring rolls. Mmmmmmm...I'm drooling just thinking about it!

The chef at Nirvana, Juan Carlos Escalante, has been more than accomodating (he created a whole second menu for the vegans!) and the place looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

The hard part is deciding which of his lovely delicacies to put on the menu and which to let go...

invitations are finally finished!

yay! yesterday i went to paperwhyte to pick up my invitations, and today i went to my parents' house to make the outer accouterments. with my grandmother cutting ribbon, my mom manning the square-cutter, and me placing our monogram seals on, it took no time to get them done. and i LOVE them...especially the surprise that you get when you open them up.

i used stationary from envelopments and found their system so user-friendly. i could order everything "suelto" and mix and match until i liked the design. the seals i ordered from the fabulous etsy shop sweetpaperie - whose custom stamps and stickers are amazing. i want to order five different return address stamps for different occasions. ME GUSTA!

now, all i have to do is finish hand-addressing those envelopes...

my first post

i guess it's appropriate to start with a photo strip.

i had never read a blog until a few months after i got engaged, and then i surprised myself by beginning a quasi-religious ritual with several wedding and design blogs.

it still seems weird to me to be writing to no one in particular about myself, but...here it goes.

i'm planning our wedding in mexico and i hope that's the least interesting thing about us. so...

maybe i'll teach you how to speak spanish?

maybe you already know.