April 14, 2016

April 14, 2016

Choosing the bridesmaid dresses
Most of my bridal party was able to shop for dresses with me. For the color, I wanted navy, because I really like how it flatters different skin tones and hair colors. I didn’t want the dresse to look like standard bridesmaid dress and wanted it to REALLY be something they could re-wear as well as priced within everyone’s budget.

We went to Boston, a central location for everyone, to look for dresses where I had made appointments at two different places. Luckily, we only went to one store! We started at Flare on Newbury Street and found the winner. The dress we loved looked amazing on all of them! It was a really fun experience having us all together and much easier than I had expected. Since we finished so early, this meant we had time for brunch, so we headed to Stephanie’s on Newbury and made an afternoon out of it. It was such a great experience and I am so lucky to have such great girls by my side!

Bridesmaid Shoes
Since not everyone is comfortable in the same size heel or style shoe, I told the girls to wear any variation of a nude heel. I want them to be comfortable for a long night of dancing. They are all fashionable, so I am not worried about that!

My advice
Make sure you know everyone’s budget ahead of time and only have the associate who is helping you pull those options. You don’t want all the girls to try on and fall in love with a dress that is way out of anyone’s price range.

Choosing the flowers
Flowers are a huge part of the wedding and they truly make statement. I met with John Orton Flower and Events. He is a family friend and does absolutely amazing work. One of the many reasons we decided to use him was that he has done a lot of big events, specifically at Ochre Court, which is our venue. After looking at his portfolio and meeting with him, we knew he was the perfect guy for the job!

Visuals are helpful to keep yourself and your florist on the same page, so I created a Pinterest board and he was able to add to it. My new last name will be Rose, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my flowers. Taking our venue into consideration, with its ornate décor, I decided to have simple floral designs. I love the look of white and neutral flowers when paired together and thought they would complement the venue, overall wedding decor and style of the bridesmaids’ dresses.

Of course, we had to make sacrifices to stay in budget, because it gets pricey quickly! For example, our florist suggested that we could save a lot of money by doing low arrangements for the table as opposed to my original idea of high ones. He was able to give Evan and me a look of elegance and timelessness that we wanted. Overall, I think our choices will pair very well with our venue and I cannot wait to see all of the flowers and the beauty they create on our special day!

Advice for choosing flowers
My advice would be to go to different florists with a vision to get a quote. Also look at their past work and make sure it pairs with your style.

What I learned about choosing flowers
Sometimes you want a certain flower but it is out of season, which apparently common problem! However, florists are very knowledgeable about finding great alternatives. I was shocked with how many flower types, colors and options are out there.

Pictured from left: Karly Mitchell, Ashley Long, Kaitlyn Rose, Katie Kielbasa, Me and Laura Greichen

What’s next?
The cake! We are going to do some tastings to help us choose. We also will send out our save the date cards, which is sort of important!

In love by the sea,
Julie