Medicine For Tired Soles

Thanks to everyone who gave me some great ideas/advice for my heel dilemma. Yesterday I went online shopping and bought foot petals, insolias and superfeet. I figure one or maybe some crazy combination of them all will ease the pain. Now I am praying for mojo and hunting for a pair of flats, wedges or flip flops to wear if I can no longer move in my dream heels.

Flip Flops?

Casual Reefs in bronze or gold?
Slightly more dressy Gabriella Rocha gold flats?

Wedges? I realize that a wedge is still a heel, but I think it would still be a little easier on my feet. Plus I'd still have height so my outfit won't be dragging.

Crazy/Fun Betsey Johnson wedges

Gentle Souls "Lisa Lee" Wedge

Taryn Rose Bronze Patent wedge (I think these are my fav)

Taryn Rose Gold Braided Wedge

Cute flats?

Hush Puppy Gold Flats

Naturalizer Gold Peep Toe Flats
Taryn Rose Gold Peep Toe Flats

What's your vote - flip flops, wedges or flats?

Must Love Shoes

I love shoes. Maybe a little too much. I really have a problem stopping myself from buying a new pair every day. So when it came to my wedding shoes, I was in all out shoe mania mode. Especially since photographers take some fabulous pictures of your wedding shoes as seen in the shoe style posts regularly featured on The Bride's Cafe.

I had dreams of Louboutins, Giuseppe Zanottis and Manolos. Then I found her. Prada Silk Cristal Pumps! Gold and silver! Crystal Encrusted Heel! Swoon.



Except for the $750 pricetag. Sigh. Although I love shopping, I'd honestly never spent that much on one item that wasn't my rent money. Then my girlfriends did something amazing (as usual). They gave me a $500 giftcard as my bridal shower gift to buy my dream shoes! They even gave me all these little cute foot accessories (foot creams, scrubs, bunion pads, you name it). I was ecstatic and quickly picked up those Pradas without a hesitation in the world.

With the shoes bought, all was sweet in Margaritaville until this weekend. I wore those 4" puppies to our dance lessons for our first dance number. 2 hours later my feet were killing me. I regularly wear heels that are between 3-4 inches so I didn't think it would be a problem. Yes my feet kill at the end of the day but I love the height and the way heels make you feel sexy and cute. For some reason these shoes hurt more than the rest. I tried them on when I first wore them but obviously its much different dancing around on them for 2 hours. Now, I'm worried about making it through the day/night without falling over.

I need some advice about what to do. Should I suck it up and break them in? Should I get them stretched out? Should I look for alternative shoes? Should I buy shoes to change into later? Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated :)

Call Me Miss Margilocks

My love for photography started in my high school photo class and has been with me ever since. So naturally when we started planning for the wedding, I went on a mad hunt to find a photographer that blew me away. Turns out there are some seriously fabulous photographers in the LA area but for some seriously expensive prices. A lot of my cost issues were because I needed a photographer for about 14-16 hours. Brown ceremonies are long and we like to party. Or maybe thats just my family. ;)

I felt like Goldilocks during my photographer search - they were too expensive, too posed, or too typical. There were also times when I liked their work, but it just didn't feel right for some reason. Then I found Dina Douglass of Andrena Photo. Ahhh just right (for me anyway). Her work featured vibrant colors, great perspective and she was very familiar with South Asian culture. Dina even offers photography packages for South Asian brides that factor in the long hours. Not to mention the fact that she writes long, witty emails.

Her mad skills grace the latest Grace Ormande Wedding Style. The photos are from a breathtaking wedding she shot in Udaipur, India a few months ago.

I've never seen such beautiful mendhi

I thought an elephant was a lot, I never even considered a fire eater!

Did anyone else have that "just right" moment when choosing a photographer?

Man(zanita) Love!

I've shown the hive my bridal party floral ideas so next up is the ceremony and centerpieces. These are some of the pictures I brought along with me when I went to visit/interview florists. Just a bit of advice, it helps immensely to bring inspiration pictures when you visit a florist. They will get a good idea of the look/theme/vibe you are going for. And if your vision is all over the place like mine was, at least they can tell you that and help you narrow things down. :)

Ceremony:
I want to keep the ceremony mostly white/ivory with touches of orange and bring in the rich plum color for the reception.

My vision is to line the aisle with large copper or dark wood bowls with dahlias in them.

From dreamy R. Jack Balthazar

For the mandap/poruwa, I knew I wanted to have lots of hanging lines of jasmine or orchids. I'm not a fan of the huge pillars that are usually featured in most traditional mandaps. I was having a hard time finding inspiration photos for mandaps until I stumbled upon Michelle Rago's website. The pictures below are of a wedding she did at Breakers hotel. I am obsessed with the beautiful hand carved structure - it has a sort of Moroccan vibe to it. I don't think we are going to be able to find or replicate anything as oranate and gorgeous as this, but I can dream...


I LOVE these orchid trees. We wanted to do some type of archway leading into the aisle but I had to cut the flower budget down so these beauties didn't make it.
Cocktail Hour:

I wanted to keep the cost of these down so I was going for something simple and unique. I'm not sure my mom was a fan of using fruit in a centerpiece, but I think these towers of oranges with stephanotis will be beautiful.

Another picture from R. Jack Balthazar

I like the look of these flowers in bamboo and they are relatively inexpensive too

Centerpieces:
Here is where my love for manzanitas comes in. I watched an episode of Platinum Weddings and almost died when I saw this couple's florals. They had these huge tree centerpieces dripping with flowers. Turns out the tree in the episode is actually made of copper and is something like $2K a centerpiece. Crazy but so beautiful. Manzanita branches instead of a copper tree will make mine A LOT cheaper and just as beautiful.

Copper tree by Square Root Design

Another tree from Square Root

Here is my lovely florist Jill's interpretation (the pictures don't do them justice):
Close up of the base
The branches
Detailed of the base - I love all the roses, dahilas, succulents and lotus pods

As much as I'd love to have all tree centerpieces, with 40 tables that would really break the budget. We are instead going to do a variation of high (tree),low, and long centerpieces.

We are going to have some long rectangular tables as well and I am in love with this sort of creeping tree and flower look from R. Jack Balthazar ( I know, I'm obsessed).

Here are some inspirations I had for the low centerpieces:

Flowers by Fiore Designs

Love this lush piece also from R. Jack Balthazar

Isn't this piece gorgeous? I can't remember where I found it, but I love it!

Here's what Jill came up with as a first try:

I like them a lot but there is something that isn't perfect about the low centerpieces. I can't quite put my finger on it. Any advice/changes from the hive?

Have any of you caught manzanita fever? If so, how are you incorporating them into your wedding decor?

Lollypop Lollypop Oh Lolly Lollypop!

That title has nothing to do with anything but that song is stuck in my head. Now I bet I've successfully gotten in stuck in your head too (muahahaa <--- thats my satisfied evil laugh). ;)

Although this post has nothing to do with candy, it does involve sweet flowers. I was pretty floored when I first started looking at flowers. I had no idea you could do such innovative and beautiful things. I ogled at Preston Bailey and Daniel Ost, but then quickly came back to reality.

Daniel Ost is a genius

After I came back to reality I started pouring through magazines and watching tons of wedding shows. I quickly discovered my love for manzanitas and fluffy/romantic flowers like peony's and teacup roses. I also loved the modern design of orchids, lotus buds, succulents and bamboo. Surprisingly, I found that I could make all those things sort of work together.

I've collected far too many picture of flowers for just one post so I'm going to split them up. First up, my bouquet and flowergirl ideas.

Bridal Bouquet
I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to carry an all white bouquet of flowers down the aisle. I am going to be wearing so much bling (jewelry and my sari is all bedazzled and jeweled up) so I wanted my flowers to be simple and elegant.

Orchid bouquet by Fiore. So pretty and simple.

Luscious bouquet by Nisie's Enchanted Florist

I think rananculus, peony's and roses. Not sure where this came from sorry!

Again, not sure where I found this bad boy

This bouquet by Michelle Rago is gorgeous. I love the detail in the wrap the most - it reminds me of a laced up corset.

I love peonies. From The Knot

I decided on an all white peony bouquet wrapped up corset style like the Michele Rago picture above. Of course, I know that they really aren't in season at the end of August but my florist said there was a chance so I'm crossing my fingers. If peonies are out, I'll have to take some lush teacup roses or something like that.

For my toss bouquet (my florist is including one at no charge), I want all red roses.

This bouquet by Square Root is gorgeous. I love the deep rich color of the roses.

Bridesmaids:

I've already taken you guys through my dillema of fans of flowers versus a flower bouquet. The majority voted and gave me the courage to go the fan way. I'll be sure to include pictures after the wedding. Which is in less that 40 days!

Flowergirls:

I think head wreaths look so sweet and angelic. I love these by Square Root:

I am also going to have my flower girls carry these cute little baskets filled with flower petals. Green kermit pom basket filled with rose petals from Fiore Designs

In my next post, I'll tackle centerpieces and even include some sample designs by my fabulous florist Jill from M's Flowers. Don't mind the weird teleflora vibe the website has going for it, they are in the middle of updating their site.