Sure I'll Post About You for a Free Dress!

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6/19/14 update!

eShakti has given a 10% off promo code to all of my readers through 7/19/14! Please use "sassyclasses" for your discount!

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Blogging certainly has its perks, even for those of us who only post on a weekly basis. Considering that, as of late, all I have made time to post about is my wedding, I was particularly shocked to receive an email from eShakti, an online boutique specializing in custom clothing for women in all sizes. Since I had never heard of this awesome brand, I almost marked the email as spam, but was intrigued by the "Product Review" subject line and clicked.

Much to my delight, this eShakti online women's fashion apparel company wanted MY opinion on one of their many incredible items in their product line.

Uh, duh, of course I wanted to!

It took me a long time to narrow down my options. Seriously, gang, this site is no joke. Not only are the clothes adorable and in nearly every size imaginable, you can also customize them!

The size charts are very helpful, and you can even adjust the sleeves and length to your liking. If you're crazy you could remove the pockets, too (but who would do that?).

I sent in my measurements and received a custom dress in return! The folks at eShakti were incredibly helpful during the process, answering all of my silly questions with patience and class. It was not only a custom dress, it was pretty much a custom experience!

I decided on a sweet scallop dress to wear to one of my best friend's wedding this past Saturday. 

I got so many compliments!

Not gonna lie, I felt pretty hot in this dress.

Hey, I don't compliment myself EVER (you should hear me critiquing my fat arms and triple chins in my wedding photos!), so you should know that I mean it when I say that this dress made me feel pretty. Honestly I'm not saying that because I got the dress for free. I really mean it! "Opinions are my own," or whatever big bloggers say when they get free stuff. I'm so not used to this...but I LIKE it!

 

The only thing I will say negative about the dress is that it wrinkled the second I put it on, even after ironing. Oh well, it would wrinkle after sitting for a while anyway.

And here's a little collage of Laura's lovely wedding. It was a fantastic time and she was beyond beautiful! So so so happy for her :)

Please go check out eShakti! You won't regret it!

Follow eShakti on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, too!

Wedding Wednesday: When I said "Yes"...to the dress!

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Today I am excited to share some photos of when I said "Yes!!"

Yes to the dress, that is!

It occurred to me that I never shared these photos (and a quick 0:25 video!) of one of the best weekends of my life
(that I wrote about here and here)!

Without further ado, here are a few photos from a year before I said, "I do!"

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On our race back to the Bridal Salon at Macy's before it closed:


Checking it out, making sure I knew it was "the one"



Holly and Callie knew it was, so here they are with fingers crossed that I would say "yes"

Me thinking, "yeah...I think this will do. I think this will do juuuust fiiiiine."
I mean, it helped that the sample fit like a glove.

Then I walked out, said "yes," and everyone cried!

No really, that's basically what happened! Here's the video!

And then there were pictures and laughter:

The big group, celebrating the success. This picture is going in a frame for sure!

 And then we got married a year later :)

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

I'm joining another linkup, too!

Wedding Wednesday: The Gals Get Gorgeous!

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

We still have another week or two until we have our photographer's photos, but luckily the morning of the wedding my bridesmaids took a bunch of pictures!

That morning I woke right up without an alarm. I was so excited! My sister slept next to me so I hugged her awake, then I ran into my parents room to hug them awake!
I quickly showered and got ready to meet the bridesmaids at Shaw's where we were all getting ready.
It was fun to know that Andrew was just two floors below us getting ready, too!

The first task was to steam the family veil.
This unbelievably gorgeous veil has been worn by more than 5 ladies in Andrew's family. It was such an honor to wear it! It was both my something old and my something borrowed!
We also framed five photos of the ladies on their wedding days wearing the veil on cocktail tables at the reception.



Andrew's mom and aunt helped to steam the veil as the rest of the girls started their hair and make-up.


Pretty ladies!

During this time I read Andrew's card to me.
We unknowingly gave each other similar cards and wrote similar things to each other.
Good thing I didn't have my make-up on yet at that point! Happy tears!

It was so fun to sit and watch my bridesmaids get their hair and make-up done as we sipped mimosas and giggled. Usually I go first when I'm a bridesmaid and I always loved watching the bride transform, so it was a little surreal to be on the other side of that.

When it was finally my turn the butterflies really started to flutter.
Would I look like how I dreamed I would?
Would Andrew like it?
Was everything going as planned?
Did I forget anything?

The mimosa and my girls helped to calm those silly nerves and I really enjoyed myself!







Then it was veil time.
It got real, friends.







Such a team effort!



Veil's on!
GAME ON!!

The gals put on their dresses and stunned me with their beauty.
I gasped and teared up. They just looked incredible.

When we got to the church I had a while before I got in my dress so I was able to spend time with my girls, a few family members and friends, and received big hugs from our Flower Girl, my niece and Goddaughter, Lizzie. She looking amazing!



Then it was show time!

But I'll let the photographer's photos tell that story :)

Here are my two favorites from getting ready:

See you next week!

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Gifts!

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

First of all, I wish the happiest of birthdays to my sister and Matron of Honor!
Love you, Kate!!!

Now on to this week's post!!

A long time ago I wrote about bridesmaid gifts, but did not divulge what I had up my sleeve just yet. For those of you who have been around for a while, you will recall that I started gathering gifts for my girls about six months before the actual wedding. After being in 7 weddings myself I had a good idea of what I wanted to give them...but knew that I could not afford it all at once.
I had to start early, which made it that much more fun!

I also didn't want to blatantly ask them detailed questions to potentially give away what gifts I could get them.

Instead, I emailed all of them a series of random questions, relevant or not, just for fun.
The girls loved it and their answers were awesome!

Here they are, in case you want to do the same! I of course added some sassy remarks in brackets.

What is your favorite color?

Long walk on the beach or snuggle by the fire?

Cat or dog?

What is your favorite movie?

Go-to cocktail? [it's OK if it's beer. You know I'm all about my Guinness.]

What is your favorite memory from the 90s?

NSYNC or Backstreet? [It's OK to lie to me if your truth is the WRONG answer]

What is your favorite food?

What is your middle name?

If you could travel anywhere - right this second! - where would you go? [For example, my head tells me to travel back home and go back to bed, whereas the flannel shirt I'm wearing says that I should go for a hike and eat s'mores. Mmmm...s'mores...]

What is your favorite candy?

In terms of jewelry, do you prefer to go dainty and simple or make a statement?

What is your favorite sports team?

Polka dots or stripes?

Would you say that you have more of a trendy or preppy style?

Do you have a favorite pizza? [Trust me, I know it's hard to choose. Feel free to take your time on this one.]

What is your shoe size?

Guilty pleasure TV show?

Guilty pleasure song/artist to sing in the car? [Back in the day when I drove a bunch mine was Jessica Simpson "With You" and Mandy Moore "Candy". Judge away. I deserve it.]

What is your fitted t-shirt size?

How do you take your coffee?

What would you do with 15 minutes of fame?

Do you have a quote that you live by? [It can be funny or real. Mine is "Go big or go home," for example.]

What is your favorite thing to do on a Friday night?

What is your favorite thing to cook or bake?

What song(s) make you crazy dance?

Are you smiling right now? 

It was so fun to read their answers! It really helped to put together the best gifts I could imagine for them. Considering how much they did for me, though, it certainly wasn't enough! First of all, I knew I wanted to take care of their hair do's the day of the wedding.  That is always one of my favorite gifts as a bridesmaid!  So that was one thing! My parents helped with this one because they wanted to thank my girls for everything they did to make the day so special for me.  Check! Here's the rest! First of all, typical bridesmaid gifts contain footwear and jewelry, so I knew right away that I wanted to give them those. I got Old Navy flip flops in wedding colors at the end of the season for an incredible deal.  I tied them up with ribbon in different wedding colors.  Done. Easy. Sure flip flops are cheap and not too classy, but their dresses were long and no one would see their feet anyway. Jewelry, though?  That can be tough. Luckily I found a dream deal with this Etsy shop. They were able to get me a set of necklaces with matching earrings! I looooved how they looked with the dresses!  They came in little bags, though, so I knew the presentation needed a little something. So I consulted my pal, Etsy, and voila! Personalized gift boxes!!

After that, though, I got a little more creative.

I wanted to use my (amateur) calligraphy skills and write out their favorite quotes. The best part was that none of them remembered telling me their favorite quotes in the email so they were very surprised when they opened the gifts!!

I got the frames at Hobby Lobby and wrote out the quotes on card stock.

I purposely got small frames, that way they can tuck them in little nooks around their homes to read from time to time.

Next I got a little monogram crazy.

I read this little lady's blog post back in February, announcing that she, Emily of Be Blessed, Ya'll, opened an Etsy shop. 

I had to reach out! She answered my monogram prayers!

(Seriously, it was really hard to find someone to monogram scarves!)

Emily DEFINITELY delivered! I have waited so long to reveal this!!!

I bought the scarves on Amazon and she embroidered them with each girls' monogram in plum!

(And one for me, too, with my new monogram!!!)

Since the wedding was in April, you never know if it will be chilly weather or not. 

Hence, the girls could wear the scarves if they got cold the day of the wedding.

Didn't Emily do a beautiful job?!?!

The girls loved them and the mint color looked so pretty on all of them!

Finally, and you get a peek in the image above, I needed some way to wrap the gifts, so I used a knot sale and bought monogrammed bags for the girls (and one for myself - I told you I went a little crazy!) I also had four other best friends heavily involved in the ceremony and I wanted to do something for them, too.  I got them the same monogrammed bag from the knot and I put a dual photo frame in it.  One photo was a recent picture of me and the gal. The other frame had the following in the frame:

This way I will send them a professional photo from the photographer of the two of us to put in the other side of the frame! All of the gals loved it! I wish I could have given them more since they really contributed so much! Finally, we had to thank our beautiful Flower Girl!

I did not take a photo of her gift, but we got her one of the bags the other girls got (only it said "Lizzie" and didn't have a monogram). We also got her a personalized teddy bear in wedding colors from this Etsy shop! We also gave her some flower stickers :)

{via}

She loved her bear! That's about it! I loved giving my girls their gifts, but like I said, it wasn't nearly enough.  I hope to use the rest of the bridesmaids' answers in future holiday and birthday gifts.  hehehe :) Next week I HOPE to start recapping the wedding!  I am GOING CRAZY waiting on the videos and photos!!!!

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

Little Bit of Sass Thursday

{Like the new button?!?}

OK I have some snark to share.

First I must ask, how do you feel about flower headbands?

I'm talking about the kind that wraps around your head like a crown rather than pulling back hair and serving a purpose.

The kind that, in my mind, are only acceptable (and loosely so, for that matter) at hippy-esque festivals and concerts.
Something like this:

{via}

I guess babies and tweens could get away with it, buuuut that's about it.

I'm curious because I don't understand the trend. I've seen some with real flowers, too.

Someecards has some cards about the topic, but are only related to babies.

So I made my own.

 

Someone had to say it.

Thoughts?