Sneak Peek: This groom is fine*

And as you will see, he knows a little something about starting off with a vest and a tie and a jacket, and then taking off the jacket as the evening progresses.

You may remember that I snuck-peeked this wedding ages ago. Well, the professional photos are finally in! Will have em up Monday. Or, y'know, Tuesday.**

Photo by Kimberly Craven

*I mean that in the seventh-grade sense of the word.

**Hey, I'm not just a wedding blogger.

Do cutoffs count as a DIY project?

H is out of town and I basically binged on tv all weekend, in between hitting the American Apparel rummage sale and a bitch & switch at Christina's (hooray for recycled fashion!).

But I did say we were supposed to make shit this weekend... So after a five-episode marathon of Weeds (seven if you count the two I watched last night) I decided I needed a pair of cutoffs. Don't judge. We can't all be mistresses of the gocco/yudu/letterpress. Or whatever.

How'd you do?

(Photo via Garance Doré)

My next DIY project will be to finally learn how to use our juicer. There's a bag of carrots in the fridge that's not gonna stay fresh until H-town gets home.

put down the internet and make shit*

I'm serious. Take a day off the blogs this weekend and think up a do-it-yourself project your own damn self. I promise to do the same.

I might even mosey over to the library that's THREE BLOCKS AWAY, check out a novel and take it to the park.... The stifling heat in the bungalow tells me it's summer out there, but I have definitely not been taking advantage.

(Photo by Thobias Fäldt found here)

*with a nod to the wise words from theflashdance

courthouse polaroids

Speaking of unpretentious wedding photos.... I love these.

Read about Stacy and TJ's wedding, the party, and why they got married on la boudoir. Happy one-year anniversary, lady!

your wedding is not a photo shoot

Last night I discovered that the photos of a very pretty, very photogenic "real wedding" that has gotten a lot of attention on the wedding-y blogs were not in fact from a real wedding. They were from a shoot for Nashville Lifestyles. I pieced it together when I came across the same photos in the lookbook for Billy Reid.

Um, WTF?

Don't we see too many images of models already? As one of my fave tweeters put it, "It looks cool n shit. But call it what it is & stop fueling peoples unreal expectations that real weds look like mag ads."

Here's my advice from the other side: unpretentious, real wedding photos will always be cooler than the slick facsimiles. Don't let those stylists give you a complex.*

Exhibit A: Polaroid of Jamie and Ben by Michelle Pullman. Go ahead, models. Just try and fake that joy.

*And don't let em overstyle your wedding. What if it were the other way round and someone mistook your wedding for a magazine shoot? Barf.

I have a new style crush

She had me with the vintage jumpsuit. (Obv.) And the meshmeshmesh.* And the platform lace-ups with vintage Adidas shorts? I die. But Lisa Mayock's words to live by from her Refinery29 interview are these:

Name something in your wardrobe you'll never throw away?
"Old T-shirts, sweatshirts, and leather pieces...they just keep getting better with time."


Photos by Kava Gorna

*I'm wearing the shit out of my $2.70 mesh tank.

Cooler alternatives to Mr. Tux?

Alison emailed me with this dilemma, and I'm reaching out to all of you for help:

Love your blog, esp the groom fashion - and I have a groom outfit dilemma! My fiancee (who definitely has his own style) is completely adverse to renting a tux, and butting heads with my mother, who is hyperventilating over not having everyone match in the pictures (to be fair, my parents are paying for most of the wedding, including the photographer). We were thinking grey suits and buying everyone's shirts, ties and cufflinks, but turns out not everyone has grey suits and no one (including us) is really in the financial state to buy new suits. We were wondering, are there cooler alternatives to Mr. Tux where the boy can satisfy his sartorial dreams, but my mother gets everyone matching?

My dress is ivory with champagne embroidery and a sweetheart neckline, the girls are wearing plum gowns with the same neckline, and we'd like the guys in relaxed, classic but modern lines. We live in NYC, though my family's in the Boston area and the wedding is in NH (though we're happy to transport across state lines to fix the issue). I would appreciate any ideas - thanks!

Alison, when you say you'd like the guys in "relaxed, classic but modern lines" you're describing three different things. This is classic. This is modern. And "relaxed" just makes me think of a suit that's not tailored properly.

My first thought is, "DON'T RENT. They will never fit properly, and why would you want to put the guys in the exact same suit?!" But okay. The bridesmaids are wearing matching dresses, and your mom wants the guys to match.*

But here's what I will insist on. Don't dress the groom exactly like the groomsmen. You're wearing a different dress than your bridesmaids, obv. So why can't the groom wear a different suit than the groomsmen? (See photo above.**) And please buy a suit for the groom so you can have it tailored properly. Forgive me if this sounds cornball, but it's his day too.

So... can anyone recommend cool spots to rent suits in the nyc area? What about vintage/used/consignment stores where Alison's groom might find a suit that fits their budget?

(Photo by John Rozier via Brooklyn Bride)

*I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. I know you don't all tell your moms to eff off the way I do. I think my poor mom has been afraid of me since I was about five.

**And please focus on the suits, not the hair.

How about creepy animal masks?

I think I like his + hers masks better than creepy bunnies. Jessica and Peter wear em so well.*

*Plus these photos remind me of some cool black and whites my dad took of my mom wearing a cow mask when she was about eleven months pregnant with me. She was so big you could see the outline of her belly button through her French-y striped t-shirt.

(Photography by Studio Mathewes)

Happiness is a shoe called prada.

Turns out it's Afton day here at esb. When Afton added this comment to the Practical wedding shoes post, I begged her to send pics of the peep toes:

%$#@!
east side bride...
i just purchased a pair of PRADA suede peep toe heels for my wedding. AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

thank you. thank you. thank you.

Dare I say...? These look quite practical. Soft suede,* lovely low heel. Let's take a moment for a collective sigh.

*Please don't buy patent leather shoes for your wedding. Blister city.

(Title credit to henryholland via themoment)

She had me at leather.

I am generally not a fan of boutonnieres. There's something emasculating about them. As H-town put it when I enlisted his help in talking TTO out of organza,* "It looks like prom.... It defies the best-case scenario for wedding apparel, where the guys look cool and tough, and the ladies are all dolled up and decorated with flowers."

But Afton made these minimalist boutonnieres** out of wheat stalks and white deer leather. Nothing emasculating about that. Plus they're not just for the groom and the groomsmen but for her parents, godparents and family members.

*IknowIknow. I'm bossy. But that's why you love me.... Right?

**Also, I refuse to call them "bouts." Gag.

Screw Mick + Bianca

This is it.

Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg via little winter bride

I had finally given up on the idea of a day after (um, year after) shoot, but this photo makes me want to do one with the BANGS I spent so long effing growing out for the wedding.

Update: I thought this was a wedding photo, but it seems Jane and Serge never got married?

Low-key Oregon Coast Wedding

How to introduce Amanda of Peony :: Love, hilarious wedding blogger, nose-picker, blower-of-sunshine-up-my-ass*? She's much more than that, I feel certain.

Anyhoo, here's what Amanda had to say about her May wedding:

When Nick and I first got engaged our instinct was to run for the hills and elope. We are fairly hermit-like and my association with weddings always included vast amounts of tulle and stress. It wasn't until after some firm prodding from family that we decided to do the whole wedding thing. We chose the little town of Manzanita, OR. It's on the beach about an hour and a half outside of our hometown Portland. If our wedding had a theme it would definitely be "low-key." We wanted to embrace the small town feel of the place and keep vendors to a minimum. We rented out the local community hall for the reception. My good friend got ordained online to perform our simple beach-side ceremony. No wedding party. A local restaurant owner (and friend of my parents) catered our hors d'oeuvres buffet (we gave her free reign over the menu and were pleased with what she came up with). Since everything was centrally located we chose to forgo transportation and just walk to the ceremony, reception, and back home to our beach house at the end of the night.




Editor's note: Aren't these expired-film polaroids Amanda's little sister took fucking fabulous? Esp with the short dress and that vintage car in the background....

Some wedding highlights: overflowing glasses of pink vodka lemonade. My sister-in-law doing my hair and makeup. All of Chelsea's DIY planning help. (There was a point about halfway through wedding planning when I had a meltdown over the beige paneling lining the walls of our reception venue. She brought me back down to reality and worked out the logistics of the decor for me. Amen for garland and white chairs!) My aunt and uncle made our cakes. Grandma sewed our custom napkins. I fell in love with two dresses so I got them both. I find solace in knowing no organs were sold in order to do so. It was totally worth it. My mother-in-law made my bouquet and Nick's boutonniere the morning of the wedding. One of our friends brought in some custom pink Voodoo Doughnuts from Portland to go with our cakes.


The night before the wedding a bunch of family met up at the reception location to do flowers. We used an array of milk glass vases that my mom and I had carefully thrifted over the past year. There were buckets of peonies scattered about and I said, "Go at it. Do whatever you want!" No two arrangements looked alike, and I loved it.


We spent hours and hours on a playlist and when the wedding day came we couldn't figure out how to hook up the sound system at the reception venue. My mom busted out her trusty ipod dock. In the end it didn't really matter since most of our guests drifted home after not too long. Instead, Nick and I headed back to the beach house with some family to get drunk off champagne and toast marshmallows over a bonfire.



(Photos by Joey Bloom, Kim and Amber)

*I'm glad you guys went with the tie in the end, Amanda. The paisley is so great with Nick's tat sleeve.

WEDDING DONUTS! (er, doughnuts)

It's about time.

Tune in tomorrow for a real wedding featuring these beauties from Portland's Voodoo Doughnut.

I'm a little obsessed with Voodoo Doughnut,* especially since I read Elizabeth Spiridakis's piece about the Voodoo Doughnut Burger they serve at The Original. But did you know you can get married at the Voodoo Chapel? Sounds recession-friendly fabulous to me.**

(Photo by Joey Bloom)

*Dear Voodoo, F*ck the vegans. How bout some gluten-free options? Love, Me

**Elizabeth, here's a thought. While you're biking around Portland this summer, why not pick up a cute guy and give the $25 Intentional Commitment ceremony a whirl? Purely in the interest of research.

What's with all the creepy bunnies?

Ilovethem.


If you people are gonna keep doing engagement photo sessions, would you at least ditch the effing balloons and bring along a bunny suit?

A panda suit, and/or a panda head would also be acceptable.

(Photos by Peter Lindbergh for Harpers Bazaar via LoveMore via grace's birdcage; Jason Bright via Fecal Face via tobaccoandleather)

Gorg Italian wedding

The DJ is pretty gorg too.* Why are Italian men the only ones who can pull off the unbuttoned-down-to-there look?

And I love the photos by Deirdre Quinn via her little winter bride blog.

*If I may defend myself, I had a crush on him before I knew he was Didi's husband.

And the hip groom award goes to....

Vince.

(Photos: Weddings by Two via 100 Layer Cake)

Yes, Melissa is pretty fucking cool too. But I'm giving awards to grooms.

Funny thing about weekends when you're unemployed

They don't mean quite so much
Except you get to hang out with your working friends
-Primus

(Photo of The White Horse Tavern via the lil bee. I'm missing nyc like crazy now that summer is in full swing.)

I hate to encourage the cupcake obsessed...

But go ahead, go nuts over these "Cup Cakes" by Meg Van Heck. You know you want to. And (bonus!) now you have an excuse to scour ebay for vintage teacups.

p.s. You MUST check out the rest of the 2nd annual Boudicca Cake-Off (via scout holiday)

I am not a housewife

But I am also not the wage-earner at present. Even though H-town insists it's my job to focus on creative projects, I feel incredibly guilty about spending the whole day sitting in front of my computer without the immediate promise of a paycheck. Or going out into the field without the immediate promise of a paycheck. (Okay, I feel less guilty about that.)

So I tell myself I ought to take on more of the shopping and cooking and cleaning. The, um, housework? I think they call it.

Some days I get satisfaction out of this. I manage to go to the farmer's market and Trader Joe's.* I (gasp) wash dishes. I feel all wifey and proud of myself.

And some days I feel resentful of the burden I've taken on. I let the dishes pile up.** I warm up chicken taquitos (if I find them in the back of the freezer), which aren't really enough dinner, and we end up hitting the 7-11 for potato chips and ice cream at one am because there's nothing left in the fridge.

There's got to be a happy medium right? I definitely haven't found it. And the bungalow is so small that one day's clutter = a complete mess.

(Image via Hollister Hovey)

*Yeah, Whole Foods has been relegated to specialty items. Still sad about that.

**Note: the idea that I personally have "let the dishes pile up" is all in my head. H-town certainly does not expect me to do more than my share of the housework. In fact, he believes he's a superior dishwasher.