happy halloween

It's Parker as William Hundley's Chihuahua on Cheeseburgers.

Now hie thee to me melodia to see the making-of photos. This kind of action you don't want to miss:

the f*ck-Tiffany engagement ring

I don't know how I overlooked Bario-Neal* in my round-up. Their lovely Knottedrush Ring, which, for the record, I prefer as a wedding band, has been making the rounds on the blogs for more than a year (and has been much imitated by other designers).

But they've also got some pretty slammin engagement rings. This rough diamond Avens Ring is my favorite. Does it not have a terrific fuck-Tiffany thing going on?**

And I'm referring to the design. It doesn't hurt that the rings are handcrafted with reclaimed precious metals; ethically-sourced stones; and low-impact, environmentally conscious practices. Plus 1% of all Bario-Neal profits is donated to the Association for Responsible Mining.

This concludes ring month (er, two weeks) on ESB. But I did put a little directory of my favorites over on the right for handy reference.

*Have I lost my mind, or was Bario-Neal formerly known as Rust Belt?

**After I just told practical, schmactical I thought this ring was too "indie take on the Tiffany ring." I dunno. I'm fussy.

PEZ for the kids and turquoise for the bride

Heidi emailed me this morning as I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself:*

Hi Again! Wanted to say thanks again for the awesome ideas for the kids at the wedding. Things went swimmingly. We did however run out of time... (and... um... money) and ended up getting the kids pez dispensers instead. (FYI... KIDS LOVE pez dispensers & when then lose and or get tired of them.. you know you only spent a couple of bucks anyways). Just thought i'd pass a couple pics along. FYI, i know you've been featuring some rings lately, so i thought i'd send a ring shot... i am a non-diamond fan.. but i have this retardedly huge love for turquoise. My mr. found this most lovely turquoise and diamond ring at erie basin and that was my engagement ring. He did such a fab job. My band was my grandmothers... My new MIL made my dress and the flower girls dresses... and they were TO DIE FOR...

It was a blast. We were lucky. We had the most GORGEOUS weather... and now it's over & i have the kindest and most sarcastic man i could have hoped for.... yeah for crazy artist husbands!

*****

Mkay. PEZ???!!

Heidi, I'm not gonna lie. I was pissed at you for about five seconds. I honestly think it would be better to buy nothing for the kids than plastic crap. (I feel the same way about favors, obv.)

But then the photos loaded and your adorable face beamed up at me. How could I be pissed at you? Plus your vintage ring is gorg. I love the way you brought the turquoise into your wedding colors. And hellooo, nice shoes on the mister!

* The wind is riling up allergies I didn't know I had. I don't wanna go into it.

for the true blood bride and groom

A pair of interlocking baby vamp rings from Bittersweets NY. I'm kind of geeking out about how romantic that is.

here's a ring for you

It belongs to this lady:

woolgathering & miscellany has me a little obsessed with Rick Owens and esp. Michele Lamy, his wife "slash business partner slash muse slash restaurateur slash gold & diamond encrusted teef owner," (as w&m put it).

(Photos by Monika Bielskyte)

via woolgathering & miscellany, one of my fave new blogs

Dear ESB: we're eloping... (part three)

Yesterday I got this email from Brandy, with the subject: Remember me? Dress/shoe help?

Hey...

You'll be happy to know that in the end I wore the lace short dress. Three days before we went away I took it in to the place by my work that hems my pants and asked if they could alter it so it fit, they could, same day it cost 25 dollars. I figured if they fucked it up I'd just wear something else. I ended up not finding any awesome shoes, well I found many awesome shoes but all of them were more than I wanted to spend, so I'm saving up for a mega shoe purchase. Wore some pewter coloured shoes I had from Nine West.

The hairdresser didn't bother to listen to my "I want BIG messy 60's hair" instructions and did her own thing, didn't care. Had the ceremony to a soundtrack of The Smiths (Instrumental of Please, please, please) Big Star, The Association, Dusty Springfield, Nick Drake and Paul Weller. It was pretty awesome. Afterwards our witnesses took photos and we drank a bottle of champagne in a horse drawn carriage, which we hadn't planned on doing as it's a wee too tacky touristy for us but we thought fuck it, better than sitting on a park bench and being harassed by seagulls!

Anyhow here are my two favourite photos (my husband hates the one without our heads but I think it's awesome). Thanks again for being awesome and hilarious.

xxoobrandy

*****

Remember you? Are you kidding me?? I've been thinking about you nonstop and wondering if you hated me and dying for photos. DYING.

May I put these up on the blog? Because you guys ROCK, the dress rocks, and p.s. where did you get your RING?? (Editor's note: click on photo #2 to zoom in.)

lovelovelove
esb

*****

Hate you? No way! Theres only a few blogs that don't make me want to vomit and were my saving grace, with all the stuff that's thrown at brides it's amazing there isn't a special hospital for them once they go crazy!

Ahh thanks, I thought we cleaned up pretty well! Of course you can put them up on your blog! It'd be an honor! My ring was made by a friend of ours who owns a company called The Fair Trade Jewellery Co. here in Toronto. Almost all the flowers are from my garden, so I get to see them every year which is nice. I'm married and it's super, although pretty much the same as before but with more jewellery. I guess that's what happens when your with someone for ten years.

hugs
brandy

p.s. In case you missed em, here are links to the controversial Dear ESB: we're eloping and I'm on dress #3 and Dear ESB: we're eloping... (part two).

Corsages are the new WHATEVER

When I first saw a wedding corsage on little winter bride, I thought, Hmmm.... I dunno if I can get on board with prom.

But then my lady Emily Thompson sent me this photo of a corsage she made from smokebush, Yves Piaget garden rose and castor pod. Nothing prom about it.

p.s. Emily is featured on the Elle blog this week. Check it out.

(Photo by Addie Juell)

I am NOT a ruffle person

Really I'm not. But these ruffly pieces are insane.

(I bet crutch would make the shrug for you if you asked her.)

Photography by Carl Bengtsson for Brides UK September/October 2009 via {a glamorous little side project} via simple blueprint

Is it okay to send a save-the-date postcard? (part two)

This post got a lot of comments defending postcards. From people who sent postcards. But I can't resist reposting this one (just in from Lauren):

so as it turns out, some family friends of ours have a daughter getting married the weekend after us. they sent the save the date postcard... they asked my mom if she got it. she didn't. she mistakenly threw it away while trying to get rid of junk mail.

envelopes win.

I (heart) cevd

I've been waiting all week for Christine to post photos of her wee shop/custom invitation studio. I don't want to brag or anything... Okay maybe I do want to brag a little: H and I got our asses out of the house and made it to the opening.

I won't lie to you, the paper goods are rad. We did a little early christmas shopping while we were there. And I don't even want to talk about the bacon chocolate bars. Proceed with caution. (Alternatively: Consume with bourbon. Die happy.)

But I digress. Cevd's hand-printed I ♥ LA bags are what really killed me. H bought me one and I haven't left the house without it since.

Would you believe this puppy holds $70 worth of groceries from Whole Foods? Plus the "(Los Alamos, California)" in fine print cracks me up. It's a funny little "You didn't really think I loved Los Angeles, did you?"

Bonus: Since we've been on the topic of engagement rings and nontraditional girls, I hounded cevd to send me a photo of her vintage green sapphire engagement ring.

mas found the ring through his dad's ex-girlfriend who has since started the online antique jewelry shop Topazery. (Cevd took this photo in her studio on one of the DIY seat cushions. Showoff.)

Cevd also has a little Sarah Perlis diamond. I. know. But whenever I see her she's rocking the sapphire.

Update: Christine says "perhaps you need to mention that when it comes to engagement rings people need to GET over the diamonds? ... like now please." And bags are now for sale on etsy.

Surprise Wedding? F*ck Yes!

Meegan & Jean-Loius invited 150 people to an "engagement party" at her parents' house in Costa Mesa, and then she sauntered out in a white dress.

Looks like a terrif party, no? Tons more photos by the fabulous Noa on the Feather Love blog.

terrarium centerpiece

Wouldn't this be rad for a wedding? Perhaps at the zoo?

Visit Tigers to Lilies for a how-to (ish). I think she's gonna be one of my new faves.

Via scout holiday

I kind of love this ruffle dress

And I am not a ruffle person.

But you're joking with the $8,000 on etsy, right crutch? Right??

Is it okay to send a save-the-date postcard? Or: In praise of envelopes

Lauren emailed me with this question:

did you send out save-the-date cards for your wedding? i come from a southern family and i think most of our family friends, etc, expect one. not that i mind. we are thinking of doing something super cool with one of our engagement photos. my question is... do you send them as a postcard? my mom is havin' a conniption about it because she thinks people will just throw them away if they are postcards as opposed to in an envelope that they have to open to see...

In fact, we sent out a save-the-date email. With a link to the super-rad wedding website that H-town designed. (But I'm guessing your mom won't go for that.)

I have to say, if you're gonna mail the thing, I agree that you should put it in an envelope. A postcard will get smudged or bent or lost in the mail. Or tucked inside one of those horrifying grocery-store flyers and tossed into the recycling. Think worst-case scenario here. Because a save-the-date is important. And you need to know that all your favorite people are, y'know, saving the date.

(Andrew Bush Photography via a desert fete)

What is with all the ANTHROPOLOGIE themed weddings?!

I don't care how well-photographed the catalog is. It's a fucking catalog.

I do think the Anthro windows are amazing. I'll admit to you right now that I tried (and failed) to make these for our wedding. Fortunately, I ordered extra paper lanterns in anticipation of that failure. DIY and I don't get along very well.

But all of a sudden everyone is taking inspiration from Anthropologie??

Go ahead and buy their shit if you want to. Some of it is pretty good. But can we just please acknowledge that Anthro didn't invent jam jar glassware and shabby-chic china and mismatched table cloths? They were just smart enough to capitalize on what cool girls have been doing forever.

I mean, I dig Alexander McQueen, but I know he didn't invent punk rock.

This post is brought to you with a nod to a couple of private tweeters.

How To Get A Custom Wedding Dress Made Without Really Trying.

I hope you'll forgive me for publishing two guest posts back-to-back...

Genevieve of TELL YOU (TODAY) promised me a while ago she'd write up this story and I've really been looking forward to it.

I kind of got into making wedding dresses by accident. I know how to sew, I hang out with other girls who like to sew, some of them even like to sew wedding dresses. For like, brides. But not me.

The first time someone asked me to make a wedding dress, it was a nightmare. Not enough time, a picky bride with the terrible combination of demanding without knowing what she wanted, and a dress abandoned and unpaid for two weeks before the wedding. I cried and slammed doors, cursed brides the world over, and vowed never ever to do a wedding dress again. But time heals all, and then when good people like my friend Afton over at Freckle Farm come along who share a vision and an aesthetic, and I learned that doing wedding dresses can actually be fun, and rewarding, and best of all, don't have to cost the lucky lady the equivalent of a down payment on a cute place in midtown Manhattan for her to look like a million trillion dollars on her wedding day. And even better yet, she can look like herself.

Even those of us who didn't grow up dreaming of their wedding are suddenly confronted with so many choices when we decide to get married. Long or short? Casual or fancy? Simple or embellished? White? Red? Black? Having a picture in your mind of what you want to wear at your wedding makes developing the ideas for your wedding dress so much easier to piece together a design. Afton came to me with a few basic ideas: short, white, un-embellished, deep vee-neck, silk. All of these ideas suit my personal aesthetic very well (ahem, see: my wedding dress) which, as a non-wedding-dress-designer designer, made my job that much easier. Another thing that made the process easy was that she even put together an inspiration board for me! Thanks, Afton! Knowing where she was coming from, and what was in her head was key. We shopped together for fabric, discussed things like bodice shape and skirt length, and how her jewelry would work with the dress. And shoes. And hair. And shoes again. (We've seen the shoes right here on ESB.) These were all very serious conversations, handled with great levity and concern, of course. Not fun at all.

(Editor's note: I couldn't resist posting another photo of the shoes.)

In all we had about 6 fittings. A few things were adjusted here and there, but we went for a straightforward approach and the beauty was in the details. Banded armholes, small yellow covered buttons up the back, tiny inverted pleats in the skirt...that's what made this dress special.

And here is the kicker.

Outside of the fabric, the dress didn't cost her a dime! Afton, as you may know if you read her blog, is a very talented graphic artist, and at the beginning of the process we decided that she would design my shop website for me, and I would make her wedding dress. Two talents, meeting in the middle. Making a trade was a fantastic idea, and it was also a nice way to keep sharing ideas through the whole process. As people working in creative fields, it is also nice to know that while we may not have tons of dough, our skills and talent are viable and worthy.

So go forth brides, and be not afraid to find your perfect design match, and may you have much fun and laughter during the process (and no crying and slamming of doors. At least not too much.)

Afton had this to add:

I couldn't have been happier with my perfect little white wedding dress! Not only was it exactly what I envisioned, but the whole process felt genuinely personal and collaborative, and it was great seeing how our ideas evolved together. For me, picking a dress off the rack just didn't suit me. Not to mention I could not for the life of me find one that even came close to what I envisioned I'd wear on my wedding day. It was an awesome feeling to swap talents with a fellow creative friend, and I think we both walked away with a stronger appreciation for each others' craft. And—my favorite part (besides getting the EXACT dress I wanted)—she smiled and squealed and awwwwwed with me each time I tried it on! Being away from my sisters and closest girlfriends, this meant the world to me to have someone to share those moments with. And, it goes without saying, I felt like a million bucks on my wedding day. Thanks, G!

(Photos by Alyson of unruly things)

can we retire the clunky use of "date night"?

A tweet from Lauren inspired me to beg her for a guest post last night as my plane was pulling away from JFK. And here it is:

so barack and michelle obama celebrated their anniversary this saturday. man, i love watching them interact: they're both so accomplished! their body language is so endearing (their campaign fist bump was goddamn adorable)! they make a point of spending private time together! they're like a little fish bowl, except they have a bunch of advanced degrees and i don't have to feed them shrimp flakes. obama relationship headlines would be the greatest thing ever - if they didn't force me to deal with the bullshit that is "date night" over and over.

i could fill several screens with my hatred of "date night" - think madeline kahn in clue, flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. heaving breath - but i think yesterday's twitter rant with meg (who was terribly patient with me) sums it up nicely.

can we retire the clunky use of "date night" re: married people? i do not date my husband, thanks.

seeing a movie, going out for drinks, getting dinner. a term cheapens what should be natural and makes it sound forced.

like the media called it "date night" when the obamas went out for their 17th anniversary. that's the dumbest shit i've heard all day.

the concept ("us night," if you will) is fine; the term itself reinforces the idea that romance dies when dating becomes marriage.

i'm an editor at a women's magazine; if i can get over "date night," anyone can. let's kick it with our husbands, by all means - but let's use language that does our relationships justice, yes?

YES.

p.s. H-town and I barely dated in the first place. So who says dating is romantic. Is what I'd like to add.

(Image via The Sassy Kathy via ffffound)

I suck

Or, rather, blogging via iphone sucks. I'm in nyc until Monday and MY MOM DOESN'T HAVE WIRELESS.

"Why the eff did you bother dragging your laptop on the plane?" you ask.

Good effing question.

Anyhoo, if you miss me you'll have to find me on Twitter. I'm talking to you, Blind Irish Pirate.

Images via Life in Lomo