I'm Shooting For A Bakers Dozen...

I'm going to be honest here... I've been in a few weddings.  As of my last count it was 10.  By this time in my life I feel like I'm pretty much a pro at being part of someone else's big day.  The first wedding I was in was my Aunt Ann's and my wonderful friend Megan Wright helped me through the day.

Obviously I was thrilled.  Every time I look at this picture I find something new to laugh at.  Between my stance, the look on my face, and how my feet are, this picture is really a winner.  I look like I just can't stand the excitement any longer.  As the years passed I've become much more enthusiastic about weddings and I've honestly loved being a bridesmaid / candlelighter for my friends and family.  When all my wedding days are behind me I think I'm going to take all of the dresses I've worn and make a quilt.  It will be the most expensive quilt ever made. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd use this post to relive some of my past weddings via pictures.  As I thought about doing this post I was kind of sad to realize that I don't have a picture from every wedding I've been in.  How does that happen?  I have no freaking idea.  So here we go... 

After high school I was asked to be in two weddings pretty close together.  From a set of twins.  I tried to convince them to just get married on the same day since it was going to be pretty much the same bridal party, but they wouldn't do it.  *sigh*  The first to get married was Jackie:

I guess it was only fitting since she is three mins older.  I was reviewing these pictures and I was a L-O-T thinner back then.  I should work on that.  Next came Julie:

Now don't get fooled... I was sucking in with all my might and using the "scarecrow technique" made famous by Steph's mom.  I didn't really look that good.  Matty drove all the way from Columbia to surprise me by coming to the wedding.  What a wonderful man.  Around this time I was asked to be in my friend Ericka's wedding and I had previously been a last second candlelighter for her sister's wedding.  These are the two weddings where I don't have a single picture.  It's sad, really.  This is also the time when I got mono and looked fan-freakin-tastic.  If only I could get that again.  Next up was my cousin Alisha's wedding:

See?  Mono.  It was great other than the horrible weakness and sleeping for three days straight.  When I finally woke up I looked amazing.  After Alisha's wedding (which had 15 bridesmaids) I was asked to be in my friend Ginnie's wedding.  Her mom made my bridesmaid dress and it was such a relaxed ordeal I kind of wish every wedding was like hers.

I did my own hair and a friend of their family took that picture. Along with this gem:

We look like we're ready for a rumble.  And we were.  That same summer I was in my friend Steph's wedding.  It was a slightly fancier affair, but still so fun all the same.  Since her parents own a golf course we got to ride around in golf carts in our dresses.  It was awesome!

This picture's so cute and it's kind of funny because three of these lovely ladies are engaged now and one is married.  Now for my most recent weddings... I was in two weddings this past summer.  Both were my cousins and the first was Jennifer:

It was such a fun wedding, too.  Plus my hair was rockin'.  Now for my most recent wedding.  For this one I flew to Peoria and I can honestly say it was the fanciest wedding yet.  My cousin Emily got married exactly one year (minus a day) before I will.  It's so fitting since we're almost exactly one year apart, too.  We shared first communion dresses, our moms shared wedding dresses, you get the picture.

See?  Super fancy.  Just as a warning... my wedding will not be NEAR this level of class.  Of course, it wouldn't be mine if it did...

And For My Lucky Ladies...

Because I've been in a few weddings myself (I believe it's been around 11 and I'm going to shoot for a bakers dozen by the time it's all said and done) I know what it's like to wait and find out just what the bride will be putting you into.  Now, I love every single one of my brides that I've been able to stand with as they said their vows, but that didn't stop my nerves before seeing the dress.  What if they picked a color that looks like something a toddler would throw up?  What if every other bridesmaid is flat as a pancake and I look like a floozy - note this is a constant fear of mine in bridesmaid dresses.  Never once in my life have I seen a bridesmaid dress and said to myself, "Oh there's no way my boobs are going to fall out of THAT."  N-E-V-E-R.  It's not the bride's fault... I blame mother nature.

Anyway, I knew a few things about what my bridesmaids would be wearing.  I knew it would be short and I knew it would be flowy.  Nothing makes me happier than when I can wear a flowy dress at a party.  It's so fun.  So I started looking around on websites and ended up on Mori Lee first and found quite a few cute ones and after e-mailing my bridesmaids with some options we settled on this one:

I love this dress and it's also the dress my friend Mrs. G had her bridesmaids wear so I knew it would look nice in a real wedding.  So we were done.  Until I saw other dresses.  Sorry Ladies!  The next thing I thought of was the idea of bridesmaids NOT matching.

Look how cute they all look in their jewel tones!  Then I realized that I've got more bridesmaids than that and chances are I would let everyone pick their own color and it would look very very strange.  Next came the idea of everyone having the same color, but different dresses.  Like this:

I even love the color of these... so fantastic.  Again, I ran into the problem of a lot of bridesmaids and maybe not having enough types of dresses.  I love the website Mod Cloth because they have the cutest dresses that you don't usually see in stores, however the problem with THAT would be finding a dress I liked, in the right color, and making sure they had enough in stock.  I gave up on that after about six seconds.  Who knew it would be so hard to pick out some dang dresses?  Flash forward to Thanksgiving '09 when I went with my mom and sister to pick up my wedding dress.  We decided to go to The Villager On Broadway and check out their stock of bridesmaid dresses.  After my loving little sister / maid of honor spent some time trying on different dresses we found a winner!!!

I know... it's different, but after the waist is tied with a champagne sash it's amazing.  Here's a close-up...

After thinking about all of my past bridesmaid escapades maybe I picked this one because I wouldn't have to worry about my top half putting on a show for the world to see.  Also, my dress has some lace on it that matches the flowers on the dress.  I love it.  I want to buy one for myself and wear it out.  I was so worried that my bridesmaids would hate it because it is kind of unique so I sent a big e-mail kind of explaining the sash and reassuring them that it's adorable.  God I hope it's adorable...