rehearsal dress dilemma

simply put: i couldn't find ANYTHING! here's how it went down in chicago:

i wanted white.
i couldn't find white.
i decided i could do white with a print.
i couldn't find white with a print.
i said, "fine, i'll do a LBD."
i couldn't find a LBD.

but then...THEN...we stopped into ann taylor loft. it's not a place i regularly shop, or in fact, i don't think i've ever bought anything there. it's not really my style. anyway, we went in and i spotted THIS beauty:

image from here.

it was perfect. it fit perfectly. it was comfortable. it was EVERYTHING i wanted! i bought it and i love it.

rehearsal dress dilemma SOLVED!

oh PS...and how appropriate the color's name is lake blue? :)

suits and tuxes...CHECK!

YAY!

i can't express how happy i am to have this (almost fully) taken care of right now!

here's how it went...
we wanted a tan suit.
we couldn't find the right color tan suit.
we searched for months.
we thought we could do tuxes, but they just seemed too 'stuffy' for the look we wanted.
we called brooks brothers.
we visited brooks brothers.
we made lots of discounted purchases on a new brooks brothers credit card.
we left happy :)

so without any further ado...
this is the look for the groomsmen, tie included via paul fredrick:

(at this point, he did not have on the matching suit pants, so ignore the color discrepancy)

and here is my groom-to-be in his ensemble:

(excuse the face, i caught him mid-smile...but he still looks adorable to me!) we decided to go with a solid navy tie for the geoff so that he stands out a little bit. he will also have a slightly different boutineer.

we also chose formal tuxes for our dads and step-dads for the big day. nothing super fancy - just a black tux (duh), black vest, and black tie. although that is much more formal than our groomsmen look, we (i) couldn't imagine our dads in anything but a nice tux!

my first REAL purchase!

...ok, that's a white lie. BUT it is my first-real-the-wedding-is-coming-soon-purchase! i bought the newbury earrings and september bracelet from the white aisle. i can't wait for them to come in the mail (who doesn't love packages on the doorstep, by the way?!) and try them on. i think they will go perfectly with the look i am going for and add a little bit of glam to my dress and flower (see below).

YAY! i am making progress ;)

the boysss

here is a picture of 3 of our groomsmen + my sweet fiance (and a couple of other friends!) for our memorial day BBQ. i snuck in there too...i'm the one in the front ;)

from L to R:
sam's younger brother ron, my handsome man, sloane (the best man), brendan (GM), peter, and sam (GM).

it's time we take a look at what our handsome men will be donning on 09-12. in general, what i think will stay consistent is the fact that they are wearing black suits OR tuxes. we haven't really decided yet. now here are the variables:
white shirt, ivory shirt, baby blue shirt, navy/green striped tie, navy/green/black tie, etc.

per erica's suggestion, i checked out the tie bar, and was pleasantly surprised! here are some of the options i found for our group:

images from here
**per both descriptions, this color is called olive. i'm not sure if i would mix/match for the GM/dads, but if i did, i would definitely want to make sure they matched!
oh and ps...for $15 (x 9 GM + 2 dads, etc.), they are looking very nice :)

a looong time ago, when we decided on our color scheme, i found this tie that just swept me off my feet... from this inspiration board:


...tie available here

so we have some options to think about. with the paul frederick tie, there is also a bowtie option to match (possibly for dads) ...

anyone have any feedback or suggestions?

scheme

here is the board that inspired it all...from SMP of course... navy and apple green ...when G and i saw it, we knew we had to do it. neither of us wanted to do black, and navy seemed like a great alternative to 'go' with the water. that being said, i think we have turned to thinking of khaki suits. i have always looved khaki suits, and i think i am getting G on board with it. we shall see.
this is what i'm talking about...