Distinguishing my MOH

I know that accepting the role of maid of honor is a large undertaking. Not even including the hefty monetary commitment, the position often comes with long crafting hours, countless conversations about everything from little details to drama, and the consumption of many, many bottles of wine. On all these fronts and more, MOH A has be A-MA-ZING. She has been supportive, made more than a couple trips to craft stores, threw me an awesome shower, and has definitely helped consume more than a few bottles of wine. She's pretty much a MOH allstar. Besides carrying a different title, I really wanted to think of a way to distinguish her as MOH on the wedding day but I struggled a little as to how.

I already talked to my florist, and for the ceremony she will be carrying a larger bouquet like the MOH pictured below.


Image via Wedding Chicks, Photo by  Jen Rodriguez Photography

But carrying a larger bouquet didn't really seem like enough. By reception time, I somehow doubt that she'll still be carrying around her bouquet.
I know often times the MOH will wear a slightly different dress like this:


Image via Weddingbee Boards from Ms. Library's wedding

 However if you remember, all my 'maids will be sporting different dresses, so this option is out.

I also considered making sashes for all my bridesmaids and having the MOH sash be a different color or stand out in some way.


Image via Sparkle and Hay, Photo by Scobey Photography

 As my DIY list piled up, the sashes idea went out the window.

Then the perfect solution appeared. One day I received an email about new items being added to the J. Crew sale section online, and thankfully I am unable to resist at least taking a peek. (Thank you, shopping addiction! You finally came in handy.) That is when I found this little gem.

Image via J. Crew

 Not only was it on sale, but I also received an additional 30% off! As soon as it came in, I had MOH A come over to model it for me and I couldn't be more pleased.


MOH A with her sash and a fake bouquet (Personal Photo)

 It compliments the dress perfectly and definitely adds a little extra "something." I love it!

Are you going to distinguish your MOH on your wedding day? If so, how?

Another Dress Search: Mission Sissy Hawk

Or How the J. Crew Warehouse Sales Rock My World. (But more on that in a minute...)

While vacationing in NorCal, one of the highlights of my trip was helping my little sister, Sissy Hawk, find the perfect bridesmaids dress. Even though she's only eleven years old, she's been one of my biggest cheerleaders. She jumped into the process wholeheartedly and has even dedicated hours to Say Yes to the Dress and David Tutera in support of my big day. So seeing her joy and letting her be the princess and the center of attention was incredibly fun.

You may remember a while back when I revealed that I had chosen to go with the J. Crew chiffon collection. Although they technically do not make junior bridesmaids dresses, they do offer petites in many of the styles, and they ended up looking great on Sissy Hawk.

Here were her top contenders:

#1 Juliet

 

#2 Arabelle

#3 Lucienne

I had Momma Hawk hold off on ordering since I knew there was going to be a J. Crew Warehouse sale in Richmond right after my vacation. I must admit that I spent hours and made several trips, but I did come out successful overall. On my second trip (made during my lunch break) I came across several boxes that were relatively untouched. (In fact, the clothes were cold, indicating to me that they were fresh off the truck.) There (still folded!) was the Juliet dress in a size zero! It was heaven. I also found my sister a pair of adorable and age appropriate shoes. Total price paid? $30.

Now I'm not going to tell to you it's that easy. I have been back two additional times and have been less successful, but if I had gone with another color (say black, gray [graphite], or dark berry [spiced wine]) I would be in the money. (If your bridesmaids dresses are one of these colors and you live in the Richmond area, R-U-N to the warehouse sale and save yourself some money!)

For any RVA ladies out there who haven't visited yet, the sale is going on until the 22nd, open 10 am - 8 pm in the old Border's book store on Broad Street. (If you want more info, let me know!)

Anyone else have a moment when the stars aligned and you felt the bridal gods smile upon you? What's your greatest find?

All photos personal

Here J Crew Comes to Save the Day!

The road to finding the perfect bridesmaid dresses was certainly not an easy one. Having a bit of a perfectionist streak didn't really allow for much wiggle room once I had a set vision of what I wanted. As I previously mentioned here, I had my mind set on a more organized version of mismatched dresses. I loved the look of completely individual non-matching dresses, but I did worry about creating a cohesive look. (Remember when I described my active imagination? Well it was telling me free reign could equal complete and utter chaos.) I thought that an easy compromise would be to find a collection with many options for my ladies to chose from. But when it came down to it, shop after shop left me feeling disappointed and less confident about my decision.

Now for a little backstory that y'all are missing... Long ago when I first started researching options, I found the J Crew bridesmaids dresses online. I immediately liked them, but there wasn't a J Crew Bridal Shop in Richmond and I've never really been the type to order clothing online willy-nilly. I wanted to be able to hold them, touch them, feel them, smell them... (Well maybe not smell them, but you get the idea.) So I pushed the option to the back of my mind and went about my way, visiting every bridal store in town; however, with the passing of every failed appointment, I found myself back at J Crew's website admiring the dresses.

L.O.V.E. Image via Once Wed Photo by Jill Thomas Photography

Finally after talking (er, maybe whining) to MOH A after our last appointment, we realized that there was only one dress shop left in all of Richmond that we hadn't visited. (And I'm pretty sure no department store or boutique website that I hadn't visited half a dozen times, hoping that new stock would arrive and blow my mind.) The options were very quickly dwindling. I finally gave in, deciding it was time to give J Crew an honest-to-goodness chance. I learned that there was a store in Georgetown that featured bridesmaids dresses. Mr. Hawk and I happened to be planning a Saturday trip up to the DC area to visit a jeweler, so I made an appointment at J Crew and convinced MOH A and her SO to come along, bribing them with Georgetown Cupcakes.

It literally took me seeing MOH A in only three dresses to know that my search was over. (Although she patiently continued to try on every dress I supplied her.) Of course there were some we preferred to others, but overall there wasn't a single dress that we disliked. (MAJOR sigh of relief.) I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, and I practically skipped with joy out of the shop. The only things left are to come back for the ladies to make their final selections and to place the order. (The beauty of J Crew is that the dresses come in within three to six business days, so there are no worries about a meeting super-specific December or January deadline.)

They say hindsight is 20-20 and in this case, I would say it's true. From the beginning, I really liked the dresses J Crew offered. I don't know why I fought it. I guess I incorrectly assumed that the bridal stores would feature a designer's entire chiffon collection or entire satin collection. And I also assumed that all designers would have the perfect color of yellow I envisioned. Instead of using the J Crew dresses (that were the perfect shade of yellow and featured many options) as my fall-back option, I should have tried to rule it out first before moving on. If I had, my search would have been much more simple.

Did y'all ever regret ignoring your first instincts for a seemingly easier option?