Drink Hendricks Gin

I need 7 more of these bottles. These empty bottles, I should clarify.

So please go drink Hendricks Cucumber Gin (seriously, muddle some cucumber in your GT and you will be the happiest happy ever in the history of happys) and save me your empties. It's "from Scotland" and like $25 bux at Trader Joes in CA, but $34 bux here in OR (land of retarded liquor laws) and I'm not really drinking right now (I know, WHAAAA?*) so it's going to be tough to make it happen. But I know you, and with your help, I know we can make it happen.

Actually, I suppose if worse comes to worse, I just get 7 more bottles and empty them into an apothecary jar and put some cucumber slices in that shit and bam! booze for the masses and empty bottles for the show. But in the meantime: Drink up, Johnny!

And ps: thanks for your support.

*starting to realize this is my problem in life: why am I not drinking alcohol during such a stressful time as wedding planning? whose idea was this? Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. Please pass the martini glass.

If I were bold.

If I were really, truly bold, I would wear this on my wedding day.




I don't mean the beak et. al. because that's just crazy. But the dress. With the feather spray and all. Unbelievably, sensationally, totally gorgeous in every way.

Need. Not want. NEED.

And here I was needlessly stressing about what to wear to a rehearsal dinner type situation. Bingo! On ANY piece of clothing I want? Sold. (Though to be honest, you had me at "Peacock.")

random etsy finds that speak to me, loud enough to drown out the crowd all up in there.

In which we will discover that Etsy has a) lots of weird stuff and b) a ton o ruffles, which c) I apparently have a secret affinity for - who knew?




English Rose Ruffle Dress by Lirola. Reminds me of stuff that the wee Portland girl from Project Runway was doing before she moved to NYC. And yeah, I know there are very few people who could actually get away with this ruffled front. I didn't say the things speaking to me made any sense, now did I?



Ditto on the Project Runway girl comment for this blue number, too. It has a weird pleat on the skirt that probably wouldn't lend itself to easy hang-n-wear, but whatever. Is cute.



The bottom is a little culotte-esque, but the top is rad.



Long ruffled skirt from Econica. Completely infatuated with it, I am not afraid to admit.



$225 worth of peacock-colored awesome. (Swoon).





LOVE. Period.

Fancy change 'em up dresses.

I've not wanted to admit this, but I'm WAY partial to the crazy 46millionwaystowrapit dresses. I keep coming back to them on Etsy. I will throw it out there, and you can tell me if I'm crazy or if you would have to be crazy to be forced to wear such a straight jacket, etc etc.

I mean, come on, look at this blue (not my favorite wrap, but a great blue!):

Also a fan of this blue-ishness, and the wrap style:

See more examples here, here and here. And here.

They look so effing comfortable, right? But maybe hard to vintage up. I don't know. Definitely not a good fabric match with my dress, I don't think (well, maybe... not sure. Actually, no no, it would be totally fine).

But whatever. Bottom line: they look so pretty and comfy that I just want to nap in them, looking gorgeous all the while.

An Assortment of Assorted Dresses.

What I imagine when I say "Assorted Bridesmaid Dresses" generally lays out something like the following:



Nothing old fashioned here, but sweet styles/colors/arrangements.



How you feel about black dresses, ladies? This is the default back-up plan. It would be simple and lovely and go FAB with peacock feathers.



Also loving the neutral/cream situation. Could really rock it, I'm sure. Seriously, how do you feel about neutral pallettes? Some people get a wee washed out, right?




More green. Love the one to the right (my right) of the bride. Not the color, but the little flower and the bust. SO CUTE. (But hey, what is with the pheasant hunt carcass in Bridey's hand?).



More formal than necessary, and pinky/mauve/rose/etc, but how cute? (Hate the gown, by the way).


All these blues are AWESOME.

No on pink, yes on the intermingling of styles. Nicely done.




Did you know that mustaches on sticks were a popular wedding gag thing last year? Why? Who started that? It was cute at the first three weddings, and that's about it. (Of course I plan to have dress up options in the photobooth section of the wedding, so there you go).




All in all, well executed, simple, caszh. LOVE LOVE LOVE the simplicity and the cut of the bridal gown. Dang.

I totally have more, but internet was down at home, and I'm surreptitiously blogging this from work with saved photos in the post that I started a million days ago, so that's it for now.

Oh, except to tell you that I bought a wedding dress. Thanks be to Jessica for helping me through the process! I kind of made it up from a dress on display in a shop and they are making it for me and it's a gamble as to how it will turn out, but I'm confident it's going to be fabulous. For the record I've only tried on one actual dress, and it was a size 6 and so I use the term "tried on" VERY loosely here. I will be the happiest bird on the planet if this dress is as lovely as I think it's going to be. Check mark one on the million-entry To Do list.

Haggisina.

Preliminary searches for Scottish wedding dresses have pulled up the following:

1) The Gweneviere. I have to admit that I semi-like the cut/shape/outline/drape/shoulders aspects of this dress from afar. But the celtic/ropey/medallion pointing at the hoo-ha situation is unrecoverable from, I'm afraid.





2) The Semi-Modern Scottish Lass: Um. Yeah. I don't really know if this is a thing thing, or a joke thing. Because. Um. Yeah.... though I do so especially love the crude stitching, the semi-ripped layer of fabric below the waste, and the wee splay of lace above the one breast. Utterly fascinating. And also something vaguely whore-ish about it... No, wait - Wench, that's the word. She looks like what I imagine a true (tried and true, ba dump bump ching!) wench would look like.




3) The Scottish Amby. Dudes, I could totally grandstand this! Love the cut, love the ribbon band at the top (in a more peacocky or tartany color), love the little shrug* she's got going on. Also love that I think that could be me in the photo, due to the fact that it actually looks like Tina Yothers from Family Ties, to whom I was always always always being compared in the long-ago 80s, and therefore could potentially have ended up looking like, not unlike this brilliant Scottish gal.



4) The Strangely Attracted To You Lacy Layers Dress. I would be a lying liar if I said anything other than: I totally adore this dress. And I could not for the life of me give you a good reason, except that I think the whole layers of strange and clashing lacy fabric thing is just completely odd and cool. Like Molly Ringwald's otherwise ugly dress in Pretty in Pink, this shmata is like some kind of magic made out of the scraps of things far more ordinary. I have fantasies about running around the city collecting bits and bolts and leftover remnants, buying some godawful 80s gown with puffy sleeves and lace and beads and hearts and gauze and ugh, and ripping it all up and sewing it all back together into a strange and beautiful layer cake of a Frankenstein dress like this one. Too bad I'm only a very very very moderate sewer (as of my last sewing class... in eleventh grade).



There are more, of course, but nothing to write blog about. There is a weird trend in the British wedding attire that I would like to point out to you, but I can't quite put my finger on. I will try, though, at some point, because it's just so odd. I really can't find the words. And you know, maybe it's not odd, maybe it's just that those weddings are more au natural, and I'm used to the augmented stylings of all these blogged weddings, so it's hard for me to understand what I'm touching, I mean looking at anymore. Hm.

* I have a whole thought/plan about a shrug or wrap situation, but that will have to be another post.