landlocked bride® | midwest + mountain west wedding inspiration

So, back when the Pilot and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do for our centerpieces (see: no flowers), we couldn’t agree on a design.

I had this brilliant idea to use lanterns. He agreed (score). Now, the question was, how do we use these lanterns? Do we hang them, connect them to dowels? What?

So, we agreed to hang them. But after much thought, we still felt that our tables were going to be bleh (technical term) and plain. So, we were back to square one. Then, I found this great photo as inspiration.

Image courtesy of studio3z photography

I loved the idea of semi-hanging them from dowel rods, so they had the appearance of a true centerpiece, but were still hanging. And, we would still be able to light them up. So, all excited, I share it with the Pilot. Boom. Shot down like a bad pick-up line. His feedback? It looked too much like traditional Chinese lanterns. Yeah, I somewhat saw his point, but I was a bit disappointed (side note – I 100% appreciate that he wants to be involved – no complaints there).  Oh, and if we had gone this route, the centerpieces would not be that tall if placed on our tables.

So, what do you think? Do they look like traditional Chinese lanterns if they were hung from dowels?

And, I continue on my bridesmaids dress journey.

After ruling out option#1, I knew I still wanted something that the girls could easily wear again.  Now, I realize that almost every bride says this.  But I REALLY mean it.  If my girls are going to drop $100-$200 on a dress, I want them to be able to wear it.  What makes this next option so appealing (other than it is absolutely chic?), the price. A whopping $76 dollars.  I even had one BM say she would probably buy it even if I didn’t choose it as the one.

Shabby Apple

Although I really like this dress, a lot, I wasn’t in love with it. The cotton-y material was appealing, but the idea of if it being wrinkly even before the ceremony made my head spin (which was also a problem with option #1). So, back to the interweb I went to find another option.

As a side note, I highly encourage you to check out other dress on the Shabby Apple site. Not only are there some fabulous finds, but the company donates micro-credits to women in poverty-stricken countries.

I opened up the latest issue of The Knot magazine when I got home the other night, to find that one of the top 6 wedding dress trends for this year are pleats.

I’m not trying to give anything away here, but I’d like to say that I was ahead of the game on this trend, considering I bought my gown back in October 2009.

That’s the only detail you get until I try my gown on in February.  But even then, you’ll still be itching for more (in other words, you won’t get to see the entire dress until after the wedding – hate to be the bearer of bad news). I want to keep it a surprise for my guests.

Image courtesy of my crappy Blackberry camera.

In a few short weeks, the Pilot and I will begin registering for items for the wedding.  We have been putting it off for a number of reasons, mostly because we wanted to wait until after the holidays.  We had a feeling some of our family members would buy us wedding gifts for the holidays, so we opted to hold off.  Plus, we felt it was still a bit early.

At any rate, I have been making a list of things we already have, things we want to replace and things we do not have, which we want.  Now, I’ll tell ya, there are a few items that just seemed unnecessary.  Included on this list was an olive pitter.  You see, I like olives. A lot.  So much so in fact, when I was a little girl I used to put black olives on each of my fingers and then eat them off (you can ask my mother about this).  LOVE black olives.

The other night, the Pilot came up with this recipe on his own (kudos for him for getting kitchen creative, since that’s always my job).  He wanted chicken breast, a mixture of olives and tomato sauce.  Easy enough.  So, we set out to the grocery store to get the items we did not have – olives and tomato sauce.  The idea being we would get some really good olives.  Luckily, one of our local grocery stores, has a great little antipasti/olive bar – which made finding really good olives, really easy.  Never mind the fact that I forgot these olives need to be pitted.

So, in true landlocked couple style, I started cooking dinner while the Pilot found something else to do.  I asked him how he wanted his olives, and he said sliced, so back to the kitchen I went.  I grabbed one of our knives and was about to slice away, when BAM, the knife wouldn’t go through. Damn It!  The olives needed to be pitted.  So, I spent a good ten or so minutes trying to cut as much olive off of the pit without slicing my fingers off.  There were a good 30 olives, mind you, all of which were in some sort of olive oil marinade. Olive oil = Slippery. Slipper + Knife = Not Safe.  Luckily, no cuts.  BUT it made me immediately add olive pitter to our list of items to register for.

Image courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

(Yes, I realize there are cherries in this photo, but it’s a duel purpose tool).

And, that my friends, is why you need an olive pitter.

Last week, while surfing around on the web, I found this.

Image courtesy of With This Ring via Adventures in Wedding Planning

In case you are wondering, that little beauty is a dog collar.  Now, before you go roll your eyes at me, let me explain something.  I have the most adorable dog (trust me, and if you don’t believe me, just hold on a second).  And, because we are not having children at our wedding, we do not have a flower girl or ring bearer.  For that reason, I have been contemplating having our dog go down the aisle as our “flower dog” (again with the eye rolling, you can stop).  Our ceremony venue does not allow for pets, BUT I have been told on many occasions by wedding planners and couples that they have brought their dog into the venue.  You see, no one is actually at the Jewel Box monitoring it while weddings are happening (or so I’ve been told).  Thus, my reasoning for thinking about it.

Don’t worry, I would not dress her in a frilly outfit or bride costume.  The plan was to have her wear a cute color or ribbon, so for all obvious reasons, I love this pearl collar, which was originally featured in an issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.  But, the Pilot and I decided to not have her be our “flower dog” for a few reasons.  Mostly, we don’t want to put anyone in charge of her on the wedding day, nor do we want to put her through that.

And, as promised, a picture of the cutest dog ever.*

*I realize you may not agree with me, but you should. Just saying.

The second I saw the below photo, I thought of one person and one person only.  Groomsman A.  Now, he’s not getting married, but the guy is from Texas.

I can remember one of the first stories he told me when he started his new job in New York (you read that right, he left Texas and moved to New York to work for an airline).  He had been working at this airline for about a month or so, wearing his cowboy boots each day to work, when someone finally told him it might be a good idea to buy a pair of dress shoes.  I thought he was going to die.  So, of course, when I saw Lisa posted this photo, it immediately reminded me of how A loves his cowboy boots.  I’m pretty sure if given the option, he’d wear them at the wedding!

Image courtesy of Lisa Hessel Photography

I hope I didn’t embarrass him (and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read this blog), but I couldn’t not share this story.

So, I realized I have not shared many of the details of our wedding lately and wanted to bring some of you up to speed.  I also realize there are a million other things I still need to blog about, so bare with me.

Since the moment the Pilot and I got engaged, we have been racking our brains to find the perfect rehearsal dinner venue.  Now, to most couples, this is probably the least of our worries, but we really wanted to find a spot that is unique and/or different, somewhere fun.  There are a lot of places in town where many people have their rehearsal dinners, but we wanted to find something else.

Choice #1:

The first and obvious choice for us was Sage.

This particular restaurant is a big favorite of mine and the Pilot’s.  And, a big plus? They have a large private space on their second level, which is devoted entirely to private events.  We loved the idea that we would sort of have our own little party area.  Sage was opened a few years ago in the historic Soulard neighborhood in downtown Saint Louis.  It look over the same location where Lynch Street Bistro was housed.  The restaurant is literally a 5 minute walk from the front doors of the Anheuser-Busch Tour Center (and, you can trust me – I used to be a tour guide there).

And, on to the food.  Oh, man is the food good.  It’s pretty American, but they really try to keep it seasonal and local (big bonus).  Not to mention, the Pilot loves their chili and tuna, and I’m quite fond of their pulled pork sandwich and Amber Bock onion rings.  Now, if I only had pictures to share, because, they would so make you hungry.  The lunch and dinner menu, although not huge, is filled with deliciousness.  As for dessert – they offer little dessert shots. My favorite? Pumpkin gooey butter cake (and for you non-Saint Louisans – here is a little background on Gooey Butter Cake, only one of the best desserts ever).

Dear J.Crew,

Why must you continually produce the most chic dresses?  I already own like every single dress in your bridesmaid collection in every color, but when I laid my eyes upon this piece in your latest catalog, I was sold (again).

Image courtesy of J.Crew

Granted, it looks pretty similar to my bridesmaids’ dress, but I can’t not buy you to wear at a shower or rehearsal.

Anyone else have similar problems in that they keep buying dresses? I hope I’m not alone…

I love finding unique spots in town for wedding pictures, mostly because I’m still scoping places out to hit for my wedding in September.  I have had this particular location on lock down and tried to keep it a secret for some time.  Now, I’m quite the awesome secret keeper, if I do say so myself. BUT, I really couldn’t keep this one quiet for much longer.  Now, if I can just make sure no one will be on the ferris wheel when I need to be in September, I’d be golden.

Image courtesy of City Museum

A little background:
The City Museum is practically like this huge indoor playground for people of all ages (yes, we held sorority events here during college).  It is also a great venue for weddings (I’ll save this one for another post).  It has all of this re-purposed material used to make slides and things to climb on.  Plus, on the roof, there are more things to do, including riding the ferris wheel.

Local bride (and wedding planner), Katie, and her husband took a ride on the Ferris Wheel after their wedding.  Their photographer, Todd Studios got some awesome shots – including this one, featuring the night sky in Saint Louis.

Image courtesy of Todd Studios

So, for every obvious reason, I love this shot.  And, I’m very excited to ride the ferris wheel in September with the Pilot.  Lets just hope Lisa isn’t afraid of heights.

Are there any great spots in your hometown to get unique pictures? Please share them (or don’t if you’re uber protective)!

Let me first start off by saying, the Pilot and I had no intention of hiring a videographer, that is, until October of 2009 rolled around.

Back in early Fall, I fell in love with this video, which I found via Style Me Pretty. (I’ll wait, as I encourage you to watch the entire thing).

Aspen, Colorado – Super 8 Film from Kevin Von Qualen on Vimeo.

I fell in love with this video so much so, in fact, that I shared it with everyone.  I was so in love with the idea of Super 8, that I came thisclose to buying a camera myself for personal use and went on a mission to find a Super 8 videographer close to town (with no luck).

When I took a visit out to Colorado to visit to see one of my best friends back in mid-October, I showed her the video.  She, too, fell in love.

Not even a week after I’m back in town, I get an email from her.  She happens to know the guy who shot the particular video above AND she contacted him about having him videograph our wedding (bonus points for her).  I seriously was beyond excited and shared the news with the Pilot.  We did not make any commitments, only asked Kevin a few questions, as we needed to review our budget and the logistics, but were ecstatic at the possibility of booking him (him, being Kevin Von Qualen).

Again, we had not originally wanted to book a videographer, but the second we saw the Super 8, it just really struck a chord with me and the Pilot.  So, we took a few weeks to mull it over, talk with the Pilot’s parents and review everything. We finally (and officially) booked him in mid-December.  You all have no idea how excited the Pilot and I are to have the amazing talent of Kevin as our videographer.

Kevin, also happens to be a wedding and portrait photographer, who is based in Denver. BUT, he absolutely loves shooting Super 8 – so I urge you, if you are interested in hiring a videographer, to definitely consider him.  Super 8 is different than traditional videography (obviously), but the film truly tells a story like no other.

Did you book a videographer?  What was important to you and your significant other when making a decision?