Inquiring Mind: Melissa

I received a charming note from a reader today, and decided that answering reader questions could become a new feature here (assuming, uh, there are more questions...). Let's offer to the floor to our first EDM Inquiring Mind, Melissa - who knows just how to flatter me!

Hi Maggie!

I LOVE your wedding blog! I know this is random and hopefully not stalker-y...I came upon it when I was searching for ideas for a red, white, and blue themed wedding, as it is along the lines of what we are planning. My fiance and I are getting married this October, and as he is British and has his whole family coming over from London, some of them for their first time to the US, we are trying to do a somewhat British/Royal theme. Our colors are navy blue and mulberry red, and I designed and made my own passport wedding invitations. Also, I cannot believe this, but I tried on that exact dress you wore!! OK, can I just like have your wedding??!

Anyway, can I ask you where you got that fabulous blue damask floor runner? And last thing..those killer red shoes?

Looks like you and your guests had an amazing time, and congratulations to you.. you look beautiful!

Sincerely,

Melissa

Well hello, Melissa! Your wedding sounds FAB - perhaps you should start a wedding blog so we can peek in at it?

First up, our runner. You might remember my never-ending fabric search all winter for our reception tablecloths. Our first big purchase was Premier Prints fabric in the Amsterdam print, in Lipstick and Snorkel. The red print was gorgeous; it's what we went with for half of the tablecloths. Unfortunately in the blue print, the "white" background was actually more ivory - and since we were using these tablecloths over standard white underlays (to avoid a big rental cost), we needed them to be really white. So we regrouped with our blue print and ended up using Premier Prints Kimono in Snorkel (which did look white). So what to do with the Amsterdam fabric, then? We considered returning it - and Premier Prints (a great company with fantastic affordable fabric, by the way - and I now know how rare that is!) acknowledged the white was off in some of the reams, and would give us a full refund. But as it turned out, our floral/design guru fell in love with the print and thought it would work perfectly as a printed runner at a ceremony site - and that against the rustic boards, the fabric would definitely be white enough. My mom's best friend (who also moonlighted as our day-of director) made the runner for us out of the already-purchased fabric, and the design team nailed it down that morning. I loved the way it added excitement to the ceremony site and really personalized it. Here's how it looked in action (one of our pro shots - screen capture only, explaining the logo and small size - we're waiting for the high-res images):


And last but not least, the shoes! My love of shoes has been well-documented here, but good catch, Melissa - you're right that I never described my own shoes in detail. The shoes are Valentino. They're ridiculously sexy. Even if they got stuck in between every board of the ceremony site... I'd originally wanted the lovely feathered Louboutins that are plastered all over this blog design, but they're not in production anymore, and months of scavenging eBay got to be depressing. I'd never seen my Valentinos online before or since, but there I was one day, happily walking through Nordstrom, and there they were. Out of nowhere. I scooped them the next day and never looked back. Another pro shot:


You know how most brides spend their cocktail hour answering guests' questions/fielding their ooh and aahs about their dress? Mine was spent fielding shoe questions and showing off my feet. My shoes needed an agent, that's how much attention they got. True story - as we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, my bridesmaids and I were in a side sitting room goofing off. This woman comes down the stairs and says to me, "Thank God you're here! I was watching you from the window and telling my husband to check you out! I have to tell you! You look amazing! THE RED SHOES! THE RED SHOES! OMG THE RED SHOES! Amazing!"

I could have been wearing a burlap sack, and I really don't think anyone would have noticed, as long as those Valentinos were on my feet.

Thanks, Melissa - and go start that wedding blog!

More questions about our wedding? Bring 'em on! Comment here or shoot me an e-mail at maggie(dot)eatdrinkmarry (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the handy button on the sidebar. Ask away!!!