THE | BAND

My fiance is a musician, so it was really high on our list to have a live band at our wedding.  We both love Frank Sinatra (I mean really, who doesn't?) so we started looking at bands in our area who played this style of music for wedding venues.

We searched and listened to a few before he pulled up a video that made us both stop and look at each other.  We knew we had to have them!

PETER | OPRISKO

AND HIS ENSEMBLES

We sent a message out to Peter right away letting him know we were interested in having him play at our wedding.  He plays a lot of shows near the Chicago area and had actually done a wedding at our venue in the past (which was nice - knowing the venue would already know how to set up and work with this band!).

Peter contacted us back right away giving us a quote for the quintet or octet for our desired amount of time.  My fiance had his heart set on having the octet perform... but the quote we received for this was out of our budget.

Luckily, Peter was amazing and really worked with us to come up with a compromise so we could have the octet perform within our price range!

He also has an 8 page repertoire list of songs they perform so you can find the songs for your first dance, mother-son dance & father-daughter dance.  There is a great range of classics to modern songs.

Here's a link to the list!

http://www.peteroprisko.com/pdf/Repertoire_List.pdf

And here is a promotional video for his band & performances:

Can't wait to have them perform at our wedding and very glad to have that task crossed off our list...

...so we could move forward and try to find our:

BRIDESMAID | DRESSES

BRIDESMAID | DRESSES

I think even before I started looking at wedding gowns... I was looking for my bridesmaid dresses.  I knew I wanted them to have a "flapper" look to them - without looking like a cheap costume.  So I began the hunt for sequined or feathered or fringed cocktail dresses.



FINDING | THE | DRESSES


My first thought was to find different dresses for each of them, and have the accessories tie them together (same necklaces, headpieces, etc).  However, when I really started to think about our wedding as a big picture, I realized since we are encouraging our guests to all dress to theme... my bridesmaids would end up blending in (and I want them to stand out!)

If mismatched dresses are what you are going for - here are some of my favorite looks!

source: unknown

source: bellethemagazine.com

source:  style me pretty.com

source:  bellethemagazine.com

After making the decision to go all-the-same for the bridesmaids dresses, the hunt was really on.  I had to find 7 bridesmaid dresses that looked good on all of their body types and fit the theme without looking like a cheesy costume.

NOT AN EASY MISSION!

I really didn't want a typical bridesmaid dress - so we didn't even bother shopping for them at a bridal store.  We headed for the mall to check out the dress stores & boutiques there.  It worked out great for us that we were out looking around prom season... so there were lots of formal dresses available.

Our search ended at Jessica McClintock.  One of my bridesmaids picked it out and tried it on, and it looked great... so we had another bridesmaid try it out (one with a completely different body type) and it still looked great!   (I'm pretty sure this dress is magical)

I know it is such a typical bride statement... but I was not the one to say it.... they looked great on everyone (woo hoo!) so it was a done deal!  The dresses were on sale, so we made plans to come back the next weekend, figure out everyone's sizes and place the order.

We came back the next weekend.... and the dresses were on CLEARANCE!  I can't even explain how lucky it was we found these when we did!

I would definitely suggest looking for bridesmaid dresses during homecoming or prom season!



MY | FLAPPER | GIRLS

Here are the dresses we went with (sad to say they are no longer carried in stores or online)

Jessica McClintock

HERE IS HOW THEY TURNED OUT!!

RECEIVED LOTS OF COMPLIMENTS ABOUT HOW

GREAT MY GIRLS LOOKED ALL NIGHT!

POST | WEDDING

Ok... we all know the biggest lie from brides is "Oh my gosh... they look so great... and you can totally wear them again!!"

I am not in some kind of denial about this.  I mean, I know I didn't pick out a typical bridesmaids dress... and some have already told me "I can't wait to wear it again".  But i'm sure for some of them, it's not their style.

That's why I told them all about this website.  You send in your gently used bridesmaid's dress and they send you your choice of a little black dress from their selection!  How sweet is that?!

Here is the link to the site and some pictures of the dresses they have available to choose from!

                                               ---> NEWLY MAID

Next up on our agenda....


MOTHER | OF | THE | BRIDE | GOWN