Nine Bridesmaid Dresses Ordered...Check!

These aren't my bridesmaids' dresses. :)

I am super-excited that I have all my best girlfriends in my wedding. These girls have been with me through various stages of my life--high school, college, work life, and beyond. While I trust each of them completely, I was still a little nervous that the bridesmaid dress-ordering process would be...chaotic...to say the least.

Well, it wasn't!

Here's what we did in five easy steps:

1. I chose the colors (petal pink for the seven bridesmaids; sangria for the two matrons of honor), the designer (Bill Levkoff), and the styles (seven different ones, from strapless to v-neck, and a bunch of other styles in between).

2. The ladies chose the style that they felt the most comfortable in. Then they let me know which style they wanted to go with.

3. I gave the final list to the dress shop. The dress shop was actually the same place my dress was purchased at. (PS: Having all the dresses be purchased from the same place allowed the ladies to get 10 percent off their dress prices.)

4. I gave the ladies a deadline to purchase their dresses and the phone number to the dress shop. This deadline was a few months out in advance so that they could prepare for the purchase, as needed. The dress shop was aware of when the ladies would be all calling and ordering their dresses.

5. The bridesmaids called and ordered their dresses at their convenience on the deadline day. There were no issues. Everyone knew what to do. And now the nine dresses have officially been ordered!

Once the dresses come in, I'll receive a postcard from the dress shop. From there, I'll go pick up the dresses and distribute them to my bridal party, or the faraway ones can even have their dresses shipped directly to them.

Simple. Efficient. Done. What's next...? :)

To DIY or Not to DIY: Boutonnieres

Pretty pink boutonnieres that are all a little different...love.

Boutonnieres are kind of a big deal, and my fiancé likes to think that he's kind of a big deal, too. (I agree with him there, but I guess I'm also kind of biased!)

We started looking at different kinds of boutonnieres online, and it's crazy to see how many different ones are out there. Sure, you can go with the typical flower bloom, but we were interested in coming up with something a little more creative.

It seems like grooms and groomsmen can wear anything they want on their jackets--and I mean anything. Here are just a few interesting boutonnieres I came across:

• Peacock feather
• Photo charm
• Other random bird feathers
• Starfish
• Pinwheel
• Book page flowers
• Matchbox cars and fishing lures...together

Yep, the sky's definitely the limit (and another boutonniere option) when it comes to expressing yourself in the boutonniere department.

Hops and backings from Black Creek Hops. Yes!

But my fiancé got really excited when we stumbled upon hops-and-burlap boutonnieres that were the perfect blend of cute and manly. The thing is, they were $15 each. While that seems like a decent price compared to some outlandish boutonnieres, we had to take into account my fiancé (obviously), nine groomsmen, a mini groomsman, and all the dads and grandpas.

So when I saw that we could buy hops in bulk for much cheaper from a shop called Black Creek Hops, I (literally) squealed with excitement! What we're planning on doing is ordering a bunch of hops that are already attached to backings (yay!) and then adding the burlap, twine, and ribbon ourselves.

I don't think it will be too difficult to do (knock on wood), and I'm eager to see how they turn out! I have a crafty stepmom and a few crafty bridesmaids on my team, so I have a feeling they'll turn out just as great as store-bought versions...and for a fraction of the cost of "real" ones.

Felt boutonnieres, Muncle Fred Art.

I mentioned that we have a mini groomsman in our wedding party. By mini, I mean he's going to be four years old when our wedding rolls around. Part of me thinks it would be wrong to have him wear something beer-related on his little vest, so I think we're going to get him a boutonniere that matches the bridesmaids bouquets--one made of felt from Muncle Fred Art.

Eek! I am getting so excited as all of this comes together. More to come...

Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Bridesmaids?

9 bridesmaids + 9 groomsmen = 1 fun wedding!

When my fiancé and I first got engaged in March of this year, three things immediately came to mind:

1. Finally! Finally! Finally!
2. This ring is absolutely beautiful!
3. I can't wait to celebrate with all of our family and friends!

Admittedly, I had been planning our wedding in my head for over a year, and I already knew who I wanted to ask to be my lefthand ladies, so to speak. But I had never really thought about how many girls that was until I wrote it down on paper.

...I was at nine. Yikes.

Would we look ridiculous? Would my fiancé need to have nine groomsmen to make it even? Would buying wedding party gifts require us to take out a second mortgage on the house? Needless to say, I started to second-guess my decision.

Still, as I looked at my list, I couldn't imagine any of those girls not being by my side on one of the biggest days of my life. Furthermore, it was going to be our wedding day, which meant one thing: We get to make the rules. Okay, so nine, it is! I thought with a grin. With that, I started thinking about how I could creatively ask my nine best girlfriends to share our wedding day with us.

I went online and started browsing ideas on Etsy--of course!--and eventually found some pretty peony necklaces that kind of had an antique-y vibe, which I wanted to go for. Guess what? The shop owner gave me a discount for ordering so many. Yay! (See? There are perks to having a large bridal party!) Then I found a website that offered free "Will you be my bridesmaid?" cards, printed them out, found an appropriate friendship quote I really liked--"If friends were flowers, I'd pick you!"--and then wrote personalized messages on the back of each card, telling each girl why she meant the world to me. I was beyond thrilled when all my girls happily agreed to take part in our wedding day.

Now that we're in the full swing of wedding planning--eight months to go!--I sometimes think about how large our wedding party is going to be. (PS: My fiancé decided to go with nine groomsmen as well.) It makes me get excited. We have our best friends (and brothers) who will be right there with us--literally--as we take this next step of our lives together. Honestly, I couldn't imagine it any other way.