Bliss

So many months ago, I first told you about my dress. A quick synopsis - I never went dress shopping, my girlfriends coerced me into one David's Bridal dress that I didn't like, I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a dress, but I love designer dresses.

Enter - Church Street Bridal and their shipment of dresses from Kleinfelds last January.

I was simply perusing the selection on my phone during my lunch break when I saw "the one."  I knew immediately it was my dress, and bought it online without ever having tried it on, or trying on any styles like it. Lucky for me, I LOVE my dress.

Finally! Here are the pictures from CSB's Facebook album that I totally fell in love with:

Front / Photo via Church Street Bridal 

Front Detail / Photo via Church Street Bridal (photo no longer online)

Back / Photo via Church Street Bridal (photo no longer online)

What's not to love here? This is a Monique Lhuillier Bliss dress (style 0915), originally marked at Kleinfelds at $4000.  Church Street Bridal got this baby to me for a mere $500, with $50 shipping.  I know it's from their original Bliss collection, not a current one, which is why Kleinfelds was getting rid of their samples - but it was in PERFECT condition.  No tears, stains, dirt or anything.  It even still had the tags still intact. This dress was as good as new, and I felt so beautiful in it. It's a size 20, and I typically wear between a 16/18 street size, so a size up was perfect. It fit more like a size 14 dress when I tried it on at home, but the place I get my alterations done is a godsend and worked some magic on my lovely dress.

I did almost all my fittings by myself (yep, like shopping alone - I prefer to try on dresses and have them fitted in front of psuedo-strangers alone as well.) My mom did come to the final fitting, but I haven't seen any pictures if she took any at all. Sadly, there are no pictures of me in the dress before the wedding, but here are a few of me in it the day of:

First bridal portrait of the day - courtesy of Bridesmaid Debbie

Posing with my parents - courtesy of Bridesmaid Debbie 

Overall, I am so happy that I trusted my gut and bought this dress impulsively online without ever seeing it in person or trying it on. I am also very, very lucky that it all worked out so easily and I had very little dress drama to contend with.

There you have it, guys. Sorry to keep you in the dark on my dress for so long, Mr. Ly does occasionally read the blog and I didn't want to chance him seeing it before the wedding day! Besides I wouldn't have had any pictures to show you beside the ones on the mannequin.

Anyone else get really lucky on their dress search?

And in January... we got married!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day in Philadelphia - highs in the 50's (!!), sun shining all day long, unseasonably mild for January (my research paid off!).  It was a perfect wedding day - and Mr. Ly and I had the best day ever.  There were things that didn't go as planned, sure, and there was an hour or so in the middle of the day where I wanted to absolutely saw my pinky toes off because I chose cute shoes over comfort (note to future brides: be kind to your feet, you will be on them for a LONG time. Consider this in your shoe choices.), but at the end of the day, all the food (and there was so.much.food!) had been eaten, cakes cut, photos shot, and dances danced - we were blissfully tired and basking in the glow of being married. We mini-mooned in Jamaica, and now we're back in a much colder Philadelphia than we left, ready to start this exciting chapter of our lives.

I am anxiously awaiting our professional pictures, and as with our engagement photos, our photographer has given us just one picture to hold us over until the rest are ready:

Right after our first look - Photo via Mike Landis Photographer

(I don't know who called us out in the comment section, but I love the WB shout out on our photographer's blog - thanks!)

There is so much I want to share with you all, I obviously owe you a dress post (coming soon, I promise!), and there are some last minute details and some honeymoon shots I'd love to share, as well.  I promise I won't be a stranger between now and the recaps!

Thanks for all the loving wishes on our wedding day, it was great having the kindness of the 'bee with me that day!

xo,
MRS. Lyre

Get this show on the road!

Well, this is it.  As I sit here in our larger than lifer penthouse, soaking in the gorgeous sunrise over Philadelphia, it's hard to imagine that in just a few hours I'll be a Mrs. Today is the day I've been looking forward to since the day Mr. Ly asked me to be his wife.  I'm not nervous, or anxious, or anything. I'm just really really ready to be Mr. Ly's wife.  I'm ready to start our life together as a family, and see where this road takes us.  At the end of the day, a year's worth of planning, crafting, and let's be honest, stressing will be over. And if we're already being honest, I am SO relieved. I don't care if it's perfect. I am ready to get this show on the road, and at the end of the day be married.

Thank you all for letting me be a part of this wonderful community.  For allowing me to share my worries and excitement with you throughout the past 8 months.  Being part of a supportive and diverse community is what drew me to Weddingbee, and I feel so lucky to have been able to give back a little something myself.  I've always taken to heart the advice, suggestions, and comments from the bees, the support here has been invaluable. I'm so lucky to have the love of the bees surrounding me today (in charms, bracelets, and even some special guests at the wedding!).  I can't wait to come back and share it all with you!

To my soon-to-be husband - today is our day.  From finding each other, to falling in love, to starting our life together as husband and wife - I wouldn't change a thing about our journey. You are the voice of reason when I need it (even when I think I don't!), you make me smile when all I want to do is cry or pout, and you make me the happiest I've ever been.  Our life won't always be perfect, but I know that as long as we can face it together, we can get through anything.  I love you more than words will ever be able to properly express, today, tomorrow and always.

Alright, Hive, let's get this show on the road! See ya as a Mrs!
 xo,
Miss Lyre

Showered with Love, one last time.

This will probably be the last post I make before the big day, with 3 days to go, time is of the essence.  We are looking at a fantastic wedding weekend - weather wise. Philadelphia will be in the mid to upper 40's all weekend, and loads of sunshine.  We've dropped off all our stuff to the caterer, so it's just fun stuff like manicures & pedicures, shopping (who still doesn't have an outfit for the rehearsal?? This girl.), and wrapping up our last minute gifts for our bridal party and parents.  So much to do, so little time.  But I do have time to share with you one last pre-wedding event that I had recently!

Last week, my fantastic colleagues and friends threw me a super sweet school shower.  I was almost completely surprised, but someone accidentally left the notice folded up on my desk... I thought it was a note for me from a student or a teacher, so I opened it.. and well, that was it for the surprise  We were just a few days away - and I hadn't been snooping or anything!  I had so much on my mind that I hadn't really thought about it.  I guess I knew it was coming - everyone at school gets a shower for their first marriage.  But I hadn't put too much thought into it at all.  I played along very convincingly and most people at school still think I was very much surprised.  (Turns out I will turn bright red even at the thought of being the center of attention for that long - so it worked well in our favor.)

The fantastic hostesses (and you can see where I work all day!) 

Delicious cookie cake! 

Cutting the cake

Mr. Ly surprised me by showing up halfway through the shower! (horrible photo - but the only photographic proof I have that he was there!)  

It was truly a spectacular shower, and I was so touched by the kindness and generosity that my co-workers showed us.  It's wonderful working with people who want to share in your happiness, and really, genuinely care.

So, bees, think warm and sunny thoughts for the Lyre wedding this weekend! Anyone have any good shopping tips for where I can look for a rehearsal dress (doesn't have to be white)?

The Day before THE Day

I have yet to share what we'll be doing the day before our wedding day.  Mostly because that had been up in the air until recently.  When Mr. Ly and I first started to think about what to do for our rehearsal dinner, we looked at restaurants in both Philadelphia and South Jersey.  We knew we definitely wanted to have it the day before and not on Thursday or Friday, because there would be too much space between that and the wedding, and we wanted to be able to include as many of our out of town guests as we could.  Add in the factor that we're not actually having a rehearsal until about an hour before the ceremony with a quick walk through so people know where to stand, there was no real need for a rehearsal dinner. 

We wanted to have a meal, though, with family and friends - those people coming in from far distances who we might not get to spend a ton of time with on the wedding day. And also to thank our bridal party and parents for all they've done for us.  We ran into a few problems right off the bat. First, being a Saturday night in Philadelphia it was very difficult to get a reasonable price for a large group (we were expecting about 50 people originally), and it was looking more like a mini-wedding rather than just a nice dinner in the city.  So we expanded our search to New Jersey.  Since most people are local, and we could arrange for rides over the bridge, we thought dinner in New Jersey might be a more affordable option.  We stuck mostly to  BYO restaurants, but did consider a few restaurants with full service bars as well.  The BYOs wanted us to buy out the restaurant for the entire night, which was going to be over our budget.  We found some reasonable restaurants but to add on the open bar, again was going to cost us too much.

Finally, one of the BYOs we were considering came up with a better option for us. They could open specially for lunch, when they are not open to the public, and we could have the entire space for half the price.  This was perfect for us, and since we weren't having a rehearsal that night anyway, the time was flexible. So, we decided on Bistro di Marino, a BYO Italian restaurant in Collingswood, NJ.  It's so close to the city, very easy for all our guests to get to, and we'll have the whole place to ourselves.  The food there is delicious, and one of my bridesmaids had her rehearsal dinner years ago when she got married, so I already have an idea as to what it will be like.

Bridesmaids Debbie & Alissa with me at Alissa's rehearsal dinner at the same spot we will be having ours. 

Once we got that settled and a huge weight was lifted, I realized what I'm really looking forward to with a lunch rather than a dinner is that we will get the night to spend how we want.  Whether we go out for dinner or drinks in the city, or just relax at the hotel and do nothing, I'm glad to know that there will be that time that isn't already scheduled.

I bought some clearance DIY invitations at Michael's a while back to use for rehearsal invitations, and this past weekend we (FINALLY) did something with them.  I wanted them to have a fun, casual look to them. Very different from our wedding invitations, because the rehearsal will be casual and fun, and just a time to enjoy ourselves with those that mean the most to us before the big day.  After a bit of playing around in Word, and some frustrations with the printer, this is what I came up with:

After printing about 10 of these, I realized that the line on the right extended a bit too far, and quickly corrected them for the last 15 that we printed. I wish I had taken a picture of the corrected one, but this was such a minor detail I was not going to sweat it.  We popped them in the mail today (I apologize if any of my bridal party reads this before you actually get your invitation) and even though we are cutting it close, we are sure most of our guests will be there.

I think the lunch was the perfect (and most affordable) option we could have found, and I am almost as excited for our rehearsal lunch as I am for the big day!  Is anyone else taking a non-traditional route for your rehearsal dinner/meal?

Busy Bees

Happy New Year, bees! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year, and is as excited as we are for 2013 to finally be here!

With the wedding right around the corner, Mr. Ly and I have been busy bees getting stuff done for the wedding.  This past Friday was by far the most productive wedding day I've had in quite some time. We got up early (at least for me it was early - I was on winter vacation!) and headed into Philadelphia to get our marriage license. We got there about half an hour after the office opened, and had no wait time.  We were in and out with our marriage license in about 20 minutes!

Please excuse my half asleep look. After a week of sleeping in - it was way too early for me to be this functional! 

 It was a gorgeous day at city hall, and I remarked to Mr. Ly that I would love to have weather just like this on our wedding day. We'll be revisiting this iconic location in center city Philadelphia to take some wedding photos, but it was too beautiful not to snap one before we left!

City Hall on a beautiful winter's morning

I dropped Mr. Ly off at work and headed on to my next wedding task of the day, my hair trial.  This was something I clearly had been putting off for quite some time.  I had no idea what I wanted my hair to look like, or who I wanted to do my hair. My hair stylist was recommended to me by a friend whose brother's wife had just used her for their wedding.  I hadn't seen any of her other work besides my friend's brother's wedding, but it was enough for me.  My friend told me that she and the other stylist worked really quickly and were able to recreate all the pinterest-y hair styles that were brought to them.

The day before my trial I pinned a bunch of pictures for inspiration.  I had decided that I no longer wanted to wear my hair up, so all my previous inspiration pictures were of no use to me.  I pinned a bunch of long and curly styles, mostly like these:

Image via Once Wed / Photograph by Eric Kelley 

Nichole, my hairstylist, met me at my brother's house to do my trial.  She lives pretty far from the city, and since I was already going to be in the city for our marriage license, it made more sense to meet there.  She was wonderful, worked very quickly and we chatted the whole time. She worked with me to match the style I wanted and I loved how my hair turned out!

From the front

The twisty part in the back

I tried to get a full shot of the back, but it was really difficult by myself!
(Note: next time ask the hairdresser to take the picture for me!) 

The only thing I'd like to change the day of is to have her start with tighter curls.  I know she wanted me to see the what it would look like when they fell more, but by 2 pm all of my curls had fallen. Otherwise, I couldn't be happier with my hair trial! I'm so excited to work with Nichole again on my wedding day!

Finally, not long after my hair trial, I had my 2nd dress fitting. I remembered a while back Mrs. Turkey suggesting wearing your hair at your fitting how you would have it at your wedding. Well, what better way to see it all together than to have your trial and fitting on the same day!  I loved how it all looked together, and I didn't want to take my dress off.  It's getting the final touches finished, and I have my last fitting tomorrow!

 I'm not going to reveal my dress until after the wedding, but here's a sneak peek at the french bustle:

Did anyone else have a productive wedding-related day where you knocked out a whole bunch of stuff? What are some things you left to last minute (I swear I'm forgetting a whole bunch of things I need to do!)?