This is melongwe's Blue Wedding!

Is anyone else doing "alternative wear" for the groomsmen? We haven't decided for sure yet, but we're leaning towards not renting tuxes. Instead, they would wear their own black dress pants and shoes, and we would pick out nice blue dress shirts and ties that matched our colors. So they would still match each other, but it hopefully wouldn't be as expensive (and they could keep the shirts afterwards, instead of returning a tux). It's not nearly as formal, but that's probably okay. And it means there would be more color on stage. I'll post on the bridesmaid dresses later, but obviously we want the groomsmen/bridesmaid colors to go together well.

We got Jeff's tux figured out last week. We just got a classic black two-button tux with a white shirt. The challenge was picking the vest color. I didn't really want him to have any color on - just classic black and white. But I thought a black vest would be too much black, and a white vest might not stand out enough. So we ended up doing a silver vest and tie (not bow tie). The problem is that he couldn't try it on! Girls can try on wedding dresses, but guys can't try on tuxes? You can only choose from a book and look at their models. I just wanted to see how the vest/jacket combo looked on him, but oh well. He'll look good, I'm sure. :)

I found this online today and I love it! I've been debating about what shoes to wear on the wedding day. I hate wearing heels and uncomfortable dress shoes. I thought about wearing flip-flops, but it might still be chilly in June and my feet get cold easily, and the last thing I want during the ceremony is to be thinking, "Gee, my feet are cold." I also thought about slippers, but that's a little informal for even me. I do, however, want to be comfortable. These shoes are by Skechers, and I've always loved that brand. A little spendy, but generally worth the money in the long run. I like that this shoe has accents of light blue, which is my main wedding color. It's not very dressy, but it's super cute. I just hope it lifts me off the floor enough. I'm getting a custom length on the dress, and they took measurements back in January, long before I had the shoes figured out. So they just allowed for shoes that would lift me one inch off the ground.

EDIT - I'm also considering the shoe in the second picture. Opinions?

I'm going down to Texas tomorrow to visit my fiance! I'm excited and a little nervous to see Waco. I've never been there, but it's where I'll be living starting this summer. I'm only down there for a few days, but we hope to get some planning done too.

On my list of things to do:

-Go to Men's Wearhouse and look at tuxes; get him measured.
-Go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and start a wedding registry.
-Work on our website (where people can RSVP, find out details, etc)

The church sanctuary seats about 300 people, which will be fine for the ceremony. The catch is that we might be having the reception in the same room, and once the chairs are rearranged and tables are brought in, it really cuts down on the amount of people that will fit. If the weather is nice (never a sure thing during an Oregon June), we can have the reception outside in a grassy area. Otherwise, I'm working on possible table arrangements that will fit the most people. It also depends on how many people actually come. Is anyone else dealing with a rather small site for the ceremony/reception? For us, based on budget and availability, it's not really an option to have the reception somewhere else.

I've been observing and reading posts on this site for a little while, and am finally getting around to making my own profile. I like the idea of sharing advice with other brides. My fiance and I got engaged on December 22nd, 2007. I had done zero wedding planning before the proposal, and even now I feel a little behind on the plans. But we have the church, the pastor, the dress, and part of the honeymoon figured out. I'm slowly working on the rest! One challenge is that my fiance is in Texas and I'm in Oregon. At least we're getting married in Oregon, so I don't have to plan the wedding long-distance.