It seriously took me forever to decide on all of my accessories for the wedding. And I actually still hadn’t decided as of the morning of the wedding! I brought four pairs of shoes with me to the venue!! But somehow, everything ended up perfectly, and I am so happy with all of my choices.
First up, my tights! Tights are kind of my thing. I have about fifty pairs (no joke). Mr. Whale loves them and requested that I wear a “sexy colorful pair” on our wedding day. I was happy to oblige 🙂 But even though I was willing to make it happen, it felt like the rest of the world was against it. I searched high and low for the perfect pair. I ordered probably twenty pairs online trying to find the perfect color and the perfect pattern. I debated between cut-out tights like fish-nets and solid tights, but I reeeeally wanted an awesome pattern. In the end, none of the pairs I ordered were exactly what I wanted, so… I wore the same tights that I’d worn in our engagement photos. I knew Mr. Whale loved them, and who cares if I’d already worn them.
Part of the tights dilemma stemmed from a dilemma with shoes. I needed to make sure my tights would match my shoes, but I wasn’t sure which shoes I would wear. In the end, I again went with a pair of shoes I already had.
If you’re thinking, “I had a pair of shoes just like those that I bought at Payless about seven years ago,” well… then you owned my wedding shoes! I bought these shoes ages ago but never wore them because I was always too afraid I would ruin them. (I’m really careful with my shoes… perhaps too careful.) But they are so perfectly “me” that when I was going through my closet and found them, I had a feeling they would be the right shoes. Looking back, I can’t even believe I brought other shoes and considered them, because these are just so absolutely perfect. (Even the groomsmen commented on my awesome shoes later in the night! That’s how you know you picked a winner.)
Pro tip: I put band-aids on my heels before I even put my shoes on. I didn’t want there to be any possibility of sore feet on my wedding day. And I’m happy to report that I had happy feet all day long!
The next tough decision was a hair flower. I bought maybe ten different flowers (ranging from $2 to $15). But the color was never right!! Argh! My dress was “technically” ivory, but I was really really close to being white. In the end, Mama Whale helped me DIY one from a Michael’s flower. Miss Camera has a great tutorial of how to do this here.
You can also get a pretty good view of my earrings here. Those were a Christmas gift from my aunt. I received so many compliments on those. They will certainly be worn over and over again during my lifetime. You can also get a glimpse of my beautiful engagement ring here, but perhaps you’d like to see all of the rings together, no?
If you recall, I forgot to get my ring resized before the wedding. Womp womp. But you’re looking at my actual wedding band. We used it in the ceremony, and then I swapped it for the stand-in. No regrets. (And no one noticed, not even Mr. Whale haha.)
Another tough decisions for a lot of brides is what sash to wear. I ordered my dress with the original applique unattached, so that I could choose a new sash. I ended up buying a length of the stuff they use to make sashes at a fabric store in Culiacan, Mexico while I was in town for my brother’s wedding. The seamstress just stitched it on. Perfection!
Finally, I’ve got a special surprise for you. Several months before the wedding, my MOH sent me an excited e-mail with the subject line, “You Must Do This!” Inside the e-mail were photos of brides with colored crinolines. Eeeeeeee! She knows me too well. Of course, I had to have one!
Mama Whale and I found the bright colored tulle in Mexico (where they love bright colors, just like me!) and she whipped one up for me!
It was a bit of an adventure putting it on, because I ended up waiting until after I had already put the dress on to get into the crinoline. Mama Whale got up close and personal with me.
Even though it really couldn’t be seen most of the time (my dress was seriously huge, y’all), it made me so happy knowing it was there. (Kind of like when you’re wearing super cute underwear. You just feel awesome, even if no one else knows.)
The girls and I were having so much fun at this point. We were absolutely giddy. It was the perfect time to head out into the beautiful scenery and snap some photos. That’s coming up next!
If you missed any part of this whale of a tale, get caught up here. Previously…
- My underwear was nabbed by the underwear bandit.
- We did last minute errands in Atlanta, then drove to Blairsville, where I had an emotional moment in the courthouse getting our marriage license.
- I got emotional at our rehearsal. Then it was off to bed, where my Ambien caused some unexpected weirdness.
- I awoke on my wedding day, and headed off to get ready with my bridesmaids (and give them some gifts!)
- My braided hairstyle was everything I ever dreamed of.
- After putting on my veil, it was time to head over to where I was getting married!!
- The bridesmaids got dressed, and then I got dressed!!
My Big Colorful Wedding 