I Do Vera, Do You?

As many of you know, one of my favorite Vera Bradley patterns, Peacock, is being retired (well, its in the process of retiring...think of it as being in the DROP Program). Its also considered an unofficial wedding color. This has worked out really well in my opinion because not only do I have a real life example of how the colors work together, it gives me a quasi legitimate reason for buying up Vera Bradley products in the name of the wedding - lol.

MnOH Krissi and I are the Vera girls in the bunch. I can thank her for referring my favorite Vera retailer (that doesn't charge me sales tax for shipping to FL and gives free embroidery), and always being supportive of my Vera purchases. In fact, just recently during my pocket square post, she suggested Vera as a way to incorporate the color scheme while giving the guys a lil sumthin sumthin different.

Ya'll will be very proud of me. When it comes to issues of menswear, I feel compelled to run ideas by the PHI before I act on them. So when MnOH Krissi mentioned Vera, I loooved the idea.


She even suggested that we use these napkins and cut them down to pocket square size. Their Peacock pocket squares would coordinate, not exactly match, but it would still be an interesting pop of color, right?

Wrong. When I mentioned it to the PHI (obviously thrilled and excited), he calmly told me that he would wear a Peacock pocket square if I wanted him too but he did not think it was a good idea for the groomsmen. I love that the PHI is willing to wear what I ask, but that was the whole point! The PHI is still scheduled to wear a bout, and it looks like the guys will be in black pocket squares.

You wont even really be able to see the black pocket squares against their black tux!

I digress.

So I'm taking a small loss on the menswear front. I'm okay with it. As my consolation prize, I'll just continue to purchase Vera for myself. The PHI doesn't have to do Vera the way I do. He doesn't have to like it at all really. As long as he can stomach carrying them for me, its ALL good.

So tell me, is it just me, or do you like Vera too? Guys, would you wear Vera menswear? Even if a bride asked you to?

♥

Sans Bouts

I'm not sure what happened first. All I know is that I got it in my mind that we did not need boutonnieres, and that these could be a viable alternative for live flowers.


Here's another view. Pretty cute, huh? I had even considered incorporating some of them into the 'maids bouquets to tie it all together. The instructions seemed simple enough. All I needed was fabric, floral wire, floral tape, modge podge, scissors, and a little bit of time. Those last four things I already had. I found some cute teal and green fabric, the wire and the tape at (my fave) Hobby Lobby.

What seemed like a really cute idea turned out to be a complete and utter disaster! Its so bad I couldn't even take a picture to show you. I just threw it away. All in all, the materials cost very little, so I didn't take a huge financial hit on this crafting failure. If I had to mass produce them they would have been about $1 each, if that much. However, this was my leading contender for boutonniere alternative. So I needed a new plan.

Enter pocket squares.

When MamaP and I first discussed the guys going sans bout, she suggested pocket squares. At the time, I was not sure you could wear them with tuxes. Turns out, people do, and they're considered to be quite chic when done well. (Besides, its not like the guys are dying to wear flowers on their lapel - lol).

Once I found that out, I started thinking about colors. My first choice would some teal and green combo. That was quickly shot down. Then I thought green or teal would be nice. But I was having a hard time finding some online that didn't look cheap or weren't terribly expensive. MamaP suggested I contact our tuxedo "vendor," MW Tux to see if they could help us out. And it was at that point, that I decided to delegate this to the PHI.

Especially since he's always offering to help.

Yesterday while strolling through the mall, we stopped into MW Tux to ask about pocket squares. It was his idea to stop in there, since he hadn't completed his pocket square recon. Turns out that the tuxes already come with pocket squares! But they're black. Against a black tux. And the other options are ivory, red, and other fairly standard colors. They don't carry teal or green. So, if we wanted teal, green, or some combo, we'd need to find some other place to get them from.

What did we decide?
Black pocket squares it is. Something like this:

{found here}

To summarize:
- We decided against live flower boutonieres.
- I thought I could make fabric flowers to use instead.
- That was my first crafting failure.
- Change of plan: pocket squares.
- Tuxes come with black pocket squares.
- We're going to use the black pocket squares.

I love that the current plan manages to save us money. Boutonnieres from the florist would have been about $8 each, and the fabric flowers would have been $1 each. Their pocket squares won't cost us a single brown penny! I would have liked them to be in a wedding color, but frankly, I don't think the guys care. And if they don't care, I'm going to try not to care either.

Well, not that much.

Whatcha think? Boutonnieres: necessary? not needed? good place to save in the budget? opportunity to do something different? Do you plan to have your guys wear them? Why or why not?

♥

Lo Siento

Yes, I know what day it is...and it looks nothing like Saturday (or Friday or whenever it was I promised to come back and clear up the mysterious origins of that rather large picture). I'm sorry. Really, I am. Weekends kinda fly by on me, and I find myself trying to ride the ebs and flows that becoming an increasingly anxious person inflict on me.

I digress.

Im back today and I've come prepped to clear up a bit of controversy. What you have been looking at is a mock-up..mood board so to speak of my proposal for man wedding day attire. It occured to me on last Thursday that perhaps a tux was a bit formal for our morning wedding. Yes, tuxes are traditional but I think that sometimes tradition is motivated by people not knowing their options or being too lazy to look into some (sorry, stepping down from the soapbox).

I cant remember who I mentioned it to first. I'd love to say that I went to Jase with it first...but come-on, realistically I probably mentioned it to mom. I know Dani heard about it after I told Jase. Well mom was completely on board. Not only did it mean that Jase could get a pretty nice suit (I'm envisioning one that is tailored so perfectly that the only way to get it off would be to peel it off his sexy frame....ooops...sorry...re-focusing back to the topic...), but the groomsmen can wear black suits that they already own and we'd maybe do their ties as part of their groomsmen attire. And since all of the groomsmen have travel plans to add to their wedding budget, this may infact save them a bit of cash. Most men our age own a decent black suit...if they decide to get a new one for the occasion, thats totally on them.

Now I'd like to think that Jase is a relatively open guy. But this suit thing was an uphill battle. What you may fail to realize about JS is that his initial impression of things (esp. wedding related) is a bit of resistence...not because he is truly against the idea, but because its so new. And I know that about him, so when I prep myself to present a novel idea, I know I may have to do some fast talking and have some citations/sources/examples prompted and ready to throw out at a moments notice. Not to pop my own collar, but I usually do a good job of at least explaining myself, and alot of times he is completely on board when I'm done. And after my looong and fast (I talk/tpye a little faster when I'm trying to explain myself partially to combat being shut down....wanna get all my points out - lol) explanation of my seemingly brilliant idea, what did he say?

He still didnt get it. My baby needed a visual.

Again, not surprising. He is PHInominal (I made that up...cute huh) but he is still a man. And most men I know need to kinda see it before they get it. I've gotten around this with Jason in a variety of ways. Most of the time I actually show him something (email, in person, whatever), but when I cant give him a visual because it really only exists in my minds-eye, I have used an experiential approach (a la "imagine you are a guest at the wedding and you...) - which also works.

My baby is very smart :)

But anyway, enough of the how to handle JS lesson, I kinda anticipated him wanting to see it and had already started working up a plan. The result? That mysterious picture featuring suspiciously coincidental green and white attire! The plan is for Jase to be in the white (I love love loooove the white damask stripe tie -is the exact tie I had in mind) including a vest, and the guys will be in some sort of green tie. Although the wedding colors are a kiwi green, I'd be okay with another shade of green. Like I love the pin dot tie, but I know #1 the green is a clover rather than kiwi, and #2 the men-folk may reject a dotted tie. So I'm prepared for that...I'll get my polkas in somewhere! What will probably happen is the guys wear one of the lighter green ties. And I'm okay with that.

Really I am.

Plus, it will be very nice with the ladies in their plum. Maybe some kind of green/purple boutenieere (sp?) for the guys. Idunno, I havent gotten that far yet. What I do know is that im not feeling the groomsmen wearing vests, so I hope Jase isnt really married to that (pun intended- lol). If we were going to go the coordinated vest and tie look for everyone, we'd be better off getting tuxes. And the point is not to be quite that formal, but still stylish, sexy, comfortable, cool, (literally and fashion-y), and coordinated. So we'll just have to see.

So there! I've cleared up the controversy and you managed to learn a bit about how to communicate with my [PHInominal] future-husband in the process. I'd like to think that was worth the wait...but we already know my mind works in mysterious ways. So I'll just continue to think that, and you're welcome to think what you want.

♥

A Lil Sumthin Sumthin

Okay, since I've completely talked this up to at least 2 people (one being the PHI), I have to post this up, and I promise I'll come back later to explain. Now, how much later...Idunno. But I promise it will be today :)

Toodles!

xoxox