Preparations for the wedding

The past few days have been crazy getting ready for my brother's wedding, which is tomorrow. In fact, I barely have time to write this post -- I'm about to leave for Hocking Hills where the ceremony will be tomorrow -- but I just had to keep you all updated on the excitement.

Inspired by all the hats at Kate and Will's wedding, my mom and I spontaneously drove to Louisville to buys hats for the wedding. We knew there would be a ton of great hats there since it's derby week.

Plus, it was a good excuse to go to our favorite Mexican food place, El Mundo.

Mmmmmm... prickly pear margaritas.

So many hats, hats, hats...

(About half a second after this picture was taken, that lady made us stop taking pictures.)

I adore the way this Brook's Brother's mannequin is dressed. More people should wear khaki suits in the summer. They are so classic preppy and Gatsby-esque.

This hat was cute and came in exactly the shades of green and blue that are in my dress, but I decided it looked a little too "old."

Instead I bought this one. If felt more "me."

All happy with my new hat boxed up and ready to go:

You know what's crazy. I realized after I bought my hat that it looks a lot like the one I saw Kate Middleton wearing the first time I even stopped and thought what nice style she had.

Don't you think?

***

Today, I finally finished the dress I made for myself to wear to the wedding. Sorry I couldn't do a step-by-step with photos for you, but my camera's been on the fritz lately.

I finished it in two days and I only burned myself with the iron twice!

(Aloe helps.)

***

My mom left me this cute note to remind me to bring my nail things.

Well, I'm off. Stayed tuned for another big wedding-related surprise that I can't talk about yet in case Jenn's reading. ;)

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Royal wedding

This was me at 5 a.m. this morning...

That's right. I was up watching the royal wedding. I was so excited! And though some said Kate's choice of dress (Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen) was too old fashion, I loved it. Lace is my favorite feature for a wedding dress, so I really loved the sleeves, and the box-pleated skirt was exquisite as well. Of course Kate would look lovely in anything, but I was particularly pleased with her choice.

I was also pleased with Pippa's white bridesmaid dress which was a slinky bias-cut gown with a cowl neckline and cute little cap sleeves.

I was, of course, also excited about the hats (many of them by Philip Treacy). Victoria Beckham's was one of my favorites. Can you believe she's rocking those heels as preggo as she is? Also, how amazing does Becks look in that morning suit?

Another favorite hat was the whimsical bow hat that Princess Bea wore. I heard commentators call it ridiculous and my own mother called it cartoonish, but for me it was fun, funky, and celebratory. You go, Bea!

My mom and I are considering wearing hats for my brother's wedding next weekend. It's almost Kentucky Derby time so it shouldn't be too hard to find some cute ones.

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The controversy of hand-me-down engagement rings

My cousin recently asked my mother if there were any legacy rings in our family. She told him that there weren't any diamond engagement rings that she knew of but that there was a ring of her grandmother's, set with diamonds and emeralds, that we are in the process of splitting up, so that all the women in my family can have a piece of jewelry with a few gems from it, and offered him some of the gems. Even this ring (which we are splitting up mostly because it is huge and gaudy and ugly) is not an engagement ring. The only thing close to that is a plain gold wedding band of my great great grandmother's. It's currently in the possession of my great aunt, and she's chosen me to inherit it after her death.

Marie Claire (which is, for the record, my favorite magazine ever) just ran a short piece under the headline "Love the Guy, Hate the Ring: His mother's sapphire? What was Prince William Thinking?" I silently replied that he was thinking how gorgeous the ring was and how happy Kate would be to have it.

The ring in question:

Prince William and Kate Middleton:

Charles and Diana

In this particular situation, I feel that William made the right choice (mostly because the ring in question is undeniably gorgeous), but I can see how a hand-me-down ring isn't always the best idea. In Marie Claire, a few women spoke about being offered gaudy rings with bulky settings and feeling that they couldn't turn them down. It's a hard situation to find yourself in, since being offered a family ring is such a great honor. Even though I'm not big on gold, I will wear my great great grandmother's ring proudly, but that's easy for me to say since it's not my engagement ring. If I were offered some gold band to sub for a nice cushion-cut diamond of my own in a platinum setting, I can't say I'd be overjoyed.

I guess that the best thing to do is to hope that your fiancé knows your taste well enough to refrain from offering you a pear-shaped diamond with a gold band. And if he does, maybe you can at least incorporate the stone in a new setting that suits your more.

And hey, you might get lucky like my friend Leah did and fall in love with a man whose grandmother's ring happens to suit your style perfectly. She just got engaged on Christmas Eve, and her fiancé gave her this gorgeous ring that looks like a snowflake and reminds me of the medieval-looking celtic-knot rings she usually wears.