Hairplay

Ok, so I've got this...


To wear above my halter-style, ruffle-necked gown (more than that, I cannot yet reveal...).

But what to do with my hair?

We'll be on a (potentially windy) beach, and indoors latter in the evening. I want to look elegant, sophisticated, and timeless, as befitting the occasion.

And, at the same time, I want the whole day (weekend!) to be organic, fun, real. Contradictory? Maybe not. The inimitable Kate Winslet often channels the vibe I aspire to. I like the wabi-sabi of hair that is not completely perfect. To wit...

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Which do you like best with my fascinator and veil?

Ridiculous sale on wedding jewelry! TODAY

Ooooh, boy, I got sucked into the intertubes, while Mr. Barefoot was off having his bachelor party weekend with the boys at Tahoe. An innocent Google search for "pearl drop earrings," which seem the perfect complement to the dress and the ocean-side location, quickly led me down the rabbit hole, and soon I was zooming around oogling more varieties of pearl earrings than I ever knew existed.

But, my time wasting can be your gain! Kohl's is having a ridiculous sale on jewelry this weekend! Half off or more, on just about everything. Real stuff, like 14k gold* and sterling silver. Plus, free shipping if you spend more than $100. Plus, 15% off with the SEPTSAVE code. Go NOW - the sale ends this weekend.

Here are some of the beauties I considered...


These pretties are here

Totally classic.

These are so romantic!


Love these, but a bit more business-y than wedding-y.


Finally I settled on these - for less than $60!


I don't think I've ever shopped at Kohl's, thinking that it was a store for suburban moms to outfit their school-age kids. I've been educated.

* Probably not recycled, like the gold at Brilliant Earth. But they do have a statement saying their diamonds are certified by the Kimberly Process (which unfortunately turns out to be ineffective.)

Would it be too much?

... to wear this gorgeous bolero over my dress, which also has a ruffle around the halter neck?

Too many competing ruffles?

What if it were blue?


Though summer has finally come to the Bay, I'm starting to worry about the brisk wind off the ocean...

At the two month mark

Yep, the Knot (thanks, Macy's) and Wedding Wire kindly informed me that it was time to start freaking out last week. The timing was perfect, since I was already freaking out about starting my new job. That means I can multi-task my freaking out, get it out of my system now, and by October I should be the picture of serene calm. (Anyone who knows me will be snorting with laughter by now... but what is life without goals?).

Fortunately, Mr. Barefoot, prescient planner that he is, had just the antidote for the impending freakout: a weekend away. Just the two of us. No weddings to attend (that we haven't had an absolute blast with all our wonderful friends who have gotten married this summer), no wedding planning to do, no work, no stress... and no computers! Just us in the mountains. Back to the climbing and hiking that first brought us together. Dreamy.

Now that I'm back, I could take a look at the Knot's list, and start freaking out about what I've left undone. (Securing the officiant is one important piece that is still... in process.) But I keeping with the mellow, outdoorsy vibe of the weekend, and the ostensible purpose of this blog - to chronicle planning a wedding that steps lightly on the earth - I'm going to take a look at a list of 101 Ways to Create an Eco-Chic Wedding, via San Francisco Style Unveiled, and see how we're doing according to their list.

Feel free to play along at home, and/or add your own tips! I'd love to hear some that they haven't thought of.

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1.Have your ceremony and reception at the same location. check

2.Keep the wedding cake simple. fail - as you may recall, our baker, Edith Meyer, specializes in rather elaborate cakes. However, they are organic - the reason we chose her - so I think we get a pass on this one.

3.Use the linens that your reception site provides. check

4.Wear a dress made of raw silk. fail - Wish I could afford one! I checked the tag on my dress the other day at the fitting, and, sadly, it is pure petrochemicals: polyester. In penance, I wrote a lengthy post about the reasons for using organic flowers.

5.Use a reply postcard, rather than a note card that needs an envelope. check - We did one better - we requested online responses to cut down on paper use.

6.Purchase a simple wedding gown that you would wear again. HA!!! (that's a fail.) Broken*saucer will score this point, with her blue gown.

7.Create a wedding website, rather than using mailer inserts with your invitation. check

8.Use the beautiful Northwest moss as a centerpiece in a lovely, shallow bowl. hmmm... not available here. Seems very location specific.

9.Donate your wedding dress to a charity when the wedding is over. that's the plan... Brides Against Breast Cancer.

10. Choose bridesmaids dresses that your friends will wear again. working on it. My BFF didn't really go for the first dress I chose at J Crew, or it's $170 price tag. We're going to hit Nordstrom rack in a couple weeks to see if we can find something re-wearable and less expensive.

11. Have the groomsmen wear a suit they can use again for work. yep, they'll wear dark suits they already own.

12. Blow bubbles rather than tossing rice; rice kills birds when they eat it. check. Rice and birdseed are not allowed at our venue. I'm not really sure I want my friends pelting me with tiny objects, anyway!

13. Rent real glasses and dishes, as opposed to using disposable plates. check - from the caterer.

14. Use a florist who uses flowers from local or organic farms. check - planning to visit Local Flora this week.

15. Have your guests reply on the website, rather than send in paper reply cards. check - are these a little repetitive???

16. Register for your gifts at local shops, so as to save on shipping materials and gas. fail. This one is tricky - with so many guests from out of town, I think it's a lot easier for them to choose gifts from online shops. AND, do we really want ALL those people driving around to shop? It may actually be more efficient to have the UPS guy deliver the gifts.

17. Use recycled gold for your eco wedding rings. check - Went to Brilliant Earth, which uses recycled gold, last week to pick out our bands! Yipppeeeee!!

18. Select a wedding venue close to your home. check

19. Create your own bouquets from wildflowers. hmmm... a moment ago, I was supposed to hire an organic florist...

20. Ride a tandem bike home from the reception. that would require purchasing a tandem bicycle to replace the perfectly good used bikes we already have. Not gonna happen, though it's a cute idea.

21. Use potted plants as centerpieces for a more organic wedding. maybe? Mr. Barefoot is the green thumb... I'm trying to convince him to pot a bunch of succulents, but given our busy schedules, I'm not sure it's gonna happen.

22. Use biodegradable, compostable dishes and flatware made from cornstarch, sugar cane, or tropical leaves. this is confusing... I thought I was supposed to use re-usable dishes...

23. In lieu of a favor, give the money to a charity for a greener world. considering this... we also listed a couple of our favorite causes, including Equality California, on our registry page, in case our guests would like to make a donation to one of these organizations in lieu of a physical gift.

24. Use a green wedding registry. Does REI count??... maybe Gaiam or Earthsake?

25. Use cloth napkins, rather than paper. check, via the caterer.

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phew... this is a lengthy list! Out of 25 suggestions, we're applying 14 of them to our wedding. Given that a couple were redundant or contradictory, that seems pretty good to me.

Check back soon to see how I fared with the next 25.

Scenes from a cowgirl wedding

The farm gate, with flowers and a bit of tulle to indicate the festivities to come...

Look at those dark, dark cloud obscuring the Grand Teton. Fortunately, they cleared in time for an outdoor ceremony. A snap decision was reached at 4:00, and chairs were set up, overlooking the river in front of Dr. Cowgirl's parent's house.



Dr. Cowgirl and her husband. Dontcha love a wedding with an Airstream, where even the groom wears boots?

The escort cards reflected the local flora, and the couple's love of native plants. (Bay Area friends were all seated at the California poppy table.)




Inspiration for the escort cards...

But it was the little nieces, four-wheeling in the pink Jeep, who stole the show!

To the post office...

After months of work with the creative wizards at Printable Press and Mercurio Brothers, our invitations finally went in the mail on Tuesday -- just a day shy of two months prior to the wedding.


It turns out that, in addition to his many other talents, Mr. Barefoot is something of a calligraphy prodigy. That is, he picked up my calligraphy pen, screwed around for awhile, and ended up addressing all the envelopes in better style than I could ever muster! I had to address a few stragglers, for whom I was lacking addresses on Sunday, and was not able to match his artistic flair. I love uncovering these hidden talents! (He also makes a mean eggplant Parmesan - never my favorite dish, but much more inviting in his rendition.)

After visiting three different post offices to get enough King and Queen of Heart stamps for our invitations -- which coordinated nicely with the sage green envelopes from Paper Source (with 30% post-consumer waste, yay!) --

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into the mailbox they went.

And our first RSVP was today! This thing is becoming real. People are going to show up ready to party!

I remember the invitations I got to weddings right after college: an outer envelope, an inner envelope, tissue, vellum, response cards, reception cards, map cards... paper everywhere. We wanted our invitation to be much simpler, while still beautiful and conveying the necessary information.

So, two pieces of paper: the invitation and the map card. That's it. The double-sided map and direction card (to help people find our obscure location), also directs guests to our wedding website, where they can indicate their response for all the wedding weekend activities. The web responses should also be easier to track.




I love the way Kimi, of Printable Press, coordinated both sides of the map card with our invitation, which was based on this.
And yet feels completely our own, in shades of brown and green. (Can you see those lovely deep imprints from the letterpress?)

Both Printable Press and Mercurio Brothers were great to work with. They were patient through several rounds of revisions, were responsive throughout the process and completed everything in a timely manner (or even earlier than promised.)

Letterpress at Mercurio Brothers is half or less the cost of other places - an added bonus was being able to easily drop by on my way to and from campus to check proofs in person. However, all ordering is done via the web, so even if you don't live down the street from Mercurio Brothers, it's worth checking out.

My first (and only?) dress fitting

More than two months ago, the bridal salon phoned to say that my dress had come in. They encouraged me to make an appointment for a fitting right away. I procrastinated for a while, and then admitted that the reason I didn't want to try on the dress was that I was worried it wouldn't fit!

Because I was between sizes, the bridal consultant had encouraged me to go with the smaller size, which would require fewer alterations, assuming that I lost "five to eight pounds." With long, looooong desk-bound workdays for my huge deadline, I was stressed out, snacking unhealthily, and getting no exercise.... not conducive to losing weight.

There's nothing like a deadline to bring priorities into focus, and while I postponed the fitting to finish the dissertation, I tried to get my eating habits and exercise routine back on track, with all the great comments from here.

The result: the dress fits as though it was made for me! Perfectly! And looks amazing with my Jimmy Choos! Woo-hoo!!!