What to wear?

Mr. SDP and I have been invited to a pre-wedding celebration for some friends who are getting married tomorrow. {The wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were held last night...since we're not in the wedding and we're in-town guests, we were not involved.}

Tonight's celebration - I'm guessing - will include all wedding guests. I love this idea, don't you? I think the bride and groom will enjoy being with their guests two nights in a row.

Anyway, the invitation looks like this:

The theme is a "bluegrass supper" and I expect there will be bluegrass music and southern cuisine. So, what to wear???

Here are a few options from my closet...

I wore this dress to my best friend's bridesmaid luncheon - it has a very Tory Burch feel to it with the color scheme and pattern. I don't think it's the most figure flattering dress I've ever worn, but I received a lot of compliments on it.

Secondly, there's this Fumblin' Foe dress...it doesn't really scream southern, bluegrass, or anything like that, but it's really cute. I've only worn it once and it was to the Caty's rehearsal dinner a few weeks ago. {I wear it sans belt!}I'm probably most leaning towards this dress, from Liz Claiborne, that I wore to the Summer Soiree earlier in the month. I think it is the most stunning and with August upon us, there probably aren't many more opportunities to wear it. One important thing to note about all of these options is the fact that tonight's crowd is totally different from any of the crowds where I've worn the other dresses. (Women know how important this is!!!)

I need a pedicure...

...like Michael Jackson needs a final resting place. My feet are still sore from the wedding festivities that took place last weekend. Everything went very well; the weather was gorgeous! My bridesmaid dress was altered to perfection, but the shoes! Actually, I can't blame the shoes...

They're very well-made Ralph Lauren 3'' heels - it was just all of that standing and kneeling, standing and kneeling that I had to do during the Catholic ceremony. The floor was a beautiful marble, but not all that forgiving, if you know what I mean.

I did keep my high heels on through my toast at the wedding reception, before quietly slipping on my much lower sandals. Several other bridesmaids did the same thing, so I didn't feel so guilty.

All in all, the wedding was a stunning event! And yes, I had to give a toast at the reception as the matron of honor. That was a first for me. I've always given toasts at the rehearsal dinner. In fact, I'm somewhat known for them. I still gave a toast at the rehearsal, but it was more personal. At the reception, I kept it short and succinct, recited a little George Eliot, but it was heartfelt. If you have to do a toast, I highly recommend this book...

MOB Meltdown

One week from tomorrow, the wedding festivities for my dear friend Caty will begin!

As the MOH, I'm finishing up last little details. Oh, you know - putting photos together to display at the rehearsal dinner, preparing the itineraries for the bridesmaids, and booking the organist and cantor. That's right. Our dear Caty didn't have an organist or cantor booked to play her traditional Catholic wedding mass.

When the MOB found out about this on Monday, she had a meltdown. MOH to the rescue! There was enough finger-pointing going on; I just had to step in. Caty had booked (and by booked I mean: asked her wedding planner to do it) a string quartet and she thought that was sufficient. She's not the one who works for the Catholic church. That's the MOB, hence the meltdown. In her defense, she lives several states away so she's not in the loop 100%.

It's all good. I was able to get the musical director at the church in touch with the MOB and they worked it out. PHEW! Crisis averted.

By the way, if she makes me wear a shirt like the one in the photo above, I'll have a meltdown!

3 years and counting...

Today is a special day in the SDP househould. It was exactly 1,095 days ago that we said "I do" on that sunny Saturday in Jacksonville, FL. {my hometown}

I wish we could do it all over again! The ceremony, the reception...here's a photograph my father took of the reception locale the day of the wedding, the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.

Oh, to be a bride again...the role of wife isn't so bad either! This year is leather...I wonder what Mr. SDP will come up with!