Rue La La Style I Do

OK this is a post and run but wanted to share with this with everyone. 
Rue La La is having a wedding sale today - a few nice items for weddings - it already started about an hour ago, and some items are already sold out, but you still may find something you like.


http://www.ruelala.com/invite/malta

Also thanks for all the new comments - will respond later today (I promise) @doll, @integratedmemoirs @mrspancakes. @doll you got mail in about 5 minutes :) 

Wedding Day Scent

Rose Essentielle by BVLGARI

While I was in London earlier this year for my future-mother-in-law's seventieth birthday, she gave me the eau de parfum and lotion set for Bulgari's Rose Essentielle. 

Sadly while I was in Rome with K for my birthday, the parfum bottle broke and most of it split. 

Between moving to a new apartment at the beginning of September and my still not having unpacked, I thought I had lost the lotion. This morning however, while pottering around, I found it tucked away in a shopping bag :) . 

I had read in a bridal magazine a while back about picking a wedding day scent - don't ask me which magazine though, I have a bridal magazine addiction. I'll post about this someday. But I digress - this morning I Googled "wedding day scent" to see what others thought. I came across some interesting articles: 

Marie Claire thinks the perfect scent to wear when you say, "I do" should be soft and unabashedly romantic, the Wedding Channel thinks it depends on the type of wedding you're having, and Aisle Dash says it should be a memorable scent that conveys your joyous romantic mood and enhances the wedding environment.

I decided this morning, after finding my Rose Essentielle lotion, that my wedding scent will be Bulgari's Rose Essentielle. I will be purchasing the body wash, lotion and eau de parfum to use on our wedding day; this way I can layer on the scent per the advice from Martha Stewart on making the fragrance last all day. 

Description of the parfum:
Rose Essentielle 
The ultimate in pure luxury, Rose Essentielle is a tribute to the world's most prestigious flower - the rose. The ultimate floral expression of luxury and absolute femininity, it is a rose-floral interpretation of the Pour Femme fragrance.

Notes:
Notes: Rose Prelude, Blackberry, Feuille de Violette, Living Mimosa, Jasminum Sambac, Patchouli, Bois de Gaiac .

Style:
Luxurious. Feminine. Delicate.

The words used to describe the style of the of the parfum embodies exactly how I want to feel on our wedding day :) In addition, I will likely have a bouquet that consists of roses, orchids and maybe French tulips 

Did you have/ Will you have a wedding day scent? What was/is it, and how did you choose?  OR do you have a signature scent? OR do you associate certain scents with certain memories?

Shoe Shopping

I'm a shoe addict! I love shoes a lot!  Before I found the dress, I fell in love with this Christian Louboutin Shoes - I even blogged about them on my other blog . Sadly, I have called every store that carries Louboutin in the US even went as far as sending an email to the Paris Louboutin Store, and enlisting my friends in London to search as well. The shoes are completely sold out :(  I can't even find it on eBay!

So I have begun the search for a new pair of shoes, however, nothing has tingled my fancy as much as these.  My dress is alencon lace and tulle, again these Louboutin's would have been perfect !  Oh well  - here are the other options :

1. First up- Mr Christian Louboutin released in his current collection, a pair of shoes similar to Fetilo, the Tsar, but at a price point of $1390, it is definitely way above my willingness to spend - may be it will go on a (significant) sale soon enough. Although the ruffle in front may be a bit much

2. Fortitia Louboutin Sandals - released in the Spring/Summer 2010 collection along with my beloved Fetilo. Net-a-porter still has a few pairs but I think it's a bit too much for my dress

3. Parisienne Louboutin Pumps - love the tulle with the pretty blue insides and signature red soles. Although I love high heels, the comfortable ~3" heel on this would make it very comfortable to dance the night away 

4. Stuart Weitzman I do Pumps - love the "I Do" crystal details and the fact that this is alencon lace. If  I do go with these, I'm considering splurging on getting them resoled in tiffany blue  (one of our wedding colours) by these cobblers. I read about their work on Weddingbee.                                     

5. Pour la Victoire Carla Bridal lace pumps - love the tiffany blue sole, the "I Do" crystal details and the lace - priced at $93 from Zappos,  these are the most budget friendly 

So what do you think? Option 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 ? Or do you happen to know where I can find my dream Fetilo lace Louboutin shoes? 

The official ring proposal and dress shopping

Sorry I've been gone so long.. a lot has gone on in the past month. 


K officially proposed :) 
We were already planning our wedding after Rome. I was in London for a month between September and October. On the day he proposed, as he left for work, he asked if I would be attending my gym class that evening - I said no. Unknown to me he had plans to decorate the flat and propose - yup I messed up his plans. 
After work, he called that I should meet him at the mall near our flat so we could walk to a furniture store to check out some furniture for our bedroom. The store was closed, we walked back to the mall and explored BHS for decor stuff. It was getting late so we headed back home. 
After we got home, I asked what he would like for dinner and I went into the kitchen to start prepping. K calls from the living room and tells me not to bother making anything that he'll just have cereal... Anyone that knows my fiancé knows his love for cereal at ALL times of the day. So I walk into the living room and found him on his knee. 
He said, I want this flat to be our first home together, I love you and want to continue to get to know you better as we grow old together - will you marry me?
and of course I said yes !  
I'm a sucker for dates and countdowns. We started dating on March 7, 2007 ( 03.07.07) and K proposed 3 years, 7 months and 7 days later on October 14, 2010. 
Here's a picture: 

I ordered my dress :) 
OK so this was hard for me. I actually started looking at dresses back in April after the discussion we had in Rome about getting married. While in New Jersey with my FSIL (future-sister-in-law) shopping for her boutique in Nigeria, we went into a bridal store that had a sample of a dress I had tried at the beginning of my dress search. The sample fit beautifully, and I knew this was the one. The sample was in pretty much perfect condition just a minor fix needed to get it perfect, and possibly a hem (depends on how high my shoes are). So I purchased the sample for ~62% of the retail price, and the store owner threw in the alterations for free :) Bonus: New Jersey doesn't have sales tax on clothing :) I'll be going back end of February / beginning of March for my first fitting. I bought the dress at this lovely store in Wyckoff, NJ - Something Special for Someone Special. My consultant was Irene, the owner of the store, she was awesome! 
It took 10 stores over 2 continents, 4 different cities and my trying on over 60 dresses to find the one!
I won't post the pictures yet, but it's by Lazaro and it's a perfect mix of traditional, romantic and girly. I can't wait to wear it in Malta 

Before there was Rome...

There was Pittsburgh...

I had just moved to Pittsburgh (August 2006)... Well I had been there for about 3/4 weeks.
K was in his second (and final) year of his MBA and I had heard his name so many times in church but was yet to meet him. A few weeks later, a couple in the church was getting married and I finally got to meet him, honestly with all the talk that I heard previously, I expected to be completely blown away - rather my initial reaction was "that's all ?"


I saw him often in church but we never exchanged more than the cursory hi.

Unknown to me Mr K had his eyes on me, but hadn't found the right occasion to talk to me and I wasn't really looking to be in a relationship either... 

Fast forward several months to February 2007, I had been invited by a mutual friend to a Black History month event. I went with two of my girl friends, who soon abandoned me at our table to dance... 

Enter Mr K. 
He comes over to my table, we make small talk and I ask if he would like to dance (apparently, that is what he came over to ask me!)

We dance and later as I left, we exchanged numbers... 

He calls later that week but I was about to take a nap, so I told him to call later, which he did. We talked for 77 minutes (yes, I remember, I'm pretty good with numbers, dates and the like).

Unknown to me, the K's entire family had heard about this girl that he was going to marry...
Yes, and I was still oblivious... 

I had my first ah ha moment when he was talking to one of his brothers on the phone, who then asked to say hi to me - the conversation went like this:

brother: I've heard so much about you 
me (thinking): hmmm is he being polite or has K really been talking about me (#random insert: K talks about me a lot. I never realized this until he moved to London, and I would come visit and people would be like , "o you're The K, he talks about you ALL the time", not from one or two people but everyone...) 
me: (cheerfully) good things I hope
brother: hope K is taking good care of you
me (completely confused as to why K would be taking care of me)
me: o he's a good friend
bro: nice talking to you, i'm looking forward to meeting you...

I later ask K what that was all about, and he promises to explain everything later when he takes me out for my birthday in about two weeks... 

stay tuned for the one about the birthday dinner...