Winter Rehearsal Dinner

Can anyone else believe it is already December?  The fact that it was 68 degrees here yesterday doesn't help, but also for me time seems to be flying by.  I really cannot believe Lisa is getting married next weekend.  She had an eighteen month engagement (like we are having) and the big day is around the corner.  I truly cannot wait to stand by her side.  However, I need to figure out what to wear to her rehearsal dinner, and then I can be fully ready to go.

As a bridesmaid I always recommend wearing something you love to the rehearsal dinner.  Remember, you get to pick this dress so have a little fun with it!

1  Plenty by Tracy Reese  Dress / 2  Malene Birger  Necklace / 3  Yves Saint Laurent   Clutch /         4  Commando  Tights / 5  Barneys New York CO-OP  Ankle Boot 

Loving Leopard

This week in Chicago the weather has been ALL over the place.  I am savoring these last few days with warm temps.  Although it seems like it is the middle of summer I know the cold weather will be back in a blink of an eye.  That is okay, though because I have a new obsession that works a little better with the cooler temps...

 

 

Flats  / Belt / Heels / Dress / Fur

RED LACE

With the colder weather coming here I for one am not looking forward to wearing only dark colors when it comes to rehearsal dinners and weddings.  I have several events coming up and I cannot figure out what to wear to ANY of them.  While doing some online browsing I came across two dresses that I think would make a statement.  The key to their perfection is red lace.

Free People - $128 / Asos - $79.16

The best part about both of them is they are under $150.  Perhaps you will see me in one of these some time soon:)

Season Limbo

As the weather fluctuates between hot and cold I feel like I am in limbo as far as what to wear.  Do I still get to wear my summer neon's when its warm, or do I have to switch to fall?  As far as shopping goes it is always fun to get to switch seasons.  Here are some items I would love to be wearing...

Manolo Blahnik - Pumps / Asos - Sweater / Vince - Sweater / Rebecca Minkoff - Jacket / Splendid - Flats / Topshop - Dress

Dorothy Perkins

I have been doing research online for dresses that won't cost half my paycheck, while still adding some high fashion into my wardrobe.  Enter Dorothy Perkins.  I have seen some of her dresses from time to time on other blogs, but I never really put much thought into it.  I just checked out the site for the first time and there are so many dress options all under $100.  Also, if you sign up for the newsletter you receive 15% off your purchase. 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

Edith Hart

When it comes to online shopping, your options may be limited to the traditional department stores and major online powerhouses like shopbop.com.  Don't get me wrong I visit these sites daily, but sometimes I would love to order from one of those hidden gem boutiques.  That is why yesterday I was so thrilled to find out my favorite Chicago boutique, Edith Hart, has just launched their online store.  For those of you that haven't heard of Edith Hart or don't live in Chicago, be prepared to love every item in the ENTIRE store.

The reason I am so obsessed with Edith Hart is they have so many great options for the professional bridesmaid in all of us. Here are just a few of my favorite dresses they offer:


Snap Dragon Zip Dress

Fever Pitch Dress

Valley Song Dress

Goldrush Dress

Here are some of my favs, I promise you will love the site so head on over to Edith Hart and check it out!  Also, how amazing does my friend Siera's little sister look as the model?

NO Tights Please!

As fall approaches, wedding season kicks into full gear for me.  I have at least one wedding every month until January, and then they pick back up in April.  With so many weddings taking place out of town, it also means I have several rehearsal dinners coming up.  If you know me well you know I am not a big fan of tights.  I know, I know, they keep you warm, they come in different patterns, colors, materials, I don't care I do whatever I can to be without tights for as long as possible.  I think it has something to do with wearing tights for ice skating for so many years, but I just despise them. I usually cave around Febuary, but until then I do what I can to stay warm and still wear dresses. 

At the actual wedding you are normally fine, if you are staying in the hotel you get ready and go down to the reception, easy no tights required.  The rehearsal dinners, however, require you to leave the hotel, which means you are destined to be cold.  That is why a leather jacket is my favorite go-to in this situation.  Stay warm, stay cute, stay happy.. NO tights needed (for me at least)!

Leather jackets can get pricey, but there are always a few gems out there.. here are some of my favs:

Rebecca Minkoff $529 / velvet By GRAHAM & SPENCER $169 / Bod & Christensen $365 /                 BB Dakota $102  / Veda $334 / Allsaints Spitalfields $395

Spice Up Your Ears

So you have a wedding coming up and cannot justify purchasing a brand new dress?  No need! There are plenty of ways to feel just as special in your favorite LBD (that stands for little black dress and yes I need to write that out because you will be surprised how many people questioned that when I asked my bridesmaids to wear one to my luncheon!).  Think about it, if it's a black dress and you love the way you look in it why change it?  Just ACCESSORIZE differently than you did the last time you wore it. You can spruce up your look by pairing it with a different pair of shoes, maybe adding a belt, or tossing some new jewels into the mix.  At the past few wedding events I have attended I have been seeing many girls with black dresses paired with killer earrings.   So today in honor of all the beautiful earlobes I have been admiring I have found six different pairs under $100 that would  revive any LBD.

Bauble Bar - Kate Spade - Nadri - Kendra Scott - Lauren by Ralph Lauren - Michael by Michael Kors

All Day I Dream about THIS Shoe!

Today I found out some exciting and scary news... Christian Louboutin is opening a boutique in Chicago.  If you have ever been to one they are just as beautiful as the shoes.  Anyways, in honor of this fantastic news I felt it was appropriate to stop the shower advice and discuss with you all my dream shoe.  Everyday Occasionally, I search the designer shoe departments online to see if there is anything new I would want for my wedding shoe.  Okay, so I know my wedding is more than a year away, but if I happen to find something now that I can't get out of my mind I would just have to buy it.  Well, haven't found that shoe yet, but I did find my right now, have to have it, wouldn't eat for a month so I can use my pay check, IMPOSSIBLE to find dream shoe.

Christian Louboutin Pigalle Neon Pump

I saw them about four weeks ago and there was a size 37 available online.  Of course responsible Traci said to herself, "Yes, they are amazing, but how long will they be in style, you don't need them.  Maybe you can justify if they were a staple item, but this cannot be justified."  So I didn't get them, although they would pop in to my mind every few minutes days.  Last week I decided this is ridiculous I really just want these I have so many weddings coming up and I can pair this with so much in my closet they are awesome just splurge and get them.  So I went back to the Neiman Marcus website and all that was left was a size 41!  At this point I am devastated.  When I make up my mind I am going to splurge I then cannot get it out of my head.  I start to google "Christian Louboutin Pigalle Neon Pump" and all I can find are weird sites that are obviously selling knockoffs.  I then confide in my bestie, coworker, and bridesmaid, Hillary, and we did a little research.

Ashley Madekwe - They make her outfit.

Kim Kardashian - They make her outfit.

Brooklyn Decker- They make her outfit.

So basically, we discovered not only are they my dream shoe, many celebrities are wearing them and just as I suspected, they are MAKING their outfits.  I try desperately again to find these shoes online and now the size 41 is no longer available.  Instead this is what it says on the Neiman Marcus site.

At this point I am beside myself and do what any crazy normal person would do, I start an online chat with a customer service representative at Neiman Marcus. I ask if this style will be returning and if there is a waitlist.  I am then informed the news I was dreading.. this shoe has been discontinued.

So basically, I am shit out of luck and my dream will not come true.  OK I know this is a little extreme and again I DO NOT NEED A NEON CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN PUMP, but this is my blog and I promise to always write what is on my mind.

Also, I just want to point out the pump is amazing even if it was black or nude (which they are sold out of in both colors because I tried to get the black).  A dear friend of mine did manage to snatch up the last pair of size 37 nude Pigalle 120mm on the us.christianlouboutin.com/ site.  Do you know there is NO tax and shipping is free?  Anyways, I know this post may be a little over the top, but a girl can dream about neon yellow shoes.  So that is what I will do, I will dream.  If any of you have any suggestions on how to get these on my feet I would love to hear.

THANKS for reading and have a lovely weekend.  If any of you have these swoontastic dreamy amazing shoes wear them proud and send me pictures.  On second hand I can't bare to see them anymore so please hold the pictures.

xoxo!

Hidden Secrets

At my brunch this past Sunday my friend was wearing the most adorable dress and she mentioned she just bought it.  When I asked all the girls to wear an LBD for the shower I never meant they had to buy a new dress.  However, my friend assured me it wasn't expensive at all.  I am telling you this dress looked like she ordered it off of shopbop.com and it was a good $300 dollars.  She then let out her secret... it was from ASOS!

If you are not familiar with ASOS I am excited to rock your world on this rainy Chicago Friday.  Like shopbop.com they offer free shipping, however the prices are super affordable.  On their website they define themselves as "Directional, exciting and diverse the ASOS Collection makes and breaks the fashion rules. Scouring the globe for inspiration, the London based Design Team is inspired by fashion's most covetable trends; providing you with a cutting edge wardrobe season upon season."

With shower season in full swing, I want so many new dresses, but I just cannot bring myself to spend such high prices.  I am going to show you just a few of the hundreds of options they have available.

ASOS Dress With Bow Jacquard - $28.18
ASOS Dress with Lace Top - $72.72
ASOS Skater Dress With Lace Cross Back -$72.72
ASOS Summer Dress with Pleated Lace Bodice $54.54
ASOS Skater Dress with Zip Back -$23.63
ASOS Sleeveless Mini Dress With Double Skirt -$63.63

Have a great weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun:)

The Newest Wedding Shoe...TOMS

This morning I was going through and deleting my usual spam emails when I came across one very amazing one titled "TOMS for Weddings."  That's right you heard me they are now making TOMS for weddings.  I wouldn't really wear them for my wedding shoe but how comfortable would they be if I wanted to take a break from my heels?  What about as a bridesmaid gift?  That could be so adorable.

How about TOMS being my something blue?  Get similar styles at Nordstrom

The Groom can even give them out!

Even the younger members of our bridal party can join in on the fun!

Engagement Outfit

If you read my engagement story here then you know I bought a new outfit for what I thought was an interview with CS Brides Magazine.  I also thought I was going straight to a birthday dinner after.  I wanted to look cute and trendy without being too overdressed. 

Here was the final product:

This is not the best picture but the only one I had of my jacket open

Another just OK shot but at least the shoes made it!

I knew I wanted to wear my Alice + Olivia black legging/skinny pant so I had to just find something neutral for the top (remember I was told no patterns)

These are not the exact ones but I love these

In order to achieve this look (with a schedule that did not allow me to hit any shops) I went directly to Shopbop. At Shopbop you can order whatever you need and it arrives the next day via free shipping. It also comes with free returns and packaging that can be reused. I normally order a few sizes if I am unsure and then return the one I am not happy with.

via

Do you know this is called the Fiance Blazer?  I kept telling David all night, but he didn't really seem to think it was as funny as I did.

I paired it with my pearls David had given me for our anniversary this year and these shoes...

I didn't want to wear my sparkly Jimmy Choos to an interview but somehow David convinced me I should.

I kept telling David I was going to wear my black boots, but he kept saying you will have more fun in your sparkly shoes.  I should have guessed we were getting engaged but I didn't!  I am so happy I wore them honestly my feet didn't hurt at all, but that might have been because I was floating on cloud nine the entire night:)

Shower Must Have.. Nude Shoes

Now that it is March wedding shower season is just around the corner.  I love getting dressed up in the middle of the day to shower my friends who are getting married.  I normally never know what to wear to these events, but my go to is always nude shoes.  In the summer and especially during the day they dress any outfit up and hardly ever clash.  If I was in the market for a new pair of nude shoes I would definitely be able to pick from one of these...

1. Giuseppe Zanotti 2. Yves Saint Laurent 3. Christian Louboutin 4. Jimmy Choo
5. Jessica Simpson 6. Steve Madden 7. Valentino 8. Pour La Victoire

Rehearsal Dinner Dress Dilemma

One of my good friends, Nicole, has her sisters wedding coming up in a few weeks.  She has been searching for the perfect dress to wear to the rehearsal dinner.  As the maid of honor, who is also the sister of the bride, you want a dress that makes you feel special but that doesn't outshine your sister.  Since the bridesmaid dresses are a color for the wedding,  she decided she wanted to stick with black or navy for the dinner. 

Naturally, I told her I would help find her a dress.  As I started surfing the web I realized how hard it really is to find a perfect LBD in February.  Nicole doesn't want the dress to be boring, but she also doesn't want to wear anything too trendy that she will look back at in a few years and wonder what she was thinking. 

So after much research here is what I have come up with... hopefully one of these can be the ONE!

1. Tibi 2. Elizabeth and James 3. Alice + Olivia 4. Rachel Zoe 5. Rebecca Taylor 6. Joie 

Rain Rain Go Away

So last night when I finally got around to packing for my trip to Austin for Kate's Bachelorette party, I was stumped at what to bring.  I checked the weather yesterday and it says it is supposed to rain all weekend long! I know what I want to wear at night, I am sticking to my cute dresses and blazers regardless of the weather, but I cannot get away with casual dresses and shorts when it is cold and rainy during the day.

When I lived in Austin I spent almost every rainy day in bed watching friends with my roomies, or walking the aisles of Wholefoods munching on their flatbread from the sandwhich counter (trust me this Wholefoods kicks any others ass even the new one in Chicago).  I have no idea what to do when its raining and I have an even worse idea what to wear.  I started to feel helpless so I needed to take a break,

This inspired me to pour a glass of vino and start searching the web for rainy day must-haves.  If I only had these items in my closet I would be prepared for the weather Austin has in store for me:

Burberry

Hunter

Missoni

I might be taking a lunch break, and heading to Michigan Ave before my flight tonight!

Straps or No Straps?

After Tuesday's post I have been even more excited for my vacation to Aruba coming up at the end of March.  As much as I love finding new ways to get a fake tan, nothing beats lounging all day in the sun sipping on yummy drinks.  The constant daydreaming has inspired me to start looking for a few new bathing suits.

 I did a little research and found this:

Via

I love this suit, like so much and I have to buy it.  The problem I am facing is I am standing up in a wedding at the end of April and we are wearing a strapless dress.  Since I have become a professional bridesmaid I have given myself a cardinal rule of no straps in the sun.  Now, what do I do?  If I buy this suit and get a tan line because I am enjoying myself and forget to take down the straps, what will I do in the middle of a Chicago winter to erase a tan line?

I really want to buy it, so I have come up with a plan.  I will wear this the second day of vacation.  I normally get the biggest tan lines from the first day when I go from pale to not so pale.  If I wore it day one, I would be struggling to fill them in the entire trip.  Now if I wear it on day two, I will already have a base, and I will have the rest of the trip to blend the tan lines.

What do you think?  Is it worth it?  I just love it so so much!

Shower Look: Part 1

Happy Monday!  Come spring my weekend days will be spent attending showers for all the weddings I have this summer and fall.  I look forward to the showers because they are a fun excuse to get all dressed up in the middle of the day. 

This is my idea of a dream shower ensemble.....

1. Milly 2. Alexis Bittar 3. Miu Miu 4. Essie 5. Bobbi Brown 6. Pour La Victoire 7. Kendra Scott

Fab Five Friday: My First Time Guest Blogging!!

I promise next week I will be back with a new Flashback Friday, but today I can't contain my excitement that I am making my debut as a guest blogger!  If you are from Chicago, then hopefully you have checked out one of my favorite stores in the Gold Coast, SARCA.  One of my dear friends, Siera, is the manager and she asked me to guest blog on their "Fab Five Fridays."   So please, go on over to SARCA and check out my Fab Five!! 

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Allison Parris- Beaded Fringe Dress $650 

When I am a bride and it is time for me to choose a rehearsal dinner dress hopefully SARCA still has this Allison Parris piece.  It is fun and flirty and any bride wearing this would grab the attention of everyone in the room.

Finders Keepers-Magic Dance Dress $175

I love this LBD for a bachelorette party. What better time to look hot than when you are helping a best friend celebrate her last fling before the ring.  You can bet I will be wearing this in February at a bachelorette party in Austin.

Station to Station dress $165

The most important duty of a bridesmaid at a shower is to help the bride open gifts, and fast.  Why not make sure you look fabulous doing it? The back on this dress will photograph perfect and the yellow is such a nice color for a spring shower.  

Friend of Mine dress $175

Honeymoon Hot?  Yes please!  Just because the wedding is over, why not rock this dress on the sands of some picturesque beach?  Of course I love Maxi dresses, but if you still have your banging body from the wedding you should 100% flaunt yourself in front of your brand new hubby in this Friends of Mine dress.

Damen+Division Bridesmaid Earrings $150

OK, I swear, when I picked these I had NO idea they were called the "Bridesmaid Earrings," but apparently the designer knows whats up. When you are a bridesmaid in a wedding you don't get to wear what you want to the wedding, so I like to make it count at the rehearsal dinner. These earrings are the perfect way to dress up your favorite LBD.

What to Wear When you're NOT the Bridesmaid

If you are not a bridesmaid you get the luxury of choosing what dress you wear to a wedding. You can go to your store of choice, try on plenty of options, and walk away with a dress you would happily wear to two or three of your upcoming weddings.  The problem is that singledress will probably be featured in all of your friends Facebook albums and pretty soon that dress you loved will be hanging in the back of your closet.

 Aside from the two weddings I am standing up in this year, I am a guest at six others.  As a Twenty-Five year old I cannot sanely budget a brand new dress for every event I attend.  I would freak out, but I found the answer... Rent the Runway!   I learned about RTR from my one of my best friends that rented this Tibi dress for a wedding we attended in October.

If you are new to weddings you may be new to RTR so let me explain.  You can rent a designer dress for a fraction of the price. 

You pick from over 95 designers and they have dresses for any occasion.  Once you find a dream dress:

1. Select a size (they let you pick a second size for free)
2. Pick a delivery date (they suggest 1-2 days before the wedding/event)
3. Add any accessories (they give you tons to choose from)

If it is a destination wedding they will send it directly to your hotel.  I would always bring a backup just in case it doesn't fit, but with two sizes to pick from it usually does.  For a small additional charge you can pick a second dress and they will send you two sizes of that dress as well!  If none of the dresses you receive fit you can send them back for no charge.

Ok, now that I explained it lets play....  I would for sure rent this dress:

Pair it with these:

I obviously would get so much use out of these I really should just buy them.
Valentino

Then to finish the look...

I would rent these:

And borrow this from my Mom:

Judith Leiber

Rent the Runway is an affordable way to wear your dream designer and ensure you are not wearing the same dress to every wedding you attend this season!

LOVE the Shoes You're With

As I wrote yesterday, you do not need to LOVE the dress, but when the bride gives you the freedom to pick out your shoes...  LOVE the shoes. 


Do yourself a favor before wedding season begins, and splurge on a pair of shoes you will be excited to walk down the aisle in.  You will most likely never wear the dress again, but those shoes will become a staple in your wedding wardrobe.


If you are a bride please think twice before requiring your bridesmaids to wear the same shoes, It's really important our feet get their own identity.

These satin Christian Louboutins are the ultimate wedding staple, I have worn them in all four of the weddings I have been in (it just so happens everyone had me wear black)
Christian Louboutin

 

I really wish someone would require me to wear nude shoes.  Please?
Valentino

The sparkle will look great peaking out of a long black dress
Sergio Rossi

I am standing up in a wedding in April and the bride requested we wear silver.  When the Las Vegas Scoop had 25% off during Black Friday I knew I just needed to get these (for the wedding in April of course)!
Jimmy Choo