What to wear, what to wear...

A lot of people have been asking what they should wear to our wedding. I realize that for a lot of my family in the Northeast, simply telling them "hill country chic" is not going to cut it. Here is a comprehensive guide to our dress code, complete with full-color photos!

Simply put, "hill country chic" means "dressy western." Everyone is encouraged to wear a nice pair of cowboy boots, but it is certainly not required. There are actually a lot of great vintage stores in Austin that sell some great boots for pretty reasonable prices (how does 40 bucks sound?) and a lot of them haven't even been worn all that much. If you want to wait til you get to town in March, here are some places to check out:

Cream Vintage - 2532 Guadalupe Street - www.creamvintage.com
Prototype - 1700 South Congress Avenue - www.myspace.com/prototypevintage
Uncommon Objects - 1512 South Congress Avenue - www.uncommonobjects.com

If you want a huge selection of brand new boots in a great range of prices and sizes I suggest Cavender's. There are a few locations in Austin and all over Texas but you can also order from their website.
www.cavenders.com/storelist.asp

UPDATE 7/23/12: www.countryoutfitter.com also has a fantastic selection of boots and western wear at some sweet prices!

I put together a few collages on Polyvore to give everyone some inspiration. *HINT: Click on any of the following photos to go to the Polyvore page and find out where to get each item. You can also click here to see a few more of my collages.*

For the ladies, there are tons of great dresses out there that would be perfect for this occasion and venue. Obviously knee-length works best for showing off those fab boots. Modcloth.com is one of my personal favorite sites for cute dresses.

The menfolk will be pleased to know that jeans are acceptable at this wedding! Why not mosey on over to Amazon and order yourself of Wrangler Cowboy Cuts? They are very reasonably priced!

Top it off with a nice pearl snap shirt and you'll be feeling like George Strait in no time! A nice sport coat is optional (Although I don't recommend a hat, even though they are in the photos below. That might be just a little TOO western.)

These are of course just guidelines. Anything that falls under the category of classy casual is really just fine but it is fun to have a little western flair sometimes! If you need any advice on buying the right western wear you can absolutely consult me or Derek directly. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Adventures in rummaging

A couple of weeks ago I dutifully got myself out of bed on a Saturday morning and logged onto Facebook. I patiently waited for 9 a.m. to come around, signaling the start of the Country Sugar rummage sale. I have to say this was quite a unique experience as they chose to conduct their sale entirely through the social network with a little help from PayPal. 

The event coordinating company, based in San Antonio and Austin, sold off some really great pieces that were left over from weddings they had coordinated in the past. One of the great things about my "vintage western" theme for our wedding is that fulfilling the "vintage" part is very easy to do using secondhand items. I managed to snag some really sweet pieces that will make great accents to our event design. 

                                  

I was especially excited about this green vintage tackle box. Derek is an avid fisherman and fishing has been one of his favorite hobbies from a very young age. It's what he does to relax and escape to the outdoors. I think it's really important to have elements that represent each of us incorporated into the wedding. I think this would be a great piece of decor for the groom's cake table or even on our sweetheart table. Not to mention I absolutely love the olive green color. It has a great rustic look with just the right amount of wear and tear.

I recently decided I want to incorporate birdcages into the wedding design. I just love the intricacies of the wrought iron that you often see in birdcages. They can be very functional as well. I think they will look awesome with some flowers poking out the sides either on the dinner tables or in random spots throughout the venue. I bought these as well as three others!

Brandi, the owner, even threw in these cute little birdies, along with some other pieces that went well with what I had purchased. She was really great throughout the whole process! I was the only customer in Austin so she arranged to meet me personally so I wouldn't have to drive to one of their offices in Buda or San Antonio.

 This whole shebang only set me back 50 bucks! I was so excited to find such great antique-y pieces for such great prices. I think I may have caught the rummage sale bug. Luckily for my wallet, not all rummage sales are as convenient as Country Sugar's unique Facebook sale.