Bridesmaids dresses & goodie bags

I haven't been one of those girl who always dreamed of planning her wedding so it was hard for me to get into the spirit, especially after whole almost-died and reset-a-year-later thing.  After Bun (Nathan) & I got engaged, I went to a local dress shop, tried on a few, picked a dress on sale, bought it, no big deal.  Well, things have changed. ;-)  I upgraded the dress because I felt after going through a personal living hell, I deserved something to be excited about.  Now, I have used a future Louis Vuitton purchase to push me through many physical therapy sessions but that was different.  That will be a reward I hope to buy soon for working hard and staying positive when it would have and still can be much easier to throw myself a pity party.  I haven't selected my bag yet but do venture into the store when I go to Green Hills from time to time.  Moving on, I needed a boost to get going with wedding planning and went to a ritzy boutique to find a specific dress after a doctors appointment really having no clue what the particular dress I wanted to see would cost.  It wasn't there but they told me it would be at an upcoming trunk show.  I decided to try on a few gorgeous gowns anyway.  The staff was helpful and let me indulge in several dresses even though I didn't have an appointment.  After I was finished, I made an appointment for the trunk show and informed my sissy we'd be going.  We showed up for the trunk show a few weeks later, I tried on the Jim Hjelm I had been obsessing over online:

Gorgeous, huh?  Still love it, but it just wasn't the one.  I had been thinking about this Lazaro gown I tried on my first visit and had showed Katie pictures of.  Tried it on, tried on others, and tried the Lazaro on one last time.  My niece who was 8 months at the time who had been quiet through all of the dressed let out an "ohhhhhh" and my sissy started to shed a few tears... followed by me.  I made a big purchase that day and it has been worth every penny.  I can't wait to wear it!

One wedding thing I did always know was that my bridesmaids were going to wear black and pearls.  I can't deny my love for a J. Crew dress and decided on the Juliet (below) for my girls.  3/4 have been able to snatch it off Ebay for great prices which makes me happy because I kind of have guilt over asking people to spend money.  I do think it's super rewearable, classy, and I know they are going to look beautiful.  I may need to require them to uglify themselves so no one upstages me. hahaha! 

Last, I found this bag while walking through Dillards:

Black & white (ok, ivory) damask and pink?! Perfect for my girls!  I did have to stalk this bag until it dropped into my price range.  It finally did and I called all over Nashville to get 3 of them.  In order for everyone to get the bag, I got a slightly bigger version for my MOH.  I'm going to fill it with goodies but I'm not sure what.  As of right now, I've just added a B&B Works travel size hand sani to it in Caribbean Escape- because it's pink and smells SO GOOD!

Ashley