One of the first wedding-related things I did was fall in love with this J. Crew dress! The drape front is so simple and elegant.

Since the dress is so simple, I am excited to jazz it up with lots of personal touches. Especially these shoes, which I found online for about $30. Oh, how I love them!

At first I had planned to wear a big purple fascinator as well, which I picked up from an NYC street vendor for $25. But the more I tried it on, the more I worried about looking at my pictures twenty years from now and feeling about them the way Russ’s dad feels about the 70’s-tastic powder blue tux with ruffled shirt he sported at his wedding.

DIY Alert: Instead I’ll be making a flower out of ivory sweater fabric from an old sweater that I spilled coffee on and couldn’t get clean. Every time I did my laundry, I brought it along and threw it in hot water to shrink it and have slowly turned it into felt. I used the directions and templates from the most recent Martha Stewart Weddings to cut out peony petal shapes and stitched them into a flower that I will combine with various other bits of bling for a perfect winter wedding hair ornament. I’ll post pictures soon.

I found this beautiful jewelry set made from vintage pieces by Etsy seller portobello. The necklace chain is too short and will have to be switched out for something longer, but I love the brass color and the antique feel of these:

Since we’re having an early February wedding and I definitely want some outdoor photos, I also had to have some cozy winter gear to go with the dress. I found this little wool coat on Overstock.com for about $70:

DIY Alert: I also knit some elbow-length lace gloves to keep my arms cozy. Here they are in progress. I still need to take some shots of the finished work.