To mermaid or not to mermaid? That, is the question. At least in bridal fasion.

 

 After months of vehemently vowing to go with a column/sheath gown with not even the slightest hint of pouf, I'm not back to eyeballing mermaid silhouette gowns, like the Tatiana (pictured above) by designer Lea-Ann Belter. At this point I'm pretty much driving my poor sister insane. Peek inside my head for a moment, why don't you: "Go ahead and cancel the appointment with that wedding atelier/salon...no...don't cancel it...no...I don't know", you get the drift." Fun stuff for my loved ones, as you can imagine.

Image seen on Lea-Ann Belter Bridal

New year, new plans, new wedding

Ack! Yet again, I find myself apologizing to...no one? Readers? Blank cyperspace? For lack of posts the last two months. Amidst multiple changes all happening simultaneously, some bad, some good, I let my poor Couturiette go without fresh posts. For shame!

Among the major good changes is in late January, the fiance and I got to go on a site visit to check out our wedding location, and it was a fabulous trip. Fabulous, I say! We're doing a destination wedding in Mexico and visiting this time around was actually the first time I'd ever been. We chose a historic site originally built in the late 1700's, early 1800's in the Yucatan Peninsula, an old hacienda and the place was totally, completely magical.

I'm not so great on, or crazy about, event planning. This is especially ironic since event planning has been a central component of two past jobs I've had. I can't seem to make myself care about things like matching napkins, napkin rings or table placements.

However, one thing I was set on with our mutual love of travel was having a destination wedding at a great, romantic location for a vacation, and our spot definitely fits the bill.

Since I'm mired in wedding planning efforts right now, some gorgeous shots from around the wed-blog-sphere I'm using for inspiration:

How lovely is this? She looks straight out of a book. Is "wood-nymph done right" an actual style?

 Love, love this. I think this was shot by Elizabeth Messina, one of the queens of gorgeous, vintage-y, romantic shots. Anyone looking for bridal inspiration that incorporates this ethereal, delicate, otherworldly vibe should immediate check out Elizabeth's blog, Kiss the Groom.

Lovely crowns and garlands!

Images courtesy of Style Me Pretty and Etsy

Blushing brides

I've begun some casual forays in to wedding dress shopping, stopping in to a few appointments. It is FUN, absurdly, ridiculously fun, even for a girl who never thought she would be so "into" weddings or wedding dresses, such as myself. Trying on all of these delicate, fairy-like gowns feels like absolute luxury, and I'm so excited for the time when I can buckle down and look for dresses for real, which is still a few months to come.

In the meantime, I've been having a ball pinning all my bridal finds to various Pinterest boards and madly bookmarking every lovely gown I see. My faves thus far:

 Carolina Herrera Spring 2012 Bridal

Marchesa Spring 2012 Bridal

 Monique Lhuillier Spring 2012 Bridal

Images courtesy of zankyou.com, Marchesa, and BellaNaija.com

Incredibly pretty and incredibly...affordable?

For most brides-to-be, I'm assuming the last adjective that we want to hear our dress described as is 'budget'. The word budget used to bring all sorts of connotations that you least want associated with your gown..poor design, poorly constructed, and tacky.

Lately, I've been pleasantly surprised to see an array of gorgeous gowns hitting the market in really realistic price points. All of the beauties below are under $1,500, can you believe it? In the bridal world, that's pretty much the equivalent of clearance-liquidation-going-out-of-sale-forever prices.

From top to bottom: Camellia bottom at jlmcouture.com, georgette gown at nicolemiller.com, Morgan dress at 57grand.com.

Images courtesy of http://www.marthastewartweddings.com

Reddoll by Tatyana Merenyuk

One of the fun parts of being newly engaged? Looking at dresses, of course! While not intended as a traditional wedding dress, this flowing number by designer Tatyana Merenyuk would make a beautiful bridal gown.

Other looks I love from her Reddoll collection:

Images courtesy of http://reddollbytm.com

Dream of a dress

This wedding gown by Tadashi Shoji is a complete stunner and a dress fit for a fairytale queen.

Image courtesy of http://ruffledblog.com/galleries/vintage-mountain-wedding/?nggpage=2&pid=24840