Wise Guys: the rest of the details

Getting back to my favorite gentlemen...

I filled you in on the guys suits back in this post. For the rest of the guy's outfits, we kept it simple.  We found a tie at JCrew Factory that was on sale for less than $20 including shipping! {you can actually still purchase it here, if you're interested!}

For the rest of their outfit, we asked that they wear a brown belt, brown dress shoes and a light blue dress shirt - whatever they already owned was fine!  I wanted to keep it super easy - rather than worrying about everyone going out and getting the exact same shade of browns and blues.  I love the way it turned out!  The boys look sharp, but not overdressed - perfect for the beautiful summer day we had!  

Ant coordinated with them, wearing the same suit but a white shirt and a plain navy tie.  We decided the white shirt/navy tie combination would be a slightly dressier look - more appropriate for the groom! I love that he stands out just a little bit from the rest of the guys!

As you may or may not have noticed - the groomsmen did not wear any sort of boutonniere.  To be honest with you, that was not even a topic of conversation for us!  I brought it up briefly before I went to start visiting florists and Ant said no - that boutonniere's felt too much like prom to him.  So there ya go!

Looking back, I'm really happy with his decision.  I think it makes images like this one even more classic.  No flowers, no veil, just us.

Wise Guys: getting suited up!

It was been a longgggg time since I did a Wise Guys post - so I thought I'd back track, and run you all through the fun process of choosing the suits that the guys wore on our big day!

We knew almost immediately that the groom and his men would not be wearing tuxes.  The Branford House is about as grand as it gets, and I really want the feel of the wedding to be simple, pretty and fun…which means all of our details and decisions were based around brightening up the Branford House.  Ant is not a tux guy.  Not that he doesn't look absolutely adorable in a tux {see below}…but a black tie affair just wasn't quite the feel we were going for.  The girls are wearing short dresses, and it's a wedding in the middle of the summer - I wanted it to feel fresh and light!  So navy blue suits it is.  I figured it would also be a perfect way to give it a nautical yet classic feel, without going too overboard.

Ant and some dapper looking groomsmen at a wedding last Sept!

We started our search for suits at JCrew - we knew we loved their navy blue suit, and I wanted Ant to try it.  Doesn't he look dashing??  I was totally supportive of him splurging on a suit for our wedding, but he ultimately decided that it wasn't a necessary expense {he was probably right}- and that it made more sense for him to match the guys - so we moved on!

I loved the stitching on this suit...

We then went to Men's Warehouse, where we tried a few horribly bright blue suits on, before finding this one - which was on sale for a very reasonable price.  The guy at the first location was very nice, and helped us figure out all the details....so we planned a trip to go back to Men's Warehouse with Ant's best man, a groomsman, and one of my bridesmaids.  That visit turned into a customer service nightmare!  I have never had a worse experience in my life - and to keep a long story short, we left Men's Warehouse without suits, and very worried that we might not be able to find 10 navy blue suits within our price range.

My husband is sort of the best - and knows exactly how to calm me down...so he suggested we at least go check out the Jos.A.Bank down the street, to see what they had to offer.  We met with a salesmen and told him what we were looking for....and he told us he thought he'd be able to help.  While looking around at the various navy blue options - Ant and his friends stopped in front of this sign, and decided it was the look they were going for.  With that suit - the salesman told us he could do buy 1, get 4 {4!!} free - making each suit just under $200 each!

the inspiration

A much happier bride to be

They clean up nice!

The beauty of working with Jos.A.Bank is that they have locations everywhere - Ant has a groomsman who lives in Nebraska - and we were able to send his suit to the store there for him to be fitted.  Even within Connecticut, a few of the guys ended up having theirs sent to locations closer to them!  Average alterations were only about $30 for hemming, etc...and now they all have suits that they can wear again!  Since they weren't renting - it also got rid of the hassle of having to go pick up the suits the day of the rehearsal, and worry about dropping them back off.  Each guy already had his suit ready to go!

Ant looking better than the model...

What did your groomsmen wear??  Getting 10 guys on the same page with anything can be quite the task, so this was certainly something I started planning early, which thankfully saved me a lot of headaches later on!!

Wise Guys: His Wedding Band {Part 3 -We're putting a ring on it!}

I took a longggg hiatus from this post…but I promise it was worth the wait! Part 3 {and the final part} of the great search for Ant's wedding band.

In Part 2, I introduced you to Lashbrook.  You're welcome!  Now I told you Ant found one that almost immediately jumped out at him…and that was their meteorite ring.  Yes, you read that right.  Meteorite. Ant's eye lit up in a very star trek loving sort of way…as he realized that part of the ring he was trying on came from space.  I knew we were done looking at that point.  The best part?? I actually really love the way the ring looks, too!  I know, minor details and major bonus points, the bride likes the ring.  But seriously.  In all of the rings we had looked at I always felt like something was missing…it was either too blingy and busy, or too simple.  Too dark, too shiny, and so on.  This one though?  It's interesting acid etched pattern gives it some parts that are darker than others, and a brushed look that's more interesting than basic brushed finishes.  Aka..perfect!  The one that they had at Mallove's wasn't quite right…it was too wide for Ant's hand.  She described all the different ways you could customize it with the meteorite, but Ant ultimately decided the simple style with a slightly thinner band was perfect.

Here is a brief description from Lashbrook themselves on how their meteorite rings are made:

The picture below is of the style Ant chose:

And then, just for fun…here are a few of the other styles Lashbrook has done with the meteorite.  In case you are now in love like we were and need to know more!!

Again, need I say more??  We love Lashbrook.  And I, as the bride to be, can not thank them enough for ultimately creating the perfect space nerd ring, that pulls off a seriously sophisticated look.  We'll pretend he chose it for the style and not the nerd effect.  Sigh.

Would your guy go for the meteorite band??  I'd love to see a picture of what band you chose!  This was one of the more interesting decisions we made…and I couldn't be happier with the outcome!

Wise Guys: His Wedding Band {Part 2- WE LOVE LASHBROOK}

Happy Monday!  For those of you who might be having a case of the Mondays - I thought I'd brighten your day with some man-bling.  If you didn't read Part 1 of our great ring search - you should!  

As you know - we were finding ring shopping to be wayyy harder for my fiancé than we expected.  After landing on a "simple is better" mindset - we decided we should look at a few more places before making a decision.  One day while we were in Mystic, we decided to stop in Mallove's - where our DOC Jen works!  It was fun to get to work with her and check out the different rings they had available.  One of the brand thats immediately caught our attention was Lashbrook.  While we were looking at them Jen explained that they do 100% customizable rings - with literally endless possibilities!!  There was one that almost immediately jumped out at Ant {you'll have to wait until part 3 for that!} but I thought their designs were so unique and interesting I wanted to share them all with you!!!  For any couple that is having trouble deciding what style works for your guys…this is the place to go.  You can take any element from any of their designs, and mix and match!  They can also do custom styles - one guy had his wife's fingerprint put on the inside of his ring…another guy got a custom puzzle cut into his!  Below are a few {20ish} that show you the range available.

For your more rugged/outdoorsy man - they have these options: {wood, antlers, camo & tire tracks}

I love the contrast in some of these mixed metals:

Darker colors were not right for Ant - but I think these dark styles look so bold and sleek:

Does your guys want bling?  Lashbrook's got it!  Here are a couple of styles with both black and traditional diamonds.

Here are a few more styles I really liked.  These are probably some of my favorites - they fall into the category of "simple is better" while still having some interesting design to them.  

Now comes the cool custom stuff!  This one you could put any coordinates you wanted on:  maybe where you first met, or where you got married - or any other special spot!

These last four I took off of their Facebook page.  They always post new custom designs they've made, and again…HOW COOL???  Diamonds and wood and dark metal - okay!  I legitimately think it would be impossible to not find one here that would work for your fiancé.

 

That last one was made with pieces of rock a guy saved from all of the different climbs he had been on!  Lashbrook was able to take pieces from each rock and create this beautiful unique titanium ring with them!!! Are you sold yet? :)  We were!  I'll get into more details about the style that Ant ultimately fell in love with on my next Wise Guys post!

Wise Guys: His wedding band {part 1 - the search}

I think it's fairly safe to say that most girls have spent some time thinking about their future engagement ring, and potentially their wedding band.  However, guys are not the same way.  Ant is not a jewelry guy.  He does not wear a ring or a chain or any other type of jewelry.  SO this wedding band will be his first venture into the world of bling.  When we started shopping for our wedding bands, we were starting at zero.  Which is why this post is going to take place in more than 1 part…it was quite the project.

We first had Ant try on the rings of a few married men in our lives…specifically his friend Jay's, and my dad's.  Jay had his band custom made, and it is beautiful - but too wide and too blingy for Ant. He put it on and I started to giggle.  When he tried my dad's very traditional gold band on - that didn't seem quite right either.  It was too thin and seemed too simple. Again - I had this uncontrollable urge to giggle while he was wearing it - I'm not used to his hand with a ring on it!  It was horribly immature and silly, but that's the way it goes.

These are NOT identical to Jay's and my father's…but give you the general idea.

We decided the best way to start was to just go try some on.  We went shopping for the first time with his mom, and I felt a little better when she giggled in a very similar fashion the first time he tried one on there:) …the poor guy.  At that store we were able to narrow down a few things: he needs a ring of "medium" width (that being a very unofficial, relative term)…to us that meant about 6mm.  Anything wider looked too big on his hand and anything smaller seemed too thin.  He liked rings that had an edge of some sort on it, without being too crazy of a design.  Dark metals did not look right, so we played with yellow gold and white gold/silver/chrome.  Below are a few of the styles he tried...

We didn't love any of them - but at least we got the ball rolling!  Ignore the craziness going on on my hand, the search for my band in an entirely different story.

We took a few weeks off from ring shopping.  When we decided to start again, we went to the store where Ant got my engagement ring.  The woman there was wonderful and helped us try on a number of other rings.  We were getting so much closer! We were able to narrow down a few more things: NOT yellow gold, and no diamonds (although Ant was still considering the idea of black diamonds - we decided no traditional diamonds).

This ring below was the closest to liking one we had gotten!  He liked the size and design in the middle - it was interesting but not too much.

On our way home from lunch with friends later that weekend, we stopped at yet another store.  Again - by now we had a much better idea of what we were looking for…so we were able to be very efficient.  Ant tried on these two rings - and decided that he liked the simple white gold with the lightly brushed inside and beveled outside more than the design of the one above.  He was definitely back to a "simple is better" mindset…but we weren't in any rush to buy so we took some pictures and banked the style as a front runner.

Since I'm sure you are now on the edge of your seat, I'm going to pause here.  If you are already married - did you find that ring shopping for your then fiancé/now husband was difficult?  Or was he easy to shop for?  Ant is not a super picky guy - so I think we were surprised by how difficult it was to actually find something we liked!!

Wise Guys: Wedding planning "the guy stuff"

Okay - so I've decided to add another mini series.  This one is all about HIM.  We are starting to get to the point in the process where there are lots of specific decisions to make that involve my groom to be - wedding bands, groomsmen suits…hotels for his bridal party the night of the rehearsal…and so on.  My intention is to take all wedding planning posts that are "groom specific" and organize them here.

So…my Groom.  The wedding we are doing so much planning for is just a day - but at the end of that day I have a marriage, and the rest of my life with him.  And isn't HE a cutie??

I've been really lucky in that Ant has been the perfect amount of involved in the wedding planning process thus far.  He let's me make decisions that are important to me - and if I want his opinion on something, no matter how big or small, he is happy to give me one!  I think he is actually surprised by how much he get into certain aspects of the planning too {wedding cake being the first thing that comes to mind!}…but that's why he's the best.  

For example: I explained my idea behind this series of posts to him and asked him to help me come up with a title.  He called me back 5 minutes later and said: "Wise guys!! a Groom's guide to wedding planning"  So there ya go.  In a nutshell.  Now, not to confuse matters - it is about him, but from my perspective.  So if you want your groom to know the kind of things he's up against - this is the spot!

I have my own list of topics I plan on covering here - but let me know if there are any guy specific topics you think I should talk about!  We're pretty much living it all :)