What to Wear to a Spring Wedding

The Scene

Jean Bean and I weren't the type of little girls that dreamed about big weddings. I wrote about that four years ago when we went wedding dress shopping (rather awkwardly) after she got engaged.



Sure, boys were cute and all but Bean and I were more the type of little girls who loved us some books. We dreamed about writing them some day. We still do.




So on her wedding day, the sight of her slipping into her wedding dress while her nieces intently read their books, made me smile as I choked up.

It was an incredibly intimate, low-key wedding---the best kind if you ask me.




It was also incredibly emotional. The father of JB's fiancee lost his battle with cancer just two weeks before the wedding. He was to be Texas Cowboy's best man.

The minister, a high school friend of Bean's, did a BEAUTIFUL job of weaving TC's father into the celebration of their love.



Reminding us all that at times our saddest moments converge with our happiest. That's just life.

Commitment is about supporting each other through the bad, cherishing the good and surviving everything in between. Jean Bean and I are blessed to have found two men who have stood by our sides through it all---through our greatest triumphs and our greatest tragedies. 

That day, I realized just how much these men have shaped who we've become.  Helping them through their darkest moments, handing them the best part of ourselves has changed us.




It's made us stronger and wiser and more giving. It's transformed us from the girls we once were into the women we are today.

I was 18 when I met Mr. Diabolina and Jean Bean.
And I was 30 when I met Texas Cowboy.




Yet, I can barely remember a time when they weren't all a part of my heart.




I can't wait for the next chapter of our story.


The Wedding Outfits


The bride of all brides wore Carolina Herrera. After all, this is a woman who has spent most of her career on Paris runways. It's her job to know an exquisite dress when she sees it ;)



With sparkly Manolos underneath





The Herrera was perfect. Simply stunning.

Delicious from every angle.





Best of all: scored at a sample sale for mere pennies.
One of the benefits of being tiny and working in the fashion industry

Another benefit: getting your gorgeous make-up did at Neiman Marcus for your wedding.






Her Dior lips and lashes were KILLING me all day.

Also killing me: these baby dolls. JB's nieces.  Best dressed guests.

Learned it from their STUNNING mama---Jean Bean's sister.

Who learned it from her momma---the only tiny momma who rivals mine in cuteness. Adore.her.face!



Best dressed non-family guests: JB's college besties. Perfect floral and Missoni prints for a spring wedding. The three girls became friends when they all studied abroad for a semester. In Paris. Obvi.

 I wore BCBG to my best friend's wedding. Asymmetrical neckline, drapey, floral, easy. Stella McCartney emerald clutch and my nude Louboutin heels, Neiman Marcus purchased (duh!) 

Loved the necklace. A little LA Fashion District find.  Made the whole afternoon-wedding look less precious, more fierce.



Had to bring it for my favorite fashionista.




The Wedding Guest Inspiration 

Social Media Style Stars & A New Job

*** 
I drafted this nerdy blog post on March 9th.  I'd planned to post it the next day since I was leaving for San Francisco on the 11th to start a new job and wanted to break the big news here. But my grandmother passed away on the 10th and all my plans changed---including the ones I had for the blog.


So the draft has been sitting here for four weeks. It's been this strangely poignant reminder that our best laid plans at times go completely astray. Figured I'd post it anyway because that's also how life works: you roll with the punches and make things work. xo


 ***


In mid-February, I spent 10 days in NYC for work.  My company was sponsoring Social Media Week events across the city and I was covering many of the sessions for our blog as well as live tweeting insights. For a week, the world's leading brains shared all the ways social media is changing business and society. I actually got paid to write about my favorite topic: how technology is transforming how we think and how we experience the world.  It was my personal nerd pig heaven.

Only one complaint: the outfits. Like most of the conferences I attend, there were no peacocks in sight. Most people throw on the garden variety "business meets tech crossed with blah" uniform. Very few bold colors or prints. And fabulous, of-the-moment accessories? Forget about it. The conference overlapped with Fashion Week...but you'd never know it. Wah-wah.

But there was a silver (and fashionable) lining to this conference. There was a track at the Hearst building focused on publishing and content. Decided to check out a few sessions and at the very least, peep pretty people in the Hearst elevators dressed for NYFW. A girl's got to get her fashion fix however she can.

One of the sessions I attended was titled "The New Ghostwriting." It's a topic that fascinates me. Little known fact: I worked at eHarmony about five years ago and I used to ghost-write for the founder.  Yep, the white haired dude in the commercials. Since then the real time nature of social media has changed everything about ghostwriting so I was curious to learn more about today's approach.

To be honest, I also chose the panel because a fashion Twitter star was on the panel. Aliza Licht is the senior vice president of global communications at Donna Karan.  But for those of you who love Twitter half as much as I do, she's @DKNY.  She is held up as the gold standard when it comes to social media for fashion. Her voice manages to be completely her own and yet completely on brand.  Probably a function of more than a decade representing the company.

 And she got major points for being the sparkliest speaker at all the sessions I attended---a welcome change for my unicorn-starved eyes. But the most insightful person on her panel was the chief blogger for the Obama for Change campaign (the young kid in the tie.) His passion, authenticity and humility were beyond refreshing.  I interviewed him for my company's blog and he couldn't have been lovelier.

My absolute favorite Hearst panel of the week featured three more fashion heavy hitters: street style photographer/blogger Tamu McPherson of All the Pretty Birds and two of my most favorite street style darlings, Jo Hillman of Harper's Bazaar and THE Kate Lanphear of Elle. AH-MA-ZING!

Best dressed panel at Social Media Week, hands down, no competition. 

I mean look at the shoes!!! Unicorn central.

And the hair on these editors: both blond, two extremes, equally ferosh.



Best of all, the discussion around how blogs today influence design and commerce was thoughtful and insightful in ways I honestly didn't expect. Kate was particularly, DELICIOUSLY, articulate. She came across as v. smart and even more self-effacing. My girl crush on her has reached a new level.

Here she shares how the economy and the Internet have changed what she covers in the pages of Elle. Try not to pop a lady boner. 

That one panel highlighted how so many of my personal and professional passions have converged in the past few years. As part of my job, I blog and tweet about business. In my personal time, I do the same about fashion. More and more often, the two intersect. 

My mom (who was on the trip with me and attended some of the drier sessions with me) loves to point out how much this personal blog has helped shape my professional voice and expertise in the digital space over the last few years.  That was never the plan but it's ironically how life has unfolded. I initially fought so hard to keep the two separate. Now not so much.

And I anticipate the two will only become more and more intertwined. I just accepted a new job at....drum roll...Twitter!!!! As a bonafide Twitter addict, I'm beyond thrilled that one of my passions is becoming my work. I truly believe Twitter is changing the planet---how we connect and share and discover content.  I am so proud to be a part of that revolution, as both a user and an employee.

I signed my offer letter (cutest ever, right???)  on the last day of Social Media Week.
If that's not a sign, I don't know what is. Wish me luck ;)