kt did

Room 22 Design Blog!

2010-03-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Catch up with me over at Room22 Design!

See you there!

Back to school

2010-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

I start up classes next Tuesday which has led my brain to think about school clothes (or the lack there of, in my case). With another job and an extra 4+ hours a day, these would all be mine:

Piperlime: Jack Purcell

Kate Spade Kellis

Kate Spade Carly

J.Crew Wool Schoolboy Blazer

J.Crew Vintage Slim Jeans in Rustic Wash

J.Crew Stretch Twill Minnie Pants

J.Crew Silk Francis Cami

J.Crew stretch Leggings

J.Crew Dotted Jacquard Pencil Skirt

J.Crew Corwin Cardigan in Black

Banana Republic

Check it out: Room 22

2010-01-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

check out Room 22 for great design inspiration and all things creative.

Thank you & I hope to see you there!

The newest bag

2010-01-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here is the newest bag I created:

Ruffles on the top & Reversible. What do you think?

My mosaic

2010-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

As seen on Vineyard Vogue, I thought I'd follow along!

1. What is your first name? Kate

2. What is your favorite food? Friut

3. What high school did you attend? wohs

4. What is your favorite color? chartrues

5. Who is your celebrity crush? David b (from the show, Bones)

6. Favorite wine? Pinot Grigio

7. Dream vacation? Italy

8. Favorite dessert? Canoli

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? An Architect

10. What do you love most in life? My Family

11. One word to describe you? Creative & optomistic

12. Your Flickr name? nothing came up when I searched mine! So I searched polka dots like mrs Vineyard Vogue :)

All you have to do is type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr’s search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows). Have fun making your own!

2010-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

Recent creations:

Blooming outside my door:

I love her....

2009-12-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

Throughout the planning of my own wedding I looked at more wedding blogs than I care to admit to. One of my daily reads though was East Side Bride. I loved her refreshing/ bad-ass views on wedding planning(especially after reading countless blog featuring "vintage wedding details")

I was drawn to her most recent post but what really got me was the comments. Anyone who has ever planned a wedding has their own views/ thoughts/ and opinions on maid of honors( or whatever you choose to call them) but I thinks it's a pretty good post for anyone planning a wedding or anyone who is simply part of a wedding.

http://eastsidebride.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-be-best-matron-of-honor-ever.html

2009

2009-12-28T12:43:00.001-08:00

So much has happened the past month, I still can't figure out where December went! I am looking forward to 2010 but 2009 was a really great year.

1.) I started grad school for architecture and finished my first year!

2.) I got MARRIED to my best friend, soul mate, and personal comedian :)

3.) Two of my favorite girls got married! I am so happy for them both.

4.) I got moved ahead a semester in my masters program!

5.) Our first Thanksgiving & Christmas as husband and wife

2010 is sure to bring great things as well. We are looking forward to visits from parents and siblings, the hubby will be tackling the DAT (and kicking butt at it) and we will get to celebrate our one year anniversary!

Want to see what I got for Christmas from the Mr.??

An espresso machine & all the fixings

and

Tiffany and Co. textured knot earrings.

AND we are getting this with our Christmas money:

San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker

2009-12-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

2009-12-21T11:28:00.001-08:00

2009-12-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

Where has the month gone? Finals and the semester are officially over! (yay) and this week I celebrated my birthday!

I got to go see the San Francisco Ballet's production of the Nutcracker and have a great dinner at Starbelly! I also got some amazing gifts from family and the hubby :)

Today I am off to do a little Christmas shopping for Dan, send out a few gifts for the family and then get down to business with LOTS of sewing! I have so many orders to fill but I love the amount of inquires I've had lately! I wish I could take them all!

Dan has been hard at work studying for his big test and figuring out what classes he wants to take next semester.

I still cannot believe Christmas is right around the corner! It got here so quickly this year!

I just wanted to check in and let you all know that I am indeed alive! I will post pictures of the birthday festivities soon!

Love,

Kate

Design love

2009-11-24T21:12:00.001-08:00

The pop of color is refreshing without being too much. And that magnetic inspiration board is to die for.

{simplyseleta}

I love the juxtaposition of old & new in this photo.

{fromtherightbank}

I'm loving the contrast and pop the black and white rugs offer. Those beams + fab modern lines= swoon.

{fromtherightbank}

{simplyseleta}

P.S.- This is awesome...

The Rings

2009-11-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

I'm loving..

2009-11-14T13:58:00.001-08:00

I just got the first soundtrack as well. It has been playing on repeat all day :)

2009-11-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

On my list:

School

+Working

+Trying to keep up with the growing list of sewing projects

= JUST NO TIME

(found on our trip to Savannah, GA.)

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T15:03:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has a great Halloween! I'd have to say Halloween is pretty close to the bottom on my list of favorite holidays. In the spirit of the season though, I broke out these at work today. (ignore the tutu and midriff, I didn't get that into it!)

10.23.2009 randoms

2009-10-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

More Christmas Wish Love

Lessons for;

and,

But I still want this the most:

I sort of love these shoes. I love the idea behind Tom's, more. But you get the idea.

Ok now I'm off to do a ton of reading (literally 2+ books), pick out some paint chips for my parents kitchen, and hopefully get a little more sewing done so I can fill a few of these orders.

Hilton Head 2009

2009-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Just a few from our recent trip to Hilton Head, S.C

(that crab was not a fan of me..)

Now I'm off to spend the night with a horribly written book on the Italian Renaissance (for class), some reading by Kahn, and a cup of tea.

My Christmas wish list

2009-10-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

If I could receive only one thing, this would be it;

Canon EOS Digital Rebel.

Photo Friday :)

2009-10-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

2009-09-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

After the last post I had great intentions to write a couple great posts but as you can see that just hasn't happened. The past week or so I've fallen into a creativity black hole, so to speak. It all started with the project we have fir studio, i just cannot get into it! It's frustrating.

It's funny because a lot has been going on these past two weeks. I have plenty to post about but no motivation to do so.

I promise I'll try to get back here soon with all of our professional wedding photos. Photos from Hilton head and my trip back to Michigan a few weekends ago.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall! (we are still waiting for it out here!)

2009-09-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA lately. Just keeping up with school and work has been keeping me busy.
We head to Hilton head in 2 weeks and I can't wait! I got a few pictures back from our wedding and I'll try to get a few of them posted this weekend. We are still waiting on the prof. Pics but those should be up soon! I'll definitly post a few of those once we go through them as well!

Off to work!
Enjoy your weekend :)

I'm off

2009-09-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Heading back to my home state for the weekend. A doctors appointment, family, and a wedding are in the plans. It should be a fun, whirl-wind weekend but I'm already excited to get back to sf to see my husband :) unfortunately he couldn't make it out this weekend with me.

Photos from our wedding :)

2009-09-05T14:36:00.001-07:00

A small preview of our wedding week festivities. All of these were taken by friends and family. Our professional shots should be ready within the week!

The beginning of our wedding weekend. Drinks with friends & just having fun.

The night before. Attempting to calm the nerves

Getting ready :)

Putting in the veil

Photos before the ceremony

During the ceremony

Daniel's grooms cake!

Our first dance <3>

Father-daughter dance

Greeting guests

Our ring-bearer busting a move

My best friends.

Photos!

2009-09-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

My last day of summer.

Golden Gate Park

lunch at Ike's,

and the Castro farmers market.

a great day.

Daniel's 25th Birthday! Homemade german chocolate cake :)

Exciting

2009-09-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a whirlwind weekend and I've had a great start to this week! First, I found out I got a job! Nothing fancy, 15 hours a week but I'm excited to learn some new skills, meet some new people, and have a steady paycheck coming at me. I've also been in contact with an architecture firm and hoping good things come out of that as well.

Daniel's birthday was yesterday and we had a great day! We slept in and then made our way down to San Bruno to visit target and lowes! This probably sounds super boring to most of you but, living in the city and not owning a car because of living in the city means we only go where public transit or our own two legs can carry us. With the crazy high price of rent in the city no big box stores can afford to be here so it has been a YEAR AND A HALF (yes, you read that right) since we have been to a big box store. It was pretty exciting finding out we could get to one via the Bart(subway/ commuter rail).

After strolling around the area a bit we made our way back to the apartment. I finished up his from scratch german chocolate cake (so delicious!) and then we headed out to get sushi at our favorite place for his birthday dinner! After dinner we came back had some wine and cake and played a looong game of scrabble. The birthday boy won :)

Now I'm beginning on the long list of projects I have on my plate!

-Pillow Cover

-Duvet cover

-Pillow covers for a friend

-Baby bag for a cousin

-Baby bag for an old friend

-Onesies for a new little one who will be joining the world soon

-shirts for little Adam

I'm trying to get as much finished by Thursday because it is my first day of class! and once class begins my schedule becomes crazy tight! I'm already praying I wont get sick this semester because I have to use all of my sick excuses for weddings. Ekk.

I'm also still waiting on our professional pics to come back. I will share them as soon as I can! We were told 6-8 weeks which sounds fine when you aren't the one waiting for them, ha!

Pictures of everything to come soon!

Can you believe it is already September?!

2009-08-28T21:06:00.001-07:00

What do you think of the new look? I love new fonts and pretty colors :)

(S.F. sunset)

Classes start next Thursday. oh boy.

I'm excited. and scared. But mostly excited.

Apparently we have two professors this semester who teach using the "tough love" theory. I love that theory, but those two still scare me.

I'm currently working on a bag for my grandma. Once I finish I will be moving on to pillow covers and a baby bag. I'll post pictures once I finish things up!

I hope you have a relaxing weekend!

Breaking news; L.L.Bean

2009-08-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for L.L.Beans newest adventure, coming spring 2010. They have paired up with designer Alex Carlton to create a new, signature line, and I can't wait to see what they come up with! Bean's features so many classic pieces (think bean boots, boat and totes (which everyone copies now!) and wellies) but isn't highly associated with fashion. (Understandable, even though their competition is J.Crew and Ralph Lauren, to name a few.)

The"collection will bring together many different decades of classic American fashion and contrast and juxtapose the stylings across the board with re-inventive aesthetics."

Get excited!

They have done it again

2009-08-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

sherpa long hoodie

slub cotton ruffled scoopneck tee

Charlie ruffled suede platform mary janes

Molly Printed platform peep toe

Sally pearlized patent ballet flats

Felted wool bistro mini

Shirred wool skirt

Stadium-Cloth winnie jacket

Cashmere Shawl Popover

Tissue Turtleneck

Geo Frances Cami

Keep calm..

2009-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

By now I'm guessing most of us in the blog world have seen the ever so popular "Keep Calm and Carry On" prints.

Found here.

I have been admiring the print forever but I think i amy now have a new favorite;

Found here.

Maybe not the best for my waistline but so cute!

one more

2009-08-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

I finished this up last night. Now I'm on to purse #1 of 3 and then off to Britex to get some fabric for a few pillow covers I'm making for Miss Vineyard Vogue!

I love this sign.

Look what I made!/ Dress for Sale!

2009-08-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

The newest creation;

Plus, I still have this for sale for those of you bride-to-be's!

Watters Grosgrain & Silk Gown. Dress size 8, Street size approx. 6 (send me a message for exact measurements). Trumpet skirt with amazing details! This dress was never worn & was purchased at a designer sample sale. I purchased the gown for $1,200.00 and it retails for approximately $1,500.00. I am selling it for $750.00 (not including shipping).

(The resolution of photos on blogger isn't turning out well. Let me know if you are interested and I can e-mail the full resolution photos).

Thanks for looking!

I'm still waiting on the rest of our wedding images. It will probably be another week or two. Hang tight until then!

blog titles are hard to come up with

2009-08-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

I would love to be here,

or here,

with this,

and this,

Until then, I'll stay here, work on this architectural degree, pay off debt, do a lot of sewing, and hang out with my amazing husband :)

Makeover!

2009-08-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

(a picture from our honeymoon!)

Sorry about the lack of updates! I am slowly settling into married life and love every minute of it (it's not all that different from before but still. ha ha). I finally went to the social security and dmv over the past two days to officially get my name changed.

I've also been doing a lot of sewing and job searching. Even though the market is turning around it is still extremely hard to find a part time job. I guess thats how it rolls when you have a city full of unemployed workers; everyone applies for the same positions.

I do have a possible prospect that i will be looking into tomorrow though. More about that later, if anything comes of it that is :)

I'm also working on a little bit of a make over for the blog to go along with my newlywed-ness :) Keep a look out for it over the next few days.

Warmly,

Kate

photos!

2009-07-28T19:43:00.001-07:00

Amy Carroll posted our preview on Monday and I am in love with all of the images. I cannot wait to see the rest. She is absolutely amazing, check out her blog or website to see more of her fabulous work!

Yep, my husband is hot :)

Our wedding vision was casual, timeless and elegant. Every decision and detail was a representation of who we are and what we believe in. We tried to not give into wedding stereotypes and believe our day was beautiful, special, and memorable for everyone because of it. I hope you enjoy our preview! I will be back over the next few weeks to go into more detail about our day and everything that made it what it was.

All images above are from Amy Carroll. Please send me a message or comment and let me know if you would like to use any and link back to this page if you do use them. Thanks :)

I gave in..

2009-07-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Follow me on twitter!

katperk22

p.s.- a few recaps of everything wedding related will come shortly :) I am currently trying to get our place cleaned and organized again!

Our Preview!

2009-07-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to our preview. Amy did an amazing job & we cannot wait to see all of the rest of the images!

I hope you all enjoy them as much as we do!

If you need any photos taken for your wedding, of family, or just for fun; give Amy a call. She is absolutely amazing!

http://www.acarrollphotography.net/2009/07/katie-dan-preview-gallery/

We're Married!

2009-07-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

We are off enjoying some relaxation on the east coast. Ill be back with a recap next week!

A few things..

2009-07-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is adorable & completely true, I think.

Love this for the Bride & Groom Chairs at the reception!

I love this shot!

I am off to mail some things home, try to find shoes to replace the huge mistake Piperlime made (grrr), get 12 napkins sewn, 3 shirts for our wee ones sewn, our menu's finished & printed, seating cards finished, and about a million other tiny things that take oh so much time.

I leave with this quote because it is how I have been feeling lately;

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” - Dr. Suess

Happy Fourth of July!

2009-07-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a great holiday!

A few random bits n' pieces before I head to the sewing machine to finish up runners.

1. Thank you random lady on Embarcadero. Your compliment made a day full of blah become remarkably better. "I love her legs. Oh my gosh, I want her legs!" It's amazing what a little compliment can do.

2. I am in love with sea bags. Evert bag is made from recycled sails that have actually been used on sailboats around the world. They are made in Portland, ME which just adds to their amazing-ness. (If you haven't been to Portland, you must check it out. It is breath taking). And finally, it is a women owned company!

Here is my favorite:

It is the custom medium sized bag. I love the anchor! I also love the bag with the #2 on it! (it's my favorite number!)

3. Uncommon goods = pure genius. The feature goods and products for your home as well as jewelry and clothing that has been created from reusing other objects. They also have a registry feature! If you have a hard person to buy for or need a unique gift this is definitely the place to go!

Have a great 4th!

19 days!

2009-06-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

We are getting sooo close! I have begun the flustered, frustrated, excited, scared portion of planning a wedding. We are leaving in a week and a half for Michigan and a week after that we will officially be Mr. & Mrs.!

Postings will be few & far between over the next few weeks, sorry!

On my to-do list today;

1.)Last meeting with the officiant :)

2.)Sewing runners (all of them are cut, 1 is completely sewn, 11 more to go. at 9' L each, they take a bit)

3.)Getting things ready to mail back to MI so we dont have to take 3 bags each

4.)Happy hour drinks with girls from school! C is getting married next Sunday! (I'm still trying to figure out how to get myself down there) so we are doing a small bachelorette night! Yay!

5.) Cutting out napkins for the head table!

6.) Finalizing the template for the programs on ai

7.) Create the seating chart

8.) creating the escort cards!

ok, so this will likely spill over into tomorrow & wednesday as well, but you get the idea!

I love this image! (I dont remember where I got it from, if it is your's- let me know so I can give credit where credit is due)

OMG, I Love these.

2009-06-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

I want a pair of these sooo bad. How amazing, seriously.

I'm loving..

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

J.Crew Classic Straw hat (I love it in the dark brown)

Ric Rac Bangles from Kate Spade.

3/50 Project

2009-06-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to bring attention to the 3/50 Project to those of you who haven't come across it yet. With the economy in shambles it seems like everyone is finally figuring out what is truly important in life. (finally....)

I grew up in Holland, MI. and I love it. The waterfront & downtown are a few of my favorite

places to be. The reason I love them; the small, local shops filled with creative ideas, friendly

people, and local style.

My latest trip back was very disheartening. As I walked downtown sipping my coffee from JP's I couldn't help but notice how many stores had either gone out of business or were on their way out.

The walmart's and amazons are killing us. What is that 20 cent savings really saving?

Check out the 3/50 project here. Do it for your community & do it for yourself. Don't these things truly go hand in hand?

Dresses & Pretty pictures.

2009-06-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

I'm looking at a few dresses for the bachelorette party & shower and that could also be used for Kendra's rehearsal dinner in october. Here are a few I tried on. Let me know what you think by voting! (excuse the horrible photos..)

1. White J.Crew strapless

2. J.Crew (in pink though)

3. Anthropologie polka dot (this is my favorite so far)

4. Anthropologie orange tiered

5. Anthropologie navy ruffled collar

6. Anthropologie, same as above only in dark pink (this is my second favorite)

Don't forget to vote on the right hand side of the page! Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because my own wedding is basically planned I can no longer leave you with inspiration for that. Instead, I leave you with pretty pictures that I just think are pretty :)

I loved this because it was an idea someone had based off of Jenn's (at Purl Soho) wedding escort cards. I am also using Jenn's wedding as a guiding point to my own seating cards. (I hope they turn out!) I love how she used the easel to hold the cork boards

These flowers from The Knot are beautiful. They are very close to what my centerpieces will look like. (which is probably the reason i love them...). We are using "found" jars to hold everything in. Mason jars, square glass cracker jars and le parfait tall jars. We ended up getting most of our jars from the container store in order to keep the prices as low as possible. Vases just got too pricey considering we needed 3 per 12 tables.

I love these flowers hanging from the door. Such a simple idea too, recycled vegetable or soup cans!

And finally, I love this! What a great idea for table centerpieces. This would work really well at a card/ gift table or along the head table was well to bump up the ambience of an outdoor event. (I may just have to do this for our head table if we have enough left over small mason jars!)

Love,

Kate

Wedding Cliches

2009-06-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

A little HIMYM fun.

Here are a few things you will NOT find at our wedding:

- Anything revolving a garter. I may wear one, but thats as far as that is going. A wedding, filled with all of our family and friends is no time to be sticking your head up anyone's dress. Sorry.

- Clinking of the glasses. Ok, so I can't really control this one but really, how about you let the couple be. The first few times, ok I agree, cute but after that, just plain annoying.

- Singing during the ceremony. Every wedding I have been at I always thought it was really awkward and slightly weird. ( don't mistake this for the groom or bride singing to the other, thats cute. If they can sing that is;)

-High school dance music. I don't want to see the cha cha slide or macarena.

-First Corinthians. I love the passage, I do. I feel that your wedding calls for something a bit more creative though.

-Cake smashing. seriously, who started this? The whole idea of feeding each other cake is to symbolize that you will nourish and care for each other. Maybe it's just me but I dont see how smashing cake into each others faces even shows respect...

- Here comes the bride as I walk down the isle. I want something a little more personal. Still not sure what I will have yet though.

Here are a few wedding cliches you WILL find at our wedding:

- Throwing the bouquet. As lily put it,

"Lily: [about throwing the wedding bouquet] It's such an evil tradition.

Ted: You're not gonna do it at your wedding?

Lily: Hell, yeah! I'm gonna take that flower grenade and chuck it to the crowd and scream, "Crawl for it, bitches!" It's just what girls do."

- The photo montage. However, "Time of your life" will hopefully be no where in there.

- Father/ Daughter- Mother/Son dance. :)

- I'm tempted to do the dollar dance. Only because it will help with bills for July though... Truthfully, I think this will end up on the NOT list.

- Love, love, love :) A beautiful afternoon surrounded by the people most important to us, filled with good food, good music, and some very special vows.

P.S.-I got my dress for the rehearsal dinner! I can't seem to find a picture of it online though... I'll keep looking otherwise I will take a picture of it myself. It is navy(and has pockets!) and is from anthropologie. I plan on wearing it to Kendra's wedding as well :)

Now I just need to find something to wear to the bachelorette party. I am excited!

Time out!

2009-05-24T20:58:00.001-07:00

We will be leaving tomorrow at 7am for Louisiana. I'm hoping for a lot of sunshine & some thunderstorms! (I haven't gotten a thunderstorm in a year!). After Louisiana i will be heading to Michigan for a few days. Hopefully I will be able to get a lot done while I am there! It will be my mom's birthday as well!

Everyone talks about how many outfits they have to get/ pull together for all of the events surrounding the actual wedding; showers, rehearsal, engagement party, etc. That's a lot of outfits & a lot of money! I figure because I am not getting any of these that the one outfit I do get can be a little bit more than what I would have normally planned. (That's legit, right?!)

Here are a few options I've had my eye on lately for the rehersal dinner. I am trying to find something that will work double duty for Kendra's wedding in Hilton Head in october.

1. J.Crew, 2. Antropologie, 3. J.Crew, 4. Banana republic, 5. J.Crew

Looking back

2009-05-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

During my senior year of undergrad while studying interior design/ architecture I entered a competition. It was a nationwide competition and asked us (in teams of two) to create a low income living space. We were given a total square foot requirement as well as the requirement that it have a fully accessible master bed & bath plus an additional bed and bath. This is the design my partner and I did for the competition.

We were selected from our school to be judged regionally and from there, there would be 3 winning teams (per region) sent on to be judged nationally. Our school was judged in Kansas and three of the four judges were designers in Kansas and who had gone to Kansas state for interior architecture. We didn't win and were told the design was unfeasible. The three teams that won from our region were all Kansas State teams except for one team. Heart breaking, but I moved on.

(This was our board for

materials. We suggested using reclaimed shipping containers to lower the unit cost & material cost. All furniture/ fabric/ and fixtures are eco-friendly and sustainable. All appliances chosen were energy star rated, low flow toilets, showers & faucet, energy saving light fixtures, F.S.C certified wood for the furniture and flooring. The roof featured solar panels, rain water collection and thermal tubing railings which can be used as a natural water heater as well as railing fixture.)

Until today...

I woke up to a post in Inahabitat about Clayton's Home's new "i-House"

Look familiar?? Yea, I'm not thrilled.

(All Clayton Home images come from their website. all other images are my own; please ask before you use any,thanks!)

Archiving

2009-05-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight & Tomorrow will be spent archiving all of the work I have done this past semester. Joy. It is required in order to keep us accredited. Tomorrow we are also going to head out and explore a few other neighborhoods. We are looking into the possibility of moving in order to cut back on our rent. We'll have to see how it works out.

I did a mock up of our ring bearer pillow yesterday. I am happy with it but I definitly want to make another one so it will be perfect.

Today I went to get my dress fitting! I used Yelp and found a highly reccommend person but when I went to her she tried to make me believe I would need so much work to the dress in order to take the top in. And she wanted a fortune! She initially quoted me for $350.00 and I talked her down to $250.00 but I still wasn't thrilled. It seemed like a lot of money for a few very simple alterations (on a very simple dress on top of that.) I decided to go with my gut and told her I needed to take the dress with me but would bring it back later. I then went to another person J.Crew recommended. Perfection! She told me exactly what I had felt needed to be done and it was as simple as I thought it would be! I probably could have talked her down a bit in price but I was so happy with her quote I just couldn't get myself to do it. $100.00 for the whole thing. :) I like to believe I saved myself $250.00 today just by following my gut. My advice; go with what you believe. Don't let other people talk you into things you aren't comfortable with. As long as you choose what you feel is right and what makes you happy, it will work out perfectly. Don't worry about what others say, it's your day and in the end, you and your husband are the ones who need to be happy with it.

I'm so happy I followed my heart on this! One other piece of advice; never pay full price. With weddings comes increased price. Anyone paying for a wedding should be able to tell you this. Barter; it work's. Don't be afraid of telling them the price you can afford, they will almost always work with you. If they don't, there is always another company/ person/ place out there that will.

I typically do it like it:

1. Research, research, research. I can't explain to you the hours Dan and I spend researching. It helps you get an idea of what you can get for the price.

2. Figure out your budget. Know in advance what you want to pay and what you can afford to pay. It doesn't do anyone any good to go into something blind.

3. As them for their quote. Don't give out what you had wanted to spend. Let them give you their quote first.

4. Name your price. "Unfortunately, I was only planning on spending $xx.xx for this" or " I really only have a budget for $xx.xx" Example: if you are hoping to spend $200.00, tell them you have 125.00-150.00. This gives them room to counter offer at a price that is still within your budget.

5. from here it can go two ways. first: they will barter with you "ok, how about $xx.xx?" This is the counter offer. Typically they will counter somewhere in the middle of the price you mentioned and the price they initially quoted. This is why it is important to read the point above. This is also why it is crucial to do your research and know your budget. You can't expect to pay $10.00 for a Vera Wang gown. You have to understand the average price of what you are hoping to get.

The second thing they could do is tell you they can't go any lower.

6. If they claim they can't go any lower in price you can then ask if there is anything that could be removed (ex. do you really need to add the built in corset to the alterations? save on that and buy spanx instead. Is there another similar style of dress that could be within your price range, maybe with a little less detail.) And finally, do you have anything you can offer them? trade! cleaning the office twice a month in exchange for %30 off?

7. If there is absolutely nothing they can do; take your business elsewhere. There is always someone else. ask friends, the internet, yelp. Usually the threat of losing a prospective client/sale ($$$ in their eyes) will get them to change their mind pretty quickly.

I hope this helps save you all a buck or two! I know we could all use it in times like these!

-Kate

My New Blog!

2009-05-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung and for most of us that means sunshine & spring cleaning! With this in mind I decided to give my blog a bit of a spruce up. In this case that spruce up means a brand new start!

I hope you enjoy the changes so far!

-Kate