"Uh-oh. I bring the wrong color thread."

Two weekends ago, I spent five blissful days wedding-planning and dress-shopping with my mom and sister (who live in New Orleans). I realize not everyone reading may know my fabulous sister, but thought that blogging some of the weekend will give you a small taste of the Crescent City - as wedding planning there, in good NOLA fashion, is its own kind of project.

The wedding is scheduled for a Friday in October. It is planned so because, before the actual date was set, Em and her fiance wanted a fall wedding and fall weddings in staunch Southern Louisiana families tend to be on Fridays. Why? Because of tailgating automatically slated for Saturdays. Fortunately for many of their guests, the wedding weekend falls on a bye week for the Tigers. They're going with a Friday anyhow to accommodate this fact and their preferred reception locale. I will be careful regarding the details I divulge, as they are Em's, but you can see how the process has begun by considering the essentials.

This is my beautiful mother and one of Em's bridesmaids (and former roommates), Jen. Jen was one of several who joined us at some point in our dress-shopping excursion. Jen is one of the twelve bridesmaids Em has chosen (including me). Also, I think Em's other attendants are all model-beautiful. Somehow, Em has managed to become great friends with women of exceptional genes. Try choosing a bridesmaids' dress with that on your shoulder.

Day Two of dress-shopping was also Saints-Cardinals Game Day - which was actually the first priority - and we were, fortunately, able to shop around it. Em and Mom (MOB) were decked in jerseys, as were many of the bridal consultants and other brides/maids we ran across on that day. I fell considerably short in my adorable MOH outfit, chosen as if I were going to be gown-fluffing in Dallas. What was I thinking?! (MOB's looking at some of the details on a gown, but of course, that had to be cropped!)

Yes, this adorable little puppy (who was with her bride) was also ready for the game...she's wearing a black/old gold tutu. Why not, right?

This was at Yvonne La Fleur, a New Orleans fixture and an absolutely amAAAzing dress-shopping experience. I think it was what I decided would be typical of New Orleans bridal browsing, though I would never have known what that would be before we shopped there. I can barely describe it, but here's a try: It is a 40-year old dress boutique, filled with separate rooms of clothing (think Mardi Gras Balls, Sweet Sixteens, and apparently, what some people wear everyday), Yvonne's signature scent, European underthings, French show tunes, and sweet Yvonne, wondering into and out of the bridal room trying on a fur and commenting (under her breath) on her ability to have the most wonderful furrier as a supplier.

The shopping experience was also exceptional. The consultants work with one bride at a time. Em was fitted in the bridal dressing room while Mom and I lounged on the antique sofa, with the lone job of watching/offering our (most careful) opinions. How novel. And all of the dresses were hanging in the air. Weird, but it was actually loads better than cramming back plastic bag after plastic bag in an overstuffed salon. (Apparently, as Yvonne sewed her personal wedding dress herself, she had added the bridal shop as she expected every other one to be.)

This is also where THE dress was finally purchased a few days later, celebrated by Em and her entourage with a complimentary bottle of champagne. If you've been to New Orleans, you know that something like this is not done to inflate the buyer's sense of what they are getting, but actually, as if every other store in the world does this and whyever wouldn't they?

Nine months to go...more to come, I'm sure!