And A Sixpence.

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

While we all know that little rhyme, the meaning is not as well known. Well, here's what yahoo says:


Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy. "Something old" symbolizes continuity with the bride's family and the past. "Something new" means optimism and hope for the bride's new life ahead. "Something borrowed" is usually an item from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune in marriage is supposed to carry over to the new bride. The borrowed item also reminds the bride that she can depend on her friends and family.
As for the colorful item, blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. In ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity. Christianity has long dressed the Virgin Mary in blue, so purity was associated with the color. Before the late 19th century, blue was a popular color for wedding gowns, as evidenced in proverbs like, "Marry in blue, lover be true."
And finally, a silver sixpence in the bride's shoe represents wealth and financial security. It may date back to a Scottish custom of a groom putting a silver coin under his foot for good luck. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be in the left shoe. These days, a dime or a copper penny is sometimes substituted, and many companies sell keepsake sixpences for weddings. (http://ask.yahoo.com/20031027.html)

So there's that! Want to know what my something's are? Read on.

Something Old:
This one was pretty easy, actually. The decision was made practically made for me awhile ago. My step-father's mom passed several years ago. She left to me her wedding set which includes the engagement ring and the band. I absolutely love this set. It is so dainty and delicate - words which some may not use to describe her, but for me, since all my memories of her are from when she was ill, delicate is definitely how I remember her. I could really see myself wearing something like this set - that is, had my fiance not gotten me my absolute dream ring all on his own without any guidance (other than, "I like sapphires better than diamonds.") So, when our engagement came and went and I started planning, I knew immediately that I would be wearing this set on my right hand on our wedding day. I've had it re-dipped, cleaned and polished, and it is in a shiny new box ready to go!

Isn't it just beautiful?

 
While my original Something Old was easy and decided a long time ago, the next part was a bit of a surprise. Clinton's grandmother had been very sick for a long time and unfortunately passed soon after our engagement. Her death was not a huge surprise, but it was of course still painful for everyone. Her son, Clinton's father, asked me if I would like to have any of her old jewelry. I chose to take a pair of her favorite earrings and use one of them in my bouquet after finding this inspiration picture:

Found this picture somewhere on Pinterest (what a time suck!)

Grandma Reissig's earring.

So although  we will be missing these women with us on our special day, they will both be with us in spirit, close to the action, right where they would love to be. <3

Something New:
I feel like this is kind of silly - everything is new for the wedding! There's shoes, garter, dress (which I would be crazy to post here - I'm keeping that baby under wraps!), stuff for decor, veil... so, instead of listing ALL of that stuff individually, I'm just going to go ahead and say that my bridal jewelery (hair comb, bracelet, earrings) get to be my Something(s) New! 
The first thing I found was my earrings. I stumbled across them one day on a post over at one of my favorite bridal blogs, Style Me Pretty. From there, it was pretty easy to find my bracelet and hair comb, both from Etsy vendors. 
I am really happy with my finds. They all look like they could be part of a set, even though they're from different places. My dress is nearly free of embellishment, except for one small area of beading on the left hip. To balance that out, I'll be wearing the bracelet on my right wrist. My favorite part of the bracelet is that because it's on a ribbon instead of regular links, it will actually fit my (teeny, childlike) wrist. Enough talk, time for pretty pictures!

Earrings.

Bracelet.

Hair comb.

Something Borrowed:
This one was the hardest! I've thought about this for AGES! We have had a 15-month engagement, my wedding is now 6 weeks away, and I still hadn't come up with anything. So, I did what any girl would do - I turned to my mama. That's the solution to everything, right? Right. After a few days of thinking, she came back to me with the PERFECT solution. My mom and step-dad inherited some beautiful dishes from his grandmother - they are a dark, beautiful red, and my parents have offered to let us borrow two full place settings for our dinner at our Sweetheart Table! This is actually perfect, because our colors are gold and burgundy, so these will look absolutely lovely on our little table! I'm so excited about this, especially because with the meaning/origin of the Something Borrowed, I think it's awesome that it'll be something we both use, rather than just me.

Gorgeous, right?

Something Blue:
This one is simple enough - my engagement ring! Pretty straightforward - I was not involved in picking out my ring or anything, I just told Clinton before we were engaged that I would greatly prefer a sapphire center stone to a diamond. From there he was totally on his own and I think he did an AMAZING job. I definitely get a lot of Diana/Katherine comments, but it doesn't bother me because I (obviously) find that famous ring incredibly gorgeous - although not as beautiful of mine, of course. 

I couldn't find something more perfect if I tried.

And A Silver Sixpence In Her Shoe:
Many Americans don't include this part. Probably has something to do with the fact that we don't have sixpence, ha. Now, to be honest, if this were an alternate life and I were marrying someone else, I doubt that I would incorporate this particular bit. However, this is not an alternate life, and I am not marrying anyone else. Therefore, I present to you my lucky penny. 

It's even from the year we met - don't ask about the holes though, that's kind of a long story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know, I know, it's not a sixpence, but it's close enough - I don't have a sixpence, nor do I want one, but I do have this lucky penny that I had been looking for. When we were moving earlier in the year, I found it and was so happy! Clinton and I met when I worked at a small Starbucks kiosk inside of a Safeway where he was a manager at the time. It had been several days that I worked there before we even spoke, but when we finally did, well... you know. The rest is history, etc etc. After our first conversation, Clinton came back over to the kiosk a few hours later. While we were chatting, we both looked down and happened to notice this penny on the floor. He told me to pick it up, because it was my lucky day. So I did. And it was.