Hey APW,
Remember when we told you about our upcoming plus size wedding dress collaboration with Lace and Liberty? Well, we have been head down the last few months refining designs, then refining them some more, then scrapping them and refining them again, and I am super excited to announce that if you are Bay Area–based, you can be one of the first to see our initial samples on October 6th in San Francisco.
This is an invite-only event just for APW folks to get up close and personal with our first round of sample dresses and give us your feedback (we really, really want it). So whether you’re married, or if you have a friend who might be shopping for a dress, or if you’re shopping for a dress yourself, go here and RSVP for October 6th and let’s all pretend to be Heidi Klum (or Zac Posen) together. We’ll have champagne, and some bonus fun stuff like lipstick and perfume consultations. Not in the Bay Area? We’ll be taking our show on the road this fall. Head over here to sign up to find out if we’re coming to a city near you.
In the meantime, a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to shout out our Compact Camp swag bag sponsors, but I didn’t get a chance to thank some of the other sponsors who helped make summer camp magical. So, since I’ve got the conch, allow me to wax poetic about them for a moment, starting with our bingo prize sponsors. When we conceived of summer camp, the only activity I knew we needed to have was archery. I’ve been on a Katniss kick since 2014, and I wanted to shoot some bows and arrows, dammit. But then Meg and I went to check out the YMCA’s women’s weekend, and I rediscovered a long dormant passion from my youth: bingo. When I was a kid, my family would spend a week at a family summer camp on the local lake. We had our choice of activities, and like any future Angela Lansbury of America, I naturally found myself inclined to bingo, shuffleboard, and Karaoke. But hoo boy, I didn’t realize what a rush bingo would be as an adult. Do you know what it looks like when Meg and I engage in a hyper competitive activity where we have no actual control over the outcome of the game? It looks like me wild eyed trying to win the official YMCA yellow hat you see me sporting below:
So anyway, when it came time to create our own itinerary, I asked for two things: archery and bingo. But not just any bingo. Bingo on uppers. The kind where someone wins a prize every two minutes. But to do that we needed badass stuff to give away. So first, LuluSimon Studio stepped up with these awesome motivational prints and… realistic coffee mugs:
We also got to give away a ton of metallic confetti pool floaties and beach balls from MinniDipp (and a few of their designer kiddie pools as runner up grand prizes). You’ll see more of these in our recap next week, because MinniDipp was basically the unofficial sponsor of our pool party. (Aka everyone loves a metallic confetti floatie.)
And then we got to give away two of the most delightful, most incongruous grand prizes I can think of. The first was a custom signet ring from Vanessa Lianne Jewelry. She makes these badass mantra rings that you can engrave with things like “WTF” or “DGAF” or my favorite, your zodiac sign, but we suggested our winner flip the script and get a FTW ring because… well, it was for the win.
Our second grand prize was a custom plushie from Petsies, which is exactly what it looks like: a custom stuffed animal modeled after your pet. As it turns out, the winner of this prize has a beloved smoosh faced dog she’s obsessed with, and this was the bingo prize she didn’t know she needed in her life.
If you ever wondered what it looks like when I’m living my best life, it’s this:
A few other thank yous:
First, to Polaroid, who hooked us up with two of their Zip wireless mini printers, which we promptly set up at our pool party. (It connects to your phone via Bluetooth, so you get both a digital and physical copy of your photos, and luckily doesn’t require Wi-Fi. Because, um, we had none.)
And finally, to Camp’d Out Tents who provided us with the most luxurious and relaxing tent space to serve as our quiet retreat during camp (basically, the introverts escape hatch). It was the coziest spot at camp, plus their owner, Kitty, ended up joining us as a camper at the last minute, and you know I love a gutsy woman-owned company. Psst…you can rent these for your weddings, I’m just saying.
Next week we’ll be hooking you up with the official summer camp recap. But for now, it’s your happy hour, so get to it.
Cheers,
Maddie
Around the Web with Jareesa
This is heart-breaking: How WhatsApp Destroyed A Village.
Here’s What Happened to the 99 Immigrant Children Separated From Their Parents and Sent to Chicago
This Is the Problem With Telling Black Women What to Wear
The “Three Famous Words” That Drive Viola Davis
Everything You’ve Been Told About Botham Jean is Wrong
From Panels To Panties: TheCurvyCon Gets Plus Women
If you only listen to one of these recommended podcasts, listen to Dr Death: 10 New Podcasts to Listen to This Fall.
And cause we all need something to make us laugh: 17 Tweets From This Week That Fuck Me Up Every Time I Read Them.
