Saturday, June 30, 2007

Vacation Ahead!

Also blog-worthy today is this little tidbit: We are going on vacation this week! What does this mean for you and my millions of faithful readers? Well, hopefully I'll be able to catch some wireless vibes but I can't promise anything. At the end of the week we are going to our first wedding shower, a jack and jill put on by my very ambitious aunt. Woot Hoot! We are very excited but nervous (it doesn't take much) so, wish us luck and don't forget about us in the meantime.

Table mock up

I'm giving some quick updates today because we're getting ready to leave for vacation! I went back to JoAnns to pick up the fabric and now I can finally stop thinking about it! I stayed with the maroon calico shown in my previous post as choice #1, but I found a more subtle toned accent fabric than the bright golden one shown with it in my previous post. I bought 15 yards of fabric for $45 and all I can do is hope it's enough for all the runners. Until we know how many guests are coming we're not sure how many tables we'll need. We've decided to go with a mix of squares and rounds, I saw a picture of this and I really liked how it looked. The squares seat 12 and the rounds seat 8 but I haven't got the exact dimensions of each table from our vendor yet. We have 132 adults and 54 children on our list for a grand total of 185 people, so far our (very)rough estimate is 135 guests. If we have 7 of each table that would provide seating for 140, plus the cake table, guest book table, gift book table, and sweetheart table= 18 tables. My plan today is to measure out the fabric to see what size each runner can be in order to get 20 table cloth runners.

I did some table mocks just to give you an idea of the finished product. Of course, there will me white linens under the runners (can you believe I didn't have anything white to use in my mock up- not even a sheet?) and the lantern will be sitting on a two inch cut of birch log. Also seen in the mock up are my pine cone accents which I spent many days collecting- I plan to scatter a few on each table as seen in the pictures (I got this idea when I saw someone use rose petals in a similar way). I did a sample of the seating cards which I'm not even sure we're going to do but which the vendor highly recommended. We don't like the idea of assigned seating but she's seen a heck of a lot more receptions than I have and so we're reconsidering. Just in case we do use seating cards I've been collecting long needle pine, pine cones which I want to use as the card holders- that's in the works. So enjoy the pictures and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

More tutorials comming

Here is a list of the projects I'm currently working on and will blog tutorials in the coming two weeks:

1. pick fabric and sew table runners
2. pick fabric and get pinkinshears for jam decorations
3. decorate parasols
4. finish up invitations
5. burn two CDs, one for dancing during the band break and one for cocktail hour
6. table cards
7. placecards for Bride and Groom (see sneak peak below)
Yup, those are chipboard letters and giant clothes pins (both from Michael's)

Funny- Ha Ha

A wedding joke for your amusement on this muggy day (found on weddingbee):

Jennifer’s wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement — not even her parents’ nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father’s new young wife had bought the exact same dress as her mother! Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused. “Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I’m wearing it,” she replied.

Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, “Never mind sweetheart. I’ll get another dress. After all it’s your special day.” A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, “Aren’t you going to return the other dress? You really don’t have another occasion where you could wear it.” Her mother just smiled and replied, “Of course I do, dear. I’m wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.”

Monday, June 25, 2007

Table Cloths Part III

I'm going to start this post by letting you know this little fact: it only took me one weekend to find my wedding gown.

I have been obsessing about table cloths for three months and am still without luck. Today, I braved the sweltering heat in hopes of finding inspiration at my local Jo Ann's fabric store. I found two possible combinations of three patterns and I liked both combinations in the store but now that I'm looking at the pictures, I'm not so sure. However, this is the best priced fabric I have looked at so far and all these fabrics are 30% off until Saturday.
#1


The top photo is of all three fabrics. The one on the left would be used for adding a fabric square and a bow to the top of our jam jars (our favors), it is a rust and beige gingham print. The other two would be table runners, alternating on tables. The bottom picture is a close up of the table runner fabrics.

#2


Same set up here. The top photo shows all three, the one on the left is for the jam jars and the other two for runners. I really like these orange tones but I like the jam fabric from #1 more than the jam fabric from #2 and of course I like the runners in #2 better than the runners in #1. Go figure.
I just realized that you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it and then, using the back arrow you can return to the post. Probably everyone knew this already.
I'm not sure which combination I'll go with or if I'll go back and dream up a few more combinations, but I definitely want to buy the fabrics before the sale ends.

Check... Cake Topper



Hip, Hip, Hooray! Yesterday during our Sunday ride, we happened by an interesting store in downtown Dover NH. Well, low and behold we stopped (I only had to ask once!), it was a good thing we did because this is where we found our fabulous cake toppers! I really wanted a unique cake topper and kept playing around with the idea of spending a fortune on one or trying to make one. Well, for $3.50 each (grand total of $7 for those of you keeping track) I just couldn't pass these ceramic love birds without thinking, "cake toppers!"


I think these birdies were probably made for sticking into plant pots, the dowel is a foot long. I'm not sure if I will have to cut them down a bit to make them sit flush on the cake, but the length of the dowel will support the weight of the bird so this piece lends itself nicely to it's re purposed life!
If you're ever in the New Hampshire area, I definitely recommend you stop into Blue Moon on Central Street in Dover. They specialize in fair trade items, antiques, and wares from local artisans. They had a nice variety of things for sale and a lot of eye candy. The prices were good and the sales woman was friendly and professional- really pleasant to speak with.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Countdown

We sat down last night to talk about plans and make some decisions about the BD (big day). We did the math, we checked it twice, we even drew ourselves a calender but the fact remains that we've only got 13 weeks to go. Thirteen weeks doesn't seem like enough. Not enough pay checks, not enough days of planning and preparing, not enough shopping days. Just not enough. Arggg!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Shoe Fetish

When it came to bridal footwear, I wanted to ensure my comfort for a full day of activity (including a post nuptial badminton game) and I didn't want to spend more than $75. Truthfully, I didn't want to spend more than $5 but, once I looked at a couple pair of shoes, I quickly realized that just wasn't gonna happen.
I first fell in love with these boots from Fluevog (nobody makes a shoe like john fluevog). They're daring, different, and the best part is they are versitile. Unfortunately, my groom-to-be had a real aversion to me wearing boots at the wedding (don't ask me why, I don't think he even knows why). Because he's asked for so little during the planning process, and because I was truly scared he might want to wear loafers on the big day, I decided to concede, and use this as a bargaining chip. No boots, no loafers.


I continued in my quest on the fluevog website and found these little lovelies. Again, they fit the requirements but at $229, I just can't do it.

A few weeks ago, I was in Kohls with my mum when we came across these cuties:


They fit all my requirements and they best part was the price! At a whopping $15, I didn't hesitate to throw them in the cart. If I do find another pair (or give in to my heart stings and part with the $229), I won't feel bad about the money I've already spent and I like 'em enough to wear them another time, maybe at my next wedding. Just kidding.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Pocket folder mock-up


I made my pocket folder invitation to the measurements shown on the cards and pockets website. I made it using a 12 x 12 piece of brown card stock I picked up at AC Moore. It's 7" x 5" when folded up.
I love the look of patterned paper for the invite mat but if we decide to go with this style we will have to buy and cut paper to achieve that look. Cards and pockets only offer solid color invitation mats. As with the #10 booklet, I used the large leaf stamp I bought online from paper-source to add depth and interest to the invitation card itself. On this one, I used a multicolor stamp from color box ($17.99 at AC Moore)
I printed my inserts on 6.5" wide card stock and again, had to fiddle with my margins to achieve the staggered look I was going for. All in all, I love the look of the pocket folder and how all the pieces of the invitation are included. Also, I need to check with the post office but I don't think I need to use an envelope for these invitations.

#10 Invite Mock Ups

I decided to make some invitation mock ups because my continued indecisivness regarding invitations. I made a #10 booklet based on the measurements in the paper-source catalog and a folder invitation based on the measurements from cards and pockets. Here is the #10 booklet and how I made it.

Here are some shots of the finished products. I started with a spice colored cardstock and used my Fiskars paper cutter to cut it down to 3 3/4" X 9 1/2" I folded over the top to form a 1/2" lip. I originally used antique brads to hold them together but then played around with different ideas. I really like the casual look of the yarn.





I cut three inserts from cream color card stock, each 3 1/2" x 9" To make sure I got the staggered ends I simply fooled around with the margins while printing and trimmed off the excess. I'm going to have to work on this some more.I cut three inserts from cream color card stock, each 3 1/2" x 9"











I really covet those
black and white maps
that I see everywhere
but I had a lot of
headaches trying to
make one, dispite
multiple tutorials.
I cut and pasted this
map from our wedding
venues web site.

The whole process took about 1 hour and was fairly painless but if we decide to go with this style we'll definatly buy the kit from paper-source, simply to save the time and headache of cutting the papers.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Another monagram snag

another Knottie pull with our initials. I'm clearly doing a lot of surfing this morning!

Birch Details

from knottie Sugarmagzz

Found this picture on a knottie board this morning and had to share. Those are small birch trees wrapped in chirstmas lights. Hopefully, I'll be able to do something similar at our reception. I love birch details.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Paper Lanterns

One problem I have with wedding planning is staying with one theme. It's so easy for me to pick out things I love only to find, once I bring them home, that they just don't go with the other things I've picked out. It's really frustrating. One thing I do know I want is hanging paper lanterns in the reception tent, and lots of them. I think they are a fairly easy way to make a big impact (remind me about that easy part when I'm climbing up and down a ladder and swearing like a sailor) with a small amount of money. My plan is to buy about 90 lanterns in three sizes (12", 16", and 20") and either group them all over the dance floor at varing heights or group 6-10 lanterns over each table at varing heights. Ideally, I'd like to have them in complementing shades of red and orange but I'm not sure how that would look. Here is a rundown of my top choices for lanterns:

cherryblossomgardens(dot)com, this site offers the best prices on lanterns ($24/24 12" white lanterns) but only offer them in white or red. They do advertise color bulbs and in the picture it looks like the color shows up nicely. Here's white lanterns with color bulbs.



Next up is Pearlriver(dot)com, which offers the irregular ribbing which I really like and a multitude of colors, but are priced much higher then the others I looked at. $3.20/each for 12" lanterns






I love this image from partylights(dot)com and I'd love to do a combination of string bulbs and lanterns. They have lots of lighting options and lantern options but the paper lanterns are $6.00/each. (OUCH!)


What do you think?

Monday, June 4, 2007

Inspiration Pics



What better way to get back into the swing of wedding planning then some inspiration pics? These shakers are from Miss Caterpillar's wedding (weddingbee) and were made by her MIL. I was thinking I could do something similar with the birds I picked up at Mardens. Yes? No? Come on, tell me the truth.
Paper by Wendy Addison available online at Vintage Weave and Sissy in Seattle. I love 'em, love 'em, lube 'em but if we were going to use them, I think we'd have to make them ourselves so we could make 'em bigger and better.

Ditto for what I said above. Same artist, want it bigger and better and would love to place it over the cake table. In fact, I might work on something like this for the cake table. Yesss, I think I will.

Back In Baby's Arms



The title of this post is a bit over dramatic but Jesse and I both love this song and there is a fraction of truth to the title. I'm not sure if I will regret this post in the months to come but in the pursuit of truth I'm gonna go for it. However, as I am the singular blogger here and the situation revolves around two, all details will not be divulged here. So, here goes nothing!
It was long planned that Jesse and I would be traveling to Maine for Memorial Day weekend for a meeting with our site and day of coordinator, Shorey. As that weekend approached, I couldn't help but notice my dearest was becoming more reserved and withdrawn. As the day came closer, so did the tension in our happy home. (Is this a nail-biter, or what? Don't worry, dear readers I can promise you a happy ending). What happened?, you ask. Well, it finally came out that Jesse was suffering from a serious case of cold feet. He was worrying about the money, the dancing, the guest, the seriousness of the occasion, and the idea of 100 people doing nothing at all but staring at us for one whole day. And how did I feel about his cold feet? As you might imagine, I wanted to shoot myself in the foot- twice, make that feet. Three days and nights we spent talking until it no longer felt like we were planning a wedding, but an international trade agreement. And when we became too exhausted to talk another word, I did what any girl in this situation might do, I packed up and ran home to my lovely mum and dad. I spoke to Shorey and since she is wonderful and understanding, she offered to give us a little time to get our act together. And so, begin the phone calls. Starting with Jesse calling to tell me his case of cold feet was momentary and had passed, me with relief on that day. And then the next day with me calling to say "forget it, I'm too worried that this might happen again in a month." And the next day with a call from Jesse on his way to Maine, "I'm coming to set things straight." And the happy ending I promised you? Well, once we were "back in baby's arms" after a week alone and with the guidance of our parents who where more helpful than I can begin to describe here, we were able to talk things out calmly and reasonably. Last Saturday, we met with Shorey and made some major decisions and money exchanges that basically seal the deal.
On the long and rainy drive back to MA yesterday I was able to see that just maybe, we have been taking the wedding too seriously and that if we are able to relax and laugh we will have fun planning and not look back on these days with regret. Also, it was a good reminder to me that relationships can be hard work and that while our marriage will have it's challenges, the rewards are always sweet and worth the heartache.