Bewildered Bride

More Wedding Photos

2008-03-22T12:24:00.002-04:00

Love In The Sand

2008-01-31T21:30:00.000-05:00

Jesse really wanted a honeymoon on the beach, so after 5 days in the jungle Jesse arranged for 5 days on the beach to meet both of our dreams. We booked the whole honeymoon with the same travel agent and I want to say that as wonderful as the Tabacon Resort was, the Playa Conchal, where we spent the second half of our trip, was terrible. The resort was old and rundown, the pool area and restaurants were in need of updating and cleaning, and the service was mediocre. All of this, I could've ignored but what really bothered me were the stray cats that were everywhere. Dirty cats with oozing sores, cats with litters of skinny kittens, smelly cats begging for food. As an animal lover, I found it hard to ignore the cats and could not enjoy the resort grounds.

That being said, once we realized how much we did not enjoy the resort, we chose to spend most of our time just outside the doors of the resort, at the lovely beach. Playa Conchal's website features photo-shopped pictures of their resort, but the pictures of the beach are dead on. All beaches in Costa Rica are public beaches and we were surprised that most of the time we were the only ones on the beach.

Of course I wanted one of these popular shots.

And, of course we got sunburned despite loads of sun block.

Jungle Love Part II

2008-01-17T18:40:00.000-05:00

The Tabacon offers a grand spa with natural hot springs stemming from the nearby Arenal volcano and rain water. Sitting under the falls and letting the hot water run off your neck and shoulders was heavenly.

Because we were in Costa Rica during the "off" season, the hotel, the restaurants, and the spas were nearly empty. We were able to enjoy the spas without being crowded or pestered. Also, we had first rate choices for massage times and restaurant reservations.

The weather was beautiful, the people were wonderful, and we truly enjoyed a nice balance of activity and leisure time.

Honeymoon Love In The Jungle

2008-01-11T10:51:00.000-05:00

During the wedding planning, Jesse and I had some different ideas about what a honeymoon should be. He really wanted to spend time lying on the beach, I wanted a more adventurous time. Of course, there were some tense moments for us during the planning and so to ease our disagreements, we agreed that Jesse would plan a honeymoon we would both enjoy and I would not ask him about it at all. When I found out Jesse had planned a honeymoon in Costa Rica, I knew he had hit the nail on the head!

Part I: My Honeymoon

The view from our room at The Tabacon Resort: Arenal Volcano

We did not get a honeymoon suite and we did not regret it, we felt our room was beautiful, clean, and comfortable, and had everything we needed.

Same view as above, once the mist had cleared.

The Get Away

2007-12-28T09:28:00.001-05:00

The day after the wedding was a whirlwind of activity, which I don't have any pictures of. There was a brunch, cleaning, packing, and gift opening. That afternoon Jesse and I headed to Bar Harbor for the night. I still didn't know where we were heading for our honeymoon, but Jesse told me we weren't leaving until Tuesday morning and so a night in Bar Harbor was in order.

The number one thing Jesse wanted to do in Bar Harbor was eat lobster.

My new husband had his bib on as soon as the lobster was ordered.

It was a messy, messy job to bring that lobster down.

I'm not a fan of lobster, so I stuck with maine shrimp cocktail.

On Monday afternoon, we took the long route home and enjoyed some antique barns on the way home. It was a nice day to enjoy the new foliage and our new situation as husband and wife. And, on the way home Jesse let me in on a secret... we were heading to Costa Rica!

Evening Entertainment

2007-12-13T15:22:00.000-05:00

Night Lights

2007-12-03T12:37:00.000-05:00

These lanterns were a dream of my mum's and almost didn't happen. I was running low on time and I hadn't done a trial but they were the one decorative piece my mum loved and really wanted to see at the wedding. I had initially bought the red bags for the favors but when the labels arrived I didn't like the look of the red with the gold and so I decided to pick up the regular lunch sacks for the favors which I ended up loving.
The lanterns in Martha Stewart where made of white bags and I think she had stenciled them which I didn't have time to do, but I headed to Maine with the red bags and ribbon I had picked up at Building 19 and thought that I'd give it a try and that if it didn't work out I wouldn't be out too much money or time. My parents had the christmas lights in their attic and I think it all came together really well. The one regret I have about the lanterns is that I did them on Friday afternoon at the site because I was worried about how well they would hold up to travel. My brother and I worked for about two hours but we ran out of time and we were only able to get three strings done even thought I had enough supplies to do six. Oh well. What we did get up looked great and I got a lot of complements on them.

The other flowers

2007-11-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Funchion Love.

I wish I had a better picture to show off our other flowers because they really were beautiful. We really didn't have any plan for the ceremony site and our only two requirements where that it had to be something simple and free. I had picked up the tins you see hanging on the trees last march at the Christmas tree shop for 89 cents a piece. At the time, I thought I would use them to mark the aisle so I bought a dozen and added them to the ever growing wedding pile which blocked the back door of our place for 6 months. As the date grew near, and I realized I would have to fill them with something I was thinking about ditching the idea, that's when I stated to brainstorm what I could fill them with that would be free. The Tuesday before the wedding my mother called everyone in town with hydrangea trees and everyone said "sure, come get some" and so that afternoon we spent a few hours cutting flowers and bunching them up to dry. I had seen a magazine spread with flowers hanging on tree trunks, and so that's how they ended up there. I love the look of them but my only regret is that Saturday morning we couldn't find the twine I had bought that more closely matched the tree trunk and so we had to make due and as a result the twine is a real distraction from the buckets. Oh well.

The aisle flowers were a gift from my grandfather, who shares my love for mums. Wednesday we picked these up at Everlasting Garden Greenhouse in Brewer. Not only was the price the best of all the places we had checked, but they had the best selection of colors and the best looking blooms. We ended up buying 6 small pots and 2 large pots and covering the plastic pots with burlap coffee bags I had bought last winter at building 19 for &1 each. (at the time I thought they would make good seats for around the fire). I loved the mums and I was able to give one to each of my friends after the weekend as an extra thank you for all their help.

In retrospect, I could have filled those buckets with more foliage much like the ones I used under the tent, and lined the aisle with those. I would've saved the cost of the mums and brought a more cohesive feel to the two events since I didn't use the hydrangeas anywhere else but all in all, I liked the look of the hydrangeas, I didn't lose any money on the mums, and the friends loved the gift so win-win, right??

Red Velvet

2007-11-03T11:51:00.001-04:00

One of the drawbacks of having a wedding in a rural location is that there are no fancy cake bakers to choose from. Cake was something that was important to Jesse and so we set out to explore our possibilities early in the game. A lot of brides in northern maine choose to buy their cake from a grocery store or from a wholesale grocer like Sam's Club. Another option is to hire a cake baker from the nearest city, Bangor. We thought briefly about these two options but we really wanted a tall layered cake which was not available from the grocery store, and it was hard to arrange transport to Bangor and back for the cake (it's 70 miles from the wedding site). We started asking around and found out there was a lady in nearby Patten who made cakes, one phone call to her and we had photo album with at least 100 photos of her work. The upside of having a wedding in rural Maine was that our cake was made exactly to our specifications and cost only $140. Only the bottom two layers were real cake, the top three were styrofoam. We bought the ribbon and the topper, delivered it to here, and we loved the results.

Although we didn't ask for it, she also made us a little cake for the keeper! It's currently living in the freezer and I think about eating it often.

Dinner Table Decor

2007-11-02T10:58:00.000-04:00

LANTERNS
I was never obsessed with centerpieces, but I knew from the beginning that I didn't want floral centerpieces due to the cost and the social economical effects. So, I cruised the knot and weddingbee for non floral inspiration and then kept my eye out in the local stores. That's how I came across these lanterns from the Christmas Tree shop, I was just browsing one day they really caught my eye and at $5.99 each I felt the need to move quickly and didn't even get a second opinion before I went ahead and bought them. Sure, I had to visit 4 locations to get enough but hey, that's a small price to pay for a bargain like this. I bought the lanterns in April, and I got the idea for the wooden pedestal from the knot's NetterB and set my dad to the task of finding a perfect tree for the job. The tea light holders and votive holders were another Christmas Tree bargin at 30 cents apiece on clearance. I also got the candles there on clearance. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Of course, now I have a boatload of lanterns to try and sell. :)

TABLE RUNNERS
The rental company we used only offered white table linens which we were not crazy about, but we couldn't afford to get linen rentals from another company. I had thought, I could buy material and make runners myself but due to the cost of the material and the fact that I ended up having someone sew them for me, the runners turned out to be the most expensive and disappointing wedding decision I made. When it was all said and done, the runners cost more than $500 and although I loved the colors and patterns and what they added to the tables, they didn't cover as much of the table as I had hoped and were so much more expensive then I had estimated. I'm hoping to sell these and recoup at least some of the money.

SWEETHEART TABLE
We didn't have a traditional head table for multiple reasons, the most obvious one being that we only had one attendant each. We toyed with the idea of sitting with our parents because we didn't want to be the center of attention (I know how weird that sounds) but a few days before the wedding we decided that having a table for just the two of us would give us an opportunity to be "alone" during an otherwise very busy day. It was a good decision for us. We had the same lantern set us as other tables and then added a few personal things to the table. The sign was a shower gift from my best friends mother and the bird statues are garden pieces I picked up at Marshall's on clearance. The other thing we displayed on the table was a heart shaped log jesse had given me as a gift many years ago. He was cutting down scrub brush one day and noticed one tree had a distinct heart shape so he carved our initials into the tree and brought it home as a gift. It's lived on our bureau ever since and it was a surprise to Jesse to see it sitting there on our table. It was such a great moment for me to see Jesse recognize it on the table.

Favor Table

2007-10-26T09:55:00.000-04:00

We started working on our favors months ago, when the berries were fresh. We made 120 jars of jams and decorated them with a gingham topper tied with twine. We packaged the jams in regular brown lunch sacks with a personalized label from my wedding labels (dot) com. (we also got matching labels for the jam). The jams went into the bag with three shortbread cookies, a biodegradable cornstarch knife, and a napkin. My family and I spent a lot of time on the favors, and when it was all said and done, we all agreed that it was worth the time. I got a lot of compliments and I'm so happy with how they came out.

Bouquets

2007-10-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Being that I got married in a small town, my options for flowers were limited. I had previously contacted the florist in Millinocket and got a quote of $250 for 2 bouquets and 2 boutonnieres- that was a lot more than I wanted to spend so I decided then, that I would be making my own. I researched mail order flowers but got mixed reviews and wasn't ready to take the chance.
Wednesday before the wedding we took one finally trip to Bangor to finish up shopping and to look at bulk flowers at Sam's Club because my mother had seen nice looking flowers there for a good price a month before. Unfortunately, the flower selection there was very poor that day so we decided we would look at the local grocery store back in millinocket and if that didn't pan out, I would carry some hydrangeas. Back in Millinocket the next day, we heard that a local greenhouse had just started carrying cut flowers and so we went to check that out. JACKPOT! The selections were great and we ended up choosing three types of flowers and two greenery supplements and we walked out of there with some great supplies for less than $30. That, along with the ribbon I had picked up at Joann's brought the total to $45 for two bouquets- not too shabby! Saturday morning there were plenty of things to do and so when my friend Jackie offered to turn the loose flowers into bouquets I didn't think twice about saying yes. I didn't really care how they turned out, or at least I didn't think I did, but when I saw they finished product tears welled up! I can't believe what a great job she did and I really felt touched by the obvious care she took creating them. Shout out to Jackie! You missed your calling Chiquita!

Here's a great shot of my flowers and a poor one of Andrea's but hey, look how cute she looks with our little man!

Guest and Gift Table

2007-10-19T17:42:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time but I'm back and I'm a Mrs!! Yee, Haw!

So, now that I've finally got some free time on my hands I don't know what to do with myself. I'm going to start by showing off the projects I took the DIY route with- because I'm so proud and pleased with how everything turned out. (All photos can be enlarged by clicked on them.)

I posted the RSVPs on a cork board covered with fall fabric and displayed it at the dinner on Friday night. I saw a lot of people enjoying it and I heard a lot of people saying they should have got it together and done some art work. Of the 90 invitations we sent out, only 40 were returned with some art work as we had requested. Bah Humbugs!

Two views of our guest book/gift table. I had wanted two separate tables for these things I just assumed I would have them, I didn't know that most people use one table for both and unfortuntly, there wasn't another table available, so what did I do? Well, I'm proud to say, I shrugged it off and went with the flow. It's a bit crowded but I think it still looks good.
We did a version of the wish tree using cards I had made. I used spare paper I had and printed out an inspiring word on each card and stamped them with the same leaf design I used on the invitations. We got a lot of great cards and I thought they looked beautiful hanging on our tree.

For the card box, I repurposed an old travel case that had belonged to my husbands grandmother. It looked great and was perfect for cards plus I was glad to have some family "heirlooms" present.

my lips are sealed

2007-09-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

a quick blog to respond to the hundreds of emails i've received demanding my speedy return to blogging. This might be a slight exaggeration, or it might not be. You be the judge.

The projects are mostly finished but I've decided not to blog until after the wedding, mostly because I am feeling an enormous amount of stress but also because I want there to be some surprises for my guests. So, to all you demanding readers, I say, "patience is a virture." HA HA (Nelson)

More creative RSVPs

2007-08-27T21:44:00.000-04:00

Favor Sign

2007-08-26T19:09:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the above photo from Martha's latest wedding magazine, I am trying to create a simalar look for our favor table. As I've mentioned before, we made jam for favors and we're packaging them in lunch style paperbags along with shortbread cookies and an eco-friendly knife. My plan is to use two flower pots with branches in them to simulate bare trees and to hang the sign I made from these. Here's the sign I made.

Our RSVP Situation

2007-08-21T18:54:00.000-04:00

Along with our invitations, I sent out RSVP postcards. In our pursuit to inspire creativity and fun we left one side of the postcard blank and printed a small line of instruction at the bottom of the printed side which reads, "please make some art on the back of this card for our scrapbook!"

As you probably can guess, some people didn't do anything on the back (BOO! HISS!) but a surprise amount of people stepped up to the plate and I love 'em for it. So, without further ado, please enjoy some of the great art we have been receiving in the mail this past week!

The Shower

2007-08-21T18:14:00.000-04:00

I've been a bad blogger but I've got no excuses except that I'm getting married in four weeks and I've got all I can do to keep it together. I'd like to post a long blog about the wonderful bridal shower I had last weekend but in the chaos I caused trying to decide on an outfit, I forgot to bring my camera. However, my fabulous wedding photographer was there and I'm sure I saw her snapping away at rapid speed so I should have something to show you soon. Let me just say that I got some wonderful gifts and the whole shower thing was a lot of fun once I got there and my anticipation was eased. The weather was beautiful and the company was perfect.
I do have one picture to share with you, faithful readers. It was the gift that caused me to break down and cry and the only gift that I brought straight home for immediate use. Folks, I present to you, the Zen Alarm Clock:

A little background about how I came about this gift and why it brought me to tears. Ten years ago, I saw this clock in a store window on Congress Street in Portland. I loved the look of it and I loved the idea of progressive awakening but when I saw the price tag I knew it was something I couldn't afford on my coffee shop pay. I continued to visit the clock at that store and I even brought my roommate Andrea to the store to show her the amazingness that is the Zen Alarm Clock. Years past and I frequently mentioned the clock and how I wished I had bought it all those years ago. Once I even went back to that store in Portland but it wasn't there anymore. Today, my roommate Andrea who I dragged up the hill and into that little shop so long ago, is still my best friend, as she handed me her gift at the shower she said, "you're gonna love this." The minute my hand touched upon the smooth wood of the triangular point, I knew what it was and I immediately started to cry. As I cried I tried to explain my reaction but I couldn't stop crying- I couldn't believe Andrea had thought to get this for me! I was and still am, so touched my her thoughtfulness. She told everyone about how I had been wishing I had this clock since that day in Portland and I dried the tears from my face with the tissue paper from the gift bag.
this is just one reason why she is my best friend.

back to the city

2007-08-10T11:18:00.000-04:00

I'm heading back to the city today with my mum in tow. Tomorrow's the big bridal shower hosted by my FMIL and FSIN. I'm looking forward to seeing friends, family, and most importantly eating cake. But, I really wish it weren't a "shower." I'm really not a fan of the traditional bridal shower for a multitude of reasons, too many woman all in one enclosed space, the inevitable sexy nightgown (this is at the top of my list of things i hate), and embarrassing games. Not good. Luckily, I'm sure there won't be too many people; the mums, jesse's immediate fam, and 5 of my closest friends from RI.

Sunday, I'll try to catch up on the blog train. I have a lot of pictures to upload and after the shower I'll have even more. Stay tuned.

Destination: finish projects

2007-08-06T15:04:00.000-04:00

Well, as you might have guessed from my absence, I'm in Maine again finishing up some of the wedding plans and working on finishing up my DIY projects. That means more wedding projects are getting done but less stuff is getting blogged. That's bad news for all three of my faithful readers. If you're one of those three and you're cursing my name as you read this check out my favorite blogs list- there's some good reading there that will keep you occupied in the meantime.

The invitations are out and we have already started getting our replies. Hip, Hip, Hooray! We sent our postcard RSVPs and left one side blank, requesting each guest to make us some art to be displayed in our scrapbooks. So far, people have been good sports and have sent us some creative responses. I'm liking them so much that I'm thinking of displaying them at the Friday night dinner and having a vote with a prized for the most creative!

Where I've Been

2007-07-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I know I'm a slacker about blogging this week but I've been working hard to get these stupid wedding invitations in the mail. The problem is that every time I take them out to work on them, I decided they need a little something extra. Well, I'm done with that train of thought and I'm ready to just get them out of here so I can move on to other projects. I ordered stamps on zazzle(dot)com on Monday night and if UPS is right, they should be here today and I can once again be at peace.

Welcome Tins

2007-07-22T23:06:00.001-04:00

Back when we were newly engaged, I picked up these cute ME tins for a great price at Building 19. They don't really match anything but I think they're adorable and and they'll do the trick nicely.

Jack and Jill Shower

2007-07-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

Oh, lucky day! Following our day of jam making we were lucky enough to be the guests of honor at our jack and jill shower! The shower was hosted by my aunt mary at her camp on little narrows lake. Despite a cloudy start to the day, the weather turned around and the sun started shining just in time for the festivities to begin.

We were surprised and excited to find this pretty little cake had been made especially for us. Not only was it beautiful (note the love birds detail) but it was tasty.

Everybody bought something special to the table. Some of our favorites were the BBQ chicken, the peanut butter cup cookies, and a delicious cold broccoli salad.

We both had mixed feelings about registering for gifts but in the end we did register for camping items and some kitchen ware at Target (my favorite store). We got some great gifts and can't wait to hit the woods and start camping! Here we are opening gifts. You'll have to overlook my crazy expression. I get nervous in front of the camera and I always end up making crazy faces. It drives jesse nuts because we never have good pictures of the two of us.

And finally, a shot of us showing off our fancy pants cake. Of course, there were three people taking pictures all at once so I don't have a good shot of us both looking at our camera. That always happens when my family gets together.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who turned out to celebrate with us. It was a fantastic day!!

Jam Favors Done

2007-07-17T10:51:00.000-04:00

Well, we're back from a very busy vacation and I have tons of stuff to blog about. We spent the first week of our vacation in Stow, Vermont. Jesse spent many happy summers there as a child and I had never been, we really didn't do too much but relax and that's just what we needed to get us in shape for week two of our vacation, which was full of wedding related projects. We made it to Maine in the afternoon on Friday (7/6) and my fantastic father had already picked the strawberries for us.

Jesse and I got to work washing and hulling the strawberries. It's sticky work but we got down to business and made quick work of it.

My father got to work cooking the jam. He and my mother have been making this same jam for years now and he moves through the kitchen with the rhythm of a dancer. After he had his system down he let us step in and taught us some of the secrets of great jam making! Here's a picture of my dad getting ready to pour the jam into the jars.

And here's a picture of my man sealing the jars.

The only one who didn't have a good time making jam was miss coco. It would seem that she would rather be outside chasing chipmunks and swimming in the lake.

Shower Invitations

2007-07-03T09:22:00.001-04:00

I couldn't wait to share with you the absolutely beautiful shower invitation that we got in the mail before we left. My cousin Kendra made these and as soon as I saw the envelope I got excited. Before this invitation was an invitation the paper belonged to a stationary set from Target which I have been longing for, for some time now. I have never mentioned my love for this stationary to anyone so it was amazing to me when I saw it. Also amazing to me, is that Kendra obviously put a lot of time and care into these invitations and that means a lot. I think these are fantastic and I hope you agree!

Vacation Ahead!

2007-06-30T13:03:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

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.

Funny- Ha Ha

2007-06-26T12:50:00.000-04:00

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.”

Table Cloths Part III

2007-06-25T23:04:00.001-04:00

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

2007-06-25T22:35:00.000-04:00

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.

Countdown

2007-06-23T23:36:00.000-04:00

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!

Shoe Fetish

2007-06-22T19:11:00.000-04:00

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.

Pocket folder mock-up

2007-06-19T12:08:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

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.

Another monagram snag

2007-06-12T11:01:00.000-04:00

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

Birch Details

2007-06-12T10:20:00.000-04:00

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.

Paper Lanterns

2007-06-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

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?

Inspiration Pics

2007-06-04T13:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-04T12:44:00.000-04:00

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.

MIA

2007-05-31T13:20:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to post a quick note to say that I'm not missing in action although I might as well be, as I am currently deep in them woods of Maine contemplating my next move. As Buddah said, 'there is much suffering on the road to happiness.' So, until I have happy news to post here, I'll be in Maine suffering in silence.

Things we don't need...

2007-05-19T21:48:00.000-04:00

at this wedding of ours:

1. Oversized monogram letters (just say NO)
2. Floral centerpieces
3. Candy Buffets
4. Chair covers to make your folding chairs look "fancy"
5. Animal releases of any kind
6. $2 favors for every guest
7. anything that says, "bride to be" on it
8. "I do" flip flops
9. bathroom baskets
10. poems of any kind (gag me)
11. tiaras and elaborate hair dos (I want to look like ME on my wedding day)
12. cute children in miniature bride and groom outfits
13. a bouquet and garter toss (sexist traditions, if you ask me)
14. the dollar dance
15. overpriced toasting flutes and cake cutting sets
16. a bustle
17. 8 attendants in matching clothes they can't really afford
18. shoes that cost more than $50

I've spent some time searching the internet tonight and I'm frustrated by the cookie cutter weddings out there and the overpriced ridiculousness of the bridal industry. So, here's my vent: "Bridal Industry, YOU SUCK!"

New Purchases

2007-05-17T19:51:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post about a few things I picked up for the wedding. I got this Sugar tin for $2 last week when I was at Michael's Craft Store. I love the antique look to it so I picked it up, even though it's got no purpose. I'm thinking place to put napkins or just as a "space filler." I've got a lot of filler, because I love the look of country clutter. Second is these birds which I picked up last time I was in Maine, 2 for $1 at Mardens- Can't beat it. (Plus, a shameless shot of my e-ring.) I'm not sure what I'm doing with these birds so I only picked up 20. We'll see what I can come up with. Any ideas?

Wedding Iconography

2007-05-15T18:14:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking like a mad woman, trying to find an icon to unify the wedding scheme. As some of you may remember from an earlier posting, we are relying heavily on a love birds theme. That sounds that an easy image to find, right? WRONG. Clearly, I am being picky but hey, it's my wedding. Anyone with me on this one?
In the meantime, I am holding off on starting the invitations and other paper goods because I so want something that only exists in my head. Finally, on knottie NetterB's bio I found something that really appealed to me. This bird icon which she used in invitations, table cards, escort cards, and programs.
I emailed her and she replied with the specifics, "I purchased the bird art work at iStock.com. I created the heart and added the distressed look to the birds for a rustic aged feel." I checked out istockphoto and indeed, there it was, in all it's glory. Unfortunately, I don't like the look of the original work and I don't know how to create a heart and add a distressed look, in fact, I don't even know how to go about using the image once I've downloaded it. Why must I be one of the technologically delayed? WHY, GOD?? WHY??? (*falls to knees, clutching chest*)

okay, back to reality. I'm still working on a love bird icon and I'm doing it the old fashion way because it's the only way I know how (boo hoo). This week, all my spare time (which is a lot of time actually) has been dedicated to sketching out some simple, country-esque, yet modern and rather cartoony love birds. If I had a scanner I'd share them with you right here, right now. Well, good thing I don't because quite frankly, it's not going too well. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, dear readers.

Martha's at Michael's

2007-05-12T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got down to Michael's Craft Store to check out the new line of Martha Stewart Crafts and I am just blown away. I'm seriously thinking about getting a part time job there just to make use of the employee discount. I had already browsed her selections on line but I still wasn't prepared for the colors, the textures, and the amazing sizes of her scrapbooks and papers. I am in love with her fonts, her stamps, her paper punches, and her patterns. Oh, Martha you bad girl! Why must you tempt me with overpriced craft supplies?? :( Well, of course I didn't leave empty handed. I got a good deal on some ribbon and papers for my OOT baskets and I picked up some papers to run some trials of the invitation mock up. However, I did not leave with any Martha products, mostly because she isn't carrying the colors I'm looking for. I'm hoping they will be adding new stuff soon but none of the sales persons knew when or if. Here's some teasers of the great stuff she offers on her website.

Gym Blues

2007-05-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

I should be at the gym right now. Where is my motivation? HELPPPP!!

Some things I love

2007-05-07T19:09:00.000-04:00

Jesse and I have been humming and hawing about a registry. At first, we had no plans to register anywhere because we've been out on our own for a long time now and we (well, me really) hate the idea of creating a gift list. It sounds greedy to me. However recently, I have seen this subject up on a lot of the blogs I keep up with and I came across an opinion on registries that I hadn't thought of before, a reader commented that when there was no registry available, she felt the couple were implying that they only wanted cash gifts, ouch! who seems greedy now? Luckily, for us Target and Home Depot both have a registry so we'll most likely register for a few things just to give people the option and because I don't want guests to think they've got to give us cash (although cash certainly is nice *wink, wink*). I only wish there was a way to register for all the quirky things I love. Antique store finds, handmade gifts, the Zen alarm clock (I've been eyeballing this little beauty for 10 years now, no exaggeration), and personalized dinnerware!

These spectacular ceramics are from www.rustdesigns.com and I love 'em.

Table Cloths Revisited

2007-05-05T10:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I took a trip to Fabric Place (www.fabricplace.com) in Woburn to revisit my table cloth options. Three hours later, I left without fabric and with a lot of ideas. Here's a pictorial of my new ideas:

This is the first fabric I came across that sparked my interest. It's a knit that reminds me of a table cloth my mom always has on her table. I like the material and the color but the price was over my budget and I'm not sure if it will be easy to hem. I think it might be possible to run a stitch and then fray the ends.

These gingham's didn't catch my eye at first but then I started thinking about country BBQ and decided a gingham might be just the thing to add some country charm. These were the best priced of all the fabrics. It's difficult to see in the photo but the colors are a lemon yellow and a magenta red. I'm looking more for a gold and apple red.

I really like all three of these fabrics and I think they would work well together. The browns are a nice chocolate color and I like the style of the sun flowers. Very cuties country but I think it would work well.

I really love this material. The pattern is beautiful and the colors are nice. It lacks the reds, oranges, and golds that I'm looking for so it's out of the running but it was just to pretty not to post.

I've saved my favorite choice for last:

I found these fabrics in the quilting section. I love the shabby chic feel and they way all three fabrics work together. The colors are perfect but unfortunately, the price wasn't.
Fabric place was a great place to find inspiration but I left feeling that maybe my table cloth idea is more expensive then I thought. I'm going to have to really think this though before I buy anything.

Another monogram snag

2007-05-04T10:27:00.000-04:00

so what if the last initial doesn't fit? The "S" stands for SEXY

both images snagged at: www.gnyc.net/bio/index.html (if I knew how to make that a link, I would do it. Alas, I don't. Help anyone?) Okay, so this is a fantastic site if you're a DIY bride or is you're looking for inspiration. Aylee has templates available for DIY and is available to design stuff for you. The monograms were beautiful and you can choose to have them made at a cost of $5 for 2 monograms or $20 for 10 monograms. Not too shabby!

Dr. Seuss Weddings?

2007-05-04T09:49:00.001-04:00

I found this posted by Miss Tomato on Weddingbee this morning and thought if was too good not to repost, it's a funny Dr. Seuss-style vow written by Marty Blase (his fiance apparently didn’t go for it!) I would definatly be game for fun wedding vows,
but Jesse and I haven't got that far in planning yet. I have a feeling he would not be so crazy about funny vows, though. Well, I have a few months to work on him :)

Pastor: Will you answer me right now
These questions, as your wedding vow?

Groom: Yes, I will answer right now
Your questions as my wedding vow.

Pastor: Will you take her as your wife?
Will you love her all your life?

Groom: Yes, I take her as my wife,
Yes, I’ll love her all my life.

Pastor: Will you have, and also hold
Just as you have at this time told?

Groom: Yes, I will have, and I will hold,
Just as I have at this time told,
Yes, I will love her all my life
As I now take her as my wife.

Pastor: Will you love through good and bad?
Whether you’re happy or sad?

Groom: Yes, I’ll love through good and bad,
Whether we’re happy or sad,
Yes, I will have and I will hold
Just as I have already told,
Yes, I will love her all my life,
Yes, I will take her as my wife!

Pastor: Will you love her if you’re rich?
Or if you’re poor, and in a ditch?

Groom: Yes, I’ll love her if we’re rich,
And I will love her in a ditch,
I’ll love her through good times and bad,
Whether we are happy or sad,
Yes, I will have, and I will hold
(I could have sworn this has been told!)
I promise to love all my life
This woman, as my lawful wife!

Pastor: Will you love her when you’re fit,
And also when you’re feeling sick?

Groom: Yes, I’ll love her when we’re fit,
And when we’re hurt, and when we’re sick,
And I will love her when we’re rich
And I will love her in a ditch
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold
Ten years from now a thousandfold,
Yes, I will love for my whole life
This lovely woman as my wife!

Pastor: Will you love with all your heart?
Will you love till death you part?

Groom: Yes, I’ll love with all my heart
From now until death do us part,
And I will love her when we’re rich,
And when we’re broke and in a ditch,
And when we’re fit, and when we’re sick,
(Oh, CAN’T we get this finished quick?)
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold,
And if I might now be so bold,
I’ll love her my entire life,
Yes, I WILL take her as my wife!

Pastor: Then if you’ll take her as your wife,
And if you’ll love her all your life,
And if you’ll have, and if you’ll hold,
From now until the stars grow cold,
And if you’ll love through good and bad,
And whether you’re happy or sad,
And love in sickness, and in health,
And when you’re poor, and when in wealth,
And if you’ll love with all your heart,
From now until death do you part,
Yes, if you’ll love her through and through,
Please answer with these words:

Pastor and Groom: I DO!

Pastor: You’re married now! So kiss the bride,
But please, do keep it dignified.

Dare I mention, that Thing 1 and Thing 2 could be the cake topper? ;)

The Amazing World of Paper

2007-04-30T12:40:00.000-04:00

I love fancy paper. I love the look, the feel, and the untapped possibilities of what may be. Initially, I wanted seal and send type invitations, I felt they were a unique and green choice and a way to push my creativity to it's blissful limits. Of course, that was before I started cruising around wedding sites and paper stores with their amazing choices of folders, pockets, scalloped edges, ribbon trims, and monogrammed seals.

As you may remember, Friday was a very bad day. :( Saturday morning Jesse suggested we go into the city for the day. Walk though the park, have lunch, and check out Paper Source on Boylston Street. YIPPEE YIPPEE KY-HAY! It's not often that Jesse wants to got into the city, and it's not ever that he wants to go into a paper store and browse for wedding invitations, so I was super excited. Finally, a reason to wear jeans and a top (I split most of my time between scrubs and yoga pants).

Saturday was a beautiful day in New England, perfect for walking in Boston. After a slight problem with detours and limited parking, we found the perfect spot and hit the city streets. We found Paper Source without problems and for a few minutes I was in heaven. Then, I became overwhelmed. There were so many choices! I should have come more prepared, but at least I got to see and touch. The colors were more magnificent than on the web and the sizes and shapes were much easier to understand. We left without buying anything but with a paper catalog in hand which is much better for me than trying to control the browsers ("now, where did I see that yellow one?, which link had the directions?, what does that package include?") So, we've narrowed it down to a few choices (i think), and I'm posting them here for your enjoyment.

Kinwashi Sheer #10 Booklet: I like this but it will need some stamping to dress it up a bit, most likely with a branch and bird detail, pine cone detail, or pine tree detail. What I like about this one is the natural stick detail at the top, the ability to personalize with detail, and the good price, what I don't like is the lack of color, and the work that will be involved to find the perfect stamp detail and the time it will take to "get 'er done."
Gold Brocade #10 Booklet: This is the same style but with color, which I love. That means no stamp detail needed, although it could definitely be done on the inner layers. What I don't like is that I'm not sure about the shades of colors. They are listed as Coral, Papaya, and Gold. I don't have a problem with the gold but I'm not sure about the coral and papaya- they may be too "tropical" and not enough "country in the fall." I'll have to go back and take another look. Am I sounding crazy yet?

Here are some stamping possibilities, also from Paper Source:

And, another stamping possibility from Paper Source:

As you can see, the choices are endless. Hopefully, we're on the right track. Any suggestions? Favorites? Let me know what you think, and let me know where you get your stamps from- these one's aren't my favs but I'm not sure where to start looking.

The truth about blogging

2007-04-27T18:51:00.000-04:00

I have always admired bloggers, spent endless hours pouring over them and living the life of someone else. It's easy to imagine the blogger had a perfect life, just like any other tale, a blogger's tale is edited by the blogger. I do not have a perfect life. There are days that nothing seems to go my way. Sometimes I wake up late and then realize we are out of coffee. Sometimes Jesse and I argue about things that don't matter in the long haul. Sometimes all my patients are crabby and no matter how many song and dance performances I give them, they remain crabby and at those times I wish with all my might that I had gone into any other profession, that Jesse always saw things my way, and that life was more like someone else's blog. I started this blog because I was hoping to be chosen to blog on a popular wedding blog site that I just love, a site where the most important decisions are the color and style of bridesmaids dresses. In short, I was looking for escape from everyday and into "the wedding zone." Well, that's not happening.

Today was one of those days where I needed an escape from reality and what I'm realizing right now as I type is that as a reader I escape but as a blogger I confess. Confession always makes things better. So there it is. I'm getting married but that doesn't mean my life is perfect. I feel much better already. Amen.

Check, Check (2 things off my list)!

2007-04-26T15:26:00.000-04:00

First, let me show you how lucky you are that you don't live in northern Maine (and forgive me dear reader if you do). I went home for a few days and although the sun was shining, the lakes were still hard with ice. Arggh! (not like a pirate, more like frustration).

Okay, so let me tell you what I got accomplished this week. (I'm clapping my hands in excitement) First, I found the toasting glassware my parents used at their wedding and I'm really happy with them because they are not traditional flutes and because I love the aged, silver gild and the font used for "bride" and "groom." It was difficult to get the pictures to come out, hope you can see it. I tried to pose them nicely but the light was difficult to work with. I even tried putting some paper in the glass but that just made it harder to read. Bummer.

Second, I finally decided on some centerpieces and was able to find as many as I needed. Okay, the truth is, I bought a lot more than I needed but hey, if 15 are good than 22 are better, right?! I like them so much and I really think they fit the outdoor, simplicity and serenity theme we've got going on. I bought candles in cream and red, in addition to the yellow shown here, just to see how the different colors look but I'm not going to purchase the candles for the wedding until the fall. Last year, I had a lot of candles stored over the summer and they all melted and became a lumpy mess! Booo! I'm not positive but I think in addition to the lanterns, I want a thin pine wreath to encircle it and then tea lights, polished stones, and loose pine cones on the table. I'm much happier with this idea than my earlier one of glass jars with tapers and pine cones. I think it's classier and safer (I was sure the cones would catch on fire at just the wrong moment- actually, is there a right moment for a fire at a wedding reception? I think not!)

Lastly, I would like to give myself a big round of applause for finally figuring out how to place the picture where i want within the blog. Damn, I'm getting goooood.

Bird Fever- Thanks Jackie!

2007-04-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

"I was in Fall River Florist Supply today with my aunt and mom and they have soooooo much bird stuff!
little birds, big birds, teeny tiny birds, bird garland, bird nests of all sizes, birds that look real, birds that look fake, doves, birds on the end of stick- they have so much crap katherine, and not lame stuff, nice stuff.
and everything is tax free if you have a tax code--that's the only problem, but maybe we can find someone who has one"

I was so excited when I opened up my email today and found this great email from my friend Jackie. Now, does anybody have a tax code I can use?!?!?

I'm including a photo of one of my bird inspirations. It's from Mrs. Catapillar's wedding from Weddingbee.

Spring Break

2007-04-19T11:51:00.000-04:00

I have been taking a break from wedding planning this week and focusing on relaxing activities, like laying in bed all morning and reading books. Yes, this is very lazy but it's been raining since Sunday and I like to relax at home when it rains. Well, today the sun finally made and appearance and so it's back to the grind. Today's small challenge is to investigate cake toppers, to buy or to build? There are so many fantastic cake toppers on line- each one cuter (and more expensive) than the last. I have my grandparent's cake topper which is truly vintage and good looking but I'm afraid it's a little worse for the wear and I'm concerned that if I try to fix it up, I'll end up ruining it. I'm going to my parent's house this week and I'll snap a photo of it to post. In the mean time, here are some of my favorite on line finds.

The birds are from Ann Wood and the cutie vintage bride from Bayberry cove- there's a groom to match but I'm have problems keeping him here (what's new!?). I can't figure out how to make the uploaded images fit into the layout like I want them too. Arggg!! Maybe I need a longer break! If anyone knows how to help me with this problem, HELP ME PLEASE!

Signs

2007-04-15T22:07:00.000-04:00

I saw a bride on Weddingbee collecting images of her and her FI's initials and I love indulgences such as this. Here's my first snag... Whooot Hoot!

Buff Bride

2007-04-13T11:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I *finally* joined the gym this week and I can't believe it took me so long to get going. I have pulled into the parking lot about 10 times since February, but could never take the final steps to get out of my truck and walk up to the door. This past Tuesday I was out of the truck and in the door before I gave myself a chance to think about it. The gym I chose was Boston North Fitness Center in Danvers, I chose it based on price (very reasonable), location (less than 5 miles from my house), and the fact that they have a very large women's only gym with all the same equipment as the house gym. Tuesday, I took a tour of the gym and found out about the options for joining. I left with an appointment to meet with a personal trainer or Wednesday and feeling very motivated and upbeat. 830 on Wednesday morning came early but I was determined and so it wasn't too hard to get moving. I was even able to get there a bit early to warm up. There are three female personal trainers who are available for hire though the gym, I am planning on meeting with all of them once before I hire one. Wednesday, I met with Diane who was very pleasant but not much of a motivator, that may be because she is leaving for vacation on Sunday. I worked out for 45 minutes focusing on the elliptical machine for my cardio and a short circuit for ab, thigh, and arm toning. I was sore on Wednesday night and even Thursday morning but I reminded myself of the benefits and it didn't seem so bad. Today was my second day at the gym. There were no personal trainers available, and I was worried that it would be hard to motivate myself but today, I surprise myself! I slept in a bit and still made it to the gym for 930 (much better than 830!), I started myself on the elliptical machine with some good tunes cranking in my mp3. 40 minutes on the elliptical and I was winded and weak but I felt good. I walked it off, and finished up my day with 20 minutes of circuit training. Today, without the trainer, I was able to push myself and it was great listening to music rather than someones vacation plans. Maybe I'll continue to surprise myself. I've decided not to book any more trainer appointments and see if I can keep up my Mon-Wed-Fri workout goals- if I find I'm having trouble motivating, I may rethink my trainer options.

Table Cloths

2007-04-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

I've been searching far and wide for fun, bright cloth to dress up our reception tables. Here are some of my favorites from www.reprodepot.com

I love the Abbey Road pattern but it's such a big pattern that if I choose this I might use it as a runner or put a solid color runner over it.

Abbey Road- Red

Uptown Aunt Dotty is my first choice because it also comes in gold and brown and I think I'd like some variety in the tables. But, is it too plain?

Uptown Aunt Dotty- Orange

I love the patten in this one but i'm not crazy about the color. It is also available in sage, wine, and sky but none of those colors work with my fall colors. This brown is not as warm as I'd like and may be too dark for a fun, casual wedding atmosphere.

Mendhi Mosaic- Tobacco

To favor or not to favor

2007-04-05T12:40:00.000-04:00

That is the question. Even though, I want a non traditional feel to the wedding weekend, I do want favors. With my tight budget, I know favors are one thing that is not required, however I really like the idea of giving a well thought out gift to our guests to thank them for joining us. Our wedding weekend is at least a 6 hour drive away for most of our guests and it's a big commitment for a lot of people with busy lives. My first idea was to give pine saplings as gifts, it's a gift that represents Maine to me and a great way to cover the issue of recycle and replace.
Two companies I'm looking at are Green World Project (dot net) and Grow a Tree (dot com). I am leaning toward Grow a tree mostly because they are a small family company from Maine but, these trees arrive as seedlings in peat, boxed. I'm concerned that our guests won't take the time to plant these trees and the seeds will grow old in the box while sitting on a shelf somewhere. Green World Project has a multitude of seedling options, but they are a bit pricey, and again, if they don't get transplanted I will be disappointed. Recently, I've been thinking of getting 75 seedling favors and 75 of another favor, to give people a choice. That way, our green conscious friends can plant a tree, and those guests who don't have a place to plant or the inclination to plant, will have a choice also. My ideas for a second favor include handmade Goat's milk soap (made in Maine), handmade Jam (my parent's are jammers), or jars of honey (love is sweet!). What do you think?

Great Finds at Marshalls

2007-04-04T10:36:00.000-04:00

As seen above, I got some great finds at Marshalls. The bird bath has a hook up for water which shoots a short burst up from the bottom of the bath bowl. I'm hoping we will be able to hook it up and maybe set it up at the guest book table. It fits well with our love birds theme and was only $12.99. I'm not sure what we'll do with the red iron tea light holders but I loved the look of them and there were two of them so I picked 'em up and we're currently living with them in our living room to see if inspiration hits us. Lastly, something I didn't get at Marshalls but is a product of messing around with different materials. I went down to the local recycle station and picked up some large jars with necks (think mayonnaise jars). I spent a whole afternoon picking pine cones because I didn't want to damage them with the rake- I'm not sure this was worth it- my poor knees are bruised! The highlighter in the photo represents a candle and the ribbon is from Namemaker.com. I heard about this company on weddingbee.com (my favorite wedding blog) and I couldn't help myself! I tried to take a close up of the ribbon but I can't get one that's not blurred. The ribbon says 9.22.07 Love Grows 9.22.07- we are giving pine saplings as favors to replace all the paper products we are using so "love grows" is also a theme we're using throughout. The ribbon is great quality and I got it at a good price. If anyone has ideas on where to use these things, let me know. I need a muse!

More MOH dresses

2007-04-04T10:18:00.000-04:00

Here's some overdue photos of Andrea in some of the dresses we found
for potential MOH dresses. The first one is my favorite, I love the chocolate brown shade and I think it's a fantastic cut on Andrea.

I also liked the cut on this one but I think the material was to casual and Andrea didn't look that comfortable in it.

We both loved this dress, it's by Jessica McClintock and we found it at Macy*s for a great price but they only carry it in this color, which just doesn't work for us. This dress in brown with a burgundy trim or orange with brown trim might be perfect.

MOH dress revisited

2007-03-31T16:05:00.000-04:00

I'm excited because Andrea will be here tomorrow and we are
taking another shot at finding the perfect dress for her important role as the maid of honor. After our last trip to Macy's in Rhode Island, I was sure we were going to have to go to a bridal store to find a dress and then one night Jesse's need for new underware was my saving grace. During a quick stop at Macy's one night before dinner, I cruised by the dressed just to see what was out and WOW! This Macy's had at least a hundred styles of dresses that would work great for our purpose. And so, here I am anxious and excited for tomorrow to get here. My favorite so far >>

Goody, Two Shoes

2007-03-26T19:51:00.000-04:00

well, I wanted to post a shoe blog tonight but obviously, it's not my night to post because this is my third try and I can't seem to get these images to come up right. I'll try again tomorrow.

Wedding Teeth

2007-03-24T11:51:00.001-04:00

Something that's been on my mind lately is teeth whitening. My teeth are straight and look okay but I've always wanted whiter teeth than I have and with all the pictures being snapped, I really want my teeth to look the best. I know if I go to the dentist they're going to try to talk me into a lot of work and since I don't have insurance right now, I want to make my teeth look as good as possible while spending the least amount of money. I'm planning on calling Tufts dental school in Boston to see if they do teeth whitening but I'm a little hesitant. Yikes!

MOH dresses

2007-03-21T19:53:00.001-04:00

Andrea and I spent all day Tuesday scouring Rhode Island for the perfect maid of honor dress. It was a great day and we had some success although she did not buy a dress. The best find of the day was found at Macy's early in the search, seen here on the right. The dress really suited andrea's shape well and was pretty without being frilly. Unfortunately, Macy's only carried the dress in a sage green color with black trim and ribbon. I am hoping we can find a similar gown in a burgundy or a burnt orange with a chocolate brown trim. Also, I guess it's good it wasn't the right colors because now that I'm looking at it, I'm thinking of going with a longer hem.

The best part of dress shopping was that we planned to shop for the whole day and so there was no rushing around and even though it wasn't a totally successful day, we now have a better idea of what styles will fit the wedding and will best show off andrea's sexy shoulders and legs! Whoo hoo, this one goes out to my sexy maid of honor!

Location Pictures

2007-03-18T23:11:00.000-04:00

This is a view of Mt. Katahdin from Millinocket Lake, it's the site of our ceremony.

Inside of one of the small cabins.

The outside of the cabin seen above.

Save the Dates

2007-03-15T17:39:00.000-04:00

I'll apologize for this being a day late but yesterday was very busy. Jesse took me to see Blue Man Group in Boston for my birthday. It was something I have wanted to see for years and we had a great time. I'm so tired today but it was definitely worth it. When I got home from work, I finally uploaded a photo, a big step for this technology slug. Apparently, the setting on my camera was set for landscape pixels and I needed internet pixels. After time with the users manual, I learned how to adjust the pixels, now if I could only learn to take a good photo.

Here's how I made them:

I printed out the text using the basic word program and my low grade HP printer, then added my own art, and printed them out at Kinko's. The whole process took me about a week to make, mainly because I tried the birds in every medium I could think of. I don't know if you can tell from the photo but we ended up choosing the watercolor version. The total cost was just under $50 for 100 of these babies. I hand addressed the fronts and stamped them with a variety of tree stamps that I already owned, I used different stamps and ink colors to give them each a little individuality and that took me about another week. All in all, from idea to mailbox they took about 3 weeks but I really took my time with this project and both Jesse and I are very happy with the results. What do you think?

Reception Site Approved

2007-03-13T17:19:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been an eventful week since my last post. I went up to Maine to celebrate my birthday with my parents and my grandparents and we all had a wonderful time. I got some great gifts, and we spent a lot of time playing games, which is a big deal in my family. My parents have a new game that they love called Sequence and I would recommend it to everyone who might be reading this blog. It's easy to learn, and so much fun that even Jesse enjoyed playing! While we were in Maine, Jesse finally got a chance to check out the site of our wonderful wedding weekend. I pretty much knew Jesse was going to love it as much as I do but there was a small part of me that was worried, "what if he doesn't?" Well, I can let go of that now, thank goodness!

Also last week, I leaned how to put pictures up on my blog so pretty soon, this blog is going to get more interesting. Yeah!! In fact, I think I'll log off now and work on getting some good shots of my Save the Dates so I can post them here tomorrow.

Welcome Gifts

2007-03-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

I have dreams of having a welcome basket in each of the cabins we have rented for our wedding weekend but I'm not sure what I want to put in them. I found the perfect "baskets" at an overstock store last weekend and they were only $2.00 each! They are good size and really cute, they have a really homey/ campy feel to them, they are by Mary Engelbreit. Right now, I'm thinking about putting a variety of snacking items in the baskets.
We would like to serve three meals thought the weekend 1. a potluck, family style dinner put on by my family on friday night for guests. this will go on thought the evening as people arrive, 2. a country style BBQ Saturday evening following the wedding, and 3. a casual breakfast Sunday morning before people start home. All of our cabins are equipped with full kitchens but we don't want our guests to feel like they need to bring food for the weekend, so the idea of having snacking items available will hopefully sustain our guests in between the meals. Here is our list so far: Loaf of bread, pb and homemade jam (my parents are fantastic jammers), s'more stuff, hot cocoa, coffee, and coffee filters, popcorn, fruit, and cookies. Do you think this will be enough food for a weekend?

The Offbeat Bride

2007-03-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading The Offbeat Bride by Ariel Meadow Stallings and I want to take this opportunity to recommend it to all future brides out there, even those of you who may not be considering an offbeat wedding. The book has a great voice to it, is down to earth, and just plain fun to read. I myself am excited to try incorporating some offbeat tones to our wedding, if it were just up to me the wedding would be a "global supersoul dancefest with crazy decorations and down to earth pot luck style meals, but since this wedding is for two, I've been inclined to strike a balance. If anyone is interested in borrowing the book, I own it and would love to pass it along to you for your reading pleasure.

Guest book Update

2007-03-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to report back on my guest book updates! I have three prototypes finished and I think they all look great! They are crafty, cute, and I think they will be fun for our guests to fill out. I have included a sketch of a frame with directions to draw a picture of the bride and groom. There is a place for the guest's names and addresses and a place to write in hopes and wishes for the bride and groom. I have sketched them out landscape style on a stand size piece of paper and would ideally like to have guests be able to take them to their tables and take their time filling them out. However, I'm a little worried that if people are able to take them away from one point (like a guest book table) than the pages won't make them back to the book and will be left lying around, half filled out and with food stains. Also, for this plan to work, we will have to buy enough markers to leave some at each table. Any ideas? Comments? Questions?

cool links

2007-02-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some unusual sites to check out:
www.indiebride.com
www.offbeatbride.com
www.uglyweddingdress.com
www.mightygirl.com

Enjoy!

Let it Snow!

2007-02-26T09:47:00.000-05:00

What a fantastic morning to be home, the snow is falling and my mind is at ease. I spent the weekend in Rhode Island with my girlfriends and I've returned home with lots of new ideas for the w. Since the tent, the tables, the chairs, the linens, and the dinnerware is all white, I've been trying to brainstorm inexpensive ways to add color to the reception. Jesse and I are colorful people. My newest plan is to make table runners in bright hues for each of the tables- I think this will be fairly easy and add a much needed punch of color.

Another new project I'm excited about is the guestbook. I'm determined to make a guestbook that will be fun for guests to write in and fun for Jesse and I to read for years to come. Where's the fun in a fancy white book filled in with rows of names? This week I'm working on drawing up a draft of a guestbook page with fun questions for guests to answer and space for creativity. My plan is to make copies of the page and pass them out to the guests to fill in at the reception. Once the pages have been completed, I can load them into a decked out three ring binder that suits our style.

My girlfriend, Laura (also my talented wedding photographer) has offered to help me with my invitations which is a hugh help. I have my heart set on seal and send type invitations and I've had a hard time finding the correct paper size I need to make them. So, a big hug goes out to Laura, thank goodness for my abundance of talented and connected friends.

table decor

2007-02-21T17:14:00.000-05:00

I'm obsessing about table decoration. I'm not the kind of girl who gets crazy about table decoration so naturally, this worries me. Case in point: Sunday I was at the Christmas Tree Shop buying Anna's Cookies (if you don't know what Anna's Cookies are you should try them because you will love them and you will buy them at the Christmas Tree Shop because they only cost $1 there) so, I'm at the CTS and I'm cruising the candle aisle and they have cute little hurricane, frosted glass tea light holders for 39 cents (my keyboard doesn't have a cents sign- boooo! hisss!). I spent an hour in the aisle thinking about buying them- setting them up in different ways, trying to envision them on tables. I left the store with a hundred of them. I brought them home. I set them up on tables. I packed them up and took them to people's houses. I set them up on tables. I pestered them to tell me what they "really thought." I brought them home. I set them up on tables. I looked them over. and over. and over. Last night, I packed them up. I returned them. I felt that they really weren't what I was looking for. I felt good about that decision. Today, I'm worried they may be sold by the time I get there.

Welcome!

2007-02-18T12:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks for checking out my blog! Now that Jesse and I are planning our wedding, we felt this would be a great way to keep everyone updated with our plans. We are so excited with all the planning and we love input from our friends and family, so feel free to leave us some advice here.

This is where we are now:

I was lucky enough to find the perfect dress on my first shopping trip. It fits me perfectly and only needs a slight alteration ( hem). I ordered it in January and picked it up two weeks ago. The challenge now is to maintain my size!
We picked out a couple color pallets looking at paint chips at Lowes, they are sitting on our kitchen table waiting for us to pick one. Also, we wanted to have a prevailing theme to our wedding so we've spent some time thinking about that. My favorite was pinecones, but this is a point I lost out on. We have decided to go with "love birds" - a theme Jesse and I both love.
Last week Jesse and I booked our dream site for the wedding and the reception. We have arranged to have an entire campground for a weekend long wedding celebration! I can't tell you how excited I am about this. We are currently brainstorming a schedule of activities to keep our guests busy and having fun.
Last Sunday I spent the afternoon on save the dates while we watched a Nascar shootout. I made them up on the computer and then worked my artistic talents to add in our love birds theme. This Sunday we are adressing them and with any luck, they will be in the mail by Tuesday. Be sure to check your mailbox!

Thanks again for checking out our new site! For more information on our wedding you can check out our wedding website at:
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/katherinebossie&jessefunchion