Something Old and New, Borrowed and... GREEN!

Place Settings

2010-04-23T21:27:00.001-04:00

As I write this, my hands are antsy to stamp. I know... what a weird way to start off a post... but hey, welcome to my world. I was out of the DIY-land there for a while and tonight I HAVE RETURNED!

First of all, an ode to stamps... holy moly, they are just awesome. I know I've said it before, but I can't stress enough how much they have come in handy for the wedding. In fact, with my horribly long absence from this blog I should have dedicated a post to the invitations (I'll try to post on them soon) and the crazy amount of hand stamping that went into them. On top of the fact I am gaga for hand stamping, I am also really picky about how it's done, so I don't let anyone touch them. I'm like a man about his tools... Those are my stamps, and my stamps only. No touchy touchy! So... I had some close calls with carpal tunnel syndrome during the invitation stamping fiasco since I tackled it on my own, but I think they turned out awesome and then I laid my hands to rest. That is, until tonight when I decided to see how I want my place settings to look. I then got ink happy and now have about 50 stamped forks. Is it weird that I think it is completely addicting, and maybe even fun?
So anyhow... this is what I'm looking at for place settings:

*Sidenote: Sorry for the bad photography skills... I'm getting lazy with my picture taking... also what the heck is up with the coloring on my photos lately?! Not sure why it's in weird layers...

But anyhow, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I haven't decided if I will do all the flatware with "A & W" or if I will just leave the top fork with it since that's what is visible. I'm feeling like I may just go with the top one since I'm 3 weeks out (gasp!) and I have about a zillion other things to accomplish, but for now, THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

I like this hair style!

2010-04-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

My sister and best friend (MOH) decided to give me a hair and make up package on the day of my wedding as my shower gift. I am so THRILLED that they did this for me because I was pretty worried about what I should do for the beauty part of our big day and now all I need to do is pick out my make-up "look" and my hair style! I just saw this on Oh So Beautiful Paper and I loved it! I need to go get a trial so I can see what looks good on me! Eeee thanks so much Andi and Sarah, you guys are the BEST!

What shall we eat with?!?!

2010-03-29T12:09:00.000-04:00

Alright, I come back to you full of more excuses on why I have been absent in the blogging world. Siigghh... are you ready? Welp, okay. I packed up my entire life in Richmond and moved it all to NOVA. My last day at my (now old) job was March 12th and it was pretty sad... I already miss it a lot! I moved everything up to NOVA and then began a new job a few days later. My new job is quite different in all aspects from my other job and it is taking quite the adjustment. Luckily, I now have AJR by my side everyday so I feel ready for anything!

Anyhow... if that isn't a good enough excuse, well. I guess I got nothin! I figured I would come back with a post about a lovely little discovery I mad a few weeks ago. The past few months I had been on the hunt for figuring out the dinner ware for the reception. Because it is outdoors, it will be much easier to have disposable plates and silverware... but how do we do this in a wedding appropriate way? I certainly don't want anything styrafoam at the wedding! There are a lot of high quality disposable plates online, such as this one from Party at Lewis.

You can get plates that are clear and sturdy, plates that resemble fine china, and all sorts of cool stuff. One thing to remember though, is this stuff isn't all that cheap. It runs a little less than a dollar a plate, plus you have to pay shipping! Another factor, is that it isn't even close to being environment friendly, which is something that is important to me, especially with the wedding. I did go ahead and order some AWESOME eco-friendly utensils from EcoWare Products that I am so psyched about! I literally HAD to have them when I came across them online, and they are awesome.

They are made from birchwood... how cool is that?!?! You can also buy similar ones made from bamboo, which is the ultimate up and coming way to be green. I considered doing bamboo plates, which are also extremely eco-friendly, but I thought with the burlap runners and the wooden utensils, that might be a bit TOO natural and not enough pizazz for a wedding reception. Afterall, your dishes provide a lot of visual impact on the overall decor.

After hours and weeks of searching online, I decided to give it a rest and come back another time when I wasn't so burnt out on it. This was one of those horridly boring wedding tasks I mentioned a while back. Then one night the week before I moved, I stepped into the Dollar Store around the corner from my apartment to ask if they had boxes I could use for packing. While in there, I opened my eyes and BEHOLD! There were really nice glass plates for... a dollar each! As in real glass, reusable, nice plates. I inspected them and thought to myself, hmm. These would work for a wedding for sure! I knew I didn't particularly want clear plates (remember the whole visual impact thing?) so I came home and got online. Who knew the Dollar Tree has a website? With a plethora of awesome wedding worthy products!

While searching I found these and I was instantly excited... this was the EXACT look that matched my whole wedding theme! And how perfect would they look with the wooden flatware? So I headed to the Dollar Tree the next day and bought everything they had! Here is what one of them looks like:

So that my friends, is what we shall be eating with. No, they are not disposable, but they look awesome and they are decently priced, and I can donate them when the wedding is over! Or, let friends and family take a few if they want them for picnics and such (as AJR's dad suggested).

Bridal Jewelry, so fun!

2010-03-10T10:53:00.000-05:00

I receieved my earrings in the mail yesterday! Naturally I got them from Etsy and I am so impressed with how PERFECT they are for my overall look!

I love the filigree... and the nice little drop of crystal. Eeee I am getting excited as each little piece comes together!

I ordered them from RebeccaJDesigns

Another darn cake

2010-03-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

People are going to get tired of seeing different versions of virtually the same style cake, but I keep coming across these plain white cakes with a little rustic spin and I get all mushy inside with feelings of confusion on which one to choose.

Why are they all so cute!?!?

found here

The good news is we got our cake stand in the mail! It is GORGEOUS! It looks almost identical to this one here...

Bamboo Heart Picks

2010-03-04T21:11:00.000-05:00

It's the little details that are dragging me in (and making me spend too much money). I can't help myself because I want there to be fun little things in the reception that make people smile.

I was looking for a cute cocktail pick and came across these heart ones. I couldn't resist. First of all they are economical (can I get another what what) and they look so adorable. So I splurged and ordered, they look just as good in person.

I bought them on Amazon. Yay for drinking vodka tonics with a nice little symbol of love :)

RSVP's are the devil.

2010-03-03T08:39:00.002-05:00

I can't tell you how long I took to create the RSVP wording. In fact the reason I can't tell you is because of the shameful face I would have to make while telling you.
First of all, I knew I wanted postcard RSVP's. (Economical, what what) But the person doing our invites keeps one side blank, free of design or wording. So then I thought we should ask people to write a message on the blank side (you know, a "Please feel free to send a message to the bride and groom" kind of thing. That way it wasn't such a lonely barren side of the RSVP (they have feelings too ya know!) But that would have cost 35 dollars to print. I passed because every time I turn around we are spending 100 dollars here or 50 dollars there (luckily the thousands of dollars here, thousands of dollars there thing stopped a while ago) and my sister said "Save that money for a nice bottle of wine on the honeymoon!" Well said.
So then I was worried about the actual wording. Do you just have a line for regrets and accepts? Do you get a little wordy for fun like this:

____is/are looking forward to dining, dancing, and celebrating

____has/have to miss the fun

or even this:

__ Yes, we look forward to dinner!

__ Sorry, we're unable, our plate is full.

oh, and there are corny themed RSVP's as well, such as if you were to be married at a golf course:

__ Yes, we'll see you on the green!

__ Sorry we can't swing it.

Anyhow... point is... a zillion options. Plus there is the whole +1 issue. Sadly, we are not able to allow our guests +1's (we have 150 chairs that fit under our tent and our guest list is currently well over that, so it's just a matter of space! Plus, have you ever had to feed tons of people? Sheesh it's expensive) and honestly I knew I didn't really want +1's to begin with because I am not comfortable having people that I don't know as guests at the most special day of my life. That might come off as rude or weird to others, but when I picture my wedding day, I want to look out at the church and see people that know and love us and are there to celebrate our union... not just come for the free beer with a date. So, we decided to only allow people who are in relationships to bring their boyfriend or girlfriend as a date, since chances are we probably know them anyway if they are dating our friend that is invited. My exception is that a few way out of town friends can bring someone if they don't know anyone else at the wedding... and of course the bridal party. I know it might not seem fair to some, but this is what we are comfortable with and so that's just the way it is!

So how to convey this on the response cards? Well... I have read some horror stories where people just automatically add names on their response card without checking with the bride first, and I really wanted to avoid awkward situations like that at all costs, so I did a little research and I found two options. One was that you can put an asterick and small font below the response part that looks something like this: *__ seats have been reserved for you. And you fill in the number for each person before mailing them out, so Uncle Bob sees he only has one seat reserved and isn't going to bring his stripper girlfriend. However, that seemed a little too blunt. Plus, you have the family of 5 that might possibly only have 3 coming to the wedding. Now where to fill in how many out of their party might be attending?

SEE WHY I HAVE HAD SO MANY ISSUES?!?!?

So here is what I decided, in my own nice wording with a way for people to know how many people in their party are invited and a way for them to tell me how many they will be bringing. Whew.

__ out of __ will be attending with glee! (and yes, I fill in the second line with the number)

__ will not be attending, but shall celebrate from afar!

Crisis averted. And I kind of like knowing people can still say they will celebrate from afar. It makes their "no" seem warm and sweet, even if the no is from grumpy Uncle Bob who is mad he didn't get a plus one.

I steal office supplies.

2010-03-02T15:08:00.001-05:00

I am a terrible blogger. Oops. Apologies for not writing in so long. All two of you have been VERY upset at me for no new posts so here I am to update and save the world!

What has really happened is that life is absolutely crazy right now. I have had job interviews, figuring out my move strategy and last day of current job, my new nephew was born last week (ahh little Jack, so exciting!), and I am figuring out really boring non-blog worthy wedding plans. (Ex. This plate shape vs. that plate shape. This shade of green vs. that shade of green for invitation ink. Do those napkins match those straws?) My poor maid of honor has been a real trooper... she lets me go on and on about the most boring of topics and then still pretends to care. Even better, she does for me in real life all the time... even when it isn't wedding related. I love you Sarah! (I so lucked out in the best friend department, and I never forget it!)

Anyhow, my life is crazy lately and so I have really been wanting to share a few pics from my work bridal shower! Okay, first of all... unbeknownst to me, my co-workers had actually read the blog (slightly embarrassing) and took a lot of my ideas for the wedding and incorporated them into the shower! It was all so thoughtful and wonderful :)
The shower was almost 2 weeks ago and they all really put thought and time into what they did for me and I appreciate it so much! They had mason jars to drink green punch from, lots of green balloons, and used burlap and fake magnolia flowers with tulle to decorate. (We have a talented person at all this stuff on our staff and she even glued fake pearls onto limes in the shape of "R"s to decorate the punch bowl area) The flowers were beautiful (they are still sitting on my kitchen table and look great!) We also had tons of great things to eat (key lime bars... yum.) but I have to say my favorite part of all were the games. In particular, one of those lovely (ahem, totally embarrassing!) games where the hosts of the shower go and interview your hubby to be and then you have to answer the questions at the shower. In front of EVERYONE! I think I was blushing the entire time... especially since my boss was sitting there with the answers. One of the questions happened to be "If you could change one thing about Whitney, what would it be?". Well first of all, the good answer should have been "nothing". And here I sit before my department trying to rack my brain on what appropriate answer AJR could have possibly written for them. But when they all read the answer on paper, they were dying laughing and looking around and cracking jokes about re-stocking our cabinets. (What in the world?!?!) Come to find out, "That she keeps stealing office supplies from work and giving them to me!" was his answer. Ohh, what a jokester I am marrying. I also discovered that his dream job is to be the babysitter for the E-trade baby (from the commercials). It's a good thing we didn't play the version where you have to chew the gum every time you get one wrong or else my jaw would still be sore! (I swear, I really do know the man.)

The food spread... yummy. (Check out the mason jars on the side... looove it)

close up :)

Oh, and they made me wear a super cool tiara/veil

My cake :) Mmm... I could eat some of that right now...

The cutting of the cake... always a Kodak moment.

The apron is one of the gifts I receieved... so cute! They apparently thought I should be a good house wife and one of my co-workers read to me aloud the The Good Wife's Guide. I guess I need to be more gay and interesting for him. My favorite line: "A good wife always knows her place." Well then...

The Sweetest Thing

2010-02-16T07:54:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday night, AJR and I stopped over at my aunt's house for some dinner and to see my darling little flower girls. They seriously are my favorite little girls on the entire planet.

While on the couch, we sat as they entertained us with their Valentines toys from Grandma (yes, V-day toys. I still get them from Grandma and I am 23) and while Lenna was being the star of the show for the moment, Lora came off to the side and sheepishly looked at me. "I need to tell you a secret" she says. "What do you have for me?" I asked her as I pulled her beside me on the couch. "I can't WAIT for your wedding!" she whispered into my ear and said with such sincerity, I could have died. "Well I can't wait for you to be IN my wedding! You will be the most perfect flower girl in the world!"

Do I have the cutest cousins or what? I tried to get her to whisper the same thing to AJR, but that wasn't happening. Older boys make her shy.

Can we add this to the menu?

2010-02-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I've talked about our wedding day menu, but we are having a BBQ. Yep yep, going down home country on you all and having some pulled pork with my Grandad's famous sauce! I don't know why, but I have been totally obsessed with having BBQ. Maybe it's because it's awesome. Maybe it's because WHO COULD TURN DOWN BBQ?!?!? Name one person who doesn't like it. (vegetarians don't count)

Along with BBQ, we will have grilled chicken. But I need to think of a few other items to add to the menu. Besides the cake. ;)

We will have several drink options at the bar, but fresh lemonade and sweet tea will be our featured non-alchy drinks. For appetizers we will serve bacon wrapped scallops and fresh fruit trays.

I want just a few more items to spice up the menu. The caterer will also provide apple sauce, cole slaw, baked beans, and dinner rolls.

I was thinking of a fresh salad. I ran across this picture on Lucky Me! and I thought it was such a cute idea! I like that each little salad is in a berry container, so cute! A nice salad would be a good compliment to the meal.

I also need to be thinking of an alternate dessert. AJR's mom makes KILLER lemon bars. I wonder if she would be up for making oh say, 150 lemon bars for the wedding?

Adorable Download

2010-02-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

I love the internet.
And I love the blog, Ruffled.

When I am getting ready on the wedding day, my groom will also be getting ready at the same house. I think it will be kind of fun knowing he's so close and that I have to hide from him before the ceremony! I like these door hangers... that are a free download! (all hail the internet and it's awesomeness)

I might have to make some for the day while we are getting ready and maybe one for the wedding night! How sweet :)

Download is found here!

Pretty!

2010-02-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

Another pretty wedding day look that I would love is this one from The Bride's Cafe. I think it's time for me to go find a Sephora and get a make over to see what I like!

Beauty

2010-02-07T22:00:00.000-05:00

I saw these photos online and I just wanted to post them because I love her "look". I have no clue what I am doing for make-up (or hair!) for the big day, but I know I want it to be very natural and clean. The girl in the pictures just looks so fresh and pretty! I might want to go a little less on the eyeliner since I have such light hair and fair skin, but I am admiring her right now :)

100 Layer Cake

We Heart Giraffes

2010-02-04T12:10:00.001-05:00

So I promised I would show off our cake topper and here they are!

We ordered them from Etsy (of course) by Bunny With a Toolbelt. We kind of have this inside joke about giraffes and that if we were an animal couple we would be giraffes. The other day we were talking about cake toppers and AJR said we should have animal ones (he's a total animal lover, I bought him the F U Penguin book for Christmas and he about died). At first he suggested dogs because he's mildly obsessed with them, but then the conversation led to giraffes and we got so excited and I remembered seeing this seller because she made alligator ones. So BAM there you have it... we are giraffes. I think they are just precious.

Well, THEN I got to thinking about the cake. And I know I wanted the textured white cake. But now I am leaning toward a striped looking cake like this one here. I don't know why, but I just feel like it would look better with the giraffes and I think the stripes are equally as cool as the textured look.

Anyone have any suggestions? I think I am just so excited about the giraffes that I don't cake WHAT the care looks like!

One of those Days...

2010-02-03T20:23:00.000-05:00

I feel that this should be a short post because really all I want to do is talk about how much I miss AJR and how I can't wait until we are married and that waiting another 3 and a half months just sounds too darn long! I don't want to subject anyone to that kind of mushy talk, so instead I will just ramble about some recent happenings. First of all this morning I got caught up for way too many hours of my life sitting in court (I'm innocent I swear!) for a traffic ticket involving me running a red light. Sigghhh. I had to pay a large fine. It was a bummer. I also didn't go to work because I didn't want to make the hour haul half way through the day so I was left in a bad mood with a list of errands that needed to be completed. So I took my car in for some maintenance work and walked around the adorable little shopping area of Libbie Grove. I had to get more lace for my dress (man, this dress is so NEEDY!) and I stopped in an adorable little paper store to look at their invitation stuff. The shop is in a ritzy part of town, so of course everything was out of my price range, but I was there for like an hour looking through ideas and admiring designs and letterpress. I really love stationary. Like a lot. I have reeaallyy been putting off doing the invites because I am so undecisive and everything I want is just for someone else's budget, not mine. I keep coming back to the thought that I should buy cardstock in bulk online and hand stamp them myself. I am really liking this idea, but I am concerned about the time it will take to do them all. After going to the paper store though, I really think I need to just commit already! This is seriously at the top of my list... I am getting to it I promise!
After my little stroll through Libbie Grove (and a very expensive car bill) I went to pay Oksana a visit because I was getting pretty anxious about the fact that my dress is too tight. Basically she keeps telling me how I will shed all this weight before the wedding from stress, but I have decided a really skinny Whitney is a really ugly Whitney. No one wants to see a stick figure bride and I am not happy with the way I look when I am under weight. I informed her that I will actually be working on keeping weight on, not losing it. Thankfully she understood and has agreed that before the wedding she will let the dress out if needed. Those Russians. They just want everyone to be stick skinny and model like. Oh well.
So anyhow, that was my day in a nutshell. I feel about a zillion times better about the dress... especially after the latest addition to it and the fact that it will definitely fit right. Whhheewww.
We sent out our wedding website this week to our family and friends, I'm really glad that it's done. We will still need to update it and whatnot, but everyone seems to really like it which makes me happy. We originally made one with The Knot, but I came across Project Wedding and theirs is WAY nicer. The layouts are really classy and I am pleased with the result :)

Oh! And we ordered our cake topper... I'll post on that tomorrow. It pretty much rocks!

Okay, so much for a short post. Also, thinking on it, 3 and a half months is not that long. 100 days from today! Remember in elementary school when it was 100 days before summer they would make paper chains and get all excited? I think we may have even made hats too. I want my "100 Days" hat.

Ahh! Flower second thoughts!

2010-01-29T14:18:00.001-05:00

Why is this bouquet on Ruffled teasing me and making me want to change my flowers that I already told the florist I wanted!?!?

Gosh darn you wedding blogs. You make everything difficult with all your amazing and creative ideas. I want them all!

Pretty Hair!

2010-01-28T14:27:00.001-05:00

I saw this picture and was admiring the girl all the way on the left's hair style. Sooo pretty! Definitely saving it!

Green Wedding Shoes

Then I saw this on Grey Likes Weddings. J'adore!

Make Way, Fatties Coming Through!

2010-01-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

So today I left at lunchtime from work and my Mom came to meet me. We hung out and caught up on some happenings and then went to Joanne Fabrics to get some burlap. (eek. that stuff will make you ITCH) So, yes! I am doing the burlap runners, woot! I just need to talk AJR's mom into helping me with her sewing machine...

Anyhow, after our fabric store trip we decided we had to eat at Olive Garden. You know this restaurant has a deal where you can pay 10 bucks and have all you can eat breadsticks, soup, and salad? Well naturally that is the best deal ever and we had to do it! Breadsticks are every womans weakness I swear. And well, we may have indulged. Just a little. Several breadstick baskets, salad refills and four bowls of soup later, we were feeling pretty fat. My Mom looks at her watch and oh! It was time to get to Oksana (Russian seamstress) and check out the new addition to my dress/get my bustle made, and Mom had to check on her Mother of the Bride dress that she had Oksana hem. We waddled to the car where we busted out laughing knowing that Oksana would definitely have a problem with our full bellies in our dresses! We got to her store and sure enough, we could barely zip our dresses. I mean, neither of us! It was hilariously awful. It was so funny that I snorted several times. (as if I didn't feel piggy enough) Before we left she looked at me and said "tsk. tsk. tsk. I do no more to dress til you lose weight. No more Olive Garden! No eat next time you come in."

So I am hanging my head in shame as I write this and pulling on my tennis shoes. It's time to hit the gym!

A Cute Story :)

2010-01-26T09:58:00.001-05:00

Last week I was at my Aunt Kimmy's house before my Aunt Jenny and Sarah came over to have some wedding talk. My cousin Connor who is in the 6th grade and just a total sweetheart came home from his trombone lessons and was excited to see me. He started asking questions about the wedding (yes an 11 year old boy... this kid is like a mini adult. At Christmas he inquired about where Andrew and I would be going on our honeymoon) and he announced "Well, I can do the music for your wedding!". I assumed he meant help choose songs for the DJ (at a party my aunt and uncle hosted about a year and a half ago, he became the DJ's sidekick and the party turned into a Beastie Boys tribute) so I said "Oh yeah! Maybe you could get them to play some Beastie Boys for the wedding guests!" (for the record, I don't really like the idea of my future in-laws out of town friends dancing to "Brass Monkey" at the wedding, but a funny thought at the least). Connor gave me a confused look and then chuckled and said "oh, no I mean.. I could play the trombone!" (well, it appears he is over his Beastie Boys phase...) Cutest thing ever. My heart kind of melted.

Recent Happenings :)

2010-01-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a recap on some things we are up to. Last weekend I went to my hometown and had a meeting with the florist. It was kind of fun going in with my mom and bringing in pictures that I had printed to choose from. I didn't realize just how many people are going to be needing corsages and whatnot. Man, flowers are apparently a very big part of the day! I decided on my bouquet and I am VERY excited! And this arrangement of hydrangeas and roses are what I picked out!

We also went to talk to the man who is making our wedding cake and that was fun as well. I explained to him about the textured white frosting and he is also going to make 3 layers. The top and bottom will be vanilla and the middle will be chocolate and all three layers will have a raspberry filling, yum! Now I am on the hunt for a vintage cake stand (a silver ornate one like this) and some sort of topper. Any ideas?

Tuesday night a few of my aunts, my mom, and maid of honor got together to talk about the wedding. That mainly led to a lot of red wine drinking and gossiping, but we did get some ideas for invitations and for reception set-up. I spent a little too much time on Wednesday looking at invitation ideas online (which I have decided kraft invites are a MUST) and am trying to commit to clicking the "add to cart" and "purchase" buttons. Hoopefully I get brave before the weekend is over :)

Wednesday night I paid a little visit to the flower girls. Their dresses came in from J. Crew so they tried them on and it was sooo adorable! They looked perfect, oh they are the cutest flower girls in the WORLD! I gave them a book called Ten Neat Things About Being a Flower Girl so hopefully that spiked some excitement! Lora (the 5 year old) actually asked if she could be the ring bearer, but I told her that dropping flowers might be more fun than carrying a pillow.

Lat night my Mom came into town and she purchased her Mother of The Bride Dress! I will have to post on this later and show pics, but she looks gorgeous! She then met me over at the store with my seamstress and I got to try on my dress since the last few additions to the dress, ohhh I am getting excited! Although I did get yelled at by the Russian lady "You gain weight! You put two pounds on skinny body, you not fit dress!" because apparently I ate too much over the holidays... oops. No worries though, I told her it's just happy weight! I'm sure once the wedding stress kicks in, I will have no problems in my dress! (In reality, the dress fits totally fine haha). The most exciting part about last night though was THE VEIL! AJR's sister Lauren let me borrow her veil to try on and I fell in love! Her veil is a cathedral or chapel length veil, which at first I wasn't sure about. Well, in the world of veils I wasn't sure about any of them. But as soon as we clipped it into place I was all smiles. Perfect for my dress, it is gorgeous! Here are a few examples of chapel length: in the wind!, elegant, and just plain pretty. I just felt like such a BRIDE in it! So I now officially have my something borrowed! Woo-hoo!

My infinite love of Etsy

2010-01-18T20:45:00.000-05:00

I have been putting off posting this hanger that I ordered a few months ago, but I finally decided I had to share! I saw this seller on Etsy a while back and I HAD to have one of her custom made hangers for my wedding dress. I think this will look so neat in the pictures of my dress, I just love that the hanger holding my dress has the name that I will recieve while wearing the dress... so exciting! I ordered it from: LilaFrances

These are the buttons I bought from a couture store in Richmond so that the seamstress could add them to the back of my dress. Unfortunately I did not search Etsy before buying them and afterward discovered the same buttons for an unthinkable amount less than what I paid! The buttons I purchased were $3 a piece, which adds up pretty darn quick when you have 24 buttons to get! I then found a seller on Etsy who could make them for about .45 cents a piece. The couture store did not let me return the buttons :( I am still pretty mad about this situation... but oh well... ya live ya learn! Now hopefully future brides might see this post and learn from my mistake: Research a little before you commit to buying! The Etsy shop that I found was LiDDesignSupplies.

Flower Girl Dress

2010-01-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

This morning I saw that J. Crew is having a 20% off and free shipping deal for all items that are already on sale. J. Crew is constantly teasing me with these type of e-mails, but I've had my eye on a dress for Lora and Lenna (my cutie pie flower girls) and so I thought it was now or never to order it for them! I got in touch with my Aunt Shanna and she agreed that we should get them because of how simple and lovely they are... so yay, we now officially have flower girl dress picked out and ordered! I am having dinner with them next Wednesday to finally let the girls know that they are in the wedding and that they will be the princesses of the day :)

J. Crew

FONTS!

2010-01-13T16:36:00.000-05:00

I have decided for invites I really would like to have a unique and eye catching font with just a simple hand stamped design. I picture linen cardstock in a khaki color with black font and green stamp. I am obsessed with the idea of having the invites in kraft envelopes, but I realize the envelopes should probably match the invitations. I'll save my obsession for kraft paper for hand made cards and wrapping presents :)

The other night my friend Bridget and I sat on the couch at a friend's house pouring over free font sites and giggling at what they looked like when we typed inappropriate phrases to sample them. Never mind that it was 11pm and we isolated ourselves into a typography storm while all of our friends were socializing and heading out to DC bars. We are geeky like that. I am amazed at the amount of fonts there are! Oh, how I have come to love and appreciate the graphic design world. Bridget says I am a vicarious designer... it's so true. Can I have a career change? After my photography career change that is.

Anyhow, I decided to share some of the free font sites that are out there... I'll have to post on when I attempt to actually download and use them. Should be quite an adventure for this technologically handicapped woman (yes, this blog is a product of a miracle I tell you).

So here are a few sites:
Font Forge Fonts 101 J Murphy Free Fonts Vintage Fonts DaFont Abstract Fonts

See... look at all these fun things you can do that MS Word does not come with! Who knew?

It just has to be this.

2010-01-13T15:44:00.001-05:00

Every time I see a cake with this design I stop and I smile and I think to myself "This just has to be the cake that I have on my wedding day!"

I think it may also be that I HAVE to have a vintage cake stand to go with it as well... I wonder if AJR will let me buy one off ebay?

Classic Bride

Saturday we have a meeting with the man who will be making our cake... I am excited to discuss options and see what kind of fun flavors and things we can come up with!

Listing it up

2010-01-12T22:17:00.001-05:00

I really feel like I have a lot accomplished at this point, but I am also getting a little discouraged because of how much there is left to do. Sigh.

Some things still left to do that I want to cross off the list soon:

~INVITATIONS - this is really important because they need to be sent out in 7 weeks! That's 7 weeks to pick out a style, have them printed, stuff them, and address them. I'm a little worried.

~Groomsmen and my Groom's suits! For this I blame my beloved AJR... he needs to get off his butt and pick something out!

~My flower girls dresses. Actually, I need to officially ask them to be in the wedding as well, which I plan on doing next week. I had decided to wait so that I wouldn't get them hyped up about it too far in advance. I bought them a little book about being a flower girl and everything!

~A ceremony time. The simplest of matters, yet hard to decide. I must figure out how long the ceremony will be, how long it will take for pictures, will we have enough time for a cocktail hour and for people to eat before sunset? So much to consider!

~A song for the ceremony. My friend Natalie who has a beautiful voice has agreed to sing at the wedding. I'm really thrilled about it because I enjoy having people that I care about involved in as many aspects of the day as possible. Now we just need to pick a song that suits her voice and that matches mine and Andrew's taste, and that the pastor agrees is appropriate to play in the church....

~Flowers. I've been doing a lot of posting on that lately, and I am comfortable with my taste in how the bouquets will look... but I need to decide on a florist, how many flowers we want there, and what exact flowers we will need.

So those are just some items that are on my mind that I want to get out of the way so I can focus on some detail things. I am currently in a mad job hunt because my lease in Richmond is up in 2 months! So on top of wedding planning, I need a job and a new apartment for me and my future husband to move into. Whew. I do however, have two bartenders! Yay! My uncle's sister and brother-in-law will be handling the job for us that evening, so I am thankful for that! We have also booked a caterer which is exciting as well! Our guests shall have food! Woot! (I will post on our menu choice and caterer this week! :) The dress is coming along nicely and I hopefully only have 2 or 3 more visits before everything is all finalized! (Wish I could share more details on this matter) My Maid of Honor and I have also chosen dates for my bridal shower and bachelorette party... so I know she is going to be busy planning that! So excited because I know she will do an AMAZING job putting those together!

So I think the key is to focus on all the progress that I HAVE made and not get too caught up in all the things left. I know it will fly by and before I know it, these things will be crossing themselves off the list! I can't believe how much we have accomplished thus far and I am pretty psyched about it all!

This is the moment I am most looking forward to... first kiss as husband and wife :) The moment that is kind of what all this stress and planning and life changing steps are for. The thought of that makes me feel pretty content about all the wedding nonsense. Who cares if my table runners aren't the right size or if the D.J. plays the song I put on the "do not play" list.... I GET TO MARRY MY BEST FRIEND! Life couldn't possibly get better than that!

From our very own wedding photographer, Kelsey Thompson's, blog

Videographer

2010-01-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

Well... Videographers are rather expensive. And to be honest, the budget at the moment for this wedding is pprreettyyy slim. Luckily I am going to have fantastic photos and in fact don't really think I'll be sitting around watching our wedding video too often if we had one. However, I ran across this cute idea on Ruffled and I definitely wouldn't be opposed to looking into trying it out at the reception.

More flowers!

2010-01-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

Oh, now I am starting to get excited about flowers... perhaps I can make an appointment with a florist next weekend while I am in my home town! I browsed my faves on Once Wed's flower idea section.

The following are a few I found on Style Me Pretty

Bridesmaid Dresses ~ J. Crew <3

2010-01-05T11:29:00.000-05:00

I was waiting until we had officially ordered the dresses before I announced them and last night we got them all ordered and so that piece is done, hooray!

I seriously was obsessed with J. Crew dresses and while we all looked around at tons of dresses from other bridal stores and such, I couldn't stop coming back to J. Crew. My maid of honor and I were particularly infatuated with a floral print they make and so we decided it was absolutely necessary to have it somehow in the wedding party. I decided that my Matron and Maid of Honor would wear a light vintage floral pattern and that my other two bridesmaids would wear a caramel/champagne color. In the beginning I was convinced I would have the bridal party wear green since it's my favorite color and I had hoped to have my main color be green. I soon discovered that green is a mighty ugly color for bridesmaid dresses and I really didn't run across anything I loved. (J. Crew did actually come out with a green version of the champagne dress we chose that would have been beautiful, but we were still too sold on the floral pattern and needed something that matched better) I can't say I would have chosen strapless, but I think the beauty of the dress far outweighs my pit against strapless, so in the end the dress wins :)

So, here are the choices and I can't wait to see them when they come in! I love how romantic and pretty they are... the girls will all look gorgeous!

This is the dress for Michelle and Melissa. Very simple and definitely re-wearable so that is a plus! I'm thinking a green sash around the middle? See it here

The back of the floral print dress

Oh, how I adore this pattern!

Front view, I am thinking a creme sash instead of a leather belt. See it here

Thank You Cards

2010-01-03T19:27:00.000-05:00

Now that we've receieved a few engagement gifts, I've been writing several thank you cards and I thought I would do a little post on them. I really think it is so thoughtful when someone puts time into their thank you. Whether it's choosing a nice personalized card or writing really heart-felt words, I think you should always put in a little extra when you are sending words of appreciation. I sat down one evening and made a little series of hand stamped cards. I did go out and later buy a set of thank you cards that I can use when in a pinch, but I am excited about using hand made cards for friends and family who are contributing toward the wedding. I used stamps and blank cards by Martha Stewart, and I am even thinking of using the same stamps on the invitations!

the front of an envelope

the back of an envelope

a different assortment of the back of an envelope, because I want to include scripture

a thank you card I made for my aunt when she hosted our engagement party... perhaps I can use the stamps in a similar manner as this for the invitations?

Another Cake I Like

2009-12-30T16:45:00.000-05:00

I really need to find out what the name of this style is called with the frosting like that....

I love it! (minus the leafy things coming out of the cake)

found here

Flowers I liked on The Knot

2009-12-29T08:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I am stalking The Knot's ideas again... so I decided to pull my favorite bouquets. I need to start making decisions on flowers soon so I can nail down a florist!

It could be that I just fell in love with her pretty dress, but this bouquet is lovely. It was made of was made of blush-colored roses, cream hydrangeas, hypericum berries, and fresh herbs.

The bride's bouquet was a hand-gathered mix of peonies, hydrangeas, lilacs, viburnums, alchemilla, sweet pea, tulips, freesias, and roses in shades of cream, chartreuse green, and champagne.

I don't really care for the gold tie, but the flowers look simple and pretty. Composed of French lilacs, white ranunculuses, and honeymoon tulips.

This has peonies, roses, thistle, lamb’s ear, Queen Anne’s lace, ivy, and snapdragons.

This bouquet was made up of peonies, dahlias, and roses.

So colorful and pretty!

The pink peonies are gorgeous! I think I would substitute the white calalillies for something else, but this bouquet is very pretty.

I think I am falling more in love with peonies the more I look at them!

Champagne roses, hydrangeas, cream anemones, and green hypericum berries.

This is a white, pale yellow and bright gold bouquet filled with orchids, ranunculus, roses, and mums. A bit brighter than what I picture going with my dress... but still very springy and cute!

So, anyone want to chime in with their favorites? Sigh. So many choices for flowers... this one is difficult! I do love the more romantic ones like the first choice. However, I love all white peonies, and I think it is unique to add different elements in the bouquet such as succulents and herbs. More flower posts to come for sure!

A Lovely Christmas

2009-12-28T19:00:00.000-05:00

This Christmas was so wonderful! My sister came for a visit with her new baby and he sure is bringing a lot of joy to all of our lives. Such a cute little guy, I miss him already!

I am kind of in disbelief that this was my last Christmas where I will be spending Christmas Eve night at my parent's house with my sisters. However, I keep smiling thinking about how next year will be our first Christmas together as a married couple... is it weird that I am already excited to send out Christmas cards with wedding photos on them?

Anyhow, besides the adorableness of my nephew and amazing memories spent with my family this year, I recieved some gifts that were blog worthy seeing as they relate to the wedding! First up, my Mom gave me beautiful diamond stud earrings. I don't have a photo because I refuse to take them out (they're screw-backs so I'm slightly lazy) but man are they nice. They are .75 carat and I LOVE them! I had been wanting some diamond studs so I am very happy!

Then AJR ordered me a gorgeous hair pin that I will wear in my hair for the wedding. I may have dropped some not so subtle hints that I was in love with the hair piece so I was beyond elated that he did in fact get it for me! :-D It is from Etsy, made by Heart n Sole. This lady has a lot of beautiful pieces that I adore. But the one I got is definitely my favorite! It has ivory freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals and rhinestones twisted in sterling silver wire.

Then AJR's sister, Emily, gave me a very pretty and vintage inspired clutch that will be perfect to keep my little things in on the wedding day!

So, my wedding day attire is complete! Now I take my dress to get a few more things added (some lace here, some buttons there) and I am done! Just need to start looking into hairstyles I want to try out with my beautiful new hairpin!

Let it Snow

2009-12-22T19:18:00.000-05:00

So it's been a few days since I posted, mainly because I am trying to finish up all my Christmas shopping and wrapping presents before Santa gets here! Virginia saw it's biggest snow storm in a long time and it was so beautiful! Really got me in the Christmas mood walking around with Sarah in the Fan District feeling like we were in a snow globe with all the Christmas lights on Monument Ave. covered in white fresh snow. Glorious!

This was off of my front porch Friday night. The snow was reflecting light everywhere... it was SO BRIGHT! You could have driven without your headlights on at midnight! (well, if you could actually get your car out that is!)

Ah. And now for a series on my little flower girls (L&L) looking out the window at all the snow on Sunday afternoon.

So sweet.

Beautiful girls.

"Mom, the snow looks so cool!"

And then Little L got a little pouty. She's so darn cute!

Non-Matching Bridesmaid Dresses

2009-12-19T01:07:00.001-05:00

A new and exciting discovery made by brides everywhere is that you don't in fact have to make your bridesmaids completely match in the same bridaly (ahem, ugly!) dresses you choose at the local bridal store. Bridesmaids are rejoicing worldwide, hooorraay! I finally made my decision about what my girls will be wearing the other night but before I reveal that, I want to do a post on how fun I think it is to let the girls choose their own dresses in a color you pick for them. The look is so neat and I think you get happier bridesmaids and a more visually appealing look for your wedding (since the girls really set the tone for the scene!).

I just think this look was so well put together. The picture is amazing with all the women who are different sizes and shapes and in the different cut/styles and varying shades of the same color. A+ my friends.

GREEN! :-D

So romantic with all those pretty shades of pink!

I absolutely adore this. First of all, I tend to think bride/bridesmaid pictures look better when there are fewer bridesmaids because you can really see each of the women and what their individual looks are easier. This photo is so well balanced and the overall look is perfect. I'm jealous that those aren't my colors.

And this is my absolute favorite. Perhaps it's because I am drawn to off white/champagne colored dresses for bridesmaids and the fact that two of the girls are in lace is definitely helping their case, but I LOVE this look. I would be thrilled to have my wedding party attire look like this!

{found here, here, and here respectively}

Hair Styles for the Wedding

2009-12-17T22:41:00.000-05:00

I stalked TheKnot.com again to find some wedding up-dos that I might like. I found some really pretty ones that were worth posting! I envision having my hair up, but low and to the side, possibly in a loose bun or with curls. I'm excited to explore some more pictures of styles!

A simple up-do with a cream rose. So romantic.

A twisted bun

Pretty curls... ah, I love.

This girl had very fine hair and had the stylist curl it and pin it into a low up-do. Beautiful with the custom made hair pins!

Another hair style with pinned up curls. So pretty!

Am I allowed to ask for these as wedding gifts?

2009-12-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Too bad you can't register for super neat stuff like this!

A placemat that looks like a post card... oh how I fall for anything totally random and unique.

Found on Etsy

Grandview Manor, Our Reception Spot!

2009-12-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

I feel like we are starting to kick some wedding butt! This weekend AJR's mom and my family met in my hometown to accompany AJR and I to check out the reception site for some ideas on set-up and so that AJR's mom could see my hometown and all the glory it has to offer! Here are some photos I snapped from the little trip. We also booked the restaurant that AJR's parents will be hosting our rehearsal dinner. Oh, AND I finally showed my mom my wedding dress! Friday night I made a trip to a fabric and button store to purchase a few things my Russian seamstress is going to adhere to The Dress. Somehow a tiny ziploc bag with a piece of lace and satin covered buttons cost me $98. Whew... on second thought, maybe this wedding is kicking MY butt.

The back of the manor facing the water. I'm in love with the humungous sleeper porch on the second floor, so fun! To the left of the house is a pool house and tennis courts.

AJR and his mom checking out the dock. The tide was so low!

Ahhh, my favorite part of the house! The bathroom that is bigger than any bedroom I've ever had. Amazing! This is where I want to get ready before the ceremony since there is no bride's room at the church. It is perfectly roomy for me and my bridesmaids to get all prepped!

This is the bedroom connected to the bathroom fit for a queen. The bathroom actually doesn't have a door, it is all completely open and airy. I love all the natural light! (haha, and there's my step-dad and AJR checking things out :)

My little sister was not so keen on having her photo taken while she sat on the bed.

I kind of liked the shabby chic feel of the furniture and decor.

A cute little fireplace.

A formal dining area.

It's quite possible that I only took this photo because it had green.

So basically, that's a quick preview to the manor. The reception will be held outdoors under a 5-peak tent facing the water and people can have access to the house to use the bathroom, but the house will actually be just for AJR's family that will be coming there from out of town. There are 6 bedrooms, and numerous couches and space for them to set up camp for the weekend. It's a perfect spot and has everything I wanted in a reception site!

The Honeymoon!

2009-12-10T14:43:00.002-05:00

And our honeymoon is officially booked!

AJR chose to go to Vancouver, BC and it looks ammaazziinngg! Originally, I wanted to visit Ireland, but since that was a dreamworld request (when you are 23 and trying to plan a wedding, you don't have the luxury of just traveling the world for fun) AJR had to explore some other options. I'm still crossing my fingers for a one year or two year anniversary trip to Ireland ;-)

However, Vancouver is definitely a pretty easy compromise. It has everything I wanted in a honeymoon. Great scenery, delicious restaurants, outdoor activities, and it looks clean and beautiful. I was completely against the idea of going anywhere tropical or too touristy. I didn't want a honeymoon where I had to bathe in sunscreen to do anything fun, as I am about the whitest girl you've ever seen. AJR isn't a beach person either.. we'd prefer walking on a cobblestone street in some romantic town and drinking wine or something. So needless to say, Vancouver proved to be the perfect getaway for us as a newly married couple! We are blessed enough to have parents who own an RCI timeshare, so our honeymoon will be at a fraction of the cost it normally would. Thank you Mom and Vince!

Vancouver at night... swoon!

Shopping! What a charming area.

I am dying to go whale watching. Stunning.

Butchart Botantical Gardens in Victoria

White Wedding Cakes from The Knot

2009-12-09T12:31:00.001-05:00

I browsed through all of The Knot's posted wedding cakes that are white and I picked out a few that were my favorite. I think my top choice of all the cakes I've seen is still the one I posted on a few weeks ago, but it never hurts to look around and be sure!

I'm loving the foilage on this one! "An understated, but elegant confection of buttermilk spice cake and cream cheese filling tempted guests. White foliage draped across all four tiers, matching perfectly with the light buttercream icing."

Cute. I like the lines... but not sure if I'd want this for my wedding. "A white swirl floral motif accented each of the fondant-covered tiers, which were chocolate with raspberry filling, French vanilla with strawberry filling, and mango with mango puree." Mmm... that sounds delicious!

I think I'm attracted to anything with leaves/floral scroll work. " A square-shaped middle tier and sweet, delicate accents combine to create a chic, sophisticated wedding cake. "

The pearl look is neat. "The four-tiered ivory cake was covered with fondant and decorated with different-sized, white and ivory, sugar pearls. To top it off, white peonies and roses were placed on the top tier."

Okay, the idea behind this one is just so sweet. I love when people tie something that meaningful into their weddings. "Because Sunny didn't wear "something borrowed or blue" from her mother, she decided to have the wedding cake designed after the lace from her mom's wedding dress. The cake designer hand-piped the design of the lace into the white buttercream icing. "It turned out beautifully, and my parents were honored to have this as a tribute to their wedding day," remembers Sunny."

So... the cake search continues!

Wedding Shoes!

2009-12-07T14:33:00.000-05:00

I mentioned finding my wedding shoes this weekend... and here they are!

Ah, I love them. I was hoping to find a pair with a smaller heel, but the one on these isn't so bad. However, the color and the peep toe/closed heel is absolutely what I was looking for. I found them on sale for $35 (can you believe it, THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS) at a DSW and they are made by Nina.

They are online here

Save the Date

2009-12-06T18:26:00.000-05:00

They are finally done and ready to be mailed on my lunch break tomorrow :) After many e-mails and grueling conversations with our designer friend Bridget, they are finito and they look GREAT! We sent them in to Zazzle and had them made into postcards. We put a personalized message about the wedding on the back and they are perfect! We just wanted a simple, clean look with some green added in. (also, you will see the swirly things on the edges look like R's) I'm impressed.... thank you Bridget! (her website: http://bridgetstec.com/)

Checking Things Off That List!

2009-12-05T21:39:00.000-05:00

This was a wonderfully productive weekend. Yesterday my future mother-in-law dragged me over to Bed Bath and Beyond again. Apparently I am a very shy registerer (made up word?) and my items were much too small in quantity. *Sigh. So basically, when you think you have your registry close to being finished, think again. Oh yes my friends, when we went to BBB the nice lady in the bridal department printed out a list of everything I had already registered for. It was 5 pages. To me... that sounds like a lot of gifts. I think the lady and my future mother-in-law shared a nice little chuckle at me and then proceeded to show me all the things that I didn't even know I wanted. 2 hours later, after a grumpy bride and a gleeful yet determined mother-in-law were finished, the bridal dept. lady printed off the new list. THIRTEEN PAGES. I am terrified people will think I'm greedy, but they assured me that guests will be thankful for all the options. I'm just thankful that was my last BBB trip (well, hopefully).

Then today, my future mother-in-law and future sister-in-law, Lauren decided I had to make yet another trip out dedicated to registry. This time AJR came along, which always makes everything more bearable. We hit Crate and Barrel up for a few more items and this time it was actually a little more fun because C&B is just so niiiiice. (Plus, again the Christmas decorations put me in a good mood). It really was sooo helpful to have Lauren and mom in law to help... their advice and enthusiasm for shopping is unbelievable.

They also decided to take me over to DSW to look for wedding shoes. I actually found the perfect pair! I'm so excited :)

The other things we have made progress on... (drumroll) WEDDING BANDS! We went to the jeweler that made my engagement ring, Dominion Jewelers and picked the ones we want. I loooove mine! It is gorgeous! AJR's is really nice as well so I can't wait to see what they look like when they are finished making them (sometime in January).

And last but not least, our Save the Dates! We ordered them a few weeks ago and they are in, addressed, and ready to be stamped and mailed!

So... now that my progress has been typed out online, I feel very good about it all and can rest in peace tonight (I had another wedding nightmare last night. shiivveerr).

Crochet Lace and Wood Centerpiece, looove

2009-12-03T22:51:00.001-05:00

So browsing 100 Layer Cake, I saw this amazing Fall Harvest Dinner, which looked freaking fabulous and I wondered if anyone would ever put that much effort into decorating their home, much less a Sunday dinner party. But I HAD to post on the crochet lace ribbon around the votive candles, because I was just talking about how I would like to find some to wrap around the Mason jars. I don't know where I can find that lace, but I love it. Also... The wood board in the middle of the table looks awesome. I love the mixing of rustic pieces in with nice white classy items. Next project: Google crochet lace.

White Cake

2009-12-01T16:31:00.003-05:00

I think I've made my mind up that I want an all white cake. I think white is always traditional and elegant even at a wedding with lawn games :)

This one was taken from The Knot which described it as a vintage cake with white fondant icing, scrolling floral design, and edible shimmer dust. EDIBLE SHIMMER DUST?!?! I've been told fondant tastes like poo, but I bet the edible shimmer dust makes it all delectable. Regardless, the cake is gorgeous.

Thanksgiving Weekend in Pictures {a non-wedding post}

2009-11-30T00:34:00.003-05:00

My friend Chelsea came for a visit all the way from Washington state :) I miss her already. We had a lovely time hanging out by drinking wine and shopping for make up. She's amazing with beauty products and convinced me to buy Benefit Erase Paste. I've decided I love it. A dang good purchase.

Me, My Sister, My Mom on Thanksgiving Day

This is me and one of my flower girls, my cousin Lora on Thanksgiving Day. She had her fifth birthday last week and she is absoultely adorable.

This would be my other flower girl, Lenna Mae. She's Lora's little sister and so precious.

AJR and I made a trip to Lake Gaston with his family for the weekend. He and his dad are fishing.

While in Lake Gaston we went to a vintage shop and found an awesome old type writer. We aren't sure what we will do with it, but we love it. Possibly just a conversation starter piece to have in a hallway table?

I love the keys :)

AJR bought me a vintage evening clutch. I'm really excited about this!

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was one of those books I always thought I should read when I was in highschool and never did. Thank you AJR for buying it for me this summer :) I started it Friday night and finished Saturday... I couldn't put it down! My two favorite quotes from the book: "So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them." and "I used to listen to it all the time when I was little and thinking about grown-up things. I would go to my bedroom window and stare at my reflection in the glass and the trees behind it and just listen to the song for hours. I decided then that when I met someone I thought was as beautiful as the song, I should give it to that person. And I didn’t mean beautiful on the outside. I meant beautiful in all ways."

{Back to Weddingness Next Post}

AJR likes these

2009-11-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

And I like them too.

(From: shannen natasha photography)

And the registry begins

2009-11-24T10:37:00.004-05:00

Let me do a little posting on registry. First of all, this is something that when I tell people I am doing they go "Omigosh! Soooo fun!" (Well, if they are of female origin that is). And here is the fun part: Eventually you get really cool gifts. But first you have to choose these really cool gifts and that has proved to be a difficult thing! AJR and I went to Crate and Barrel on Saturday and were a bit overwhelmed with the choices. In fact, we were there for an hour and a half and never even touched the cool gun clicker thingy! We thought we would “look around” before we committed to putting things on the registry, but by the time we even got to the second floor of the store, we were exhausted.

And apparently the second floor is where all the good stuff is, like furniture. ie. Comfy leather couches that we could sit in while we dreamed of owning this trunk as our future coffee table. Anyhow, I decided to come home and do it online, which was a little easier since I wasn’t distracted by all the Christmas displays that were every five feet in the store.

Then last night I went to Bed Bath and Beyond, which is our second place to list our wants and needs for a refined home environment. I actually spent 30 minutes contemplating between towels. I also registered for two towels that were 39.99 each. My conscience is killing me. All the wedding marketing people try to convince you that you need to let guests spoil you by registering for completely unpractical and ridiculously expensive items. The guilt is eating at me. I may have to reconsider those forty dollar towels.

Images from here

Wedding Cake

2009-11-20T11:46:00.002-05:00

AJR and I thought about going cake shopping this weekend but have instead decided to dedicate our weekend to relaxation and registry. (Crate and Barrel here we come!)

I wanted to look at cakes online a little bit before I talked to any bakers and I want a cake that looks like this! Bah, I love it.

So instead we will try to go cake tasting the weekend of Thanksgiving. Because one cannot fill up on enough pumpkin pie and must top off the holiday weekend with sampling wedding cake!

P.S. Sarah (my roomie/Maid of Honor) is the one that found the blog I stole this image from. I am now obsessed with Ruffle.

Bride Wars

2009-11-18T15:25:00.001-05:00

So... I know I already posted today, but who says I have to stop at one post per day!?!? Psshhh, Not I.

Last night I walked into my living room to see the movie "Bride Wars" playing. Naturally it's about weddings and naturally I had to get sucked into it, because well... it's about weddings. Duh.

Anne Hathaway is in the movie and the dress she wears is O.MI.GOSH.TO.DIE.FOR. My mouth was visibly hanging open with drool when I saw it. Seriously, it is drop dead gorgeous and I just had to search for it this afternoon. The dress was from the 2005 Vera Wang Wedding collection and it is just mouth watering (as I demonstrated with my reaction to it last night).

I couldn't find a picture of the back of it, other than a girl that posted about it on Wedding Bee. This lucky girl actually wore the dress in her wedding. Ahhhh-mazing.

So why am I posting about dresses when I already have one? Well, here is what happened. When I went to that bridal store last week and found my dress, I realized that there are a MILLION gorgeous dresses that really aren't anything like the one I would choose to buy for my wedding. For some reason, now that I don't have to stress about my dress, I can take pleasure in browsing and actually appreciate the beauty of many other dresses.

Okay, I feel like this post is getting a little boring, but to add to the boringness... update on my dress: Last night I took it to Oksana, my Russian seamstress that I may or may not have a girl crush on. She says things like "Ze Dress!" and "Oy!" and gets right down to business when you ask her questions about alterations. She pinned it all in since it was about 3 sizes too big on me and we talked about some options regarding the slight changes I want to make to it. I go back December 4th to make more progress after she takes it in. I'm so excited!

DIY Table Runners

2009-11-18T12:31:00.001-05:00

I LOVE table runners. Seriously, they are just better than plain table cloths. I like that they expose the table but are still a nice little spread to lay your centerpieces over.

I think the place we are renting tables from are going to be round tables. I'm not so sure runners look good on round tables. Darnit. Maybe we can change our order...

I found this DIY table runner on Style Me Pretty. I really wish I had a sewing machine. It's my goal to become more crafty. Perhaps I shall make it a New Years Resolution. I also think I fell in love with this DIY project because I love burlap. Don't ask me why, but I just think it's cool. It can come off as artsy and organic yet masculine. I still find it pretty in it's own way, and totally do-able for a wedding.

Materials

One bolt of 54-inch wide burlap (you can use less, but 21 runners took the full bolt)

Teal Blue Thread

Directions

1. Cut fabric in lengths of 14 feet, two inches.

2. Cut in half lengthwise so that each strip is 27 inches wide

3. Turn the ends and sides under one inch and hem

4. Stitch with a zig zag stitch (my mom used the largest zig zag, about a quarter of an inch) on her machine and chose satin thread)

5. Iron flat

So... Who wants to let me borrow their sewing machine? I don't even care if these are for the wedding... I just think they would be fun to make!

"I'll put a Flower in your Hair..."

2009-11-17T14:34:00.001-05:00

I am still completely infatuated with the idea of using succulents in the wedding. They are so beautiful! And they last forever... unlike all other traditional wedding flowers that will brown and die within 24 hours. Okay, they don't actually last forever but you can have them cut in a certain manner so they are easily replantable. And even if you aren't able to do that, they will still keep for weeks afterward. I am definitely infusing my bouquet with them! And how sweet does it look in her hair? That is gorgeous!

This image was taken from an amazing wedding I found in my inbox from Green Wedding Shoes. Everything about that wedding was incredible... I may have to put it under my "Favorites" and come back for ideas!

Engagement Party

2009-11-16T22:47:00.001-05:00

This weekend was absolutely lovely. My amazing Aunt Kimmy threw an engagement party for AJR and I at her house. She went all out and it was classy and divine and PERFECT. AJR and I had about 15 of our friends come in town for the event (and they ALL stayed at my apartment, oh my... that was quite the experience) and our families finally got to officially meet. There were about 40 or more people at the party and it was so hectic for me because I was so worried about talking to everyone and making people feel welcome, etc. I can't even imagine how it will be on the wedding day... *siighh

However, it was sooo much freaking fun. Kimmy has impeccable taste and decorated in all my wedding themed ideas. She put the perfect spin of southern class in the party and it was incredible. The menu was to die for... salmon and prime rib with delicious carrots and asparagus with the most tasty sauces I've ever had. There were countless wine options and cheese platters, individually wrapped gourmet chocolates, and even a coffee bar! The silverware was put into mason jars and randomly throughout the house were mason jars with votive candles in them. Surrounding the mason jars, she placed big magnolia leaves and it was GORGEOUS. I think I found my centerpiece! I don't even need magnolia blooms... just the leaves with the lit mason jars was so simple and elegant. I adored it all! The walkway leading to the house was lined with mason jars with lit candles in them and it was such a nice way to welcome the guests. She also made floral arrangements in large mason jars with small pink roses. One of the arrangements was all rose buds and they were so beautiful! Among all that we had several pictures of AJR and I in rustic frames and it really tied it all together. Eeee, I am getting all giddy thinking about it!

The engagement party was a perfect preview to how I want the wedding to look with all the splashes of things that I have been envisioning. Many thanks to Kimmy and all my aunts and Mom who helped her pull it all off. It was amazing! (And I feel incredibly spoiled. Sheesh.)

Our friends were also contributors to the amount of fun that was had this weekend. Saturday morning several of us got up at 6am and kicked off the weekend with an 8K race to benefit organ donation. It was a blast! All day we hung out and the guys went to a shooting range after watching college football at a bar. Meanwhile, Sarah (my roomie/Maid of Honor) and I hung out at home and tried to prepare for the night. After the party all my friends and I went to a place downtown for some dancing and more drinking. It was an awesome celebration and it couldn't have gone better. Sunday morning we all woke up to a breakfast casserole and recapping the night together.

Gah, okay I shall stop gushing about my incredible weekend, but I am all smiles on this Monday back to reality.

This is the cake that Kimmy had made for us... it was so pretty! She put fresh flowers on top and it was so fun cutting the cake together for the first time. (Good practice for the wedding ;) Take note of the silverware in Mason jars. P.S. The silverware was actually plasticware that looked like silverware. I am taking this idea with me to the wedding thank you very much!

This is AJR and I about to start filling our plates up. I just like it because we look so happy!

This is my Dad making a toast before the cutting of the cake. I love this picture because the similarity between AJR and his dad is so noteworthy.

Here is my Mom and step-dad, Vince. He made the first toast of the night and it made everyone say "aw".

I wish I had more pictures to share (especially to show you how amazing the decorations were!) but in the midst of all the people and drinking and food and excitement, I didn't take a single picture! Luckily my future sister in law, Lauren picked up my camera and took several pictures for me! Hopefully I can bum some pictures off of people who thought to take a few. I did see some flashes coming from my Aunt Wendy's way throughout the night...

We have a Photographer!

2009-11-13T09:22:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in the last post that during my productive Veteran's Day off this Wednesday, I also met with our wedding photographer! She is incredible and I am SO excited to have her be a part of our wedding day! I decided to go with Kelsey Thompson, who is based in Northern Virginia and I am obsessed with her style! We met at a Starbucks and ended up having so much fun talking that we stayed for over 2 hours! She is so easy going and sweet and very professional. Basically, I want her to be my friend.

Her website: http://www.kthompsonphotography.com/
Her blog: http://kthompsonphotography.blogspot.com/ (my new favorite site to stalk ;-)

Here are some pictures I pulled from her blog to give you a sense of her work and why I fell in love with it!

The Dress

2009-11-12T09:24:00.002-05:00

And now.... for the biggest announcement of my wedding planning (drum roll please) I HAVE A WEDDING DRESS! Woo-Hoo!!! (alright I admit, it's a bit superficial to think the dress is the biggest announcement. but still. it's huge. i'm psyched.)

Yesterday I used my Veterans Day holiday to tackle a few wedding things and man do I feel great about it all! I now officially have a photographer (I will introduce her in my next post) and a beautiful wedding dress is hanging in my bedroom. (eeee!)

The Dress situation was definitely worrying me a little because I originally fell in love with a $3000 Paloma Blanca gown and I was convinced that it scarred me because while I could never even dream of being able to afford such a dress, I wanted to compare it to everything else I looked at afterward! But then my future sister-in-law, Lauren took me to the bridal store, Jeanettes (where she got her wedding dress a few years ago) and I was instantly in awe over the AMAZING selection! Everything was beautiful and quality and I wanted it all! Lauren was an awesome sport and sat through two hours of me trying on dresses and asking a zillion "Does this make my butt look big?" questions... I mean haha, just kidding, but a lot of "ahh... is this The One? Do you think this would be me?" Many thanks to Lauren for bringing me to the place where I found my dream dress and for bearing with me through it! (I'm really lucking out with the cool new family thing. yay!)

So next step is to take it to the seamstress I found and have her make alterations (and a few minor changes to the dress to make it perfect) and I am finito!

Unfortunately, that's the most you'll be hearing concerning the dress on this public blog where my loving fiance is just a click away from reading. However, if you're that interested and your name isn't AJR, I'll show you a pic :)

Now here are some dresses it ISN'T:

(hee hee ;-)

Feeling Accomplished :)

2009-11-08T23:33:00.006-05:00

This weekend was good... I feel like we waded a little further up the wedding creek. (is that even a saying? guess I just made it up)

Some things we have done this weekend:

-- Trying to make headway on the dress (well, this is something I am doing... obviously AJR can't know any details!) I know what I want, I found an amazing seamstress who can help achieve it... I just need to find a base dress to help me get there....

-- I have unofficially booked a photographer, and am meeting with her on Wednesday to discuss specifics (and hand over the mula to stake our claim on her for our date!)

-- The Save the Dates are coming together with the help of our lovely graphic design talented friend, Bridget.

-- We met with our pastor for the first time to talk about the wedding. He was late for our appointment. And it made me angry. But... as long as he doesn't forget our wedding then I suppose he shall do. (This is to be determined. I don't like when people aren't punctual.)

-- We found the PERFECT reception site. When we book it, I shall post more details... but it is ahhh-mazing.

-- We started exploring honeymoon options! How incredible does this look? I'm sold!

(This is the two of us today... sometimes in the midst of crazy wedding planning, you need to remember to just relax and enjoy the simple lovely parts of love. I like holding hands.)

Escort Cards with Personality

2009-11-05T16:56:00.000-05:00

These escort cards are awesome.

Found on Style Me Pretty

Succulents are so... well, succulent!

2009-11-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I saw where a bride incorporated succulents into her bouquet and then had individual succulents as the main flower for the guys' boutonnières. I thought it looked so organic and different. Plus, it's also green! (not that I'm biased to green or anything...)

I'm at the end of my work day, so I decided to google image succulents used in weddings. Naturally my boss just walked in to see me doing so. "Um... these are totally for speech therapy research purposes. Yeah..."

image found here

Calligraphy on a Budget

2009-11-02T09:35:00.003-05:00

This morning I stumbled upon this neat idea posted on Design Sponge.

Looks insanely time consuming, but would certainly spruce up the invitations without the major cost of hiring a calligrapher.

Basically, the girl that did these bought a font she liked online and printed each address onto individual envelopes in a shade darker than the envelope itself. Then she went back and hand traced the lettering with a calligraphy pen in a lighter color.

The end result: Beautiful calligraphy that looks hand written, but without spending a fortune. Terrific idea... but you would need some major help accomplishing this. And sometimes... it's worth it to just spend the money to save time. I must admit, having my envelopes addressed in calligraphy isn't a huge priority (most people don't save the invitations, much less the envelopes they came in!), but daannggg it looks purdy.

I have this belief that if I pick up a calligraphy pen, my handwriting magically becomes beautiful. Maybe I can just address my own invitations?

(Post is here)

Craigslist is da bomb

2009-10-27T20:14:00.000-04:00

So... I posted an ad on Craigslist this weekend looking for large amounts of Mason jars.

Tonight I met a man in a Panera parking lot and drove away with 93 Mason jars for 25 bucks! Upside... saved a ton of money on jars and I have a headstart on wedding decor! Woot! Downside... there are literally 93 Mason jars in boxes in the backseat of my tiny Mazda. What the heck do I DO with them?!?! I'm not so sure my roommates will be thrilled if I stack them in our living room, plus lugging them all to my upstairs apartment (in the rain mind you!) sounds like a job for a different day. So... I guess until I can get to it tomorrow night, I will be riding around town looking like a bag lady who collects canning jars. Awesome.

Also... just realized, that was my official first wedding purchase! Yay, someone take a picture and put it in a scrapbook.

A Fall Afternoon

2009-10-27T14:51:00.002-04:00

We took some of our own Engagement Photos this past Sunday, many thanks to our Maid of Honor, Sarah for helping us!

This one makes me happy...

Wedding Nightmares

2009-10-26T11:46:00.003-04:00

In the past week I have had 3 nights of scary dreams involving my wedding. I remember having similar dreams before graduating college… you know the ones where you sign up for a class but forget to go to it, only to realize on graduation day that you skipped an entire class that last semester and now you can’t graduate! That dream haunted me for a while… even after college was over. In fact, just writing about it gives me the shivers…

But the wedding dreams are terrible. I had a dream that I forgot to buy a dress, and on my wedding day I was so upset that I forgot about the dress, I cancelled the wedding. Ew. I thought this wedding stuff was supposed to be fluffy and happy… not stressful and scary!

At least I’m not having any crazy dreams where AJR turns into a hairy monster with fangs once he is a husband or something like that. Oh no… hopefully my brain isn’t getting any ideas…

Sugar Magnolia... Blossoms Blooming...

2009-10-20T14:40:00.005-04:00

(I am now humming the Grateful Dead song...)

My aunt had a brilliant idea today when we were emailing back and forth about possible reception sites, what those sites would look like with different decorations, and what kind of flowers I would want, etc.

So far, the flowers are the one thing I just really want to put at the bottom of the list. I love flowers, but I feel like I never even remember what the flowers looked like when I'm at a wedding, and they are so gosh darn expensive (which apparently is a big theme for wedding related items) - plus they die the next day, so sad.

I told my aunt that I really just want an outdoor setting (lots of green grass nearby and hopefully set on the water with a nice view) so floral arrangements would be pretty unnecessary. I am also tunneling all my hopes into the mason jar idea, so flowers are just not a priority!

She suggested magnolia blossoms among the mason jars with the candles and I am in love with the thought. Yet another classy Southern idea!

I love their blooms... so pretty and simple. I also think adding green hydrangeas to an arrangement would be very pretty! (Classic Bride suggested the flower girl carrying a magnolia blossom... oh, how sweet!)

Pictures above from: www.greenvilledailyphoto.com/index.php/2007/05/ and http://classicbride.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

The Ring

2009-10-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

Alright, so I finally found my battery charger (who knew one could accidently place camera equipment in the bathroom closet right next to the basket of shampoo and extra razor heads? oops.) which means I finally decided to take some pictures of my ring.

I couldn't help but feel really odd about it. Where do I take a picture of it at? Is this totally weird that I am about to showcase jewelry on a blog? Whatever. I decided other people find it necessary so I can only feel bad about it for a minute. (Or two.) I've also decided that pictures NEVER do justice. They are always deceiving! (I'm sorry photography, I didn't mean it.. I love you. But really, you never accurately depict anything! Whether it's for better or worse!) <-- Yes, totally lame marriage pun.

So yeah... I think like all things, seeing in person is just much much better than a photo posted online.
However, I am again in awe of the beauty of the ring. AJR- you are amazing. Seriously... where do they make men like you? I think people will be asking me how to get one of their own soon!

So... I am obsessed with pave. Which is what it's called when the stones are set very close together (in this case, around a bigger stone). I think it is very vintage and unique. The center stone happens to be my mom's old stone from her first engagement ring. Family heirloom! (I think I found my "something old" yay!)

AJR wanted to have twists in the side of the band... that was his idea and what he really envisioned before going in to have it made. I think it is so beautiful. (Plus I just love that he felt so strongly about a specific idea for me :)

So, yep. There it be. I love it. I love it. I love it!

(now do not judge me for posting pictures of my ring online. i'm still having insecurity about the issue. the end.)

10.03.09 Officially Official

2009-10-13T11:52:00.001-04:00

So even though this is 10 days late (ahhh how have I neglected thee blog in such ways? my sincerest apologies!) I am happy to announce that AJR and I are officially ENGAGED! I think it took me this long to write it because I have had to use my hands to help mold my face back to a normal expression due to the excessive smiling.

This past week and a half has been crazy with all the phone calls, Facebook messages, texts, etc. I have felt so popular lately! I am still trying to get back to people who have been trying to get in touch with me (one person at a time! or else I shall explode) but it has been overwhelmingly amazing to have so many people be happy for us. If you are one of them reading this, thank you! <3

You’re probably thinking “okay okay, enough jibber jabber… where’s the picture of the ring?!?!”. Unfortunately I have misplaced my camera battery charger (eek) but as SOON as I uncover it (most likely in one of my travel bags from driving all over the state of Virginia every weekend) you will get to feast your eyes on my beautiful engagement ring. I can tell you this… he done good.

As for the proposal… it couldn’t have been more us. Awkward, funny, and adorable are my choices of words to describe the event. No airplanes flew above with banners proclaiming AJR’s love for me, there weren’t fireworks, people risking their lives, or even flowers. Whew. I am not exactly the typical romantic, so I am pretty thankful that it was simple and (semi) private.

AJR actually only had the ring maybe all of 20 minutes before he couldn’t stand it anymore (he tells people “It was burning a hole in my pocket!”) and while waiting outside in a random neighborhood in Arlington (killing time before picking up a friend to go to a party) he suddenly started speaking in a language I couldn’t understand (the nervousness prevented him from forming a complete sentence ;) and dropped to one knee on the sidewalk. I must admit, at first I wasn’t sure what he was doing. In fact, I worried that something was wrong. Then it hit me and I was so overjoyed that I may have said yes before he even popped the official question. This part of the story will remain a mystery as our excitement prohibited our memory and normal functioning cognitive skills from working… but the important thing is that he was on one knee, he asked, I said yes, and I can’t WAIT to marry him!!! (no matter what order it all occurred) That night was a lot of fun… we arrived at the party and were able to share our news immediately with all of our closest friends. Couldn’t have been more perfect. (siigghhh)

Since then AJR and I have begun some actual wedding plans… and are vigorously trying to nail down a date (crossing my fingers for May 15th 2010). We visited a reception site and have almost finished our guest list. My aunt is planning an engagement party for November and I am even looking at dresses tonight! I have to admit I am a little nervous to try on a real life wedding dress for the first time. It’s a bit emotional… but I am so thrilled!

Why do I love this cake stand so much?

2009-10-01T13:25:00.001-04:00

(Found it on Once Wed)

Lawn Games!

2009-09-29T16:11:00.001-04:00

(One Love Photo)

Since the bridal party is busy taking pictures and such before the reception begins, I plan to have some fun things planned for the guests while they wait for the party to start. Our friends and family all love lawn games (we always manage to play some corn-hole or ladder ball when we all get together) so I figure why not have some available to them when they arrive on the reception site? I figure this will be a perfect way for people to mingle while beginning the cocktail hour and it is also a fun way for people to enjoy themselves even during the reception (for the non-dancers).

I think it would be awesome to start browsing around for some vintage lawn games (thrift stores? ebay?) or have all the lawn games painted in our wedding colors (green!).

(Green Wedding Shoes)

(Affordable Utah Weddings)

(Design Sponge)

Hm... Not sure how so many croquet pictures ended up on here... I thought I was most excited about ladder golf... but look at that vintage croquet set! Love it. I really think the guests would appreciate this one :)

Yet another Post on Mason Jars

2009-09-28T11:19:00.001-04:00

I just want to expand on my love for them.

How can you not after seeing these photos?

Absolutely have to have them as part of the centerpieces in some way, shape, or form.

(images from One Love Photo)

Does anyone else find this totally creepy?

2009-09-25T16:25:00.001-04:00

Probably NOT going to use this as wedding decor. However much it did make me laugh.

(image from OnceWed)

Will you sign my... bench?

2009-09-22T09:56:00.001-04:00

Adding to my Unconventional Guest Book series:

I was thinking we could make a bench together (take a stab at being handy wood workers) or have one of the men in my family (Grandaddy!) make us a wooden bench. Neither AJR or I have ever constructed quite a project... so it may be wise to have a helping hand :)

But it could also be a really fun thing to do together, so we shall see! (Assuming he likes this idea for the wedding)

I love the idea of doing this because:

a) I like the do-it-yourself model or having something hand-made

b) Amazing keepsake, functional and sentimental!

c) It's unique. Betcha most people have never signed a bench at a wedding!

It would be fun to make design plans and deciding where we would want the bench once the wedding is over. It could be a neat hallway piece in the house (what a conversation starter!) or a cute little spot to sit together in the evenings outside.

And look... tons of info on the web for how-to's!

(images from OnceWed)

Instant Gratification

2009-09-18T14:19:00.004-04:00

This summer my sister and her husband had a wedding celebration in my parent's backyard and brought along with them a Polaroid camera to capture some memories they could look at on their flight back home to Kansas City. They came across one at a thrift store and decided to buy some film and see what came of it.

There is something just so hip and vintage about a Polaroid photograph. (Oooh grainy imperfect pictures with bad lighting is somehow romanticized when it is in that little 4 inch white framed square)

I was reading an article today about the history of Polaroid and I thought about making some searches for ideas to incorporate Polaroid into a fun wedding activity.

I had been thinking of some ideas about having a few Polaroid cameras for guests to play around with as opposed to having a photo booth (which I would kill to have at the reception, but know that it would be way too expensive).

Hmmm:

Provide a few Polaroid cameras at a table and have guests use a silver marker, leaving their well wishes on the back of their mug shot, which we then collect in a nice wooden box
Have a backdrop where guests can do their own photo shoots and include props and such for them to have fun with (you've probably seen the mustache phenomenon)
Once guests take Polaroid photos, they can insert them into an instant photo album guest book

Style Me Pretty

This will not be the last you hear about this.... How fun would it be to think of some prop ideas? And pick out a fabric for a back drop? Ohhh I'm excited.

Oh Michaels, You Will Be The Death Of Me (or at least my bank account)

2009-09-16T23:29:00.003-04:00

So I went to Michaels today during my lunch break and somehow walked out spending over $50 worth of stuff (but most of it was on sale I promise!). Apparently extremely easy to do when you pop into the scrapbook section for 30 minutes. Martha Stewart products are incredibly eye catching and I want to buy them all. (and did buy a lot)

This post won't be long since this is way past my bedtime and I don't want to give away secrets about the things I purchased today... but I just wanted to announce my reunited love for being crafty. (Once upon a time before the days of exams in college and the pursuit of then-coolness, I enjoyed browsing craft stores for fun kits to make things. I once made my own moccasins and actually wore them. Why? The Lord will only know.)
Here's to hoping I do something more useful with my newfound love of creativity and craft.

One of the things I am most excited about are stamps. Wowzas, stamps are cool.

And I imagine them coming in handy when I am trying to make weddingness crafty and unique. (Hello invitations... announcements... table numbers... ohmylordiamgoingtostampEVERYTHING)

The Wishing Tree

2009-09-16T10:26:00.002-04:00

Browsing through some creative ways to let the guests leave their well wishes and good lucks at a wedding, I really liked the “wishing tree”. More “guest book” ideas will be popping up soon, but I thought I’d throw these in here since they fit the rustic theme I so badly want.

The idea is to have branches or a bare miniature tree (a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree if you will) set up at a table with blank tags that the guests can fill out and write their messages to the bride and groom on.

Some twists:

You can make the tags in all different patterns that match your wedding colors/theme
The tags could be cut out to match your theme (flower, bird, candy, star shapes, etc.)
The tree can be used as reception décor (I am all about hitting two birds with one stone)
The tree can be outfitted in any way you choose… spray paint it gold or silver or your wedding colors, add glitter, or even make it a Christmas theme and have the guests sign ornaments instead of tags (provided you are getting married in December), etc.

(theknot.com)

You can find instructions via Style Me Pretty's Style Circle on how to do this here

Engagement Rings

2009-09-15T12:08:00.007-04:00

This weekend AJR expressed his annoyance with the wait for the ring. Man, if HE feels anxious about it, you can only imagine what I’ve been going through all summer! Because this is a symbol of your promise to marriage and it’s something you will wear on your left hand for the rest of your life, it does make a bit of a stressful situation when trying to figure out which ring is the one for The One.

Especially if the future bride is a Picky One.

When AJR and I started talking seriously about engagement, I allowed myself to begin browsing a few rings here and there. At first you feel almost rebellious, like it’s not allowed. (You find yourself looking over your shoulder at your computer desk to make sure no one catches you). But then you relieve your guilty conscience and tell your boyfriend and your friends what you’re doing. Then you hook your girl friends (even the single ones) into looking with you. Soon you become all too familiar with words that were once foreign such as “pave”, “Tacori”, “channel setting” and “marquis”. I think most women have an idea of what they envision for their ring based on previous style in jewelry or what they’ve seen on their friends.
Ugh, was I ever wrong. Once I actually did go and try on rings, I was disappointed to learn that they look much much different on the internet than they do on your finger. So keep it in mind before you get engaged, that while it would be romantic and exciting to get a complete surprise ring… if given the option to try a few on beforehand, DO IT.

AJR is actually getting my ring custom made which I’m pretty psyched about because it will be unique and something that he really had a lot of input as to what it looks like. I have no idea what it will look like (yay, romantic and exciting part) but I did send him links to several ideas so that he could get a general feel to what I want. Only down side is the TIME piece. To get anything hand crafted in life, you must allow time. And be patient. Very patient. (Which us women tend to not have a whole lot of when it comes to things like this. Le sigh.)

I love the vintage look.

500 Days of Summer

2009-09-14T11:42:00.009-04:00

This weekend AJR took me to see 500 Days of Summer... such a beautiful movie! (side note: it really isn't a great love story if you're looking for something romantic)

My new girl crush is Zooey Deschanel and I am hoping that Marc Webb directs some more movies that are similar to this one.

So when we got home, we decided to Youtube the movie because there was a really funny dance scene involving the former 3rd Rock from the Sun star doing a number to the Hall & Oates classic (You're Makin' My Dreams Come True!) and AJR had it in his mind that he would someday recreate that dance in true Joseph Gordon-Levitt fashion.

Then we stumbled upon a little gem that I can't stop hitting the "play again" button on. It's a video with the stars from the movie, but has nothing to do with movie at all. The song is by She&Him (which, yep that's Zooey singing) and it's just a creative dance video. AJR and I immediately believed that we too could pull off one such dance. Possibly a really fun/awesome/unforgettable FIRST dance.

Of course, there are other ideas we will have to sort through, and neither of us is a particularly talented dancer (ahem. we are both totally awkward and look like girraffes walking on hot coals while out on the dance floor, but we shall see).

(poster picture)

Rainy Day Wedding

2009-09-09T12:28:00.003-04:00

Today I decided I wouldn't mind if it rains on my wedding day. (To make the love grow!) AJR once said that he had a vision of me in a white dress and kissing me in the rain (isn't he such a romantic? yeeaahhh... he probably doesn't even remember that. or at least he will try to pretend he forgot now that I posted it to the public! hahaha).

I have my heart set on an outdoor reception... and even if the Farmer's Almanac has unremitting warnings of thunderous precipitation for that entire weekend, I will still stand my ground and demand an outdoor wedding (One Stubborn Bride perhaps?)

I think that a rainy wedding day can actually turn out to be really nice, especially in warm weather. If anything, it will be something people remember! Now, for the sake of the guests (and my hair) I am hoping for sunny skies but if it does happen to rain, I think I could handle it. We could have an amazing photo shoot (oh no. I now see why I am fantasizing about a rainy wedding...) Can't you just imagine the dashing groom carrying his beautiful bride through the rain? Or the two of them jumping in puddles together all clad in wedding gear? Or a pair of nice galoshes with a wedding dress? (I promise I wouldn't break out my Duck boots on such a day)

Ah, what a perfect rainy wedding day

(classic bride)

Beautiful.

(Savannah Weddings)

Welcome to the Wedding

2009-09-04T12:16:00.003-04:00

Going along with my little country like theme (yee-haw!), I was thinking of some ideas on what we could have for wedding signs. I've been to weddings where they have the couple's initials plastered everywhere and I have to admit, I am not a fan (and the Picky Bride comes out!). I just want something in front of the reception that is a welcome sign of some sort. I don't really like the wreathe idea (ugh. way overdone) and banners remind me of birthday parties for kids.

This is so cute. I like the old window pane look... and I would love to find an actual window to use!

(theknot.com)

So, this serves as a double duty... a warm welcome and a way to tell people where their table is! I LOVE it!

(check out this AWESOME reception from OnceWed, very similar atmosphere that I am hoping for)

(I found this on theknot.com)

I picture my Dad or Grandad making me something like this, but have it just say "The ____'s" (last name) with the wedding date underneath so that we could save it for our future home (stake that sucker in the front yard!) Yep, already signing the men in my family up for wedding duties.

(theknot.com)

Mason Jars

2009-09-01T13:43:00.006-04:00

I don't know how AJR is going to feel about this... but I am completely infatuated with the idea of a country/rustic inspired (ugh, he hates the word rustic. sorry!) wedding reception.

I'm not talking camouflage tuxedos or the bridal party doing kegstands (although I won't be surprised if some of our beloved friends decide kegstands are a good idea once the Grandmas leave). I'm thinking simple, sweet, homemade lemonade, outdoor reception, beer in mason jars, lawn games, good food, and just a warm and fun atmosphere. None of this uptight if-you-don't-dance-you-are-bored-at-your-assigned-table nonsense!

Anyway, with that said... I just adore Mason jars in general. I think they are lovely... I like different shapes and sizes of the jars and I love that they have kind of a country vintage appeal to them. I really feel convicted to include them in the recpetion decor in some way shape or form (whether you like it or not!). I believe this can be done in an elegant and very wedding appropriate manner... so... I found a few images I like but hopefully I will have more to add later pertaining to Mason jars and my sneaky ideas to fit them into the wedding. (muahaha)

See.. look how beautiful that is! (compliments of Apartment Therapy)

Okay... this would obviously be a huge commitment to pull off, but figured I'd throw it in here because of how awesome it looks! (Apartment Therapy)

Ah, what Southern charm ye behold. I like! (yet another Apartment Therapy )

Photography.

2009-08-31T09:12:00.007-04:00

Oh... if there's anything I could become completely fanatical about, it would be photography.

I mean, it's just so... beautiful. I love everything about it... the different lighting, the shadows, photo editing, the click sound it makes when taking a picture, the ART of it, how it can completely change a perspective on a subject by capturing it in a different angle or light. *Le Sigh. I wish I could BE a photographer...

Anyway, enough about my love affair with photography... I think one of the things I am looking forward to the most about the wedding is getting the amazing pictures back afterward. No seriously, that is actually the thing I am looking forward to the most. (And having my friends and family witness the most important moment in my life, but besides that...)

I might actually use half of my wedding budget to afford the perfect photographer (er... floral arrangements? Who needs those!) Anyway, so I found a few really amazing photographers located in Virginia. I figured I'd save them for when I actually need to come back and look for some later. In fact, I know people who know people who have used some of these... so they MUST be good! :)

Also... another thought, engagement photo shoot or no?
Are they worth it? Because... it's so expensive and I'd like to just use that money to have a great photographer on the actual wedding day (did you get that memo?) Maybe I'll just force AJR to truck around with me and my tripod randomly over the next few months and let me embarrass him with my obsessive photo taking.

**That picture is of us just hanging out in the yard this past weekend. He's fun :) (taken by us with my tripod)

MY LIST:

Casey Templeton Wedding Photojournalism

Jodi Miller Photography

Patricia Lyons Photography

Open Air Photography

Wedding Photojournalist Association (this one is a list of photo-journalists in Virginia... probably too far out of my budget, but hey I can dream right?)

Cotton Candy

2009-08-29T16:18:00.002-04:00

Last night AJR took me to a Redskins game. While there, I was dying to get some cotton candy. Ecstatic with my sugar rush I exclaimed, "Omigosh, I LOVE cotton candy! Can we please have it at our wedding?!?!" To which he replied with a small shake of a head and a "um. no."

Hmm... Maybe it was because he was so absorbed in watching the game that he wasn't able to quite picture glorious puffs of artificially colored sugar making their rounds at our wedding reception...

How serious was he about that no?

(How serious was I with that idea?)

I decided to google image "cotton candy wedding" and I found one. Kinda cute. :)cotton candy bride

The Point

2009-08-27T13:15:00.002-04:00

Normal people would think this is awkward. But I have no shame.

The past few weeks I have become utterly OBSESSED with blogs... namely wedding blogs. And wow! There are a TON of amazing ideas out there. Which led me to the conclusion that I should in fact, start my own to compile all my favorite things I find to weed out the stuff I don't want.

The kicker is... (*drumroll) I'm not actually a bride yet... (ahem. cricket cricket.)

HOWEVER... here's the deal:

I am in love with my best friend. He is my world, and his name is AJR. The coolest part about it all... is he feels the same about me, and we plan on getting engaged asap! He had dinner with my parents a few nights ago and popped THEM the question, so now I will wait around hopelessly until he he pops ME the question :)

To pass time, and because I am undoubtedly one of the most impatient human beings on earth, AND I am somewhat a perfectionist, I decided to take the liberty of "fake-planning" my wedding until I'm really allowed to. So... browsing fun DIY wedding ideas and photography sites never hurt anyone, right? Right? Er....