engaged

Happy First Anniversary!

2010-09-05T08:31:00.000-05:00

It's our first anniversary today. We're celebrating where we said "I do" one year ago. Except this year we're enjoying the total lack of a to-do list and twenty-four page mani-f|s-to.

I can't believe it's already been a year, and I can't believe it's only been a year.

I love you, darlin' S!

Wedding Recap: Getting Ready at the Salon

2010-02-28T18:25:00.000-06:00

I booked our appointments at Head Games salon nine months in advance. They only had two stylists available because it was Labor Day weekend, so we had to stagger our appointments for the morning, with my appointment being the last.

Amy and I left the farm with all the cupcakes in their boxes:

and the guys hard at work putting throwies in the lanterns.

Amy drove while I texted, updated facebook and emailed. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we were a little concerned that my makeup wasn't going to hold up later without any a/c. When we arrived at the salon bridesmaid S greeted me with a pumpkin spice latte and a mimosa. Clearly she had been having a more relaxing morning than I.

Bridesmaids W & G had left for their their hotel before I arrived so W could feed her 8 week old baby. He puked in her hair, that she had just had "done," but it wasn't anything a shower, blow dry and barrette couldn't fix. It's a good thing he's cute.

Kate, my hairdresser from law school, set to work on my hair and moments later our photographer, Geneve, showed up to start her day. I had met with Kate once before when I was in Maine for a week-long trip for work. We had discussed doing something to enhance my curls with a low bun and a white satin flower. I didn't have a trial and she spent less than a minute floofing my hair around before she started to work. The end result was exactly what I wanted. Kate is just that good.

Bridesmaids S & Amy hung out while Kate applied my makeup in a little nook of the salon that's has a wall of windows facing the street.

We finished up, I bought some lip gloss and hairspray, and we were back in the car and on our way back to the farm. We had strict orders that all the bridesmaids and family needed to be dressed and ready for photos by 12:30, even though I wasn't getting into my dress until 1. When Amy and I got back to the farm the entire yard was transformed, the corn hole was set-up, and the bridesmaids were all dressed and looking beautiful. Suzanne was applying my nana's makeup for her in the dining room and everyone was hanging out eating lunch before we went outside to finish up a few final details.

Wedding Recap: The Morning of Our Big Day

2010-02-26T12:23:00.001-06:00

My phone rang at 6:30. Bridesmaid, C, not knowing I had taken a sleeping pill and set my alarm for 8, assumed I would be awake. Lexi was sprawled next to me on our bed and after lying in bed for a few minutes I decided it was time to get up and embrace the few extra set-up hours C's call granted me.

It was a beautiful, peaceful morning as I Lexi and I set out to the barn where a trailer hooked to the jeep waited full of luminaries. I am so grateful for C's wake-up call and for the quiet time I spent on the farm early that day.

Lexi and I hopped into the CJ and started lining the driveway and pathways to the bonfire and restroom with luminaries. I placed the lanterns on the stone wall:

And set-up the bathroom area and lots of goodies and mini flashlights.

I place the dancing flip-flops next to the dance floor that had been set up earlier in the week.

We set-up the guest book cookbook near the quince bush:

And then hung the escort cards that we had attached to ribbons earlier, from the quince.

I placed the goodie bags we made for our three kid guests under the escort cards.

At some point my matron of honor, Amy, showed up early with all the cupcakes she had stored in her freezer:

and then set to work in my mom's air conditioned office putting each cupcake in its own take-away favor box. The boxes had to remain open so the thawing cupcake frosting would not develop soggy water droplets. The room smelled amazing, and after the cupcake baking fiasco, I was so grateful that the whole plan was pulling together well.

At around 9 I took my toiletry basket to the outdoor shower and went through my whole wedding-morning grooming plan. I was remarkably relaxed, calm, and ready for the best day of my life.

As Amy I left for Head Games salon in Portland, the caterer's crew arrived to set the tables in the tent and around the yard.

As calm as I may have been, the morning was not without drama. I realized that there was no way I'd be able to light all the lanterns, and set out all the directional signs on my own. So I interrupted my darlin' groom's last morning of singledom, dialed-up my brother, and enlisted some much needed last-minute support. While I was at the salon with the ladies S, my brother, and several of S's friends hung hundreds of throwies in all the paper lanterns and set signs along the road to and from the ceremony and reception.

Amy and I texted S as we left the salon and thankfully the guys were just finishing up. As she and I turned onto my parents' road we passed S leaving the house on his way back to his hotel.

The yard had transformed while we were away. It was absolutely amazing. I was so excited. The catering crew asked for my final approval and then set off to get dressed and ready to switch into server-mode. Before they left, they set up a huge delicious spread of sandwiches and snacks in the kitchen for all the bridesmaids and family who were getting ready at the house.

Wedding Album #1: the Photo Booth

2010-01-18T10:10:00.001-06:00

The photo booth was one of my favorite parts of our wedding. I have a million favorite parts, but it's up there on the list. A minor snafu with the timing of toasts and having wine in the glasses turned out to be a huge benefit for the photo booth. As Stacey and her crew zipped through the tables pouring wine, our guests lined up to pose in our photo booth. As a result we had tons of fabulous images to use in our "photo booth guest book."

We didn't have as many guests write notes on the chalkboards as I expected, so when I designed the album in Adobe InDesign I interspersed the photos with personal messages among those without to give it the feeling of a true guest book. I assume that many guests opted to write notes to us in our wedding cookbook instead. In hindsight we probably ought to have set up the photo booth directly next to the escort cards as we did with the cookbook, but the light wasn't as nice there.

It took dozens and dozens (and more dozens) of hours to design our 20 page guest book album. I absolutely love the way it came out and am very excited to ~~start~~ finish the wedding album. After we finish moving into the new beehive, that is.

All photos taken by our fabulous photographer Geneve Hoffman. She's amazing. Call her.

I finished the layout way back in November, but waited to post it until my mom could view it with me. She made a special trip to the new beehive last week just to see the album. Ok, maybe it was 75% to see the album and 25% to see me.

Relax, the social security number photo is a work-related joke. Those are random numbers.

Moving, kind of

2009-11-03T10:42:00.001-06:00

While I wait for the CD of our wedding photos to finish off this blog with a few wedding posts, I've started a new blog over at The Bee Hive. Skip on over there for some fabulous news and lots of eye candy!

I do...but First You do This and You do That

2009-10-06T08:24:00.007-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, I wished I had one more day before the wedding. I would have made more wedding wands, downloaded more music, and made a more organized list for our coordinator, Abbie.... Well, maybe not a more organized list for Abbie, because the woman rocked! Holy cow, she was awesome!!

Abbie is bridesmaid C's younger, very organized, very professional sister. We spoke several times leading up to the wedding, but not in any great length. She showed up to the rehearsal with a clipboard in hand and downloaded my entire vision in under an hour, all while bossing around our family and friends and generally running the tightest ship to sail through the meeting house. She's available to boss your friends and family around too. And wow, she rocks.

She had the wedding party lined up just as the manifesto dictated
and lead us through our processional and recessional several times.

S and I practiced our I dos, or in S's case our "we'll see." It was at about this point when we realized that we were not (ahem, I) going to have enough time to write our own vows. So we nixed them.
After a quick run through of swords with no swordswe were off for the feast, featuring lobsters and a dinghy full of beers.
We celebrated for hours, S's dad toasted us, we toasted them, we gave our wedding party gifts and the night went on and on. In a separate post I'll have to go back and find photos of all the goodies I made for the girls. Somewhere I have photos of the sail bags, clutches, gold and crystal earrings, and flip flops that I made!

We stopped at our local bar, Gritty's, where we met more guests and had a few drinks. After about an hour S and I split up for the night. I went home, took a sleeping pill and wrote an email to Abbie outlining everything that was left to do in the morning before the big event. I set my alarm for 8am and turned off the light at mid-night.

Setting Up is Hard to Do (Alone)

2009-10-06T07:36:00.009-05:00

Hosting a wedding at home is a lot of work. Hosting a wedding at home when you're as into little details as I am is insane. It took insane amounts of work by a lot of friends and family to pull off our shindig, but it was so worth it.

We worked non-stop for several weeks leading up to the wedding. Then during the last week, when I was free from work and S was in Maine, things really came together. I keep saying that I wish we had one more day before the wedding so I could have done...well I have no idea what I would have done. The manifesto was 20 pages long and we all stuck to it like glue. The whole thing rocked.

Earlier in the week S and I set up the bathroom tent and hung hard-wired lanterns.
He also mowed acres and acres of lawn, which was quite exhausting, as you can see: Lexi was everywhere during the set up and the wedding. I thought she would be sitting on her tuffet in the house of on the porch, but she stuck like glue through everything. She even oversaw the assembly of the big tent:Once the tent was up we needed to hang the several hundred paper lanterns that I bought. My mom had cut 4 foot lengths of ribbon for each lanterns and S and I had attached them to the metal frames earlier in the week. Thankfully for us lantern hanging day also happened to be the day S's parents and several friends arrived in town. Little did we know that their help would be a total life saver.

While Clint and I assembled the lanterns S and his dad figured out the best way to hang them in the tent with fishing line.
Then they got to work.Bridesmaid A, mom and I had pedicure appointments at 3pm so we had to leave. I tried to protest, but mom insisted that I go and let the boys do the work.

We dropped some guest bags at hotels on our way to the nail salon. I can't believe how many guests bags I made! Even more shocking is how few were left over.The guys were less than happy that they were abandoned, but I was PSYCHED when I came back and saw all the lanterns hanging beautifully (and securely) in the tent!
No rest for the weary though. As I walked around the tent bridesmaids C, S, and S arrived to help make favors, while S and his parents went out for a last supper before the last supper.

The girls and I set up shop and bridesmaid S, a former Williams-Sonoma shop girl, perfected the design.We worked for hours until we had enough s'mores to feed a small Navy.After the girls left I worked into the night putting names on escort cards and songs lists on the backs of our table name cards. At 11pm I checked my email and was shocked to find that the etsy vendor who was supposed to make 100 ribbon wands would not longer be making them for us. 11pm Thursday, before a Saturday wedding. The real kicker was that the week before she emailed me to say they were almost complete. Perhaps more important, our programs had a cutesy little poem at the end of them about waving ribbon wands. What's a ribbon wand you ask? EXACTLY. Who the hell knows what a ribbon wand is?! If they were missing anyone who read the program was going to know they were missing. B*tch. In the morning I cried about it for a hot second on the phone to bridesmaid A and then set out to finish up other projects.

Our flower arranger, Lori, arrived and set out arranging the flowers we processed earlier in the week.
I ordered our flowers from fifty-flowers.com and from flowersandfreshness.com. I highly recommend both companies. The service and quality was fabulous.And of course, Lori's work was awesome.

Just after Lori arrived to make our bouquets, bridesmaid A pulled in the driveway. She took the day off from work, stopped at JoAnn's Fabric, bought some dowels and was wielding a hot glue gun in her hand...at 8:30 in the morning. "I'm here to make ribbon wands," she proclaimed. I have no photos, I was in a funk, so you'll just have to believe me that she sat there cutting dowels, sanding them and gluing navy ribbon in place for hours.

While Lori worked on flowers, Amy painstakingly created ribbon wands, and I wiped tears from my eyes and stuck names on escort cards, S and dad made the bonfire in the back field.I'm not sure how it happened, but at some point the time to prepare ran out and I was rushed off to shower before our rehearsal.

All Moved Out

2009-10-01T09:41:00.001-05:00

We're all moved out of Pensacola and safely in the DC area. So now we can continue the house hunt in person and I can spend some time updating the blog.

In the meantime here's a shot of the Hungarian movers and our moving truck:

Their dog la pinta who was very well behaved:

They had all our stuff out by Thursday afternoon and on Friday after work S and I packed our cars and said our final goodbyes.

I'm pretty sad to leave our first home.

We drove 5.5 hours Friday night to Jacksonville where we stayed with very kind friends who took us in on only a few hours notice. My car was parked behind locked gates so I didn't have to unpack my roof-top sherpackgo.

We got a reasonable start on Saturday after a nice breakfast and made excellent time, only stopping twice in 11 hours for gas.

When we finally arrived at our temporary home on Sunday we were greeted by a passing cruise ship in the front yard.

It's pretty nice here!

But I am eager to have our own place soon.

Up next, wedding recaps!

Bears!!!!!

2009-09-11T08:35:00.000-05:00

The ranger greeted us by saying, "we have a bear problem and it's been getting worse over the past few weeks."

Woah Nellie he was not kidding! The first night we were woken three times by crying baby bears running through the camp sites. I had no idea baby bears cry so much like little puppies. The second day I was standing in my underwear ankle deep in the coldest brook ever after a challenging hike up the knife edge when a baby bear comes bounding down the trail. My first thought was "what kind of black dog is that." I quickly realized it was a very curious baby black bear. I wrapped myself up and begged S to hurry up so we could get out of there before it's mother showed up. Unfortunately, after 10 miles with the camera handly, we didn't have it at the swimming hole with us.

The baby bears came back crying through the campground during the night on our second night, but after seeing how small they were I was a lot less scared of them. I had the camera poised for a morning shot, but we were packed up and on the road before they made their morning breakfast scraps rounds.

Off to the Woods

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

There's really no denying it, we're car-to-site campers.

The jeep is fully loaded for two nights of camping. S has no less than 5 pairs of pants. However, in his defense, my parents were throwing clothes on his packing pile this morning after they saw his Navy issued cotton thermals. Cotton thermals? Now that's an oxymoron. We also stopped at dicks and came out with a couple pairs of zip off pants.

Looks like we're ready for our longest forced march yet. Happy honeymoon, darlin'.

Returns...An Unexpected Gift

2009-09-08T14:24:00.001-05:00

We drank more liquor than 130 people should ever be able to consume (well done flounder). But when then cloud lifted and our hazy heads cleared we had well over a thousand dollars worth of beer and wine to return today (ahem, not going to mention how much we spent last week, in addition to the booze from S's students). When the credit reciept printed it was like a little unexpected gift. Maybe we'll have a little left over from the budget to go towards the new house :)

Welcome to the Navy, Ma'am

2009-09-08T14:16:00.001-05:00

It's official, I'm a Navy wife now. I have my ID card and I'm enrolled in tri-care. I peppered the nice woman in the medical building with dozens of medical questions. Conclusion is that between my current coverage and supplemental tri-care I'm about as covered as I can get and I can still see any doctor I darn well please. Being married to S has even more perks than I thought!

That's It

2009-09-08T09:43:00.001-05:00

We're official! Off to change my name now.

Lanterns

2009-09-06T06:58:00.001-05:00

The lanterns were awesome!

On My Way

2009-09-05T14:20:00.001-05:00

I'm en route to the church! No photos to post, just driving in the land yatch, wearing my gorgeous earrings from S. I'm psyched and not nervous at all...yet :)

Setting Out Light with Lexi

2009-09-05T09:33:00.001-05:00

I drove the Jeep with Lexi and the lanterns around the yard today as mom and dad set out the lanterns. Lex knows something big is happening because she's alternating between sticking like glue and hiding in my closet.

Nails are Did

2009-09-05T09:28:00.001-05:00

Mom, A, and I got our nails did:

While S, his dad and some really good and generous friends hung all the lanterns.

I am so grateful for their help. Now today A and I are on our way to the salon while bro and W's husband hang the throwies.

Present Time

2009-09-05T07:44:00.001-05:00

I gave S his wedding gift a day early. After the amount of work he's done repeating, "it will all be worth it" was starting to fall on deaf ears. I hope this makes it worth it :)

Centerpiece Flowers

2009-09-04T13:23:00.001-05:00

Are done and perfect. I'm psyched!

Little Tent

2009-09-02T12:51:00.001-05:00

Bathroom tent is up and its lanterns are hung!

Folding Bags

2009-09-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

Is a pia.

Lexi

2009-09-02T08:35:00.001-05:00

Lex wearing her ear protection to drown out the noisy humans.

Tree Trunks

2009-09-01T22:46:00.001-05:00

I wrapped several tree trunks with mini lights today. There are a few more to finish in the AM, but we ran the cables out for the first batch. They look fabulous and throw a ton of light.

At the end of the drive where 5 paper lanterns will be hung:

Corn Hole!

2009-09-01T22:42:00.001-05:00

Brother came home this weekend and built four corn hole thingys with the wood S and I bought at Home Depot. The wood purchase was nearly a disaster after I forced S to put his bags in the cab of the truck, much against his will. But, the corn hole games a fabulous and built to my perfectionist standards. Bro is quite the craftsman and like me knows that any job worth doing is worth doing right.

Corn hole, fun for all ages:

And rather than leave the holes white, S decided they need contrast trim. Problem is, I'm the painting pro in our fledgling family. So after a full day AND after making dinner for everyone, I taped and painted trim as S watched and chatted at me.

I'll have to give them another coat in the am with a roller then apply a few coats of clear gloss coat. Because I don't have enough to do already....

Alerting the Neighbors

2009-09-01T15:32:00.001-05:00

My mom wrote a letter to all our neighbors, I baked cookies for them, and today Lexi and I delivered the goods.

First Batch of Flowers

2009-09-01T15:27:00.001-05:00

The first batch of flowers arrived today. Freesia take longer to open than the other flowers so we had them delivered today instead of Thursday with the rest of the flowers. 200 stems do not take up a lot of space. I am super impressed with fifty-flowers.com!

I cut the ends and removed all the leaves:

Here they are!

Turtle

2009-08-27T09:48:00.001-05:00

S found a turtle when he was weed whacking this morning.

My Partner in Crime is Here

2009-08-26T22:28:00.001-05:00

S arrived today! After a minor fiasco with the bags we headed to Home Depot to pick up wood and paint for corn hole.

Once back at the house we had some lunch and then I learned my first lesson of marriage: don't share a closet. I packed all my clothes I won't be wearing for the next three weeks into totes and stuck them in the attic. S proceeded to take over my closet with all his worldly goods.

With my room neat and tidy again, I eagerly waved the fed-ex box containing my ring at S and begged to open it. Murphy reared his head again (I'll write about Murphy's Law and cupcakes when the wound isnt so fresh) when the ring in the box was about half the weight as the one I ordered. I know the price of platinum went up recently, but clearly the person making this ring cut out way too much. It was not my wedding ring.

Several hours of phone calls later, one photoshoot with mom to show how glaringly obvious the problem was, and one trip to fed-ex and we were well on our way to a solution. Jewlers started making my new ring just after the first phone call. It should be here on the 4th, by noon on the 5th at the latest. Plenty of time for the 3:30 ceremony. Anyone have a size 5.75 band I can borrow for a day as plan B?

Finally, at 7 pm my partner in crime and I were able to do what we're here for: projects.

We hung ribbon from lantern assemblies:

This is how they'll look:

And I created our vases:

And just before turning in for the night we looked at some of the gifts the we've (I) opened.

All the gift wrapped boxes are still wrapped. I just don't want dirty shipping boxes on my parents' dining room rug, plus breaking down one or two shipping boxes for recycling is much more manageable.

I'm psyched S is here to pick up where we left off. His arrival gives new energy to the to-do list!

Update

2009-08-25T20:17:00.002-05:00

Flowers ordered, cupcakes baked, labels on water bottles, off to work on more projects.

Shopping & OOT Bags

2009-08-21T22:33:00.003-05:00

Bridesmaid C and I went to BJ's Wholesale Club tonight. We filled a giant cart full of goodies for baking and frosting cupcakes, for the OOT bags, and for the favors. I had the calculator out as C and I figured out how many teaspoons are in a cup, how many cups are in a gallon, and how many bags of marshmallows one needs for a gazillion s'mores. We ended the trip at Hannaford's where I picked up 56oz. of unsweetened chocolate squares and some buttermilk. Total tally was several hundred below budget. Score (although I'm sure I've spent it somewhere else already).

After dropping off C and her 15lb bag of gummie bears, a wedding gift for her boss, I went home to unpack. Unpacking was faster than expected, so two hours later all the OOT bags were stuffed, minus water and all the all-important directions, which I have yet to compile.Each bag contains:
1 smart food
1 animal crackers
1 granola bar
1 ring pop
3 starburst/skittles individual candies
4 twizzlers
~6 double bubble
1 or 2 waters (to come)
and a bunch of stuff like town info maps, coupons, and a flier from the bar we'll be at Friday night. Mmmmm, I want to stay at one of our hotels.

Care to Dance?

2009-08-20T20:34:00.001-05:00

Baking: Let no Stone Left Unturned

2009-08-20T19:08:00.002-05:00

As I gear up for a baking weekend I have discovered the following: butter costs $1.63/lb at Sam's Club; $1.62/lb at BJ's Wholesale; and $1.99/lb at Hannaford. However, with the non-member surcharge Sam's really costs $1.76 and BJ's $1.87. Both wholesale clubs would cost more in fuel to get to and from. So, because I can't tag along with a member friend this weekend, I will buy baking ingredients at Hannaford and wait on OOT bag contents until S arrives next week.

Programs Are Finished!!!!

2009-08-15T23:21:00.001-05:00

I can hardly believe it, but S managed to punch and grommet all of the programs today. I suppose it helped that there was golf on all day, but this was no easy task!

I had planned to get a pic of speed d print Steve for the blog when I picked up the 4 paged programs yesterday afternoon, but I chickened out at the last minute again. We had a couple good laughs, I confirmed that he would be able to print bro & G's programs, and I was off.

I'm getting a little sad as I visit all my local spots for the last time. Hopefully it wil clear tomorrow so I can have one more trip to the beach :(

Looooost It

2009-08-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

As I sit here sewing napkins (which at this point is hell on earth) I realized I registered for colorful napkins. Duh, I have enough napkins for life already.

Table Assignments

2009-08-15T13:10:00.001-05:00

Instead of packing I'm laying out our tables and trying to figure out how to make sure everyone has a good time. S just pointed out that I have a couple of tables of 9 and we only have 8 napkins of each pattern. Soooo that means I have to dig up leftover fabric, hope that I have enough of at least 3 fabrics, add those to my suitcase, and hope that my mom's sewing machine works.

The to-do list just keeps getting longer.

Coolest Thing I've Learned

2009-08-08T22:00:00.005-05:00

I've tackled a ton of projects during the last 14 months and while designing and making cupcake toppers and figuring out the science behind creating the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe was fun, the coolest thing I've learned during this whole wedding planning process is how to use Adobe In Design.

I bought the software used for a ridiculously low price on ebay from a seller somewhere in Asia whose ebay privileges have since been revoked. Lo and behold it was a deal that was too good to be true; what appeared to be a "copy" of Adobe In Design was delivered several weeks later. After mulling it over, I backed up my computer, crossed my fingers and installed the software. Now several months later my computer is still virus-free (knock on wood) and I'm pleased with my my self-taught through experimentation skills.

RenI managed to lay out all four pages of our programs that will be printed by Speed-d-Print Steve. In a test run last night I confirmed that my pages each line up in perfect quarter inch steps. And tonight I started the layouts of our guest monogram and names for the escort cards. I am sure that there are easier ways to do what I'm doing in the program, but I'm learning by doing and occasionally consulting Adobe's help page.

Not too exciting, but here's a shot of what I'm working on tonight:

Working on Escort Cards

2009-08-08T15:01:00.006-05:00

Instead of packing* today I'm tackling the escort card layout. I printed out several sizes of monograms and test fonts so I could decide on a final layout.
After testing out several combos, I settled on a .6" monogram with 16pt bold font for the guest's name and 12pt bold for the table name. I am going to create clear stickers for all the guests' and all the table names. I can assign table names to napkin patterns (visible through the hole) and stick on the table name stickers today. But with a dozen or so visa applications pending I'll have to wait until the last minute to assign people to the tables; one messed up person/table and I'll have to scrap the entire table's escort cards...and I only have one extra set!

*I really, really, really need to start packing!

Five Tier Cake Design

2009-08-08T11:21:00.006-05:00

We're having a five tier cake. Excessive? No, I love cake. I especially love the look of beautifully decorated cakes.

Before he left for the weekend, S gave me his blessing to choose a cake design without him. Over the past year I collected several dozen cake photos, but now it's crunch time and Stacey needs to know what we want. So without further ado, here are my faves.

We're providing the cake decorator with navy ribbon that matches the ribbon we're using throughout the wedding and a monogram cake topper. Our cake will be round, but this is my absolute favorite, ignoring that it's square. The navy ribbon and pink flowers match our colors perfectly:Because we already have a topper we can't have a big flower poof on top of the cake, but I would like to incorporate cascading flowers like this (I don't like the different width ribbons and different tier heights):This cake incorporates flowers nicely with the ribbon wrapped layers and monogram topper but I'd like more of a cascade look with the flowers and would like the flower colors to be the same (as opposed to a mix of hot and pale pinks, here).
I like the look of the spiky hot pink orchids here and the simplicity of the cake's design. It shows nicely how a "cascading" look can be achieved with just a few blooms:
And finally, I like the placement on the flowers on the tiers of this cake. They give the illusion of a cascade of flowers without an over-the-top blast of blooms. I'm not a fan of the piping around the ribbon, I would prefer a very simple ribbon wrap.
(It also bothers me that half of these orchids are upside down in this photo.)

So in summary, I would like a five tier white cake that:
fits with our elegant modern look & feel
has no extra piping decoration around the ribbon
has a simple navy blue ribbon wrap at the base of every layer
incorporates our monogram topper
has hot pink flowers "cascading" from the top down in a modern & elegant way

And above all else, I want a cake that cannot be described as "shabby chic," or "romantic."

Look Up

2009-08-08T10:17:00.007-05:00

I saw this photo last night at Style me Pretty:

This is a frame tent, which does not have the center poles that our tent will have. I bought navy tulle to drape down our poles, but I love the way the yellow fabric highlights the ceiling here. The center clumping of the paper lanterns is a departure from the all-over look I originally envisioned like this:
this:
this:
and this:
I'm sure the set-up crew would love me if I chose the center clumping. But, I have to make sure that our ribbon tails like this:"go" with whatever lantern layout I choose. This last photo looks sparse to me and I have to keep reminding myself that we have twice as many lanterns and ribbon twice as thick to achieve the look that I'd like.

Helper Bee

2009-08-08T00:58:00.001-05:00

Finnian came over tonight so his parents (bridesmaid W) could go out. I paid bills, finished up programs, and went through my lists. Finny slept on the couch next to me all night.

He showed up sleeping, barely made a peep when he was hungry, fell asleep eating, and then stayed conked out for another 4+ hours, even while being manuvered back into his car seat. Clearly snoozy pants is bridesmaid's W's kid!

Offered.

2009-08-07T00:27:00.001-05:00

We submitted an offer on a house in Falls Church, VA tonight and now we're crossing out fingers. It's the exact neighborhood and style that I want and needs some work.

I am very pleased to have found a house that needs renovations. It's work I enjoy doing and it will be great to build our own equity rather than pay for someone else's. I am about as far from a "new house" person as you can get - I can't stand not having a house project to work on. My idea of torture is sitting idle in a home that needs no improvements (especially if said sitting involves a tv being on during daylight hours). If we get the house, I'll be happy to finally be able to put my skills to good use rather than re-cleaning clean rooms and re-organizing organized spaces

I almost bought a condo just out of law school becase it had an attached storage area that I could have made into extra square footage! Instead I rented and took projects on a rental unit to a new level, and when I left my landlord was able to get even more rent. I loved our house in Florida, especially when the rooms and cabinets needed painting, but if I didn't have this wedding to plan over the past year, I would have absolutely gone out of my mind.

I think S will be happy when we're in a house where I can be hammering/painting/destroying away so he can finally watch sports in peace. Although, I do think he's become quite skilled at tuning out my, "I want to dooooooooo something" cries!

Maybe we'll be able to get an even better deal on this house because it's kind of dirty. Ms. Clean taking advantage of a home that doesn't show well cause it's dirty and a bit tattered, now that's irony.

Chow Down!

2009-08-05T15:31:00.001-05:00

Quick Update on Lobsters

2009-08-05T14:41:00.003-05:00

Just a quick mid-day update on the lobsters. They have RSVP'd yes and will be attending, tails only. Here's a video from Stacy at Chefa's showing how they will be grilled and presented (seasoning and baking technique excluded).

I think that with this addition to dinner, combined with the cocktail hour lobster mac & cheese appetizer and the brunch lobster quiche on Sunday, we will be doing our part to support the Maine lobstermen in the tough economic times. I love you lobster, xoxo.

Testing photos

2009-08-04T00:14:00.001-05:00

Testing out photo posting & photo editing app.

Check out the cheesy shadow. Mmm 1989?

Snippet of a Convo with the Ring Lady

2009-08-03T21:03:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, S's ring is being custom made by an artist in Hawaii. The first ring she sent was a bit too big (our fault), so we sent it back to be re-sized. Here's a snippet of our email conversation:

Aloha F;
Your original ring arrived today. I will let you know when the new one ships.
Mahalo;
Carolyn

I love that our emails start with aloha and close with mahalo. It's a little detail that makes the purchase even more special.

I Want it, But There's Not Enough Time to Make it

2009-08-03T18:18:00.003-05:00

I want ribbon wands waved

and eco confetti thrown

as we pass under the last set of swords.

But there's not enough time for me to make ribbon wands without the risk of meltdown, so I think I may out-source to etsy. At this point the decision of how many wands to buy is nearly incapacitating. Someone needs to go for a run, or take a nap, or have a tranquilizer.

Inspiration in the Strangest Places

2009-08-03T18:05:00.004-05:00

In my mind our centerpieces are large puffs of hot pink carnations. Fluffy, full and bright. I found a few photos to show our floral arranger and I think she knows what I'd like. Luckily she'll be arranging at the house on Friday and she flat out said, "I'll re-do it 'til it's what you want." Sweet, since our meeting I haven't spent a second thinking about flowers.

UNTIL...

We walked into the Navy Federal headquarters today and saw this on the reception desk
My carnation vision was right there, staring back at me!! I could have whipped out a length of ribbon and monogram jumbo sticker and sat down for a meal.

So I took some photos to show to print for the floral arranger. And I touched the flowers. And I counted the blooms. And I smelled the flowers. And then the receptionist told us we were in the wrong building...

Pedicure Colors

2009-08-03T17:46:00.003-05:00

After spending most of the day Saturday doing I can't remember what, I convinced S to do errands with me. First stop was the local mall to pick out a OPI toe nail color for the bridesmaids. S stayed in the car to make a few calls while I ventured into our local how-many-under-the-age-of-16-mothers-can-you-have-in-one-place mall, alone.

With coupon in hand I entered Trade Secrets where I promptly pulled one hot pink flip flop (see earlier post) from my purse. The shop girl was psyched that I was the bride picking out nail colors and not some poor bridesmaid sent into a store to "get something that matches." Two minutes later shop girl and I have painted every nail on my right foot a different hot pink. S popped in for all of two seconds before running back out to the car.

(I swear these are all different shades of pink and it really does matter)

After narrowing it down to two colors, we painted the left with our choices and polled the ladies around us. Winning color? La Paz-Itively Hot. Unfortunately, they only had four bottles in stock so I'll have to wait until the end of this week to pick up the rest.

Next stop was Michaels where we bought a cool paper airplanes book/kit for one of S's three cousins who will be the only kids at the wedding. Then it was off to JoAnn's where I bought a friendship bracelet book/kit and extra embroidery floss for the older of the two girls and a crayola magic pen book for the younger of the girls.

We finished off the ridiculously long three hour trip with a stop at Wal Mart where I had to embarassingly admit to the cashier that we were starving and shouldn't be grocery shopping at dinner time as she rung up three containers of edy's ice cream....enough for a gazillion mini ice cream & cookie sandwiches.

Last Minute Invitee

2009-08-01T13:47:00.004-05:00

We're super excited to add a last minute guest to the wedding reception.

Introducing, the Maine lobster:

My dad suggested that we add lobsters to the menu in place of shrimp and scallops. We love, love, love lobster and are more than happy to oblige!

Thankfully my dad's call came just before I started printing the menus this morning. So as soon as we get the sign-off from our caterer that the switch won't put us in the poorhouse the change will be made!

We're trying to figure out how to incorporate the lobster without making the meal too messy or the plates too full. I think it would be cool to have a grilled tail for each plate for dinner and then use the rest of the meat for appetizers during the cocktail hour and lobster quiche for the brunch. Deeeeeelicious!

More Photo Booth Backdrops

2009-07-30T10:35:00.002-05:00

I took advantage of Fabric.com's summer sale and bought the final two photo booth backdrops.

one blue

and one pink

Satin Corsages for the Moms

2009-07-29T14:33:00.004-05:00

I bought hot pink satin flower hair elastics from J.Crew's crewcuts when I was last in Maine. My intention was to cut the elastic and sew a pin in its place and have our mothers and grandmothers wear them as corsages. I was feeling uninspired by the project and left it sitting in the wedding drawer for months. I just thought the flowers need a little something extra.

This morning I was putting away the new duck cloth corn hole bags when I had an ah-ha moment. I'll add a single leaf to each satin flower using the leftover navy duck cloth. The contrast between the satin and duck cloth adds some interest and makes the whole satin flower thing a lot less cheesy.

One down, three to go.
Update: four down, none to go. Check.

Table Numbers!

2009-07-29T11:02:00.006-05:00

Here they are!

My favorite is the last minute addition, "bee hive." S and I are debating between "camp maine" and "rangeley" for our cabin table. I say camp maine, but he says rangeley since he's never been to camp maine week. Duh, camp maine week is just a week when we ALL go TO camp maine. The place is still called camp maine. Hence Misha's camp maine song!? Going to camp maine, going to camp maine, Misha iiiiss going to camp maine. Hello!? It's not Misha iiiisss going to rangeley. That doesn't even make sense! "Rangeley" isn't in Mish's vocab list!

Here's a close-up of the sign for the wedding guest cookbook table. Check out my poetry skills.
I have no excuse for the crummy iphone photos. My camera was on the coffee table next to me, but I grabbed the phone.

These signs won't be complete until the RSVP deadline has passed and we have all the wedding songs to list on the back. I'm going to send the songs to our DJ and he'll tell me the order he'll play them during dinner.

I'm in Love with Emerson Made

2009-07-29T10:48:00.006-05:00

Check out the beautiful work at Emerson Made. I'm getting excited for post-wedding projects. I can just see a bright pink fabric peony jazzing up my winter coat!

source

I would add this beautiful flower to my dress, if it didn't already have a ton of fun going on. Just look at this beautiful work that she does. b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.
Seriously. I would love to make beautiful things for a living like emerson made. So pretty.

Place Card / Table Card Holders

2009-07-28T16:51:00.001-05:00

I bought these little silver cubes from Crate & Barrel to hold up the table cards:

Table Number/Name Mock-Up

2009-07-27T17:49:00.002-05:00

I finished the table number/name layouts yesterday and put together this mock-up of one of the tables.
A few are dates and the rest are places, names and things. I need to find simple placecard holders to stand these on the tables.

I heart packages

2009-07-27T10:42:00.001-05:00

I love packages.
Love, love, love.
So I signed up for the lovely package exchange.

A Few More Purchases

2009-07-26T14:55:00.003-05:00

Just a few additions to the stash in the wedding dresser.
Hot pink flip-flops for the reception, a unity candle stand, gummy lobsters to-go for S's young nieces & nephew, wreath hangers for the large letters on the ceremony side doors, pew clips for the letters inside the ceremony, lexi's special wedding tuffet blanket, and an oven thermometer for mom's oven to make sure the cupcakes cook evenly.

Look Familiar?

2009-07-26T13:33:00.002-05:00

Does this photo look familiar?
It should. I've already done this project once and now I'm doing it again. Apparently the corn hole bags aren't supposed to be made of rip-stop nylon, they need to be duck cloth. And because S is obsessed with wedding corn hole, I'm re-doing the corn bags. I don't know what's more irritating, doing the same project again, or the repetitive mind-numbing, no creativity required, sewing. On the plus side, I know S feels my pain, he did sew almost all the napkins after all. And, Joann's had navy & hot pink duck cloth.

Someone's kid is going to get a dozen navy and red nylon corn bags for Christmas this year!

Inspiration Board w/ Laterns & Cakes

2009-07-25T18:04:00.011-05:00

I haven't decided on a cake design yet, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like. I say "I" because I'm pretty sure S could care less what the cake looks like. I put together this inspiration board with cakes, lanterns and floral designs that I like.
I found this bird's eye view of square tables, which is helping me visualize the amount of space we have at each place setting.
Disregarding six feet of height, the size of the center piece vases is similar to the size of ours, so it gives me a good idea of how much space is available on the table for all the goodies we're working with. I like the groupings of candles, I'll have to check to see if we'll have enough for sixteen per table after creating all the luminaries for the yard.

I love the size of these bridesmaids bouquets from a Southern Weddings post. They're such sweet little pops of color.
Even though we changed our colors from navy & yellow to navy & hot pink ages ago when I saw this wedding, I'm still drawn to the navy & yellow photos! With our color change we changed our non-alcoholic drink option from yellow lemonade to pink lemonade. I would love to float blueberries in it like this:
Perhaps we should even float blueberries in our signature drink, the fizzy pink panty pull down. I'm blushing. That drink needs another name! I also love the papery look of the spring peonies in the photo. I hope we can get a similar look with carnations, which are always in season.

I would like to have a table of glasses of signature drinks already poured when the guests arrive for the cocktail hour. These drinks look so refreshing! Although drinking from a mason jar does not quite go with the feel of our wedding...we'll save that for some other back yard event.
Hopefully we can have the lemonade and ice tea dispensed from cool old-fashioned infusion jars, like these:
And finally, totally unrelated to drinks, flowers, and table settings, we're still on the lookout for photo booth backdrops. I like the way this black and white pattern repeat looks here. It would be great to find something similar in navy or hot pink.

Last Weekend as a Homeowner-ish in Peeeeecola

2009-07-25T17:47:00.003-05:00

This is our last weekend as homeowners in Pensacola! If all goes as planned we'll be closing on the sale of S's house on Thursday and then renting back for a couple of months. S is spending the weekend away like he did for the majority of his home-owning weekends while I attempt to tackle a few more wedding projects.

Wedding Day Time Line

2009-07-25T00:44:00.002-05:00

I spoke with the chaplain and with Geneve the photographer today about wedding day time lines. I think I have enough information about the ceremony to start the program layout. We still don't have a reading for N, but I think "A Reading" will suffice for program purposes.

The conversation with the chaplain was helpful, but not as helpful as the one with Geneve. She essentially laid out the entire day for me while I took furious notes. Because of her I no longer feel totally overwhelmed and way behind schedule. In fact, I spent 4 hours tonight working on what is currently a 13 page guide to the wedding day. It lists all of the relevant parties, where they need to be at what time, and who is in charge of what.

Tomorrow I will work on the spreadsheet version of the schedule before moving on to the programs.

Corn Hole Bags, Half-Check

2009-07-19T12:06:00.002-05:00

The corn hole bags are sewn and turned. We'll wait until we're in Maine to add the corn feed and sew them shut.
They didn't have any pink fabric so we used blue and red instead.

Table Facts & Snippets

2009-07-19T11:59:00.002-05:00

This week S came up with a list of table names based on little facts and snippets about us. I then took the facts & snippets and created a 4.5" round stickers to adhere to the backs of the menu cards. S is cutting out stickers while watching the British Open today.

I'm Free to Leave Now

2009-07-11T20:29:00.005-05:00

I've been living in Pensacola for almost a year not and still had not seen a Blue Angels show or even a practice. It's kind of hard to believe given that they practice every Tuesday (or Thursday, I don't really know, obviously). This weekend is the annual Pensacola Beach air show. And while I have absolutely no desire to wait in traffic on the bridges for 4 hours, nor sit in the sun on a packed beach for 8, I was more than happy to zip over to the beach to see one of their practices this week.

Fat Albert flying over the life guard hut and the pier:
Four of the six Blue Angels in formation approaching the Pensacola Beach water tower:
All six on their way way home:
I wanted to see the Blue Angels before we move from Pensacola, so now I guess I'm free to go. Our house is under contract and my planned departure date is looming near, but I'm not ready to go yet. It's wet and cold in Maine and sunny and warm here. I like sunny and warm. Plus, the impending homelessness is not my idea of a good time. I'm really regretting agreeing to S's bachelor whims in the first place!

Corn Hole

2009-07-11T20:25:00.002-05:00

I bought the nylon cloth to make corn hole bags last week. And a trip to the beach this week reminded me that we have to get to work on the wedding corn hole game!

Baby Shower in a Box

2009-07-11T20:15:00.003-05:00

Bridesmaid A is throwing her sister a baby shower this weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it home to be there (and to help) so last weekend I put together this baby shower in a box. I made a diaper cake, ~50 cupcake toppers, favors, games, confetti, and of course, a gift. I hope A's sister likes it!

Recycled T-Shirts

2009-07-11T20:04:00.002-05:00

I found this cool instructable for using old t-shirts to make grocery bags. I wish I had a few of these when I went to Wal-Mart tonight and walked out with 50 plastic bags: one for each item I bought. Does each head of lettuce really need its own bag? Could we possibly put two dozen eggs in one bag? How about the bread and the english muffins in one? No? Ok. Next time I'll bring my old t-shirts.

Under Contract

2009-07-08T16:34:00.002-05:00

We're under contract to sell our house. I'll miss it when we go, but I'm looking forward to the next house where hopefully I'll have plenty of projects to distract me from wedding DIY withdrawal.

Rings & Blings

2009-07-08T16:12:00.005-05:00

S finally decided on a wedding band style and today we went to a few mall stores to have him sized. Not surprisingly he is a variety of sizes. Great. But, he assures me that "it doesn't matter anyway," which I think is code for, "I'm only going to wear this for one day and then it will sit in my dresser forever." So I'm just going to go ahead and buy whatever the etsy seller Hawaiititanium tells me to buy.

S is making great progress haggling the price of my wedding band down. After an 8-store bidding war he has narrowed the contenders to two final competitors. I think he's fairly close to cost, nearly 100% less than the original retail price. Apparently he procured my engagement ring in a similar competition and the shop where he bought my e.ring is currently one of the final two in the battle of the band.

While I'd like S to throw matching diamond earrings into the battle, it won't be necessary. I bought these this morning:
They appear to match my ring well and were a very good price. So I now have two earrings options, but I promise I won't turn this into another shoe fiasco.

Lost

2009-07-02T09:40:00.002-05:00

So far we have confirmed that five invitations are lost in the mail somewhere. Not returned to the fam, but lost. Thanks USPS.

Getting Through the List

2009-06-28T14:55:00.004-05:00

S came home on Friday and immediately got to work on the list. We now have 200 cupcake box-top recipe stickers:
Half of the 200 stickers are chocolate and half are vanilla. I'll be sending them to mom soon to be stuck on the tops of the boxes that were delivered to Lexi a few weeks ago.

I uploaded our 18"x24" photo booth poster to Kinkos to be printed and mounted:
I'm hoping bridesmaid C can pop into the store just outside her office this week to view a print proof for me before I give the final ok.

And this afternoon I designed a 4"x4" double-sided post card at uprint.com with instructions for our guests to upload their photos to our smugmug account. We'll have them scattered around the tables at the reception and will include them in our thank you notes envelopes. One side of the glossy card is our monogram on a white background and the other side is the upload instructions, which includes our log in information so I'm not posting a photo here.

Unfortunately I also had to whip together a few more invitations last night after discovering that at least three invites never reached their intended destination. I know it wasn't an oversight on my part because one of the missing invitees is my grandmother, and because I had a triple-check system going on when I assembled and sent the invites out. We were accidentally left off a guest list this winter after receiving a save-the-date so I was hyper-cautious. I didn't realize I should expect a 3%+ margin of error with the USPS. How does the saying go? Good enough for government work?

It's almost 100 degrees outside and hazy. Now S is konked out on the couch "beating the heat" and watching soccer. I bet he'll be psyched to wake up to throwie materials on the table in front of him. Only 70 more to go! I can't decide whether I want to go to go out to get the goods to make a diaper cake for bridesmaids A's sister's shower or if I want to go to the beach to float in the ocean. I'm going to miss our beach when we move. I also think I'm going to freeze at our wedding after realizing this morning that 92 now feels like a nice comfortable temperature. Thank goodness for the cashmere shawl, although I think I may be scrounging for a fur coat that night.

Etsy Earrings: Part One

2009-06-24T15:54:00.002-05:00

I found these earrings today from etsy seller terminy. I convo'd her to ask if they are available in white. They are strong contenders right now.

In other news, bridesmaid W is in labor. Go W!

Bought a Veil!

2009-06-23T14:20:00.005-05:00

I bought a custom made veil from etsy seller Rohm today! She's going to take this veil
and add some gathering at the comb so it looks more like this woman's veil (photo plucked from a classifieds listing).
I was disappointed this weekend when I went to purchase a veil from another etsy seller, only to find that she had increased her price by $120. It was a blessing in disguise since Rohm's price is $55 less than the original veil's initial price. I love it when things work out like that.

Read the Map & Follow the Signs

2009-06-23T13:46:00.004-05:00

Last night I tried to find an image of an arrow that I could use on our directional signs. After several hours of searching I came up empty. This afternoon Nathan of Brush Fire Media whipped up a simple arrow for me in no time flat and I was able to create the directional signs to place along the road on the way to the ceremony & reception.
I just have to go to Michael's to get a few more pieces of navy cardstock backing and I'll be able to check another item off the to-do list.

Baby Gift Weekend

2009-06-22T09:29:00.004-05:00

I worked on menu layout this weekend for a few hours.

Any suggestions for something fun for the back? The rest of the time I worked on baby gifts for bridesmaid W. Here's a picture of the applique onesies and matching burp cloths I made for her:
And I spent a few hours at the beach Friday and Sunday afternoons, knitting.

Eggs & Omelettes

2009-06-22T08:05:00.004-05:00

I've wanted chickens for years now so I can fuel my obsession with eggs and omelettes. Check out this all-in-one, space saving contraption from Omelet.us
I wonder if this could be a wedding expense. Fresh eggs for Sunday brunch?

Survey

2009-06-21T11:44:00.003-05:00

I added a survey to our wedding website at theknot.com. One of the information links now reads "Cupcake VOTE!" and our guests can click a link to vote for their favorite cupcake/frosting combination.

We have only had about 20 hits on the website this week so it may be less than effective. But, it would be nice to know if one combo is going to be in high demand so I will know to make more of one variety than another.

I think the vanilla/mocha combo is fabulous and the vanilla/peanut butter less so. But what if all out guests love the new Reeses white chocolate peanut butter cups? That's kind of like a vanilla cupcake with peanut butter frosting :)

First RSVP's Arrive

2009-06-18T08:53:00.003-05:00

The first RSVP's arrived yesterday. Exciting!

Paper Lanterns Arrive in Freeport

2009-06-17T10:58:00.003-05:00

The paper lanterns that I purchased last week arrived at my parents' house yesterday. All wedding stuff is addressed to my pup, Misha Alexis Girl, who is lolling about in the photo of the lanterns that my mom took this morning. Mish likes getting packages because they usually come with cookies on top.
She is enjoying retirement on the farm while I sweat it out in Florida. She would not like it here at all. Plus, in Maine she has my entire bed to herself and she has the pool for afternoon swims. She lives at the resort.

Aren't the lanterns going to look so cool with hot pink ribbons streaming from them?

We're Invited to Our Wedding

2009-06-15T14:13:00.004-05:00

Houston We Have a Melt-Down

2009-06-15T13:13:00.002-05:00

Exactly one hour in the scorching sun and we have a melt-down. The mint chocolate chip slid off its cupcake.

The chocolate and mocha remained on top of their respective cupcakes albeit very soft. So I jiggled the chocolate, just to see how soft it really was. Ooops.
So the frostings can last in Florida sun for over thirty minutes, but less than an hour. Somewhat irrelevant, but good to know. It is worth noting, however, that the melted chocolate chips in the mint chocolate chip are to die for right now, and the melted chocolate frosting tastes like the most amazing hot fudge sauce ever.

Fingers licked clean, I'm back to work.

30 Minutes - Getting Shiny

2009-06-15T12:41:00.002-05:00

30 minutes in direct sun and the frostings are starting to get a little shiny, but their crust-like coatings remain intact.

(mocha)

The Ultimate Heat Test

2009-06-15T12:14:00.001-05:00

98.7 degrees, 119 degree heat index, bright sun. The ultimate frosting test...

even though Maine's record highs in July & August don't reach temps like this....

Crazy Lady & Crazy Kid Back Drop Test

2009-06-15T10:57:00.001-05:00

My mom just sent me this photo from her test photo shoot using the Marimekko backdrop fabric she bought last week. My crazy lady dress form comes in so handy, and I love the crazy kid form that Buzzy gave me!

The eight yards that our photographer suggested seems like an outrageous amount of fabric. There is plenty of room for our guests to stand on the fabric and a ton to spare. It would be great if we only needed four or five so I could come close to affording the coveted pink fabric at $42 a yard.

Eight Hours Later I Went to the Beach

2009-06-15T09:05:00.004-05:00

On Sunday I spent six hours in front of the computer designing stickers, stickers, and more stickers. I created square stickers for the tops of the cupcake boxes, one with the vanilla cupcake recipe and one with the chocolate cupcake recipe. I made 3" round monogram stickers to secure the 2 3/4" wide navy ribbon to the vases. And I made a bunch of round number stickers to tie to the guest flip flops.

After printing over 70 sheets of labels, I set up my cutting & punching station in front of the TV. I made the size stickers and tested one out on a pair of flops:
I punched out 50 vase stickers and tested out my new circle cutting tool, which we'll use for the menu cards:
and then I started to cut the menu cards. But after eight hours sitting around in the air conditioning, I got anxious/guilty/frustrated about being inside. So at three in the afternoon I slathered on some SPF, grabbed my towel, and headed to the beach!

Apron for Nana

2009-06-13T18:20:00.001-05:00

Last week Nan suggested that she could use a new apron. She prefers the half-apron style rather than the full, oil cloth, make-a-total-mess-and-wipe-off, version my mom and I both use. My aprons are from Harrods and I love them, but there's something about a sweet little half apron that just gives me the urge to sew.

Yesterday after work I headed over to our local pharmacy/appliance/porn/party/fabric shop to buy some cute foodie fabric. I didn't see any sketchy dudes walking out with paper bags this time, but I did get some discrete photos with my phone just to prove to bridesmaid C that I wasn't nuts and that the best fabric store in this crazy city also has a porn shop in the back. It's only a matter of time before my license plates are ripped off in the parking lot.

After browsing for a while and chatting with the shop ladies about mu-mu patterns (they're so not in style I don't even know how to spell mu-mu) I walked out with three fabrics, each with a fruit print: lemon, bananas and cherries. I was also assured by the shop ladies that my 87 year old grandmother has earned the right to wear my great-grandmother's thread bare mu-mu if she wants to. Whatever, she didn't like her mother-in-law and the thing is nasty. But I digress, this trip was about the apron, we'll address the mu-mu on another day.

Last night in bed I sketched out my apron pattern and calculated my cuts. This morning I woke up, had a frustrating experience at JoAnn and then got to work on these cuties:

Reversible half aprons with big bow ties. One for me and one for Nan.

I also spent the entire day with one eye on the front yard where the baby birds from the palm at the edge of our yard were jumping from the nest and learning to fly. Having made the mistake of putting a baby bird back in its nest years ago, I now know that when baby birds leave the nest their first step before flying is to find cover in shrubbery for several hours to a few days. Fortunately, it was very hot so the neighborhood cats were fairly lethargic and I only had to hiss away two. I'm a little nervous that as it cools off tonight the cats will be out on the prowl. Huge fan of the birds, not so much of the cats.

Humidity Testing the Frosting Contenders

2009-06-13T18:03:00.001-05:00

It's hot here. Too hot to run during the day. Too hot to spend much time outside. And too hot for frosting. At least it was last weekend when I transported cupcakes with very soft vanilla frosting to bridesmaid W's baby shower. S is away for a few weeks so there's really no better time to do a little frosting experimentation to put my mind at ease. Not to worry, S, experimentation includes freezing, so there will be plenty for you when you return.

This is a crummy photo, but it gives you an idea of what's happening in our kitchen today. It's 96 outside, 80 inside and warmer on top of the fridge, I imagine. From the left are Mindy's gravy buttercream, Betsy's vanilla buttercream, a mocha I don't like, and a too chocolate chocolate that is holding up in the humidity amazingly well. I have three more trials in the freezer right now and two more recipes to try. Mindy's gravy buttercream (my name for it) tastes the best, so I'm hoping it holds up well too.

Now I just have to wait another 30 minutes or so for the sun to dip low enough for a shaded run to work off my "tastes."

Poot, Poot

2009-06-12T22:32:00.004-05:00

I reserved the toilets and hand-washing station today. I opted to splurge and reserved a wheel chair accessible toilet for the ladies so our female guests could adjust skirts and dresses comfortably. And really, after a few drinks women go to the rest room together, so I needed to make sure that bridesmaids S and W could fit in the porta potti at the same time without risk of falling in. I also opted to purchase the insurance on the units since the last thing I want to do is spend wedding gift money on a new portable toilet.

Check out the patriotic option available at Blow Bros.
too bad they don't come in blue & pink!

Birthday Gift

2009-06-11T10:41:00.003-05:00

My birthday was last week and S and I had a small dinner and cupcake celebration with bridesmaid W. W's husband couldn't join us because he was studying for the LSATs. Poor sucker. I don't think we sent W home with a cupcake either. Wow, we're mean!

After cupcakes I opened a few gifts from S and from my mom. My mom gave us another two sets of our flatware, which we need if we plan to entertain more than 4 people at a time this summer. However, I'm hesitant to open them up before the move because I've discovered that we have rusty looking water and it's leaving spots on the flatware (and turning my white towels rusty). Off topic, if you know how to get rust out of the towels let me know please. I use chlorine free bleach in the wash, but it makes only a marginal difference.

S gave me several nice gifts, but the highlight was a key chain from Coach in the shape of a bee.
Given S's name, naturally our house is the bee hive. I've even designed the logo for our first baby bee. Hey, it's my birthday, I'm not getting any younger, and every kid needs a logo. My birthday key chain will be perfect to hold the keys to the next hive, that is if I can bear to actually use it and get it dirty!

Invites are in Darling!

2009-06-11T08:27:00.003-05:00

I just got a confirmation email from the USPS that our box of invitations arrived in Darling, Mississippi this morning!

Back Drop #1

2009-06-11T07:48:00.002-05:00

My mom bought a back drop for the photo booth last night. We'll keep looking for another one or two as the photographer suggests, but this marimekko fabric looks great and was a great deal!
S and I were taking photos with very pregnant bridesmaid W when my mom called so I wasn't able to see the photo she took very well. If I had been home I would have asked her to take a photo of the entire wall of fabric just in case there was something that I liked and she overlooked. Oh well, maybe there will be another shipment when I'm home in August!

Let There be MORE Light!

2009-06-10T14:20:00.008-05:00

S and I (mostly S, really) made more throwies this weekend and I'll make 70 more as soon as the next shipment of batteries arrives.
This morning I ordered 186 paper lanterns from asianideas.com after the woman who I was going to share lanterns with found out that her fiance is surprising her with a honeymoon that requires that they leave directly from their reception. She couldn't vouch for the disassembly team and I didn't want to risk not having lanterns on time. I'm planning to sell them all after our wedding.
The lanterns will hang in the tent and in the apple orchard. To add some color we'll hang four feet of pink ribbon from each lantern, doubled up so each will have two two foot tails hanging down. I bought pink hanging ribbon from PaperMart.com, where I also bought the ribbon for my dress and for the bouquets.
And I bought a roll of three inch wide ribbon to tie around the table cloths of the high-top cocktail hour tables.
Also from Paper Mart, I bought 500 white paper lunch-bag sized bags (500 was the smallest quantity and less expensive than 100 elsewhere). To go in the paper bags and on the reception tables I bought two gross white votive candles,
and two gross frosted glass votive holders on ebay.
I really hope that I'm able to resell most of this stuff after the wedding so we can recoup some of the costs and minimize the amount of crap we have laying around for the next 50 years.

This weekend I may take a wedding break and make my Nana a new apron.

And They're Off!

2009-06-08T10:14:00.004-05:00

Stuffed and ready to be sealed:

Sealed and ready to be sent to Darling, Mississippi:
Off to Billy:

Toppers, Check

2009-06-07T12:20:00.002-05:00

Another biggie checked off the t0-do list this AM! S and I assembled 415 cupcake toppers over the past few nights. Here are S's hands sticking the back round stickers to the 4" skewers. I then went along and dabbed glue in the center of each stick and then stuck the fronts on (that I made last weekend). In the upper right corner all of the assembled toppers are lying face-down. We stacked several very heavy Lucky Bags (books) on top of them to squish the glue down well.

Here's the finished product

Bridesmaid W's Baby Shower

2009-06-07T12:17:00.001-05:00

We threw bridesmaid W a very fun baby shower this weekend. The shower was at W's friend Kate's house so I didn't have the opportunity to go over-the-top. But I did manage to bake some delicious cupcakes and made these cute toppers.

Congratulations, W, I can't wait to meet baby JLo!

Thank You

2009-06-05T21:21:00.004-05:00

I created our thank you notes tonight and learned an important lesson in the process: when the printer won't do what you want it to do, try for an hour, and then move on.

I initially wanted to create note cards with the f|s placed at the top horizontal edge with our married names across the bottom, however, when several dozen attempts to print failed, and the running hour was looming near, I decided that the vertical orientation looked just as nice. I also decided to leave our names off the cards so we can use them before the wedding too. So here they are, 100 monogrammed thank you cards:
Fresh off the printer just in time for an eight mile evening run.

Thanks for sneaking that in.

2009-06-05T12:46:00.003-05:00

One of our hotels quoted me an August 4th cut-off date for reservations when I first spoke with the manager. I printed August 4th on our invitations. Before I package the invites to send to Billy I thought I'd just double check with our hotel contacts to make sure everything is still ok. Lo and behold August 4th was changed to July 23 in a random email that I clearly didn't read carefully enough. Thanks for sneaking that in.

Stickers & Toppers

2009-06-04T10:42:00.003-05:00

I made 750 monogram stickers and then took 410 of those stickers and stuck them to the navy blue card stock circles I punched. Next up, gluing/sticking skewers to the card stock/sticker combos to make the cupcake flags.
To make it easier to line up the 1" punch with the monogram circles, I took the monogram image into photoshop and filled the background with blue. Then I created square images that I repeated across the page in Word. I printed on 8.5x11 labels and then cut into strips for easier punching. Viola, no need for punching perfection 'cause even if my punching skills are a little off, the outer line is still blue.

Colorscope

2009-06-03T17:23:00.002-05:00

From Paper-Source's colorscope (think horoscope, just 100 times cooler) our wedding colors reveal that:

Night (navy)
You are traditional and reserved on the surface, yet you are a renegade at heart. Your demeanor is steadfast and mysterious. Popularity is not important to you–which makes you all the more enticing to others.
&
Fuchsia
Courageous and passionate, you have a playful side that balances your serious and spiritual nature. You are confident and not afraid to take action. Remember that the journey is often more important than the outcome of your endeavors.

Mini Clothes Pins

2009-06-03T17:15:00.001-05:00

While I was shopping for supplies for bridesmaid W's baby shower, I found these mini clothes pins, which I had been on the look-out for since my mom suggested that we hang the escort cards from a string (or ribbon) using them. I snatched them up, took this photo, and squirreled them away in the "wedding stuff" dresser.

In other news, S finished assembling the invitations last night. We were three grommets short of using all of our backers. We have 138 invitations left, after sending 10 to Maine for my dad to take overseas next week. I also spoke with Billy Little, postmaster in Darling, Mississippi, this afternoon. Pay careful attention to your invitation and you'll see why I was chatting with Billy today! Now I'm just waiting on S's last three addresses, two from my list and our stamps. I told Billy he should expect to receive our invitations next week. Billy is a key player in this process.

Off to make cupcakes for my birthday!