Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Adventures in Hair Trials

I had my hair trial last Friday! It was a busy day because as one of the two Senior Advisory Board sponsors I had just finished organizing and chaperoning the class of 2013 senior picnic. I've been referring to the senior events as my "second wedding" as it involved designing and printing senior t-shirts, collecting money, securing payments for vendors, organizing catering and decorations for a senior breakfast, organizing catering and a DJ for the senior picnic. It has been a LOT of work and a lot of extra stress these last few weeks. But the good news is that everything came together perfectly. There were a few mistakes here and there, but I will know better for next year. I'm just glad it's over and that means one huge worry and time commitment off my shoulders. Now to focus more on the wedding (and the big tests my AP World History and Economics kids will be taking).

I rushed straight from the picnic (in my own senior t-shirt) to the salon. I wasn't feeling very bridal or beautiful, but I left feeling really happy and confident in the skills of my stylist. I came in feeling like a hot mess and I this is what I left with:




Here I am later heading out on a date with Mr. C after taking a nap on this hairstyle (I was wiped out from the picnic) and putting on some makeup:


I really love it. I think it will go perfectly with my soft, ethereal gown. I love the little tendrils that hang down in the front too. They will be more curly on the actual wedding day. And these were some of the inspirational images that I brought with me:

Image source via: Style Me Pretty / Photography by: Ryan Ray Photography

Image source via: Amanda Judge
I was a total weenie and did not even try on, much less take a photo of, my updo with my wedding day hair accessory. I'm starting to wonder if it is going to look too big or distracting with this hairstyle. I love the little flower clip in the photo above, but I don't love the $198 price tag on it, especially since I've already spent money on a hair accessory. I think I might try to make something and see how it looks, and if it's crap then I always have my original purchase to fall back on! 

Just as a reminder, here's my hair accessory: 

Image source via: Millie Icaro

I am also having my makeup done on my wedding day, but I didn't pay for a makeup trial. I'm not too picky about how it looks, but this is my current inspiration from the lovely Naomi Watts:

Image source via: zimbio.com
What type of hairstyle do you want for your wedding? Are you having your makeup done professionally or are you going to do it yourself?

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Our DIY Invitation Suite

Our invitations were definitely a labor of love. Thankfully, I learned the basic ropes of Adobe Illustrator when I sat down to create our save-the-dates earlier this year. This meant that the invitation process went much more quickly and smoothly than the save-the-date creation process. What took me a long time was finally settling on a color scheme and design. There are so many choices and it can feel overwhelming at times. At the end of the day, I simply needed to sit down, pick a design and walk away from it--and that's just what I did. I'm incredibly happy with the way that they turned out. Here is how it appeared to our guests upon opening the envelope: 



Poor Mr. C punched out all of those belly bands using a Martha Stewart punch one morning while I was sleeping in. He popped in The Hobbit DVD and went to town. By the time I woke up he had 100 beautiful belly bands neatly stacked into piles. He was also a huge help in the assembly process as we ended up mailing off around 80 of these invites to our nearest and dearest. 


The Moo mini card is a photograph I took at Versailles on the day we were engaged. French macarons will be making an appearance at our wedding in the form of favors and I felt that this little touch tied in the French/Parisian/Marie Antoinette feel I hoped our guests would get from our invitation. On the back of the mini Moo card is the information for our wedding website




I wanted to keep things really simple and uncomplicated with our invites. I would have loved to have envelope liners or one of those lovely pocket fold invitations -- but really invitations and envelopes all eventually end up in the trash. It's sad, but true. I wanted our invites to give off the look and feel of our wedding without being too over-the-top or expensive. Our RSVP was a postcard so that I could save the extra step (and postage) in including small RSVP envelopes. We had both the RSVP and invites printed at Catprint.com.



The RSVP postcards have a blank area on the front and instructions for guests to write us a message or draw us a picture. That way, even when we received RSVP's for "no" we could still have something fun and interesting to keep as a memento. I will share some of the drawings and messages in another post! 




And here they are, all ready to be mailed off! Another great thing about keeping things simple is that each envelope only needed one regular stamp. The post office even has beautiful vintage flower seed packet stamps right now and a lot of them match our wedding colors. Perfection!


It was a lot of fun working on these invites, but I am definitely glad that it is over and done with! Everyone seemed to really enjoy them and I received a lot of compliments on the design and little special touches like the belly band and the baker's twine.

How did you decide upon your invitations? Did you create them yourself or purchase them ready-made?

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Small Wedding Details Update

In the midst of wedding crafting madness, I wanted to share a few updates with you guys! First of all, I recently completed a really simple DIY project.

I picked up two wreaths, wooden letters, and silk flowers that were on sale at Michael's and crafted these up in a few minutes. I know they would probably look better with fresh flowers instead, but it's one less thing for me to worry about and maybe a fun detail for photos. More than likely, not many people will even notice them! But I know they will look cute on the back of the chairs at our sweetheart table during the wedding reception.




They were made to capture our wedding colors.


Interested in making your own chair decor for the reception? Here are some other ideas! I was obviously inspired by the first photograph. The embroidered chair covers you see in the third photo can actually be purchased from BHLDN for $68.

1) Image source via: Style Me Pretty / Photography by: Jessamyn Harris
2) Image source via: Green Wedding Shoes / Photography by: Aaron Young
3) Image source via: Southern Weddings / Photography by: Daniel Kim 
Also, Mrs. Wallaby totally inspired me with her dried lavender toss (for after the wedding ceremony) so I purchased all the necessary components and we now have 100 muslin bags stuffed with lavender. They smell amazing. To add a little something special we stamped all the bags with this blue heart:




I ordered myself this beautiful garter from Etsy seller JLWeddings. I'm still not sure if we are going to do a garter toss, but I wanted to make sure that I had one to hold onto for a keepsake after wedding. If we do have a garter toss, I will pick up a cheap one at the store.




We also picked up our marriage license! It's all ready to be signed by our officiant on the day of our ceremony. Time is moving so quickly, the big day will be here before we know it!


We've been pretty much right on schedule for most of the big wedding tasks. We don't have much left to do now! Just last week we ordered (and received) the bridesmaids gifts and the gifts I will be giving my parents. I'm still not sure what to get Mr. C, as we do plan on exchanging gifts on the wedding day. 

Things that I need to work on: 
  • Work out the ceremony details and timeline
  • Create wedding program fans
  • Contemplate out-of-town guest bags once we have our final RSVPs in
  • Purchase more alcohol for the open bar
  • Pick a second reading (and reader) for the ceremony
  • Attempt to find a videographer at the last minute (anyone know someone in the Atlanta/Athens area that has simple packages available?)
  • Wedding day timeline for important participants 
  • Probably a few more things I am neglecting

So summer brides, what have you been up to lately? Any other May brides care to share their craft projects or their to-do lists?

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Our Bachelor/Bachelorette Weekend

Mr. C and I did something slightly unconventional--we recently celebrated our joint bachelor/bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas. I thought it would be a a lot fun if some of my bridesmaids and his groomsmen could meet and mingle during an awesome Vegas adventure. Not many of our entourage were able to make it (my bridesmaids live all over the country and two just had their first babies) -- but it was an amazing time nonetheless. This might not be the most typical way to celebrate, but I highly recommend it!

In the end we had two of Mr. C's groomsmen (one being my older brother) and two of my bridesmaids plus the husband of my matron of honor. It was a fun, laid back group and we tried our best not to get into too much trouble (wish I could say the same for my brother and the other groomsmen!)

After getting a little too much sun by the pool.

In order to save money we ended up staying at Excalibur. It's certainly not the nicest or classiest hotel, but it served our needs of a place to crash. Plus it was dirt cheap and their pool is actually really nice, and that's where I ended up spending most of our afternoons anyway. The one big disadvantage is that Excalibur is located way down at the end of the strip. In the past, I have also stayed at Treasure Island and Aria, which have much better locations in the middle of the strip and closer to Caesar's Palace and the Venetian. I think a lot of new visitors to Las Vegas don't understand how much walking and stair-climbing you will do as you explore the strip and its many outrageous hotels and attractions. This was actually my fifth time to Vegas, so I had a pretty good idea of what to do and where to go. But don't wear ridiculous heels unless you pack yourself some flats to wear on the walk (or take a taxi or the tram).

Better recognize!

K, my matron of honor and very dear friend, went above and beyond by making all the party members goodies bags and booking us reservations at the restaurant inside of the Paris hotel. Being with large groups in any location can sometimes feel like herding cats, so I appreciate her patience! For dinner we sat out on the patio and had a great view of the Bellagio fountain show which goes off every 15 minutes in the evening. It was such a lovely time to sit outside in the beautiful weather with such great friends. I will honestly never forget that feeling of love and fun.

Feeling fab with Mr. C!  This was just before our amazing dinner at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris hotel.
With my stepsister, bridesmaid J. 
We didn't party at any of the major clubs, but we did end up getting bottle service at the lounge at the top of Mandalay Bay. There was plenty of drinking and dancing and it was nice to be a smaller more low-key area than packed into a crowded, loud nightclub. Wow, that makes me sound old -- but I am 30 and I do like to get my beauty sleep!


With K, my matron of honor and friend since the age of five!

K and me when we were in elementary school. Believe it or not, I'm actually three months older than her!

Mr. C with groomsmen and coworker M.

One of our major splurges was eating at what is apparently the number one buffet in Vegas: Bacchanal  located in Caesar's Palace. It was $55 but totally worth it for the sheer indulgence of the experience. I started off with all the seafood I could grab: crab legs and warm butter, mussels, oysters, shrimp cocktails. I moved on to the Asian section and scarfed down gyoza and lo mein noodles next to a slice of pizza, because why not? It's not like I have a wedding dress to fit into. . . wait a minute. I rounded it off with some mini burger sliders, corn on the cob, and a basket of fried mystery. 

The desserts were insanely decadent! Little mini parfaits, gelato, macarons, made-to-order fruit crepes, cheesecake, candy. It was off the chain. The worst part is that we were so exhausted from staying up late several days in a row (plus the jet lag from being on Eastern Standard Time) that all we needed was a large, satisfying meal to set in a permanent food coma. We made the wise choice to walk the mile and  a half back to Excalibur instead of coping out and taking a taxi. It was a good decision but it also meant we were too tired to rally the troops for another night on the town. Our trip to Vegas ended in the fizzle of losing some money on the penny slots and passing out in the hotel room.


Posing with Mr. C outside of Caesar's Palace.
You know, the best part of our bachelor/bachelorette weekend was spending so much time with the amazing people in my life. I don't get to see my matron of honor very often. She lives in Baltimore and the last time I saw her was two years ago at her own wedding. My stepsister recently moved from LA to New York City and I only see her a few times a year as well. My brother lives in Atlanta and I am always surprised how muc time can pass between our visits, considering we only live an hour and a half apart. Usually my vacations are taken up with visiting our families who are scattered across the US (in California, Illinois, and Michigan) and not taking the time to meet up with friends. This was a really fun excuse to meet up in a fun place. I will not soon forget all the amazing memories we made that weekend.

Mr. C, my brother (and groomsmen) and my stepsister playing the penny slots (our favorite pastime in Vegas!)
Did you have a bachelorette party? Where did you go and what did you do?

Monday, April 15, 2013

Unnecessary Wedding Purchases

We're all guilty of it--giving in to the constant barrage of Western culture telling us that our biggest, most special day ever is the perfect time to spend oodles of money on silly, unnecessary things. American consumerism at it's finest! All those fancy wedding blogs only make things worse. Well of course I absolutely must have fun sunglasses at my wedding. And let's not forget a new, special perfume just for the big day! Did someone say paper parasols? Those would look amazing in our wedding photos. I'm ordering nine of them!

Image source via: lazygamer.net

And that's how you end up spending all of your hard earned cash on silly, unnecessary things. Right now I feel like I could just take my paycheck, turn it into a paper airplane and just sail it off the top of a skyscraper. Poof! Gone forever.

So why all this unnecessary spending? I think that part of me is terrified that I will look back on my wedding with regret. I will lie awake at night sweating over the sparkler exit that we skipped because I didn't feel like spending $65 on sparklers. I hate feeling regret. What a silly emotion because of course, we can never go back and fix things so it's best to just accept things as they are and move on. Unfortunately my brain does not often listen to reason and I assure you that I will still lie awake at night regretting stupid, irrelevant things. So in a frantic attempt to bypass future regret I have plowed full speed ahead into unnecessary wedding details. Right now I have 100% control over what will and will not be purchased for our wedding and I feel like it's now or never for these little special splurges. We are only weeks away and my checking account has been feeling it hard lately!

And so without further ado, I bring you the insanity that is an American wedding:

1) A Signature Scent 

Image source via: Sephora

I'm a sucker for sentimental things and I loved the idea of having a wedding day signature scent. The idea is that you wear a unique perfume on your wedding day and honeymoon which you then save for special occasions in the future. When you wear it, you and your spouse will always remember your wedding day! Memory is heavily tied to scent, so I felt that this was a justified splurge, but a splurge nonetheless 

I think the concept of a wedding day scent has been well-covered here on Weddingbee (from Mrs. ArmadilloMrs. Wallaby, Mrs. Ladyfingers, Mrs. Treasure, and Mrs. Beanstalk, to name a few) so I don't think this splurge was too unusual. A lot of Weddingbee bloggers seemed to have preferred Miss Dior Cherie, but unfortunately it is already my go-to daily perfume. After a trip to Sephora it didn't take me long to pick the ever-popular Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb. I started off with some samples and after mulling over the decision for a few weeks I decided to buy the smaller 0.68oz size which only ran me around $50. Okay, and I might have bought the tiny travel size version as well for the honeymoon. YOLO.

2) Glow Sticks

Image source via: Oriental Trading

Look, I wish I had a good explanation for this, but I don't. My thinking behind the glow stick purchase was that it would be really cool and really fun to be at a wedding with glow sticks. Who wouldn't want to throw on some fun glow sticks and dance the night away? And look at what a hit they were at Mrs. Pain au Chocolat's wedding! Those fun photos totally influenced this decision, by the way. I spent $35 on 50 glow necklaces in assorted colors, and if the guests enjoy them and I get photos half as fun as Mrs. PAC's then it was money well spent!

3) Sunglasses

Image source via: Oriental Trading
These sunglasses fall under the glow stick category of "just because." We plan to have them out on a table with the glow sticks after the dance party gets started. Guys, you have to know that I love a fun dance party, and these just screamed "AWESOME TIME" to me! They were totally affordable too, at $10 for one dozen plastic sunglasses. I bought two dozen. Plus, I can put them out with a cute sign like this:

Image source via: Braedon Photography


4) Sparklers

Image source via: Jonathan Hoffner Photography

Does every bride dream of a dramatic, heart-felt sparkler exit? Thanks to advice from Mrs. Airplane and Mrs. Unicycle I plan to make sure our guests know that we will be having a sparkler exit through a message on the programs. Unfortunately, we are having an open bar so maybe Mrs. Unicycle's theory on the sad combination of open bar and sparkler exit will still be true. Not one to be deterred from some overly optimistic vision of an amazing sparkler exit, I bought 150 20" sparklers for $65.99 from I Love Sparklers (as recommended by Mrs. Wallaby).


5) Parasols

Image source via: Style Me Pretty / Photography by: Amanda Hein Photography
I have six bridesmaids who are wearing mix-matched dresses in our wedding colors. I bought each one a paper parasol from Luna Bazaar that matches her dress color (blue, sherbet, pale pink). I also bought three gray parasols for my groomsladies who are wearing mix-matched gray dresses to match the groomsmen suits and I bought myself a white parasol to tie it all together. I think they will look so beautiful in photos. We are getting married outside in a field beneath some pecan tress and I can already imagine the warm summer sun streaming through the parasols. Again, this was a sort of silly purchase, but I hope my ladies are able to get these back home as a little souvenir of our Marie Antoinette-themed wedding.

6) Plum Pretty Sugar Robe 

Image source via: Lane Dittoe Photography

Ah, Plum Pretty Sugar, what marketing genius did you employ to ensure your wild success? $65 for a cotton robe?  But it's been in like every wedding blog post ever? Where do I sign up!? I would have loved to buy one for each of my girls, but with nine ladies total (six bridesmaids and three groomsladies) it was just way, way too much money to spend. I did manage to splurge on myself though, so at least I will have some nice getting dressed photos. I went with the classic knee length kimono robe in the "Beckoning Creatures" pattern as shown on the bride above. It should be here at the beginning of May and I can't wait to try it on (and take it on our honeymoon!)

Well, I guess that's about it. I'm sure there are plenty of other ridiculous things I've spent money on lately, but  this seems like a nice laundry list of indulgences. What silly and unnecessary things have you splurged on for your wedding?

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Our Photo Guest Book

Recently I finished gathering everything we will need for our guest book. This was a great thing to cross off the ever-growing to-do list before we get too close to the wedding. 

There are so many unique and fun options for guest books these days and not many people still opt for the traditional book of signatures anymore. Something I've always wanted to do was the the photo guest book. I love photography and I have scrapbooks and photo albums jam-packed with photographs. I was sort of the record-keeper as a kid and I took and kept most of the photos and films of my friends as we were growing up. Therefore, the photo guest book seemed like a natural choice for us -- plus something Mr. C and I will enjoying flipping through for years to come! 

Image source via: Ruffled / Photography by: Alexandra Roberts Photography

Mr. C gave me a Fujifilm Instax MINI instant film camera for Christmas a few years ago. Granted, I don't use it very often (the film is rather expensive) but as soon as we got engaged I knew that it would come in handy! The idea is to have each couple or group of guests photographed. The instantly developed film will then added to our guest book with a personal message. We plan to have an attendant stationed at the table for a while in order to assist guests in taking photos. There is also a cool little fish eye mirror at the front of the camera which will allow guests to take selfie photos as well, in case the attendant has left for the evening. 

Image source via: Amazon

In order to cut down on confusion we also plan to have some of our groomsmen and bridesmaids add some of their photos and messages first so that other guests can get a feel for what they should do. Overall though, I don't care if it is disorganized or messy -- part of the fun will be seeing what silly photos our guests take and what messages they will write or draw for us. 

Interested in making your own photo guest book? Here are some of the things that you will need:

1) An Instant Film Camera: 

A Fujifilm Instax MINI 25 Instant Film Camera (around $100) or its cheaper, smaller cousin the Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s (around $65).

2) Instant Film: 

This will vary depending on which camera you choose, but it's cheapest on Amazon. I bought the Fujifilm Instax MINI film on Amazon at around $17 for 20 photos. I've also seen this same film sold at Wal-Mart and Urban Outfitters at slightly higher prices. I bought a few of these two packs so that we'd have around 60 photos. I figured most people would take photos as a couple or a group and we are expecting around 100-120 guests at the wedding.

Image source via: Amazon

3) A Guest Book: 

You need a book that can accommodate the photos and room for a personal message. The photos are actually fairly thick and I imagine they will add a lot of height to your book, if that makes sense. We went with this one from Amazon:


Image source via: Amazon
There might be better options out there, but honestly I just wanted something simple that would get the job done. This one has a beautiful color that will match our wedding decor and it was inexpensive. 


4) A Sign with Instructions: 

Here's the sign I made in Illustrator that will be framed and sitting next to the guest book and camera.


And here it is printed out and in a frame I bought at the thrift store and spray painted white (it looks a little more washed out in this photo than it is in reality): 



5) Adhesive: 

Instead of tempting fate with messy, slow-drying glue, we decided to go with cute, colorful washi tape! What is washi tape? It's sort of a gentle masking tape, usually with fun, colorful patterns and designs. I picked up an insane amount of washi tape in Japan over the summer and I have been saving it for a rainy day. Well, I'm glad I did because it will make the perfect addition to our guest photo book. The multi-pack you see below is one of the exact same ones I bought in Japan!

Image source via: cutetape.com

6) Archival Ink:

You don't want those endearing messages from guests to fade over time, so make sure they are written in acid-free archival ink! I bought some Pigma Micron pens in a variety of colors. 

Image source via: Amazon

What type of guest book will you have at your wedding? 

Monday, April 1, 2013

My Reluctant Quest for Wedding Shoes

This week it's all about the accessories! To find out about the headpiece and jewelry that I'll be wearing please check out my last post here!

I think there are two camps of women concerning wedding shoes. The ones who are shoe addicts who can't wait to splurge on a pair of designer heels for their wedding and the ones who hate shoe shopping and just want to pick a pair and get it over with. Yup, I'm in the second camp. I like shoes alright, but I don't go out of my way to lust over them. I like high quality, stylish, and well-made shoes that are comfortable and versatile. Not many bridal shoes fit all those criteria. But there are so many beautiful pairs of shoes out there and marketing has worked its magic on me. As such, I am somehow only drawn to shoes in the $250-350 range. Yikes! (BHLDN, I'm looking at you.) Unfortunately such luxurious shoes simply don't fit into my meager teacher budget.

Let's take a moment and stare wistfully at shoes that are completely out of my budget. Can you hear me sighing pathetically?

All shoes via BHLDN
I tried checking out the used shoe sections of websites (like here on Weddingbee's Classifieds or preownedweddingdresses.com) and I barely lost out on an ebay auction for an amazing pair of used Badgley Mischka's. But it is a serious time investment and honestly guys, ain't nobody got time for that. This is referred to as search costs in microeconomics. At some point the cost of searching the internet for used shoes in the correct color, size, and condition outweighed the benefit of the deal I would conceivably score. Essentially I got frustrated and gave up. That's when I spied these unconventional beauties on StyleMePretty a few weeks ago:

Image source via: StyleMePretty / Photographer: Raya Carlisle Photography

It was love at first sight. The bride added the adorable ties herself (which I am not dedicated enough to replicate--or am I??) but all the same, I love these delicate little flats. They are unique and comfortable and totally affordable. They are made by designer Lola Cruz and I bought them in gray for $55 on Amazon. Total score. They are made of leather and have a nice well-crafted weight to them. Plus the gray pair I purchased will match the gray suits and dresses the groomsmen and ladies will be wearing. Did I mention we are having groomsladies? Well, I shall have to introduce you to them in another post!

The real deal. Image source via: Amazon.com


At the end of the day, no one will really see or notice my shoes but me. They will certainly star in a few wedding photos, but otherwise they will remain under a mass of ivory silk chiffon ruffles. For now though, I'm glad this is one more big thing I could cross off my wedding day preparations list!

Which type of bride are you? The one who couldn't wait to buy her wedding shoes or the one who dreaded the search and was relieved when the process was over?