Sunday, August 17, 2008
Let the countdown begin
My lovely aunt and cousin threw me a bridal shower for my dad's side of the family this weekend. It was so adorable! The lunches were all in boxes at each person's seat, the tables were immaculately set. My aunt says she wants the following on her headstone: Elaine always did set a LOVELY table."--and it would be the absolute truth!
My mom, sister and I did a dry run to the St. Louis wholsale flower market very early Saturday morning. My dear cousin Kim is doing the flowers for the wedding--flying in from New York!--and she's getting them from Baisch and Skinner, so we wanted to make sure everything would work out with our wholesale number, etc. And it was so fun! I bought flowers to make bouquets for the shower hosts, and it was so fun, too!
Everyone tells you what a stressful time it is, and that's true, but honestly I just don't believe in being stress about the WEDDING. It's one day. It's the MARRIAGE you should spend time on. If the wedding isn't fun or a happy time, go to the courthouse!
Personally, I think it's hard not to be ecstatically happy at this time--despite the stress of a new job, moving, blah blah blah. Just choose to be happy. Cry on your lunchbreak and be done with it. Then be happy again! (and tell your new boss that it's just hormones, you're not really crazy)
2 weeks from today at this exact time, I'll be gettin' down on the dance floor--as a married woman! This is a quick update post. I think I'm going to opt for photo and caption posts for a little while here, until things calm down a little. I'm much more likely to get on here and post if I know I'm not going to write a novel.
Labels: weddingness
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Final Invitations
Here they are! The final, printed and addressed invitations. The addressing went much faster this time around because I wasnt' scrambling for addresses. I'm not as thrilled with the outer envelope calligraphy, but I'm pretty sure that some of the Save the Dates didn't get where they were supposed to because of my crazy calligraphy.
The inner envelope names, however, I was ENTHRALLED with. I went the informal route, used first names, and covered a lot of real estate with my gouache and split nib writing. That 3 hour calligraphy class I took in college was totally worth it. Not that I used a real official alphabet, but it's the style that counts.
The invitations were the one part of the wedding I felt like I could go OCD about and not impose my craziness on others. I did them exactly how I wanted them. And I wouldn't change anything about them!
One of my crazy friends said: "Yee haw. It's like a hoe down!" To which I said "That's right B*tch! I will hoe you down here in a minute."
Hoe down my ass. Sorry. That's just rude.
Labels: printing, weddingness
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The time has come
I have a penchant for organizational devices. And a nasty habit of starting to be organized, then abandoning the effort. "I can just remember 1,000,000 things because I have the best memory ever." Ahem, not really.
The time has come in this bride's life where I'm drowning in details. Which cake? which songs? which gifts for which people? Holy crap, there are lots of details. Most of which I'm very "whatever" about, but then you know, I at least have to decide which things I care about.
Enter Russell+Hazel. I read about them on Brooklyn Bride--fabulous read, by the way! They have all these awesome inserts--like different sized, pretty colored post-it notes, and stickable clear pockets! AND--They have free downloadable worksheets for all kinds of wedding stuff, which I really need at this point. Then after the wedding I can use it for something else totally different. Like organizing the rest of my crazy life.
During my low-blood sugar and high-stress time of the day I freaked out and purchased a whole system. Hey, my other option was Cheetos from the vending machine. What's a girl to do?
I'll post when I've got it in my hot little hands, all filled out. Ahem.
Labels: weddingness
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Blawgggg.
Oh, friends. I'm sorry I went MIA. Sometimes it's just hard to juggle everything, and I don't feel like blogging when I'm tired/grumpy. You're welcome for that. It's been really rainy here most mornings for the past couple of weeks, and it's just so hard to get out of bed to exercise that I put it off till the last minute, which leaves no time for blogging. And I've been starting up the engine for American Artisan Festival in 3 weeks (Yikes!!) That painting up there is the first of a series I want to do on pattern. I don't know if anyone will buy them, but I try not to think about that. Sometimes I just want to get an idea out. But it bothers me that it probably won't sell. Hmm. Probably the age-old conflict for artists.
This weekend Jason and I went to Missouri to take care of some wedding stuff--tasting cake, tasting wine, checking out the winery and meeting with the minister. And here are the bridesmaid's dresses! From J-Crew. I love them! And I think all the sisters will too. They have pockets. How cool is that?
Whenever we go visit my parents, I take projects. My mom is commonly known as the Craft Fairy because she magically finishes your unfinished projects. I took her a ton of tissue paper flowers that we're using in the centerpieces, and she says she cranked out 16 last night, which is way more than I've ever been able to accomplish in an evening. Only 384 more to go, ma!
And my sister Lauren hired Jason freelance to come up with drawings of the campers living in her hall for the summer camp where she's counseling this summer. I was really amazed when he just sat down and came up will all of these in an hour or so. True genious.
Labels: weddingness, weekend
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Buried in STDs
I'm trying really hard to get these Save the Date cards out. It feels like the final lap in a race, and I just keep plugging along. Really, it's just the first quarter mile, and I'm huffing and puffing. Typical. That's not tequila in that glass, it's a gouache water. Gouache is the best stuff ever--like watercolor but opaque! So you can have any color you ever dreamed of for calligraphy ink.
It's taken 2 evenings so far just to get them addressed. I'm trying to hand-letter them in an effort to practice for the real invites. And I think I WAY under estimated how time consuming it is just to get people's addresses and put them in a simple database. Fellow brides-to-be: Get that part out of the way ASAP!
At least after the STDs are out I'll have everyone's address in one format, in one place, and will be ready to go when the time for invitations comes around. Which I've decided will be after the American Artisan Festival on June 14th. All things must be prioritized or I will certainly lose my mind in the near future. I'm already sort of brain dead. It's like I have so much on my mind that I can't seem to put together sentences when I talk to people I prefer that they talk to me instead. I'm just talking in circles.
Labels: weddingness
Monday, April 21, 2008
Save the Dates Round 2
Much better! I'm still having ink problems with my linoleum plates, but I like the look of this. I worked on the carving a little, and re-did the borders.
I forgot to say earlier--but THANK YOU so much for all the kind comments. I felt so much better after reading them!! It's so easy to second guess yourself when you have so many ideas. I actually think the land of blogs makes things more complicated. My lovely friend Jenn came over for some wedding brain dump on Friday night, and she talked me down from totally changing colors and hating my dress and on and on. I know you only get married once (hopefully) but contrary to popular belief, this is not the end all and be all of my public display of artistic talent. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine.
This is the major accomplishment of my weekend. Otherwise, lots of plant and seed purchasing, walking outdoors and dinner with friends.
Here is why the FIT is so great--a 37 x 74 inch mirror : 1, human cargo: 2.
Labels: weddingness
Thursday, April 17, 2008
STDs (Save the Dates, silly!)
I'm having a major change of heart. Probably the first of many. Here is my grande idea for Save the Dates, and I feel strongly about sending out STDs (hehe) since it will be a travel wedding for so many of our friends and family.
I spent 2 evenings carving this thing out, and now I only feel so so about it. Maybe it's just that the test print doesn't look great. I didn't want to ink up the whole press rig, so I just used my little hand press. And honestly didn't even try very hard at that.
Now I'm waffling about several things:
1) this is SO different from my ideas for the invitations. Is that okay? Is it too rustic?
2) I wanted to print light ink on dark brown paper, but also want to include travel info on the back. I've never printed light on dark, so I have no idea if that's going to work or not.
3) I want it to be a mailable postcard, but don't know if I can print the light ink in tiny print for the back side.
This is the way I'm torturing myself lately. It's probably not a big deal, but you know how it is--you feel the pressure to do things EXACTLY the way you want. I think this is exacerbated for people like me who design things the way everyone else wants all day long. I've looked forward to designing things for ME for so long, I want it just right. My inner perfectionist is coming out, and I think she's not so friendly. Look out!!
Please feel free to weigh in about these problems--you guys always seem to have either a solution or a reassuring word. And I will honestly not mind someone saying "chuck it and start over."
Labels: weddingness
Monday, April 14, 2008
Centerpieces!! And Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial
After a most productive trip to Ikea (the happiest place on Earth), I now have everything I need for centerpieces. Well, almost. I do need candle holders, since I can't really use my high ball glasses. I have a brilliant idea about wedding stuff: there should be a craigslist site for weddings only. We all buy 20 white vases, use them one day, then what? Well, actually, these are flower pots, so I'll probably use them for planting but still. I'm sure there are thousands of brides out there with votive candleholders and nothing to do with them. I'm just saying. I wish I was a programmer. Or had the money to invest in that.
So anyway, here are the flowers, and the kit I got from Martha Stewart's aisle at Micheal's. It set me back $20, but now I know how to make them myself and it will be sooo much cheaper than live floral centerpieces. The orange ones are the designs on which I went renegade. Plus, I really like how the light shines through the tissue paper. Does anyone have a good source for all shades of tissue paper?
Here's how this works. The Martha kit has several other designs with stamens, etc. so it might be worth it to get the package, at least as a starter kit. (p.s. It's not that I'm vain, but my PhotoBooth application made the photos very easy for this lazy girl)
1) cut a rectangle stack of about 6 sheets of tissue. Then fold in half and cut the edges in a scallop or point, or whatever you like. These will be the petals.
2)Fold the stack of paper accordian style
3) wrap a small piece of floral wire around the folded stack. The fold will the top, the flat side will be the sides.
4) Take the top tissue layer and pull it up toward the center. Work your way around and continue pulling those sheets up until the flower is all done!
Labels: weddingness
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Better than Pottery Barn
Ever since my polymer clay business in high school, I've loved Old Time Pottery. I used to buy bulk glass vases and laminate slices of polymer patterns to them and sell them at a boutique.
Now I live in Nashville, the home base for Old Time Pottery, and it's glorious. Imagine Pier 1, World Market, and Garden Ridge all in one huge wal-mart size warehouse. Yeah. Pretty much heaven.
Especially great for centerpiece type items. I'm looking heavily at those brown squares right up there. They're only 3.99, and I think will look good with the brightly colored flowers I'm planning.
OTP also has a fantastic selection of dishware, serving ware, glassware, pretty much any kind of ware you could need. I wish I could register there, because I want to do all white dishes, and they have the best deals!
They also have tons of baskets, lamps, mirrors, frames, silk flowers, actual pottery for outside, and tons of garden stuff. At the flagship in Murfreesboro they even have plants! Don't expect a luxurious showroom, but if you're serious about you want to buy, this is the place to go.
Labels: weddingness
Monday, April 07, 2008
Location, Location, Locationhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Special Wedding Agent Jamie and I made a very quick scouting trip to Missouri this weekend. It was originally going to be a dress shopping extravaganza, but since I walked in and bought my dress off the rack last weekend, we were free to do other fun stuff.
Of course, Jason wasn't there, so we weren't making major decisions, but I really just needed to see the place in person. This is Summit Lake Winery just outside Jefferson City, Missouri, which is the state capitol. It sits high on a hill overlooking the highway and also the state capitol building. While it's rather brown here, I think it will be gorgeous in late August.
We decided that it was better to start out with a nice location, so we don't have to decorate quite so much. I mean, twinkle lights in the Elks Lodge only go so far.
Here's the inside and Janice, the caterer. She is a hoot and very organized. We talked about the flow of the wedding and reception--things I had no idea about.
I'm not so sure about those pizza hut style chairs, but I'm not sure if I can afford to rent the covers for them either. Any (inexpensive) suggestions?
After all the wedding stuff, we headed to Central Dairy for a taste of the local specialty. As a kid we always wanted to stop here on our way home from Grandma's. Most of the time we didn't. Mom told us it was closed on Sundays, which we now know to be untrue. Oh well. There's my dad after the fruitful trip.
Central Dairy is the local dairy which still has a storefront, when most dairies closed up shop long ago. It looks just the same as it did 20 years ago, and probably more, but I only remember back 20 years.
Mom is simultaneously eating her ice cream and disapproving of the sugar and fat content of the afternoon. Hey, we walked for an hour at Memorial Park right after this, so we worked off at least one of the scoops!
Labels: weddingness
Thursday, April 03, 2008
The real reason I want to get married
You are all very sweet! You asked for it, so get ready. I'm visiting the venue this weekend, so I'll post about that next week.
Now that I have some of the big things out of the way, I don't feel so guilty turning my attention to the real excitment: invitations. You know they are going to be awesome. At least, if all goes according to my vision.
Today I bought a new calligraphy nib, on the recommendation of my college graphic design professor Deborah. Back in school, I somehow talked the administration into letting me take a 3 hour calligraphy class instead of drawing. Between you and me, I probaby could have used the drawing. I really wish I had taken illustration. Instead, I'm trying to practice, practice, practice on the back end. Oh well. Now I can hand-letter my own invitations!
I've been seeing some fantastic invitations and calligraphy samples from my favorite blogs--StyleMePretty and Brooklyn Bride. Check out this gal!!
My goal with the wedding, and specifically the calligraphy on the invites, is to be loose and arty. In general. When it comes to me, put a big checkmark by the "loose"! Ha! Your MOM's loose! Burn!
Labels: weddingness
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Weddingness
I'm not a superstitious person. At all. Now, I'm not going to show you my wedding dress. I mean, some things need to be kept sacred. And a surprise. Speaking of surprises...look at my wedding shoes! I just love them! They're not super comfy, so I have a feeling I might be looking for some dyable ballet slippers, but they are the perfect color!! For something blue, doncha know.
I realize that I'm really skipping ahead. I realize now that I haven't really mentioned much about the wedding here. I think I feel a little shy about it, and also I know that not everyone wants to hear about it all the time. I'm so surprised when people are excited to talk about it with me. I'm trying unsuccessfully not to be bride-brained. I think deep down I'm too proud to admit that I am prissy enough to be concerned with all the frou-frou details that go into a wedding. All this from someone who thinks spending that much money on ONE DAY is ridiculous, and soooo not my style. Then you get sucked into the "Well, when else can you wear a white full length dress." and "People are coming from a distance, so it better be a sit down dinner."
I found myself standing in a bar with my friends both male and female and when we got to the 7-minute pause that supposedly happens in conversations, I absentmindedly say "So, do you think I can have brown bridesmaids dresses and black suits?" I promptly had an out-of-body experience and shook my head to clear away the tulle from my brain.
I will try to write more on here about the wedding process, because I hope every little bit will help other people be more sane about their weddings.
Labels: weddingness