Pen-dahnts

Hello everybody! 75 days 'til the wedding! Wedding stuff is progressing. Invitations and favors are ordered. I am now to the point of worrying about accessories.

The order of business: Necklaces!

I had no idea that choosing a necklace for my wedding day was going to be so complicated. I've had a general consensus that a necklace with yellow in it would look very nice, so I have spent too many hours scouring Etsy for the perfect necklace and now I have two to show you. Lucky for you, I narrowed down my choices from twenty to three already.

I thought this one would go nicely with the lace trim that accents my dress. And I love the pearl coin. The small bit of yellow is great if I don't want to be in-your-face accessorized, I think. This necklace is byPinking-Edge Designs.

This one is very pretty, I think, however, I worry about it being a little much. It is also a more "honey" yellow than what I had in mind. I'm not sure if it would make the impact I wanted. But still, the peice is just beautiful. From Artwear by Mona.

This last pendant is tied for first place with the pearl charm I showed you above. It is a vintage carved clay dahlia. I'm not a huge vintage girl, but this little guy feels modern feminine to me. It isn't big either, which is a plus for me. This awesome little guy is by Flutter Budget (but don't buy it. If you do, I'll cut you)

I am half tempted to buy both the first and third choices and wear one to the ceremony and one to the reception. What do you guys think? Which one is your favorite?

Our next episode will be on hair accessories. I know you're so excited!

Lots of thoughts all at once.

For the past week, I haven't really made any decisions on anything related to the wedding. I supposed I've been avoiding it because I feel like there's so much to get done. Well, now it is time to stop avoiding. You lucky readers get to take a look at my mental dialogue. I'm sure that if I don't put it all into writing, it will never get out of my head.

Flowers
One of the biggest things I've been thinking about recently is flowers. In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned a couple of flowers that I liked. I'm still in love with ranunculus and pom pom dahlias, but something similar to the pompom has come onto the scene. It is called a "billy ball"(see pic, courtesy of OnceWed Wedding Blog).
I think that these could come together with some other flowers to make a sweet bouquet. Do you think my florist would be ok with me saying, "I like these three kinds of flowers. I want modern bouquets with different textures and yellows and golds. We'll be tying blue ribbon around the stems. Go at it."? I bet she'd be ok with that. I just need to make some time to give her a call. I wonder if I could find some cute buttons or broaches to put on the stems of the bouquets for the girls.

Cake
Our only consultation with our baker was back in January, when we thought we were having a wedding at a coffee house, with a completely different theme. As far as the baker is still concerned, the cake was going to have "coffee swirls" on it. Since then, the colors and theme have changed to Royal Blue and yellows and a bird theme. That being said, we have some adorable bird cake toppers for the cake, but I have no idea what the cake is going to look like. I'm pretty sure I have until August to figure that out, though. I'm thinking something with either a modern silhouette of leaves or maybe some sugar flowers, if the bakery even knows how to make sugar flowers. My struggle for simple but modern goes on.




Order of Ceremony
I wasn't planning on having to worry about the order of ceremony for at least another month. However, submitting the program along with our print order of Invitations and thank-you cards could end up saving us some money. I like that. So, by the time we get our invitations ordered, we need to have the ceremony finalized...eek! I'm betting that's a whole blog post in itself. I won't make you read anymore for now. Thanks for reading!

Hi from H-town!

Hello from Houston! Zack and I have come down to see his little brother graduate from high school. It has been great to get to spend time with my future in-laws.

In wedding news, my cake toppers are finished at RedLightStudio!
Aren't they adorable?! I love love them! One question, though: do you guys like the red tie? It was initially intended to look like the red breast of a blue bird. In any case, they are totally cute. I'll have to figure out what kind of cake they would fit onto. That will have to be another week, though.

I've also been thinking way hard about my shoes lately. I feel like I've exhausted my internet resources looking for the perfect shoe: Not too high (my dress doesn't need a heel at all), blue or yellow (preferably fabric of some kind), a rather large peep for the toe, and maybe some ruffles or pleats. Perhaps I'm just getting a little too picky. But I do keep seeing all these wedding photos where the bride has the most adorable shoes. I know you can't see them during the ceremony, but I would feel so cute if I could have some cute shoes to complete my dress. I've mostly looked at Zappos and Overstock. If any of you have a website that you visit regularly for shoes, please let me know!

Long time, no plan!

Hello again! I've figured out that starting a new job, moving, and hanging out with my fiance all make it pretty hard to do much wedding planning at all, let alone blogging about it. I'm back for the time being, however. We'll see if I can manage to make the blogging a habit.

My two biggest to-dos for the wedding are hammering down a rehearsal dinner venue, which is proving more difficult than I'd like, and getting flowers settled and picked. For the rehearsal dinner, I've only got a handful of options left before I have no clue what we're going to do. Enough of that right now, though, since worrying about it won't fix it and it is too late at night to make any calls.

As for flowers, I've decided to go with golds and yellows, which I feel will contrast the color of my girls' dresses quite well. I'm still having a hard time figuring out exactly what will and won't be in season, but I'm sure that yellow flowers are easy to find in the late summer.

I do like the bouquet at the top, but was hoping for something a little modern. I do love the touch of blue among the yellow, though.

Tonight, I love:

Pompom Dahlias












Ranunculus

128 days to go!

Well, just about a month ago, I talked about priorities. School was taking the driver's seat for a while and wedding was going into the trunk. As of yesterday, I am finished with my college career and will be graduating on Saturday! Huzzah! On monday, I start full time at a web company in dallas. The next Saturday, I move into the apartment that Zack and I will be living in after we get married. Everything is happening so fast! I will tell you a secret, though... I think I like it.

Anyway!... school being over now gives me more time to spend with my wonderful fiance and more time to spend on planning our wedding!

With four months (holy cow!) until the Big Day, there is lots to do! My biggest priorities over the next week are the following:

1. Get a good list of rehearsal dinner venue options put together.
2. Pick a tux/vest/tie combo with zack!

That's all I should have for tonight. But seeing as it would be lazy of me to make a post without giving you something visual to enjoy, I'd like to show you one of my wedding favor considerations:
These birdseed favors are from NatureFavors at Etsy. They are just so cute!

Prioritizing

The coming month is going to be especially busy. That which will be taking most of my time is school. I'm in my last month of college! Huzzah! On top of the solo project for each class, there is also a group project for each class. In addition to school, I will be starting a new job tomorrow, which I hope works out really well.

Needless to say, I will be very busy. I have decided to put major wedding planning thoughts on hold until graduation. Wedding stuff will only be used as a point of relaxation and escape from the busier parts of the day.

As soon as I cross that stage, I will be moving to Dallas and diving into my job full time. After all that, I'm assuming I'll have a lot more time to dedicate to my man and wedding planning.

Sorry I didn't have anything ground-breaking!

Take the cake!

I am very close to making a final decision on my cake toppers. They will be handmade by RedLightStudios of Washington. Because they are handmade, I get to decide exactly how I want these little guys to turn out. That is where you guys (the two/three people that read this blog) come in!

I want to stick with my bluebird theme, but I'm having a hard time visualizing exactly what I want. Here's a few options that I've come up with:

A. Both birds powdery blue. The boy bird with a slightly darker blue tie and the girl with a veil

B. The boy bird could be a darker blue (I'm thinking grey blue, not royal [OMG] blue) with a red tie maybe? So that way, he looks like a real Eastern bluebird. Those little guys have red breasts. The girl bird could be a lighter version of that, so light, she almost looks white, I'm thinking.

If anyone has a favorite option, or if you have any thoughts or ideas, please comment! I want these little guys to be adorable.

The image is from the extensive gallery at the blog for RedLightStudio. You can go there to see Cynthia's other cute works.

Personalizing the wedding

First off, let me say that for some pretty pretties, you can stop by Grey likes weddings. She always has the sweetest pictures and ideas.

I think this is a safe haven for me to say that Zack and I are complete geeks. We play video games, watch sci-fi television shows (too many to name), go to sci-fi conventions, play geeky tabletop games, and get really excited about gadgets. And yet, we are full of awesome (I should know).

I want to make sure that the awesomeness that glows around us is conveyed in our wedding and at our reception. So far, I only have a couple of things: The bridesmaids will be processing with Zelda's Lullaby (I might add another geeky/video game love song in there somewhere). Also, Zack's groom's cake is going to be carved into the shape of a silvery Mac Apple (and hopefully, it will be good).

This is not enough! I want more! So far, my ideas include the following:

Decking out the guys in nerdy cufflinks.


usb drive favors! Possibly with our playlists on it? Going along with the playlist idea, we could just burn CDs.

We could also make our own little geeky activity book, with puzzles and maybe some ad libs.

Finally, I was thinking of naming all the tables after little geekery details (Not in a tacky way). Examples include: "Table Cylon", "Table Skywalker"

OR, we could number the tables using our iPhone pictures. But I wonder if you can tell that they are iPhones.

I really don't want to go overboard on any of these things for a few reasons. First, our theme is bluebirds and I don't want to take away from that, but I also don't want the bluebirds to take away from our personalities. Second, if I go overboard, I feel like the wedding will feel like a themed birthday party instead of one of the most important days of my life.

Photo credits: cufflinks ( Real Geek ), usb drive ( Pexagon ), us with iPhone ( Keith Peeler )

Paper and birdies

Update on reception venue: After much consideration, number crunching, and finding out that our venue was probably going to over-charge us by quite a bit, I have started actively shopping for alternatives. With under six months until the wedding, I'm only hoping that other places aren't already booked. I've gotta hurry!

According to The Knot, it is about time for me to have chose a design and the wording for my invitation. This part is very exciting to me because (one) my fiance is a kick-*ss graphic designer and (two) it sets the stage for the entire wedding.

The theme for the wedding has taken a turn (for the better). Rather than a coffee house feel, I've been leaning heavily towards a bluebird theme. Aside from being just plain pretty, Eastern Bluebirds have coloring that is eerily close to my already chosen color scheme. Also, bluebirds are a symbol of happiness!

With a new theme close to being completely established, I have started searching for inspiration and ideas for the invitations and cake.

So far, my favorite little pieces of inspiration are in the form of silhouettes.

I'm hoping that whatever design we come up with for the invitation may be incorporated into the rest of the wedding.


Photo credits: Bluebird ( Tracey, via Flickr ); Madeline Invitation ( onereverie )

A grave(L) Situation

Everyone said that something would go wrong eventually. Luckily, my problem might not be that huge... Then again, it might.

The venue I have chosen for our reception is the place where Zack and I first met. It is a place where we have learned about each other and prayed together. Obviously, it is filled with meaning for us.

THE PROBLEM
The majority of the night was going to take place in the backyard. Originally, the backyard consisted mostly of dirt and stepping stones. As of last week, there have been rennovations consisting of covering much of the yard in river rock. It is very pretty, however, one walk around the backyard makes problems clear.

Think back to your days on the playground. Remember how wierd it was to walk around on the gravel? Walking in the river rocks is that strange. Also, after taking a walk around, you might as well say bye bye to those heels you wear only on special occassions, because those poor little guys are going to be pretty dinged up.

The first step I'm taking is trying to work with my vendor to find workable solution. If we can't figure out something that works for both of us, I may be forced to look for a new venue, which I really don't want to do.

So far, the alternative venue locations I can think of for about the same price include a couple of restaurants (giuseppi's, the greenhouse, FERA's), a bed and breakfast, or the area near our ceremony location.

Pardon my rambling. If I type it out, then it stays out of my mind for some time.

Center of Attention: Take 3

As you can see, I'm completely obsessing over centerpiece ideas. I love the thought of being able to make the centerpieces. These pom pom flowers from domestifluff might be a little too Dr. Seuss for the reception, but they're so affordable to make, there should be no harm in trying them out!

Center of Attention: Take II

I've been seeing these little guys all over the wedding blogs lately. The simplicity of these flowers is beautiful.

If I choose to go through with a plan for paper flowers, these will be the ones I use. They may or may not be on branches like the picture. I was thinking of attempting to make a bouquet or a pomander.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

These paper flowers were introduced by Wendy at dozi design. She also gave a tutorial.

(Picture property of dozi design)

Candlelight's effect on color

Most of our reception will be taking place outdoors in the evening. This means that our main source of light will be candles. I decided to figure out how all this candlelight (and in some places, faux candlelight) will change or enhance the colors I have chosen for my wedding.

To Google!


I was not disappointed. According to the Prof. Oddfellow at Color + Design Blog, candlelight intensifies redish colors, but mutes cooler colors like blues and purples.

Thanks to this little tidbit of information, I now know that I would probably do better to concentrate on using more reds than blues.

I wonder how I could highlight the blues in my color theme at night and in the candlelight.
Blue glass surrounding some candles could always help, I suppose.

Note: picture also courtesy of Color + Design

Picture Perfect

We had our engagement photos done this past weekend. What a special time! Our photographer is Keith Peeler and he is amazing. If you are in the DFW area and looking for a great photographer, Keith is the man to call.

Speaking of photographs, I've been thinking on the photobooth idea. I'm starting to wonder if it will be worth the time and extra money we would be putting into it. I'm still in love with the idea of using a dry erase board for messages. The photos are important to me. They are always my favorite part of any event, because they give me a point of reference to remember the rest of the night.

I think my biggest problem for the whole evening is letting mine and Zack's personalities shine through. This is weird to me, because there are so many unique things about us, but it seems to difficult to figure out how to incorporate those things.

Center of attention

I always seem to remember the centerpieces from the wedding receptions I've attended.

The most impressive I've ever seen was a 4-foot tall vase with a huge spray of red orchids. It was absolutely amazing.

I know there's been a fair share of depressing little silk flowers in a vase surrounded by confetti, too.

I don't want reception centerpieces that make up a fourth of my budget (even though they were so beautiful, they really did fit the couple well). I also don't want to deprive my guests of something pretty for the sake of time and money.

We will be using long banquet tables for the reception. I want to make it feel like a beautiful outdoor picnic. A friend of my mother's has offered to make table runners, which is awesome. I'm thinking that we can use complete solids or some bold kind of print.

The print on the left is from Ikea. As I look at it, it may be a little too flowery, but it is definitely a start. I am going for a modern romance kind of thing.

I am hoping that whatever centerpiece I choose will play up the length of the tables. The picture on the right isn't a great example, but I like it anyway (courtesy of martha stewart weddings). The colors are just about right, too.

There's always the option of incorporating our favors into the centerpieces. If we make the favors pretty enough, then we won't have to do any sizable pieces at all.
I haven't even really looked into renting linens yet. I love the colored linens in the right and left pictures (once again, courtesy of Martha). Our colors are Blue (a powder variation and also a darker cornflower) and Orange red.

Powder blue linens with a white runner and red-orange centerpieces would be lovely.

The thought of using small bowls for my flowers has crossed my mind, as well. I entertained the thought of using the bowls we registered for do display the centerpieces, but that could be such a risk.

So many options, so little table space!

More cake toppers

These robot cake toppers are adorable to me! My fiance and I are pretty geeky, but I don't know if we could handle that much geek. Still very cute, though! By the Builder's Studio.


Once again, the Red Light Studio catches my eye. How wonderful is this little couple?

In search of a favor

We're so happy to have secured our favorite coffee house for our reception. It is a wonderful venue with a modern, yet homey vibe. It also happens to be the place where we met.

In keeping with this theme, I have 90% decided that our favors are going to be coffee related.

I understand that not everyone enjoys coffee as much as I, so we will be doing half hot chocolate, half coffee favors, but with the same packaging. This is all ideal, of course.

The hot chocolate recipe I'm considering

For me, the packaging will be half the battle/glory. You could go coffee house and bag your favors, OR, you could go adorably cute and jar them. Either way, it will be a wonderful little favor and will be very affordable. Have your graphic designer fiance create a sticker tag to go on the front, decorate a bit, and you've got a job well done for under $100!

Saving money is awesome.

High spirits

When it came to deciding whether or not to include alcohol at our reception, we did not hesitate to shout a resounding, "YES!"

I don't drink much. At the most, I'll have one drink a week. However, it is easy for me to recall the greatest reception I have ever been to... the one with the open bar. None of us had much, but we had enough to make whatever music began to play sound like the exact song we wanted to hear.

There will be about 100 guests at our reception. I'm pretty sure that some of them may not be partaking in our "spirited" festivities. But still, I figure it best to count them in, just in case we have a couple of bottomless alcohol pits.

The following is a fair estimate of what the average reception of 100 would require. This list is provided by weddingchannel.com.

Standard Contents of a Full Bar		Quantities We Suggest You Order (per 100 guests)
Beer		2 cases
White wine		1.5 cases
Red wine		1 case
Champagne		1.5 cases
Vodka		6 liters
Gin		3 liters
Sweet vermouth		2 bottles
Dry vermouth		2 bottles
Scotch		3 liters
Bourbon		2 liters
Whiskey		2 liters
Rum		2 liters
Tequila		1 liter

Now, I plan on tweaking this list a bit, since no one but me seems to drink champagne and I don't know anyone that drinks vermouth. I'm afraid I don't even know what that stuff goes into (shows what a drinker I am).

One little hitch that I have to consider is that we will also be having a coffee bar. I intend to make these work together as best as I can. For example, in place of the vermouths, we will probably have some kahlua and bailey's irish creme available and invite our guests to add it to their coffee.

My problem is allowing the alcohol bar take over the coffee bar. Perhaps I could open them at different times? The reception starts at 8 and I am fully debating whether or not we will be having savory foods. If we decide to forgo the expensive food and just serve sweets, then our cocktail hour could include the serving of our signature drink along with some biscotti and pirouline cookies. Hmm, after I type that out, it sounds like a great way to start out a dessert reception.

If we had the coffee bar open from 8 pm to 9 pm-ish and opened the alcohol bar at 9-ish to the end of the reception, that sounds pretty reasonable to me.

On the other hand, if I serve just desserts, I'm sure my guests are likely to get sick and drunk very quickly.

Oh my, what a pickle.

A Case of the Munchies

People like food.

Now how do I please my guests without bursting my budget bubble?

Provide just desserts?
Ice Cream Bar?

A soup bar?

My main concern is giving my guests something to do (and eat) for the hour in which Zack and I will be taking wedding photos. I don't want to call this a cocktail hour, because that's just snooty and immediately says: "expensive".

Maybe we could make food that we love in advance and then freeze it.

Foods that we love:
Potato Soup with bacon bits
chicken wings
kolaches
burgers
asian food
mac and cheese (bar?)
comfort foods in general

foods that other people love:
Matt - chicken parmisan. Lasagna. Steak. Lobster. Mashed tatters. Most stews.

Our style

Our style: modern with a touch of classic; simple with a dab of elegance.

My challenge: convey these elements of our style in a handmade way, without anything looking cheap or crafty-country.

I want to get away with making as many elements of our decor as I can. Saving money gives me warm fuzzies and knowing that I put everything together makes me feel accomplished.

While lots of brides are making needlepoint table numbers, I'm left with trying to figure out how to be modern without looking crafty.

Things I'd like to make on my own (or with the help of my beautiful bridesmaids, friends, and family):
table runners
reception centerpieces
aisle markers
Wreaths/initials for entrance to ceremony and wedding site
Invitations - zack is designing
Programs - zack is designing
Buffet table labels
Favor stuff
Something to go on the chairs at the reception
style of the cake - I don't want a cookiecutter cake
I'm sure there will be more later...

Modern Design

To me, design nowadays is all about simplicity. Everything is clean lines, from home decor to flower arrangement, to garden design. And I love it.

Cake toppers to love

What better way to tell everyone around you that you and your groom are the sweetest lovebirds that they are ever going to see? These handpainted cake toppers from RedLightStudio on Etsy will certianly do the trick.


Scoring high up there on the super-cute-o-meter are these custom-made toppers by goosegrease at Etsy. Especially adorable if you have some color in your dress.

Monograms are always classic and wonderful. This one was found on The Knot shop. It is extremely affordable, meaning that this little guy will probably be making its way to the top... of my wedding cake.

Here we go!

I simply can not count the number of times I have started a blog and then never thought on it again. Perhaps since I think about my wedding so often, updates will be a regular thing. We shall see!

Maybe you'd like to know a little about me. I'm engaged and I'm always looking for ideas! Is that enough?