So, tell me the truth . . .

Source

Sometimes I feel guilty about scheduling our wedding on a holiday weekend for the very reason posted above. I know once we send out our invitations (a future post), some people will mark "regretfully decline" on their RVSP cards because of a Memorial Day conflict such as a graduation party.

When I'm rational, I can list the reasons why we (okay, really me) picked this day:

• Weather: We wanted a late spring/early summer date in an attempt to avoid sweltering Iowa temps of 100 degrees with equal humidity.
• School's Out for Summer: At least six members of the wedding party -- that includes the groom -- are college students or teach at an elementary school, high school or college. And their school years will all be over by our May 29th date.
• Venue Available: It was one of the few open dates in our weather-related time frame.
• A Good Time for Change: Over a year ago when we picked the date, we didn't know what the summer would have in store for us. My fiance's pre-med right now, and we didn't know if he'd need to take summer classes to help his med school application, if his acceptance into med school would mean a summer move for us or what. We still don't have all the answers, but at least we know we can get married and have a honeymoon in between his finals week and any of these potential changes.
• Three-Day Weekend: Not only is the three-day weekend a plus for a girl trying to juggle a wedding and honeymoon with the two-weeks vacation time I'm given at work, but we thought our guests would appreciate the extra day. Most of them --  I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing 80% or so, will be traveling from at least a state away and need to make a trip out of it.

So, yes, I had my reasons, right? However, I do still feel twinges of guilt about it from time to time. So, one of my new projects is going to be to add information on "area attractions" to our wedding website. You know, vacation spots, worthwhile day trips in Iowa.

(Sigh -- I couldn't resist. I love me some Clint!)

Given our location, these will be slightly limited to things like local lakes, an amish community, a pioneer-days german settlement, the fabled bridges of madison county, and such. Oh, and the fact that we're just 4 hours from Chicago. I heard that my aunt and uncle -- one of our sets of host and hostess -- are heading to the Windy City for a few days after our wedding and I couldn't be happier!

I hope my still-to-be-updated wedding website will inspire more guest to make a vacation of the whole weekend and assuage some of guilt for monopolizing not just one day as the center-of-attention bride, but a whole three-day weekend.

Any guest reading this planning on adding a little sight-seeing to your trip? Anyone else have a holiday wedding and have this same issue?

Pom-pom Production Line

If you've been following along, you'll know that I have a lot of yarn pom-poms to make for our wedding toss. We're talking 300-500 little balls of yarn. And, since I'm not completely insane, I recently enlisted a team of yarn wrapping and trimming divas by bribing them shamelessly with the promise of wine and snacks. Meet my crew:

Bridesmaid Emily enjoying a sample of the white sparkling wine we'll be serving at the reception -- in one of the champagne flutes I've acquired for my bridal party. See her wrapping the yarn around her fingers? She's following the direction on this super easy tutorial for Bella Dia.

Stephanie who sweetly picked up yarn for perhaps the first time to help me with this daunting wedding project. She's a self-proclaimed non-crafter, but she did a great job. Here she's starting to trim the spiky ball of yarn you get after you've wrapped the yarn and cut the edges.

And wedding invitation goddess, Laura. Who is designing all my wedding stationary and left her gorgeous little boy at home for a day to be a part of my sweatshop. Check out her design work at http://www.lauramcdougall.com/. Her pom-pom is almost done in this picture.

And, what kind of progress did we make you ask? Well, we made exactly 100 pom-poms in just under three hours.  I'm keeping them in a large gift bag I got at our first bridal shower. Maybe I should put them in something smaller so they look more substantial, huh? I've continued to make more on my own, so now you can't see the bottom of the bag anymore. That's progress, right?

So, do you see my vision? Can you see these purple and tan and black poofs gently flying through the air as we walk down the aisle as husband and wife? I can!

Come pretend centerpieces with me

Well, it's all coming together . . . but you'll have to trust me on that. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been gathering vintage vases and pedestal candy dishes for my centerpieces for months now--and these are the only elements of my centerpieces that I actually have in my possession right now. 

To help me visualize what our tables will look like at the wedding reception, I decided to make a centerpiece mock-up in my basement. Want to see? Well, let me walk you through my vision. 

First off, you'll need to suspend your disbelief and pretend a bit with me: 

• See the blue square of tissue paper in the pics below? Imagine that is a 12"x12"square mirror.

• Those white cones are the exact size of glass votive holders with long-burning ivory candles. See them twinkling in the mirror's reflection? (I should get them in the mail Tuesday!)

• The flowers in the vases won't be fakes from Michael's; they're fresh tulips 2 dark purple and 1 ivory.

• And the flowers in the candy dishes aren't really popped off heads of fake tulips; each dish holds one big white peony.

• Oh, and the table isn't covered in a wrinkly plastic table cloth; it's a light gold/brown "cafe"-colored linen table cloth I've rented.

So, you see, it's all coming together (in my head). I can't wait to see it all "in the flesh." Bridesmaids and wedding party, these are the centerpieces we'll be putting together Friday and Saturday before the wedding. How many? Depends on my RSVPs, but I'm guess about 20 tables. Fun, right?

Your thoughts? Anything you'd change?

Groom's cake brainstorm!

In the midst of wedding planning, the “groom's cake” has been a fuzzy detail I've been of two minds about. First off, I decided a while back we’d have the groom’s cake at the rehearsal dinner, since we’re already having plenty of cake options at the wedding reception. (Subject of a new post, I promise.)

Then there’s the fact that this would be an addition to our wedding budget and another pick up and/or delivery to arrange – something I’m really trying to avoid as we enter "crunch time."

AND the reality that Erik’s not that much of a cake person. So Nintendo or guitar shaped cakes like these

-- while cute -- would likely not be fully appreciated by the man of the hour.

So, here’s the solution I’m stealing from another bride. I’m going to make a couple batches of the vegan oatmeal dark chocolate cookies Erik now loves. (They're fabulous, if I do say so myself, made with oat flour, brown sugar and walnut butter, they're very unprocessed, but still soft and delicious.) And arrange them as such:

Very cute! This way it will be a tiered dessert that he’ll really like and we’ll really not to have spend much money on. Serve them with milk and we have an instant crowd pleaser, right? I’m hoping I can make these a couple weeks ahead of time and pop them in the freezer. How well does cookie dough keep in freezer?? What about freezing already baked cookies? Is this a no-no?

I may need to pick up a small cake stand to achieve this tiered look (which I’ve been avoiding cause they won’t fit our wedding cakes), but that shouldn’t be too hard. I never thought I'd be baking anything for our wedding, but I think I can handle the 40 people or so on our rehearsal list. Did you bake for your wedding? If so, do you have any tips for me?

Photo sources: guitar, Nintedo, and the cookies from Mrs. Mouse at http://www.weddingbee.com/.

How to Make a Veil

Have you seen the price of veils these days?! I don't know about you, but, frankly, I felt insulted when anyone assumed I'd actually pay over $100 (the sale price, no less!) for a few yards of fabric I was only planning to wear for 60 minutes at the most. Thus, the journey of making my own veil began...

The first thing I did was to do my research, i.e., surf the web. I needed to look at photos to decide what kind of veil I wanted and find DIY tutorials for making your own veil -- which of course I found on blogs written by other brides in my same situation. Apparently, I'm not the only one offended by high-priced "bridal" accessories. Here's the tutorial that helped us the most.*

After I decided on the basics -- An ivory two-tier veil with some kind of edge beading, I went shopping with my crafty bridesmaid Emily C. It didn't take long for us to find what we needed at Hobby Lobby. Here's a snap shot of our receipt:

4 yards of shimmery ivory tulle ------------------ $5.50

Silver and gold seed beads and beading needles --------------------- $3.75

Ivory ribbon, thread and hair combs --------------------- $5.40

For a grand total of $14.65 in supplies! Yea, savings!

K, so I think I've set the scene. Here are a few pictures of the work in progress:

First, step is to measure and cut. The great thing about making your own veil is that you can make it as long as you want. We designed my veil to make sure that the first and second tier highlighted rather than hid the details on the back of my dress. Here's my tulle folded in half and laid out on my living room floor.

How did we get those curved edges? Trial and error. We tied a piece of yarn to a marker (genius tip from Emily C.) and drew an arch on a piece of cardboard until we had a good template for our curve. 

After we had our veil cut, it was time to start beading. We decided to finish all of the edges with seed beads in a silver-gold-silver pattern with a space in between each grouping, like this: 

When we finished the beading, we gathered the fabric where the two tiers divide, sewed stitches through the fabric, pulled the string to gather it together, sewed the string to the comb and then wrapped the comb in pretty ivory ribbon.

Here's a picture of the veil, with beaded edging. See how it shimmers? Want to see it on? You'll have to wait until my hair trial in April. I will tell you that I brought it to my last dress fitting and it matches perfectly!

Did you make your own veil or DIY another "bridal" accessory for your big day? Were you happy with the results?

*Note: I may sound very confident about this process after the fact, but Emily can tell you I was fairly nervous to jump right in. In fact, a friend actually gave me a few yards of tulle she'd used as decore in her wedding so I could make a "practice" veil and walk through the tutorial with some room to make mistakes and learn the best way to go about things. This gave me a lot more confidence when it came to making the "real" veil. I highly recommend it.

The line between "vintage" and "antique"

I’m torn! Part of me wants to buy things like this wooden bowling pin and scatter them throughout the wedding reception. But, this kind of leans more towards antique/kitch instead of vintage old Hollywood. So, I've been avoiding my favorite antique or "junk" store in Iowa City: Artifacts. Yet, they continue to tempt me with Facebook posts. Blast!

And I love it! Thus, I've decided that although I can't justify adding more antiques to my wedding budget, I will use items I already have. This week, I've done an inventory of vintage/antique (yes, now I'm using them interchangeably) items we have laying around the house. 

Here's what I've come up with so far:

1) A vintage suitcase to store our photo booth props. This is currently in our bedroom closet and has a collection of teddy bears and other stuffed animals.

2) A vintage looking chest or two for cards at the gift table. (Please excuse the dust.) The one on the left Erik uses to store his random guitar stuff, guitar strap, extra picks, etc. The pretty floral one hold photos back from the day before digital cameras.

3) A vintage looking hat box for the photo tickets (once I cut a slot in the top). I currently have this on my night stand to give my reading lamp more height.

4) And a doily or two made by my family members. I might be able to incorporate on a table.

5) I also have this old valise, although I'm not sure what I'll use it for. Any ideas?

And, of course, I have all the vases and centerpieces I've been collecting (featured in this post). I've got a couple more antique items up my sleeve as well. So, you be the judge. Do these items fit well enough with our Old Hollywood theme? Or should I just throw up my hands, call our theme "vintage," and use them all?

100 days!

According to my weddingwire countdown, our wedding is 100 days away -- today. So, tomorrow we'll be down into the double digits!! Oh, my!

Well, as the day get's closer, I've been working to update our wedding website.To clarify: We  I have both a wedding blog (as you well know if you're reading this) and a wedding website. I'll admit there is some cross-over, but here's how they differ.

This blog, admittedly, is more about the "girly" details of the planning process. It's also info I thought area brides and acquaintances might be interested in. Thus, it has relevant info for non-wedding guests. More for my facebook friends and such.

The wedding website, however, is mainly logistical information for guests. We included it on our Save-the-Dates and will include it in our formal invitations. The site includes the hotel room block details, a map for our ceremony/reception venue and other area attractions, information about our gift registries, and -- as of this week -- a completely unnecessary update on the current weather in our wedding location. Gotta love new apps! ;)

Besides the obvious benefit of having all of the necessary details in one place, the wedding website is also saving us money. We don't have to print all of this information in our invitations (although we will still include the bare bones for our less-tech savvy guests). This means we'll save on both printing and postage costs which can really add up when you're sending 110 or so invites!

Anyway, if you're interested in seeing the difference between our my blog and my website, or actually need any of this information, feel free to check it out at www.weddingwire.com/erikandsara.

Do you like wedding websites, or would you rather have all of the info included in the envelope with your invitation?

(Why is Erik's name first you ask? Because I didn't like typing the two "a"s of SaraandErik together.)

Registering for Memories

Erik and I decided to do something a little unconventional for our honeymoon. We lived in Florida for a couple years, and I went to Puerto Rico once for work, so we were done with the beach scene. Not crazy about the idea of crowds on a cruise ship, and can't afford a European vacation.

So where are we going? Sedona, Arizona.

Specifically, we're flying into Pheonix, AZ the Tuesday after our wedding and driving to the town of Sedona to stay at L'auberge de Sedona -- an 11-acre luxury resort in the heart of red rock country. Want to see pictures? Okay!

Here's the main lodge where our room will be:

A picture of our room:

The resort's restaurant along Oak Creek:

Our trip will be 7 days and 6 nights. While we're there, we'll take advantage of their award-winning restaurant, go on jeep tours of the area, shop in the local art galleries, indulge in some spa treatments, take a hike in the natural beauty and maybe visit a winery or two. 

And the part that excites me the most is that our guests can help us build our trip through our honeymoon registry! From our registry site, guests can actually gift us these honeymoon experiences, just like they'd purchase any other gift for us online. Check out the screen shot below:

It's really very easy. They even have a phone number people can call if they're nervous about entering their credit card information online. While Erik and I both found items to put on our other registries, this is really the one we hope guests focus on. I know from the position of a guest, I'd much prefer gifting something like this instead of my usual standby. (I confess -- we've been relying on cash and/or gift cards for the majority of our married friends.)

Anyone ever purchased a wedding gift through a honeymoon registry? I'd love to know how it worked from the guest's perspective.

Ready, Waiting and Rescheduled

In 15 minutes I was supposed to go to my final dress fitting with Heart to Heart Bridal. I was all prepared, too. Earlier this week I wrote a long list of items to bring with me. I'm all about lists! Want to see?

• Camera
• Gold shoes (both pairs)
• Veils (my two-tier beaded masterpiece and my to-be-finished birdcage)
• Tape measure (to get the length just right for my two-tier veil)
• Pins (to mark appropriate veil length)
• Necklace
• Earrings
• Spanx-like undergarments
• Make-up to retouch and amp up my work look for pics
• Contacts (again reminder to amp up my normal work look)
• Bridesmaids' wraps and ushers' ties (to double check the color match between these and the ties we picked for the groomsmen and dads)

Whew! See, I was all ready. Sadly, I got a call last night that changed my plans. It seems my seamstress is about to be a grandma again (her daughter was having contractions last night) and the shop owner had a family illness that was going to leave her out of the office. So, the shop kindly called me to suggest we reschedule for another time.

While I'm disappointed that I don't get to see my "pretty" today, I'm glad the shop made the call. I definitely want the best possible experience trying on the dress again after the alterations, and I'd be all nervous if the seamstress wasn't available "just in case."

So, for now my appointment is rescheduled for NEXT Friday afternoon. In the meantime, I'll try to blog about some of the items on that long list up there.

Any of your plans get post-poned or delayed recently? Did you go with the flow?

Rice? Birdseed? Not us.

If you've been following along with my posts, you'll remember that our ceremony and our reception are all in the same place. Since our guest are staying put, they won't be positioned outside the church steps for the traditional birdseed toss at the bride and groom. This is one of many wedding rituals we're doing "our way." (Okay, really my way, though Erik does pop in for a decision now and then.)

When you think about it, birdseed isn't really the tradition anyway. Before the myth that rice is harmful to birds (I looked it up. It's baloney.), rice was the seed of choice. Depending on what culture you're looking at, it was a symbol of good wishes, fruitfulness, fertility, warding off evil, etc. Today, the "toss" has turned into more of a celebratory gesture like throwing a graduation cap into the air. I've seen wheat, those champagne-bottle firework poppers, bubbles, pennants (to wave not throw) and bio-degradable confetti.

So back to what WE'RE doing. Without the change of location, our guests will likely perform the toss as we walk back down the aisle as husband and wife. This means whatever they toss will bounce off of us and land on the newly refinished wood floor in the historical landmark that is our venue--and of course will need to be picked up before our dancing begins. So, confetti was out (scratches the floor), petals would have worked, but they'd likely get crushed under foot and be a little difficult to clean up. 

My solution? Yarn pom-poms! Think I'm nuts? I think it's perfect, myself. It allows me to incorporate my love of knitting, will be much nicer than being pelted by hard seeds ( I can just imagine them going down the front and back of my dress.) and will just look really cool. Don't believe me. Here, let me help you picture it. Look at my inspiration for the whole thing:

How sweet is that! Source

I've started making my own with yarn I had in my stash and have solicited some local friends to help me amass the large amount I need. We're going to get started on this in early March. That gives us almost three months before the big day.

I'm thinking everyone needs at least three (a nice little handful). Multiply that by 150 guest . . . .150 x 3 = 450 little fluffy pom-poms. I think we'll stick to purples, blacks and golds. Wish us luck!

Did you (or are you planning to) incorporate your crafty talents into your wedding planning? Did you start early enough to avoid a rush of DIY projects the week of your wedding?

Classy Ring Holders

As much as I love my ring, I have to confess it doesn't stay on my finger 24/7. Given its high setting, I take it off before I step into the shower (so it doesn't get snagged while I wash my hair), when I'm working with anything particularly dirty in the kitchen, or when I go to yoga (jewelry tends to get in the way in some poses). 

Now, down the road I expect I'll get all blasé about the ring and wear it all the time without thinking. But until then, I decided I needed a safe place to keep it when it's not on my finger. I had this in mind when I went to last summer's What Cheer Flea Market. This, by the way, is the flea market to end all flea markets. Filling the entire fair grounds, it takes all day to see everything once. I knew I'd be able to find what I was looking for. In fact, I found two:

Aren't they pretty?! I have one of these depression glass hands by my kitchen sink and one in our bathroom.

And here's a shot of one of the hands with my engagement ring, my garnet ring (also from Erik) and my watch. Sorry for the mediocre photo. I've got some glamour shots scheduled for my e-ring. I'll be sure to show it to it's best advantage soon.

Where do you keep your ring, or does it never leave your finger?

Michael's Score!

So, my number one rule during all this wedding planning has been simple: Only buy something if you have room in the budget and it's part of the plan. BUT Friday, I had a 50% off coupon for Michael's Craft Store burning a hole in my wallet, and I needed some ribbon for a project. 

Half an hour later, I walked out of the store spending 10 times what I expected --  of course I expected to spend $3.00. All in all, I'm pretty proud of my haul. Check it out:

See those gold frames? I picked up a dozen at $1 each. They're going to showcase descriptions of our fabulous hors d'oeuvres and yummy cake flavors (definitely the subject of another post). Picture them typed in vintage typewriter font. 

The black ribbon is what I originally went in the store for. I'm using it on a project for my bridesmaids, so mum's the word on that. I found some other little gifts for them as well, which will have to wait for a description AFTER the wedding. 

Last, I found a Crayola color-in-the-lines poster. You can't tell, but it's a poster with jungle leaves and butterflies. I thought I'd designate one of our tables a "kids table" with this poster, some crayons and a few other games. We don't have many children on the guest list, but it will be fun to include them, and it's an easy project.

So, these are my latest wedding buys. They're really starting to pile up. You should see our second bedroom and the two bookshelves in our basement and the dining table downstairs. Eeek!

My hair icons

Warning for any guys who happen to stumble onto this blog: this is a girly post! That said, to achieve my Old Hollywood look, we definitely have to spend some time talking about hair, right?

First, let's talk about the stylist. I scouted around for local salons that offered both a space for my girls and I to get ready together and and didn't charge an arm and a leg. No dice. Then, I lit on Plan B: a family friend (Trish) who's been behind the scenes at multiple family weddings, she's done my hair before, her prices are very reasonable, etc. I though, why not ask if she's willing to trapse up to Iowa for my wedding? The worst she can do is say "no." But, I think you know where this is going. She actually said "yes" and will be helping my group get ready in our cozy hotel suite on our big day!

Second, let's look at what we have to work with. Most of my life, I have had long, thick, naturally wavy hair. And at special events, I often convinced someone to tame it into an updo, like Trish did when my sister got married.  But, three or four years ago, I finally drummed up the courage to go short. With the wedding on the horizon, though I've spent the better part of the year slowly growing it out so, I can emulate my glamourous Old Hollywood icons. In chronological order:

And, the goal? Channel one of these movie sirens in a down-do (Maureen O'Hara and Lauren Becall). My hair's just about Lauren's length now.

And of course, I've scouted out some options for my bridesmaids. Check out Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Grace Kelly:

I admit, I had an ulterier motive for looking up these short pictures. If I don't think my hair is long enough by May or if I just can't live with the growing out stage, I figure I can always chop it and go back to short hair. 

What do you think? Should I strive for medium or short hair on my wedding day? If you come across a glamourous hair picture I need to see, let me know!

Help us build our playlist!

If our wedding style is "vintage," then our dance theme is "retro." What's your favorite tune from the 50's, 60's, 70's 80's or 90's? Our super cool DJ service has an online music request system. That means you can add your favorite tune to our dance playlist. Just visit A Fine Affair DJ at http://www.gigbuilder.com/cal/ia/afineaffairdj.nsf/guestlogin.html.

Simply input our wedding date (May 29, 2010) and the following case-sensetive password: SaraErikGuest

Note: As bride and groom, we reserve the right to veto anything we don't like. I'd avoid any current rap or country songs, if I were you. I'll leave you with some photos for inspiration:

 

January blizzards, May flowers?

Yesterday, I worked from home because we had yet another snow storm here in Iowa (and 52 cars in the ditch on my route to work convinced me that was a very smart move). On this cold inhospitable day, my florist or "flower lady," as I like to call her, e-mailed me to shore up the details of our wedding flowers!

So, since I haven't shared these with you yet, let me open with my inspiration photos for our wedding color scheme:

This first picture with the black cocktail dresses and the dark purple tulips. Don't those tulips look so lux?!

And then the combo of purple and white flowers in the second photo has me sold on my second flower color.

Tulips will be the main flower in our wedding, but I love peonies too much to ignore them on my big day. (My sister featured pink and fushia peonies in her wedding and it was gorgeous!) I'm putting my own spin on them and using white peonies to keep in my color scheme. In fact, I'll likely call on my aunts and grandmas gardens to provide some of these beauties.

My bouquet: I want something like this picture only with all purple tulips. I’ve got something in mind for a ribbon on this bouquet. If it doesn’t pan out, a shimmery gold ribbon would be fine.

Bridesmaid bouquets: I’m picturing these with white tulips and purple filler. They can be much less structured than mine (no banana leaves), and the gold ribbon will work with them also.

Altar arrangements: These can be similar to the bridesmaid dresses. I’ll leave the design up to my florist to somehow incorporate all of the wedding flowers from the purple tulips and filler to the white peonies and tulips.

Cake flowers: We’re actually having several round cakes as more of a desert buffet, and a mini two-tier cake for us to cut. The mini-cake will be 8” on the bottom and 6” on the top. I’m picturing purple and white tulips on top and maybe a few blooms on the sides like this picture.

DIY Centerpieces: I’m planning to types of centerpieces to be placed on alternating round tables. Since we last spoke I’ve been busy collecting vintage vases and pedestal candy dishes (see pics).

Centerpiece #1: I’m picturing two purple tulips and one white one in all of my tall arrangements very simply placed in my vases.

Centerpiece #2: My low arrangements are going to be white peony heads floating in the candy dishes. We’ll need about 10 of these as well.

I have 20 vases or candy dishes now and will likely pick up a few more before the wedding, so I don’t think I’ll need to rent any vases.I think this should be simple enough for my wedding party/family to do as long as my flower lady delivers the flowers. Does this seem practical?

I'm very excited about all of this, and can't wait to see it all come together. But I'm trying hard to make it super simple so we can just plunk these down on the tables the morning of the wedding and be golden!