Wednesday, December 30, 2009

sweating to the yogis


It's almost New Years, which means it's time to aspire to something and give up on it in about a month.

Since almost all resolutions are fitness-related, I thought it might be apt to share my craziest, most awful fitness experience of the year: Bikram yoga.

No offense to bikram fanatics, but this class was the grossest thing ever. For those that haven't succumbed to the heat stroke that is bikram, it is a 1.5 hour class in a heated room. I don't mean 80 degrees or something manageable; it's 105. It's also a wee bit humid.

So let's set the stage: you've rented a smelly mat because you're new. The heat isn't excruciating yet, but breathing feels a bit weird. Soon enough, you're standing on one leg while the other leg is in some pretzel shape and sweat is pouring off your face. You can hear the plip-plop of sweat onto everyone's mats. You start to realize you didn't drink nearly enough water and that you're surely in some inner ring of hell.

The sweating is no joke. My skin is usually a little dry but here, the skin was SLOUGHING OFF. I was constantly wiping my hands on my shorts so I could grip random limbs, but every time I did a nice streak of skin cells appeared. When I peeled my top off at home, I swear I heard a little splatter as it hit the floor.

Anyways, they let you drink at certain intervals and if you're new and fainty-like, you can lie down on your back and regret your decision to come.

Before I totally make this class sound like the dumbest thing ever, the people in there were really flexible. I can't touch my toes; these people could bend over and touch the mesozoic era. It was pretty impressive to see people in all sorts of wild contortions. The heat really loosens up your ligaments, letting you stretch waaay more than normal.

Now for the downer. One of my reasons for going were the online promises of major calorie burnage. Some calculators estimated 700 calories AN HOUR. That'd be 1050 calories total (hooray)! However, most of those super bendy people were not lithe skinny minnies.  I suspect you lose a lot of water weight (duh) and get a deep stretch, but I don't really believe the calorie estimates. Especially after wearing a heart monitor and being quite unimpressed with my heart rate. I kind of think the heat is just a gimmick to make you feel like you're really working hard.

So what crazy fitness antics are in store for me in 2010? I got pilates for Wii, which will be a hoot. Daisy Fuentes' boobs are ENORMOUS in the game.

Monday, December 28, 2009

the wedding meta list of doom

With the wedding being a mere 5+ months away, I realized I needed to make a new list: Crap To Do.
It’s divided into:
  •  Actions. Things like sending final deposits, getting a marriage license, etc
  • DIY.
  • Shopping List.
So far the scary things are my shopping list and DIY. Let’s take a looksee at the DIY list.
  • Cake topper. Amazingly, this has been started. I’m stuck because I need two items to continue with it and it’s annoying as hell to get to a craft store here. Once I do finish (hopefully very soon), I will post the tutorial.
  • Garlands. I’ve pretty much figured out what types of garlands I want (there will be several, eek), but I do need to put together a final list of materials. (It’s a mix of tissue balls and plain old balls. Balls!)
  •  Jeweled headband. Not anymore!
  • Programs. Designed, just need to tweak text and construct. Ha, the easy part!
  •  Invitations and Save the Dates. Designed, for the most part. Printing needs to happen. Then assembly, woo.
  • Hang-y thing for table. Oh yes, I’m specific. I have one idea involving ribbons, but no clue how it will turn out once executed.
  • Seating chart and cards. Um. 
  • Photo display of sorts. I love the look of photos on a clothesline, but that doesn’t seem like something Dorothy Draper would approve of. Will brainstorm, may abandon.
  • Photobooth backdrop. I haven’t decided if I’ll fauxtobooth this or plunk down the moola for a smilebooth. However, I will for sure have some sort of undetermined background.
  • Candy buffet crap. If I’m not insane by April, I’ll try this.
That’s the DIY list. I’m so disturbed by it. The shopping list, however, is scarier, simply because of the implied costs!
  • Shoes. Checking DSW this week and if that fails, will be doing an ordering blitz from Zappos.
  • Veil. Ugh.
  • Underthings. Waiting to see what my seamstress will suggest/hoping my regular ole strapless bra works.
  • Glass urns, goblets, footed bowls, etc. For the reception centerpieces.
  • Candy buffet crap. See above.
  • Honeymoon. Ha. Hahahaha.
  • Formal shirt and tie for my fiancĂ©, plus bright/fun socks, & cufflinks. Boy stuff.
  • Sheet music for ceremony.
I'm sure I'm missing a ton of stuff, but these things alone make me wonder why I spent Saturday watching all of True Blood season 1.

Note to self: when overdosing on a TV series, craft at the same time.

How's your big giant anxiety-inducing wedding list coming along?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

let's make chevrons!

If you're looking to make a bold graphical statement with your invitations, a pattern is a pretty good way to do that. So I'm going to share a little chevron pattern tutorial. We're going to be doing this the dumb way -- there is a way to make patterns in Illustrator, but my directions will work in Word.

1. Start with a filled rectangle shape. Depending on how thin or wide you want the chevrons to be, adjust your rectangle's size. Then rotate it. I do 45 degrees, but this is also a personal preference thing.



2. Now make a copy of the rectangle and paste it. Reflect it vertically.


3. Zoom into your screen for this next part. We're going to shimmy the second rectangle up into a flush angle with the first one. Pro tip: it's a lot easier to see where they align if your rectangle is not outlined.


4. Select our new angle and copy it. Paste! Shimmy into place.


5. Copy the whole thing. Paste. Shimmy. If your page isn't filled yet with a whole row of chevrons, repeat step 4 again.


6. Select the whole row and center it the way you want it. Copy the row. Paste. Scooch it down, depending on how much space you want between rows.


7. Copy your two rows. Paste. Scooch. Repeat over and over (i.e. copy and paste 4 rows, then 8 rows, etc) until you fill the page.


8. Now you have a pattern! For my save the dates, I just copied a chunk of them into InDesign. In Word, you should be able to group them into one object and create your invitations too.

You could also use this pattern as an envelope liner!

Chevron 2: engaged.*

Now be free with your chevrons!

*Stargate reference. Sorry.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

save the date preview



I may almost be ready to send this to the printer. Almost.

movie love



I was reading a post today about favorite love movies and realized I had totally ignored a huge part of my personality - weird movies!

I went through a phase in college where I bought Criterion Collection movies like they were a certain illicit substance and my last name was Lohan. This is how I came across The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

It's an amazing 1960s French musical and it's the saddest thing ever. It's all about love and missed opportunities. The main track, "I Will Wait for You," is ridiculously haunting, beautiful, and tragic. I'd play it at the ceremony, but I'm afraid everyone would need a Xanax afterward.



I bring this movie up because of its sets. They are bright, gorgeous things and the color combos -- whoa mama. They're great. I can't recommend this movie enough, if only for the stunning visual loveliness.

Then there's a little movie called Me and You and Everyone We Know. It has a precious line about pooping in each other's butts and it's seriously not disgusting in its original context. I swear.



Some of the dialogue is really fantastic, so fantastic, it could almost be a wedding vow. Like this:

"If you really love me, then let's make a vow. Right here... together... right now. Ok ? - Ok... - All right, repeat after me... I'm gonna be free. - I'm gonna be free. - And I'm gonna be brave... - I'm gonna be brave. - Good... I'm gonna live each day as if it were my last. - Oh that's good... - You like that ? - Yeah... - Say it. - I'm gonna live each day as it were my last... - Fantastically... - Fantastically. - Courageously... - Courageously. - With grace... - With grace. - And in the dark of the night, and it does get dark, when I call a name... - When I call a name... - It' ll be your name... What's your name ?
[no answer]
Nevermind... let's go... say it. - Let's go... - Everywhere... - Everywhere... - Even though... - Even though... - We're scared... - We're scared... - Cause it's life... - It's life... - and it's happening, it's really really happening... RIGHT NOW... "

Dece*, right?

Here's another, not necessarily for vows, but for YEAHs:

"I don't want to have to do this living. I just walk around. I want to be swept off my feet, you know? I want my children to have magical powers. I am prepared for amazing things to happen. I can handle it."

I'm sitting here now trying to think of other freaking amazing movie quotes, but I will spare you. Are movies inspiring your wedding at all?

*Dece (pronounced "dees") = decent

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

save the dates: teh porn

I'm hating my save the date progress, so I needed to find some inspiration. Look what I found over at Mr. Boddington's Studio.

(source)

Follow the link for a much larger and nicer look! It's the greatest thing ever.

mother sometimes knows best

If you recall, I changed my color scheme considerably. I'll explain why...now.

My mom is a naysayer. At first I thought she was all about my pink-gasm of a wedding. This was not the case. At first she merely repeated what bridal store consultants told her. "The bridesmaid should wear the bright pink color!" "Olive would look better with an ivory dress." "Your daughter is a moron." Etc. Then, she grew the ovarian fortitude to say for herself she didn't lurve the idea of light pink on bridesmaids, that they'll look like crap, and so on. I got defensive, I got angry, maybe even a little.. monster-like, I don't know.

As an aside, you know how when you get pushed into a corner to like something and so you automatically blurt out you hate it? Yeah I said I hated green. A few times. I mean, I do intensely dislike the pink/green combination. It's too preppy, in that very un-cool georgetown way (sorry g-town, but you have no street cred).

Well then. I started over. I looked at the non-wedding images I clipped in the beginning that inspired me. Dior. Draper. Draper. Dior. In both images there was this striking green - bright alpine mayhaps? - and it made me wonder, (I'm carrie bradshaw now) was green part of the lovegasm that will be my wedding?

Bright alpine, bright alpine..where have I heard this made up color before? J.Crew of course! So I took to the internet with my fingers a tapping, nay, SLAMMING toward the jcrew address and there, in all of its bright alpine glory, were the bridesmaid dresses. No, not my bridesmaid dresses. Just some dresses. I was validating my color choice, ok?

So it was finished. Green was in. I sampled more colors from the Dior and Draper photos. The palette grew. Except the blue was a little off and it took a trip to kate spade and a creepy fiance to figure it out.

Where does this leave me? Well, I won't be so quick to hate on my mom for being right, still, after 23 years of this shtick. Green isn't quite the hateful color I imagined. Maybe weddings are the perfect time to learn to compromise with your mother, because your fiance really doesn't give a sh*t what the palette is. Because he doesn't know what a palette is. Poor ignoramus.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

bling: required

My wedding day accoutrements are slowly piling up. My first stop was, naturally, Etsy.

I was looking for something shiny and perhaps a little vintage. Since my dress has so much crap going on, I've decided to play down my accessories quite a bit.

So I started with the hair. While I would've liked to get something like this:

Or this:



..They're both completely out of my budget and over the top for my look. If I were wearing my original dress, these would be great. However, I am wearing a poofball.

Thus my more subdued choice:

It's from an Etsy seller called Loley's & Co,who has a really great assortment of what I think are recycled vintage pieces. Don't be fooled, that rhinestone is HUGE. So not totally subdued..

Anyways, the pin wasn't the only thing that caught my eye.


I also ordered these. I adored how large the rhinestones were, as always, but I wasn't so sure about the danglies. Nonetheless, the price was right and I decided it was good to have options.

Then today, I found these while shopping.

Again, they're enormous. But I think I prefer the studs and how the shape recalls my giant round hair pin. I'll bring both to Bloomington in June. Hooray, feeling more bridal by the minute. Or credit card transaction.

hair today, bun tomorrow

I think I figured out my hair, finally. Let me address something first: I have no hair trial. Well I'll have a trial a day or two before the wedding, but nothing that would afford me the ability to hate my stylist and find someone else.

The point is, I really want to keep things simple. Nothing elaborate that would invite disaster. So I'm leaning towards this:


With a big ole plate of bangs, of course. I love high updos, for whatever reason, so I love the poofy bun. Balletastic and elegant.

Unfortunately this is all a big tease, because you literally won't see a resolution till I have pro pics back. Or if I feel particularly generous and snap something on my phone. Sorry.

christmas came early (and eerily)

As I mentioned earlier, I really really loved the Kate Spade gift packaging I saw when I was shopping. I mentioned this to my fiance when I got home and he seemed somewhat informed, which was suspicious.

Then tonight, I got overly excited to do gifts (I was quite proud of what I found) and decided to rationalize that Christmas is just a day, that our personal gift exchange will be anti-climatic, and we should just do it tonight.

So imagine my surprise when I unwrapped this.


O.M.G.Kate Spade Kismet.

kate spade saves the day

I braved the DC tundra today to finish my Christmas shopping. There were mountains of snow, limited public transport, and definitely some snow-in-boot misfortunes on my end. I eventually stopped in Kate Spade just to see if they had any of the bridal shoes (they didn't) and check out the jewelry. Many guys were in there, presumably shopping for their lady friends and I ended up being head over heels in love with the gift boxes.


How very lovely is the aqua and green together? I guess it just made me feel a lot more secure about my recent color about-face.

So here's the final palette!



Did you ever completely change your mind about some aspect of your wedding?

Saturday, December 19, 2009

color change

I might have changed my mind on the colors.


I called this Draper meets Dior meets Indiana. Let's see how long this sticks.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

dior overload, yes

Random thing of the day: if you want to listen to really trippy music, go to the Dior fine jewelry website. Just start browsing the collections and be totally FREAKED OUT.

I wasn't wearing my headphones at the time, so I suddenly started hearing the faintest creepy carnival music. And I wasn't happy about it..

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

poetry and the ceremony

Was I the only one that was a little pissed Brothers & Sisters used an E.E. Cummings poem for the wedding of whatsherface and whatshisface? I got mad at Juno for basically stealing the soundtrack of my college years, so I may be a rare case.

Anyways, the Cummings poem is significant because it was the first poem I memorized and thus fell in love with. I discovered it when I was 14, before literary theory entered my life as a cruel mistress, before explications, before new historicism and all sorts of academic eggheadisms got to me. It was special to enjoy a poem because of its sonic pleasures, even more special to love it just because.

So I give you "i carry your heart." Poetry will definitely be part of our ceremony. This is one of the contenders.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                    i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant 
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


What's funny to me now is that even though I was, cough, an English major, I can't recall any other great passages about love. Well, I could quote from Lear, but that might be depressing. Though I think this would be the best wedding vow...ever:

I cannot heave my heart into my mouth.

Is literature making an appearance in your ceremony?

hair by chanel



I'm not sure the tiara is the most appropriate for a small wedding, but hellooo, hair.

Which is funny, because every time I've seen similar styles in bridal magazines I've gagged a little to myself. Oh, Uncle Karl, the things you do to me.

dress is here..





Want a peek?

Monday, December 14, 2009

shoes part i

My first fitting is coming up in January and I was warned to bring all of my accoutrements. I.E. undergarments, veil, headpiece, SHOES.

I don't have all that other stuff either, but I'm mostly freaked about shoes -- which is strange considering my closet.


I know there's this color trend out there and it's really pretty and cool, but it's not really my bag. And yet, I get the motivation because nice shoes are expensive, especially bridal shoes, so why not spend mucho bucks on shoes you can wear again?

It's not as if I don't love a bright shoe, I do, it's just that with my dress I feel it's not right. It's crying out for a ivory satin sandal, truly. I'm all for having some wackiness in my wedding, but I just want my look to be quasi-elegant.

So I started browsing the usual suspects for shoes: Nordstrom, Zappos, and Macys. I found some great ones on Zappos, but HO MAH GAWD, expensive. The most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes was $150, not a joke here. They were rabbit lined knee-high boots with a smart little buckle, on sale in Chicago. I've worn them every winter for SIX YEARS. Can you see how spending even $174 for a pair of clearance ivory Kate Spades that are magical to look at makes me woozy? They may be lovely, but wear them for six seasons, I think not.



Unless. Unless unless. Could I dye the shoes afterward?

How are you rationalizing your wedding shoes?

dior, fashion & weddings



For fun, I wanted to share some excerpts from Dior himself, via The Little Dictionary of Fashion, with some notes from me. It's always interesting to see what fashion geniuses think -- you don't have to agree 100 percent, but it's amusing nonetheless.

Accent
An accent is that little personal touch which makes a dress designed by a couturier your own dress. It is of great importance. With your feeling no one can do it better than you.

This is how I've started to approach wedding planning - yes, much of what I'm doing is unoriginal, but gosh darn it, it will still be mine.

Ball Gown
A ball gown is your dream, and it must make you a dream. And it is wonderful for morale.

Yes, I do indeed feel like a dream in mine.

Detail
I hate detail. I love accents or little touches but they must always be important-- not insignificant. The small detail is very cheap and not elegant at all.

I kind of love this. Wedding blogs love to harp on detail, but it always felt like a lot of little things to get bogged down in-- and so easy to lose sight about what the wedding is really about. Accents, not details!

Elegance
I will only say now that elegance must be the right combination of distinction, naturalness, care, and simplicity. Outside this, believe me, there is no elegance. Only pretension.

Elegance is not dependent on money.

Heck yes money can't buy style. Paris Hilton has been a great teaching moment for that. And Platinum Weddings..

Heels
Too high heels are vulgar and hideous-- and uncomfortable, I should imagine.

I won't call them hideous, but uncomfortable? Word.

Individuality
No elegant woman follows fashion slavishly.

Jewelry
To wear a big diamond on your finger only means that you have a lot of money-- it means nothing in elegance.

Depends on the diamond, for me.

Pink

It is the sweetest of all colors. It is the color of happiness and of femininity.

Duh.

Quality

Quality is essential to elegance. I will always put quality before quantity.

I.E. Prioritize your wedding, spend a lot on what matters to you, the rest doesn't matter. Forget the quantity of wedding "must-haves."

Xtravagance

The contrary of elegance. Elegance must be audacious but it can never be extravagant because extravagance is bad taste.

Zest
There is no beauty that is attractive without zest.

Is elegance the end-all for you?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

PSA: J.Crew (again)

This one ends tomorrow:

25% off $150
30% off $250

Code: SNOWMAN

Another great discount for wedding dresses, bridesmaids, and suits!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

after.. party dress

I don't have any details of the after party planned. I just know I don't want the night to end at 11pm and we will probably end up at a bar. But a bar is no place for a Vera Wang, no no.

So I foresee the need for another - cheap - dress. Here's my pick:


Too. Damn. Cute.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

dress!

My dress is flying here tomorrow. With my parents.

That is all.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

death to chignons

My current wedding hair muse is Zooey Deschanel and it's all in her bangs.

 
 I've had the blunt bangs off and on since 2003. Yes, way before all of the hipsters. For serious. When they were still showering and such and hadn't discovered v-neck t-shirts or Ray Bans..

Currently I'm in an off stage -- my last haircut was in my parents' town and the girl just didn't quite understand my directions, so I pinned my bangs to the side out of spite. Now they're way too long and silly.

But still. Mostly six years with bangs. My ideal was always, from the beginning, to have stick straight LONG hair with the blunt bangs, like GaGa, who clearly stole it from me. Unfortunately my hair has a natural wave and I didn't have the tenacity to fully grow my hair out past my shoulders, so I never really made it past, oh, mousey. 


Yet here I am - hair definitely past my shoulders and six months till the wedding. I had a nightmare the other night that I cut it all off into a bob and I woke up in a sweat. The cat was also on my head. It was some sort of unintelligible sign: Keep thy hair.

So Zooey and her bangs. I love her little boho updos. Every other hollywood starlet does the sidesweep bang/no bang option, mostly because it's universally flattering. There is also something very youthful, classic, and ballet-tastic about off the face hair. And still, it conflicts me. I like my history with bangs. I kind of like that it would date me. I'm very much a product of the aughties (can you honestly believe the decade is over? we're so old) and thus inclined to embrace the bangs that took me everywhere.

From the beginning I've wanted to look like me, not a Mary Kay washout. I'm tired of being told to look "classic." My big ole bangs are my classic standby.

Toodles, off the face chignons!

 

myth of diy

I want to do a little economics lesson. I was an English major, sure, but I've always been fascinated by economics, particularly in games like World of Warcraft. They're fun little microcosms of flawed economies. (Google "WoW economics" and delight in the nerd-strosity). DIY is also a pretty flawed economic argument.

Often when bloggers talk about DIY, saving money is the subtext, if not the supporting argument. But I can refute this immediately and that's because of economies of scale and opportunity cost. Sure, you could make 10 tissue poms in 5 hours on a Saturday. And yes, your materials may only cost $15. But you just spent 5 hours making them, for which there is an opportunity cost. So unless you consider yourself slave labor, you have to pay yourself for your time. At $7/hr, you just spent $50 on tissue pom construction. How much does a set of 10 poms cost on etsy? $30 (she has a sale - by 7, get 3 free!)

How is the etsy set so much cheaper? Well that crafter probably has a little craft sweat shop going, or at least an assembly line process. Even if she does it by herself, she can purchase in bulk and is faster at making them than you.

The point of all of this is not to discourage DIY; I have a few projects I'm working on/planning. The point is, it's almost never cheaper and you shouldn't feel pressured to do it unless you actually enjoy crafting. At first I thought I should be doing this gocco thing - but I realized I had no interest in it, it was just THE DIY thing to do. I'm doing projects I really want to do and know I'd be good at.

DIY the things you really want to make yourself. Don't feel bad about purchasing pre-made items. Don't start an apiary so you can have honey favors. Remember e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g has an opportunity cost.

PSA: J Crew

For those that want to attempt buying their wedding dress (or their groom's suit!) from J. Crew, here's a little something: 25% off orders of $150 or more with GIFTS code. That's not chump change.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

oh hey invites

I talked to my mom again today - yes I should stop doing that - because I had sent her what I would consider the more "conservative" invite also. It features calligraphy from a talented etsian, whose identity I'm withholding for now because my mom said it "looks as if a mad woman scrawled that."

I had intended to do a big reveal once they were letterpressed, but sometimes I just need a little support. Like now.
 
This is my conservative attempt.


This is my love attempt.

That's my reception card.

(I probably didn't do a good job smudging - please don't stalk me.)

What say you?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

mom = naysayer

I just emailed my mom some PDFs of my invitation drafts, which included the ceremony card and reception card. She commented that our names were awfully large and she didn't know what "twirling and swirling to follow" meant.

Well. I take it quite personally whenever this lady criticizes me (huge character flaw, I get it). But when she dislikes my print design, holy moly.

If someone doesn't get twirling and swirling, they can look at the next card and realize there's a reception following the ceremony! And if someone is offended by 20 pt names, well, why would anyone be offended by 20 pt names?

Sure, I could just give in and print "reception to follow" and make our names teensy because they're too obnoxious or whatever. BUT I DON'T WANT TO.

I have this thing called a vision. Maybe it seems a little wacky to my parents, but I PROMISE once things are printed they would get it.

Old people.

oh pretty



Just because I think blogs are evil doesn't mean I'm going to stop. This is so stupidly lovely. I wonder if she does collaborations.. 

wedding blogs

I've finally realized something: wedding blogs are evil.

They're self-perpetuating cesspools of self-doubt and self-consciousness. We pull from our google searches images of "real weddings" worthy of magazine spreads that we use as inspiration for our weddings. Then after surrounding ourselves with these carefully cropped and curated images, we feel pressured to make our weddings look like the magazines. Not only that, we have to be even more creative, or attempt to be, because we can't just straight up copy shit. We think about detail shots.

Oh, detail shots. Perhaps the most evil thing to come out of wedding blogs. You need detail shots because you just spent the last 16 weekends making tissue poms, garlands, headpieces, galoshes from yarn, freaking everything for your wedding and you want to document it. And then you post your detail shots, making every bride reading your blog feel pretty worthless for not having the ingenuity and gumption to harvest the cruelty free yarn and darn their own brightly colored booties for the one picture where she holds up her dress.

You have to have that picture, otherwise you just dropped $500 bucks on your Loubs for really no reason, because no one can see your silly shoes.

And that is the cruelty of wedding blogs. At least wedding magazines have the decency to fill their pages with photo shoots, obviously fake and unattainable. Even their real weddings are the products of former Martha Stewart editors getting married, so really, no guilt there. But what wedding blogs do is say these perfectly detailed weddings are possible and attainable -- which is such a bitch move.

From my very unscientific experience reading wedding blogs, the brides that crash and burn (i.e. have a miserable wedding day) are the ones that DIYed it to the teeth and carefully controlled every aspect of the wedding. I also think the happiest wedding day brides are destination weddings -- they have so little control going in that they seem to just take it all in, imperfections and all.

I'm sure there are DIY brides that are happy with their wedding day. And I will continue on my merry way, feeling compelled to make shit. But maybe, just maybe, this indie bride scene is just as toxic as the mass market weddings peddled on TLC.

So I'm sticking with two mantras: my wedding is not a photoshoot and no ideas are new. My guests don't read wedding blogs. Everything I do will be AMAZING to them. The vendors can suck it if they've seen it all a million times before. I am paying those bitches, after all.

What are you doing today that makes other brides feel lazy, style-starved, or otherwise crappy about themselves?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

a few words about fonts

I wanted to share a little bit about my program design because I love it lots and it only took a few minutes. The critical part for all of my paper products is the font.

I chose Leitura Display, a professional font set. For $50 I got three full fonts (including glyphs) and it makes all the difference in the world. Free fonts are awesome for novelty usage, like signs or labels, but become less than optimal while designing a full suite. For instance, a free font I tried had no apostrophe. That's trouble.

So I bought Leitura knowing I'd have some options - a solid serif and a cool novelty set.

I'm sticking with my one font family for consistency, but you can successfully mix two fonts without making your print products look like a jumbled mess. I'm always in favor of a sans serif and serif pairing and indeed my favorite one ever is Century Gothic and Garamond.

 
They're both extremely well-designed fonts standard on most computers. I highly encourage you using them if you're designing any of your paper products at home and can't invest in a professional font. 
 

the ceremony program

I've drafted our ceremony program - perhaps you'd care for a peek.

I have a slight advantage here. I designed the English department programs when I graduated from college, so I have plenty of experience grappling with the intricacies of creating programs from letter-sized paper.

Okay, they're not really intricacies. But I have a pretty strong aesthetic, regardless. And I had really really great inspiration to rip off:

 

I'm also lucky because my officiant recently sent me an outline for the wedding. We discussed some changes, but I have at least a general idea. With that, I was able to create the interior pages too.


Here you can see I have the second page with our names, and then the inside with the major players and the order of events. White space is just my thing. Also, just noticed the date is wrong. 2009? Heck yes I'm a time traveler..

I won't be printing these for a few months still, but I do have in mind my binding method.

This tutorial was on 100 Layer Cake recently. Threading 50 programs does not seem so taxing and it's absolutely an adorable touch. I won't be using letterpressed paper, but I will be springing for Crane paper.

Designing these things ahead of time is critical for me. I have huge procrastination problems, so the more steps I can complete now, the better. How do you deal with a mounting pile of DIY ideas? Start now or later?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

envelope inspiration

I know, I haven't exactly completed my save the dates and yet I'm working on my invitations. I have a pathetic attention span.

I've known my envelopes would be aqua for ages.

That's from love jenna calligraphy and it's beyond lovely and inspiring.

So then I also knew I wanted the liner to be something graphic and bold because the invitations themselves are going to be completely unadorned.

 
I love love love a chevron pattern. I would be so damn excited to open an invitation that was aqua on the outside with hot pink zig zags inside!

Do you get ahead of yourself in your planning?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

prettifying the reception

As mentioned earlier, my reception space is pretty blah. One of my strategies to combat this is having 1 long banquet table, to create a prominent focal point.

This gives me an easy opportunity with the florals: instead of equally-sized centerpieces like the ones pictured above, I can have large and small and still create an impact.


The goal is too really draw the eye down to the table. The room is large - too large - for my 50 person reception, so the amount of "empty" space is going to be massive. In addition to the center area, where we'll have the table and dance floor, there's a whole upper level with a railing circling the entire room. The caterer suggested setting up food stations in these areas, but even so, I want most of the focus on a beautiful table.

I saw this in the summer issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. I loved the throwback feel but more importantly, another trick to bring the eye down. I'm still waiting to find out how or if I can hang things in our room, but if it's possible, I'd like to include these paper orbs, from Bulk Party Supplies. The effect would be something like this, from Style Me Pretty.

 
Finally, I want a photo-worthy section. While I'm toying with polaroids (which would ultimately be another post), I do want a natural spot guests gravitate to for pictures, preferably near the dance floor. How marvelous would this be?

The streamers are 12 feet long each and come in a pack of 12, so I think I would only need to buy two or three colors to cover A TON of wall. Ideally it'll cover an area that's a bit of an eyesore, perhaps the mini-stage.. Ew, mini-stage.

So those are my current decor plans for the reception venue, surely to be revised constantly.



Friday, November 20, 2009

party party oh my



I was catching up on my blogs after work today and came across these images. Holy moly how fabulous?? It's apparently a collaboration between Urban Outfitters and Confetti System. I thought I was going to DIY garland, but those are so enticing.

I haven't found any prices yet, but I will be investigating this!