non-wedding weekend.

This weekend, the fiance and I will not be doing anything wedding related! That's right, it's the first non-wedding weekend we've had, probably since we've been engaged. Instead of obsessing over the perfect shade of purple, we'll be visiting with friends on the other side of the lake and drinking some delicious beer. Oh yeah, and trying to keep warm since we'll be outside all day. Gotta love Michigan and their love of beer and outdoor festivals in the middle of winter.

I'll leave you with another cute reading, found on A Practical Wedding:

From I LIKE YOU--Sandol Stoddard Warburg

And I like you because when I am feeling sad, you don't always cheer me up right away. Sometimes it is better to be sad.
You can't stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute.
You want to think about things.
It takes time.

I like you because if I am mad at you, then you are mad at me too.
It's awful when the other person isn't. Phooey.
They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose.

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up, then you are really sorry.
You don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that.
You say, "maybe it was something you ate."
You say, "same thing happened to me one time."
And the same thing did.

If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one.
If I find four, I give you two.
If we only find three, we keep on looking.

Sometimes we have good luck and sometimes we don't.

If I break my arm and if you break your arm too, then it is fun to have a broken arm.
I tell you about mine; you tell me about yours.
We are both sorry.
We write our names and draw pictures.
We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

do me a favor.

Will someone please make 325 mini cardamom cakes for my wedding favors? Even mini bundt cakes like this one on Style Me Pretty would do.

I think people might think I'm crazy for taking on this project. Good thing my mom and future-mom have graciously volunteered to put their ovens to use and help me with my baking extravaganza!

Let's do some calculations shall we? 325 cakes divided by six cakes per pan = ~55 pans. Since we can fit two pans per oven at a time, that is ~27 batches. With three ovens, we each have to make 9 batches of cakes. That actually doesn't seem too bad if you ask me. Hopefully the moms will agree!

As far as packaging goes, I would love to buy some clear boxes so the lovely little cakes can be on display at each place setting. I'm not sure exactly what size box I'll need just yet, probably around 3x3x3. Clear boxes at Uline are $93 for 200, so I would need 2 boxes, which would cost $186. Seems a bit pricey to me.

A more affordable option would be these pinstripe kraft boxes, which are $14 per 100. Buying 400 of these would only cost me $56. That sounds much more reasonable, don't you think? I can add a pretty ribbon and a little thank you tag and everyone would have a little surprise waiting for them at their seat! Add a name to each card and I've got my seating cards.

This has been a very productive little brainstorming session, now hasn't it?

pretty programs.

I thought I was finished blogging for the night but these programs from Style Me Pretty are just too pretty not to post. Letterpressed programs? I can only dream. But I can add some ribbon.

Programs by Bella Figura via SMP. Photo by The Time Photography.

ceremony thoughts.

Not having the ceremony planned yet is stressing me out. A lot. Luckily, I'm going to our little Italian church in MI next weekend to figure it out.

Note to self: Take pictures of the inside of the church while you are there to figure out what is needed in terms of decorations and flowers.

On a related topic, I came across this reading tonight on With This Ring, I Thee Obsess. I'm doubt we're allowed to do any readings at our wedding that aren't written in the Bible, but I thought I'd pass it along to those of you who can choose whatever readings you would like...

An excerpt of What Are You Doing the Rest Of Your Life?, by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

I want to see your face in every kind of light
In fields of dawn and forests of the night
And when you stand before the candles on a cake
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make
What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and South and East and West of your life
I have only one request of your life
That you spend it all with me

Does anyone have any other suggestions for readings? Any help would be much appreciated.

tealights on the cheap.

I've been on the lookout for affordable tealights to add to the tables at our reception. A set of 24 of these from Save On Crafts costs $8.64. That's only 34 cents each!

I think we might put some on the cocktail tables with some button mums in them. See how cute they look with flowers?

While you're there, Save On Crafts has a ton of other affordable supplies for weddings, so be sure to look around!

cherry and lime.

I've come up with an inspiration board for our winner, Caitlin from Think Happy Thoughts. Here's how Caitlin described her wedding vision:

Its in October in Destin, Florida. The ceremony is on the beach, reception at a culinary center. Our colors are reds (cherry, apple) and greens (pistachio, lime, pale), khaki, ivory, white. If you look at my blog you can see some inspiration boards I've liked in the past but none suit me! I don't want to overdo starfish and sand dollars - so we'll stick w simple tea lights, ribbons, floating flowers, glass vases for decorations. My fiance loves star gazer lilies and I have to find a way to incorporate them wout having a bunch of pink. Ummmm, bridesmaids r in red, boys in linen khaki and prbly light green button ups. My dress is ivory and has a train, strapless, and ivy beaded detailing on the bodice. I love green ivy as a pattern. I don't know if I'm helping at all. I envision a simple, clean, but unique reception.

Here's the board.
I'm thinking it would be cool to have long banquet tables, alternating red tables and green tables, both with tablecloths made of linen. Only the flowers and napkins would give the pop of color on each table. Clean stripe designs on the favor packaging, invitation suite and cake would mimic the long stripes of the banquet tables. Even the stargazer lilies in Caitlin's bouquet are striped! Add in some circles with the cherries, tissue pomander arrangements and the escort cards, which are posted on a board covered in linen. A floral or damask pattern with clean lines could be used in some of the napkins and the escort card circles, along with a pretty laser cut curtain to complete the modern look. And there are no sand dollars to be found!

I hope this board makes your wedding vision a little clearer Caitlin! Enjoy!

diy project: ring pillows.

Tonight I made my ring pillows! They turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. Here's a tutorial in case any of you other brides out there feel like taking on yet another crafty project.

You will need:

Two 8" x 8" square pieces of the fabric of your choice (I used teal taffeta)

Scissors or a rotary cutter and self-healing mat

Ruler

Needle and coordinating thread

Sewing machine

Stuffing (I used Polyfill)

One DIY flower (or more if you like)

Instructions:

1. Cut two 8" x 8" squares from your fabric.

2. Pin right-sides of squares together on all sides.3. Machine sew around edges of square using a 5/8" seam allowance, leaving about a 3" opening on one of the sides for turning. 4. Sew box pleats on all four sides, 1" from each corner. (You may omit this step if you want a regular pillow with pointy corners). To do this, pinch the fabric near a corner to separate the two layers. Match up the seam to ensure your pleats will align. Fold seam allowance to each side and pin into place. A trick that I use to get the seams to match up perfectly is to stick a pin through the seam at the 1" mark, making sure it goes through the seam on each side. Place a pin through all layers of fabric slightly higher than this mark and slightly lower than this mark. Machine sew perpendicular to the seam allowance at the 1" mark.

When finished, cut the excess fabric about 1/4" from the new seam. Repeat on the remaining three sides.

5. Turn pillow right-side out through the opening in the side. This is what your box pleats should look like after turning.

6. Fill pillow with stuffing. To avoid lumps, separate stuffing into tiny pieces before filling pillow. Make sure you fill the corners and the sides adequately, and try to smooth out the pillow before you move on to the next step. It is a lot harder to get the lumps out once the pillow is sewn shut!

7. When pillow is adequately stuffed, slip stitch the opening closed.

8. Your pillow is finished! Now let's make it pretty!

9. Take your DIY flower and place it on the top of the pillow where you would like it to be located. Tie a double strand of thread on your needle and start tacking down the flower. It's easiest if you fold the petals over at first and start by securing the base of the flower to the pillow. Then you can tack down a few of the bottom petals so it doesn't move around as much. When you think it is secure, tie a knot in your thread and trim the ends. Arrange the petals of the flower how you would like it to look.

10. You're finished. Admire your pretty new ring pillow!

Note: You can also sew a ribbon into the center of the flower or underneath the flower in order to tie your rings (fake rings of course) onto the pillow.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! As always, let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to help you!

All photos are my own.

winner winner chicken dinner.

We have a winner! The lovely Caitlin will be receiving a custom inspiration board! Congrats Caitlin and I'll be emailing you to get more information about your wedding vision!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Have a fantastic weekend!

we are going.

We're off to GB in T minus 2 hours. My g-ma is excited to order pizzas and visit tonight. Tomorrow I'm not sure what we'll do, probably just visit with my cousins, it's been awhile. We will be meeting with someone from a rental place on Sunday to see what they have. They have some pictures on their website, so from what I know right now, this is what I'm contemplating...

Which is better, ivory china with a gold rim that doesn't really go with the color scheme, but is $0.14 per plate cheaper?
Or white china that matches the color scheme but I don't really like the pattern and costs $0.14 more?
Which is better, using the ugly brown folding chairs that the armory provides and spending $1.75 for a chair cover and sash that we then have to put on 325 chairs?

Or renting white wooden folding chairs, transporting them to the venue and tying a ribbon on the back for the same price?
Please help.

On another note, I'll be picking a winner of the custom inspiration board on the trip. I'll post the winner from the car!

Photos from here.

should we stay or should we go.

Adam and I are contemplating going north for the weekend to Packerland (that is Green Bay, WI for those non-midwesterners). We NEED to figure out where we're going to get our rental items for the wedding, or everyone will be using paper plates. Classy. So this is somewhat of an impromptu trip, our plans for the weekend fell through so we decided we'd do something productive instead. The only problem is out of the two rental places I found, one of them cannot meet on Saturday and the other hasn't gotten back to me yet. So do I pack or not? I suppose I should, since my grandmother is excited that we're going to come visit. But will it be a productive trip if we can't meet with anyone? Not so much. I guess we'll figure it out before tomorrow after work when we have to start driving!

If we do end up finding rental items, I can guarantee they will not measure up to this gorgeous tablescape that Amanda from In The Now Weddings posted on Elizabeth Anne Designs today. If I had seen it earlier in the planning process, I think I would have reconsidered our color scheme.
Photos from Amanda on EAD.

a proposal.

My last post reminded me that I don't think I've ever discussed how I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding. When Adam and I got engaged, I decided I wanted to ask the girls in a special way. Since the girls are spread out all over the place, I knew I couldn't take them out to lunch or anything like that. And I didn't want to just ask them over the phone. So sending something was the most logical option. But what would I send them? After searching the internet for original ways to ask them (I had not discovered the world of wedding blogging just yet) I came across a cute, yet slightly cheesy poem: "Roses are red, violets are blue, will you be my bridesmaid? Please say I do!". This sparked an idea...I should "propose" to them! So I searched and searched and searched (for weeks) for a pretty yet affordable ring that they would all like. It was torture for those few weeks not to ask them when I saw one of them (like everyday at lunch) or talked to one of them on the phone! Finally I came across this ring on Overstock and knew it was the one!

While waiting for the rings to arrive, I made each of them a card with the poem on it and a little (not too mushy) note to each of them.

Here's a closeup of the flowers. I cut little triangles out of cardstock with an exacto knife and glued them on in layers. I added a little piece of satin ribbon around the stems.

Here's a closeup of the dress. I cut it with the exacto as well and added a satin sash to dress it up a bit.I think I've seen every one of them with the ring on, so I think they liked their gift! Either that or they only wear it when I'm around! Overall, I was happy that I kept it a secret until I found the perfect way to ask!

Anyone else ask their bridesmaids to stand by their side in a creative way?

All photos are my own.

vintage jewelry.

I discovered Doyle & Doyle's website tonight and I am in love. I have always loved vintage jewelry, I think it is so cool to be wearing something that someone else wore before you, whether it be your grandmother's wedding ring or something found at an antique shop. Doyle & Doyle is a company that sells vintage jewelry and you can shop online! I looked through all of their rings (we are still undecided on our wedding rings) and found a ton of gorgeous pieces to show you!

Here are some that could have potential as wedding bands.

I'd love to have either of these as a right-hand ring!
And really, who could ever say no if the guy they loved got down on one knee with this one:
Gorgeous!

And for the guys...

Go there now and look for yourself!

a mediterranean cruise.

We booked our honeymoon today! On Sept. 6 we will be leaving on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise! I can't wait!