60 Days Left!!

I called our venue today to check when the final amount of payment was due and he said:

"Sixty days before your wedding date...Oh, I guess that's today."

Holy Crap.

While I have gotten all of the major stuff booked, there is still a LOT left.  Instead of shrinking, my to-do list has been growing.  List items have been reproducing like bunnies.  Though at this point, I think that I may prefer the 50 bunnies instead...They're so soft...

My mom and I have done a lot of DIY shit for this wedding including: 

• my dress and veil (not done yet) 
• the bridesmaids' gifts, headpieces and sashes
• all the favors
• the flower girl basket & ring bearer pillow 
• the invitations! (all of them)

And yet, suicidally, we still have plans to make more stuff including tags for the favors, place cards for those getting a reserved seat, and a few centerpiece items. Also, I decided that I hated all of the flower girl dresses I saw online.  They were either too froofy, or poofy, or stripperish or white.  If you check out my Pinterest board you will see how many styles I thought about. In the end, my mom committed to making that too (as well as a dress for her doll).  This is the style I picked but in a plum color with a green sash and flower.

And also, we have to make more bubble solution.  See, we thought we were being all thrifty by buying them for 70% off but it seems that 2/3 of the tubes are dried out and sticky and the other 1/3 are not 100% full.  But, that's not a big deal b/c the cost of the bubbles has always been the tubes anyway seeing how bubble solution is, like, soap and water.  Here's a page full o' 3-ingredient recipes.  I would call this page Bubbleopolis.   In addition to that, we have to do this to all the bubbles: 

I don't know why this picture is sideways.  The one I uploaded was straight, I tell ya! (that's what she said.)

 and the list goes on...

I would like to talk more about my thoughts and the progress of my wedding, but honestly all I can say is that it's exhausting and expensive and overwhelming.  The Knot isn't really helping with planning things...what I need is someone like Tony Stark's Jarvis (that's going to paint me as a huge nerd).  As you can see from my 1 post a month, blogging about your wedding planning is actually kind of impossible to do DURING the wedding planning.  It's not that I don't have anything to talk about but that I just don't have time to blog and when I do have time (like now) I have so much to write about that nothing really flows easily.  And also, posts take a long time to write and probably no one cares enough to get through them.

So in the interest in brevity I'll just say "holy crap I'm stressed out!" And hope that I post more than once a month.

P.S. Don't watch What Boys Like.  Terrible, vulgar, man-humor involving bloody road kill, nipple piercings, unrealistic skin stretching, raunchy strippers, death by sex and accidental bestiality. 

♥

DIY** Brides - Come see!

I've decided to make A LOT of stuff for the wedding, partially to save money and partially to make stuff that's exactly what I want.  Because you see...While it's possible to get the "perfect wedding" with no more effort than dialing some numbers on your phone, you will have to pay out the ass for such a luxury.  Sure, lots of companies customize stuff to your tastes, but a non-mass produced item will take more time and supplies (no fault of the craftsmen and women, I'm sure they do great work it's just..) Well, my time isn't worth that much, so being a DIY bride is a great answer. Plus, I can choose how I get my supplies and I can do so at the very lowest cost possible.

(**For those  who are not blog-a-holics like me, DIY means "Do It Yourself")

The finished headpieces. Unfortunately, the purple doesn't show up so well
on the black background.  The flower girl headband is there too.

Over the weekend Mom and I started on our Mega Wedding Crafts.  (It's "mega" because we need 9 BrMs' headpieces, 9 BrMs' necklaces, 9 BrMs' sashes, my veil, ring pillow, flower basket, head thing for the flower girl, decorations, signs, maps, invites.....and the list goes on).  However, if we can have a few weekends like this last one, we will get it all done in no time!

The first thing we worked on were the BrM's headpieces.  It probably cost around $20 for all the materials and we didn't even use up everything.  I did burn myself a couple of times with hot glue melted at the "nuclear" setting, but as they say:  "No pain, no wedding." Do people say that? Well, if they don't, they should!

The Burn. I had a worse on on the corner tip of my right index finger
that hurt a lot more but didn't photograph well.

What you'll need per headpiece:

1 Barette
Colored feathers
Small "Silk" Leaves & Roses
Any Color Felt
Hot Glue Gun




1). Cut an oval out of the felt that roughly matches your barette.  I used the shape of a Goody "ouchless" barette from the super market ( $3.99 for 2).  However, for most of the others I ended up using another kind  that was more rectangular, b/c they were cheaper and worked just as well.

2. Glue gun all over the felt (sounds dirty ,doesn't it?) and place the feathers in a circle trying to cover the whole felt.  Don't worry if you can't get it all b/c the rest of the stuff you add will ensure the felt is covered.  Do this with all colors desired, adding glue as needed (but careful!  It gets hot! Remember my pain).  Make sure to have the "curve" of the feather all pointing the same way otherwise it doesn't seem to lie flat.

My mom got the feathers from a fly-fishing store for ~$3/pkg (x3 colors for me: purple, green, gray), but you can get them at a craft store as well.

3). For leaves and flowers, you can find them at your local Craft Store (wedding section) for $4-$10/pkg  which gives you a lot. Also, look for coupons because I know places like Michael's and JoAnn fabrics have them frequently.  Use a wire cutter to cut the stems off the leaves and flowers. Sometimes they're sold in bunches with paper holding the stems together, so you have to rip them apart first.  I glued two different colors of leaves together for added depth, but 1 color is good too.  Add leaves in a triangle in the center of your feather circle.

4). At this point I kind of cheated because Mom knows how to tie flies so she took some pheasant feather strings and tied them together with the other feathers to give it an added layer of color and texture.  However, you could probably add more small feathers for the same effect.

5). Glue roses in the center of the leaves.  Make sure to use some glue to stick the flowers to each other for stability.

6). Wait for them to be pretty dry then glue onto the barrette. Once they are all the way dry, bend the leaves up a bit for a more 3D look that makes your flowers look not so "out there".

The finished green one

These can be worn off to the side or in the back, I may let the girls decide. I'm probably also going to put a little bit of colored birdcage netting on a hair comb to turn it into a '50s-style "hat", though I don't really know how that will work yet.

Another shoe post: For The Bridesmaids

Lately the bridesmaids have been asking me what kind of shoes they should wear for the wedding. I thought about just picking one style and making everyone wear it, but let's face it...everyone's feet are different and their height and cost preferences also differ.

The Basic Nude Pump:

$78.95 in patent leather by Nine West (also comes in natural leather).

The general idea is that I want a tan/beige/nude peeptoe or pump heeled shoe. No flats (except for the one who is pregnant since that would just be mean) but chunky heel, stiletto, wedge, and in-between are all OK. So here are some examples of what I want the BrMs to wear.

The Wedge, in Leather:

$89 by Franco Sarto.

The Almost-Wedge, in Suede:

These are a little pricey ($235) but oh so pretty by For All Mankind.

The Peeptoe:

$44.97 Nine West from Piperlime (only available in the higher sizes)

The Mary Jane Pump for added security:

$29.40 Bamboo Luscious

Another Peeptoe Pump with open sides:

$66.98 from Guess

And a Flat:

(Note: I do not love flats. For me personally I have a hard time fitting them correctly and most of them are too flat. Also, I just don't think they're as cute as heels, and they pretty much make everyone's legs look stumpy. Though if you're a taller girl, I totally understand the draw to flats.)

$49.99 from ModCloth

I love shoes so much, I could go on but I will save you boredom. So as you can see there are a variety of "nudes" that are acceptable from brownish to pinkish to whitish. And I honestly don't care as long as the shoe follows the general form.

I have linked the sites to each shoe in the picture caption. Other good sites to look at are: 

Endless

Piperlime

Zappos

Modcloth

Nordstrom

Macy's

And if you're not sure of something, please ask before you buy.  Happy shopping!

Wedding Fashion - an industry in itself.

Well, I haven't posted in a while...I'd like to use the excuse that not a lot of wedding stuff has happened in the last month but actually the opposite is true. A TON of wedding stuff has happened but I have not had the time (or energy) to post about it. Though in all fairness some stuff was, and is still, not quite decided upon.

First things first...Do you remember in my last post how I said I'd found my wedding shoes?

Well I was wrong. While these shoes are gorgeous they have two drawbacks:

1). The back slips off if I walk too much (like from 1 side of my living room to the other). This *might* be fixable with ball of the foot pads to push my foot back a little but that's a gamble. And...

2). They're not these shoes:

These shoes may make their debut at Christmas. Stay Tuned.

The photo that I grabbed off of Nordstrom's website doesn't do them justice. They are purple Enzo Angiolini "Thaddea", 5'' (with a 1'' platform) peep-toes which are surprisingly comfortable and made of real leather. *Droooooool* Unfortunately, they were neither free nor cheap, but were actually exactly the budgeted price I had for wedding shoes - $110. Now, if you count the green reception shoes and the flip flops, that makes my total wedding shoe expenditure about $165. But hey, unlike a lot of other things about the wedding, the shoes are an investment for life. Most men and a lot of women still probably won't understand this, but those of you that do...you know. ;-) 

And y'all had thought I'd already found the perfect shoes....

My phone didn't capture the purple very well so I messed with the colors to make it look more vintage-y. 

Next, I'm happy to say that I have chosen bridesmaid dresses!  Some of the bridesmaids and I decided somewhat last minute to go to David's Bridal one day. I ended up choosing two styles because one of the styles was being discontinued and on sale for like $35.00 (Style B). Unfortunately, not everyone can wear that style because of certain future plans and living distance. So the second style (style A) is normal priced $90 (though the website says $99) or so but will still be able to be bought. The discontinued one is now only available in "honeydew" sizes 2, 4 and 20s - And now it's only $29.00.  But who wants to wear "honeydew" anyway?!

Unfortunately, both dresses didn't carry the purple that I wanted:

Style A in "Plum"

We briefly discussed using this purple for the girls on my side (7 of them, 1 out of town & one needing above style) and a green for the girls on Math's side (2 of them, both out of town). But I actually didn't like any of the green options that either style came in. Also I thought it would be a pretty unflattering color on anyone.

Style A in "Clover"

So I decided on black for both styles. Since the fabric is the same, the dresses will match nicely, though the above style will need to be shortened for sure. Another upside about black is that everyone will definitely be able to wear them again! Also since each dress is probably going to need to be altered since both styles are so fitted, that means that each girl will have a really sexy custom black dress. *ow ow* To add some color, my mom and I (and possibly one of my awesome bridesmaids) are going to make taffeta sashes in Plum and Chartreuse.

Style B. This color, "Pistachio", is the only color advertised on the site. Yuck.

Lastly, I went to a bridal show a few weeks ago and started talking to Al's Formal Wear people about Tuxedos.  I managed to get $50 off each tuxedo rental for a $10 deposit. That's 50x9 = $450 total off! Now we're not paying for the guys' rentals, just like we're not paying for the girls' dresses but still that's a significant savings for each dude. Plus, we get the groom's free with 5 rentals! That part definitely does save us money!

Al's has a cool tuxedo creator here: http://www.alsformalwear.com/byt-page.asp where I made these two lovely styles:

One word: TAILS!!! And Oxfords or whatever they're called...how awesome is that? I'm thinking...matching pocket squares? We're going to set up an appointment on Sunday to get Math measured and look more. Excited!!

Phew, fashion is fun but exhausting.