Some Assembly Required

I found this flowchart on another wedding blog last week. It is an absolute MUST for any DIY-er bride. I cannot tell you how many projects I have seen on inspiration websites that I would love to do, but after putting it through the flowchart test, I have come to the realization that it would be a full-time job for the next 403 to do it all! I am still tackling quite a number of projects, but with the help of this chart I feel fully capable of doing them all (without going insane)!

The Great Centerpiece Debate

*sigh*...my mother is either going to kill me or love me for this one...



Here is what our centerpieces look like at this moment. I love the rustic lantern look. I love that we can reuse the lanterns later. My favorite idea from the florist pertains to this centerpiece (she had suggested surrounding the lantern with a wreath of greens, filled with grapes and pomegranates). I love how it adds a bit of manliness to an otherwise girly-filled day of lace and flowers.

However....

I found a new vintage wedding inspiration website this morning.

www.elizabethanndesigns.com

A lovely website full of DIY ideas to add vintage touches to your special day. It was while sifting through project ideas that I found this:



And fell in love.

It is basically a floral centerpiece, but it adds in the non-floral vintage touches that I have been searching for. Antique picture frames and candlelight add a romantic touch to an otherwise run-of-the-mill centerpiece. I love the addition of the cake stands for added height as well.

Here is a view from the top for better viewing:



The bride chose to surround the candles with lace. This is a must for me, as we have a bit of a lace theme with the doily cones, antique frames, and probably more to come as time goes on.



It is a bit "busy", but then, so are antique shops. It's part of the small-town charm. It is what we grew up with, and I love it.

Boxes of Cards

This is something I had completely forgotten about. Where on earth are people going to put cards for us? There are so many options! Baskets, boxes, 3-tier faux wedding cakes...where does one begin?

The purpose. All it needs to be is something that will hold cards from our guests. It can either be purchased from a seller on etsy (such as the photo at the top), or we can add it to the ever-growing DIY list of projects. While it seems like a fun addition, do I really want to take on a project like this? It's something that I would really like to look perfect, and I'm not sure I trust myself enough to do that good a job on it. Especially with all the other more important things I need to be focusing on (like the invitations!)

If we are going to purchase a card box, I would really like for it to be something we can use in the following years. I would hate to spend $75-$100 on something that I will never use again! This brings us to the many different options we have for appearance...

The photo at the top features the most simplistic looking one. This is from a seller on etsy, with a price tag of $69 plus shipping. What I really like is that it does not open without a great deal of effort, and it is closed at the top, making it difficult for hotel guests who are not involved in the wedding to help themselves. I'm not sure how necessary that is though, with the gift table located inside the ballroom.



Another option is the birdcage. This is increasingly becoming a popular option among modern brides. At first glance, I wasn't entirely crazy about this idea. But the more I look, the more I find myself liking it. But again, it is not something I would see us using in the future.



Here is an option I am loving from Pottery Barn. The red footed bowl at the top of the photo is from their fall harvest collection, so I feel it is only going to be available for a short period of time. It has a price tag of $59, but is something we could easily reuse, either to showcase fresh flowers, or fall fruits. It is something different, and I am fairly certain not too many other brides have done something like this before.



Here is yet another option. Not necessarily this exact one, but it is an idea. It is meant to look like a wedding cake. This is the DIY option. Hopefully this shows you why I am so apprehensive toward taking this on! It seems like the cheaper option, but is it really? By the time all the supplies are purchased, I probably will have spent about $50, making the first option look very tempting!



Or, we can stick with something simple like this. I actually like this option the most, and it is definitely something we would reuse, I just wish it were more modern looking, and less country. This is an option I'll need to look more closely into.

What I would really like is to start searching local antique stores for a vintage basket that is not so "rustic" looking, since the rest of the wedding doesn't have that feel to it.

I'd love to see photos of what other Otesaga brides have done. Perhaps that is something Brooke Tallman (our wedding planner) can produce for me.

So much to think about!

Weekend Events

Engagement photos have come and gone. What an adventure that was! We had planned on meeting the photographer at Brookwood Gardens in Cooperstown, and of course there was a wedding that morning! So...on to location #2...Fairy Springs. And to top it off, it was beginning to rain! We used my dad's umbrella that he bought when we lived in London, so it was a very classy umbrella, but we'll definitely need to invest in a colorful, classy umbrella for the wedding (just in case, of course).

It was very cute and woodsy, with docks along the water's edge. We were able to snap some photos of us with the Otesaga in the background as well, so I'm especially hoping those turn out well! I'd really like to use one of them for the save the date! He said there were about 25 good shots in there, and once he's photoshopped them I'm sure they'll look even better!

We also had our meeting with the florist! I'm getting my hot pink bouquet of english roses, and we're going to have to keep thinking about the bridesmaid bouquets...we all loved her ideas for my centerpiece vision, and am very excited to see what she comes up with for the mock-up this October!

The real planning has begun!

Engagement Photos, YIKES!

On the docket for this weekend: meet with the florist, and take the engagement photos! We've had a LOT on our minds this week with my health and had almost completely forgot about the photos! My second cyst finally decided he had had enough and burst on Monday. I've been in bed ever since (today is the first day I'm sitting up!)

So....flower ideas....here we go!

Have I talked about this before? I'd like a pink bouquet like this one:



And then the bridesmaids would carry mini bouquets of white ones, like this:



With the Maid of Honor carrying a bouquet of a bit more color. I like the colors in this bouquet, although I do not like the look of the bouquet as a whole....



I think the maid of honor should have a seperate bouquet from the rest of the girls. I've seen weddings where they all have the same one, but that doesn't seem to celebrate her enough. Her job is tough. I'm sure Talita is already quite sick of my weekly emails (and the crazy phone call she's going to get from me tonight when I "simply don't have a thing to wear" for my engagement photos this weekend! She has to help plan the shower as well as the bachelorette party, and then be the one to sign our marriage certificate along with the best man! The least I could do is give her a slightly bigger bouquet! I love the color combination of the one above. It gives it a slightly vintage feel, while still keeping it modern, which after all, is the idea behind the theme! Plus, it coordinates perfectly with her chocolate brown dress!

Now...I know these bouquets do not follow tradition. I understand the Bride is traditionally supposed to carry white, and the bridesmaids colored bouquets. But as Matt said, "what? that's stupid, you have to have a pink bouquet. you ARE pink" (haha)
Also, I thought the photos would look a little silly with the bride with a white bouquet and the bridesmaids in the same pink dress as their bouquets. Why spend all this money on flowers to have them blend in to the dresses? Additionally, it is an excellent way to tie in the modern feel.

We'll see what happens at the florist tomorrow!

14 Months To Go!

I just received my 14 month email from TheKnot.com!! Only 426 more days to go...but who's counting? ;-)

According to the knot, my goal for this month is to order the Save The Dates. This should be easily accomplished, with the engagement photos being taken this weekend!

We both really wanted to do Save-the-Date magnets. Postcards are cute, but are quickly lost in piles of paper or accidentally thrown away. However, we had a friend send us a magnet for their wedding, and it was prominently displayed on our fridge for the next 6 months! I had never met the couple, but never thought of taking it down. I have heard the same from other friends, who kept these on their fridges for months on end!

But...where to order these so important announcements? Magnetstreet? Vistaprint? These are the two that I constantly hear other brides suggest for this purpose. Other online stationers also do them, such as weddingpaperdivas, invitations by dawn, exclusively weddings, hello ducky, and the green kangaroo! With so many options, where should I begin?

An idea. I would like champagne colored magnets with chocolate brown font, and our names enlarged in a bright pink font. We are planning on using one of our engagement photos for these magnets, and this is where we will tie in our wedding colors. I will be wearing a bright pink shirt, and Matt a chocolate brown!

Colors. And style. These are two items that I am pretty picky about. I have a certain theme and color scheme in my head, and so far have been pretty unsuccessful with finding a ready-made magnet that fits my idea. Magnetstreet is the only place I have looked at thus far that allows its users full editing access of any magnet. I love that I can change font type, size, color, magnet color, background color, etc etc etc. The site also provides coordinating address labels, which I am pretty excited about! Although I do plan on handwriting the recipients' address in calligraphy on each envelope myself (an entirely too large project that I am giving myself two months to complete so as not to interfere with my schoolwork), I am NOT in any way, shape, or form looking forward to writing, and rewriting, and rewriting our return address! It is definitely worth the extra 10c per envelope!

How many do I get? We have a guest list, but I'm not sure how many seperate addresses there are with each one. I guess that's something I will have to wait with until the end of August, when all the address lists will come together! Not much longer!!

The Ring Bearer

I've always thought it was strange that the ring bearer brought the rings down the aisle on a pillow. What is the purpose? The rings aren't going to bed. No one is going to use the pillow afterwards, it's too small! Why a pillow? Who thought of this idea first?

Well, being the research librarian I am, I needed to find this out. And so I did.

The tradition actually comes from ancient Egypt, where jewelry was displayed on ornamental pillows. When Europeans came to Egypt they saw this and took the idea back with them. As the exchange of rings became popular at weddings, the idea of the ring bearer (and pillow) were born.

I'm not one to do something just for the sake of tradition, unless of course it's a family tradition that has been done for generations. In this case, it's not.

I saw the book idea in my Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, and instantly fell in love. The idea is to take a blank journal and print a cover of a classic book, so the journal looks like a book and in turn no actual books are ruined. A small hole is cut into the pages of the journal to place the rings in for safe keeping.

We thought it would be nice to use a book written by a local author. We instantly thought of James Fenimore Cooper. Last of the Mohicans may not be a very romantic, wedding-related story, but it was one of my dad's favorites, and Matthew loves the story as well!

This idea is of course contigent upon actually having a ring bearer, so this may become a last minute project. But it is one I am looking forward to.

A Little Weeknight Inspiration

My nightly project from The Knot. Incredibly excited by the pink and brown!

Side note: chair sashes are something I am considering, only for the bride and groom chair at the reception. This is of course only if the chairs provided by The Otesaga will allow for the look. The chairs may look better on their own, but I would like something cutesy to seperate our chairs from all the others. Perhaps I'm just looking for another "photo op", but I am the one who never leaves home without her camera!

Disposable Cameras RULE!

We created a photo sharing website on shutterfly for guests to upload their wedding photos to after the reception. I think it's fun to see what other people captured as "unforgettable moments", and we of course will be uploading our own as well.

To add to that, my mom wanted to put disposable cameras on each table. I love this idea. Now, I know that many people just take them home with them (either they just want the photo they've taken with it, or they think they are favors...I'm not entirely sure). To discourage that, and to encourage children (like my little cousins) to get involved in the wedding festivities, I found a scavenger hunt list that can be posted at each table, and little labels that can be put on each camera, to allow guests to know that I would like them to leave the cameras behind.

I love the idea of using disposable cameras. Especially in the hands of young children. I used to be a counselor at Girl Scout Day Camp, and would always be sure to allow the children the use of my camera. They took the best photos, some that most adults (including professional photographers) would never think to capture. I'm incredibly excited to see what pops up with this idea!