Generosity

A few weeks ago, I got pretty lucky.

I've posted several times about the beautiful bridesmaids dresses we ordered from etsian sohomode. When the shop owner, Louise, asked if she could get some photographs of my ladies in their dresses for her blog, I said heck yeah! I thought it'd be a great opportunity for our photographer to get some added exposure and, well, the ladies looked great, so why not?

By the way, if you're looking for a photographer in the Baltimore/DC area, definitely check out her site. She was extremely responsive from the beginning, sent tons of original engagement session shoot ideas (included in our package), and was very accommodating when our engagement session had to be postponed. She works with her husband, and they're just the sweetest. I could so see us being friends in real life. I'll admit, it's a bit awkward having someone stare at you, waiting for the perfect photographic moments as you're getting your makeup applied, hair curled, and getting down to your unmentionables as you get into your dress, but Serena made it all feel as natural as it could. I can't wait to work with her again.

Here's her blog, too, if you're interested.

But back to Louise and her shop. She requested these photographs, and I agreed to send them to her once I got home from work:





We continued to talk about lovely the dresses turned out in our etsy convo when I mentioned that I loved this dress, available in her shop:


That's when she offered a 99% coupon code to me as long as I provided my photographs. Uhhh what? Her dresses are $110 to $150 typically. This one was $110, something I certainly wouldn't pay for a dress I'd wear once or twice. Because, oh yeah, it's a maternity dress. One that I'm hoping to wear to my baby shower. Because J and I are pregnant!

We're due in February. Of course we're excited, but I'm not going to deny that I'm nervous!

AND I'm super excited about my new dress and the generosity of etsy sellers. Louise, you rock! So go check out her shop. She'll be back from vacation by early September.

I'm Back

Alright, I know I've been MIA for the past, well, weeks, but my little sister's asked me to start posting again and I think I'm down.

The wedding was a huge success! I know I kind of fell off on the posting right when things were getting juicy, but a poor internet connection at work along with my negative desire to sit in front of another computer when I get home led to zero posts.

So let's see if we can get this party started again.

You all remember that I ordered our bridesmaid dresses from etsian sohomode, right? Well, she recently sent me a convo via etsy asking if she could share my wedding photographs on her blog. Ummm... heck yeah! But also, how in the heck did she find my wedding photos? I've never been big into facebook and definitely haven't posted my photos here so I started to get that eery the-internet's-really-Big-Brother feeling.

I told her that of course she could post my photos but oh, how did you get those again? She said my photographer posted them, and she turned them up in a Google search. Ah, okay, phew.

In an ease-me-back-into-blogging effort to get my first post back out there, I recommend you all go check them out there! And because I can't seem to view or post photographs anymore at work, I'll post some from her blog when I'm home.

Enjoy!

32 Days: The Meeting

So people, only 32 days to the big day. I'm freakin out a bit about my to-do list but am trying to put things into perspective and stay calm.

In lieu of a freak-out post, I figured I'd write about the night J and I met.

A little backstory: Years ago, when R and I would go to restaurants, we would leave our phone numbers on receipts for the waiter with instructions to 'Take his pick'. I know, it's a bit demeaning to ourselves but it was funny and usually we thought it was hilarious. Literally never did either of us receive a phone call from one of those scrawled receipt messages, but we never expected to. It was just funny to us.

Okay, now for the night J and I met. It was the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving of 2006, and my college roommate at the time blew me off. We were supposed to go to the new Green Turtle in our mutual 'home town', but she took a late nap and didn't wake up in time to go out. At the last minute, I called a middle school friend, J, to see if she wanted to catch up. She had plans with another friend, L, someone I had known since elementary school, so we all decided to go to The Green Turtle together.

We grabbed a booth in the seating section and had some girl talk. To our left was a group of people sitting a long table. Most of them were girls with a few guys scattered about. One of the guys was pretty cute, J and I agreed.

After some more scoping, J, L, and I decided that we'd hop over to the next bar for the rest of the night. But before we left, I wrote a napkin note a la the receipts R and I used to leave that said something along the lines of "Hey, cute boy. Take your pick," with a stick figure drawing of our table with our phone numbers. Pathetic, I know. But hilarious, too, particularly because L wasn't into it, so when she slipped away from the table to go to the bathroom, we discreetly added her number. J and I thought that was so funny.

Anyway, a few moments later as we made our way out of the bar, I picked a path past J and slipped him the folded napkin. He looked utterly confused - as of course he didn't notice our table the entire time we were there - but accepted it.

Flash forward two weeks. That's right, two weeks.

My granny - my great grandmother - had passed away, so my mom was in Arkansas for her funeral. I was speaking with my mom on the phone when I heard the call-waiting beep. Usually I screen but was taken off guard and answered. It was J. He said, "Uh, hi. I got your number off a napkin?" [How funny would it have been if I had said, "You need to be a little more specific"?]

I laughed and told him the napkin was a silly joke (because, really, I was a bit embarassed that we did something so childish) and that I hadn't expected him to call. That didn't sound very kind, but we trudged through the conversation and a few conversations later, we set up our first date.

It turns out that he wasn't going to call again as it was his second attempt and he doesn't leave voicemails. And since I screen, it was lucky that I even answered.

After we started dating regularly and people asked how we met, I'd come up with lavish stories, different every time, to conceal my napkin story. Though I don't think I should truly be embarassed about it because it all worked out.

We considered using cocktail napkins as invitations. Would have been awesome.

Perhaps another day I'll share the story of our first date, which was equally as awkward.

"Hi, I'm the Bride!"

Last Thursday I had my hair and makeup trials. Let's just say I'm happy they were trials.

The salon was nice and the people working there were friendly, so I thought we were off to a good start. My mom came for some support (what? I get anxious), and I was armed with the photographs of what I wanted for my hair.

First I met with the makeup artist. She made me feel confident in her as she told me that she developed a passion for bridal makeup when her makeup trial went horribly for her own wedding.

She started by telling me how I should care for the skin on my face, which I appreciated. Turns out all this time I've been thinking I have dry skin when I really have oily skin that's dehydrated. Now I need to get new lotion, too.

That was all good because I appreciated the help. Then, as she began to apply the foundation, she asked if I was going to get my eyebrows plucked before the wedding.

Irritation #1. I don't pluck my eyebrows. Never have. Okay, so I may have a few straggles, but they're my straggles and I'm used to seeing them, so I don't seethe point. Sure, I've considered it but I try to keep my beauty regime (if you can call it that) as low-maintenance as possible. I humored her and said I'd thought about it and that maybe I'd give it a whirl before the big day.

Irritation #2: Basically immediately following the pluck/pluck-not conversation, she asks if I'm going to get tanned before my wedding. If you've read this far you can probably assume - correctly - that I've never tanned at a salon. Only in the sun. And even that I try to limit nowadays. So I told her that I've considered the spray-on kind. Meanwhile I'm wondering if she's recommending I look completely different for my wedding. An idea that I'm not willing to pursue. I want to look like me in my photos. And I think J wants me to look like me when he says his vows to me.

So she continues on, and about 40 minutes from when she started, I look something like this:

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Ha, okay, so maybe not quite that bad, but she took my "I like natural looking makeup with bronzer and defined eyes" a bit too far. The bronzer was nice, but the 'defined eyes' part of my direction was grossly overdone. I mean, I'm not sure she used a shred of gold or yellow shadow on my eyelids. It was all black. Actually, make that blue. The powdered liner she used was blue, and you could tell. Later, when J came in to pick me up for dinner he thought I'd been crying. Not what you want to look like on your wedding day.

I've hunted around for some pictures (am I stupid for not bringing them initially? I thought 'golden' and 'natural' were pretty straightforward. Next time I'll keep my trap shut about 'defined eyes') and found these, which I realize are a bit different from one another but I like them all:

Then I moved over to the hair lady. Her hair is textured about the same as mine, so I felt confident that she'd know how to handle it. We sat down together in the waiting room as I went over the hairstyles I'd been considering. She recommended that we go with the updo (the side bun) as opposed to the side ponytail because she'd have more control over keeping frizz in check in case it rains on our wedding day. Because the side bun was my first choice anyway, I agreed.

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Then she pulled out all these crazy old-school books with all these intricate twists and crap. Obviously, Audrina's rockin a pretty straightforward beehive-esque bun in this inspirational photo, so I told the hair lady I'd like to keep it simple. That's when she cranked out a hairstyle that made me look like this (less one mound, obv):

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Criminey. Not what I was going for. And the way it looked from the back was even more ridiculous. The 'curl' bun wrapped almost to the back of my head.

My mom and I gently told her that maybe the simple style I chose was a bit too simple and that she should add a twist or two to spice it up a bit and contain it. She was happy to oblige since that was more or less her suggestion in the first place.

The finished product looked much close to Audrina's style, but it still wasn't quite there.

I spoke with my mom about the appointment the day after, and we're thinking I should go in a completely different direction with my hair since it turned out just okay and I want it to turn out great. Now I'm on the prowl for some more images. And hair ornaments - though I've considered making one out of the extra fabric from my dress.

Wish me luck!

Here I'll keep track of our wedding spending for all of you to see. It's going to be scary, so hold on tight!

Click the links to check out posts related to these topics.

Food
Food: $1,150
Dessert: $80

Decor
Tealights: $87 (includes 300 tealights and 130 tealight holders)
String Lights: $60 (about 312' worth of white Christmas lights. Still need to buy some more)
Alter Chandelier: $30
Fabric Runers: $20

Paper Goods
Save the Dates: $62
Invitations: $137
Invitation Inserts (with driving instructions, wedding website url): $17
Postcard RSVPs, double-sided: $45
Bridal Shower Thank-You Cards: $17
Thank-You Notes: will order after the wedding
Stamps: $TBD

Table + Place Settings
DIY Napkins: $30
Mason Jars (Glasses): $75 $105
Vintage Vases: $100 (approximately 65 total)
Plates and silverware: $84 (dinner and dessert plates; plastic forks, knives, and spoons that look like real silver)

Wardrobe + Beauty
Wardrobe (B): $797 (includes dress + tax, shoes)
Alterations (B): $150 (includes hemming, breast padding, and bustling)
Wardrobe (J): $465 (includes suit + tax, alterations)
Hair and Makeup: $285 (includes trials but no tips)
White Knots: $6

Venue
Tents, Tables, and Chairs, Oh My!: $1300
Yard Work: $2,000

Gifts
Can't tell you what they are! $630 (for the bridal party, family, Rev Roc)

Invite Me, Invite Me Not

J and I sent out our invitations last week, and the RSVPs have already begun to roll in. So exciting!

We went with Sarka's design of Citrus Press Co again, and she was fabulous to work with!

She customized her design to include our details and also custom-designed a double-sided RSVP postcard to match.

I also designed two inserts, one with driving directions from a few common routes to our house and one with our wedding website url, in Photoshop. The format for these was actually as one postcard, which I had printed through VistaPrint for about $17, that I then cut into two smaller pieces.

Here's the final invitation (with some personal details blurred out):

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Here's the front and back of our RSVP postcards (again, with some personal details blurred out):

The insert isn't nearly as nice to display here as almost all the information is personal, but you can get an idea of the design:

I don't usually push vendors, but I highly recommend Sarka's business for your invitations. They were inexpensive, she's quick to respond, and she provides a tracking number once she ships them.

And the quality of her invitations is amazing! We have gotten so many compliments already!

Hair Indecision

I have scheduled my hair and makeup trial for this week at a place I’ve never been. It makes me a little nervous, but I didn’t have many options.

I tried using a contact from a friend for makeup, but she’s attending a wedding on June 11th.

Then I tried using a hair and makeup team I found that comes to your house or venue, but they were booked that day, too.

Luckily I found a shop about 7 minutes away that will do our hair and makeup, and their pricing is the cheapest I’ve found. I’ll take cheap if I only have to drive 7 minutes each way.

Now I’m stumbling over what type of hair style to choose. My first inclination is to go with a side bun. A bit messy, nothing too smooth or perfect, like these:

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What I don't want when it comes to the side ponytail:

It's a bit too, well, bridal for my taste. Too prommy or something.

Yet my stepmom and mom are encouraging me to leave my hair down. Appealing, since I'd like the feel to be casual to compliment our backyard wedding, but what if it's humid? What if I get hot? What if I need my hair wrangled? And part of me thinks that I don't need to be casual just because our wedding is a bit on the casual side because - hey - I'm the bride.

So then I moved on to consider a side ponytail. It can look a bit dressier while containing my hair and still looking somewhat 'down'. My only fear? Looking like a country music star:

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I hate that roll thing in the front. Eeek.

This is actually probably exactly what I want (oh, Keri Russell, how I love you. It's meant to be):

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Except I'd probably have the part on the same side as the ponytail. And while my hair isn't nearly as curly as hers naturally, I do think that our hair is probably about the same texture.

This is nice, too. The volume is a little much but then again I think you need some volume to make it look done as opposed to I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-I-love-the-eighties.

I think my favorites are the first side bun, the Keri Russell hair, and the Katie Holmes hair. Any input from you?

Where my WB girls at?

The Big 5-0

Wow. Only 50 days until the wedding.

I actually wouldn't have noticed that had I not checked the guest book entry by my aunt on our wedding website today. The site's log-in screen alerted me to the count-down. Shows what a bad bride I am!

The to-do list is finally getting smaller, and I'm feeling pretty good. HEre's what's on teh agenda for this weekend:

- Gift Errands: I want to buy a bunch of the family gifts this weekend. I looove buying gifts, so I'm excited. There are still a few recipients on our list, though, that I'm stumped about.

- Ceremony Planning: I need to send the few bits I've found that I actually like to our officiant, Rev Roc. I'm pretty pumped about our vows. I'll probably share the ceremony script here after the wedding, a la this lady.

- Seam Teaming: I need to develop a template for our cocktail table coverings, cut four from the template, and sew them. I also need to sew the table runners I've cut out of vintage fabrics.

- Yard Work: My stepdad and I will do some outdoor painting if it doesn't rain all weekend. Oh, April Showers, you're ruining my wedding preparation timeline. (A shout-out is in order for D and R - ahem, Rev Roc - for your help in the yard last night!)

- Spring Cleaning: The sunroom has been totally taken over by tools, storage, and finished wedding projects. If we plan to use it as backup space in the event of rain on our wedding day, I should get to tidying now.

- Holiday Festivities: Some Easter celebrations will be sprinkled in this weekend's plans for a little non-wedding-related fun. Granted, I don't even know what Easter's about, but it'll be nice to see family.

Whew! Sounds busy when I write it all down.

Oh, and I should add "Cross things off my to-do list" to this list (Y, you're too funny!).

Vintage Fabrics

Over the past three months, I've gathered a huge supply of vintage bedsheets. With our wedding colors/theme being vintage florals, I've snatched up all that I could on my many trips to the thrift store - on half-off days, of course. My first project was handmade napkins. Those obviously took a lot of fabric as my mom and I made about 100, and each napkin is roughly 16" square, unfolded. The next project on the list was my bunting. I plan to string it along anywhere it'll go. It'll also act as the edge of our "pews" to create a sort of aisle, but that won't take too much. And I plan to string it along the top of our barn (what I call our three-shed shed as well. Then I moved on to the alter chandelier and decor. My bffs helped cut the strips and tie them onto my dowel rod for the alter and onto some strips of yarn (to later be strung along our chain link fence to pretty it up a bit).

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That took quite a bit of fabric as well. The last major fabric-related project on the list was my table runners. I was going to make them double-sided but then decided that, due to the length of our three guest tables (32' - four 8' banquet tables put together) and my stash of unmatched sheet sets, I just wouldn't have enough. Now that I'm making the runners single-sided, I'm going to have gobs of fabric left over.

What's a girl to do? Well immediately my mind goes here:

Okay, I know - horrible picture. But there's something about aprons that makes me just want to, well, make them! And with all of these beautiful vintage fabrics sitting around me, I want to throw my wedding to-do list away and get crackin!

I'm even thinking of starting to sell fat quarters in my etsy shop of these fabrics because they're so fun to collect.

Maybe one of these days, too, I'll actually attempt a skirt with a zipper out of some of these. My biggest obstacle, though? The lining. These fabrics are way too thin to get away with no lining, and adding lining is just so much work. Plus, getting the full skirt just right has always been a challenge for me. Maybe when the wedding's done and I'm going through planning withdrawal I can get going on developing a pattern. So exciting!

Stuffing

I've never been someone who really watches what she eats. That might sound really... something, but it's not meant that way.

But over the past two years or so, I've gained weight. Like, 20 pounds worth of weight. Not cool.

I attribute it to beginning to drink soda for the first time ever during those two years, and continuing to drink it.

I knew I didn't want to be one of those brides who, for the four months or four weeks or four days leading up to her wedding, doesn't eat normally. Or doesn't eat at all.

The sample dress of the gown I chose was pretty close to my size. If I'd chosen to get it altered, I would have saved probably $100. But it was a leeeetle too tight. Like, I couldn't wait to get it off tight but I could probably manage for a day because I love to save money.

The clentcher? That I knew I'd have to watch what I eat as we got closer to the date since my weight is so constantly in flux. And since I looove my donuts so much (after all, I eat a package of those six donuts every day for breakfast!), I just didn't want to risk it.

My mom (who's paying for half of my gown) and I agreed that (my) our peace of mind was worth that extra $100.

After the first fitting, I'm pretty happy with our choice. And as I sit here and write this, craving something salty, I'm even happier.

To comfort on your wedding day - and all the days before!

A New Face

What is it about having a bazillion and one things on my to-do list that makes me want to get crafty? As in, unrelated-to-the-wedding crafty?

A few Fridays ago, after I ticked a few things off my wedding to-do list (and with plenty more on it), I decided to redesign my etsy shop banner. And business cards. And develop a new print piece for a new product I'm brainstorming. No joke. Annnd two hours later it was nine o'clock and J and I decided it might be a good time for dinner.

I took it from this:

to this:

What do you think? I'm thinking it's cleaner, more modern, and more me. I'm pretty happy with it. Now I just need to get those new business cards printed and begin to work on that new product design I mentioned. But, I do have self control. I'll wait til after June 11th for both of those things. After all, I'll need something to do once I start my planning withdrawal. And we all know I'll have it.

Semi-Homemade

One of my favorite bloggers just announced that she's engaged! So exciting!

I LOVE that she's considering a "semi-homemade" wedding dress. I actually considering attempting to make my dress as well but dropped the idea knowing how easily stressed out I get.

Part of me thinks I should have taken more time to consider my dress options. The other part of me gets excited knowing that exactly what I thought I wanted was exactly what I decided on. My dress should ship to the shop tomorrow, hopefully arriving in about a week.

Oh boy!

Updates

Alright, I know I've been gone forevvvver. Things have been crazy! But a few wedding-related stress break-downs later, and I'm back.

I thought I'd quickly update The Budget tab with some of the things I've been working on in the past few weeks. And at this rate, it doesn't look like we'll stay on budget, but more on that later.

Mason Jars (or, brotherhood jars, as I like to call them)

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To keep the very long story short, Kmart screwed me out of $35 and several trips in the opposite direction of home, from work. I'm waiting for four more boxes of 12 mason jars to arrive. And check out the cost. Not cool, considering these are just. for. drinking.

Total Cost: $105


Food
We've decided on barbecue from Adam's Ribs. We delegated the research for good, cheap local barbecue to my stepmom, who kindly set up our contract. Actually, there is no contract, but we're "on the books" for June 11th. Makes me a bit nervous. But I'm excited for some pulled pork.

Included in the price is a server for two hours who will man the hot plates. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to have "staff", but the relief of knowing that the buns will be stocked will be nice.

Total cost: According to a guest list of 95, $1,050. I'm expecting this to drop by about $100 once the RSVPs start rolling in.

Dessert
I'm not a cake person (unless it's ice cream cake, which isn't very practical for a Maryland June wedding), but J and I both huge donut people, so we've decided to go with donut holes for our dessert. R and Y will tell you they painstakingly made 250 little cupcake flags by hand for the donuts, but don't give them too much sympathy!

Total cost: $80 for the donuts and approximately $15 in supplies for the donut flags


Venue
As I've spiritedly mentioned, we're having our wedding at our house. Though we have some pretty good tree coverage in our backyard, J says it's not enough to fend off rain. Me, the eternal pessimist, is surprisingly optimistic. I see the tree coverage creating a nice canopy effect and shielding our 95 guests from drizzle. But I suppose if we have a downpour, we'll need some real coverage.

Enter Top Hat Party Rentals. They'll provide and erect* a 30' x 20' tent to cover the tables as well as a 20' x 10' tent for our food, gifts table, guest book table, etc. We're actually thinking of adding another 20' x 10' table to our contract, just to be safe, but we need to measure to make sure we have room.

We're also getting 13 8' tables for seating and to designate as some of the tables just mentioned. We've ordered linens for the tables and 95 chairs. We're also considering adding three or four cocktail tables so that guests don't feel obligated to sit at the "main tables" the whole time.

We opted not to have a dance floor because we won't be having alcohol, and, let's face it, people probably won't dance. If they want to - and for the "first dances" we'll probably do (makes me cringe just thinking about it), we have enough flat grass area to accommodate.

Total cost: $325 for the big tent, $175 for the smaller tent, $1.50 per (cheap) chair, $10 per linen, plus delivery and taxes = about $981

Wardrobe
In the past few weeks I've found my wedding shoes (flats from DSW, though not from the sale aisle *gasp*!) and we found and purchased J's suit. He'll look dapper. Mmmm.

We're still working on choosing his shoes, his shirt, and his tie (probably something floral, maybe from etsy?).

I don't think I've blogged about it yet, but my dress is $742, with tax. I am waiting for it to arrive to determine the alterations cost, so I'll add that later.

Total cost: $55 for the shoes, $425 for the suit, $40 for suit alterations, $742 for wedding dress with tax
I'd include a photograph of the shoes but I can't seem to find them right now on DSW's site

And though I paid for my bridal shower dress out of a separate budget, I thought you might want to see it (by etsian kayemkay):

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$44, with shipping

Tealights
Because of a slight mix-up at the Hobby Lobby cash register and my perseverence for only purchasing things on sale, I have bought 100 tealight holders and 200 tealights to litter across our long, picnic-like tables. It took three trips, but I got 'em!

Total cost: $25 for the tealight holders, $12 for the candles

That's all I have time to update about now! Gotta go bang out some bunting and work on the insert for our invitation.

*Ha.

Tulle Lovely

I am in love with these capelets by ThreadRare:

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One of these would be perfect if I had gobs of money and a "departure" outfit for the wedding. I'm thinking something 50's styled, just a scotch above the knee, in ivory with one of these bad boys on top. That'd be hot.

And at first I thought I liked the silk one better, but now I'm heavily leaning toward the tulle. What about you?

Ah, to dream.

Ventalicious

I'm starting to get the sinking feeling that people are misreading my ability - and, sometimes, preference - to talk about things other than the wedding as a shortcoming.

As though what I feel is necessity to keep my life grounded by talking about things other than my wedding equals a less-than wedding. A non-wedding wedding.

I happen not to much like being the center of attention, and fielding tons of questions relating to the wedding makes me feel: (a) like the center of attention; (b) like my (our) choices are the center of attention; and (c) like I need to overly explain all of our choices, in part in order to defend them.

Just because J and I chose a backyard wedding does not mean that we value our wedding less than a "traditional" wedding or that we see it as being less of a wedding than other weddings. Also, just because J and I chose a backyard wedding does not mean that we tried to or did "take the easy way out". We have to include all the same elements that we would at a reception hall, but we are responsible for orchestrating them. In fact, I'd call it more work.

For us, though, it just fit. It's sentimental to have our wedding at our home. It's also fiscally responsible as the money we will invest in our venue - our backyard - will be an investment. Further, we're homebodies who enjoy being at home, so it makes sense to have one of our most important moments at home.

This may all sound like a defense - see point c, above - and it may be. But really I'm just tired of feeling defensive and feeling the need to explain our wedding back to importance. Yes, I can talk about other things but no, that does not mean that the wedding isn't important to me because it is. And you can ask J, who will tell you that basically all I do is worry about the wedding.

Whew, that vent session made me feel a little bit better as I let out a big sigh in front of my keyboard.

Brotherhood Jars

I just bought eight packages of these bad boys. Times twelve per package is 96. Oh god, I hope 96 people don't show up!

They're going to be the drinking glasses for the wedding. I'm thinking of adding a little style, like this, too:

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We're not doing a seating chart, but I wanted to incorporate people's names somehow, so I think I'll record guests' names on each of the mason jars. That way, too, people won't get their glasses mixed up. Style and purpose, I like it.

I'm thinking these are a leeetle bigger than what I was going for, but it'll be June and people'll be thirsty, right?


I may incorporate them into the favor as well to stretch that buck a bit further, though we may not do favors at all. Some may call that greedy but I call it smart; at least we'll be feeding the guests!

Originally I was going to buy them from here at $7.69 per case of 12, but they didn't have the quantity available that I needed. Plus, I'd have to pay for shipping.

After a little more searching, I found them at Kmart for $9.49. I wasn't too happy about the price until I realized that I could site-to-store for free to avoid shipping. Then I found a coupon code for $5 off. So for eight cases, I paid $75. Not bad at all.

However, the closest Kmart that allowed store pick-up was 20 minutes from work in the opposite direction of home. Still, I think it was worth it.


In other news, check out the blog's newest page, which chronicles our wedding-related purchases. The budget: $7,000. Let's see if we can do it!


*Sorry I didn't link to the exact post. This file has been living in my virtual "inspiration" folder for a while now. Embarrassingly well before the actual engagement.

Hemming and Hawing

I am extremely embarrassed to tell you that these curtains - and the fabulous deal I got them for - arrived today and, much to my surprise, the amazing deal was for just one, not two, panels.

I feel like an idiot.

But since they, ahem, it was so cheap, at $11 with shipping, I figured I'd just shimmy over to buy another.

But of course the length and color I need is THE ONLY one unavailable. Absolutely ridiculous!

I just bought a longer one for a few more dollars - since the coupon codes I used before are no longer available - and I'm going to have to do the dreaded hem again. Not looking forward to that.

I feel exhausted!

Boo Hoo

I've had my first official wedding nightmare.

Last week, I dreamt that J and I had our wedding, and the officiant - not R, the badass that's going to marry us like no one's ever seen* - didn't go through the whole "for better or worse" mumbo and didn't even ask us to each say "I Do". I spent the remainder of the celebration crying. Like, balling crying. What a waste.

So here's to many more anxiety-induced nightmares and to getting the damn thing straight during the ceremony.


*Ha, sike. We haven't really discussed our ceremony plans yet, but R being the great friend that he is is going to make it really special if only because it's him marrying us and not some rando. No pressure, R.

Nappy Naps

My mom and I spent about 3 hours over two days churning out these bad boys:


They're our napkins for the wedding. I bought the sheets at the thrift store on a 25% off day for a total of about $25.

Then I created a square template out of a piece of cardboard from a box my mom had, using a cloth napkin my grandma made as a size guide.

My mom mostly traced while I cut out the squares with pinking shears to prevent tons of fraying. I'm so happy with the results!

I was going for a mismatched vintage floral feel - intentionally floral, obviously, but not too intentional since we used several different fabrics, probably 8 or so.

Of course, I washed the sheets as soon as I brought them home from the thrift store, and I'm about to wash these guys again since we handled them quite a bit and used pencil for tracing.

We have approximately 92 napkins right now which should cover our attendees. And since we're considering barbecue, we'll definitely get the wetnaps for practicality while these babies will be the pretties on the tables.

Now for the breakdown:

{} sheets: $25
{} new pair of pinking shears since my other pair was giving me trouble: $4.50

Total cost: $30

Another thing off the list!

Curtones

Double score.

The curtains that I've chosen in the past few months have been plaguing me. In addition to picking the wrong ones and not realizing it until I'd hemmed six pairs (that's 12 curtains, people), we also chose some really heavy white ones for the living room that are too long. After the hemming fiasco, though, I really wasn't down to hem any more, so the living room curtains are just dragging the floor by about 5" at the moment. Not cool.

J and I have been eyeballing them for a few weeks, muttering how ugly they are and how heavy they look. So I perused west elm (my favorite for curtains!) and found these bad boys (Y, I know you're laughing at me right now!):


Nice, airy, and green - our main accent color for the living room. What's better is that the size and color we want are on sale from the already good $29 regular price down to $12.99. And (here's where the 'double score' comes in!) then I found a coupon code for 20% off (20MORE) items already on sale. PLUS, they come with free shipping. So really it should be 'triple score'!

The grand total: $11.01. Can't beat that!

They'll need a little hemming (sigh), but I think I'll actually fake a serge just to keep things in tact without weighing down these lovely light guys with a heavy hem. Wish me luck with that!