A "Wicked" Good Shower (pt. 4)

Last part!

So one of my sweetest gifts of the day I received before my shower. As I was getting ready, FI came up and presented me with an adorable little box with a tiny bow and inside was this beautiful diamond love-knot ring!

I had found the ring when we were looking for wedding bands and mentioned that it would be nice as a right hand ring. Thing was, I had no idea what size my right ring finger was! I guessed 7 and was wrong - so it's a little big but still beautiful! (Forgive the crappy cell-phone picture, best I could do!)

A "Wicked" Good Shower (pt. 3)

For hostess gifts, I gave my mother a Shiva Shell necklace from Fire & Ice. I love the delicate swirl design and it looks beautiful on her! Shiva shells are the underside of shells that fall to the bottom of the ocean. Divers go all the way down to find them. Someone once told me that they symbolized "deep love or love going deep." I don't know if it's true or not - but I liked it!

For my aunt (who hosted the shower at her house), I got a beautiful Ralph Lauren large link necklace, and earrings. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of it - so if I find one I will post it! It's a very beautiful, classic necklace - totally her!

It happened to be my other aunt's 50th birthday on the day of my shower, so I made her a "dancing star" necklace - simple and sophisticated - I hope she liked it!

I found out later just how many people put a lot of work into my shower, and felt like a heel for not bringing more gifts! I'll have to treat them to something extra-special on the next holiday!

A "Wicked" Good Shower (pt. 2)

To thank my bridesmaids for both putting up with me (let's face it, if you know me, you know I'm not easy!), and for their help with my shower, I put together some goodie bags for them that I handed out the day of!

It all started with these great damask (our theme!), monogrammed notepads that I found. I got one in each girl's initial, and they each also happened to be a different color. I also found coordinating travel mugs - and the whole gift started to come together.

Each girl received a notepad, travel mug, tea in yuzen tin from Teavana, teabags, and I designed flat note cards for them in coordinating colors with their names (in my sister's case, her new married name!) - each in a different design.

A "Wicked" Good Shower (pt. 1)

My bridal shower was this past weekend, and despite an RSVP from Hurricane Danny that put the kibosh on outdoor activities - we had a fantastic time!

The party was done in a Halloween theme that I absolutely loved! There were great touches everywhere - orange and white M&M's with our names and wedding date in little polka-dotted bowls with ghosts at the bottom, skull & crossbone cups, signs, plates, even the fabric on the tables! It was perfect, just the right amount of Halloween fun! My favorite part was a witch hat with a veil and tiara that my mother made for me to wear while I opened presents! My family did such an amazing job on this party - I am so very grateful!

The food was delicious! Lots of yummy options. And dessert was fantastic - chocolate filled black cat cupcakes & cookies from Konditor Meister (who is also doing our wedding cake!).

My future sister-in-law kicked off the festivities with a great quiz about me and my FI, this provided unlimited entertainment for the group! She had more planned - but we were having too much fun to focus, LOL! She also did another great game where, as I opened up gifts, a timer went off and whomever gift I was opening received a treat! This lead to many requests for me to "slow down!" or "hurry up!" when opening presents!

My friends, family, and bridesmaids were also incredibly generous in giving gifts - among my presents: a Dyson ball vaccuum (woot!), Henkles knives (which I even got a quality lesson on!), a Cuisinart Convection Oven (oh yeah, we've already ditched the microwave in the basement to make room for it!), a Cuisinart griddler (hello paninis!), a steamer, a digital picture frame, towels, Keurig machine, a cast iron grill, "wicked" weekend wine, tons of kitchen goodies - I could go on - I am a lucky, lucky girl.

I'm so happy that my friends and family braved the weather and made it to my aunt's beautiful home in Holliston. A couple of FI's family members trekked down all the way from New York - and it was wonderful to see them and have the families meet! I had such a great time and really appreciate all the hard work that went into the day!

Next: Part 2, bridesmaids and hostess gifts!

(Photos courtesy of my BM Ali - you can read more about the shower in her blog, and my fantastic future mother in law!)

Look What Came Last Night!

Apparently, I've just recently decided that there is no such thing as too much DIY!

In all seriousness, there is, I just haven't reached my limit yet I suppose.

For a couple years, I've been lusting after a Gocco printer. Alas, Riso, the company that produces the tabletop screen printers in Japan, closed it's doors in December of 2008. That means the Gocco printer I could potentially fight over on eBay for and spend upwards of $300 on is now obsolete. The lucky group of Gocco owners now have to cage battle over the remaining, ever-shrinking, pool of supplies. Since I've never been good in a cage match, I started looking for alternatives.

Enter the Yudu - the new personal screen printing device by the makers of Cricut. Pros: It has a massive print area when compared to even the largest Gocco - 11 x 14 inches. Cons: High-res screens haven't been released yet, and this thing could potentially go the way of the dodo in a year and I'm in the same boat as the Gocco kids fighting over a paddle.

Still - we're giving it a shot. That's right, WE - when I showed this to FI, his head started spinning with all the practical applications. You can print on anything, as long as it is flat. Clothes, belts, paper, wood - anything! Plus, we saved $120 by getting one on eBay (brand new in the shipping & retail packages from the manufacturer - can't beat that!).

We aren't quite sure what our first project will be. Originally, we purchased it to finish our wedding invitations, but I scrapped that idea for something easier and less time-consuming. I think we may make some t-shirts for our yearly family trip - and I'm also thinking of printing up custom canvas bags for our out of town guests, featuring a pop-art Boston landscape.

Will this DIY monster finally put me over the edge? Will I end up a babbling, drooling idiot who can't stop talking about the right shade of orange? Stay tuned!

DIY: Damask Cardbox

It's been a busy weekend, folks!

Today, I also got our cardbox completed. It's a relief, since the pieces have been sitting in my office for weeks now half made.

Originally, I wanted something "out of the box" (pun intended, lame, I know) - I didn't want to do a standard "boxes wrapped in paper" box to collect cards. I wanted something different. Well, I'm tapped creatively - so while strolling the aisles of Michael's craft store one day, I found these great, heavy-duty paper boxes with magnetic closures on clearance. A few aisles over, I found damask wrapping paper. I took it as a sign. I grabbed a couple boxes, a couple rolls of paper, some spray adhesive and wide, double-faced ribbon and heaved a sigh of relief.

Now these aren't plain square boxes, they actually have inset sides - so it took forever to cut the paper just right and stick it altogether. And the cardboard took forever to cut through with a mat knife. But all in all, I think it looks great. I topped it off with a bow and vintage looking button I found at Joann's.

The best part? It's got a magnetic closure in back - the whole top opens and I can get the cards out without destroying the box!

Other projects going on as I type: FI is downstairs putting together the two large canvases we are going to paint for the reception. They equal 12' in height when joined. He also got the pedestals primed for our ceremony set-up and we got both the garlands and hanging crystals weighted and prepped for hanging.

DIY: Non-Floral Centerpieces

We are in the home stretch with our non-floral centerpieces! They are almost complete, so I thought I'd take photos of the mock-ups to share with everyone!

These were made using Martha Stewart's directions for tissue paper poms. I drew the inspiration from Vintage Glam's pomanders as well. 

I loved the non-floral alternative. We've made them months in advance and they won't die. They also cost a fraction of what flowers would have set us back. Originally I thought of doing these exact designs, only with carnations. The idea of clipping 500 carnations two days before my wedding just didn't fly. So - plan B - tissue paper!

My awesome cousin provided us with the tissue paper from Bags & Bows (excellent quality, by the way - much nicer than you find in stores). The tall centerpieces sit on gloss pillar candle holders from Home Decorators Collection - these will go on our large round tables and sit on flocked damask linens. The smaller centerpieces are made with floral foam wreaths and an 8.5 inch glass cylinder filled with water and floating candle. These will sit on the many cocktail tables on top of black linens. Foam balls for the tall centerpieces were purchased at Save-on-Crafts, foam wreaths purchased at A.C. Moore, glass cylinders purchased at Michael's (on sale!), and floating candles purchased on eBay.

These have been a lot of hard work - FI and I sit in front of the television every night after work and make a million little paper flowers - but the results have been well worth it - I couldn't be happier with them!

Updated: Groomsmen Attire

We have suits!

So if you remember from awhile back, I decided on putting everyone in suits, rather than tuxes. I especially loved the vested suits - they had a real "vintage" vibe to them.

Now, you would think it would be easy to find a black(ish) vested suit for a reasonable price. Yeah, it's not. I think I found a total of 6 online, half of which were extremely cheap - and I mean cheap - not "inexpensive" (I prefer the latter term since I believe you can do some things inexpensively but beautifully - cheap is just a dirty word...). Anyways, these suits just weren't very good quality.

Quality is my Achilles heel. It's the reason I own more designer handbags then I should. Thankfully it's also FI's so we're usually on the same page. There are absolutely some things in life that we easily decide to go in an inexpensive direction. All the curtains in my house are from the Christmas Tree Shop - I don't think I paid more than $14 a panel for them. Some of my necklaces? $4.00 from Forever 21. And that stuff is fine - it's unimportant and in the case of the necklaces, I'm probably going to break it at some point anyway when I inevitably get caught on something.

But the suit the groom wears to his own wedding? We both refused for him to look cheap. Now this is fine for us, I'm perfectly happy throwing down $500 on a new suit so FI can look fantastic on the wedding day - but I couldn't do that to our groomsmen and our fathers (especially our dads, they have both - along with our step-moms - been incredibly generous to contribute to wedding expenses).

So I had a dilemma - where to find a good quality, 3 piece suit at a reasonable cost? Well, we started at K&G. Neither of us had been before, but several people mentioned they had decent suits for decent prices. I don't think we were prepared for what we got in-store, which was no help whatsoever and racks crammed so thick with suits it was a struggle just to get to them. We looked at each other with that same, wide-eyed, deer in the headlights look. FI suggested we try Men's Wearhouse as we both ran to our car.

Now, I was upset at Men's Wearhouse. I had found and fallen in love with this Calvin Klein vested suit (pictured). Of course, it's one of the more expensive suits in the store. I knew FI would love it when he saw it too. I was assured by their corporate headquarters that the "buy one get one" sale would run until the end of the year.

Well, in the immortal words of my good friend and bridesmaid, Ali, "Somebody lied to you."

Oh yeah they did - the sale ended the last day in July!

But, I thought I'd give them a chance in person. FI raved about their customer service, so I did my best at keeping an open mind. And I'm really glad I did. We got to the store, he put the suit on, and of course loved it. Even though it was a size too large, he looked unbelievable in it. My tummy flitted with butterflies seeing him. But even on sale at $399, I felt that was still too much for the groomsmen/dads to pay. We thought of options; have him in this suit and the guys in something less expensive maybe? I didn't care for that though - although I'm not big on being "matchy-matchy" that was just a little too eclectic for me.

As it turned out, a manager was waiting on us, and he was just wonderful. He let us know on the sly that a new sale would be starting Monday - where we could get buy one suit, and get the second for $100. And since the suit was on sale, basically that would mean we'd get 2 suits for the full price of one. SOLD!

We went in last night and ordered all the suits - I'm ecstatic! Now we just need everyone's measurements and we're good to go. We saved literally, over a thousand dollars - and the price per suit now breaks down to be only $20 more than what a tux would cost to rent. And they get to keep them! So for any brides on the fence about tux vs. suit - go for it!

First Fitting Jitters

So for almost 2 weeks now I've been dreading August 8. Why? It's the day of my first wedding gown fitting.

My dress had come in in January when I was still struggling to drop some holiday pounds. Over the past 2 years, just by changing my diet, I've managed to lose around 28 pounds to date. I'd like to lose 10 more, but the scale is no longer budging. My body has adapted to my current caloric intake, and I'm not about to drop down to 1000-1100 calories a day to shed more weight since I'd just be depriving myself and it would backfire. I know I need to exercise - I just hate exercise more than anything. I would rather be doing anything else in the world then lunges, dumbell rows and cardio. Although, I do enjoy a good chest fly set...

Anyways, I had mapped out an exercise routine back in February and began to follow it diligently. Then, at 2 in the morning on a cold February dawn, I was rushed to the emergency room in excruciating pain. My kidney stones had returned with a vengeance. Fantastic.

For months now I've had issues with my kidneys, and exercising just seemed to exacerbate everything. So, I was on standby. Not dropping weight by food, not toning up from exercising.

Enter the first dress fitting panic.

I'm relieved to report that, after this past Saturday, the majority of my anxiety was unfounded. I was actually relatively pleased with how the dress fit and looked - and it fit me without a girls best friend/worst enemy: Spanx. That's high praise coming from me. It fit me much better than it had back in January - and I have to add that my mother was completely right about the veil - it was stunning altogether. Really, I think the veil is my favorite part of the whole ensemble.

Good news is, my kidneys seemed to have quieted, and I'm going to start a new exercise program on Monday. I'm setting realistic expectations: tone up enough to not have to wear Spanx, or look like I'm about to take flight when I wave.

Bad news, my brand new teal "Mrs." undies were too dark under the dress, so I need a new pair in white! (The teal, my favorite color, was going to be my "something blue" - but I can get white ones with blue writing and it will work just as well!). 

Yes, I realize my underwear is a bit too much information for any family reading with this - but I really wanted to share how adorable they are with all the brides that read my blog! If interested, you can get them at Personalized Presents - among a bunch of other personalized goodies for the wedding day!

Lucky Find: Hair Comb!

I found (and won!) this great hair comb on eBay recently! I had been in love with this feather comb on etsy - but the $145 price tag was just too steep for me since I'm only going to be wearing this for a few hours. Don't get me wrong - I've laid down money left and right on more prominent aspects of this wedding - hair accessories just don't fall into the top of the list for me.

I'm big into feathers (I can't tell you the number of feather necklaces I have) - I think it stems from being a writer-in-the-closet and the images of quills. I've even thought of getting a quill or feather tattoo in the future (after the wedding of course). Secretly, I've dreamed of tattooing full angel wings on my back... but that's not going to happen...

But, I digress - I do that quite a bit. Back to the comb - I really wanted to wear feathers in my hair or incorporate feathers in some small way (since it's not the overall theme of the wedding) - and I think this is a great solution. Plus it looks nice and vintage - just what I'm going for! I'll wear it in place of my veil at the reception.

Finally - A Shower Outfit!

Yay! Another successful check!

After my first shower dress debacle, my Mum took me out shopping this weekend for something to wear to my shower. I resigned myself to the fact that I'm just not a white dress kind of gal. And my mother made a good point in that I don't have to wear white to be "bridal."

We found this great smocked dress by Muse (and it was a size 4!) It's really comfortable which will be great for any August heat we may encounter... ugh, I hate summer... but back to the outfit! In real life, the dress is a beautiful, deep jewel purple - the photos don't do it justice.

We also found these awesome Michael Kors sandals that perfectly match my MK Newbury clutch I got several months ago. Mum is great at shoes - thankfully - I'm terrible with them. I equate women's shoes to weapons.

Not sure on jewelry yet - I may have something in my collection already. If not, it's over to Forever 21 for a $4 necklace!

Lucky Find: Damask Guest Book

So while my Mum and I were out shopping this weekend, we found this great damask photo album at Joann Fabrics. And it was 40% off - no coupon needed!

It's a screw post album, so I'm going to take out the photo pages and put in black paper. I can give this to the photobooth attendant for people to sign alongside their photo strip. The booth package comes with an album - but this is way cuter! Now I just need to choose a photo for the cover... hmm...