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No, I’m still not even *considering* having a moment like this at our reception:

{ image via praxxis }

But I’m having a hard time saying no to this one from Bleu:

{ image via Bleu Garters }

Totally not what I think of when I hear the word garter. Love it.

Are you considering a garter?

So here’s a picture of what my morning is looking like so far:

{ photo by me }

Along with finishing off the puppy collars that I knitted for FMIL’s dogs (you can kinda see the buttons I’m painting in the photo) and several other chores around the house, I’m also going through a bunch of cardstock color swatches for our invitations.

Going with of our lack-of-”wedding colors” idea, I had this idea of a multi-colored invite but now that I see all of the colors together I definitely feel like it’s going to be too much. So, now I’m trying to figure out how to use more than 2 colors without making it seem like an invitation to a circus!

Some things I KNOW I want to include with our invites:

• vintage stamps
• pocketfold
• a cool font
• some nod to something Spanish - either a Spanish tile pattern as an envelope liner, iron scroll work as detail on the invite, or the orange tree my mom drew for our save the dates.
• natural-colored envelopes addressed with white calligraphy
• color

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I loves me some vintage stamps. Tell me that by next summer they won’t be overdone?

{ image via Wiley Valentine }

{ image via Wiley Valentine }

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I don’t know of many bakeries who actually still wrap their goodies in that red and white twine anymore, but wouldn’t it be just wonderful if more of them did? I mean, it’s just so lovely.

{ image from Bliss Weddings Market via Classic Bride }

But hey, why do bakers get all the fun? How about some wedding uses too!

{ image from Mika 78 via Style Me Pretty }

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This entry is subtitled: Why I’m Freaking Out About Our Food at the Reception

Sorry it’s somewhat long and picture-less, but I think it’s a good story :)

Let me set the scene: It was the end of June this past summer and Mr. and I had just bought our first house. We decided that it would be fun and a good idea to have an open house for the 4th of July for our families. That way, no one could say, “You haven’t even invited us over to your new house yet!” or no one would just stop by unannounced (a HUGE fear of mine with his family), OR no one would just come over and snoop and peek in the windows (which they ended up doing anyway) because they were all invited to stop by and check it out. Nothing fancy, maybe we’d make some lemonade and have some chips and pretzels, but because we would have only been in the house a week and wouldn’t even have anything to sit on (seriously, we were sleeping on the floor) it wouldn’t be a full out party.

Well. I’ll bet you can figure out that’s not how it went down. This whole thing evolved into a huge barbecue for his family. Now, granted, my family is much much smaller than his, just my mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin who live close by (everyone else is at least 7 hours away), so it’s understandable that none of my family came (except for my mom after all of his family had cleared out…and a jumbo sized bottle of gin to help us recover from the afternoon). His parents did generously offer to bring all the food, but when I heard how much they were bringing I got a little nervous. 40 hamburgers and 40 hot dogs? THIS is when I realized that our little “open house” was much much more than that. At least with all the money we were spending on the house, we wouldn’t be out even more money to host the party. For which I was VERY grateful.

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{ image via Corbis }

I had another wedding dream last night. We got to the ceremony and things were a mess. Our pastor wasn’t there, it was some older woman who had no idea what she was doing…kept flipping through pages and pages and could not find what she was supposed to read. And then all of a sudden we were married (I think?) but people didn’t know because she didn’t announce it at all. One big ol’ hot mess of a ceremony. Then everyone ended up coming over to our house (which was also a mess) instead of going to our reception venue and Mr.’s grandparents were complaining about it. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing any of my family at all. And this is where I freaked out and just started cleaning the house in my wedding dress. (Note to self: have someone keep me a safe distance from any cleaning products on my wedding day just to be safe?)

Yikes. On another note…

Mr.’s parents went to a wedding at our venue last night and had a TON of feedback for us. The thing that bothered me the most is that our venue’s coordinator LEFT after the bridal party was announced!! I mean, really?? Wow. Well, this makes me even more relieved about our decision to have a Day-Of-Coordinator. Although it’s likely that we’d be ok without one, I think that I’ll be able to relax and enjoy the day a bit more knowing that I won’t have to be the type-A personality to over-analyze everything for the day.

(sidenote: Saved by the Bell is on and it’s the episode where the girls fall in love with their substitute English teacher. They all daydream that they’re going to marry him…their dresses are totally late-80’s fab. Please tell me that I won’t ever look back at my dress and want to barf like I did with those dresses…)

Mr. and I went to our first wedding together this weekend and we had a wonderful time! Not to mention, we learned a TON. He was the best man in the wedding so between the two of us we were able to kinda see both sides of the day.

The part that stuck out as the most memorable of the day had nothing to do with the flowers or invitations or food, or actually anything at the reception at all. I will never forget how my heart was pounding after the moment that the bride and groom saw each other for the first time and she walked down the aisle.

It’s easy to put so much focus on the font for the invitations or the flavor of the cake or table decorations and the whole party that comes afterwards that sometimes I feel like we can lose sight of that big thing that happens before we crack open the champagne. I felt so honored to be a witness to the vows they said to each other. No, they didn’t write their own, but it felt so special to be able to see them take such a big step together. Special isn’t even the word…it was just…just something so sacred and I felt truly honored to be able to witness that moment.

Mr. only looked at me once during the entire ceremony because we knew we would just lose it. I have no idea how I’m not going to be a slobbering mess come the time that we have to say our vows. I mean, why can’t the girl say the vows first? I think I’d be less likely to cry then. Anyway…there are some things that we’re going to do a little differently.
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Got our save the dates in already! Not sending them out until January, but I won a contest and had to get them printed by the end of September. One less thing to worry about!

On the left is the original, and then on the right is the final version after I used the corner punch (Fiskars “something old, something new”, purchased with my michael’s coupon of course!)

My mom did the drawing! The orange tree was meant to play off the whole Spain thing. I love what she did and I love the fact that my mom designed it!!

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I know, I know…cart, horse, whichever isn’t supposed to come first, whatever. I just couldn’t help but post about the dresses that I’ve been looking at so far as contenders. Really, it’s more the look of these dresses and the colors that stick out to me.

I like the multi-colored look, but do you think it’ll have the same effect with only 3 girls with me? I LOVE the colors of the dresses in the bottom photo, unfortunately they are way out of budget.

{ photos by Olivia Leigh }

{ photo by Lisa Franchot via Style Me Pretty }

Here’s what I’m thinking: I choose colors for the bridesmaids and then have them choose a dress that they like in that color. I’ve also been thinking of going the Etsy route…still having the bridesmaids choose a color and then they can work with the designer to create a dress that will be most flattering to them. Either way, I want the girls to be as comfortable as possible and (don’t we all wish this?) that they can wear it again in the future.

Anyone go the Etsy route before for bridesmaids dresses?

Mr.’s mom and I met with our first florist. It went pretty well I guess, although she didn’t really talk pricing a whole lot and that’s what I was hoping to get out of it. She had us sit down and look through all these books that looked like they were from the late 90’s to bookmark what we liked (for reals, totally not inspiring at all). I bookmarked a boutonniere and that’s it. So, instead, I took out some pictures of what I am looking for. We discussed the types of flowers that I’d like to have…dahlias, ranunculus, roses, stock, hydrangea, (peonies if available), poppies, anemones, lisianthus, to name a few. Still trying to go with that rustic Mediterranean feel…

We have these urns, vases, and candle holders at Pottery Barn that I love and think would look great with flowers { images via Pottery Barn }:

The one in the middle is the one I’d like…otherwise, there are these pillar holders that I think would look beautiful with flowers dripping off the sides instead of candles:

I would love to do a centerpiece that isn’t just one piece but a couple different pieces together like these tables:

This one is a little too girly…just note the setup

{ photo by Erin Hearts Court, via Once Wed }

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