Back in NV

I had the best time visiting with everyone in NV Memorial Day weekend!

I spent a day in Vegas hanging out with my mom, step dad and little brother.  It was nice - it included Sex in the City 2, inevitable walk with my mom, a minor trip to the ER (silly Vince), lunch with a life long friend, and beautiful spring weather!!!

Mom and I went up to Reno to spend the day with Alicia, my future sister-in-law!  Her family bridal shower was so enjoyable.  We saw her amazing wedding dress, met her mom and family.  She received lovely gifts and heard some fun stories about Adam!  Oh, I love being the little sister spilling the beans about how he tortured me during childhood!  I was privileged enough to spend dinner with her extended family, and I was so jealous they lived within miles of each other!  I can't wait to be so close to our families!

I saw my rugby girls for a spontaneous night out and spent the rest of the weekend visiting with my dad, and lovely new-mommy friend and 2-month-old, Max!

Thank you for all the fun!

Alicia's shower pictures:

 Me, Mom, Alica, Her Mom

 Ready for presents

 Onion cutting glasses! Awesome!

 Alicia and her two moms!

Cupcakes - so delicious and rich

Magnet Design

I had the pleasure of making Save the Dates for my brother's wedding.   

I worked with my soon-to-be sister-in-law to develop a design they liked and produced 2 fun magnets to send to guests.  What do you think?

 

Photos by Kristin Combs

If you know someone who'd like to order a custom designed stationary piece, send them my way.  I'd be glad to work with them!

Wedding Planning Bonus!

When planning a wedding you begin to realize how inflated "wedding" prices are - stupid wedding industry!  Be prepared to tack on 10% or more once you insert "wedding" in front of any purchase.

Thankfully there are perks along the way that encourage you that NOT all wedding people are devils!  One of the perks I took advantage of was Macy's Registry Star Rewards Program. 

To participate all you need is a Macy's card.  You don't need to have a Macy's gift registry to participate, simply register your Macy's card online or at your local Macy's and all of your wedding purchases will be tallied. 

10% of your purchase amount leading up to your wedding is gifted back to you!  The purchases I made were mens' ties, flower girl dress, rehearsal dress, bridesmaids' gifts, grooms gift, and a multitude of other accessories.  In addition to all of your purchases, if you choose to have a Macy's Registry, 5% of your registry purchases will be given back to you in the form of a Macy's gift card.

We received our 10% back in November and used it along with other gift cards from guests to purchase some new linens and flatware.  I waited til Macy's awesome January sales to get the best prices! 

Would you choose a flower alternative?

 

I couldn't help but LOVE these!  They are right up my alley!  I wonder if I could make one?

Ruffled Blog featured these broach bouquets yesterday and I couldn't stop thinking about them.  They kinda go with my button boutonnieres (right), that could also be a bouquet if you think about it, just using more buttons... hmm? 

 

A Walk in the Park - Portraits

We ended our ceremony with a KISS then, grinning ear to ear along with a sigh of relief we ran down the aisle as husband and wife.

 

There were handshakes and high fives but mostly smiles and well wishes!

 

Soon after everyone picked up their chairs and headed to the reception I had help from my brother and maid of honor to remove wood chips from my shoes and pumped up for more pictures.  I forgot to put on lip gloss at this point (Bummer) - so make it a point to tell your maid of honor to remind you!  It's just not something you think of at that moment in time!

Then the real work began - wearing a non-stop smile!  I tell you what, my cheeks felt it the next morning!   We took family portraits and bridal party portraits under the tree and additional couple portraits inside the gazebo and around the park. 

Here are some portraits to look at.  If you can't get enough you can view more pro photos and friend's photos on Picurio.

This is when Michelle did her work and we just smiled and enjoyed each others' company.

The following photos are all by Michelle

 

 

 

 

 

Our photographer, Michelle Lee scouted out a few other spots earlier in the week so we spent another 20 minutes and took some additional couple photos, which I LOVE!

 

 

Then we walked elsewhere which was caught on film and I love this one by one of our guests.

 

After we took a few more shots and we were ready to be introduced and dance our first dance.

My Inspiration vs. REALITY

I used Polyvore to create this wedding look half way through the planning process, in May to be exact - 4 months before the wedding.

After reading about a million girls' planning "dos and don'ts" I knew I should create some sort of visual with a combination of wedding elements I'd like to include.  At that point in time some of the elements, like the flower girl dress, were already decided.  The rest of the visual was a combo of all of the ideas, colors, and textures that were floating around in my head.  To a point, this validated my color decision and lingering questions if it was a cohesive look.




Polyvore

So above is the Polyvore look and below is a board made up of photos from the wedding.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

How do you think I did?

I've booked my weekend -

Saturday - Friends' winter wedding!

Sunday - Renegade Craft Fair!

I am excited to attend my friends' wedding and see how they put together their winter theme, it should be spactacular!  The bride is a crafty little thing and he is a music loving dance machine!  Tell me how much you love this: at her bridal shower she had everyone make an ornament for a Christmas tree she's displaying at their reception!  I've also caught wind that their introductions will be Michael Jackson themed!  Awesome?  I think so!

To extend my fun-filled weekend I am so excited for The Renegade Handmade Craft Fair on Sunday.  Renegade Handmade is a local shop in Chicago that sells only handmade products - talk about supporting small business!  They started the fair in 2003 and now have over 150 artists on site this year!  This is my kind of thing!  I am ecstatic to be attending!  One day I hope to be one of their vendors! 

The fair makes it possible to complete your Christmas shopping list!  

Renegade Craft says "those looking to shop handmade and support small business this holiday season will surely find something for everyone – from jewelry and clothing, to ceramics and stationery, with everything from bath products, housewares, posters, comics and plush objects in between – at this large-scale, free-to-attend art, craft and design extravaganza!!"

Happy Holiday Shopping Everyone! Next year come to Chicago!

when it's all said and done...

I like to think that I created my wedding the best I could - I loved what I did. 
It won't be for everyone but knew I did what I thought Nolan and I would like and we did like it.

But man, it's always the way when you're all finished you end up finding other elements you would have love too!!!

I found this wedding today - if I could have copied a wedding - this would have been it!  I love their style, photography, simplicity, personality, fun!  We actually incorporated many of the same things, maybe that's why I like it!   On top of all the same ideas - she included some of the ideas Nolan and I thought about but just couldn't manage to figure out - like ice cream instead of cake.  I love ice cream!

Check outPeter and Dianna’s backyard wedding on Budget Savvy Wedding - LOVE!

FOR SALE - Fall Wedding Items

I've spent enough time holding onto these jewels thus far. Would you like to buy them?

I live in the city of Chicago - if you live here too I can meet up with you off the red line.
I can mail them as well, with the addition of shipping costs from postal code: 60657

For Sale:

Ivory Pearl Clutch - $17
Quantity: 1
SOLD

White Clutch with Gold and Brown Sequins - $17
Quantity: 1
SOLD

 

Ivory Canvas Bags - $12
Quantity: 22
SOLD

Clear Cellophane Bags (10" x 4" x 2.5") - $3
Quantity: 50

Beads (size 10/0) bronze metallic - $1
Quantity: 40 grams

Beads (size 5/0) bronze metallic - $1
Quantity: 40 grams

Brown 5/8" Satin Ribbon - $7
Quantity: approx. 50 yds.

White Doily - $1
SOLD

3"x4" Brown Organza Pouches - $3
Quantity: 10

4mm Cream Pearl Beads - $1.50
Quantity: 1 string (about 75 beads)

Leave a comment if  you'd like any one or several of these items.

Favorites - Mustaches

a FAVORITES series

It wasn't in the plans originally but I kept spotting fake mustaches in many of the weddings I drooled over.

Take a look at some of these fun photos and then ask me how I COULDN'T include fake 'staches!

I found these photos on Weddingbee.

Three out of these four photos use the mustaches on sticks - genius!  They are comical and silly.  I just laugh every time I see them.  I particularly like the "formal" portraits with 'staches.  They make me giggle.

So I searched for fakes -

The first and only stop I made was at Oriental Trading!  They were the easy and cheap (my kinda deal).  I purchased 140ish for around $35 (including shipping).  They sell packages of 12, each package includes 3 different styles of mustaches - so you purchase increments of 36 'staches.

To get the all our guest their mustaches was another fun DIY idea.  I had another GRAND idea of a photo booth; the mustaches would be our way to tell everyone about it - so I made business card size info sheets to attach to the mustaches.  They included our "faux"to booth info and where to eventually upload their photos online. 

Well our "fauxtobooth" feel apart - the sheet blew off the fence, never to be hung up the rest of the day so it wasn't used.  C'est la vie!   We had a lot going on - it wasn't a big deal.   But the cards were staples to the 'staches and placed on the tables for each guest already!  What happens when you give wedding guests props?  They make some really silly photos!

And what do  you know, they did in fact upload their photos!  YAY!

Nolan's sis and nephews

 

Camille's older brother and his fiance

 

Camille's little brother (his 'stach is up-side-down!)

 

Camille's uncle and cousins!

 

Nephew

 

Nolan's cousins

 

Camille's cousins

 

 Mike trying to give Camille a mustache!

A HUGE mistake of mine was that I forgot a handful of mustaches at the house when we were leaving for formal photos!  I should have delegated this to someone because I completely forgot!  I am so incredible sad that I didn't get a fun bridesmaid photo with these!  

Please share you mustache photos!