Our Blank Wall

We've been staring a blank wall for about a week wondering what we'll do ... 

Yesterday Nolan and I visited the Art Institute - Chicago on Michigan Avenue - it was their weekly Free Evening!  We spent a couple hours exploring the old, the modern, the curious, the new, the unexplainable from 900 BC Asia to 2008 Canada.  

This prompted another conversation about our blank wall. Currently we have our Chicago watercolor hanging amongst the vast emptiness!  It is great but it looks puny in comparison to the wall.  Even though I had thought of an idea before I never shared it with Nolan thinking he'd shoot it down right away.  I kept seeing a trend on design blogs that I like dearly.  

"What do you think of a collage of plates?"  I ask.  He thinks, he nods, then we draw up a diagram of how we might arrange said plates!  This isn't your grandmother's antique plate display!  I was floored that he liked the idea.  It seems like the most economical way to put a piece of art, 3D art in our apartment! Cue Excitement!

Beyond creating something unusual on our wall we also get to hunt for these  said plates at thrift shops, antique stores, garage sales, our parent's homes (just kidding)!  I am really excited about our new design project.

Do you need a visual?  Please see below.

CasaSugar blog offers a 'how to' in case you're wondering if you'd like to accomplish the same look.

For more inspiration and photos - visit these websites!

Remodelista Blog: http://remodelista.com/posts/dining-room-plates-as-decor

Shelter Pop Blog: http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/01/25/inspiration-decorating-with-plates-on-the-wall/

House and Home: http://www.houseandhome.com/design/hanging-plates-wall
Decor It Yourself: http://www.threadbanger.com/decorityourself/post/11062/how-to-hang-a-plate

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? 

 

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!

It's A Family Affair

I am ecstatic to be only 11 days out of our big celebration!

I am busy finishing last minute details before I head out to the West Coast on Saturday. One of the most important things to me was to incorporate family into our celebration. I really want all of the people attending to see how much our family means to us. So one of my initial ideas was to have our tables numbers include family photos, but not just any photos, their wedding photos!

So feast on these fun photos that I will be including! How exciting!

Camille's Paternal Grandparents

Nolan's First Cousins

Camille's Second Cousins

Nolan's Paternal Grandparents

Nolan's First Cousins

Nolan's Parents

Camille's Maternal Aunt and Uncle

Camille's Maternal Great Aunt and Uncle

Nolan's Great Grandparents

Camille's Maternal Great Aunt and Uncle

Nolan's Great Grandparents

Nolan's Maternal Grandparents

If you're even thinking of doing this, my biggest piece of advise - Start asking for photos EARLY! People don't respond, emails get lost, etc! You never know when a new photo will pop up in your inbox, so it's been fun collecting all the family wedding photos. I am so excited to display these at our wedding.

Button Bouts!

This Labor Day weekend, in fact most weekends this year I've occupied most of my time with wedding related projects! Yesterday I officially checked off boutonnieres!!!!

I wasn't sure how to start, but I think they turned out pretty fine! I bought many supplies... too many really! They might show up on the FOR SALE label soon! But it was fun to experiment and watch them evolved after 9 were made!

I chose to make them so it would be one less thing to worry about when we're in Reno the week before the wedding. We aren't hiring a florist - as much as I love flowers, I can't find a good enough reason to hire one to create the few flower items we're having. Ric, Nolan's sis is growing flowers to use for our bouquets, she owns Chickie Baby Bloom, fresh cut flowers and produce, operating out of Fallon, Nevada. Center pieces will include pumpkins and potted flowers. They'll be truly homemade and I can't wait to see them.

So the bouts...
Nolan and I walked through a few antique shops and thrift stores on Friday to find a few items for the wedding and I got to thinking about the boutonnieres. What if, instead of silk flowers, they had buttons? About 5 weeks ago I had attempted this project and came up with...

The first version

It was an attempt to look like the one from this post.

I couldn't quite recreate it, that one was full of whimsy and romance, this one looks harsh and NOT RIGHT...

So, I did my own thing. I picked up some really awesome buttons from an antique shop, floral wire, floral tape, ribbon, brown tool, and pheasant feathers from Joann's and we were in business!

My purchases:

9 of them took me the end of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, watching/playing 3 hours of Wii Mini Golf with Nolan, and another hour of TV, there might have been a BBQ break in there to celebrate the holiday!

Voila! May I introduce our button bouts!

The bout against Nolan's suit




Each one has a different combination of buttons, leafs, feathers, tool; they all include the same ribbon around the stem and plaid decorative ribbon. I can't wait to see them on the men. Now just how do I transport them to Reno?

They'll be complementing these ties:

So let's return to what we really like reading about...

Fun Wedding Finds, Fun Times, Good Eats and Great Friends!

It's been quite sometime that I've loved vintage items. It may not have been known but I really do! I love antique malls that are 5 stories high and flea markets in stadium parking lots and garage sales at 7AM on Saturday mornings. I love finding the deals and steals out there on the truly great vintage style. I've inherited the love of the old from my dad, king of antiquing! He'll go way out of his way to visit an antique mall and might even schedule a vacation around an antique visit. Dad spends money on the old, has antique furniture and restores pieces he's had for sometime. All of those items I love and have now become special family heirlooms.

This love of mine was something I found in Nolan! As unusual as it seems, Nolan and I both love visiting old antique malls and playing for days, it's been something I've loved in him since finding out by filling a boring day early in our relationship with a walk around downtown Reno that turned into a 4 hour adventure in an antique mall (that old two story one that was part of the wine walk and recently closed.) Because of our love of the old I wanted to include a few vintage flares into the wedding decor. I'm using our family's wedding photos, some from 3 generations ago, and asked Mom to incorporate some heirlooms she thinks would fit.

To get back to the point, Reno was full of antique malls that could fill a Saturday or Sunday. They were easy to get to and fun to explore.

Since moving, the closest antique mall I've visited is an hour ride from my house, leaving a void where I would typically fill with my guilty pleasure. To say the least it was a fun trip, but man, not having a car and relying on public transportation can become cumbersome and frustrating. Yes, I know Chicago has many vintage shops, but they usually specialize in clothes and that's not really what I like expoloring. In turn, I've satisfied my antiquing guilty pleasure by looking on eBay and finding vintage furniture, photos, books, lamps and other items on other sites,(the good ones are few and far between.) But, since I've begun my wedding planning I've done more research than I can stand and have found sites that have vintage sections. This brings me to fun finds!

Etsy.com - a crafter's dream! This site sells homemade crafts from silly buttons to well tailored hand bags to vintage wedding items.

Vintage Glam Weddings - a blog specializing on vintage weddings! They not only include wedding ideas, but they include a Craig's List type of element to their site: An online Flea Market: http://vintageglamblog.com/classifieds/. This online flea market includes all sorts of wedding items that you can buy or sell! I am impressed with the idea, it's great to have another opportunity to buy a used item for cheaper and possibly put it back up for sale after the wedding. I like helping other find those great deals (that's reflected in my Sunday ritual of coupon clipping).

Fun Times!

Mom just got back from Miami! I hope she had a great time, I think next time she goes she should take the kid that is stuck in the 20 degree weather and sideways falling snow! I hope you had a great time!

Good Eats!

Green Lite Bites - a new recipe finder I have been browsing the last couple weeks for lite inspiration for keeping my lbs dropping!

Great Friends!

Last weekend Jackie's sister and brother-in-law, Lucas came through town on their way to Mexico. I always enjoy when they come into town because it seems natural to have them around, without putting on a song and dance for them as they have seen Chicago and they just come purely for our company and are easy to please! We played a board game, ate a great dinner and had a few adult beverages! They are a blast to be around! Also on the Newport Hostel radar is another fun filled weekend with friends from all over coming to stay with us! This week, Crista (Reno), Danielle (Baltimore), Stefan (Reno), Buddha (San Bernadino) are all coming to hang out! It is Jackie's quarter life celebration so we are all excited to be honoring her this weekend with the prospect of drinking one too many!

So that's the more upbeat portion of the blog, stay tuned for more as we head into warmer days!