DIY Fail: the STDs.

So I decided for the Save the Dates I would DIY. My MOH graciously came over to work on design, sample print it at Staples and pick a winner. HAHAHAHA. What I thought would be an easy design turned into a very unfortunate end result.

Here is my inspiration picture:

Source

Well. It didn't come out that good. It had cheesy yellow lines bordering the page and nothing I did looked complete. I bought a Martha Stewart paper puncher that made cute designs on the borders . . . didn't help too much. The more we looked at it - the better it got . . . because we were so fed up with the project.

Then my mom's GENEROUS friend, who is a graphic designer GRACIOUSLY offered to design them for me! I am so excited. Hope to show you some designs in a few days!
We are skipping the numbers part and instead putting a magnet in the mini-envelope with our info on it. Love.It. On the magnet we are using this photo:

And on the outside of the Save the Date we decided on this photo:

My mom mentioned it may be a photo overload. Do you think so?

Anyone find a good site to order magnets from? Anyone have a DIY fail that got them discouraged and behind schedule?

Meeting the Master of Ceremony

We met with a potential officiant the other day. She is a justice of the peace as well as a Christian minister. My mother ensured that we knew to buy her coffee at the shop we met at . . . thanks, mom!
Anyway, we met her and it went great. She had SO many great ideas of ways to incorporate parents and grandparents and how to honor those who have passed away. We loved her. She was interested in us and what we do. I could tell that was an expressive and interesting lady. She has been an officiant for ten years but was a private investigator before that.
Well, after meeting with the officiant it felt like the ceremony was starting to come together in my mind. All the pieces that I felt were so disconnected start to flow. I am so excited to work with her and to meet with her to write our ceremony.
She was a little bit more than our budget allotted but after some discussion, we determined this was the place to go over. The reception wouldn't be much more than a party without the ceremony.
I can't wait to work more on the ceremony and share some with you all!
Some tips for meeting the officiant:

• Have some pictures of your wedding ideas so they get a sense of what kind of wedding you are having. Bring your planning binder! They won't be intimidated.
  
• Know what you are looking for in an officiant - list some qualities before meeting him/her
• Ask him/her about their life outside of their job to get a sense of him/her as a person
• Find out how they construct a ceremony, do they allow you to write any?
• What type of tone do you want the ceremony to set? Will the officiant be comfortable setting that tone? Will they be good at it?
  
• Relax! Don't be nervous and just let the conversation flow. Most likely they have done a lot of meetings and can carry the conversation. If they can't speak, they probably shouldn't be saying your ceremony.
• Set out an hour for the meeting - you have a lot to talk about!
  

Did you meet your officiant? Did you gel with him/her more than you thought you would? Do you have any tips for interviewing the officiant?

Bridal Party Boogying

At my friend's wedding, she had her wedding party all do the cupid shuffle. It was fun and they got the wedding guests up and involved after the first two rounds. My mother came across this video on youtube the other day and asked if we would be having a bridal party number.



The answer is no. I wouldn't put the guys through that because I know they would HATE it. I have already told the ladies they are in charge of getting people in the crowd interested in dancing, but we won't be doing any choreography . . . at least for the bridal party.
Are you having your bridal party do a dance? It looks like fun, but my ladies and gentlemen would have none of it. What song are you having them dance to?

Wedding Dress Dilemmas

So I went wedding dress shopping a month ago and haven't been back. I found a dress I love. L-O-V-E. The problem? Well my friend's sister wore it at her own wedding. While this doesn't bother me at all, I saw pictures and realized I may not care for the dress as much as I thought I did a month ago. The swarovski beading around the neckline looked kind of fake ...

So now I am kind of back to the drawing board. I am going to try it on again and take some pictures of me in it. Here are some of my new inspiration photos and the one I thought I loved:

(Above) The one I tried on and loved! Below are just dresses I am thinking I might like to try on or try on something similar to:These are so different than the one I loved originally. I am not sure what is going on with my taste - it is a good thing I haven't put any deposits down or anything. I think I will continue to look and retry on the Caprice that I originally loved.

Did you have dress concerns along your search? Do you ever fall in love with something while shopping and then fall out of love later on? *sigh*

I've Fallen Off the Wedding Planning Wagon . . .

But I hope to get back on next week!

This is what I have been up to this week:
1.) I found out I got a new job last week, so I have been finishing up at the old job.
2.) News Flash (in case you couldn't tell) I am a teacher so I was also amidst first week craziness.
3.) Packing because I have to move!
4.) FI and I begin a Long Distance Relationship next week =( So we have been bickering to mask our pain and spending lots of time together when we are not bickering.
5.) Planning for TWO teaching jobs including reading (I am an English teacher) and writing lessons.
6.) LOSING my mind!

But next week we have an appointment with a DJ and our potential officiant. Any advice on what important questions to ask either of these potential vendors?

Did you run into any life throws you a curve ball moments during your wedding planning?

Awesome Shutterfly Deal

Today's Boston Groupon, a coupon website, is 67% off a photobook on Shutterfly. I love their photobooks so I figured I would share the sale with you all. I just recently purchased one of our engagement photos. It came out great! My parents want a copy so I will probably use the coupon for that.

No, I did not get paid to write this. I just wanted you all to get to take advantage of this too!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4599394

Happy book making!

Constructing the Ceremony

I grew up Catholic and the FI grew up congregationalist. We want to include faith in a God in our ceremony without having a wholly religious ceremony. Enter my FI's super fantastic aunt and uncle: They bought us this great book as an engagement congratulation:
So admittedly, the cover looks cheesy and why is it called "Into the Garden"? But the contents are great! They have wedding and love poems ranging from religious to sappy dappy to sexy! In the back of the book are examples of traditional wedding ceremonies. My favorite so far is the Zen-Unitarian-American - Traditional Ceremony. They also have Protestant, Judeo-Christian, Zen, Jewish etc. I highly recommend this book if you are going to use readings from the Bible, non-secular readings or are interested in reading some sweet, sappy poetry.

I was thinking, as an English teacher, it would be great if our readers picked a poem that they liked from this book or from somewhere else. Then I read one about burning desiring loins and I decided that leaving it up to someone else could be risky.

I am going to leave you with one of the poems from the text:

love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe
that all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

e.e. cummings

What books did you find helpful throughout planning the ceremony, reception, entire wedding? How are you putting together your ceremony? Any helpful hints?

Hairspiration

So I love to think about things WAY in advance. I am going to share with you my hairspiration photos. First. Let me remind you of what my hair looks like:



So as you can see, my hair is a little past my shoulders or so. I am very low maintenance when it comes to my hair - I wash and brush it. For special occassions, I may straighten it but that is a toss up. I am also growing out my hair for the next 10 months hoping to get it a bit longer for the big updo.



Ok so here they are: I love the look of the back of this. I couldn't find front pictures so I don't know how good that would look.








How can you not love a good Carrie Underwood hairdo? She is so classy. So for the half up half down look - first of all, my FI requested that some hair be down. Whether or not I consider this is up in the air. I love the Carrie shot on the right this is the back of that hair:
I love the back of the hair too as well as the side swept bangs. I would love to include side swept bangs because they look so adorable with wedding hairstyles, but is this practical for my life pre and post wedding? Probably not.





Ignore the crazy outfit and weird face. I actually like this hair - it is unique but I think sophisticated looking. Am I just crazy? Please be honest about that style with me!









Okay so again, ignore the face, but I do like the hair here. I love the bangs again and the wispys on the side. It looks classy but not overdone.






Which one is your favorite? What kinds of hair inspiration photos did you find to hand off to your hair stylist? I think I am going to need 10 hair trials!!!

*Sigh*

Things I wish I could include in the wedding but alack, alas, we cannot for one reason or another:

Source

Mmmmm This makes my mouth water just looking at it. It would make a great dessert bar option or a great favor. Who doesn't like a good s'mores?!


Vintage cars. I love them. They are so freaking cute & I would love a grand entrance or exit in one. However, we are not doing any of those things in a grand way. Therefore, no grand vehicle transport for us.

Source


A simple beach wedding or destination wedding. I love this look - it is so classy and elegant but not over the top. Sometimes I wish we had gone this route. However, we want so many people to be able to share in our day so a DW just wasn't in the cards.

But pictures like this make me reconsider (Source):








Mmmm more cute ways to display food & drink!

A popcorn bar!
(source)




Too cute signature
drinks! (Source)




I am sure I will have many more posts like this one.
Are there inspiration photos that make you swoon but you know you will never be able to replicate at your wedding? How do you get over wedding envy?