Wedding Hair

I definitely want to wear my hair down. I found my inspiration photo online after looking at a zillion different wedding do's. It's so simple, but beautiful at the same time, perfect!

Veils

hmmm.... something like this:

or something like this:

Decisions, decisions.

Wedding Sweat Shop!

Forgive my absence we have a bit of a wedding sweat shop going in our room right now! We are finishing up our favors and invitations this weekend, and I'll have photo updates soon on the progress. We are planning to personalize some invitations we ended up buying for $2 at Big Lots! Once we add fancy stuff to them they will be a little more expensive, but still such a bargain, and they will be completely our vision. I have to hand it to my fiance he is a DIY genius!

Wedding Website

ewedding.com offers a pretty handy tool, a free wedding website. You can list all the info for guests, you can even make up a fun couples quiz for visitors to take. I think it will end up being a nice tool for my friends who are better about responding to rsvp's online instead of mailing it in.... things are getting easier all the time. :-D

To do:

Sometimes I feel like my to do list is growing longer! So many things left to do:

• Finish Favors
• Invites and response cards
  
• Take engagement pics
• Find an officiant
• Book hair and makeup
• Find Jewelry and shoes for the bridesmaids
• Figure out all of our important songs for the DJ
• Work on movie montage with baby pics
  
• seating chart
  
• book linens
• work on program--- find cute poem to use
• buy groomsmen gifts
• Come up with signature cocktails
• Book our honeymoon

I'm sure I'm probably leaving some stuff out, but the point I'm trying to make is that this wedding stuff can get a little overwhelming at times. I know it will all be worth it on the day of, but right now it seems like a lot.

DIY Favor Project

For our wedding favors we are making little candy jars. We used shape paper punchers to make cute circle cute outs of different sizes and then monograming them with an old fashioned "M" stamp. They look pretty cute in person, forgive the crappy phone upload pictures :-P

Cute Chick-lit

I started reading Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot, I am specifically liking this book because the main character wants to open a shop that restores vintage wedding dresses, and in between each chapter is a very cute wedding dress guide.

Swing Dancing Continued!

Swing dancing was tough, I think I'm more out of shape than most of the 70 year old's that were taking lessons with us. We are slowly starting to get the steps and the turns, but it's a little confusing.... practice makes perfect.

Swing Dancing

We decided to take swing dancing lessons starting Sunday. I'm a little apprehensive since I have pretty much no coordination! It should be an experience to say the least. I'll let you know how it goes, but Sunday may be my first and last attempt at dancing.

Wedding Band

We found the wedding band today!! I was already in love with my engagement ring, but the wedding band definitely seals the deal. Soooooo pretty :-D

MIA

Sorry for the leave of absence! I had a crazy weekend. I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friends wedding. The great part about going to weddings right now is that I'm getting tons of new ideas. It was such a pretty wedding. Her candy bar was amazing!!

Engagement Pictures

I want to take engagement pics with a vintage feel, but I haven't decided where yet.
So far the a few of the places at the top of my list of possibilities are:

• Santa Monica Boardwalk
  
• Huntington Library Gardens Pasadena
• Santa Anita Arboretum
  
• Pretty local college campus
  

Wedding Jewelry Part 2

So, speaking of inspiration check out the bling! available at The White Aisle. Maybe I should rethink the locket idea.... some of the jewelry is almost too pretty to resist. Did I mention it's all $29!!!!

Blog Love

I have to give credit where credit is due. I get so much inspiration from the blogs I follow. You all are amazingly creative ladies! Believe me, Martha Stewart has nothing on all of you. I honestly started this blog as a place to save my ideas as they came to me, I never really thought anything would come of it, but as the days and weeks go by I continue to find more inspiration from all of the lovely blogs around me. :-D

The Venue

After looking at 5 billion places, we went back to the first place we went to:
The Lindley Scott House
I am so excited for the big day. I love the idea of a wedding with vintage feel. Check out these beautiful pictures from Tamarack Studios

Creative Cuff Links

Cute gift idea for groomsmen, dads, or even the dorks in your life! :-D
Etsy seller: crimsonking

Something Blue

Here is an easy way to slip a little blue in.
Etsy seller: JustForTheShellOfIt

Love Birds

This cake topper from Etsy seller cornflakegirl is adorable!

Polaroids and Party Fun

I'm debating about putting an old school polaroid camera at each table for guest to take candid shots with. I like the instant gratification factor a polaroid can deliver.... but it might be a little tricky getting my hands on 10 of em.

Oh Martha

The new issue of Martha Stewart Weddings came out..... and I can't help, but love all the ideas! So many cute things. P.S. check out this cake!!

Cupcakes

My dad had a cool idea today when we passed by Dots Cupcakes in Pasadena. If you were low on cash you could actually use cute cake stands and have mini cupcakes at each table instead of having a flower centerpiece. We've already booked our florist, but if I had thought of this any sooner I just might have done it. At least everyone at the table would have something to snack on.

Thank the Lord!!!

I would also like to concentrate on the good news.... not just the dieting woes. I got a new job!!! I got a new job!!! Okay I will stop doing my happy dance now. lol It has been very tough on my fiance and I lately. Not mention that getting a Master's degree doesn't seem to give a girl much of an edge these days. Between wedding planning and school finding a new job to get me through until my fiance and I move to New York sometime next year has been my number one priority. I'm counting my blessings now, because it finally happened! It's funny that it happens to be working in a library and planning events for teens, something I would gladly do for free. :-D I'm super excited, I'm going to have the best book club ever!!

The Battle of the Bulge

It's me vs. the doughnut. Man, this is the worst part of the wedding.... I've been trying to be "healthy" for the last month or so. My pants are finally fitting a little looser and I think my eliptical is starting to hate me, from the constantly daily abuse. The unfortunate part is that it never gets any easier, everyday is a battle between me and something that is going to make me look like the pilsbury dough boy in my wedding dress. Anyone have any good dieting tips? I think the hardest part is my upbringing, I'm an Italian girl, every holiday and social gathering revolves around food and alcohol, and it's really tough to avoid.

Cute Favor Idea

I love this idea. While you could buy them at:
$45 for six 1-quart tins, hamptonpopcorn.com.
You could get pretty much the same effect by buying containers and cute labels and making them yourself. Trader Joe's sells bags of cheddar popcorn for around $1.50.


Martha Stewart has a cute template that could be used for the top of the container. For freeeeeeeeeee!

Monogram Labels

To fashion these monogrammed labels, print on adhesive or regular paper and cut out with a 3-inch circle punch.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/downloadable-wedding-templates?lnc=4db27a48efa1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_planning&lpgStart=1&currentslide=25&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

Save the Dates

Here's a sneak peak at the save the dates. I'm thankful I have a crafty fiance, he helped me make the save the date photo booth pics. The save the date cards were from a seller on Etsy TrueViolet and were about a dollar each!

The Dress!!

I am bargain shopper. I get a secret rush from knowing I got a good deal. In light of the economy this is a good trait to have, but I must admit even if I was a zillionaire, I would still be out shopping around for the lowest price on things, it's just way more fun knowing I scored an amazing deal. Some may call it cheap, but I prefer to think of it as thrifty, perhaps even clever. So on to the good news, which I've been holding back from blogging about for a while (not sure why). I found my wedding dress the first time I went dress shopping. I hit up a store in Los Angeles called Glamour Closet.

Glamour Closet Los Angeles Boutique
324 South La Brea Avenue (cross street: 3rd Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tel. (323) 938-2000

Glamour Closet sells designer dresses at a fraction of the cost. I was able to find a $4000 Vera Wang dress for under $1000! I like simple things, so this by no means a giant billowing princess dress, but it is perfect for me. When I tried it on I knew it was the one. It's classic, elegant, and I can't wait to wear it! I think the moral of the story is you can find beautiful things at a fraction of the price.

Bridezilla

I have an unhealthy addiction to watching the reality show Bridezilla. I'm not so sure what is so delightful about hearing girls scream and throw fits about chocolate cake, but it is quite entertaining. Well, sad, and entertaining. I'm sure a good portion of it is fake, but the thought that there may be girls out there that act like that is both disgusting and fascinating at the same time.

http://www.wetv.com/bridezillas/index.html
Definitely check out this game! Pretty hilarious, the music will be stuck in your head for at least a week.

Shoes!

Is it wrong to pine for one of these????!!! So beautiful, but can I justify spending a zillion dollars on a pair of shoes? My practical side says no, but my eyes say yes.

Cake buffet

This is a really cute idea. I'm sticking with the traditional wedding cake, but if you wanted to do something different, and maybe didn't want to go with the life size replica cake this might be an option.

Or there is always these

If the life sized replica cake doesn't work for you, you could always go with the nintendo theme. I think my fiance would really be into these. (It would definitely make a cute grooms cake)