My Dress, My Dilemma

So I tried my dress on over the weekend... again :) And as I was standing on my pedestal, staring at my bridal reflection, it hit me; how the hell am I going to accessorize this dress?!

Okay, my Mister... I love you but hit-the-road so I can post some dress pics! Thanks!

Now let's get down to business.

My "wedding day vision" was a slightly casual dress with lace details, my hair loosely up with a flower pinned to the back, killer shoes, a flushed/glowing face with soft eyes and pale pink lips. I was hoping for a... well, not casual but not too formal look. I wanted to be comfortable so I could dance the night away with the Mister and have a relaxed,vintage-elegance feel to the entire wedding.

Here is my dress (me with two of the Mister's nieces who will be part of the flower girl frenzy)...

(excuse the ugly face in the first pic... just focus on those little ladies! all pics are mine)

It's a little more formal, a bit more silver and a touch longer train than I was planning. But I fell in love when I tried it on and I could tell it was "the one" just by the feel of it; before I had even seen myself wearing it.

But now my vision is a little off. And for some reason, I am having a hard time pulling the new look together.

Would a loose up-do with a flower like this be appropriate?

source: http://www.brides.com/

The Mister and I had wanted the guys to wear khaki suites like these...

source: http://www.tuxedojunction.com/

And the girls in something light like these...

source: www.alfredangelo.com

Can you see the relaxed, vintage-elegance I was going for?

I still want this effect but I think we need to sprinkle some formal-ness over each element.

Now the new inspiration search begins!

Did your original wedding vision go out the door when you found the perfect dress/venue/any wedding element?

DIY: Save-the-Dates

How to make our save the dates. And my apologizes for the poorly lit pics!

First, gather your supplies... scrap book paper in 4.5x6.5, ribbon, double sided tape, glue dots, index cards (for your message), photos in 4x6 and craft glue, just in case.

Second, cut a length of the ribbon (about 3 inches)...

Next you want to create a hem on the ribbon ends. So take a small square of double sided tape, place it about a half inch up from the end of the ribbon, fold the end over to stick and repeat on the other side.

Now take a glue dot, stick it on the hem of the ribbon, one on each side (it's there in the center)...

Select two of the same paper patterns and, on the blank side, stick the ribbon at the edge, in the middle. Bring the two pages together and give the ribbon-covered dots a good pinch...

Pause for a kit-kat from your niece's Halloween bag...

Print or write your information on the 3x5 blank index cards (I did ours in publisher)...

Finally, with your double sided tape, tape the back of the photo, center it on the bottom page and stick. Then double sided tape the message card, center it on the top page and stick.

They haven't been sent yet so I don't want to put up the final-final product but this will give you a good idea of the final look.

Good luck and go craft!

Christmas Countdown

It's 50 days until Christmas, I'm just saying.

We Have Save The Dates!

The Mister and I struggled with our STDs (ha!). It shouldn't be THAT hard but we couldn't communicate our vision to our designer thus making it difficult and nerve wracking when we asked for edits and changes.

The designer is a very talented young man who is a friend of a friend. He is trying to launch his business but, it is safe to say, weddings are not the direction he plans on going.

We were about to submit another round of edits and I was stressing it because I knew the back and forth was getting stale.

But I also knew our deadline to get these bad-boys out was rapidly approaching. So while laying in bed one night earlier this week it hit me: do what I can with the skill I have.

My skill is scrap booking. I am pretty good with paper. And again, while laying there, I developed a design in my head that I don't think I have seen.

So the next morning I went to CVS, Joanne Fabrics and Staple. Yes, a random collection of store but I wasn't into wasting time and I knew each store had exactly what I needed.

First up, CVS' photo center to print off 50 of our new, FAVORITE epic...

Next was Joanne's for scrap booking supplies... paper, ribbon, glue dots and double sided tape.

And then to Staples to get blank index cards...

I returned home with my new loot and ready to crank these babies out!

I decided to do a mock-up to make sure my idea could work and this is what I got.

When pulled from the envelop...

When opened...

When posted on the fridge...

And I am in love! The Mister was shocked by how great they turned out. I am going to print the information on the index cards but overall, that is the final product!

I can't wait to get these in the mail and in the hands of our family and friends.

Did you change up a wedding plan? Was it for the better?

Did you do a DIY save the date? Do describe!

STOP THE PRESSES!

I couldn't just stick with it. I couldn't just suck it up and go with the basic STD we had developed and paid to have it designed.

We had many changes meaning I had to work with the designer, who I could tell was becoming VERY annoyed. Eventually, we ended up with this...

We swapped out our NYC trip photo with one of our engagement photos and ditched the "timeline" photos, that showed us each year in our relationship, because it was just too busy.

Then after close examination from some online friends, there were spelling and grammer mistakes that I had overlooked. Meaning, I would have to work with the designer again and I just didn't want to take up anymore of his time.

Not to mention, that when I printed the 4x6 cards, they were lacking in wow-ness and substance.

Enough is enough.

Two days ago, while laying in bed, I had an idea. The next morning, I hit up CVS, Joanne's and Staples.

You must be thinking, what a random variety of stores? Uh-hu, totally. But the results... well that is for the next post!

Did you have any VERY last minute changes when planning your wedding?