Wedded Bliss - Behind the scenes secrets revealed :)

If you've been following along, you all know that mine and Dan's nuptuals took effect on a beautiful autumn day that, thanks to global warming, was unseasonably warm.  The leaves were turning, the air was crisp, the sun was shining, and all was perfect in paradise.  The wedding ceremony and subsequent reception went off without a hitch (unless you count the fact that I put his ring on the wrong hand, which I don't).  All the little details really made an impact, even if only to me.

The majority of my plans/creative masterpieces were kept a secret so that it would be a surprise on the big day.  But, with only a small pat on my own back, I did everything (EVERYTHING) myself and with the help of my mom and bridal party.  The centerpieces, the cardbox (you just wait!), the tablecloths, the bouquets, etc.

So here is a personal account of all the details that, although may not have been noticed by every single person, reflect a year's worth of hard work.  I put my heart and soul into planning this wedding and I hope someone else can find inspiration for their own one day :)

The Program:
Have you ever been to a wedding where you know the bride and groom, but the bridal party is a mystery to you?  Why are these people important?  How did they meet?  The bridal party has an important role to play that day, and their presence should be well documented.  Also, people want to know about the couple...at least I do.  So I designed a program on Publisher to tell all of that.  Give them something to read while they wait for my grand entrance :)

There was the "People Near & Dear" section and the "Random Facts You May Not Know" section, designed to create a few laughs, and coincidently a few tears.  I think they were a hit!

The Bridesmaids:
I decided a long time ago I didn't want flowers.  Nothing against the rest of the sane world who uses flowers on their wedding day, but it just wasn't my style.  I knew what I wanted for my own bouquet (we'll get to that in a bit) but that left me with the bridesmaids' bouquets - could they walk down the aisle bouquetless??  After months of debate, I found floral accents at the craft store and assembled them in to their bouquets.  Glittery, pretty, and easy.

Also, they were all wearing a different black dress of their choosing and I wanted something to unify them. Plus, it was supposed to be cold that day.  So I altered store-bought shawls for them to wear down the aisle and during outdoor pictures.

Here are the bouquets in vases on the head table.

Modeled by my lovely Maid of Honor and sister :)

I also made their necklaces to wear that day:



My Bouquet:

Again with the no flowers, I googled "alternative bouquets" and was bombarded with ideas that made my creative head spin!  But one idea stuck in my mind....Brooch Bouquets.  They were beautiful, unique, and timeless - a great momento to have long after the flowers would have died.  I labored over this idea for months, trying and trying again and again to get the look I wanted.  I ended up with this:

I chose all green and silver and rhinestone/crystal brooches.  Some new, some used, some really really old. 

My Hat/Veil:
I knew right away I didn't want a long veil - again, just not my style.  My mom had given me her's awhile back, not really intending for me to do anything with it, just more as a sentimental thing.  Well, it was poofy, and long, and totally not me.  But it had this hat that got me thinking.  So I pulled all of the toulle off of it and just the hat remained.  So I altered it.  And kept it a secret from her until the day of.  Boy was she surprised!

The Ceremony Sendoff:
If this was 1955 and we were getting married, there would be rice flying everywhere.  But because it's 2011 and people are bothered by everything, rice is no longer allowed.  Bubbles are the new norm.  But it's October, and I never follow the norm.  So I (and my bridal party) made streamers to wave as we walked out to greet our guests.

They made for some really cool pictures!

The Guest Book:

All along I had intentions of doing a signature mat for people to sign and then hang our wedding picture in it.  Until I did some more googling of "alternative guest books" and found inspiration for thumbprint guest books.  I had a stationary and card boutique customize a drawing of a bride and groom for some coffee mugs my mother-in-law bought us, and so I contacted her for a larger version of the image.  She then added some "strings" for the balloons and the guests went wild.

We wanted a unique way

To remember this special day

And the people we love so much

So don't forget to sign your name

Because no two are the same

And leave us your personal "touch"

:)

The Card Box:

I blogged a couple months back about a card box fetish I had and that mine was going to be intense.  Well, I didn't disappoint.  Made entirely of cardboard, I give you the mother of all card boxes:

I'm pretty sure there were several people who carried their cards around for awhile, unaware that it was the card box!

The Seating Chart:
I can't actually take credit for this - it is all due to my talented mother.  I just came up with the idea and she executed it beautifully.  We didn't have the floor space for an entire extra table just to lay out tiny cards with guest's names on them.  Plus, I really liked the idea of a chalkboard.  The easel came from a display at work that was being thrown out, and the rest is my mother's genius.

First names and last initials, easy to find, easy to read.
The Favors:
What's the best part about Halloween?? The CANDY, duh!  And since we all turned in our witch's hats and devil horns and tiger tails a long time ago, trick or treating has been a thing of the past.  So I decided to bring it back.  I hit up the stores right after Halloween last year when everything was 50-75% off.  I bought a ton of candy dishes in all shapes and sizes.  Then, about a month before the wedding, Dan and I hit up a huuuuge candy warehouse in Cleveland to buy all the goods.  There was some stuff there from when our parents were kids!  Everything from Milky Ways to Gobstoppers to Candy Mustaches and Candy Necklaces.  Squirrel Nut Zipper, anyone??

The table was literally overflowing with candy - we ended up with half a bag by the end of the night!  I stamped white paper lunch bags with trick or treat stamps and told them to "fill 'em up!"

And boy did they ever!

The Cake:

Now, no, I'm not THAT good....I didn't make the cake too!  My baker Uncle made it for me after I gave him an idea of what I wanted - which basically consisted of "white with polka dots!"  But I DID make the cake toppers.



Seen here, before

And here, after :)

The Centerpieces:

Again, we reach the "no flower" situation which results in un-flowery centerpieces needing to be designed.  My original thought was "just do it all in pumpkins!"  But that would require me to assemble them no longer than a week before the wedding and that was just TOO. MUCH. PRESSURE.  So I came up with 3 alternatives. 

Here's a shot of the whole thing, before it got crazy!

Liquor decanters I've collected from garage sales, flea markets, etc filled with glittery styrofoam balls and topped with drippy taper candles.  One of the bottles is actually an Eiffel Tower, if you look closely :)  The #8 pumpkin was for the table numbers according to the seating chart.

Glittery pumpkins purchased at Target last year at 60% off!  Also glittery candles from there too.

Glittery sticks and reeds from the Flower Factory in a clear vase with colored glass sand at the bottom (sorry, I didn't end up with a great shot of this one!)

The caterer provided the black tablecloths, but I had found some glittery black and green overlay on clearance at Joanns and used that for some of the tables, as well as the shiny orange runners you can see.

Well, I think that's it. Whew, that was a lot!  It was fun though!  I've said numerous times throughout all of this, I needed to get married 5 more times to be able to use all of the ideas crammed into my head.  And damn that Pinterest for providing me with unecessary ideas 3 days before as I tried to scramble things together!

I'm open for questions, seeing as I am a seasoned pro now :)  But on a serious note, you don't HAVE to hire a wedding planner/coordinator.  If one comes free with the rental or something, great!  But you can do this!  It just takes some time, brainpower, creative juices, and patience!!

Parisian Observations

I know it has nothing to do with design or creativity or anything of the sorts, but how could I resist creating a post about visiting Paris??  It is, after all, my namesake and longest desired destination.  And after 25 looong years of waiting, I finally made it to the City of Lights!

So it is only fitting for me to post a brief segment on my/our adventures in Par-ee, as we like to refer to it....

Let us start with a few observations we made while visiting this beautiful city (I must note that these are in no way judgemental of the French people outside of Paris and are a general collection of thoughts my husband and I both shared whilst sipping cappuccino and munching on delicious cheese and bread at the many cafes we stopped at).

1.  Everyone speaks English….everyone


From the subway attendant to the waiter at the restaurant to the concierge at the hotel to the taxi driver from the airport. And its actually really good English. Not just get-you-by English. There were a few people that I had trouble with, but for the most part, we conversed very well.  My main concern when making this journey was that I knew nothing beyond Merci and Bonjour.  That would make me a very polite American, but still an ignorant one.

2.  The traffic in Paris is insane!


So insane, that I can’t imagine actually driving in it. I was even scared just to cross the street some times. They go a million miles (kilometers) per hour with no turn signals and very close lanes. There is honking and screeching and no one moves over for police or ambulances.  Motorcycles and Vespas rule the roads, driving between two lanes of traffic, on the median, parking on the curb, and just doing whatever the hell they please.  And everyone drives cars that make my Bug look midsized.  Ain't no pickup trucks or soccer mom minivans in Paris, no siree.

3.  Public restrooms in Paris are small.


The kind of small that requires you to straddle the toilet just to get the door open to get back out of the bathroom. They are all in the basement and most of the ceilings are slanted and require you to tilt your head while washing your hands. None of the sinks have hot water either. We went through a lot of hand sanitizer that week.

4.  Everything in Paris is small.

Not just the restrooms, but the tables, the chairs, the food portions, the cars, the people, the hotel rooms, the elevators, the cups of coffee (see number 7 for further information on coffee).  Everything except the prices.

5.  Don't expect much of the wait staff at restaurants.


In fact, if it weren’t for a tip from a friend ahead of time, I would have thought our first waiter was just really crappy at his job. But I was told not to expect much from waiters and waitresses. And that was some sound advice. They don’t come to the table right away, and once you get your food, they don’t come back at all unless you flag them down to get the check. Also learned, after several Euros were handed out, that you aren’t expected to tip them. The check already includes a small tip and anything extra that you leave on the table is just, well, extra.

6.  Everyone wears fancy shoes.


Dan actually made this observation. He said that you could tell we were foreigners by looking at our sneakers. Everyone around us, after I started paying attention, was wearing fancy loafers, or high heels, or leather boots. We were such tourists. Dan also observed that he was one of the few men who didn’t “cross his legs” when he sat down.  He's so American!

7.  You just can't get a good cup o' joe in Paris.

Oh, I had cappuccino coming out of my ears by week's end, but a good ol' cup of coffee to feed my caffeine addiction and to curb my caffeine headaches was basically unheard of.  Ordering a "Cafe Americano" off the menu was a major disappointment.  Expecting a cup of a Foldgers alternative, it reminded me more of a cup of sludge that no amount of milk or sugar could fix.  I found a Starbucks once that offered something somewhat familiar to me, but still required obscene amounts of cream.

8.  Everyone smokes.

Apparently the French Surgeon General has yet to put out a warning that smoking causes cancer.  Or maybe they just don't care.  Young, old, it didn't matter....they were smoking up a storm.  There wasn't any allowed inside the restaurants, but since we ate at the outdoor seating (where that rule didn't apply) we still were usually surrounded by a smoker or two.

9.  The Parisians idea of a king size bed is laughable.

It's actually two twin mattresses pushed together.  They had their own individual fitted sheets and a shared comforter.  Our only explanation for this is that the buildings are so tall and the doors are so small that a king size mattress would have never made it to the 6th floor.

10.  They serve French Fries with everything.
 
My breakfast crepes...french fries.  Dan's butcher's choice steak...french fries.  My potato, ham, and cheese omelette...french fries.  I couldn't tell if they were serving them to appeal to the American tourists or if the French just really love their fries - which they called frites.

 
11.  There are bicycle ports everywhere throughout the city.
 
You swipe your credit card, take a bike from its stand, and ride off into the sunset, then return it to the same or another port when you're done.  Weird, but we really wanted to try it if it weren't for the fact that there were no helmets and we weren't about to ride on those crazy streets without one!
 
 
Now, I'm sure I could list more and more and more if given enough time and enough French wine - which I consumed my fair share of as well as fromage (cheese) and pain (bread).  But these are enough to give you an idea of what to expect should you ever find yourself in the romantic and beautiful city I spent my whole life waiting to see.  We would recommend the trip to anyone who can bring their patience and sense of humor!

Oh, Halloween!

It's here!! Halloween Season has arrived!!

I'm as excited as a kid at Christmas!

Given our upcoming nuptuals occuring smack dab in the middle of Halloweentime, I had no choice but to put up decorations this weekend.  We are busy for the rest of this month and then the wedding/honeymoon cuts into the first half of October.  So today was THE day :)

I have all of my Halloween decorations (and Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, and all other holidays) stored in old trunks.  There's also the occasional plastic bin stashed in the crawlspace upstairs.  Every year when I open them up, it's like Christmas morning - mainly because I have SO much that I forget what I put up last year!

So I started with the mantel.  The focal point of our tiny little living room....

Yea, so there's a lot going on...

Let's focus in on....

Wine bottles that I filled with paint (and then poured out) after affixing cool stickers to each one.  Believe or not, I bought the "liquid poison" labels at the dollar store a couple of years ago.

Zombie Virus, anyone??

Little bottles I picked up here and there and decorated with Heebie Jeebies, Hooky Spookies, etc.

I collected random food jars (salsa, pickles, pizza sauce, etc) and painted them with funny pumpkin faces.

I love this shot of a pumpkin jingle bell :)

My next spot is the picture shelf above our TV.  Usually holding a collection of random artwork, I took that down and filled it with Hallow-goodness...

One side of the shelf holds our newly framed wedding invitation (thought it was fitting for the season) as well as a wooden witch my mom made.

This cute little wooden witch is one I made a couple years ago...

Next is the awesome orange door decor...

Wreath works perfect, right??

My homemade advent calendar.  I painstakingly made all 31 of the dates.  But I like it so much, I hate to only put one up a day.  So I keep all of them up all month :)  They are all magents stuck to a cookie sheet.

Haha, saw this in a magazine once, so I made one for myself!

Saw this at a craft show and came home and made one.  The legs are modeling clay that I molded, baked, then painted.

Little spot on the endtable

On the entertainment stand....Dan's ceramic pumpkin from when he was a kid :)

I even found a spot on the glass shelf in the bathroom.  Every room needs a little Hallow-love.

So there ya have it!

The house is Halloween-ified and feeling pretty awesome!

So who's with me....do you have your stuff up yet??

Please Respond By.....

I'm keeping (or trying to keep) the majority of my wedding plans/decorations/ideas a secret.  Except for my maid and matron of honor, my mom, and a few others, I wanted everyone to be surprised when they walked into the reception.  Afterall, I put a ton of work and heart and brainpower into all of it.  But I figured, since the invitations are already out, I would share with you what they looked like.

Let me start by saying, my future-brother-in-law is the awesome graphic designer behind them.  Not to sell myself short, I did give him a rendition/pencil drawing of what I wanted and he went from there.  There were several mini-redos I had him fix, but overall, the original design remained.  Mainly, I was just being a pain-in-the-butt about wording and spacing and crap.

 

He perfected it to my exact specifications.  I didn't want it all mushy and traditional and formal.  I wanted it to be us.  And it was.  

 The reception card was just a snippet of the original design only in smaller form.  The wording was lighthearted and fun....just like the overall feel our wedding is going to be.

 Nothing says "informal" quite like our RSVP cards.

Overall, we had really nice responses from everyone about how great they turned out.  I'm pretty proud of them and confident they won't be forgotten for awhile.

Mantel Up

Who doesn't LOVE Halloween?? No really, is there anyone?? I dare you to admit it if you don't.  You would think that after the past 11 months of planning a Halloween inspired wedding, I would be downright sick of looking at anything regarding the hallowed (haha pun intended) holiday.  

Wrong.

I live for this time of year.  The chilly air, the cute fall jackets and scarves and boots (not winter ones yet - let's not get carried away).  And the decorations.

As I was perusing the internet for ideas to decorate my store window for the festive occasion, I ran across these awesome ideas to decorate a fireplace mantel.

 Like this one from Good Housekeeping

 

 Loving these freakishly adorable skeleton pumpkins

 

The chain is a bit much, but love the black and white

 The orange lights are my favorite here....I happen to have an electrical outlet on my mantle = perfect!

 Is that spiderweb lace???

How simple and sweet is this?

I know this isn't the mantel, but great idea anyways!  Especially for a nonworking fireplace that just sits useless.

Everything pumpkin.

These guys are so cute it hurts!

Well, there ya have it.  My gears are turning to decorate my own mantel/house for the upcoming holiday.  I just need to dig out the box(s) that house all of my Halloween decorations and get to work.  I think it's early enough, right??