at last

it is official. we are wed. here are a few photos from Inga Finch Photography.

hair: this is it

these images are gorgeous but more importantly, they are perfect for what i'm looking to do with my hair. i want to wear my hair down and wear a big flower but hadn't decided on the look until now. i love this look. it has a vintage feel and is slightly polished with the wave in the front but still crazy fun in the back with all the curls. love it.

i like the hair below but i want to wear mine down not up.

i caved...

but i'm happy about it. originally i thought i would make paper flowers for the wedding. i began cutting petals of crepe paper and storing them in little baggies (like floral crack) to bring back to the states. my friends were going to help me put them together and i would construct the centerpieces well in advance of the wedding. they would need no water but i'd have to be careful of flame. they would be like the mexican paper flowers i love so much.

that was then.

this is now. it is not as if i'm running out of time or even craft energy. it is just that as the time nears, i'm so looking forward to hanging out with my family and friends that i don't want to complicate things with making a bazillion paper flowers.

i worked at a florist for four years. i've done wedding flowers. and guess what? i'm going to do my own! i ordered the flowers from an online wholesale florist and they will be delivered on thursday.

i used the dress in the right hand corner as inspiration. i love the red and oranges together. i even ordered tons of red carnations which i absolutely despised just a few years ago. weird how things change....

imagine

if you add all these together, you'll see what i'm going for. i want garland and lights everywhere for the mexican inspired vintage southern wedding.

got these

a while back i aske whether i should get colored hearts or silver ones. well, i chose the silver. for two reasons really. 1) they were cheaper and 2) i can always paint them if i want them with colors and i can even choose the colors i want. turquoise and red. i bought 140 so that each guest can take one home if they like. if not, i love them and will keep them and use them for years to come. there are so many uses: hang on walls, hang from ceilings, hang from christmas trees, hang in fruit trees to scare away birds....

funny

obviously the invitations went out some time ago. we had two different versions which included/excluded a family dinner so there was a lot of printing and cutting. again, they were all handmade out of kraft paper. i thought they looked fantastic and actually didn't take any photos because we sent out every last one. i should print one off for a keepsake but who has the time. anyway, be careful about using kraft paper because the rabid dogs at the post office like to chew on it. turns out because the paper was rather thin that a couple of the invites got caught in the machines and torn up. yikes! i hope everyone got one!

red and white checkered food tray

i pinched this idea from a beautiful red and white wedding showcased on snippet and ink. because my caterers do not provide plates, napkins or cutlery for the cake, i thought i'd go casual. i'm already having a cake buffet, not a traditional wedding cake, so these cute red and white trays fit the bill. i bought wooden spoons and turquoise napkins from china town for a ridiculously cheap price and i'm all done. the trays come in 500 for about 25 dollars! and i'll never use that many but i'll donate them to the family children for paint dishes and afternoon snacks. cheap and cute!

been away

i've been away for so long. spent too much time planning and not enough time writing about it. there is less than one month to go and so much has happened. in the last couple weeks i've (and my little helpers) have sewn 130 cloth napkins out of red and turquoise fabric, purchased the remaining items for the cake table, gone shopping for ties, socks, bra, etc., washed and nearly packed all the glass and metal centerpieces, and the list goes on. i thought i'd put up a few posts about what i've been doing.

above is the coozie proof. we order 75 for our guests who are drinking beer as opposed to sangria or iced tea. the proof is in black and white but the coozie will be red with turquoise writing.

rollerskating is cool

luckily i have friends that are cool enough to still like rollerskating. so i'm planning on renting out the local rink the thursday before the wedding. we can have cake and pitchers of coke, play video games and skate. all ages are invited so the kids that come will love it too. hopefully nobody would get hurt or break anything. if i did, i'd just wrap the cast in vintage lace and walk down the aisle. i think people get too caught up in worrying about having their "day" be perfect. it is the unexpected imperfections that make you laugh at pictures, not the fact that your hair was perfectly in place.

jadite

my mom has some of this, if she hasn't given it away or sold it yet. she has been offloading a bunch of her vintage and antique china so i hope she hasn't parted with her jadite. i've always loved it. perhaps more that milkglass. but i'm not sure if i can commit to that statement just yet. i wonder when someone is going to repro this stuff. Target should get on it.

i miss florida

snippet & ink

fabric flowers

a new take on the paper flowers - fabric flowers. One of my favorite things in life is millinery flowers. i think that is why i like old hats so much. these remind me of those old-fashioned treats.

colorful weddings: part I

this is the first in two posts on colorful weddings. i'm loving that others have the idea of borrowing on south of the border style. my favorite parts of this wedding are that they use plastic colorful cups and have sharpies out for people to put their names on them. i also adore the paper flower hair wreaths that the little girls are wearing. cameron + kelly studios.

colorful weddings: part II

a new mexico wedding. the colors of this wedding are fantastic. reds, oranges and a hint of turquoise. i especially like the sting of lights across the aisle. oh, those big bulbs.

killer rings

these are killer rings. i especially like the buckle one with the diamond. i'm looking for a wedding band and of course none of these are bands, but i love them. becky kelso

red board

i seem to be unable to post regularly. it is not that i'm that busy with the planning because i haven't done much more crafting or planning. is suppose it comes in waves.

i love everything about this board. but mostly i like the red. snippet and ink.

silver or color?

these would be great favors or part of table decoration. slap a magnet on the back and they are even better. i just cannot decide which is better, color or silver?

update on budget

it has been a while since i've posted about budgets. i'm happy to say that we are still very close to what we originally wanted to spend. i've done some purchasing here and there of decorations, so i will put up a photo soon of all my vintage finds with a price tag of what i've spent.

for the exciting part, i've received my dress from KTJean. i absolutely love it. it is just my style and i cannot wait to wear it. it came wrapped beautifully in wedding color ribbons. thanks Katie!

photog

i'm getting more and more excited. one of my friends who i've known for several years is shooting my wedding. inga has creativity running through her blood. i used to work for her mom and sis at their flower shop on holidays. that is where inga and i met. i was so happy she found photography when she did and went to some of her first shows. now she is super successful and an amazing photographer and i'm so happy she is coming to and shooting the wedding!

"putting up"

okay, so we have a neighbor who doesn't live in his house and he has three beautiful peach trees which are bursting with peaches. so j has been bugging me about doing something with the peaches before they fall off or the birds get them. there are only so many you can eat.

i decided to make some homemade peach chutney and try my hand a my first "canning." i haven't ever canned anything before and can only slightly remember watching my grandmother and my mother do it. i remember lots of boiling water and the fun little sound that the tops made when they sealed, but that is about all i remembered. fast forward twenty years and i'm attempting it for myself. i read up a bit online and went looking for what i needed. i'm guessing australians don't can much because i had a hell of a time finding what i needed and even then i don't think i got it right - only 2 out of 8 jars sealed properly. the jars here are not the two piece lids that you get in the states and they hardly look like they have a big enough rubber seal to get a tight fit. i went to every grocery store, dollar store, kitchen store and finally found some jars at the craft store!

the venture wasn't a total loss. it took me ALL day but i did get two jars which i can "put up". i managed to get a pretty severe burn on my hand from the chutney (blisters in one place). that shit is like molten lava! the chutney is delicious and i will be giving most of it away seeing as how we cannot possibly eat 8 jars in a matter of weeks. here are a couple pics of my product!

success? not totally

failure? not totally

lessons learned:

1) get a proper canning kit

2) find the proper canning jars

3) make sure a friend is around to help

this is what i'd like to wear the day after

how comfortable does this dress look? tucker

diy save the dates

here are the diy save the dates. i designed them in adobe illustrator using some images and fonts i downloaded for free. then printed them on kraft paper which i tri-folded.

the envelopes are diy too. i found a cool side opening envelope and used it as a pattern.

then i used a good old fashioned calligraphy pen to address them. nothing super fancy but it did the job. i like the way they turned out and am now proclaiming that the wedding colors are red, turquoise and kraft! i love kraft paper so much and it is so economical!

winter doilies

one of the most creative ideas i've seen this holiday season. i would do this but they'd melt in less than 30 seconds.

back from the holidays

man, the holidays tend to suck you straight out of your regular schedule. now that they are over, i've realized how close we are getting to the wedding! yikes! i will be posting something about the save the date cards soon, but in the meantime, i better get them out. so here are some great things to look at in the meantime.

I luv garland of any kind and hope to use some kind of garland at the wedding. so here are a few ones that i really like and think would be quite simple yet time-consuming...


In order of appearance confetti system, rebecca thuss, pamgarrison (these are made of coffee filters), Martha Stewart Weddings.