Awash in Yo-Yos

I love these easy-as-pie to make fabric yo-yos that I've been making out of dupioni silk. So far I have about 75 of them, but I'd like to have at least 200-250. I can see these being used to decorate around the flowers on the table, attached to glass jars for a little cute-bling (that's totally a thing), and wherever else they may fall. I have so much crafting to do, but I'm really enjoying the process! Yay!

366 Days (But Who's Counting!?)

Oooh Oooh I am! We officially signed our venue contract and put down the deposit yesterday. Yay! Chris wasn't even concerned when I texted him telling him that we had signed our lives away. I'm taking that as a good sign. I now have one year to accomplish the ridiculous number of crafting projects that I love and want to include at my wedding. But, I do have a good start on them. I have about 85 dupioni silk yo-yos (photos to come), and six silky flowers, thanks to an impromptu pie eating/wine drinking craft night at Chelan's last night. Here they are:



Love.

Also, last week I made this vegan cake and sold it to a friend. I really wish I had tried it! Vegan coconut cake with lime cream (soy) filling and lime buttercream frosting with toasted coconut on top. Mmmm...



I also feel the need to start the hunt for a great inexpensive wedding photographer. I'm afraid that such a thing doesn't exist. I understand that photographers put a great deal of time into editing photos, and sooo much money into their equipment, but it seems that all the photographers I like charge a minimum of $3,000 (without any prints), and that is a LOT of moolah to pay. Ah, another challenge. I'm optimistic that we'll work it out - everything else has gone well thus far!

Kerissa Likes Crafting

I adore my friends and family! Last night, 8 of us gathered to eat pizza, drink fizzy white wine from Trader Joe's (so good!), and make wedding crafts! Between us all, we managed to make 3 fabric ruffly delicious pom poms. (Doesn't sound like much work, but it took at least 3 yards of fabric, which had to be cut into 4 inch circles and then individually glued onto tiny chinese lanterns! I never could have done anything close to that amount of work in one night by myself!) I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with the poms at the wedding just yet, but I love them so much! Maybe as chair markers for Chris and me, or perhaps as hanging backdrop behind the dessert table. Here's a photo - they still need their ribbon, but that part's easy!



And for fun - one more:



I definitely could not have done it without my aunt, who picked up and baked the pizzas before I even got home for work, and had everything all set up. She also made me this ridiculously adorable champagne cake for dessert!



There was champagne in the cake itself, and also a champagne/powdered sugar glaze. It was worth all the lactose intolerant pain I may endure as a result of eating it, but so far, so good! :) (You can also see my "slight" addiction to wedding magazines in the background of that photo.)

We also made a number of fabric silky flowers, although I need to sew them together before I take a photo. Oh, and so far, I've made 50 fabric yo-yos from dupioni silk. It's moving right along - now I just have to keep up the pace!

What a productive evening! I love to see the crafts all coming together with still more than a year until the wedding!

Venue? Check!

After a months of (me) agonizing, we finally did it! (Ok, Chris finally did it!) We have a venue, and therefore a wedding date! We'll be getting married at the Alexis Hotel on First Avenue in downtown Seattle on a Saturday next September. It's actually the first place we visited, and then, after dragging Chris to a ton of other wedding venues, we decided to go back because we knew that we would get the most for our money there. Even if it was not the least expensive option, it was close, and it is definitely the best value. Chris knew that he wanted to get married at the Alexis from our first visit and I have to agree that the Alexis is great. They were really willing to work with us on food and beverage minimums and room fees much more than other hotels. And, we don't have to worry about renting anything such as tents/plates/silverware/chairs, etc. like we would have if we had used a community center. Plus, we get to use both the ballroom and their Library Bistro during our event, which makes the room switcheroo from ceremony to reception a lot easier. It's a relatively small hotel, so we'll basically be taking over the whole place, which is fun! Oh, and did I mention the free suite that's practically as big as my house? No?! Well, I think I may have drooled on the carpet underneath the skylight! I also may have peed a little at the sight of the GUEST bathroom. Um, Chris and I barely have 2 bathrooms between both of our homes! LOVE! Chris informed the hotel that they're going to have to evict us from the room because we would never leave voluntarily. It's true. :) I'm extremely excited, and I know that we picked the right place. It just took me longer to come to the conclusion than it did for Chris, as usual! Here's a couple of photos, just for fun:





Also, I bought Chris' daughter's dress today on Zulily.com. It's such a beautiful color and I think it's the perfect amount of grown-upness without being too grown-up for an 8 year old. (OMG - she'll be eight!) I plan to replace the pink ribbon with a creamy one and we'll figure something out if she wants a broach or something on it as well. And, it was 55% off. Hooray for sales!

Say Yes to the Dress (Sorry I had to...)

I'm stupid happy right now. I found MY dress. I've seen "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC (only recently, mind you), and I thought that the girls on that show were a little (lot?) ridiculous. Of course you think the dress is "perfect." It's a $6,400 dress!! It boggles the mind. Plus, I'm not a "love at first sight" kinda girl. I know, how unromantic, but it's true. (I offer as evidence, your honor, my lack of a wedding venue.) But I was wrong. Yes, I'll admit it. Wrong. I found my dress. The very dress I had been pining over. At a consignment shop. In my city. In my SIZE. In perfect condition. Can you believe it? Neither can I!

So, first I have to say that I love the people at Blue Sky Bridal. The salon is lovely and the people are great. Please check it out if you're in the market for a wedding dress! Also, for those of you who have dresses from recent-ish weddings (they like to keep their selection pretty current) please consider consigning your dress. It's so amazing to have an opportunity to wear a dress I love at a price I can afford.* Consider giving that to someone else!

Just wanted to share my joy! Also, I feel like I'm honing in on a wedding venue. I don't know why as I haven't made any actual progress, it just feels like the decision will be made soon. Weird. :)

*Except that, while I was (reluctantly) taking off the dress and putting my clothes back on, my aunt sneakily paid for it...so now I have to figure out a way to pay her back! Damn sneaky woman.

Time for a Game Plan

(That's a sports analogy - Chris would be so proud!) This isn't much of a newsflash for those who know me (especially Chris!): I'm indecisive. I also want to make a very well-informed decision on which wedding venue will give me the most bang for my buck. This is a bad combo. I'm also a tad too practical to walk into a beautiful ballroom and think: "This is where I see myself getting married!" Perhaps this is due, in part, on the fact that I don't have 80 zillion dollars to spend, so the super gorgeous places are generally out of my price range. I learned today that the California Substation, which was number one on my list of awesome wedding venues will not likely be finished in the next year as it lost its funding. Sigh. So, now I think I have a plan...maybe. (See - indecisive!) I'm going to drag Chris around to a few more places, just to look. I'm aware that this will probably just make my decision harder, but there are a couple more places I'd like to check out. Plus, I'm afraid somehow I'm not finding some hidden gem out there that's like the California Substation - unheard of, cheap, and lovely. I realize this is rather unlikely given the unbelievable amount of research I've done, the amount of time I've spent collecting information and the amount of knowledge I have floating around in my head. (People ask if I've thought about such-and-such a venue, and generally I can approximate the room rental fee, number of people that can be seated and the food and beverage minimums from memory, which is met with a blank "what a freak" stare, followed by "I guess you have thought about it".) So, after a few more site visits, I am going to pick my top two - hopefully with Chris' input. From there, I plan figure out which venue provides us with more for our money. I'd rather spend a little more to get more, within reason, of course. And barring all of this, Hawai'i it is. Chris would be thrilled! But, I can't keep thinking about this anymore. It's literally making my head spin. I'm going to go take some dramamine for that!

Just for fun, here's a photo of the Pan Pacific Hotel. I think this place is beautiful (although spendy, of course):