Dear Blog: I'm sorry!

Hello! Yes, I still *do* like pretty. Blog, I have missed you. I just don't have enough time in the day! It's been a little crazy with a new career and, oh yeah, I got married!

I'm still waiting for the photos, of course, and I can't wait to share some of the details. I took exactly zero photos that day, so the few pictures I do have are from my guests. Here are a couple of pictures I received from friends.

The candy (and cookie and rice krispie treat and beef jerky) bar.

No joke, people raided the candy bar before dinner. Especially the beef jerky, which was gone by the end of the night! (However, I will have coconut jelly bellies for *years* - not that I'm complaining!)

And here's a photo of the table from one of my awesome guests! (Hi!)

I can't wait for more photos! (As in, I stalk my photographer's blog in hopes of a glimpse!)

And, you know what? I loved having all my decorations around making everything look pretty, but in the end, on the day of, none of it mattered. It just didn't. All that mattered was we got married, we ate amazing food, and we had an awesome dance party!

I will rave about my vendors in a future post because they are amazing and I can't say enough good things about them in enough places!

Love, love, love!

Sneak Preview

I thought it would be helpful for the venue to mock up a table. Ok, mostly I wanted to see it for myself, but I will have a photo printed for the venue.

It will be much more lovely with a simple cream tablecloth and white plates, as the design on the tablecloth distracts from the overall effect, but this is what I had.

Top view:


(On a side note, I want to host a party based solely on this tablecloth my grandmother bought in Europe because it really is gorgeous, but that's a post for another day.)


I hope to have even a few more yo-yos and fabric ruffly flowers per table so they can come down closer to the plates and feel as though they spread into the settings themselves, especially since the tables will be much bigger.




The tags and keys will have people's names and their entree choice noted on them.


Those dahlias are, in fact, the dahlias my uncle planted all over his backyard for me to use at my wedding. They're going to be lovely when I work harder to cluster them properly, plus, these were cut a number of days ago, so they are beginning to wilt, but I still really like them.



The clock is ticking! We're getting close!

Birdcages

Yes, I know that, much like milk glass, birdcages are a little cliché at weddings. But, again, I don't care because I love them. And I'm guessing that precisely zero of my guests have ever been to a wedding decorated with birdcages.

Enough with the chitty chat, here they are:


I heart them.



Apparently, so does my cat, although I think she might have been wondering where the birds were...and whether she could have a little snack.


I don't know exactly what I'll do with them just yet, but you know it'll be good!

Up next: Invitations!

Rings

Not the jewelry kind, but rather the napkin kind. A lot of them!


I covered a whole bunch of buttons with scraps from other projects, as you already know.





Then I threaded them onto this lovely dupioni silk ribbon.


The ribbon frayed just a tad, but I decided to go with it.

My napkins will be white, but the tablecloths will be the color of the napkin rings, so I think it'll all blend quite nicely. Must.mock.up.table!


Great, right?

House of cards

I seem to have accidentally hit on a recent theme for the wedding: vintage cards.

I found these beauties on Etsy.


I purchased 15 consecutively numbered vintage playing cards for only $5.60, including shipping! Hooray for inexpensive, unique and vintagey table numbers! The Etsy store where I purchased them (30one) has a bunch of fun things like this.

The seller mentioned that the design on the back of the card left something to be desired, but honestly, I don't mind it. It certainly conjures up the look of old playing cards to me!


Although, I can't imagine what card game was played with a deck of cards that were numbered up to 15. Then again I'm no card playing expert. :)


You know what might have been my favorite part? They were wrapped in an old McCall's sewing pattern!


Love! I think I'll be using that to make a tissue flower for one of my tables. I'm so addicted to paper goods it's ridiculous.

I was completely reaffirmed in my belief that these cards were great when I saw them in a Seattle store called Watson Kennedy (purveyor of fine goods - yes, please!). I want my wedding to look like that store, except without the price tag, of course. And you know what's completely adorable - it's Chris' mom's favorite store in the city! She's got good taste, that Wisconsinite. And did I mention that the store is conveniently located across the street from our wedding venue. Win!

Of course, we had to visit while she was here, so my aunt and Chris' mom and I went to check out the venue and then wandered across the street for a little shot of fine goods. I fell in love with these cards (and 15 other things in the store, but, you know, I exercised some self control).


They're rather large, and extra sturdy. My lovely aunt purchased them for me. How sweet! Yes, they're more orangey than champagney, but you don't always want to be perfectly matchy matchy, now do you?





Check out the back! It's soooo the best part!


Apparently there are more words that begin with C than begin with K.


The detail on these babies is pretty great.


I can't wait to mock up a dessert table using all of these great vintagey monogrammed finds!


Oh, and I also love the tissue paper from Watson Kennedy (shown behind the cards in these photos). I will use that for some flowers as well. I'm like a kid - the packaging is just as much fun as the actual item!

PS - Some day I will learn to take photos in daylight so they look a little less...uh...dark. Some day...

Cute as a button

So, I've tried to picture how the tables at my wedding will look. I'm a little sad that I have to do rounds instead of long family-style tables. For whatever reason, I find long tables to be much more aesthetically pleasing, but the only way 100 people fit in my venue is in rounds. Oh well. :)

I've still got my "people" (my aunt and this awesome woman) scouring the earth for even more milk glass so I can cluster a few of them on the tables instead of just having one sad, lonely centerpiece. I've asked around and it's unanimous - no one likes lonely centerpieces. (Ok, I've asked no one.) And then I'll* scatter dupioni silk yo-yos in varied colors and sizes around the flowers. (*And by I'll - I mean the proverbial "I," AKA, someone else. It is my wedding day, after all.) I have more to say about flowers, but I'll get there soon.

I'm concerned that since all the decor will be creamy & white, the place settings will need a little something to make them tie into the decor. (Or perhaps I just want something else to obsess over. I'm ok with that, too.) :) (These are the things that haunt me day and night. I kind of love it.) So, of course, I've decided to make napkin rings. Yes, I'm obviously insane. But, sanity is overrated.

I really do like this idea from Ober, Onet & Associates:



However, I'm concerned about all the paper making projects I already have in my "to-do que." Wow - that rhymes - I'm so stealing that from...myself(?). Plus cutting out the slits in the sides with an exacto knife over 200 times!? My hand gets all crampy and claw-shaped just at the thought. Also, I'm hoping my venue might be willing to take care of the napkin part of the decor, and I think it's a lot to ask to have them fold the napkins, thread the ribbon through, and have them center the ribbon without tearing the paper. Sorry, Chelan, I know you heart this one. :)

I also love these from Once Wed.



Yes, they're a little...hippie-ish, maybe? (Don't tell Chris! He's not so into hippie fashion.) But, they seem a little more forgiving than the other project. And I like that different fabrics can be used in each button. Plus, my fabric scraps can become my napkin rings! Um, yes, please!

I'm an addict and I was, in part, looking for an excuse to buy this amazing ribbon from Midori. We're so lucky to have them in Seattle!



I found a whole spool of this goodness in 3/4 inch on ebay. Mmmm. Forty yards of dupioni silk ribbon = the very idea of heaven. Plus, it's a little stretchy which will make it easy to get around the napkins.

Unfortunately, I couldn't really justify splurging for the 2 inch (more than twice as much), so these are going to be narrow napkin rings. The tutorial from Once Wed calls for 1 inch ribbon, but the stuff they show is at least 2 inches (I have that same ribbon from the tutorial in grey/blue, I mean, duh - who doesn't!? Ok, so maybe my ribbon addiction is a problem...).

I was thinking the thinness of the 3/4 inch ribbon might be an issue. And, frankly, it hasn't really gotten rave reviews from those who I've run the idea by, but I think it will be fine. It's just a little something extra, it's not going to be the pièce de résistance of the decor. Plus, I got a great deal on 1/2 inch cover buttons on etsy, so it will cost me less than $0.50 per napkin ring. Here's an absolutely horrible photo of a terrible mock-up I did of the project (I spent 30 seconds on this) to convince myself that they will look fine. I promise to take better photos when they're done.



I can't wait to work on this project! And the other 1,600 projects in my to-do que. (Ok, I'll stop now.)