Invitation-Making Party

Looks like I've finally gotten all the ingredients together, so now I just need some of you crafty ladies to come over and help me make these things up! Tombi's going to be up in Bham on Saturday (June 2nd) we're going to get down to glueing, stamping, folding and embossing in the evening. Say 6-7 ish? Wine & Snacks on the house! So.... If'n yer gonna be in th' nayburhood, way-ell, bring yer ol' crafty self on over an' join us!

Platters, Plates & Mugs

I've been yard-saling for plates, mugs, napkins and other useful wedding items the last couple of weekends. I just stop whenever have time and see one. I've collected quite a few so far: 72 plates, 42 mugs, and 44 pieces of silverware.
The only rule is that they have to have fruit, flowers, herbs or an abstract floral design on them. Its so much fun looking at my collection so far, they really are SO different! From old-fashioned to moderen, demure to bold, china to stoneware - as long as it's a plant-based design and under a buck, I'll take it. :)

Yesterday I scored these two beautiful silver-plated serving platters from an old lady on Yew Street for a total of $13. Not bad, eh?
I'm washing them as I get them, and storing them in Grandma Mary's china cabinet to wait for the big day. It's neat to see it filling up with dishes again - although Grandma Mary would probably be a little appalled that they are all mixed patterns. :)

Invitation Text

Soooo... it's the friday before memorial day, a gorgeous sunny day outside, and I'm finding it quite difficult to motivate myself to do more than the minimum at work. So, I started thinking about invitation wording. I still don't have the design exactly worked out, but I think I'll just go to the paper store this weekend and hope that inspiration hits.

Anyway, what do you think of doing the invitation in haiku? See below:

Addie and Cary
Invite you to attend their
September wedding

Nine-eight-oh-seven
Saturday ceremony
Starts at two o’clock.

Celebrate with us
Abundance, friendship and love
Life is so very good.

Dinner will be served
Meat and fish from us for you
Please bring a side dish.

Musicians perform.
You are talented too! Please
bring your instruments.

Campfire and friendship,
Wine, beer and liquor, all here.
There is room to camp.

Music and dancing
Will continue all night long
Under starry skies.

Yeah, it's a little clunky, I might need to refine my verses a bit... this is just a first draft that I put together pretty quickly. I like it a lot better than the standard "We are pleased to cordially invite you to join us to celebrate our commitment on such-and-such date" wedding invitation BS though.

Some further explanitory text would have to be included on the back or somewhere, probably just in regular prose tho! Things like where we are registered (currently nowhere - I better get on that), how to get in touch with us, the assignment of a potluck dish to bring, and a map of how to get to the house, etc.


Here's what I'm thinking of having made into a stamp to put on the RSVP Postcards:

Just like you, our guests, these RSVP postcards are each unique and special to us. We can’t wait to see all of you together again at our wedding! Please fill in the blanks below and drop this card in the mail before July 15th. Thanks!

□Yes! _________members of the ______________________ household will join you on September 8th, 2007.

We prefer to eat (please indicate one per person):
________ wild-caught BBQ’d Pacific salmon
________ sustainably raised Pobst beef hamburgers

Will you be camping overnight for at least one night, if not more? ___yes ___no

□ No, sadly, no-one from the ______________________ household will be attending the wedding.

Update: Invitation Prototype! I stopped at Paper Zone on my way home on Friday and got card blanks, envelopes, floral accent paper, and a cool stamp. This is what I made:

You can't really tell from the picture, but the cardstock is iridescent. The envelopes are lavender and also a bit sparkley. The floral strip will be cut straighter and glued down more evenly in the finished ones, but this is more or less what I think they'll look like.

Your comments??

Mission Accomplished: Dress

For any of you who haven't already heard (which would be odd, since I've pretty much been screaming the news from the rooftops) I got a dress! Its not at all what I expected to go home with, but that's life for you. I talked so much trash about embroidery, ruffles, beading, trains, veils and all the rest that I guess it was karmic justice that I fell for a dress with ALL of those things on it. I'm not going to put up pictures here, since Cary want's to be all traditional (awww, so cute!) and not see the dress until the big day. But if somehow you haven't already seen the pictures, let me know and I'll e-mail them to you.

Besides the dress, I also got the whole package: flouncy slip, corset/bra thing, two veils (one for the back and one for over the face), tiara, shawl, shoes... It's like a bride-in-a-bag hanging in my closet: Just add girl.

All in all, I had a very positive experience despite my misgivings about going to a corporate wedding-industrial outlet to find a dress. It really was fun, and the helper was really nice and made me feel very comfortable even though I was totally out of my element. Here's a picture of my Mom posing in a veil - note that the dress you see me in in the mirror is NOT the dress I chose. (It is the third dress on the list of possiblities that I posted below, if you are wondering why it looks familiar.)


Now that I have the dress thing all sewn up (har har) I feel like I'm ready to really move on and tackle all the other things I really need to get on, such as the invitations...

Bridesmaids' Attire

So, what do you bridesmaids want to wear? I am open to suggestions. I'm looking for something fancy enough to stand up against the boys' tuxes, but still practical enough that you can wear it again at least a few times. I want you guys to be comfortable, and of course to look fabulous. Sustainable/organic/natural fibers are a plus. Affordability is also important. For all of these reasons, I am thinking separates make the most sense.

I think it would be good to have the same silhouette but I'd like to vary the colors, at least for the tops. It would probably help make it obvious that you are all part of the bridal party if your skirts were the same color. So, for instance, we could do something like this:
With something like this:


The shirt is sheer organic cotton and the skirt is hemp/silk satin, both are from a wholesaler I have connections to through work, so we could get a very good price: $22 for the shirt and $32 for the skirt.

The shirt is available in Cloud (white), Foliage (grass green), River (bright blue), Orchid (pink/purple - pictured), Lemon (yellow), Robin's Egg (light blue/green) & Berry (red).

The skirt is available in Foliage (grass green), River (bright blue), Orchid (pink/purple), Coal (dark grey), Lemon (yellow), Berry (red), Herbal (olive green) & Acorn (medium brown).

I can picture you all in with the color of shirt that would suit you best - Charlotte in light blue/green, Janet in red, Miriam in green, Tombi in blue and Melissa in purple, with matching dark grey skirts...

But maybe this is too informal? Maybe we need to show those Tuxedoed Boyz just how nice we actually clean up? David's Bridal actually has some decent semi-formal separates, such as these:

Of course, they cost a bit more because they are retail (although perhaps a better deal could be found than David's), and they don't have the whole natural fibers thing going for them, but they do up the formality quite a bit. If you all had the same skirt we could mix up the top style as well as color, Which I think would be pretty cool.

Anyhow, what do you all think?

Dress-trying-on rescheduled

New appointment is for 6pm on Thursday the 17th. Yes, that is 3 days from now. Egads.

Also - my moms family's heirloom wedding dress which had been lost for the last 30 years (literally!) has been found. It was in my Auntie Pam's closet the whole time - and for some reason no-one ever asked her about it OR even mentioned the fact that it was missing in her pressence for all this time. My Grandma and her sister even had a fight about it years ago (because neither of them would take the blame for losing it). My mom mentioned it being lost to Pam last night and the whole thing came to light. So, that is now a possibility.

I don't know the exact history of the dress, but my mom wore it and my aunt wore it and a bunch of other maternal relatives also wore it. It was made by one of them (it's not clear in my mind who, exactly, although I know I've been told before) way back in the day for her sister who then eloped and did NOT wear it, but then after that pretty much all of them DID wear it. Mom or Pam, one of you guys should put the full account in the comments so I won't forget the story.

And on yet another topic, I had a facial from my Auntie Dale at the Aveda Salon (Sandalwood) on Saturday and, let me tell you, a facial is about the nicest, most relaxing and wonderful thing EVER. My skin (face, hands & feet) feels sooooooo soft and wonderful. Which would be enough, but I also look really nice so that makes it even better. :) All you bridesmaids, I think I might have to treat you guys. Trust me, it doesn't last as long as a pair of earings or a bracelet, but I think once you've had one you'll agree that it's about the best possible bridesmaid pressent.

Dresses I Like

David's Bridal resisted my best efforts to steal the full-sized images of these dresses, so you'll have to click through the links to see the full dress.

This one has the prettiest embroidery that I have seen. I like the way it spirals down the side of the skirt. The train I don't need though.

This one below is nice and simple, unstructured & basic but still elegant. Make sure and look at the back - I really like the cris-cross straps. I'm afraid I would either look totally flat or else super wide in the hips. Or both.

Next we have this one with a split front skirt. It has a little bit of sparkly beading at the waist, but otherwise is nice and simple. Aparently they can stick sleeves on most of the strapless dresses. You can view the sleeve types by clicking the link on the dress page. I like the 3/4 sleeves.
This next one has what I've been calling the "rumpled bedspread" type skirt. It seems to be very very popular this wedding season. I must have been looking at dresses too long, because it is starting to really appeal to me. Usually they also feature some over-the-top beading & embroidery & general foofiness, but this one is nice and simple on top. I'd probably add sleeves.
Up next, this one has a nice informal feel to it, the halter top makes for a refreshing change. It has a really nice ribbon detail at the hem. Again though, I'm afraid I would look flat and hip-y in a dress of this shape.
And for last, this one is the one I like the best* right this minute. It has a nice simplicity, and a cool ribbon trim similar to the last one. The shape of the dress seems like it would be figure-friendly, especially if I added sleeves.
Ok, so... whatcha think?

*opinions expressed on this matter carry no warranty and are extremely perishable.

It's all about the dress, isn't it?

I (gasp) made an appointment today to go to David's Bridal in Burlington (Aaaaaggghh!) and try on wedding dresses. The appointment is for Monday, May 21st at 5 pm. My mom is going to go with me, and if any of you bridesmaids are available let me know. It's only for an hour, but from what I've read/heard about the process, they truss you up in some bridal undies and then just sort of roll you from dress to dress to dress until you are either screaming for it to stop or have made a choice. I think I can take about an hour of that, if I really work on mentally preparing myself for the next two weeks. If we need more time, we can make another appointment for a few days later, so there's a little recovery time in between.

I know, I really talked some talk about having a dress custom made by a bellingham seamstress out of hemp silk or something, but the truth of the matter is I don't have the time, nor probably the money, to really pull off that sort of decision-intensive process. So I am hearby admiting that I can't walk my talk, and going for the quick & dirty wedding industry consumer option. I'll make up for it somehow...

Anyhow, I'll come back a little later with some pictures of dresses that aren't awful, and you can tell me what you think. Be sure to critic the models too, 'cuz that is the most fun part of looking at these. Specifically, why do they all look constipated, arrogant, undead and/or extremely dramatic? Or sometimes they look like they are trying to escape a horrible doom. Also, what is with using naked men as props? Seriously. How sexist is that?

OMFG - The Guest List

You may have noticed that I haven't put anything new on the blog for the last couple weeks. Work ate my free time. But things are calming down, and I'm getting back to the wedding stuff - specifically the guest list. What a monster! I think I have basically figured out whom to invite, so now I just have to collect all their addresses. I already have most of you guys' - those are the easy ones. I may be calling/e-mailing you guys for info on our more far flung friends, so be prepared.

In the meantime, I guess I need to get started on the invitaions. I'm not sure how they are going to look yet... but I did have an idea for the RSVP cards I'd like your opinions on: I'm thinking of using random postcards. It seems like every vacation/trip I've ever gone on, I bought way more postcards than I actually sent to people. When I get home, I put them in my postcard box. It is pretty full, as you can imagine, and they are all really cool. I might still have to buy some more, I didn't count them, but I have lots - going back to my trip to england when I was about 14. I was thinking I could get a rubber stamp made up and hit the back of each one with a fill-in-the-blank RSVP message, address them to myself, apply postage, and enclose one post card with each invitaion. What do you think? Too wierd? Or would people get a kick out of it? I know I sure would get a kick out of seeing all those postcards coming back in the mail!