invitation celebration!

my mom sent me one of our finished invitations this weekend!!!
ya'll, they are PERFECT. erin at lucky luxe designed simple, classic invites... then my mom (from her infinite well of talent and creativity) tied kraft paper and green string around everything to hold it together and addressed them all with calligraphy that is so perfect it looks like a machine wrote it. i'm a lucky gal. since they haven't gone out to the guests yet i can't post them, but i will as soon as i can.
i just wanted to say that i'm really, truly, beside myself.

if the shoe fits...

i told the gals they could wear whatever shoes they wanted to... this makes sense to me since we're having a wedding, not going to a showchoir competition. (but i do like the fun photo here!)


now i've got to find something to wear on my feet... i'm looking for metallic, flat t-strap sandals that are comfortable. i'm just not into white shoes, and may is HOT in the 'sip so i want to wear sandals. also, flats are way better for dancing.



my sweet cousin and aunt got some that are exactly what i wanted for me, but they're way too big and thus, are pretty un-comfortable. going tomorrow to see if they have them in a smaller size b/c they are perfect... if not, then i' guess i'll keep searching.

ps- no idea where i ganked these photos. if they're yours, let me know!

my fiance is really an old man...

speaking of birthdays... did i tell you about boone's birthday? it was last week...
i got him a GIANT book of new york times crossword puzzles because deep down he's an OLD, old man and a ticket to see this american life- live! and the british version of the office, season one. i was pretty pleased with myself. no lie.

also, it's my tradition (that i started a year ago) to bake homemade, from scratch birthday cakes for my friends rather than give gifts. it's been really fun, and most of them taste pretty delish. I had a bit of an issue with a strawberry cake frosting and almost DIED making 36 crepes for a crepe cake, but for the most part, SUCCESS! the next thing on my agenda is to get really good at decorating.

anyway, for boone's birthday he wanted a giant homemade ice cream/cookie sandwich. we make the little versions all the time, but i'd never done a big one. fyi... it takes A LONG TIME to bake two giant cookies. also, it's a bad idea to put the warm cookie on top of melty ice cream.
imagine this cake but with only ice cream in the middle..

either way, once it had hardened it tasted delish and most people at his beer, boone, and birthdaycake soiree had more than one piece. all in all, it was a great time. i love birthdays.

so these aren't my cake photos... my camera is on the fritz and i made the crepe cake before i had a camera. thanks to flickr and cookie cake

hey shawty, it's your birfday...

Happy Birthday to Kathryn! my sweet friend is far, far away from me, but maybe one day i'll get to spend the day she was born with her!

birthdayphoto

putting your personal stamp on the wedding...

i'm of the opinion that a wedding does need to reflect the personality and interests of the groom and bride, but that sometimes people get a little carried away with "personal touches" and "details" and that often these "details" are what fuels the wedding industrial complex and makes people spend WAYYYY more money than they should or even want to for one day.

so... stamps.

My family and i talked about having personalized stamps with a piece of my grandmother's artwork printed. she and i were really close and all of my family has missed her since her death a few years ago. stamps of her artwork on the invitations seems like a great way to remember her. We got this idea from a friend who used her fiance's artwork on their wedding invitations... it was wonderful, so we thought we'd try to do the same thing.

here's the way they'd turn out:


the thing is, the cost of this little "detail" is more than double what regular stamps cost. we haven't decided about this yet, but if we don't do it, I'll probably have some made anyway for me and my family... what are your thoughts? is this detail excessive or acceptable?

also, if you want your own stamps go pictureit or photostamps.

dear ryan...

ryan,
it. was. wonderful. thanks for a great last show.

hero worship...

Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts. -Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

'Any new idea, Mahound, is asked two questions.
The first is asked when it's weak: WHAT KIND OF AN IDEA ARE YOU?
Are you the kind that compromises, does deals, accommodates itself to society, aims to find a niche, to survive; or are you the cursed, bloody-minded ramrod-backed type
of damnfool notion that would rather break that sway with the breeze?
-the kind that will almost certainly ninety-nine times out of a hundred,
be smashed to bits; but the hundredth time, will change the world?'
'What's the second question?' Gibreel asked.
'Answer the first one first.' - Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses


one of the greatest benefits about going to school at a major educational institution is the opportunity to learn from truly great minds. this afternoon went to a panel discussion with one of my literary heros... Salman Rushdie.

honestly, Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses are up there with A Good Man is Hard to Find and other Stories by Flannery O'Connor and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Thanks graduate school for making it possible.

um?

i don't get it... but i wish i did.


is this cool or weird?

jumpsuits from urbanoutfitters and sandals from zappos.

i'm back!

SORRY....it's been over a week since I've posted.

I'll try to be better, i promise. :) the problem was the internet in the 'sip and the fact that school is kicking me in the rear right now.

the best news i've got is that we've made major headway with flowers, cake, dresses, favors AND erin called and said our invitations came in!!! WHOO HOO!!

to do...

spring break starts this afternoon! it won't be much of a break since i'm headed home to take care of wedding details AND go to an engagement party that my aunts and uncles are having for us. as far as wedding planning goes, here are my "To Do" and "Already Done" lists.
my goal is that by the time i get back to atl, everything but the favors and gift bags will be checked off! cross your fingers that my mom and I can be this industrious!

checked off the to do list:
-started pre-marital counseling
-ordered bridesmaid's dresses
-got a place for the reception and ceremony (same place)
-wearing a dress I already had
-using my mom's veil
-booked a caterer (but we may have to re-think this... the cost is like WAY more than we thought)
-booked a band
-ordered invitations and love them
-got a florist for bouquets, etc (but we may do some of the ceremony decoration ourselves)
-written the liturgy for the ceremony
-booked photographer friend Joe and took engagement photos
- ordered groomsmen suits
-started calligraphy for envelopes

things that we need to do soon:
-find wedding bands (this is hard when you want to buy estate jewelry!)
-rent a tent in case of rain
-make bridesmaids and hostess gifts
-get my dress fitted
-get a passport
-decide on kind of cake
-work on the program

details that can wait:
-make out of town gift bags and maps
-get dress altered
-find ties for groomsmen
-figure out songs for band to play
-talk to joe about shots we want
-bake cookies as favors
-make paper cranes

jewels... on a budget

Erin Beamon for (shhhhhhh!) target. can you believe how fun this is?






Dean Harris for Target... i'm obsessed with the peace sign bracelet (but it was a little more than I wanted to pay at Target. maybe it'll go down)

Febru-hairy recap...

so we raised just shy of $2,000 for the shelter! i'm so proud of my pals with 'staches... not only are they hotttttt but this means we exceeded our initial goal by $500. not bad for 18 guys and their female ally right?

joe came and shot some portraits for us... I don't have them all yet, but here are some highlights i snagged from his blog.

tied up... should have been studying!

how come no self-respecting wedding website or wedding blogger (save the gal over at $10,000 wedding) ever talks about ties? i mean, it's a small detail (and kind of a knit-picky one, for that matter) but boone and i still have to find something green or white or just nice-looking for the fellas to wear.

anyway, above ties from Jos.A.Bank are sort of what we're thinking... but even these are on the pricier side so we'll keep looking.

For those of you ladies doing the same kind of searching, and all you gents who like a good reason to dress up here's what we've found out about the internet and men's ties!

bow ties... from beau ties ltd. love them... wanted to share them. but probably won't get any for the big day. although if I could find this first on in in a necktie, it would be THE ONE.


Southern Proper... I've always loved vineyard vines and these ties fit the same demographic but have designs fit for a fella from below the M-D line (dogs, trucks, fishing lures).
boone isn't really the preppy kind of guy (most of his ties come from goodwill). also, they are just a tad expensive. nope.



then there's the old standby, vineyard vines... but i'm not keen on many of their designs PLUS they cost more than the SP. boo. and there's the whole part about boone not being preppy.



This leaves us with my etsy finds. did you know that there is meandmatilda on etsy that makes reasonably priced ties JUST for you? i know...custom ties! this may be a good option, but #1 who has time to find fabric when the wedding is less than 3 months away? and #2 the patterns of premade ties are a little bold for my sweetie's taste (but still an option).


then, these applique ties from sugarlust are AWESOME, but i don't think that there are 6 similar enough ones. If only some people weren't keen on things "going together." Also, it'd be AWESOME to buy some matching ties and have sugarlust applique each one differently though. If only we had more time...



and then there are the cool ties from etsy seller toybreaker that $10,000 wedding smartly selected. they are so hot, but again, boone likes smaller patterns, so we're still on the search unless he has a sudden change of heart.


on with the search!
there are a bunch of cheap overstock websites out there. I wouldn't waste my time with most of them because most things are HIDEOUS, unless you just want solid, shiny ties. in which case you might find what you want. here are a few standouts (we think). if you want to check it out here are some links tieguys, neckties, wildties

and its disappointing to me how limited the online selection for box department stores is...belk only seems to have a bunch of brown ties with stripes. ick. and i haven't found much at dillards or macy's either. Guess we'll have to brave the mall and start hitting the discount stores like TJMaxx to see what we can find... let me know if i've missed anywhere to shop or any reasonably priced, good looking tie brand.

And for the record, unless you need a standard grey, blue, or black tie, or something striped right now Jcrew is not the place to look. and if you're not in the market for something brown and paisley, then neither is men'swearhouse or SKmenswear. trust me on this.