Ciao!

I am going on a girlfriends' getaway through Monday. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!


Photo credit http://www.astrophoto.ca/. I hope to have some of my own to share soon!

Note to Self (Literally)...

On weddingbee today, Mrs. Pinot Noir posted about her out of town bags. In them, she placed pre-stamped post cards from the region her wedding was held, along with a note to guests to send one (that was pre-addressed) to the happy couple after the wedding describing their favorite memory from the weekend; the other was for guests themselves or for a friend. I love the idea, and found 200 post cards for $40.00 :http://shop.rockymountainreflections.com/. It's a bit too early to order them now, but I definitely plan on it as the wedding draws closer.

It's Amazing and Free!

This is the best (FREE-gasp!)wedding idea ever! Simply enter the email addresses your friends who will be attending your wedding and The Wedding Lens will email them and remind them to bring their cameras to the wedding. After the wedding, guests will receive an email requesting that they upload their pictures into an online album for sharing. What a great way to have all of your photos in one place and to get some pictures from your wedding while you are waiting for those pro pics (not to mention a variety of photos that you may bot have seen otherwise).

Visit www.theweddinglens.com for more details.

I Need This, Right?

It's only $50, matches our wedding colors/flowers and would be a cute item to have around the house as a non-creepy memento of our wedding...right? Right? Should I buy it?

By the way, this amazing clay floral arrangement is from Etsy Seller DK Designs http://www.dkdesignshawaii.com/. You have to check out her website and her gorgeous work!

Shhh...We Don't Live Together Yet!

The most controversial wedding decision that Andrew and I have yet to make is one that we are not making. Simply put, we've decided not to live together before we get married.

Here are some stats I gathered on this topic:

There are 9.7 million Americans living with an unmarried different-sex partner and 1.2 million American living with a same-sex partner. 11% of unmarried partners are same-sex couples.- U.S. Census Bureau, 2000

41% of American women ages 15-44 have cohabited (lived with an unmarried different-sex partner) at some point. This includes 9% of women ages 15-19, 38% of women ages 20-24, 49% of women ages 25-29, 51% of women ages 30-34, 50% of women ages 35-39, and 43% of women ages 40-44. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the United States." Vital Health and Statistics Series 23, Number 22, Department of Health and Human Services, 2002.

The number of unmarried couples living together increased 72% between 1990 and 2000.- U.S. Census Bureau, 2000

55% of different-sex cohabitors get married within 5 years of moving in together. 40% break up within that same time period. About 10% remain in an unmarried relationship five years or longer.- Smock, Pamela (2000). "Cohabitation in the United States." Annual Review of Sociology.
All of this information has been gathered courtesy of http://www.unmarried.org/statistics.html.

Why am I not joining the 49% of women in my age bracket who live with their partners before marriage? There are a few reasons and I am happy to share them. The first is that I relish being single. Don't get me wrong, I can not wait to marry Andrew, but in the meantime, I want to treasure nights snuggled up in my bed, face mask on and Godiva Ice Cream in tow reading trashy novels without judgement, long conversations with my girlfriends without an audience, painting my toenails while I watch "Grey's Anatomy", and all other "Secret Single" (a la Carrie Bradshaw) behavior that Andrew loathes before I make the move to move in with my boy. The next reason is because I do my best (though I do not always succeed) to follow the tenants of my religious faith. I don't mean to say that those who live with their significant others are somehow wrong, immoral or "sinners", but simply to say that this was not the right choice for me based on my personal beliefs. The final reason is pretty cut and dry. My parents are making a generous contribution to the wedding and have threatened not to if we live together; as a city school employee, suffice to say that I would have a hard time paying for the wedding of my dreams on my own...

That being said, I can understand the many reasons why people do live together before marriage (and am more than occasionally jealous of those who do). Bills are pretty expensive, especially in this economy, and it would be nice to have someone to split them with. Over half of these relationships end in marriage, but some do not; perhaps those who live together first avoid what could have potentially been disastrous marriages. That, and I can definitely understand the desire to have your loved one near. It makes perfect sense to me, and I judge not. We all have to make the choices that are right for us.

What bothers me, I guess, is how much I have been called upon to defend my beliefs on this matter. I usually just give people the last reason (about the parental wedding support) and it seems to nip the conversation in the bud. However, it would be best not to have to defend my position at all. As Rodney King once replied in a much more urgent situation, "Can't we all just get along?". After all, aren't weddings supposed to be about love?

What do you think? What did you decide about living together before marriage and why did you make that choice?

Letter Your Legacy Lust

I would love to spell out our married name and hang one of these pieces from Letter Your Legacy in our master bedroom. In the meantime, I will settle for ordering them for others (my parents and grandparents) for Christmas.

What creative gifts or objects of lust have you found during your wedding browsing?

Products/photo credits http://www.letteryourlagacy.com/.

Picking a Pretty Palette...The Decorating Continues.

Now that we had linens and furniture, we need to get the guest bedroom painted.We will also be painting the master to get ready for its future makeover. Here are the colors we chose:

Master (We will paint one wall the darker grey as an accent, and the other three walls a lighter grey.):
Guestroom (The light brown will be the primary color on all of the walls, the dark brown will be the trim and the cream will be for the ceiling):

The accent color for the guest room will be chartreuse, and the accent colors for the master will be chartreuse, burnt orange and robin's egg blue. I'd love to use the wedding colors (pink and brown) but A was not so into the idea-he he he!

How did you pick the colors for your nest? Did you start with the paint or with the linens/decorations?

Paint colors/swatches from http://www.myperfectcolor.com (Benjamin Moore).

Moving On To The Master...

Linens... Throw Pillows...

More Throw Pillows...

A charteuse throw...

A pretty picture...

And some lamps...

Heavy Nesting

I would like to take a break from my regularly scheduled wedding posts to blog about my latest obsession....nesting! Because, let's face it, as much as you (and I) may love wedding planning, sometimes a girl just needs a break and a time to focus on something new.

It all started this weekend when A and I started envisioning how we wanted our home to look. Since I already own a home that he will move into when we are married (more on that later). We decided to make it "ours" by furnishing it together with things we both loved. Let me tell you, finding things we both loved was a lot more easier said than done...While I love Andrew, this shopping excursion was definitely a lesson in compromise, balancing his love of contemporary style with my affection for all things classic. In the end though, it was nice to hear his opinions and to see him invest in what we are building together. Anyway, I am sure you just want to see the pictures, so here goes...

It all started with this bedroom set.... It will go in our guest bedroom(minus the tall dresser and the square mirror).


And these are the linens! I bought them right off our our registry at Crate and Barrel, because I simply could not wait!


I fell in love with these Sammy Vases...They will look perfect on the dresser and will pull all of the colors of the linens together.

Since we decided that we liked the green best of all of the colors in the linens, we chose this lamp to really draw it out.

And, this throw should also help to that end...

What do you think? Would you like to stay in our guest bedroom?

Top picture/furniture www.oakexpressions.com. All other pictures/products www.crateandbarrel.com.

More DIY Goodness

Tomorrow night I am getting together with my 3 favorite Denver gals to go to Archiver's for some scrap booking and paper crafting fun.

While I am there, I plan to work on 2 projects:

Bride's Room and Groom's Room Signs (in our pink/brown color scheme). I hope that these will make for some fun pictures on our wedding day!

A Thank You Banner (also in our pink/brown color scheme) for us to hold; we'll have a picture like this one made into a postcard to send to our guests after the wedding. I am hoping that these postcards will make the arduous task of writing thank you cards more fun!

Photo credits to: kristaselegantweddings.com and etsy seller EdenInspirations, respectively. I'll be sure to post photos of my own projects as soon as they are complete!

Details, Details, Does Anyone But Me Notice or Care?

My latest obsession is card boxes. I am really wondering how much of a feature they are at weddings and how much anyone notices them. Is this a project worth spending time and money on? In my earliest musing about this detail, here are a few I have found around the Internet. All pictures and products were found on http://www.ebay.com/.

The card boxes I found ranged from traditional like this one....

To bird cages like many bees are using...

To a wedding cake shaped one like this...

To my personal favorite (though I am not sure I would pay $155+shipping for a card box)....This last one can be custom ordered in your wedding colors from eBay seller For the Modern Bride.

What will you do for your card box? Should I stress about mine?

"Bridezillas"

I love "Bridezillas". I would even go so far as to call it a guilty pleasure. But there is a part of me, deep down inside (or maybe not even so deep) that really hopes that these ladies really are lovely and are being paid boku bucks to play up their tempers in order to get a little extra money. After all, who doesn't need a creative way to pay their wedding bills...right? Cast your vote and weigh in. Are these good girls behaving badly, or do these people really behave this way "in real life"?

Poster Lust

(As I blogged yesterday) Since Andrew and I met at the Kentucky Derby in 2004, we are trying to tie this serendipitous meeting subtly into our wedding theme. However, subtle is the name of the game; we are getting married in the mountains in Colorado and do not want to detract too much from the natural beauty that surrounds us. Recently I stumbled on this poster while browsing the Internet for Kentucky Derby table names. The question of the hour is, would this poster be a sweet addition to our wedding decor, or would it be over the top? If I do add the poster into the visual landscape, how should I use it? One thought that I had was to put it on an easel near the escort card table. What do you think?

What's Your Wedding Saying?

Before I got into the world of wedding blogging, I did not know that a wedding was supposed to have a theme, or how to go about executing that concept. To be fair, I am not even sure that our wedding does have a theme, but there are a few elements that will tie it together.....

Our monogram will appear in many places, from our invitations, to our programs to our signage, to a gobo projection on the dance floor...
Gerber daisies will make an appearance in the fountain outside Lionscrest Manor, in our ceremony (and aisle) decorations, in all of the bouquets, in the centerpieces and will top the cake...

Last but not least, since we met at the Kentucky Derby, there will be subtle hints that evoke "Derby"; we will be serving mint juleps at cocktail hour and will create table names with Kentucky Derby themes (i.e. Run of the Roses, Churchill Downs, Seersucker, Mint Julep, etc). A sign on the bar will explain why we are serving mint juleps, and another sign on the escort card table (which will both include our monogram, natch) will explain the table names...

What do you think..do we have ourselves a theme? What is yours?

Top 10 Reasons I Love Andrew

Andrew has been out of town for the last few weekends, and off an on during the week for work. In honor of his actually being home this weekend, I thought I'd write a post about the top 10 things I love about Andrew:

10. He is always good to his family; he has driven hours to Santa Fe in the middle of the night to visit his sister when she needed him, used vacation time to help his father build a cabin and adores is mother.

9. He is so wonderful with our dog that I know he will make a wonderful father if we decide to have a family of our own.

8. I rarely, if ever, hear him say anything negative about anyone.

7. He often surprises me with thoughtful words, actions and gifts.

6. I love the hobbies we do share (running and reading ) and the fact that we also have separate hobbies of our own.

5. He is so good to my friends...

4. And even better to me.

3. He is so handy...I swear that he can fix anything!

2. He knows all of me and loves me anyway!

1. He knows my hopes and dreams and always supports them (and has amazing hopes and dreams of his own that he allows me to support too).

I am so excited to be his wife and hope to show him every day that I love him!

My Latest Love

Another weddingbee find. I plan to order a "Love is Sweet" banner for our midnight cookies and milk table, and a runner for our cake table with our monogram. And...best of all, Lydia, the etsy.com seller, has been a doll already!

Upon exiting the reception, guests will be greeted with crates full of white chocolate chip cookies, a galvanized pail of individual Horizon Chocolate Milk, and this banner.

This will be beautiful for our cake table, and will be fun to use as a table runner for future anniversaries (with our monogram, of course).

Products and Photos:http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5317160

Any other good finds on etsy that I should know about ? :)

Girls in Brown Dresses with Pink Satin Sashes

So...the bridesmaids dresses are in! I couldn't have planned it better. There are 3 styles and 6 girls, and 2 chose each dress without any suggestion for me! This was wonderful as I tend to be...ahem...minorly obsessive (okay very obsessive) about bizarre things like symmetry that I am sure no one else notices.

Here is 1 of the styles:

I love the dresses and so do the girls! The construction is high quality, the fabric is a nice blend of dressy/casual and, best of all...the dresses have pockets! However, when I thought of these dresses next to mine, it seemed like they might need a little something...

To dress them up a bit and to define waistlines in high-waisted dresses, I ordered these sashes in pearl pink from David's Bridal:

Photo credits and products: www.jcrew.com and http://www.davidsbridal.com/.

Did you add anything to your bridesmaids' dresses once you saw them in person?

Another Way to Continue the Monogram

This...with a light pink "T". I can't wait to take pictures with it, just like this one!

Product and photo credit: http://www.pamelasparasols.com/.

Something Blue, Parts I and II

I have 2 items that will both serve as my "something blue." Here they are without further adieu:


I thought these blue undies (from Hanky Panky) would be a fun and flirty twist on an old tradition:


I fell in love with the monogrammed dress label idea. I loved the label so much that I ordered a matching table runner and hankie for my bouquet (though the lettering for those is in pink, not blue).

For now, these photo credits belong to: http://www.bizrate.com/ and aweddingkeepsake.com. As soon as my camera decides to behave, I'll post actual pictures of my dress label.

What is your something blue?

More DIY Fun-Door Decorations!

E is for Erin... Please pardon her iffy photography skills...

Extreme close up! Letter A details.

I made these for the doors that separate the cocktail area from the ballroom. This was a quick, easy and fun project that I hope will add a little flair to otherwise nondescript French doors. I still need to add the pink satin ribbon I bought to hang them from.

Materials:

• Letters: $0.89/each



• Paint: $0.99



• Ribbon $2.99



• Stickers $3.99

Total Cost: $9.75

Total Time: Under 1 hour each

What little details do you hope guests will notice about your wedding decor?

Save the Dates are Out!

Here they are, resting atop my wedding scrapbook:) It's hard to tell, but they are magnets!

These do not look fuzzy in person; the blown up version of the picture+my poor close up skills distorted the image a bit:)

Elements:

Save the Dates http://www.savethedatemagnet.com/

Stamps: http://www.stamps.com/

Engagement Pictures: http://www.elegant-image.com/

Delightful DIY

I loved this sign from Delightful details, but did not love the price tag that came with it ($74). I decided to take matters into my own hands and to see if I could make my own sign before I spent more $ on wedding related items. So, without further adieu, here it is....

It's hard to tell in the picture, but there is a brown border around the pink, just perfect with our wedding colors! Also, Andrew still has to drill the holes in the top for me so that I can add the ribbon to hang it at the site (from a shepard's hook).

Materials:

• Wooden Sign:$9.99


• Paint $ 2.97 (.99 for each color at Hobby Lobby on sale)


• Ribbon $2.99


• Stickers $11.99
  

Total Cost:$27.93

Total Time 1.5 Hours

Top photo credit, Ms. Petunia from http://www.weddingbee.com/.

Alternative Registries

I have read a lot of different things and heard a lot of chatter on both sides, but I believe that alternative registries (for camping gear, honeymoons and charities) are a wonderful way for a couple to express themselves and to focus on spending time together, experiencing new things together, and supporting causes they believe in together instead of acquiring more items to fill their homes (which are likely to be small starters anyway!). We will have 3 registries: 1 at Crate and Barrel, 1 at Bed, Bath and Beyond and a 3rd with Team in Training. We would like to participate in a triathlon together and would love to support this great group (who I ran my first marathon with) at the same time. Do you have any alternative items or categories on your registry?

Perspective

Maybe it's the fact that I've been engaged for over a year, or maybe it's the change of season that draws my focus away from the planning and on to other new beginnings, but I find myself really appreciating anything I read, see or hear that helps me gain more perspective on myself (and via myself, my ability to not let wedding planning take over my life and my relationships). I thought this excellent slide show from http://www.eightprinciples.com/ was a breath of fresh air, and I hope you might too! Photo credit and slide show http://www.eightprinciples.com/.