Don't (Card) Box Me In

A long, long time ago, (while my brain was far, far away?) I put together this monstrous-looking card box.

Baaaad. At the time, I didn't think a card box was necessary, but I didn't want loose cards to get lost or left behind, so I smashed this together monster-trucks style and called it a day.

I bought this oval box at Hobby Lobby and cut a hole for the cards, then wrapped it in some wrapping paper I found at Target.

I found this shoebox in the closet, and promptly destroyed it and tried to wrap it in leftover construction paper from my paper airplanes. Note the wrinkly ribbon that I didn't even pretend to iron first.

It was bad, ya'll don't even have to lie and tell me it's okay. I came back to it a couple weeks later and decided I didn't want to die of embarrassment at the wedding. The box was having a hard time sticking together (uhhh maybe that's because I tried to attach ribbon to construction paper with Scotch tape?), and basically just needed to be redone. So I started over. I tore off all the construction paper and sad ribbon, and wrapped it with what was left of the floral wrapping paper. I'm decent at wrapping gifts, so this alone made it look worlds better, but it wasn't quite done.

People needed to know what it's for. C-A-R-D-S. Cut, paste, done.

Voila! I suppose life would be easier if I just wouldn't half-ass projects in the first place, but what fun is that? :)

Have you had to redo any projects that didn't turn out right?

OMG Shoes

Oh-my-gosh-you-guys!!! I know there's been a lot of buzz around the interwebs about Anthropologie's new wedding dress collection, BHLDN, and I honestly hadn't paid much attention because, duh, I have a dress already. But but but I just found out they have their own line of SHOES! And ... they're BEAUTIFUL! I want to buy them all!

Here are a few of my faves! I wish these had come out sooner, because I would sooooo wear, ummm, any of these under my wedding dress! I can't stop using exclamation points!

 Elopement Pumps and Moonlit Peep-Toes via BHLDN

Pink Pompom Shoe Clips and Flouncy Peep-Toes (aaaaah bows!) via BHLDN

Agave Peep-Toes and Scalloped Platforms via BHLDN

These are so cute I just want to die!

You should check out the other stuff in their collection as well. What I thought was simply a "wedding dress line" also has cute shrugs, cocktail dresses, cute hair doodads and more. Seriously, why did no one tell me this sooner?

Which ones are your favorite?

(No one is paying me for this post.)

Centered, Once Again

What do you get when you cross tin cans, tea lights and faux flowers?

Rehearsal dinner centerpieces!

After several weeks of going back and forth (mason jars or glass vases? MASON JARS OR GLASS VASES?!?!) and sales on neither, our RD centerpiece idea kind of fell into my lap. I had headed to Michaels to round up the last of the pink peonies we would need to adorn the cake, when I went a-wandering past the dollar bins. Fate, I tell ya. I found these adorable swirly tin cans for a dollar apiece:

They had a little metal ring already set up on the inside to hold a tea light. Off in search of tea lights! I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with real candles, but I knew how expensive LED tea lights could get, and let's face it, this was (another) zero-budget project. I figured it couldn't hurt to see what LED options Michaels had though, since I was already there and everything.

Believe when I say luck was on my side! Somehow I got a box of 20 flickering LED tea lights for $1.49!  Somebody mislabeled the shelf they were stocked on, down from its original $19.99. Win!

I know you can't really tell the size of the tin cans from the pictures, but they're kind of on the smaller side. Since we'll have one per table on the 10 picnic tables in the covered park pavilion where our rehearsal dinner will be, I didn't think this alone was quite enough. I don't want wimpy centerpieces! Back to the floral department!

Much better! Don't those colors look familiar? How lucky that Michaels had a bunch of the tin cans in varying shades of maroon-ish, pink-ish, and ... well, they only had one lime green, but I snagged it anyway. :) Who's counting?

As the sun fades, and the party continues into the evening ... the soft glow of the tea lights will emit from the swirls ... assuming the giant florescent lights in the pavilion don't drown it out.

Now, here's how I made this happen. Obvs, with the flowers on the top, it would be difficult to get to the tea lights to turn them on and off. So, when I cut the flowers to fit into the cans, I kept some of the greenery, and hot-glued the whole mess of foliage together into one piece. Now, before the rehearsal, we can just dump the flowers out, turn on the LEDs and put the flowers back in, and they'll look exactly the same. Done and done!

The only thing left before I wrap up this little project is the tablecloths to cover up the metal picnic tables. There will be a plethora of beer and barbecue on the tables (which I'm sure will not be messy at all), so I bought some cheap white plastic tablecloths from the dollar store to cover the tables.

Tell me about your rehearsal dinner! What are you doing for centerpieces? And most importantly, what food are you serving? ;)

Save The Drama For Yo Mama

I've been reading a lot lately about wedding drama — huge blowout fights with bridesmaids, demanding step-parents, families who refuse to attend — and I'm wondering why, in the 14 months we've been engaged, I have had so little of it.

Drama? Please. We're as cool as cucumbers.

We haven't had anyone presume to be invited who wasn't (we were really expecting this from a certain someone, but the situation may have straightened itself out without us having to do anything). There were no fights about plus ones, or parents who wanted to invite 300 people, or negative Nancys who bashed all our "unique" ideas. We haven't had problems with our budget, or bridezilla breakdowns, or dress remorse. We haven't had vendors bail on us, or church participation problems, or friendships that ended due to our nuptials. In fact, except for my frequent freaking out (because that's what I do), there haven't been noteworthy negatives in our engagement. So what is wrong with us? Did I just totally luck out? Are both my current and future families the coolest of all time?

I'm hoping that this lack of drama thus far doesn't allude to bad things coming, because we still have about three months left of our engagement — plenty of time for something to happen. But I'm crossing all my extremities that no drama will cometh! I am not great at dealing with it. High school was a fun time.

Anybody else have a surprisingly drama-free engagement?

Getting My Hair Did

In early February I had my bridal portraits taken, and I'm so excited to share those with ya'll! They turned out really well, and I love them. :)

In the meantime, getting bridal portraits done means I needed to become beautimus, so I knocked out a couple birds and had my hair trial then as well. You may remember my previous hair inspiration. In addition, I decided I wanted my veil to sit at the back of my head, and I wanted my hair to have a little bit of volume.

I didn't end up getting quite as much "bump" around the crown as I had planned for, because my thick hair was veering dangerously toward Snooki territory every time we tried to give it some volume! Luckily I think we reached a happy medium, and I loved the way it turned out. Also, it should be noted that when I curl my own hair, it doesn't hold longer than about two hours. I don't know what kind of industrial strength hairspray magic the salon used, but my hair still looked awesome 12 hours later, AND it's still curly after I slept on it!

And with the veil ... tada! I'm a bride!

How are you doing your wedding hair?

Joy Pouring From My Eye Sockets

I finally bought all the songs on our playlists, and I'm slowly "finalizing" them all by listening to them and making sure I like the order.

First things first, I listened to our pre-ceremony playlist. This music makes me so, so happy. Next came the processional. I imagined our families walking to their seats in the church ... I imagined my walk ... and then I imagined Matt's face as I walked down the aisle. And then I started crying.

image via The Purse Forum

Hold yourself together, woman! You're not there yet!

Did you/will you cry when you walk down the aisle?

Stamped, Sealed, Delivered

You guys, I really lucked out on this one. After my save-the-dates with the polar bear stamps, and a friend whose stamp options were "dolphins" or "Black History Month," I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that our invitations were not going to have pretty stamps on them. So I was pleasantly surprised when I took an invitation to the post office to be weighed and, despite the cost being higher than I had anticipated, I was presented with this option:

(source)

Actually, it was the only option for a 61-cent stamp. Post Office Guy actually looked kind of embarrassed about their lack of other stamps until I assured him that they were fine, since they were for wedding invitations. Hallelujah!

What were/are your stamp options?

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bra

This is Bridesmaid A on her wedding day in 2009. Isn't she beautiful?

Photo by Bridesmaid J

I was not a bridesmaid in her wedding, but I was helping out with last-minute details, setting up the reception area, all that good stuff ... and about an hour before pre-ceremony family portraits were supposed to begin, A looked in the mirror and did not like what she saw. She had bought one of those corset-type bras for under her dress, and it was doing something weird. She couldn't get married like this! Naturally, because I knew it would someday make an awesome story because she was the bride and brides need to be kept happy, I offered up my strapless bra as her "something borrowed." The dress looked better, she looked happier; crisis averted! She got married, we partied, and I went Boobs Akimbo while we all did the "Superfreak" dance.

Thus began a strange tradition. Back in February, A called me and offered to send me the corset bra from her wedding. I hadn't planned on buying one; I was just going to wear a strapless bra (incidentally the same one she borrowed from me. Man, I need to go bra shopping more often), but I accepted. We're about the same size, so it should fit fine.

So lookie what came in the mail.

There you have it: my something borrowed. You better believe I'm passing it on after the wedding if BM A doesn't want it back. :)

What's the best wedding story you have?

Let It Grow!

So I'm a glutton for DIY punishment. At least I can admit it; the first toward recovery is admitting you have a problem, yes?