BridalBuds » Archived

Crips v. Bloods

BridalBuds — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:49:40 +0000

Have I mentioned that my amazingly talented, wonderful, a-sister-to-me, MOH is also a Crip?

Rapdict

No silly! That’s a gang!

She’s a Crip which is Muscular Dystrophy Camp slang for a Cripple… someone in a wheelchair. She’s the best person I have ever met (okay she ties with the Cherry Dude) and I forget that everyone notices the big huge wheelchair.

Personal Photo of MOH in her Wedding-Decked-Out-Wheelchair

But to me it’s sort of second nature. I have driven MOH around since I was 16 and could drive her minivan with Father approval. Because for obvious reasons, she couldn’t ride in my car!

Source

Ok it’s not that cool… it’s a forest green minivan with a somewhat-big-obnoxious ramp that takes forever to come down and honestly how can you make that look cool? Meh!

This brings me to my point…. Ladies if you have a member of your bridal party or a guest who happens to be in a wheelchair (power or otherwise) make sure to compile a list of handicapable questions! Here’s what I asked at each meeting:

Source + Edited in Paint by me

At the Venue:

Me: (As I stared at some stairs leading into the chapel- OMFG) There are stairs- how can we get people in wheelchairs into the Chapel?

Them: Oh, no worries, we can move the potted tree there- it blocks the ramp that comes directly up to the Chapel.

Me: (PHEW That was close)

Source + Edited in Paint by me

Me: (As I peered at a 5 inch step up to the altar in a VERY small Chapel) Um, do you have a ramp or something we can use for someone in the bridal party who is in a wheelchair?

Them: Unfortunately no, but I can give you the dimensions.

Me to FI: Ok, looks like we’re building a ramp!

At the Hotel:

Me: Now I like the Suites we’ll have as part of our “block” but are any handicap accessible and can I see it? (Tip for any brides dealing with handicap rooms- take a peek and make sure your friend in a power chair REALLY can get around).

Them: Sure! Let me show you this one…

Me: Perfect! Lots of room and it looks like a big bathroom that’s helpful!

Personal Photo

At the Florist:

What you didn’t think there would be wheelchair related questions here?!

Me: Ok, now my MOH happens to be in a wheelchair and she’s rather petite so I’d like a small bouquet so she can still “roll” up the aisle with one hand. And of course no bridesmaid bouquets can be bigger than hers.

Them: Done.

Phew that was a bit of a workout, but I wanted to compile a list of the BIG questions I asked. I hope this helps any brides in a similar situation. Any questions you asked that I didn’t? Does anyone else have a person who happens to be in a wheelchair in their bridal party or on their guest list?

MOH of DOOOOOM!

BridalBuds — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:22:48 +0000

That’s literally the way my MOH now addresses herself in email communications with me.

Now that you saw the beautiful outcome of our save the dates, let me tell you the story of our plans for wedding invitations and save the dates…

Personal Photo of MOH and her Hubby

You see my MOH, pictured above, has been my best friend since we were both extracted from the South and moved to the Frozen Tundra [read: Chicago, IL]. We know exactly how the other one thinks and sometimes that’s a bad thing.

Case in point, she was going to work on my invites and Save the Dates as part of her wedding gift to us… BUT then all of a sudden she dropped off the face of the earth [read: interwebs and mobile phone]

zGeek

Oh yes my friends…. she disappeared and/or was hiding from me! Me her former MOH, ME the best friend forever… WHY?!?!?!

Game Spot

Because her computer had bit the big one and she was so upset that she would disappoint me… she hid from me. Once I finally got a hold of her she released the “Sound and Fury” (yay Audiology-related jokes that no one will get!). I said it wasn’t a problem and in fact when she failed to return text/email/voicemail messages I had left… I simply assumed that her computer had died.

Because that my friends is our logic. OBVIOUSLY it had to be her computer… she could never be MAD at moi! So, because I had already assumed this, I started looking into companies that could subsitute for the gloriousness that is MOH of DOOM.

Personal Photo: That's really just here for hilarity's sake

So with her guidance I gave the designer at Blush Design Studio the specifications for our invites… low and behold between MOH’s description and her color palette we got a beautiful 2-color Letterpress WORK OF ART! (More on Blush Design Studio in an upcoming Vendor Review post)

The moral of this story is rely on your good friends. Because even when they think they’ve let you down and have proclaimed themselves “the worst MOH ever” (her words friends, not mine) they still end up brightening your day and turning it back into sunshine, rainbows and unicorns!

Judah Gabriel

And as you now know this story did have a happy ending, she was able to do our save the dates!

Save the Date!!

BridalBuds — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:11:16 +0000

Remember our inspiration for our Save the Dates…. here’s how they came out. I present to you the long hard journey ending in the beautiful creation of our Save the Dates…

This is what we are aiming for in postcard form:

IMDB

First of all, we took a BILLION photos with FSIL (our wedding photographer). Because she’s an arteest and it has to be just so. BTW I’m glad she is, because these came out perfect! For most of the photo trials I was desperately trying not to laugh….

Personal Photos

But see, I finally nailed it, with a lot of help from FSIL.

Enter MOH and her graphic design skillz… she took us from that to this…

Personal Photo edited by MOH

Oh my gosh! It was at this point I started getting the tingles… and it was also at this point MOH announced she had no fonts on her new computer… NOOOOOOOO! So I twiddled my thumbs while I waited… and waited… and waited [please note I am a Drama Queen and this was about 30minutes, not days].

Personal photo edited by MOH

Names have been concealed to protect the innocent.

Oh-my-god we’re getting so close to our save the date. But… the font isn’t right. The font isn’t right?!?!

Rendition #2

Oh my goodness, did you see the statue/silhouette of the bride and groom, adorable no? But alas the font is all wrong!

So close but…. wait… could it be….

Personal Photo

There you have it our save the date… how amazing! We printed these out using www.mypostcardprinter.com and they came out terrific!

P.S. for those of you wondering where the competitive streak comes out… we will have a blown up version of our save the date at our reception and whoever guesses the movie gets a Snuggie! Cheesey, but I love door prizes!

So what inspired your save the dates?

Whimsical Save the Dates

BridalBuds — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:29:06 +0000

Throughout my intense wedding/bridal blog reading I have been unable to find a Save the Date that really “gets me.” UNTIL my fabulous, wondrous MOH sent out her Save the Dates. They were classy but funny, adorable with personality- everything I ever wanted. I was both happy and extremely upset with her. It was everything I wanted in a Save the Date…

Source: MOH

… Down to the catchy “Two people enter, one couple leaves” line. My fiancé was talking about this Save the Date for weeks! And remember he’s been IN 7 weddings, and has I assume, seen much more than 7 Save the Dates. What could we possibly design that could be as cute and fun as that? Enter my Super MOH who confessed to me this was actually her #2 design idea, #1 involved a posed picture of her and her now husband. I was on cloud nine. MOH has the best design ideas on the planet. That is when she dropped this bombshell…

Cine Masterpieces

Could it be, our favorite movie! In a pinkish/coral sepia tone? Of course the wording is amazingly appropriate for a Save the Date. We’re changing it just a bit to “They have a date with fate in…. SEDONA” Our parents names will be listed as the producers and of course MOH will be listed as the Artistic Director.

Did you find any wedding inspiration in your close friends or bridal party? Are you excited to see our Save the Dates? Who loves the postcard trend? (Hint: me!)

Kid’s Table Activities, Pt. 2

BridalBuds — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Due to my Bridal Zombie Flu, I have spent a lot of my time around and reading old wedding blogs. While pooling over older posts by 10,000 Only I found a link to a wonderful website that allows you to make Free puzzles! What a perfect addition to our informational packets or Kid’s Table Activities. Who doesn’t love a fun and free activity?

For the young kids (ages 10 and below) we made a Wedding-related word search.

Puzzle Maker

And for our families (who happen to love the Sunday Crossword) we made a personalized crossword to include within our OOT bag informational folders.

Puzzle Maker

But what’s a Crossword without competition? You may remember that I’m a competitive person, so we will be offering a small prize for the first couple or family that completes the Crossword. What could we give them for knowing us so well? Well if they knew us well they’d know the prize would most likely be a white elephant/gag gift of course. Perhaps the Roll-A-Lotion we received from my the Future In Laws!

Personal Photo

Are you having any games/prizes at your wedding? How are you incorporating your Type A personality?

Kid’s Table Activities Pt. 1

BridalBuds — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:30:13 +0000

After finding this online I had to make this work for the modern DIY wedding. Who didn’t love rainbow crayons as a kid? And who doesn’t love cheap, custom, and colorful kid’s favors?

Jas Family Fun

Hearts are okay for weddings… a little like a valentine though for my taste. How do I make a bad-ass version of these that are wedding appropriate… hmmm….enter the Thinking Cat face….

Funny Cat Pics

Then I found it! Inspiration on the Weddingbee Boards, shocking I know! I found the most beautiful wonderful idea and I wondered why others hadn’t jumped on this idea….

Custom Cake Supply

Unfortunately we couldn’t find the mini-wedding cake pans in any local stores. So whilst we waited for them to arrive in the mail we found a Christmas-related substitute. Enter a 64 pack of crayons and some spare time at Christmas with the 2 ring bearers and 1 flower girl. Well we needed activities… and I needed fodder for my blog. So child labor be damned!

Personal Photo

First the kids broke the crayons and put them into a silicone cupcake pan in the shape of pine trees. Then we baked them (as the directions above said).

The wax content and the type of pan you use will increase or decrease the bake time. With our $1 knock-off crayons the wax content is fairly high (much higher than a Crayola crayon) and our silicone pan the bake time increased to 25 minutes. At that time, I looked into the oven and noticed messy brownish/greyish colors in each tree.

Personal Photo

Thinking that I had burned them I sat down dejectedly and Cherry Dude tried to cheer me up by prying them out of their silicone shells. Much to my surprise they came out quite lovely…

Personal Photo

It seems that the brownish/greyish mess was actually the wax which had floated to the top during the baking process. So if this happens to you, DON’T PANIC!

Personal Photo

The trees would be great for stocking stuffers, Christmas-wedding favors, or even personalized Christmas Cards. We also made hearts and attempted the mini cakes… but that photo is deceiving and the cakes are actually quite large, I wouldn’t recommend them for this task.

Did you find any fun kid’s activities out there on the web? Share your favorite!

Function Over Form

BridalBuds — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:09:32 +0000

Ahhh wedding binders… how beautifully you lure us newly engaged women into you- thinking that a beautiful, odd-shaped binder really can work for us. How little we know…. but don’t think this blogger was immune to its siren song. I was most definitely not.

Barnes and Noble

Simple and stunning, sold! This was a great binder to work from when you are still in the very preliminary planning stages. However, I realized once I started paying vendors that it’s stunning-ness left much to be desired. And a very large, very messy pile of wedding-related papers on our office floor.

Personal Photo

So I bring you a not-as-pretty DIY wedding binder that will make your life easier, and a few tips as to what the brides today really need to put in there. First thing’s first start with the heavy hitters on the dividers things like Venue, Catering, The Dress, Florist, Photographer, and DJ/Musician.

Personal Photo

What do you put in each divider? Well my Family’s Motto has always been “Trust No One” I know it’s kind of a skeptical way to look at life but trust me a good ol’ C.Y.A. method always works!

Make sure to get everything in writing- aka that any verbal agreements are reflected in your contracts before signing.
Copy of your contract with either your Paid in Full Status or copies of each receipt you’ve been given.
If they don’t give you a receipt of each payment, make sure you get an email from the lead person at each facility stating that you have paid.
Just for good measure- print out your credit card statement (highlighted with the charge) or a copy of your cashed check.

It’s a good idea to buy either a business card holder insert or to simply clip/staple them into place. Another great thing to add is a zipper pouch for you to store all your receipts (with notes of what you purchased and for what or whom). Especially if you blog – this is a great way to keep track of your budget in a low tech way, it also provides those of us who love spreadsheets a rudimentary “filing system”.

Great Company Store

You also want to put in any notes you may have not yet discussed with the vendor and then cross them off as you complete each task.

Personal Photo

This way if you hire a DOC or just put a family member in charge of DOCing (a tip from A Practical Wedding) they have access to all the information and all the contracts. You can also put your schedule of events here as the day grows nearer. So in the end you don’t need to spend loads of money or put loads of things into your working-wedding binder. I’d like to stress quality over quantity.

Did the “off the shelf” wedding binders fail you too? Or did you DIY from the start?

Hair, There, and Everywhere

BridalBuds — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:17:40 +0000

As sung to the tune of the Beatles…. anyway! Let’s take a look take a look through time at my ever changing hair… and then discuss what the HECK I’m going to do with this mane for the wedding…

Personal Photos

Let’s analyze shall we…

85- Nothing I could really do about it at that point, but look at that amazing flip I’ve got going on…

86- When was my hair curly?!

90- Long with weird bangs and a bad smile.

Personal Photos

This is what I like to call the “experimental years“…

02- Yes I did think I was Josie ala Josie and the Pussycats. I remember going home at lunch to RE-CURL my hair…. oh yes I did.

05- A very cute bob with some rockin’ side bangs that really don’t do what they’re supposed to, ever.

06- Just for a change of pace can I see my jet black hair BLONDE?! What the heck was I thinking…

Personal Photos

Ah, graduate school how you really made up for the last 10 or so years…

06- Wow I’m trying some weird layered thing that makes my chubby face look chubbier… not a good look.

07- I cleaned up good for the white coat ceremony… but you can totally see the reminents of previous highlights.

08- Ok that is my hair with ridiculous levels of hairspray and teasing, does it look big? Sadly, no.

09-10- A beautiful do that’s simple and really elongates my chubby face. I hope everyone agrees with this.

Ok so now the conundrum comes in… how fast does hair grow- because I want to wear my hair down and long ala Mrs. Champagne

Weddingbee: Mrs. Champagne

Well the lady at the salon told me about 1/2 an inch a month…. which means with 7 months to go I’m only gaining 3 and a half inches…. cross your fingers ladies that I too have a mane of Mrs. Champagne’s portions.

Are you doing the big wedding-grow-out? How are you rocking your ‘do when you say “I Do”?

Petal Sprinkler’s Gown

BridalBuds — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:23:32 +0000

You may remember, in our last Cherry Bud installment, that we were looking for flower girl dresses? We did finally pick one and buy it online from a company called Girls Dress Line. See if you can recognize it! Just take a look at our Petal Sprinkler…

Beginning with the obligatory getting ready shots of the little Princess….

Personal Photo

“This uh MY petty dwess!” -direct quote

Personal Photo

We’re kind of lucky, it magically fit her! Even if she grows an inch or two before August we should still be set with this dress. My only complaint was that this dress is a little bit darker in person. What do you think of our Petal Sprinkler’s gown? Did you buy your flower girl’s dress online? Know of any good resources to share?

Our Petal Sprinkler

BridalBuds — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:40:12 +0000

… Or Flower Girl if you prefer to call her that. You’ve met the Ring Bearers now meet the little Flower Girl. Here she is with her brother and cousin, who are considerably bigger than her then 2 year old self.

Personal Photo

We’re not too worried about her making it down the aisle, since she has two very goal-oriented boys to walk with, and because I will buy her a great big lollipop and have someone hold it at the end of the very short aisle.

But juuuust in case our soon to be 3 year old Flower Girl doesn’t make it all the way down the aisle, or sprinkle a single petal… Bliss Florist will have “pre-sprinkled” petals. So we’ll still have a beautifully sprinkled aisle resembling this:

Jenni Goldman Photography

But the real conundrum is finding a reasonably priced Flower Girl’s dress in champagne/ivory. Soooo in case any of you are wearing champagne to your wedding here is some inspiration:

Pink Princess- $57.99

Pink Princess- $51.99

Girls Dress Line- $32.95

Number 1 has a bit too much pageantry for a 3 year old, and Number 2 just has lots of shiney things for little hands to grab, and I think Number 3 is just right. Simple and pretty without being overdone, oh and did I mention it was the best price? So is your Flower Girl wearing white/ivory/champagne/(insert color of your choice) like you or is she matching the bridal party?

Ring Bearer Books Pt. 2

BridalBuds — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:41:43 +0000

A warning this DIY event took us several weeks/days because of the tediousness of it, but the end result is quite perfect. I have some tips listed to help you make them more quickly, but I can’t promise this is an EASY DIY. Ok so remember all that work on the table saw in Pt I? Here’s what it made….

Personal Photo

What is that you ask? It’s a template so that when he cuts the pages they come out fairly even… behold mechanical engineering at it’s finest…

Personal Photo

Clamps are your friend, we tried this with only a 2 clamp set up but it kept slipping resulting in uneven page cuts…. So we did a hardware upgrade to 4 clamps!

Personal Photo

There’s Cherry dude in action! We soon found the little cutesy X-acto knife from Micheal’s DID NOT do the job… so we upgraded to a Utility Knife…

Source

This really sped the cutting job right up. Following the cutting of the millions of pages (ok probably just hundreds) we went to town with blue painters tape…

Personal Photo (Don't mind my toes)

Here’s what all the cutting looked like at the end…

He started by taping what would be the bottom of the ringbearer book…

Personal Photo

And really went to town… the blue painters tape will keep the really sticky glue off the pages you see…

Personal Photo

Enter glue…

Personal Photo

And excessive spraying…

Personal Photo

The glue spraying took the longest, it was done over several days because the fumes can build up and that’s bad. Make sure if you’re spraying in the garage you leave the garage door OPEN. We then put weight on the book once we had checked and double checked that there was NO movement in the pages. Once we finished gluing the book together we found something else not-so-good-out…

Personal Photo

As we peeled back the painter’s tape- we realized that the weight we had put on the book to get the pages to stick together… took off some of the paper..

Personal Photo

Sad panda… but rectified with scrapbook paper in one of our wedding colors…

Personal Photo

We then hot glued a piece of ribbon in the center and tied my wedding band on it…

Not too bad, but we learned a lot that will help us on ringbearer book #2. Did you have any DIY projects that got out of hand?

Ring Bearer Books Pt. 1

BridalBuds — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:38:26 +0000

So, by now you know we’ve decided to go with Ringbearer books, because it’s cute and damn near indestructible! Recently I raided my local Savers store (similar to Goodwill) and came up with a treasure trove of vintagey books to play with. The first ones that caught my eye were these beauties, clearly from the same person’s library.

Personal Photo

Originally I had planned on using these, but upon opening up An Intimate Guide for Women I just couldn’t part with this beauty…

Personal Photo

Who wouldn’t want an outdated book with a chapter entitled “Finding a Mate” that also tells you that “for whatever the reason, more than half of [female] college graduates who live in big cities never marry.” Oh yah, it went there….

Anyway moving on, the Ring-bearer books right! Ok well clearly I couldn’t use that book as a ring-bearer book, so I scoped the rest of the vintage book section and found not one… but 10 of these from the years of 1972-1982.

Personal Photo

Not only is the texture amazing, and the picture of the catci appropriate, they continued that craftsmanship onto the sides! How wonderful! They’re exactly what we wanted in our book look. So moving on to the project…the Offbeat Bride recommends using an X-acto knife. Ha! My fiancé is first and foremost a mechanical engineer… so he went out to the table saw in our garage…

Personal Photo

And what he made you will have to wait and see!! But it put those X-acto knifed books to SHAME! Well I am obligated to say that as his fiancé, but it is always a fun experiment when the table saw is fired up!

{Any and all audiologists reading this will note that he is wearing “skull screws” which have an NRR rating of 30dB…because hearing protection is important. If anyone would like to hear my long speil on noise induced hearing loss prevention please contact me. }

Are you adding more power (insert Tim the Tool Man grunt here) to what started out as a simple DIY? How is your fiancé pulling his weight in the DIY arena?

One Ring to Bring Them All…

BridalBuds — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:47:14 +0000

… and in the darkness bind them… well wed them at least! I swear I’m done with Tolkien! I may not have mentioned this buuuut we have not one but TWO ring bearers! That means these two handsome faces will be bringing our rings.

Ring Bearer #1

(Who looks exactly like Cherry Dude as a kid- and is trying on his Barf/Mawg costume wig)

Ring Bearer #2

The quandary is how do I find two awesome ways for them to bring the rings that isn’t all matchy-matchy and doesn’t involve a pillow. I’m quite certain that these two soon to be 8-year-olds will need something less destructible and more boy-appropriate. As usual this brought me to Etsy… but Etsy only brought more ideas than decisions.

How about Moss? That seems like something little boys would love!

Etsy

Or wood, certainly an option.

Etsy

Or we could always spice up a more traditional bowl with a spider, something both boys love!

Etsy

Or Maybe a Ring Bearer Book?

Offbeat Bride

Since my FMIL is a librarian I think it would be both kitschy and cute to make those beautiful ring bearer books, plus it’s damn near indestructible. Not to mention we can tie it shut so no rings go rolling off. Now it’s off to garage sale some awesome looking vintage-y books. Hopefully, even with my DIY Fail-Skillz on the ring book, I will be able to make something that resembles a “ring bearer book” with a little help from Offbeat Bride.

What are you doing for your ring bearer? Are you spicing up or going with the traditional and beautiful pillow?

One Ring to Find Them

BridalBuds — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:52:03 +0000

So The E-Ring was on my 4th finger on my left hand… so the quest to cover His 4th left finger began! We first set off to Bailey, Banks, and Biddle to look at styles and get the Mister sized. We quickly discovered 2 things: he was a size 9 even, and he was also a picky Groom! So we were off… and we started our search at Etsy…

Etsy

We went through exactly 38 pages (I counted) of Etsy looking at widely different styles of Men’s Wedding Bands. It felt like an elongated version of the Story of Goldilocks. What we learned I will summarize for you in bullet point format…

NO SHINEY
Two Toned
Exactly, EXACTLY 6mm because 7mm seemed “too fat”
The Mister loves Titanium
Beveled Edges are a MUST

So after this escapade we took a break… only to find it 2 weeks later… THE BAND!

Etsy Shop: Titanium Knights

But wait! It was listed as a 7mm wide ring…. was all hope lost?! No, thankfully the description said it could be fully customized to the correct ring size and preferred width. PHEW! Did you have a picky groom like Cherry Dude?

Now find out what happens next in One Ring to bring them all….

One Ring to Rule Them All

BridalBuds — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:40:57 +0000

Yay we get to talk about rings, something I had no opinion on until we started the “Engagement Discussion” in June. All I knew when my fiancé brought this up was 1) NO BLOOD DIAMONDs 2) I like Platinum. My Fiance would bring quizzes for me- even when we were out to dinner! The first quiz looked something like this:

Blue Nile

When I decided I couldn’t possibly choose one, he said “Could you cross out the ones you don’t like then?” Well that was easy!

Princess- too trendy.

Emerald- would make my chubby fingers too fat.

Marquise- too 80s.

Oval- just not right.

Pear- is for eating.

Heart- is in my chest cavity.

So that left Round, Asscher, Radiant and Cushion. I wanted something timeless…

Polyvore

One that without looking at the band, wouldn’t scream that I was married in 2010 or in 1980. We didn’t go the classic route in buying my ring, but I went with the classic choice, this Round. But boy isn’t it lovely? (Please forgive the clearly parking garage picture- my mother made me send her a text with the ring- immediately)

Personal Photo

Up Next: One Ring to Find Them… the quest for fiancé’s ring!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice…

BridalBuds — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:26:32 +0000

“And Men” “I don’t think men had anything to do with it” – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I just realized I never told you the story of our engagement. Well like any modern couple we had both discussed together that we were ready for the next step and set about laying the plans for our wedding budget and what we both wanted in a wedding. We picked the ring together and it was no surprise that we were going to be engaged. Originally the fiancé planned on proposing in Sedona, where we had discussed possibly getting married.

Visit Sedona

Unfortunately the ring had not arrived in time, but we still spent a lovely weekend in Sedona nonetheless. He quickly changed his plans to propose at our infamous Sushi Tuesday. Yes we go every Tuesday… they set out our chopsticks at our seats at the bar. They actually took bets if we would be there on the Tuesday following Labor Day or if we would come on Wednesday (like the trash), we went on Tuesday.

Sushi Eye

Unfortunately this did not work out either, we ended up going to pick up a mysterious package at a UPS store, because they had failed to deliver it 3 times. For this mysterious package one needed to be 21 years of age, show a valid ID, and sign for the package. The UPS man decided to laugh at that and say “What’s it jewelery?” and then quickly realized he had just upset the customer. He ended up proposing at home, on bended knee, with Pepper right beside him and quite curious.

Pepper (Personal Photo)

So did your man surprise you? Or were the fates against him in surprising?

My Little China Pattern

BridalBuds — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:25:12 +0000

(For those of you that are interested: please note the title should be sung to the tune of “China Doll” by David Bowie)

When I first discussed China patterns with the fiancé I soon learned we had a full set… and Oh baby!, is what you would say when you looked at our China. Let me explain why the engaged-not-yet-married-couple has a full set of China, Crystal, and Silverware. You see the fiancé’s paternal grandparents are just a bit of hypochondriacs and really thought their time was up about 30ish years ago (please note they are in good health and still living). So they went out and bought all three of their grandchildren full 12 piece sets of China, silverware, and real lead Crystal. For the other two grandchildren this generous gift was given as their wedding present. For my fiancé, it was given as a housewarming gift as the paternal grandparents had given up on a wedding. This is a wonderful sentiment but the circa 1978 pattern is interesting to say the least….

Table Tops Etc.

That’s right we have a full 12 piece set of the above Noritake China in the Adagio 7237 pattern in pristine condition. It’s a wonderful and beautiful Victorian pattern that grows on you with time. Not quite what either of us would have registered for, but classy none the least. After some due diligence we found that the company was not only still around but is still a well respected name in China. What was even more exciting when we checked out the Crystal company we found it was Cristal d’Arques, a very well known name in lead based Crystal. We have a set of 12 High Ball and Long Champ glasses as well as a few others. But even though they were also bought circa 1978 they are still in production, and are quite timeless.

Cristal d'Arques

And to top it all off the fiance also pulled out a full set of REAL silverware… I’m talking the snazzy stuff…

Personal Photo

So this brings me to the real reason I am posting this… how do you thank someone for a ridiculously expensive (and complete 12 piece) China + Crystal + Silverware set, that was bought before you were even in the picture?

If I Had a Million Dollars…

BridalBuds — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:42:52 +0000

To quote BNL…I’d be Rich! I’d also love to hire this guy…

Source

If I win lotto tomorrow, which considering I don’t believe in playing would be an act of Gd, I would book Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine immediately. That being said, I don’t think I will get an ethereal present anytime soon so we’re looking into more affordable, but admittedly less fun, alternatives to Richard Cheese. There is one DJ in the Sedona area that is “approved” to play our venue, and since I trust our venue I also trust that the DJ will be good, courteous and appropriate. He is also trained in classical acoustic guitar and is happy to learn whatever songs we request be played acoustically.

The problem is that when this DJ said that he was a classically trained acoustic guitarist… I imagined an aging hippie. He most certainly is not an aging hippie, but it’s a hard mental image to break. According to other weddings I’ve seen posted at the Tlaquepaque Wedding Blog here are my main three options:

A) The Traditional DJ/Classical Guitarist

Source

B) Classical Musicians

Source

C) Or The Token Mariachi Band

Source

What would you do Garden? Decisions, decisions! Stay tuned to hear which one we will pick…

Bridesmaid Dresses or How I made My Tree Skirt

BridalBuds — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:23:08 +0000

Just as a wonderful aside to how beautiful bridesmaid’s dresses really are, I made my Christmas Tree Skirt out of my last bridemaid’s dress and it looks wonderful! I seriously took it from this… to this!

Personal Photo

Neiman Marcus

… Well not quite, that beautiful tree skirt is from Neiman Marcus, but it’s similar to my Bridesmaid’s-Dress-Turned-Tree-Skirt. The point is that I don’t want my Bridesmaids to turn their dresses into something else, I hope they will actually like them. This is a tall order I know, but thankfully I have only 2 bridesmaids!

As you know by know I was inspired by the colors of the Sedona Red Rock when picking my color scheme. So I thought a pink coral would be most appropriate.

Sedona Red Rock Wedding

Alfred Angelo

But I quickly realized my bridesmaids probably wouldn’t want a Coral dress…. I mean really when would you wear that again? So I talked it out with MOH and solidified my ACTUAL Color Scheme, we decided that the burgundy was both a forever flattering and always in style color. Not to mention that to me it looked like FSU Garnet and to Bridesmaid J it looked like Wazzu Crimson. Perfection! That being said I give you my slightly more vintage and timeless attempt at Bridesmaid’s Dresses that won’t make my girls cringe!

J.Crew

My MOH loves #1 and #2 is Bridesmaid J’s style. What do you think Garden, are you doing different colors or changing up the styles for your girls or are you just letting them run with it?

It’s NOT a Competition

BridalBuds — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:36:50 +0000

Well Garden, I think it’s time to address my sometimes severely Type A personality. Most of my Future In Laws already know that my shout of “I WIN” to making good guacamole or winning at Banagrams is just genuinely me. I like to make everything into a “fun little game” and then focus intently on the way to WIN said game. To quote Maria Bamford’s set “Life isn’t a game, but if it is- I’m winning.”

Source

No one would be grading my “wedding work” so why did it all matter? Because I am a self-confessed-sometimes-perfectionist. I found reading blogs about less than perfect people to be quite helpful. But the greatest gift any wedding blog has ever given me was this one simple article… Your Wedding is Not a Contest by the Offbeat Bride. Finally someone telling me in no uncertain terms that it’s okay to break tradition and it’s okay to be somewhat traditional too- and that there was really no way to get it wrong. It’s just about us.

So if I want to wear a champagne gown that initially my mother threw a tantrum over; and if we do want to get married in a Chapel- not a Church; even if we want to get married an hour and a half away from the major airport; even if we think the bouquet toss is silly; and even if we hate wedding cake and love tiramisu…. it DOESN’T MATTER! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean it doesn’t matter to us- it just means that being authentically us from our Alt-Rock musical stylings, our beautiful Chapel far away from the city, and my amazingly not white gown… it’s perfect just the way it is.

We’re not quite traditional….

Russell Stoneham

but not quite offbeat….

Offbeat Bride

We’re somewhere in the middle…which was just right for Goldilocks. Did you find it hard to let go of your type A personality during wedding planning? Was pleasing everyone too much for you too? What were your struggles Garden? I’d love to hear them!

ASL + Weddings

BridalBuds — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:30:50 +0000

Let me start by saying I’m in my final year of my Doctorate in Audiology (Au.D.) “What’s an Audiologist?” you ask!- good question.

Personal Photo: Me@ the Audiometer

The American Academy of Audiology defines the profession well here. Anyway, it is often assumed (incorrectly) that all Audiologists know Sign. The reality is that Pediatric Audiologists are more apt to know Sign, just because of large variety of patients they see. I am semi-fluent in American Sign Language. Because of this my culturally “Deaf” patients are very excited that I try to sign with them.

The point of that whole spiel is that I really want to incorporate ASL into our wedding. Since there are only about 5 guests who know any sign (thanks to the very popular Baby Signs movement) I didn’t want confusion to detract from the idea of using ASL in a hearing wedding. So through my ETSY obsession I found some ASL-spiration!

Etsy

Either the ceramic hand or the block print on wood would look very pretty on a guest book table or near a wedding cake. Or I could always put this pretty charm with my new Last Initial in my Bouquet...

Etsy

Through this search for ASL-spiration, I found it shocking how little inspiration there is on the web for ASL weddings! However, I did find a good article on Offbeat Bride about Etiquette for Guests who are Deaf. Do you have any family or guests who are Deaf? Are you incorporating ASL or another language into your wedding or reception? How would you do it?

Why Arizona in AUGUST?!

BridalBuds — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:58:42 +0000

You may be thinking that Cherry Dude and I are totally bonkers for getting married in Arizona… IN AUGUST! This past summer we had weeks over the 110°F mark… Don’t believe me?

Phoenix Weather

If you don’t live in the southwest, or specifically the “Valley of the Sun” you may not be able to fathom that it does in fact get to 110°F+. Being 3rd year Phoenicians we have lived through the Summer, as many of you live through the winter. The best way to beat the heat is to escape the desert for the high country. Most people think that all of Arizona looks like the Sonoran Desert:

Ottosen Photography: Sonoran Desert

But in fact we do have a high country, and Flagstaff, Sedona, and Prescott usually get a lot of snow:

Snow in Arizona!!

Sedona is halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff (roughly I’m not a Cartographer people). And that means it’s at a much higher elevation. Sedona is at an elevation of 4,400 feet above sea level, whereas Phoenix is a mere 1,117 feet above sea level. But what that really translates to the Phoenicians every summer is that if you vacation in the high country it is normally 15 degrees cooler!! 90-95° versus 110°… no contest.

Sedona Weather

Did you see that? Could it be? A high of 93° and a low of 68°!! You may think 90° is quite high, but its actually quite a nice temperature. Even better yet, our reception venue is in shade alllllll day, making it a good 3-5 degrees cooler still! Anyway we figured even if it is warm, every year for the rest of our lives we can take a break from the Valley heat and celebrate our anniversary in the high country.

So I guess we’re not too crazy for getting married in Arizona in August! How are you beating the heat or fighting the cold for your wedding?

Wedding Cake Be Damned!

BridalBuds — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:01:02 +0000

I have a confession to make… those beautiful cakes featured on TheKnot.com, Ace of Cakes, and the like…do nothing for us…Being that wedding cakes are expensive and generally covered in Fondant, also known as disgusting paste (to us), we were happy to “drop the cake” as it were...

CNN

We went into our first catering meeting with two thought bubbles… his was Tiramisu and mine was the song of the south known as Bread Pudding. Wouldn’t you know it- both were on their menu. In fact, both were on their menu and were included in the quoted price per guest. Eureka! But who would win? The Bride or the Groom?!?! We looked at each other and then back at the caterer…. “Can we have both?” we asked almost in unison. Ask and ye shall receive….

Bread Pudding

and

Tiramisu

Deserts, which were at the bottom of our mutual excitement list, have now climbed to a ranked position! Are you going the traditional wedding cake route or are you doing something else?

Found the Dress, Find the Price!

BridalBuds — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:00:12 +0000

Being a self-professed “Budget-Diva” Bride made shopping for my dress, after I found The Dress; a little upsetting. I found it in the first store marked at $1250, well within the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, when I went to try it on for Mom approval- it was marked $1350. So in order to find it at an amazing deal I first emailed a known wedding consignment company here in the Valley, while they were pleased to hear from me again, they didn’t have The Dress. So I turned to the interwebs- I looked at Once Wed’s Used Dresses Recycled Bride and the Weddingbee Classifieds. Unfortunately the best deal I could find was $800+ shipping. Not bad, except that it was shipping from Canada. Back to the Bridal Shops…

Alyth Bridal Studio

After a few not-so wonderful experiences at Bridal Shops that shall remain nameless my FSIL and I were skeptical at best. That is, until, I found the most glowing reviews of a shop out in the suburbs… a shop I’d never heard of, but certainly had a lot of fans…

Google

I called to verify that they had my gown in stock to try on, they did! They also informed me that weekend they’d be having a Maggie Sottero trunk show and that if I bought and paid in full any Maggie Sottero gown I’d receive a wonderful 10% off the total price. I explained to the clerk on the phone that although Maggie Sottero is one of the designers The Dress was really a Sottero & Midgely. No problem they said, they’d still honor the discount since Maggie Sottero was one of the designers….

Could it be… was I in my own fairy tale?

Disney

I was!! And on a side note the above cartoon does have a shocking resemblance to myself (dark hair+pale) and Cherry Dude (auburn hair+pale). So to make a long story, somewhat longer…I bought and paid for the dress in full that day, and ended up paying $1,163.27 tax included!!

How far did you go for a good deal and good service? Were you put off from buying your dress by sales staff that were less than courteous?

I Said Maybe to the Dress Pt III

BridalBuds — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:44:05 +0000

As discussed previously in Pt II, my MOH came to the rescue and sat up on the phone with me whilst I cried out my many frustrations with shopping for a wedding gown. She addressed my three main issues in blunt fashion, so I will do the same for you:

Problem #1: I have an hourglass shape. You would think this would not be a problem, but think again. It means that every single dress in existence looks “okay.” Thus narrowing my options… by nothing.

Problem #2: I didn’t really want the simple gown I kept telling everyone. I wanted something “dramatic” without being covered in beads and flowers.

Problem #3: I really had no inspiration.

So we sat down and tackled all these problems and came up with a portfolio, so to speak, of inspiration. So that, just like before with colors, I don’t mess it up by using the wrong words. This is what we came up with:

From Right to Left: Maggie Sottero AD3274, Maggie Sottero AD8502, Casablanca1831, MoriLee 6506, Maggie Sottero Layne, Maggie Sottero Perla, Maggie Sottero SD3008

Did you sense a running theme of Maggie Sottero? If you did you got that right! This quest for inspiration led to finding the best piece ever…

Sottero & Midgley JSM1103

The funniest part of all, is that I *thought* I didn’t even want lace. Turns out, I wanted LOTS of Lace! I tried this dress on at both Azteca here in Phoenix with the FSIL, and at Bride Beautiful in Atlanta with my Mom. Each time it was perfection. Even my mother who hated the idea of a champagne gown, absolutely loved it. Unfortunately both Azteca and Bride Beautiful don’t allow photos until you’ve purchased the gown- so you don’t get to cry like my mom did. This is how I picture myself in The Dress…

Sottero & Midgley

But now comes the hard part of being a budget-diva Bride… finding this at sample sale prices…. stay tuned for “Found the Dress- Find the the Price.” Did you have to do a lot of research to find the dress for you? Did making inspiration boards help your process?