A pet peeve.

As a to-be bride who has been engaged 2+ years, I've watched a lot of wedding shows. There's something that happens at a lot of weddings that just drives me NUTS. I even see it happen in David Tutera's My Fair Wedding. And, as an expert in wedding etiquette, I am so sad that David doesn't always remind his brides NOT to do this... What am I talking about? I am talking about this:

Such a cool bouquet, but you're holding it all wrong!

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I can't see your dress!



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Oh yes perfect Anne Hathaway...you did it wrong, too!

I can't stand when brides hold their bouquet too high. It ruins the whole walk down the aisle thing for me! When brides hold their bouquet too high, then we can't see their dress and it detracts from their glowing face. I see it happen so often that I can't help but hold my breath when a bride starts to come down the aisle just to wait to see if she is going to hold her flowers the right way. I talk about this so much to Wes, that he showed me this picture this morning:

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This is Ryan Tannehill, the new quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, and his lovely bride, Lauren. He was drafted on Thursday and as an avid Dolphin fan, I fell instantly in love with Tannehill. And, I love his wife as well, because she holds her bouquet the right way! The sad part is that Wes showed me this picture just to point out that she held her bouquet the right way... that's how much I talk about this pet peeve of mine. Oh well.

I guess, it is not that big of deal where you hold your bouquet. I'm just ridiculous. But, I will definitely make sure my bouquet is held low so you can see how happy I am to be walking up to my best friend and soon to-be husband.

Invitation: Making the RSVP card

I know it doesn’t seem like a big thing, but it was a mini project of its own to figure out what we wanted on the RSVP card. I have been told by SO MANY brides that people get really confused about how to fill out a RSVP card, so I tried to make it as easy as possible and to save myself some work as well.

Here’s a reminder of what they look like!

First, I put a RSVP date of June 1, 2012… three weeks before our wedding. It is supposed to be 2 weeks before the wedding traditionally, but it would be really nice to have counts before that. Our counts are due to all our vendors at 2 weeks, so it gives us some time to make calls in case someone forgets to send their RSVP card back.

Two: I heard from some other brides that, sometimes, people like to add in extra people to the guest list and it makes for tense conversations. I thought it would be safer to put exactly how many seats we had reserved for each party so there wouldn’t be any confusion.

Third: I got the idea to put “Names:” instead of the traditional “M___” because apparently the latter can be a bit confusing. Other brides found that their guests did not know that you are supposed to fill the “M___” in so it reads “Mr” or “Mrs” etc. Our wedding isn’t very formal anyway, so “Names:” works just fine, in my opinion.

Four: I made multiple lines for the names because I wanted people to feel free to list everyone coming to ensure we had the  correct spelling. Seeing that a few invitations were sent to a family where 10 people were included, I think all that line space was necessary!

Five: It is becoming very popular to NOT have the standard “Accept” and “Decline”. I wanted something a little fun and I know that many people who can’t make it will still be celebrating in spirit so “Will celebrate from afar” seemed just right! Here’s some examples of how crazy (in a good way!) others have gotten with their RSVPs:

From weddingbee

From weddingbee

Six: I think my food icons are super cute! But, I guess they confused a few people. Um, I hope most people understand that you will not receive a whole cow or chicken… Mr. Barry, I am talking to you… J I wanted people to initial next to what they wanted. This is because we are having a seated dinner and I wanted to make sure you get the meal you wanted, even if multiple people from your party are coming.

Seven: You may not have noticed, but I wrote a little number on your RSVP card. I did this in case you did not put your name on the RSVP, then I would know who it came from. That number also has helped with regards to being able to organize who is coming in my excel file. I recommend doing this to any couple sending out a lot of invitations!

Lastly, I put something special on the back. I know not everyone was going to see it, but a few have…

I really want people to write us a little something. We want people to be involved and get excited because it is going to be an amazing day! And, in the process, Wes and I get reminders of what it takes to be a great couple. Also, I will use your notes as decoration on the wedding day. So, please fill out the back, as well, if you haven’t sent your RSVP back yet!!!

Invitation: The final product

There were a few ups and downs with designing our invitations, but I am so happy with how our invitation suite came out. It was a massive project. To anyone who wants to do this, it has to be a labor of love or you will hate every minute of it. I really love knowing that I cut out each piece and hand tied all that twine. I am well aware that most people spent two seconds tops untying that twine, but I think it gave it the personal touch I was looking for. We picked out the wording forever ago, but reading over it now, I get happy all over again. I hope people truly know that we want you at our wedding because, in some way or another, you are important to us and our parents. And, this isn't just some "I dos" and a cake - it is a CELEBRATION! A celebration of life. A celebration of family, friendship and the stuff that makes life worth it. Okay, I will stop being sappy. I took some "glamour shots" of my invites, so I could show them off to the world. :)

Invitation: A few bumps in the road.

So, remember when our wedding theme was supposed to be ghost orchids? Well, one of the reasons why that theme was booted was because the only way to incorporate them was in the paper materials. They are an endangered species… I guess Wes might be mad if we went into the Fakahatchee and plucked them off the trees… Anyway, I couldn’t make the ghost orchid work with my lacking graphic art skills. I wanted the orchids on the invitation, so I drew a picture of one to scan into my computer. I tried everything to make it look good and finally resorted to making it a solid color.

Here’s the best version of the invitation I made:

I think it looks amateur. Not at all what I imagined in my head.

I tried a few other things:

I liked these okay. I would have used shimmer gray paper with the top one. But, I was missing the color purple. The second one has purple, but like I said, it was just okay. Obviously, I was digging the mixed font, especially with the font “Albemarle Swash”. I didn’t like how the loops overlapped each other, but I fixed that by downloading the fonts “Albemarle” and “Albemarle Swash End”. Using those fonts, I could pick and choose which letters I wanted to have the swashes. Then, I found this inspirational photo:

And, that’s how I came up with the idea for the final product! I hope all my family and friends are enjoying their mail!

Also, I want to say that Wes was VERY involved in designing the invitations. Not only that, but he was right there printing them out with me and putting on stamps! I wouldn't have been able to do it all without him. Thanks hunny!

Lessons learned about photography contracts

I thought I would share some of the things I wish I would had known before booking a photographer.

Mostly what I want to share is about paying for digital copies of your photos... Overall, make sure you know exactly what you are getting.

First, make sure you are getting high-res photos. Low-res photos won't do you any good if you plan on printing anything larger than 4x6.

Make sure to ask the photographer whether they put their “signature” or not on the photos – usually it is their name in the corner of the photo. Luckily, my photographer gave us high-res files without her signature.

Make sure you understand whether you are getting, raw, edited or fully edited photos. Our photographer had a sheet explaining what we were getting so I thought I understood. I did not. I was aware that I was getting edited photos but not fully edited photos. I figured this was okay because I know how to fix stray hairs, face blemishes, etc using photoshop. When our engagement photos were ready to see, I loved the one she showed us on her website. But, when I got the digital files in the mail, they seemed not as sharp and the colors had a different tone. I was upset about this and talked with our photographer, Kristen, about the differences. I want to first say that Kristen is amazing and was very patient with me. I hired Kristen partially because I liked the style she edits with and I didn’t get that in the digital photos. She explain that she applied her vintage tint to the digital photos. However, when she finishes editing them, she lightens areas and darkens others - and this was not done on the digital photos. It is a lot of work to do that so I wasn’t happy about having to do that myself. She offered to do a few of the photos for me which was incredibly nice of her. I guess my suggestion to you is to have the photographer show you the difference between a raw photo, a minimally edited photo and then a fully edited one so you can see the difference. Ask whether the photos on your website will the same you will get for your digital files. I still think Kristen did an amazing job with our photos – I mean she made us look GOOD. I ended up editing the photos myself with Windows Photo Gallery and Photoshop. They don’t look exactly like Kristen’s but I love them. Most of the photos I just sharpened them a bit and turned up the contrast. Here’s an example of Kristen’s versus mine.

From KristenTaylorBlog.com

Mine.

From KristenTaylorBlog.com

Mine.

I used these photos to make a photobook for my mother in law that she asked me to do. I did the book on Mixbook.com and used her Groupon deal. I have to say I love Mixbook.com – it offered really cute options and I am so pleased with how it came out. So, if you are on a tight budget, then go with making your own photobook. I suggested to my mom that we make her a book through Mixbook.com instead of her ordering one through the photographer because it will save her, oh, a couple hundred buckaroos. Here’s a peak of our mixbook!

I hope that helps anyone who is hiring a photographer!

Dressing up the sweetheart table

I have gotten a few more DIY projects done. These two projects were to jazz up the sweetheart table a bit. Did I mention that? Wes and I are having a sweetheart table instead of the bridal party table. We figured it was a good way to be sort of alone for 2.5 seconds and then we don’t have split dates away from our bridesmaids and groomsmen.

I don’t know why but I fell in love with initials at weddings. We aren’t using a monogram, but I really like the way M and W look together. (I know I'm silly... forgive me.) I have been seeing lots of initial projects around. I was thinking seriously about doing this yarn one:

Tutorial here.

But instead, I did a faux zinc finish.

I did this in 3 hours (including drying time) the night after I proposed my thesis dissertation. I got my letters from Craftcuts because they offered so many fonts. I bought the MDF unpainted letters in the font Baskerville Old Face. My ampersand is 8 inches tall and the "M" and "W" are 6 inches tall. They are all 3/4inches deep. I first painted the letters with black craft paint - let it dry - and then painted a thin layer of Folk Art Pearl White paint.

I also finished this project while Wes was gone on his bachelor party.

FYI: The guys went to Vegas and a good time was had by all! J

This was done using some of my favorite fonts: Albemarle and Albemarle Swash End. I printed it out and then used tracing paper to trace the image to these slate signs I found at Michaels. I used a white paint marker and then a white chalk pen to make it very pigmented. These will hang off the back of our chairs, in case you forget who we are and the big white dress and kissing doesn’t give it away. Sort of like this:

You can buy these ones here.

Very easy projects. I think tracing paper just became my new friend… I plan to use it in a few more projects…

Anyone else into make signs lately?