Back in town and with some DIY goods

I have been gone for awhile and have been keeping busy. Even when I was in Belize "working", I still had wedding stuff on my mind. Emily and I were perusing a tourist trap souvenir shop, when I happened upon the 70% off clearance rack. There I found some cute little handmade embellished frames that sort of falling apart.



They are made of recycled and natural materials.

You can see that they used an organizer for some of their backing materials

The recycled paper insert for the frame has a very nice texture.


How could I resist?

I thouroughly checked them out and found that the glue holding on those sad little embellishments came off really easily. Although that was a problem for them, but good for me. I figured that with a little bit of paint that they would make really nice escort cards. For those that haven't been keeping up with wedding lingo, escort cards are the little things that tell you which table you are suppose to sit at. We will be assigning tables, but not seats, since it seems that people need just a little structure.

Anyway, I himed and hawed a bit, but Emily, who is a crafter extraordinare, talked me into getting them. I proceeded to convince the saleslady to break the packages up so I can buy just the blue and green ones. It really isn't hard to convince her, since they are in such sad shape. I probably could have negotiated the price, but I knew I was helping the local economy in their VERY low season. So, I bought 68 of these little guys. While Emily and I were sitting around waiting for some transportation, we along with some new found hostel friends started to remove the embellishments and glue. And now with a little bit of acrylic paint ($0.80 on sale at Michaels)...



I hated that I had to cover up all the natural fibers with paint, but I had to. At least you can still see some of the imperfections in the paper frame. We will print our guests names, on the recycled paper insert along with their assigned table (we are naming the tables after Florida-growing plants)...

A little photoshop goodness (Mom- do you like the names???)

The great part is that these can be used again as frames. In case our guests don't take them home, I can always give them to another bride who is having a smaller wedding. Recycled and reusable!

The rules of the game...

I found this list of at From Fumpy to Foxy as a guide of what not to do as a wedding guest. I added in my take for some of them in green.

• Don't Be Fashionably Late - as the song says, get to the church on time! Oh please let my family read this! I may be a habitual offender of this, but not at weddings, job interviews, or other important events.
  
• Don't Produce Sound Effects While at a wedding and reception, turn off your Blackberries and cell phones, put them on vibrate, or better yet, don't even take them!
• Don't Talk Trash It may sound obvious, but it happens all the time. No matter how big or how loud a wedding is, things get overheard. So, be on your best and most polite behavior. Oh dear! We might have some trouble with this one.
  
• Don't Come Bearing Gifts Whether you're planning on gifting the happy couple a Cuisinart or cold hard cash, do them a huge favor and don't bring it on the wedding day. If you do, they have to keep track of it and haul it home at the end of the night. Send the gift ahead of time, or after the actual ceremony -- at a time when they can really relax and enjoy it. This is my #1 fear as we live 3000 miles away from the venue. But I see it all the time.
  
• Don't Dress Down Whatever you choose to wear, make the effort to look your best for the bride and groom. They'll appreciate that you got dolled or duded up for the occasion. If the invitation doesn't specify dress code, put in a friendly email or call to the bride, groom, their parents, or attendants to get more info. Black Tie means you've got to dust off that long silk dress or rent a tux. If it's an outdoor affair, there may be more leeway, but get details on the location, so you can come prepared (because it's isn't fun to be traipsing around in the sand in your stilettos!) That is why there are wedding websites to fill people in on the nitty gritty. I hope they look at it.
  
• Don't Bring Mr. or Ms. Random If you're single, choose your date carefully. If it's someone you've only been out with once, it may not be the best idea (could be awkward for you, your date, and the newlyweds). Same if it's someone you recently "sort of" broke up with. Weddings are intimate affairs and bringing in a stranger should be done with thought. Let the bride or groom know if you decide to come alone so they can seat you with other fun "ones!" And as much as you may love your kiddos, don't take them if children aren't invited. This is one thing we really don't care about. I would hope that our guests have someone to keep them company whomever it is. And kids... well, kids at weddings are hilarious.
  
• Don't Steal the Show Wedding ceremonies take all forms -- from religious to poetic, musical, or humorous. Whatever the vibe, let the bride and groom set the tone and follow their lead. If you're normally a loud, life-of-the-party type, bring it down a notch and let the wedding couple stand out. If you're a weeper, bring tissues and sit where you can sob without disturbing the I Do's. If the ceremony includes religious rituals, find out what you should do (or not do) ahead of time.
• Don't Pig Out If food is serve-yourself, avoid the buffet line stampede and wait until the crowd dies down. Also, avoid going back for thirds. I would hope that everyone gets their fill, as it sure is costing enough.
  
• Don't Drag Out Skeletons If the bride blushes, it should be from pride, joy, or sheer love. Not because someone just stood up and told a humiliating story about the loser she dated in high school!
• Don't Stockpile Party Favors At the end of the night, as you're saying your thank-yous and farewells, avoid the urge to hog all the super-cool (or yummy) party favors! You don't need to take some for people who weren't able to attend. You don't need extras. Take one for yourself, unless someone in the wedding party urges you to do otherwise. Take them all. Geez, I don't want to haul them 3000 miles home or send them to the thriftstore.

Well it seems that we aren't too fuddy duddy after all. They are good guidelines, but I have seen just about about all these happen at weddings. Are there any particular offenses that you hope can be avoided on your wedding day?

I can be slow...

at making decisions, especially when it comes to purchasing things. The fiance and I are polar opposite in this regard. I take time, read customer reviews, find the best price, and ultimately determine if I really want it. Ralph on the other hand, decides he needs it and immediately goes out and buys it. He isn't happy if he doesn't get it the same day.

You can see that my approach to purchasing things doesn't bode well for registering for gifts. I am just thankful that our registry allows us to update stuff online. Lets just say that I have been altering things here and there as I have done some research and read customer reviews. No one needs to buy us $100 item that is piece of crap and will work for only a few years. It is the kitchen appliances and such that I am being such a discerning shopper - like the toaster oven, select pots, hand mixer, and blender. I suppose that is why we already have some of "the good stuff" already in our kitchen - you know, stuff that should last a lifetime:

KitchenAid Stand Mixer - check (thanks Aunt Diane),

an assortment of Le Creuset things - check (thanks Mom/Me),

a breadmaker (used almost exclusively for my focaccia dough) - check

Great Cutco knives - check (again Mom).

An assortment of other gadgets that I love

And even some of my other "good stuff" got left behind in my move to California. So, yes, I am a kitchen equipment snob - remember I did say that I have been waiting years to register! It just means that I need to do my homework about what I (er, we) need. And since what my picky little self's likes and needs aren't always at my registry store, I decided to open another one. A place: that hooks up to lots of other stores and therefore has a great selection, that has pretty awesome prices, and free shipping over a $25 purchase. Yes, that place would be the great and wonderful, Amazon.com!

How many places did you register at? And did you have a hard time picking out your potential booty?

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I would not call me a high strung person. In fact, many of my past roommies have ventured to call me pretty darn easy going. I would say that some of this results in my uncanny ability of being undecisive. Yes you read that right, not indecisive, but UNdecisive.

Truly awesome definitions from Merriam Webster online:

• in·de·ci·sive - not decisive

• de·ci·sive - having the power or quality of deciding

See I have the power to decide, I just don't want to - hence my new word. As I say this, I need to add in that I am not like this for everything, just for what I consider less important stuff. For important stuff (i.e shoes, fragrance, orange juice brands...etc) I am very opinionated and am not afraid to make a decision. I just feel that it if I was like this for everything, I would (a) not be a fun friend/companion/roommie, and (b) be exhausted.

Case in point, the wedding registry. Now, I have been so excited to register for YEARS. All the china, all the beautiful LeCrueset pans, all the good stuff that should last in our home forever. Like most fiances, mine could really care less. Even the one thing he does want - an iron!- he made me chose. Too many decisions!!! The one with the 10 settings and steam or the one with 5 settings and retractable cord - I don't know, its an iron!

I thought he might even care about the things that we will use on a daily basis, like everyday plates. Nope. I pointed out some plates that, well, just aren't our style. Just to mess with him...

Mikasa Damask Copper China at Macy's

His response - "sure, it is fine". It was like this the whole time. The only opinion I got was for the the champagne flutes I picked out, and the red wine glasses that he found...

Vera Wang Lace Bouquet Champagne Flute

Marquis by Waterford Vintage Deep Red Wine Goblets

I suppose I can't complain too much, as he did come with me and didn't complain. I just missed having my partner in crime. See, he also suffers from bouts of undecisivity. When you multiply that by two, at least you get some decisions done.

We ended the registry setup a tad early. My "excuse" was that it was for him. But, looking back on it, it was more for me. It was exhausting... coffee pot with grinder, thermal carafe, or thermal plate; blender with food processor attachment or separate blender and food processor; all matching china or mix and match? Yeah it was a bit much for someone like me, who is not only undecisive, but often takes a long time to make a decision when I actually feel the need to. But that is the subject of another post.

Did you have a hard time creating your registry? Did you fiance help and actually have an opinion?

Invitation Inspiration Nation

I found these the beautiful invitations the other day and thought they were just about the most perfect invites for us. They are letterpress invitations from Milkmaid Press. I love the tropical foliage and waterlilies, as I am a sucker for botanical prints and tropical plants. Perhaps, if I could change anything to them, it might be to lose the dragonflies, and hey, while I am at it, add a frog to one of the lilypads. Of course that would be a nod to our chosen career paths, as I study aquatic plants and the fiance studies frogs.

They are good inspirations for sure, but there is no way we could get the detailed line drawing to print well on the Gocco, my trusty tabletop screenprinter. But that is one of the benefits of letterpress, in addition to that lovely texture on the paper. Alas, you pay for awesomeness of letterpress - and I mean a lot. But talk about great inspiration for designing your own. Are you designing your invitations? If not, who is?

Destination wedding inspiration

Now that I have my dress and all, I have stopped looking at the ridiculously priced bridal magazines. Instead, my bridal porn of choice are bridal blogs. I can casually peruse them while doing things like pretending to watch college football with the fiance.

I visited the ritzybee blog the other day, and saw a beautiful wedding that I instantly connected with. I loved to see the natural beauty of the couples venue, which was in Negril, Jamaica. Their location was just gorgeous and was on beachfront property. They purposely didn't want to compete with the natural surroundings and didn't decorate excessively. They didn't go overboard with the tropical theme, having only a "subtle starfish" motiff on some of their wedding goods. They also incorporated some of the Carribean colors of the landscape into their decor, but only as accents, leaving white as their main color. The result was a thoroughly modern and serene tropical wedding. See here for the all beautiful pictures and details.

It isn't exactly what we will be going for in our wedding, but it is nice to see that someone else was able to pull off a relatively scaled back modern tropical wedding without looking unadorned or bare. With weddings being such personal events, have you ever just 'meshed' or 'got' someone's wedding? What is the source of your greatest wedding inspiration?

I want it all... I want it all... I want it all...

and I want it now. No, not really. I am not impatient, but I am a picky girl. I really am. I realize that I want alot and, what is even worse, I don't want to pay alot for it. Picky and frugal. This has been problematic for my hunt for the perfect hotel for our out of town guests see here, here, and here. I want, in addition to a good price, a good location, a good room, and the ability to have an informal rehearsal dinner (read pizza party - but with really good pizza), and a day after brunch. Yeah, it is a tall order. So those condo rentals that I blogged about previously really don't help me out here, since they are usually for just a single unit.

Then it occurred to me - what if we found a small hotel and rented out the entire place? Wouldn't we be free to do what we want there? Something like... a Bed and Breakfast. A quick search on tripadvisor (seriously my very good friend) , and I found several small B&B's in great locations.

First up was a great little place with 12 tidy rooms and wonderful recommendations.

This would be a great location for all of our soirées (credit)

Unfortunately, they were a tad too expensive for our guests budgets. But it was otherwise perfect. There were a few more listed to chose from, but only one other B&B is actually small enough for us to use up all their rooms and in a good enough location.


With only 10 rooms, this B&B is a little more rustic and cozy. And it is very cost effective.

(credit)

There is a beautiful palm garden in the back of the property which also has 2 sundecks. It should nicely accommodate our little pizza partee. (credit)

I hope to check this out during my 3rd 1 week wedding planning extravaganza in mid September. I only hope it is as perfect as I think it might be. Until then, no more hotel posts, I promise!

So, how are you organizing your out of town guests and all your wedding events? Are you having a hard time keeping everyone together and making things as simple as possible?