Rain, Rain, go away...come again, but please not my day.

There is this saying that rain on your wedding day is a lucky omen. Apparently Italians even have a saying for it, "Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata", which means that a wet bride is a lucky bride. In the U.S., it is commonly repeated that rain is lucky, although most brides would prefer a dry day and a little less luck!  Rain is also considered to be a good wedding omen in Germany, Sweden, and France. This is possibly because rain is associated with a bountiful harvest, and thus, fertility. Some believe that the rainier the wedding day, the more children the marriage will produce. (ugggh!) 

With this all being said, my frizzy hair from the rain on the east coast for the past week, has challenged me with the thought of all this.  This has inspired me to get my hot pink rain boots outta the closet and check out how other brides handle the "great omen" of rain.  ( I will try and see it in a positive *light* if it rains on my day).

This blog quoted...all you need is "adorable umbrella and a unique pair of rainboots"...so cute

and this bride provided umbrella's for the guests as they entered...

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and obviously I adore this bride's way to use hot pink as an accent through her umbrellas...

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and this bride had their date print on her umbrellas...

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and lastly, get an awesome pair of rain boots like this wedding inspiration....

(source)

Do you have a plan if it rains on your wedding day??

It's been, like, forever...

Yesterday someone told me, in reference to my engagement, that "well, it just kinda came outta no where".Yea, who says that? and Umm what?  It's been, like, forever.  Now, let's talk about this for a minute.  14 years old, yes I repeat, 14 was when I first kissed CK.  Come on!  This person meant well, I assume.  But it got me to thinking...was it a shock to most people? I mean it was to me, but let me remind you that CK sat me down 2 weeks prior and told me it wasnt going to happen because we just got a house and things are expensive.  Sometimes when I need a reality check, I'll ask my mom.  She just laughed, so I think my thought process on this was correct.  So with the spirit of our LOOOOOOONG term love, I share with you some other weddings of high school sweathearts. enjoy :)  Check out the entire wedding by clicking the source link.

(love the old-school look of this wedding)

And this wedding, I just love the top of this bride's dress and the back of her bridesmaids dresses...

(source)

And in this next wedding she was 13 and he was 15...(sound familiar???)

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and last High school sweets with a wedding of a hot color combo of purple and lime green...

(source)

How many people do you know that actually marry their high school sweetheart now a 'days?

I think Martha and I would be BFFs...

"Martha is fabulous" I told my mother today as I was discussing another DETAIL that we had already decided on long ago would be awesome.  I kept referring to Martha as if she was a friend, until finally my mom asked ok wait, Who's Martha?  This whole time I thought she knew what I was talking about but instead she was getting distracted trying to figure out in her head if this Martha was a college friend or a co-worker.  Martha Stewart, Mom, c'mon!  She's pretty fabulous, she can cook a pot roast and set the table with homemade plates she made of the pottery wheel the day before. She and I would be BFF's in another life, I just know it, and I would help her through the whole jail debacle with my great interpersonal skills.  But anywaaay, back to the point...time for another detail for this wedding I'm planning.

I was so excited to see that Martha (who has a magazine and blog just for weddings) has PINK as her theme this month.  Umm, yaaay! lol.  The cover featured a wedding that had the best detail for my place settings.

(find the details here)

Now, if you are like my mom, you will say, oh yes that is the exact color you love, but dont understand why this is so great for my wedding.  Some of you readers, probably know exaccctly what I am talking about.  CK's mom came from a larger italian family and therefore he loves everything Italian and yours truly now does as well.  He has been trying to get me to go to their large Christmas dinner for years, (his grandmother has harassed me as well) but it was hard for me to leave my traditions too, ya know?  This year we made the effort to do so and I am very happy that we figured it out because I had such a great time and I love his family.  WIth this being said, one of their traditions is the Christmas Cracker (the pink thing above).  Everyone crosses their arms and pulls on the crackers.

Then there are some fun treats inside after the POP of the cracker, one being a tissue paper crown that everyone puts on. 

Now, Martha, who is fabulous, handmade these crackers with tissue paper and some other items.  Being the DIY bride myself, I want to take on this task so that I can make it the colors I want and put fun things in them like fake diamond rings and candies in our color palette.  This is a cute way, to incorporate some of our family's tradtions, right?  Plus, its a fun way to involve our guests in a "breaking the ice" activity with their table as Martha puts it.  So, readers, if you are around here (hint.hint family) start saving your toilet paper rolls because thats the main part of this craft and I will need one for all 200 some guests.

Will you being incorporating any of your family's traditions in your wedding?

Wedding Crush...

I find it so hard to look at all these blogs and not smile at how awesomely different all the specail days are.  There are some that are totally not my style or what I would do, yet I am completely drawn to them with my artistic eye.  Take this one for example.  When I see this one, I think of my friend G, who recently stated that her color with be gray for her girls.  Of course now I see Gray evvvverywhere and this is looks classic just like this september bride.  However, in this pic, I am thinking the dresses arent as formal as my friend G's wedding.  The shoes are just super cute thou, I had to share.

Next, of course I'm drawn to the pinkness of this source 

tacky much? I know...

At last I send you to my real crush of the week, since I have shocked you with the obnoxious pink.  This one is an oldie that I have had starred for awhile but is going to be a inspiration for my wedding...CK wanted to go kinda Sinatra like, so this wedding was a glam-old school wedding...check it out, I heart it so much!  P.S. my favorite part is the bridesmaids, which is the pic below.  I love the chunky necklaces and awesome hair.  yay! It may even inspire me to have my girls wear this color scheme instead of pink (gasp!)  Don't even go there with those kinda questions, because I haven't made that decision in stone yet as it changes daily.  However, I must say everyone knows CK hates pink so I do need to be considerate of that to some degree.  Glam, Glam, Glam...thats to be expected for my wedding, I mean c'mon I'm an April baby, my freaking birthstone is a diamond!

Do you crush over weddings too?

the Large details...

I'm infamous for drawing on the car windows and CK hates it yet I can't keep but do it everytime....Details, details, details...As I was an art major in undergrad, you can imagine my desire to have awesome details in the wedding.  Over the next few posts, I'm going to give you a few glimpses of what's to come.  My parents and CK have been informed of some of my crazy ideas, and turns out they may not be as original as I thought!  The details, however, can drive a girl crazy and I would know being the psych major and all.  So detail number one that makes us unique (I think the small details are what makes the wedding ours)...Our LETTERS.  CK hearts KC.  Kinda cool, right? we have the same letters just reverse.  So there are many pictures of how letters are incorporated in weddings...

source

(crazy that the letters are ours, right?)

Then this site had two other options....

But lastly, I found exactly what I was looking for on this site....

How awesome are these letters?!?!? Totally what I was looking for and they will make awesome artistic pictures.  Score!!!  My handy father is going to make them for us.  This weekend we were challenged by the thought of how to create them with the October weather that could be windy.  Once we figure it all out, they will be unique yet cool, right?

Hey Readers, any suggestions on how to make these life-size letters?

The Rumors are true...

Two couples CK and I are close to, got engaged this past Friday!!  We are super psyched but for two totally different reasons.  I was excited because both couple has been together for a long time and both are great couples.  Ck was excited because "misery loves company" in relation to how boys look at weddings.  Typical, right?  He says that because he thinks it's the cool thing to say, but deep down I know he cares, because 10 minutes later he was asking me details.  Its kind like how he says gossip magazines are trash but then he knows who is cheating on who and so on.  However, he did bring up a good point.  "Remember when being engaged was fun?" haaa, this is coming from the boy who has had like 5% of the planning involvement.  But, I agree, we are going to make a big attempt to make it fun again. :)

We then laughed while discussing how certian people got mad because we didnt call them that night and so on. The rediculousness of it all.  Luckily in our generation, it is easy to due a text message to the masses and call the VIPs.  Also, the next is waiting for the inevitable change of facebook status. I mean seriously, who would have thought years ago, that a stupid change of relationship status was so important but, it has become that.  With my group of college friends (the train), it seems to be the email the following day that goes out.  So I said to my friend P, "So you do the train email tomorrow".  Funny, but since we are all in our mid-20's, engagements keep poping up everywhere.  I'm sooo excited though, more people to discuss ideas with, Yay!

What do you friends do to spread the news?  Did you upset anyone by not telling them fast enough?

3013, yes 3013, I know I know, it's awesome (The Dress)

3013... This number probably means nothing to you and in fact a few weeks ago it meant nothing to me as well.    Well, about a month ago, I told my mom, with some caution, the kind of dress I was picturing for my dress.  This was a concern of mine, because she and I have always had very different taste.  Apparently even as I child, I would cause a scene if she didnt let me where my pink dress with the sparkles, even if it was sometimes gaudy or tacky.  Funny how 20 some years later, not much has changed.  In fact, now I have something pink and sparkley on my left ring finger. Much to my surprise, she had prepared herself that I probably wasn't the traditional ball-gown type of bride.  We both agreed on the dress type that we thought looked best on me and I told her what I was kind of thinking about.  No joke, she found the exact same dress I found that I thought looked so unique, it was me.  I need something that no one else would wear.  I knew then, that I needed to at least find this dress even if it was a million dollars.  Luckily it wasn't a million dollars, though not cheap either.

We headed to a local bridal shop that carries this Italian designer (another sign) and much to our dismay, they didnt have THE exact dress but a few by the designer that looked similar in a differnt dress type, like mermaid and trumpet.  The one that was so extreme, no one even really had the guts to try on, we tried.  It was awesomeee, but we still think this other style is probably theee one and the wedding consultant totally agree.  Guess what? It's on trunk show and 3013 (the dress number) is no where in the tri-state area. Greeeat, I called the 10 surrounding stores in a 100 mile radius and no one, yes no one, had the dress.  "yes 3013, I know you probably dont have it" "yea, thats what I thought, yes I know it is amazing, yes I know it is awesome and will take a special girl to pull it off..." Man, I hope I'm that girl!  Sooo, we have to wait until April 9th to go to the trunk show in Philly and try it on.  Yikes!! That doesn't give me a lot of time I know but, we'll make it work...now I just have to have that talk with CK that the dream dress is very unique and worth all the $$ that it may be...though I hear you get a discount when you buy off a trunk show, scccore!  I'll keep you posted but just incase CK ever decides to read this "stupid blog" I don't want him to see the dress, so I will have to keep that a secret.  It's very different and unique, thats all I can say.  Oh and no, dont worry, it's not pink :)

Anyone buy their dress off a trunk show??

Flowers?? well, it may be difficult

Flowers...who knew picking flowers would be so diificult.  Well, here's the deal, I dont have my colors picked yet so how am I supposed to tell someone who's life revolves around flowers that I'm not so into this whole part?!? Not so easy.  I know pink is an obvious but I am not so sure about the other colors, plus I can't do tooo much pink because CK will be upset, remember he hates pink!  The problem is, when you are trying to plan your wedding in 8 months, you have to book the florist early, or you wont have any flowers.  And although, I probably wouldnt care about the latter, I know other people will.  So I'm stuck. 

My mother and I headed to the florist that our site recommended after work last week.  Tired from a long day at work, I wasn't sure what to expect.  He seemed very nice and willing to work with us within the budget I told my mom we had to stay in.  I mean, if you dont have a budget, flowers can get out of hand, and considering I dont really care about them, I don't want to blow the budget on such.  My major issue is that I want something different, that noone else is doing, you know CREATIVE.  However, I guess in wedding vendor lingo that would probably be looked at as a COMPLICATED, ohh well!  I'm not sure if he got that, but we'll see, I'm going to continue to research while we wait to get his quote.  What kind of flower arrangements do you make for a bride who is into unqiue concepts, doesnt really care about the specific flower but loves pink, and has a groom who hates pink?? yea, a challenge.  Plus he felt my ideas were not his style, which at the time I understood, but after talking to CK (who could care less) I realized that just because it's not "his style" it is "my" wedding.  So stay tuned on this one, it could get interesting.  CK reminded me while I was starting to get stressed over looking for non-floral arrangements that I have something special that actually involves flowers, so I can't completely hate them (see above photo). This container is filled with a petal from every flower that CK has ever given me.  Yea, pretty cute, he's right, it made me smile.

Were you challenged by picking the floral arrangements? 

An answer to my bridesmaid's card

Today I got a letter in the mail from one of my favorite girls....In it I found this (which is a response to my cards from the previous post).  Do I not have the absolute best people in my life?

How did your bridesmaids react when you asked them??

Will you be on my team??

From the last post, you were made aware that I pretty much knew who I was going to ask to be in my wedding and I'm also pretty sure they already knew this too.  However, after looking at all the fabulous blogs out there, I saw that I should probably formally ask them.  Due to my creative nature, I found this one and ran with it.  So here's a step by step of how I did it.

Step One: Cutting  out the paperdolls.  I used cardstock from one of my favorite craft stores, Michaels.   You have to fold the paper in alternating directions to the amount of dolls you need.  I needed 5 dolls for 5 bridesmaids.  Even though I may have a 4 year degree in art, I had to do a few practice runs, so don't get discouraged if it takes you a few tries.  If you have a FI like me, he may make fun of you, so be prepared to tell him to mind his own business.  Next you draw your figure and cut it out, making sure to leave one of the hands connected by the fold.

Step 2:  Cutting out the hair.  Now in the orignal blog idea, located at the link above, the designer cut out fabulous bangs and hair dos.  I didn't have a whole lot of time to do that.  So these bell-like structures are my dolls hair.  Yes, they are yellow because for the most part, everyone's blonde.  Haha, now this can change be season and mood, but for the sake of time, it was easier to make them all the same color.

Step 3:  Attaching the Hair.  Though it may seem obvious, I added this photo about attaching the hair.  In the above photo, you will notice that there is a box with a long tab sticking out. These are photo squares that are sticky on both sides.  They are like another version of double-stick tape  but in a small square form.  Perfect for small projects like this and totally clutch.

Step 4: Adding the dresses.  On the side of this photo, you will see my dresses cut out.  Pretty simple design, like two triangles connected.  I did them in two different shades of pink due to my love of pink (obviously).  Attach them with the photo squares like the hair and you are good to go.  This step I struggled with because I wanted to make the dresses, exactly like the ones I picked for my girls.  Sadly, I haven't picked anything yet but pink is my signature color so I just went with that for now.  I also wrote with a pen the names of each doll so that everyone would know who is in the wedding.

Step 5: The card.  Now clearly, a card is needed to express to whole point of this project.  I did a simple saying on the front with my pink pen, "Will you be my bridesmaid?"  Then on the inside, I wrote our wedding date and a quick blurb about how it would mean a lot to us if they would be part of our day.  I also made sure to tell them that I have no clue about the length or color of the dress but obviously they should prepare themselves for pink at this point.  Simple but to the point, with a little comedy, just like me and CK.

The final product!!!  The last picture shows how they turned out.  I added a folded piece of scrap silver paper that I had cut into strips for a band to hold it all together.  Then the extra pieces I had from cutting the hair were pefect for the name plate.  I made sure to carefully fold each doll, so that the current bridesmaid was on the top (this was a little tricky).  I placed them in envelopes and attempted to creatively write each girl's address in my hot pink pen.  Most reported they knew it was from me right away.  ( I have no clue why).  Hope you enjoy them as much as I orignally did :)




How did you ask your girls to be in your wedding?

Picking our teams (part 1)

CK and I had talked about our wedding, before I knew there would ever be such a thing.  Incase I didn't mention this, CK has told me as long as I can remember, that "getting married is the cool thing to do" and that I should not anticipate a ring anytime soon.  He thinks he's halarious.  Anyway, one night CK told me that in our wedding he thinks these said people should be on my "team".   Team? If you are confused by what I am talking about, don't worry so was I.  My "team", or what normal people refer to as "my bridesmaids", were who he was talking about in a sports analogy kinda way (sooo boy).  Now, being that I thought I wasn't going to get engaged, I was a little irritated that he would think he had a say in who was "my team".  However, due to the fact that we have been together for like ever, he was completely on point.  I would have without a doubt chosen everyone he said.  You know, the sisters and the best friends, typical.  His team was a little bit trickier to pick, excluding the best man and the brothers obviously.  When its all said and done, as long as everyone agrees, we will have 5 on each of our teams.   Now, I saw some really cute ways to formally ask someone to be a bridesmaid and of course my creative brain ran with it.  I wanted to make some for the boys too, but CK said "that's dumb, I'll just give them a case of beer". So whatever, my team should be receiving something in the mail anyday now and his team probably doesn't even know the darn date yet.

Did you know right away who was going to be in your wedding and how did you ask them??

She musssst cook...how I sealed the deal with the pink ring

This weekend CK demanded that "we get some things accomplished".  Here's the thing, we bought a house at the end of 2009, which is totally awesome and I love it!!  However, before the whole breaking the arm incident, CK had I painted two rooms and started making more modern changes to our awesome vintage Cape Cod.  Obviously, like everything else in my life, the alterations had to be put to the side due to the above issue.  Now, this upsets CK, but I mean, what can ya do?  Clearly, I am not going to be able to do these things with these loud tools like he would, so I am focusing on the wedding stuff which it totally more fun and less messy anyway.  Ck, is less than thrilled, so when he reports he would like us to be productive this does not include writing a latest blog entry or researching floral centerpieces...booo.

One of CK's plans for me for this weekend included waffles for breakfast.  You should know, that CK verbalized early into our relationship that the girl he will marry mussst cook.  This was a concern for me at first, but after having a summer off from work due to being sick, I feel in love with Ms. Rachel Ray. 

Yes, Yes, I know people say she isn't a real chief but I loved her show.  She taught me how to make simple things in 30 minutes.  (perfect for a working chick like me).  Ck says I should do the cooking because he "worked hard all day" but umm, join the club darling!  Things are different in this day and age and I work a pretty stressful day myself.   However, women's rights aside, I acutally love cooking now 95% of the time.  So when he asked for waffles, I was super excited to use my new waffle maker I got for christmas from my Aunt E.  I researched (incase you haven't realize I like unique things) and found this waffle maker to ask for, (it makes hearts!!)  I guess this is one less thing I put on my registry because mine works fabulously.  You can see by the final product...this must be how I sealed the deal with the pink ring. 

Did your groom have expectations of his future wife?  How'd you seal the deal for your ring?

Finding the Photographer...(no seriously-they were hard to find)

So my mom and I met for dinner on Tuesday night and then set out to our appointment with the preferred photographer from my venue.  Yes, once you have a venue they have certain people who they believe are the best.  Depending on your site, they may strongly reccomend that you use these people.  Remember that castle mansion we looked at?  They make you pay an undescribe large sum to go "off the list", so be careful.  Luckily for me, I am pretty sure my site just gives suggestions but does not care if you go with them or not.  Anyway, so we left in plenty of time because, well, we aren't exactly the best at directions, in fact, I get car sick if I even look at something with words/maps. ( I know its super annoying). We were also going off of my mom's memory of the directions she read on the site. (hmmm...hahah).  Surprise, surprise, we got a little lost.  However, to our defense, it was like a small house with a sign that was like the size of a watermelon, so how were we to know!?  This was a concern of mine considering their name is "Ultimate Images" yet they can't get an image large enough for people to see from the street? Weird, right? Well the guy claims it is small due to some County regulations, which actually could be true because there are so many rediculous rules in this state. Now, I am feeling sick to my stomach, thanks to having to google map on my Iphone how to get there...

 I made a point to say that photos are an important part of my wedding since I have a BA in Studio Art, also to make sure they don't try and wow me with big words about graphic art, that really mean they are touching up your red eyes.  We decided we had found the photographer (no pun intended) and they have one slot left for our day.  Before we went to the photographer, I had heard some horror stories from brides who said they paid $10,000 and hated their photos. YIKES, that's a lot of $$$$.  So, there were a few things I learned to ask...

1. Do you have the option to buy the rights to your photos/get a DVD of your photos (this will allow you to print as many photos as you want without a stupid copywrite image across the photo)

2.  Do you shot a set amount of photos or do you go by hour (if they only shot say 400 shots, and at 400, what happens when you haven't cut the cake yet, and they what, just leave?)

3. How do you bill for the graphics and touch-ups? (one bride told me it cost her $150 per photo to have graphic art done.  This would be like a black and white photo and then the flowers are color or something.  Our package included all graphic art-this is clutch for me and my creative ideas!!)

4. The album options.  This is like the most expensive part.  Make sure you are not paying a gazillion $$ for something you may look at twice a year.

We decided on a small album and the DVD so that we can print as many pics as we want.  There's a few other things in our package but thats the basic jist of it.  Umm, still very expensive though.  The latest people I have talked to says that the cost varies by the options you pick (obviously) and the location.  If you live close to a larger city, the prices go up (grrr).  So the average cost for wedding photography in DC is $9,000 where as a small town in Ohio was $2,500.  This would be one of the only times I am sad to live close to Philly. It's an awesome city, however, bummer, the cost is a lot more.  I was told to predict it would be around $5000+, booo. Prepare yourself ladies.  CK, of course, would say we could have just gotten throw-away cameras to put on the tables or something.  No offense to those of you who are doing that, but I knew I wanted a legit photographer for our memories. Plus, with CK's friends, they would be taking some inappropriate photos at their table, I'm sure!

What did you look for in a photographer and why do you think they are so expensive??

Where's my underwear??

Hmmm, its been awhile since I have been able to write, because besides all the other things happening, I officially moved. Yes, yes, please get your dirty mind out of the gutter, the title of this entry is about that...I moved out of my apartment with one of my favorite girls and moved in with CK.  Yea, we are officially living in sin for the next year, Sorry God.  Problem is the boys moved me in, CK had to supervisor due to the whole arm situation, and now I have absolutely no clue where things as simple as the box containing my underwear are. Grrr...So its been awhile, however I am so lucky that one of CK's BFFs works for a truck company.  What size truck do you need for all your shoes?? hahha they think they are so funny, but it's true, I have a lot of shoes.  I love the color pink and I love make-up, dresses, and shoes, I'm a girl, come on, right?!?! I'm a girlie-girl to the tee and CK well, he is verrry boyish.  Every room in our house he wanted to paint blue.  Blllue??  ugggh he is less than thrilled that all my pink things came from my apartment and landed in the house.  I mean, I guess you don't realize how many pink things you actually have until they are all in one room being pointed out by name like that annoying person on the long car trip who reads every sign as you pass.  "A pink light, a pink clock, pink pillows, 6 pairs of pink flip flops, you even have a pink DVD player"...yeaa...stay tuned...it should be interesting meshing all of our things together with discussions on why his beloved poster of Rob Zombie but not be appropriate above our bed...all jokes aside, it is soo nice to be in one place and not have to drive to go see eachother.  I'm very thankful that we have an awesome house to create an awesome life with eachother.

Were you traditional or untraditional when it came to moving in together?