form over function

We had to change a small piece of the plan this week. A while ago DJ asked our caterer if she could put together an iced tea and lemonade table to have out before the ceremony. We were thinking that in September (even late September) you never know what you'll get for weather, so a cold beverage might be nice. She's fantastic, always quick on the yes. So, yes. We can have a table of drinks, and she'd be happy to coordinate the rentals.

This is what I was thinking:

(shoestring home)

Or possibly this:

(style me pretty)

But! This is the type of container available for rent:

Full bride stop. Oh no, I said to DJ. That will never do. I'm such a snob lately. But really, I wouldn't want these for a party at my house either. Does that make it any better? Probably not. At any rate, we're working on a new, less insulated plan.

shop girl

Anyone need a sweet vintage-esque clutch with a little pink in it?

Currently on sale for $19.99, can't beat it.

gossamer wings

I had a big search a while ago for a lace or tulle shrug / jacket / bolero thing, and didn't ever find exactly what I wanted. Today I found these, from the Kittychen 2009 collection.

Lovely, yeah?

because she's a BRIDE, see?

I've started shopping for the necessary infrastructure for my Big White Ivory Dress, and I have a complaint.
Why the veil? It looks silly and a little bit porny. Not really what I had in mind. (I found this particular bra here. Amazon has a better size and color selection than other places I saw it.)

check us out

I'm going to sneak back in here like nothing happened and I didn't fall off the face of the internet for two weeks. So! What you see up there is a guestbook. Ideally the album will be different, but in a pinch that blue-green Kolo album will do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that DJ will get to meet our photographer this spring, and along the way I'll get to make a book of "engagement" pictures. A year and a half post-engagement, but I haven't aged a bit! Really!

Anyway, this fits the very loose book theme. I printed Creature Comforts' library card templates, then cut them out while watching some really trashy television. There's a corresponding pocket template which was very tempting, but for once I decided to go with something premade and ordered pockets from Amazon. I'd check this project off the list - but it never made it to the list at all.

(Chair covers? What chair covers? The ones that broke my sewing machine? We're not talking about those right now.)

frippery

Last week I was searching for a little help on a project, and landed on MJ Trim’s blog. This little tutorial for a sparkly headband made me feel all cheerful. I’m a headband wearing girl, and although I don’t plan to wear one for the eventual wedding, I just might make one to wear when I’m feeling fancy.
A few posts down there are instructions for making a lace-edged veil, complete with links to materials. Though I wish she’d posted the final bill, because their lace is not cheap.
Miss Not-Quite-A-Bride, you might be able to find something here to help with your shoe embellishment project. Not shoes, unfortunately. I think I could find a use for cameos, really I could. Wouldn’t they be a lovely addition to wrapped bridesmaids gifts? Or embellishments for table numbers? Or used as lockets on a bouquet, with photos of past weddings fixed to the backs?

cautionary tale

It started innocently enough. I saw a picture on Style Me Pretty, and - well - thought it was pretty.

So I forwarded it to Bridesmaid Chloe, who is getting married on New Year's Eve and hasn't settled on a bridesmaid look yet, although until today we both thought she was fairly close. We've had a lot of conversations about bridesmaid dresses, so I'll admit I was stirring the pot.
Perhaps because I really want to wear a long silk skirt for something.
But then I couldn't actually find the skirts (pleating, sashes, swoon!) for sale anywhere, and this is where a reasonable person would have given up. The thing is, I'm not known for being reasonable.

So I suggested that we sew them, and provided a link to reasonably priced rainbows of silk fabric. Now she may very well end up sewing four skirts (I'll make at least two of the six, I'm not heartless) and vetting white blouses. I'm pretty sure that this was not quite the sort of help I was meant to offer when she asked me to be in her wedding.

never too many shoes

Though I have my wedding shoes already safely in my closet, that doesn't mean I've stopped looking at shoes. They're just so pretty. These two seem awfully similar to the shoes I bought (Delman's "Step-Up T") but with higher heels and more reasonable pricetags. The higher heel is a dealbreaker for me, and I really lucked out on free shoes - but I do like the gift bow peep toes. Residual Christmas joy, maybe.
Vanelli "Puppy," $89.95, 3" heel. Silver, black, and brown.

Glint "Addison," $89.95, 2.5" heel. Black, orange, navy, and hot pink.

Mister Fabulous

Liz gave me this award today for having a fabulous blog. I like the yellow dress, and I'm supposed to make a list, but first I must tell this story.

DJ likes to play games on his Xbox while I do other things. It works nicely; I rarely pay attention, and he never expects me to do so. But every so often I notice a detail, and from then on refer to the game by that detail. A while ago he was playing a game where one of the characters is a superhero named Mr. Fantastic. I was (per usual) not really paying attention, so the next time he was playing I asked if that was the Mister Fabulous game. And, well, that's what I've called it ever since, to DJ's exasperated amusement. Sometimes we are Lucy and Ricky, what can I say.

(photo of a picture snipped from The Knot Chicago, in Bridesmaid Chloe's wedding colors - if she doesn't start a wedding blog soon, I'm going to do it for her.)

Anyway, I'm to list five obsessions or addictions of mine. I'm never very good at these things, but here you go anyway.

1. Singing songs to my dog with the words reworked to be about him. Usually with not that much creativity. (Judy in disguise = Reilly in disguise)

2. Currently, hunting thrifted silverplate. Yesterday I trucked a large shopping bag up and down Lincoln Avenue and mostly filled it. Today I played with all the shiny things to see how close I was to a finished, and felt exactly like a little girl playing wedding.

3. Cake. Good cake. I am the proverbial fat kid who loves cake, even at times when I'm not all that fat. I'm a cake snob, actually, and won't eat just any cake, but will go to great lengths for good cake.

4. 1960s furniture. I've scared more than one reseller by peppering questions about dovetail joints and manufacturing stamps. I stalked a set of chairs for months until I finally snagged a pair, and when Mad Men came on the air I was practically hopping up and down to show DJ that Roger Sterling and I had the same furniture.

5. Truffle salt. DJ and I bought a bottle of white truffle salt a while ago, and it is so good. On just about everything. We also recently bought a bottle of truffle oil, and DJ used it to make the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. (5 lbs of potatoes, one stick of butter, some milk, 1/2 c. shredded parmesan, a head of roasted garlic, and a tablespoon of truffle oil. To die for. Perhaps literally, when your arteries constrict.)

I've seen this one make the rounds lately, so I'm not going to tag anyone in particular. If you haven't had it yet and want to play, let me know so I can read your answers!

tiny information

So Liz, you asked about Gocco. I'd never heard of it until I started wedding planning, so although I'm sure there are other uses besides wedding invitations, that's where I started.

Gocco is a desktop printing press manufactured in Japan, which works by pushing ink through a screen onto your printing surface. (Paper, cloth, ceramic - you name it.) There are a few different models of varying size, age, and sophistication. The screen is made by placing a black and white image against the screen surface, and using the Gocco housing to "flash" it with special bulbs. The heat from the flash melts the screen where it is exposed to the black image, which forms tiny holes through which the ink is pushed during printing.

The ink effect is very slightly inconsistent, which makes it look (in my opinion) both handmade and special. See above for perfectly imperfect printing.

There's a Flickr group for Gocco where you can see all kinds of gorgeous things, mostly paper.

There's a Yahoo group which is very informative for troubleshooting and locating supplies.

Elizabeth Anne Designs creates custom invitations.

And some of the Weddingbees have set the bar for DIY invitations.


Ok now, the bad news. Riso, Gocco's parent company, are no longer manufacturing the presses. They're still out there for sale, mainly used, but not in production currently. Worse, they are no longer manufacturing supplies. The big problem is bulbs; they're way too expensive to produce, so no one wants to take over the technology. There's been a lot of conversation on the Yahoo group about finding a substitute for the screen/bulb combo, but it's tricky. There are subs out there, but they're either super expensive (like tattoo transfer screens) or not as good for detail work. The most promising sub would be light exposure films, but where Riso screens have the capability of perforating only a portion of a mesh square, light and water exposures seem more inclined to dissolve all the media inside a mesh square. So although the mesh resolution should technically be the same, Riso screens are better than their listed 200 dpi. That makes the light/water screens less than ideal for, say, scripty wedding fonts where you could possibly get a pixellation effect where you wanted a smooth line.

So. If you're really into the idea, have some money to burn, and are willing to risk the supply shortage, buy a Gocco! It's loads of fun, and way more impressive than it is difficult. At least from an inking and printing standpoint. Plus, you could theoretically use it forever for all your wonderful personalized stationery needs. But if you just like the look, you can find artists on Etsy or talk to E. and A. at Elizabeth Anne Designs. Which is what I would do, if I weren't such a lousy little control freak all the time.

a little sparkle

Today while browsing the Banana Republic sales I saw some things that looked wedding-y. Which, fine, not that big a feat since lately everything looks wedding-y. I'm a little ashamed of that, but not enough to hide it.

These are some fancy, wonderful earrings for $25. I'm especially smitten with the bows. Bows are very 1940s to me - I wonder if that's just me, or if it's a thing?

These are a little bit less ornate, for $20.

And these would be perfect with something modern and clean-lined, for $25.

merry and bright

A few weeks ago DJ was talking about sending cards this Christmas. Funny to me, because I think this is one of the things that changed with being engaged. I've sent cards myself in past years, but now we will send them together, and he has a list of names to add to mine.

DJ liked the top set, while I chose the ones with trees. I like the cards a lot, but not so much the envelopes. The blue cards came with plain white envelopes while the trees came with silver striped envelopes.
The cards are the same size, so I did a switch. I'll use the silver for the blue cards, and I made red ones for the trees, to match the script. This would have been easier with a template, but oh well. I just traced around the silver, added margins by eye, and started cutting.
I may or may not line both sets with silver paper. Both of those are from my $1/roll Martha Stewart stash. I particularly like the woodgrain, I'm leaning that way.
I do like some tacky faux-woodgrain. This is one corner of our dining room table (which is nearly always housing some wedding project these days.) It's laminate from 1963, and boy did they love their faux-woodgrain then. This table was the first thing DJ and I bought together, and I had a hard time with the commitment of owning something jointly. I got over it. Now we have a dog and some other furniture and we're sending holiday cards with silver woodgrain lining.

moth love

One of my bridesmaids would love anything from this shop. She has said she would love to have something to wear in her curly hair, and one of these headbands would fit the bill.

Me, I'm too plain for feather headbands. The wildest I get is giraffe-patterned slingbacks with my beige trousers and turtleneck. So I live vicariously.

winter trees

Whoops, that wasn't supposed to be a mini-break. Work kind of exploded (kind of, not literally - although in my field that is occasionally a possibility) and I haven't had much energy at the end of the day.

Anyway. Do you need a gift for someone just like me? Are you decorating on the cheap and totally enamored of Mad Men and all things 1960's? Do you think it would be totally exhausting to live with me? (Okay, that's unrelated. Check yes.)





Last year I bought a series of three Giclee prints from modernarteveryday. I framed them and DJ hung them level on a blank white wall. Of all the miscellaneous stuff and artwork in our house, those three prints get the most compliments. (Photos from MAE's Etsy shop.)


They are also less expensive than they look - all three prints for either $25 or $40, depending on size (if I remember correctly). A gift certificate to a framing store (Michael's, JoAnn Fabrics, Ikea, Hobby Lobby, Target...) would be a very nice addition to the box.

old things repurposed

One of my future projects, which may be very much in the future, is to bring a little Paul Lowe into my living room.
For a short time I thought I'd buy several dozen vintage doilies and assemble them into table runners for the eventual wedding. I thought that would play well with the blowsy vintage barny-ness. But once I realized I probably needed 500 doilies that didn't seem like such a hot idea anymore. 500 of anything is a lot, especially if you can't just order a box online somewhere.

But curtains, maybe. Our living room curtains are very much like those above - lineny, sheer, and very plain. Well, here. This is one end of our living room. Yes, that is a half-mannequin wearing a sarong. What can I say, I like simple furniture and weird accessories.

I asked DJ a while ago if he minded doilies on the curtains, and he looked slightly confused. No, he said, Why would I?

I know, I have it good. He lets me do anything I want to our house, usually does the heavy lifting, then later gives me all the credit.

here and there and everywhere

If you need more Julia Remix (doubtful!) you can also find me at Elizabeth Anne Designs this week. I'm sorry to say that I worked much harder on those posts than I ever do on the ones here. I need accountability, it's a fact.

do IT yourself, not ALL yourself

In and around the projects I have taken on, now and then I remember one I was crazy about for a minute but fizzled.

Soy candles are, in general, better than standard candles. They burn slower and with less smoke, and the glow of the soy is lovely. Beeswax is nice too, but pricey. For a while I thought I'd buy soy votives, for the glow and the longer burn time.

(Soy Candle Shop)

I was all set to do that when I found out that I could pour them myself, in whatever container I liked. I'm not sure what it is about this wedding, but I've had some insane toddler-esque whims. (Nooooo! I do it myself!)

(eBay)

I scouted around for the best prices on wicks and soy wax (eBay and eBay, but comparison shop) before I realized that this was a useless way to spend my time. Regular candles burn long enough, and no one would ever notice or appreciate the hours I spent melting and pouring a few hundred candles. I've ended up buying the 12-packs from craft stores as they're on sale, which is far more economical and far less crazy-making.

Still, I think it would be a fun project, and I might do it on a smaller scale. Bridesmaids' gifts or candles for home or refilling pretty containers instead of buying expensive boutique candles.

lemons into lemonade

Last night my little Toyota had a bad experience with a Chevy Astro van. I am ok aside from skinned knees and bruises, but the car is totalled. My insurance is taking care of it, but still - so sad. Today I was thinking about wedding things and had the urge to turn this sad picture into a pretty wedding.

(The Knot, The Knot, Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart, MyShape, Valentino via Neiman Marcus, Priscilla of Boston via Brides, Portobello, Niklindesigns, SarahParrott)

I'm new at this, I know it could be done better. If anyone wants to give it a shot, e-mail me at eventualwedding at gmail dot com.

DIY, or delegate and say you did

November is DIY month at Elizabeth Anne Designs. They're having a DIY submission contest, which should be fantastic. They're going to run all the submissions, so send one! Or several! I want to see them (and maybe help myself to your ideas.)

They're also going to let me guest blog for a week, starting November 10th. Whee! I'm saving some good things for that week - maybe I'll even finish the invitations by then.

sources and resources

Elizabeth Anne Designs added me to their blogroll today, which is very exciting for me - they have one of the prettiest blogs out there. I'm kind of excited about their Library of wedding-related people, all vetted by actual brides. I keep meaning to ask my photographer if she minds my nominating her for inclusion.