This contets is now closed! Congratulations to winners Amy, jnicholea, l3r0wnEyedGurL, dani24, Erica, jazzyjas7, HCB, and Amanda_E, and thanks to everyone who entered!
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There really is nothing like a great shoe:

And, as we all know, the greatest shoes often hurt the most. So, after about 10 minutes of dancing, don’t you just want to kick them off?? But then what, oh what, will you put on your feet? Well, Martha Stewart told me to give them slippers, so, garsh darnit, that’s what I’ll do!
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Nothing is more evocative of summer than fruit, and with summer just around the corner, our next batch of characters is going to be tropical and exotic fruits!
watermelon, coconut, banana, persimmon, avocado, mango, pineapple, pomegranate, and papaya
We have a bunch of bees getting married over the summer months, so we’re looking for a couple of good fruits to join the hive. If you haven’t already, apply to be a bee today! ![]()
You may recall that I have been on the hunt for cut glass to use as candle holders at our reception. Actually, more specifically, Mr. Cupcake’s mom has graciously been doing most of the hunting — I’ve just been transporting everything to our storage space (a.k.a. Momma Cupcake’s basement) once FMIL Cupcake hands over her magnificent finds during each of our visits to Central PA. She has been doing some serious bargain hunting and has admittedly become a cut glass addict!
This weekend I decided to finally get out all of the pieces she has found during her weekly trips to the Salvation Army (with the exception of a handful that Mr. Cupcake and I found at some random yard sales and flea markets) to figure out what our grand total is. Mr. Cupcake and I headed over to Momma Cupcake’s basement the other day to take the pieces out of their boxes, set them out on the table to survey the collection, and start counting.
Let me tell you. We have a LOT of glass.
The whole shebang laid out on a table in the basement. Mr. Cupcake counted them all…. wanna guess how many?
I’ve always had a passion for flowers. I’ve never taken a course or anything, but I love making flower arrangements so I wanted to try making my own fresh flower bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for the wedding. I even purchased Martha’s Complete Weddings dvd collection to prepare myself. (Well it was just an excuse to buy it. I wanted it, wedding or no wedding. I’m a Martha freak and I’m not ashamed to say it.
)
This weekend was a busy one for the Penguin crew! We drove down to Los Angeles to finally meet our photographer, the ridiculously awesome Sarah K Chen. Southern California has an incredibly talented pool of photographers, and we were so so SO lucky to have snagged Sarah! I had instant friend crush when I met her, and we’re fortunate to have a photographer that not only is AMAZING, but truly makes us feel comfortable in front of a camera.
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Among everything else that I don’t have done in the 5 months til our wedding are bridesmaid dresses. I spent some time on Nordstrom.com last night in the search of the ultimate cocktail dress to function as a bridesmaid dress that isn’t a tube topped, shiny solid blob of color. I love this yellow one. It’s sweet and somewhat retro, it’s yellow….but it’s $498. Now is the time I’m about ready to believe in the talents of, and but perhaps moreso the thriftiness in getting a seamstress. Here’s a $178 alternative. The one on the right I couldn’t find on the Nordstrom’s website this morning, but it comes in this amethyst color for a screaming $62 and in champagne for $44.90.
After spending about two days in Freak-Out-Ville, I have returned to Reality-Land. I am feeling much better. Thank you for all of your supportive comments! A few things we’ve decided on:
1) I need to forget about the crowds. I knew they would be there–I just hadn’t thought about them being disrespectful or having off-leash dogs. I can handle people taking pictures of us and watching the ceremony. That’s fine. We will have at least one Day-of-Coordinator to keep people from being rude, so I think I can let this go.
2) That being said, I think we will be making signs to let people know that they should be quiet and not set up their picnics inside the amphitheater.
3) We don’t have enough shepherd hooks, even if we spaced them 8 feet apart. However, I was very grateful to find the website of a wedding coordinator named Shannon Berry, who organized a wedding at Crissy Field and posted photos (click on “Debbie and Arun”). Their aisle was made by pushing flowers into the ground. I took a wild shot in the dark and called Shannon, begging her to take pity on me and tell me how she dealt with the bathrooms, the crowds and the transportation. She was kind enough to write me a very long and helpful email.
You could say we were pretty ambitious to make our first gocco project the actual invitations…but what can I say, I’m a crazy kinda gal. Luckily, I had amazing help, my super creative bridesmaid, Michelle and my friend, Mona. After months of Michelle emailing me invitation designs she made on Adobe Illustrator, we finally decided on one and met at her apartment one night in November to get down to business.

Last summer, I saw an article in Martha Stewart Weddings about cute ways to dress your dog for your wedding day. There is no chance that Lola is well behaved enough to be a part of the wedding itself, but we would like to get a few pictures with her beforehand. There are several collars and leashes made of ribbon in the article, but I thought that the pearl collar was too cute!
To make the collar you need embroidery thread, large faux pearls (I used 18mm), a needle and some satin ribbon. I also eventually opted for a clasp because tying the thread in a knot wasn’t quite as sturdy as I needed it to be. Lola isn’t a huge fan of the collar so I need to be sure it will stand up to her attempts at removing it! So first, measure around the dog’s neck and add about 12 inches. Then cut the thread to size:
