Weddingbee Blog

Inspired by this post by Miss Glitter, I took on the arduous task of creating my own thank you cards.

This tiny snapshot does not do this map justice. It’s so gorgeous. I really want to incorporate it into our home, as well.

I used the same map from our invitations, but I decided to use the whole map. Isn’t it gorgeous? I scaled it down to roughly 4×6 and printed 2 to a page.
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I’ve been a little quiet lately. I’m too overwhelmed with life to come up with clever things to blog about. Either that, or everything I want to blog about is semi-secretive and I can’t share it. Blah.

On Friday, we finally managed to pull off my bridal portraits. I have to be honest, this was the most fun I’ve had in a while. It was so easy to be whatever. To be uninhibited and free to laugh and feel pretty. My hair looked great, totally vintage, and the flower I bought to put in it looked ah.maze.ing!!! My ensemble came together perfectly.

A friend asked if I felt like a bride yet. The answer? No, not really. Should I? Running around town in my gown and veil for several hours was fun, but I didn’t get this overwhelming feeling that I was suddenly transformed into a bride.

I felt beautiful, and pampered, and the center of attention. I got some honks and cat calls, and one lady screamed, “Don’t do it!” from a car window at me. It was strange having people (my mom, mostly) fuss over me for a while. I felt a bit like an invalid. Hemmed in by that huge, heavy dress. Oh, and it was raining, so I had to be really careful about the ground, and the puddles.

Maybe it’s that I’m still completely overwhelmed by the amount of work I have left to do.
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Honestly, a honeymoon suite was the last thing on my priority list. I really hadn’t thought about it at all until someone at our venue asked where we would be staying after the wedding. Staying? Um… at our house? I mean, we live together, and what better place to sleep the night after our wedding than in our own bed, right?

Of course, living together offers up other obstacles. Specifically, who gets to stay at home the night before the wedding. We aren’t supposed to see each other, right? So, someone has to get out.

Fortunately, Crabby Daddy came to the rescue and got me a suite at the hotel all my guests are staying in for the night before the wedding. We opted for a double queen suite, so that a few of my bridesmaids can stay with me.

There were talks of extending the reservation for Saturday night as well. It would be convenient, since I could leave all my stuff there and not have to worry about actually “checking out” before the wedding. But, we really wanted a little more privacy than a suite in the same hotel as all of our guests.

We went back to considering just coming home.
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A few weeks ago, I trekked to New Orleans for a weekend with one of my bridesmaids. The weekend was supposed to be my bachelorette extravaganza, but no one came. We spent the weekend shopping and catching up. I also got to meet Miss Ballet Flat!

While we were there, I absolutely had to hit up my favorite store, Trashy Diva. Yes, they have a brick and mortar in the Quarter. I didn’t intend on spending any money there. I really just wanted to be able to say I’d visited the place! It was wonderful. Small, but fantastic. There were all the dresses I’ve been lusting after for more than a year. Even my friend was enamored with the place. It was really exciting just to be there and see what some of the dresses looked like in person.

In the back corner there was a sale rack. I love sale racks. And, lo and behold, there was ivory dress (a color which is severely lacking on the website) on that sale rack. I pawed through, in hopes of finding a dress my mom could wear to the wedding. There was one there, in the ’40s fashion, in my mom’s size. I decided to splurge and buy it for her, but not before I put it on to make sure it fit me if she didn’t like it. It really fit me quite well, so I knew we would have to do some altering for mom to be able to wear it. The original price on the dress is $248, which is far more than I would ever pay for a simple sheath dress (with no lining, at that). But it was marked down to $62! Sold!

I immediately called mom and told her I bought her a dress. She wasn’t quiet as excited as I was, which is par for the course, since I get overly-excited. But nevertheless, excited. I carried it home proudly and took it straight to Mom to try it on.

It really didn’t look very good on her.
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Perhaps having my hair trial done in February for my June nuptials wasn’t the smartest idea ever. Kinda like buying my dress last May. I’ve had too much time to think about it. And the more I think about it, the less I like my hair. I feel like it makes my head look enormous! And, I’m not really crazy about the way my bangs look.

I have a second chance next week. If you’ll recall, my photographer was pregnant and we had to cancel my bridal shoot due to bed rest. Well, she had her baby (and he is perfect and gorgeous) and we’ve rescheduled my bridals for next Friday.

I’ve been looking at new hairstyles. I also found some more makeup inspiration to take to the makeup artist, since I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first trial.

I’ve been strangely drawn to this style:

All photos courtesy Project Wedding

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It’s hard to explain to people outside our social circle how much we like to turn everyday events into costume parties. Seriously, people’s birthday celebrations turn into costumed events. So, when Mr. CC wanted to costume our rehearsal dinner, I wasn’t terribly surprised, but I was a little dismayed by the idea of asking our families to dress in costume. A friend of ours suggested a costumed engagement party of sorts, and offered to host it.

The theme was Love Throughout the Ages, and everyone was asked to dress as a famous romantic couple.

Mr. CC and I, given our propensity for military history, dressed in ’40s era attire.

Yuck, why is my face so super duper shiny?

Mr. CC’s attire is completely original. I’m wearing the Avian dress from Trashydiva.com

Our friends hosted the party in her parents’ historic home in Uptown.
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Ah, table numbers. Such a boring topic, right? Yeah, I know. I thought I’d escaped table numbers (and seating charts) by serving appetizers at the reception. But then we booked our rehearsal dinner, and as of right now, we’re planning a formal, sit-down dinner. So, I had to create table numbers out of something… and on the cheap, too.

I originally planned on using our engagement pictures, but they weren’t turning out the way I wanted them to. I had already bought frames:

that I intend to use at both the rehearsal dinner for table numbers and at the reception (with signs). So, I kinda had to stick with those. And I had all this great paper that I used in both the rehearsal dinner invites (later) and on our invitations. I got this image in my head (while standing in line at the post office) of antique-style numbers on paper inside the frames, and I just had to figure out how to make it work.
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So, my “gift wrap” came a few days ago. Mr. CC didn’t want to even see it, but I rushed to the bedroom to try them on.

There are no pictures to document this nightmare.

The pink one:

Wasn’t too bad. They have heavily Photoshopped the stock photo, cause my nipples show right through that see-through fabric. But I guess that’s half the point, aye?

The ivory one, on the other hand:
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Last Friday I received the call that my bridesmaids’ dresses had arrived. Thank goodness, as I was starting to get nervous. See, only 2 of 7 live here in town, and I had to ship everyone’s dresses out to them. I was concerned that we were running out of time for alterations and such.

So, I scurried over to the shop, picked up the dresses, and threw them in the mail. But not before I slipped into my sister’s gown to check it out. I sort of picked this dress out sight unseen. I’d seen the dress in teal, on me, in a way too small size. I’d seen other dresses in our color, but not on anyone, and I hadn’t seen it next to my gown at all.

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After the toasts have been made, the cake has been cut, and the garter has been tossed, the bride and groom make their way to the nuptial bed. I mean, wasn’t that the point? Okay, we obviously haven’t exactly saved ourselves for marriage*, but yeah, after the party is over, I’m guessing he’s going to expect a little party of our own, and probably wants his present wrapped in a pretty package.

The pretty package is causing some serious stress around here.

(source)

Why?
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I won’t lie, finding our florist was easy. One of my bridesmaids is a florist. Of course I’m going to have one of my best friends design my flowers! Her work is amazing, and I know she can get it done. She did her own flowers for her wedding in September ‘07.

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Remember how I was cutting wine bottles for my centerpieces? Well, a few weeks ago, my bottle cutter pooped out on me. It just wouldn’t score the bottles right. I was having to go over and over the score line (which is bad for the blade [I don’t think it was good anyway]). I got really frustrated with the whole thing and ended up putting it aside for several weeks. It sat on my kitchen counter and taunted me with its uncooperative-ness. I think it was silently mocking my ability to make it work. Meanwhile, the 125 bottles that still had not been cut were taunting me from the shed. I was beginning to feel defeated by my own project.

During a recent phone conversation, my stepmother suggested I find a better way to cut those bottles. The method I was using was extremely time consuming and tedious. I’d spent hours working on these things. I was only about 50% done with the cutting and none of the bottles had been sanded.

I did a little research and found out that a glass worker would charge me about $2 per bottle to cut. This was not an option. I’d already invested so much time saving money by doing it myself, I couldn’t bear to pay anyone $250 dollars to take over from that point.

A quick Google search produced the name of the tool I needed to get the job done. I set out in search of a diamond blade. I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I thought it would at least be worth looking into, especially since my other option was buying another bottle cutter. We don’t really have power tools in our house, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to put this diamond blade on to make it work, but I headed to Home Depot anyway, hoping they would have some sort of answer.
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Let’s talk about what everyone really wants to know when it comes to wedding planning anyway… the honeymoon.

I wasn’t that girl dreaming of big puffy dresses. I was that girl dreaming of her one big chance to get to see a piece of the world. Traveling and vacation was something my parents chose to sacrifice so my mom could stay at home and raise her children. That’s something I will always cherish (especially as a mom who has to work). Knowing that it was unlikely I would see the world sometime before I got married, I dreamed of the fantastic vacation that would follow the wedding.

I mean, really, we spend months working our arses off, trying to pull the biggest event of our lives together. We deserve that vacation. A couple of weeks of peace and relaxation shared with our one true love.

As a teenager, I dreamed of Tahiti and Aruba, Hawaii and Mexico. I grew up on the beach, and I couldn’t imagine spending my honeymoon anywhere but on an exotic beach surrounded by palms.

When Mr. CC and I discussed honeymoon destinations, it was quickly apparent that my idea of relaxation had changed. Mr. CC and I were throwing around places like Italy, Ireland, and Greece. Mr. CC and I wanted to go somewhere that we could see history, experience culture, and perhaps explore our heritage a bit. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but Mr. CC is a huge military history buff (um, hello, National Infantry Museum!). I knew if we traveled to Europe, we would spend most of our honeymoon touring WWII battlefields and concentration camp skeletons. Have you ever toured a battlefield? If you aren’t familiar with the actual battle maneuvers, it’s really just a field full of ghosts. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the history and significance and sacrifice that those fields and beaches stand for. I even want to experience it someday. But, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when it came to our honeymoon. (Gosh, that sounds harsh and inconsiderate. I promise I appreciate what those battlefields represent and the sacrifice our soldiers made on those fields.)

Ireland was a definite possibility.
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I have been completely and utterly indecisive about my accessories.

Shoes? It took three pairs before I found the ones I loved. I’m definitely a shoe whore. I love shoes! I have too many, and Mr. CC doesn’t understand why I need 5 pairs of black heels. Picking out shoes for the big day was definitely a challenge. There was a lot of internal debate as to whether or not I should wear heels or flats. I don’t wear heels often. My career allows me to wear crocs or tennies to work, and I really only wear heels out. In the end, I decided I wanted something pretty for the ceremony. I’ll be wearing the Melissa by Liz Rene Couture.

You’ve got to love my Foot Petals. I’ve been trying to break these suckers in. I will take these out and let the photographer get some good detail shots without them!

You might recognize these.
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One of the things that prompted me to design our invitations was the cost. Those booklet-style invites I loved cost 7 pounds each! I’m not sure of the exchange rate, but OUCH!

I spent a lot of time researching paper and printing for our invitations. Here’s the final tally.

• Stardream Onyx Cover (105#), 200 sheets- $50.00
• Classic Linen Cover, Baronial Ivory (80#), 400 sheets- $60.00
• Classic Linen Text weight, Baronial Ivory (24#), 500 sheets- $26.00
• Stardream Onyx #10 envelopes, 200- $72.00
• Paper shipping- $26.00
• Printing at Staples- $100.00
• Paper cutting at Kinko’s- $50.00
• Xyron refills (4)- $32.00
• Eyelets- $25.00
• Decorative paper- $6.00

Total: $447.00

I made 165 invitations, with a bunch of leftovers.

Cost per invitation: $2.71
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