Weddingbee Blog

Yeah, I did!

I deleted all the formal china off our registry. Why, you ask?

Because we have no use for it.

When we started registering, formal china was a fairly simple decision to make. Easy, simple, classic, black and white. Done. We loved our choice, and moved on to something else.

The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of formal china. What do I need formal china for? I don’t entertain people who would even be comfortable eating off my “good china”. We have dinner parties, but they aren’t those kinds of parties.

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I promised y’all a tutorial, and I’ve finally gotten around to doing it! Yay.

Author’s personal collection!

I made this one for Mini CC. She was dying to have one for herself. Likely, she’ll lose it in a few days. But until then, it is her most cherished possession.

I want to preface this by saying I didn’t come up with this on my own. I purchased a kit from Annie Howes on Etsy and supplanted her chiyogami paper for my pictures. I’ll show you how easy it was anyway!
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I think by now most of our guests have received the invitations (I’m not sure why I’m worried about it, because none of our guests read the blog anyway).

Can I just say one more time how much I love these invitations?

Let’s start with the inner envelope, which was kind of an afterthought.

I so wish that my handwriting were that neat and tidy. This is my new favorite font, Joe Hand 2, which I downloaded from dafont.com. Twilight readers will recognize it; it’s Alice’s handwriting!

I decided after our invitations were completely designed and everything was purchased that I really wanted inner envelopes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an inner envelope that would fit in our tea-length invitations.

So, I improvised.
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I know I’m famous for giving y’all half the details, and I’m going to do it again.

The invitations went in the mail yesterday, so I’ll show you the packaging, and we’ll talk about the actual invitations when they’ve reached the majority of our guests.

I obsessed over these for months. I’m immensely proud of them. I’m a nurse, remember? I have no graphic design experience at all. And I only had to ask for help once.

And I am head over heels in love with our invitations.

We went with a standard #10 envelope, in Stardream Onyx. Metallic paper was an early obsession and I couldn’t resist it. I think it added a lot of dimension to the suite. Texture and dimension were so important to me.
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Why is it that the invitations are the single most important and irritating decision we brides have to make? It seems like it should be a simple task, right? It’s paper, for goodness sakes.

Shortly after our engagement, a bridesmaid said to me, “Keep the invitations simple, forget ribbons and layers. They are pretty, but expensive.”

I listened, but only for about 35 seconds. I tortured myself (and Mr. Crab Cake) for months with pictures of invitations. I brought home books from the printer to flip through. I can only blame one source for my irrational need to make my own invitations, and that would be my fellow Bees. I was smitten with the invitations suites of Mrs. Shortcake and Mrs. Cupcake. Actually, the minute I saw Mrs. Cupcake’s invitations, I knew I was going to make my own.

Anyway, back to the torture. I looked at so many wedding invitations that I honestly can’t remember them all. What I did know was that I wanted something graphic, elegant, and full of texture. Mr. Crab Cake wanted classic elegance, with no graphics, and no texture. Everything I liked was too loud, too colorful, and too graphic for him. Everything he liked bored me to tears. We were getting to that place where arguments happen. Well, really, we made it there one night. It was ridiculous to be arguing about invitations. They’re such a small part of the big picture.

One night, I was browsing wedding goodness on Etsy, which someone else (can’t remember who) referred to as their “dealer”. I completely agree… Etsy is so my dealer. I don’t buy very often, but I browse daily. Can you window-shop for crack? Anyway, I was browsing Etsy and saw these booklet style programs and thought, ’Hey, here’s an idea. Why not put the invitation into a booklet style layout, keeping everything nice and tidy, without having to create a pocket fold? What a genius plan!’ I hit Google and the first things that came up were these beauties.

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A few weeks ago, I ran across a photograph by Sarah K. Chen on An Atlanta Bride’s Blog.

(Here, via Her)

So, those bags are from Target. And while we haven’t picked out gifts for our groomsmen yet, I was in love with those bags. They’re perfect for out of town bags, right?

I immediately ran to Target to find them, as they were on clearance.

Target was out of them! I didn’t think much of it, but Mr. CC was in love with them. I started brainstorming ways to recreate them. I purchased a couple kraft paper bags and designed a graphic. Then I tried to shove those bags through my printer.
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Last week, with the delivery of my tax return from our lovely federal government and a lack of patience, I finally brought my wedding bands home.

I have to say that choosing wedding bands for myself was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced thus far. It was such a huge decision! I plan on wearing these rings the rest of my life.

Besides the obvious hugeness of picking out something I’m going to wear forever, there was also the challenge of finding something that matched my antique engagement ring.

I have literally been hunting for wedding bands since the proposal. At first, I thought a simple white gold band was the way to go. But, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted bling next to my e-ring.

So, I went on the hunt for a diamond band that would match my e-ring.

A friend of mine has a 5 stone prong set band that really caught my eye. She thought it would look fantastic next to my ring, so we tried it out. Of course, neither of us actually put on the other’s rings. Anyway, it looked pretty good. And I thought my mind was made up, so off I went to find the perfect 5 stone band.

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In all honesty, I never thought plates would cause such a stir around our house.

They weren’t even an issue until we fired our caterer and I decided to cater the thing myself. Okay, not myself, but whatever. No caterer, no linens, no dishes… you get the idea.

So, I started looking into our options. I discovered that there were three.

1. Rent
2. Buy
3. Plastic/paper

Let’s start with plastic. Blech, right?! They’re bad for the environment, not terribly cute, and certainly not classy. But, they would be convenient and easy. For a girl with no caterer, it seemed like a logical idea to go with plastic. I even found some super cute square plates that really floated my boat, if you will.

(source, 120 ct. for $79.95)

Black and square equals sexy, even if it is plastic. I especially loved these mini pastry dishes.

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See, I have this problem.

I have a great veil. But, I know I’m going to want to take it off the minute the ceremony is over. I feel like I should have something to put in my hair once the veil comes off.

I’ve been looking at birdcage veils. They are the epitome of vintage loveliness. I even bought Russian netting with hopes of creating my own birdcage.

So far, I have failed miserably at creating the perfect birdcage veil.

The perfect birdcage veil

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A few months ago I wrote this post about my bouquet charms.

Well, I finally finished them.

I’m kind of a bad blogger and I didn’t take any pictures of the process. However, I will promise to make y’all a tutorial soon, as Mr. CC wants me to make more of them.

First, let me introduce you to the people we are honoring (these are also the pictures I used).

This is Mr. CC’s Poppa. He passed in the early ’90s. Mr. CC basically grew up on this man’s lap.
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Okay, I know, Mobile? But honestly, it’s a gorgeous city with a ton of culture and history. Mobile is also the home of American Mardi Gras (don’t believe me? Check out this article).

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Shortly after Mr. CC and I started dating, we celebrated his 30th birthday with a weekend excursion to Mobile. I want to share with him the cuisine, culture, and history of Mobile. We had a great time. We need to go back and do it again. There’s just too much to do in one weekend.

Here’s my insider’s guide to honeymooning in Mobile, Alabama.
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There are moments that I really regret the dress I chose for my ’maids to wear.

All of our attire (my dress included) was picked out before we headed down the vintage road. Sometimes I really wish I had held off on picking out our dresses. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but I certainly wish they were a little more vintage than they are.

As a reminder, here is my dress:

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Alfred Angelo’s 1136 in champagne. I love this dress. Not vintage, but whatever.
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One of the problems with having all my bridesmaids out of town is that I have no one to guilt into helping with the enormous amount of projects I have taken on.

Fortunately for me, I have some of the best friends ever here in town. They’ve been more than helpful.

Recently, I held the first of what I hope will be several successful Wedding Crafting Parties. My girlfriends here came over and helped me finish a few projects, and start a few new ones.

Remember this fabric?

I was feeling very bored with my centerpieces (I know I haven’t shown them to y’all yet, I will, promise) and decided I needed something to spice up our tables, to add some color. I started looking at table runners and squares online and decided I was not going to shell out that kind of money. So, I decided I would make the darn things myself.
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As wedding shoes?

Well, why not? Cute and comfy are a lot of brides’ requirements when it comes to bridal shoes.

Okay, so maybe those are comfy, but as much as I love my crocs, those aren’t exactly bridal.

When we first started our planning, I was determined to wear cute and comfortable shoes.
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Today I was supposed to take my bridal portraits with our photographer, Kristian. Unfortunately, she went into pre-term labor a few weeks ago, and has been stuck on bed rest since. I feel for her; I could not tolerate bed rest. She and the baby are doing well, and she’s no longer in labor.

So, I had already scheduled my hair and makeup trials for today and I went anyway.

I had a little printer malfunction (no colored ink) and wasn’t able to take any inspiration photos to my hairdresser. But, I was able to verbalize what I wanted, and I think she did a pretty good job.

‘Sup? Here I am with no makeup… eew. Solid proof that I love the Hive.
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