Weddingbee Blog

..because it ain’t just for dirties.

(If you haven’t seen Parts 1 and 2 of this sales series, check them out right now!)

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DISCLAIMER: What goes on in this post may gross you out just a teeny-tiny bit and make you question why I was even allowed to become a Weddingbee blogger in the first place. Yes, my friends, today we are talking about trash picking and why you should memorize local garbage routes and pick-up schedules. I promise this is not going to turn into an episode of “Hoarders.” Maybe.

PHOTO: Our guest bed, which is actually an antique sleigh bed that my dad dumpster-dove for. Let me just say that this is an UNBELIEVABLE FIND. Thanks for taking one for the team, dad. (And it’s not every day you find your dog looking incredibly precious on a bed she’s not supposed to hang out on, hence why the photo quality is so poor. Document cute moment on cell phone, then tell the dog to get off the bed.)

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So here we are on the second part of the sale series…ESTATE SALES. The true joy of my Saturday mornings (and if I’m lucky and can swing it with my work schedule, Friday mornings, too). Estate sales are a serious treasure hunt for the nosy people who like to dig through other people’s stuff…which is still set up in their houses.

That’s right, estate sales are a lot different than garage sales (in a much better way, trust me). So here’s the know-how to score some totally amazing—and totally valuable—finds.

Photo: I realize this is a poor-quality picture of our $15 trunk (which still included all leather strappage and inside partitions), but just look at our sweet Millie! Cutie!

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There are oodles of things I love about Mr. Jam. So many, in fact, that I couldn’t begin to list them all because this post would start getting a little more mushy and sweet than we would all be comfortable with.

BUT, there is one thing waaaay at the tippy-top of the “Reasons I Heart You” list: Mr. Jam loves a good deal just as much as I do. And I’m not talking about walking into Target and seeing that sundress you almost bought last week now at 75 percent off and magically in your size, calling your name even though you know you should save your money to, you know…eat.

Nah, Mr. Jam and I prefer to wake up at the crack of dawn & dig through piles of junk for our deals. Now I know that a lot of people claim to “thrift or die” and squeal over the first sight of a neon garage sale sign, but I’m telling you right here and now: there is an art to navigating these sales.

Photo: My two MUST-BUYS are retro furniture and vintage linens. That chair and footstool? ONE DOLLAR EACH at separate sales. Pretty much the best deal ever.

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Wedding season is quickly approaching, and I know what you’re all thinking inside those wedding-crazed heads of yours: “I best save up my paychecks so I can buy all of my soon-to-be-married couple-friends gifts, even though they probably won’t remember who got them what.”

And that’s pretty sad, right? All of the time spent picking out a perfect gift for a couple near and dear to your heart, wrapping it to perfection, finding the most amazing, tear-jerker card…and then nobody remembers which gift-giver gave what. OK, except maybe the KitchenAid mixer. Everybody remembers who got them that.

So what do you get for the couple who has it all, wedding gift or otherwise?

Well, budget-abiding hive, I now present you THE PERFECT ALL-OCCASIONS GIFT, WHICH HAPPENS TO ALSO BE PERFECT FOR WEDDINGS:

My excited (now married) friend showing off her new last name, gifted by her loving bridesmaids

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I love a picture of a sky-high heel as much as the next bride-to-be, but I’ve always known one thing about my potential wedding shoe decision: It would never, ever be a heel. EVER.

Now, back in the day (otherwise known as up until three years ago), I lived in heels. I even had an e-mail address that included the word “Heels.” I once spent a long weekend sightseeing in Washington D.C., and I walked every single day into the wee hours of the morning with nary a flat shoe in sight and I liked it.

And suddenly, after years of wearing heels to classes and parties and dates and study sessions alike, I met my match: GLADIATOR SANDALS.

Just like that, my life was forever changed. Gladiator sandals are absolute perfection and total comfort with anything you could possibly wear, and I wear them with EVERYTHING. Why not wear them with a wedding dress, too?

So, I did something crazy this weekend. Um, especially crazy considering I don’t even have a wedding dress.

I. BOUGHT. WEDDING. SHOES.
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You know what sucks? Being a person who loves it all. Seeing random things here and there that you desperately try to interject into your theme, decorations, life. Changing your mind 5,000 times about wedding projects because you find new, pretty, shiny things to be obsessed with.

But the one thing I never doubted? My dress. Let’s gaze at a photo for old times’ sake, OK?

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Sigh. I’m still crazy for it, but it just won’t work. You see, something much more important just came into the mix…
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With Mr. Jam away doing his smartie-pants work project, I desperately needed help with our looming centerpiece project. You know, the one we haven’t touched or even thought about, despite the wedding being a few months away? Yeah, that one. My mom must have known this, because she forced me over to her house, bought a ton of unscented votives, and made me sit down and work on it with her and my BFF man of honor.

And so we worked like wedding elves. We brainstormed. Sometimes we silently stared at table decor, and sometimes we gossiped. My 15-year-old brother supplied the song “Stereo Love” on repeat, much to the chagrin of my mom.

In the end? We were happy…sort of. See for yourselves:

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Dubs [duhbz]: noun, a fold of fat beneath the chin; slang for double chin.

“When you look down, I can see your dubs.”

And that, my friends, is Jam-clique lingo, otherwise known as the primary reason we untag Facebook photos. The dubs come out uncontrollably, especially when we’re laughing or looking down…and sometimes without purpose. I recently realized that I have dubs every single time I look down at my phone, which happens to be about 5,000 times a day.

Proof:

Oh my heavens above, I can’t believe I just posted this photo for all to see. There are plenty more where this came from, but I’ll leave them to your imagination. You can thank me later.
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To say I’m a little bit gypsy when it comes to rings may be an understatement. Each ring-a-ding-ding says a little something different: two are antique turquoise from my fabulous grandma’s killer jewelry collection; one is a band Mr. Jam found and wore as a faux-wedding ring this Halloween when he dressed up as the newlywed Russell Brand (yes, I was his Katy Perry); one is obviously our engagement ring, which I big-time heart; and one was $1 at a dollar store and turns my finger green when I sleep in it.

When I’m feeling especially fierce, I find room for a thick spoon ring Mr. Jam made for me at an annual Sweet Corn Festival near our hometowns. That’s six rings total. Every single day. How the hell was I going to find empty real estate for a wedding band?

Be honest: Is Jewel’s song Hands in your head right now?!

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I’m just going to come right out and say it: Our venue, which we love, is a plastic cup zone.

Source

Yep, exactly like these, but with keg beer and wine inside instead of lights. Wine in a plastic cup? Bet you didn’t think you’d see that again once you left college…especially at a wedding! (Note: This will be entirely unlike college because we’re not serving Boone’s Farm to our guests.)
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We can all agree that a candy bar at a wedding is pretty darn sweet, right? Case in point (and an excuse to shove some more happy wedding inspiration in your faces today!):

Source, via Pinterest.

Hello, I love you and now I want a peach ring.

Anyhoodle, that’s out of our budget and in a big way, and trust me, because we checked with so many candy distributors and stores my sweet tooth aches just thinking about it. But we did find a way to give guests something extra sweet and delightfully delicious to nom on in between the dinner and all their drinkin’. What could it be, you ask? (If you guessed personalized M&Ms, you are sadly incorrect.)
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The Jams as wedding kiddies. Can you even handle his look?! Aww.

Note to all busybody couples out there: When planning a wedding, don’t estimate your guest count before you actually sit down and actually start writing down names. Because when you’re wrong, you will think your guest list is utterly untamable and you will threaten to cut everyone in order to reach the original number you thought you would invite.
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If there’s one thing I wish brides would chew up, spit out and squash forever, it’s the word “MY.” Grammar mistakes? I’ll deal with it if I must. But completely taking over something meant for two? It’s like riding a tandem bicycle by yourself in a the world’s tightest jeans and spike heels with one flat tire.

In other words, it’s completely opposite from this adorbs picture:

Image source, via Pinterest

“My invitations are so…”

“My bridesmaids wore the prettiest…”

“My ceremony will be the most…”

Because unless you’re Dennis Rodman circa-1996 and you’re really, truly setting out to marry yourself, there are two people involved. OK, unless you’re going to be a sister wife, because then there would be more than two people involved. But I think this is getting a bit too technical.
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Have you ever felt like people just don’t fully get your relationship with your significant other? Maybe it’s because you don’t hold hands when you walk down the street, and maybe it’s because you share the same group of besties and do a lot of incredibly fun, friend-like things when you’re around other people.

If you’re nodding your head knowingly, you’re exactly like Mr. Jam and me: We’re PDA-hating best friends who poke fun at each other constantly.

Not sounding too romantic, huh?

But because of this, we want to make our ceremony special. We’re talkin’ super-duper, not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house, so-full-of-love-we-might-combust sort of special. It will be the one day where we publicly celebrate our relationship and try our hardest to put into words how crazy in love we really are…

…into a microphone in front of 150+ of our family and friends. Talk about intimidation.
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You possibly read our drama with borderless printing, part 1…how it was supposed to happen, how it almost didn’t happen, how people in various printer departments told us it couldn’t happen, and then how we spent hours of our lives making it happen.

But wait, what’s that off in the distance sitting in front of a bird picture and a stack of plates I’ve been meaning to make into this for my dining room wall for the last 6 months?

Could it be…a BORDERLESS save the date?

Why, yes! It is! If you ask me how it worked, I really don’t know. But angels sang, and it was beautiful and borderless.
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