Weddingbee

I have been using Perfect Table Plan to keep track of our RSVP’s and I have been loving it. I was able to import our guest list and keep track of their responses with ease. Meal choices, guests, and “who invited them?!” were all included in the handy chart. When it finally came time to start seating people, things got a little trickier. Being able to drag and drop was nice enough and the auto-assign function was a great start. Maybe it was the size of our room or our long rather than round tables, but I was starting to get frustrated.

I fell back on some skills that I picked up when I planned non-profit fundraisers. Who was sitting with whom was very important and the guest list was changing all the time. The easiest way to plan it out was a big piece of poster board and a post-it note for every guest. I would then hang it up in my cubicle and stare at it until I found the perfect arrangement. Fortunately, I spent the weekend up at the lake rather than in my cubicle, but the trick worked just the same.

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There was a brief period of time when Mr. Peacock and I considered scrapping our plans for a big Chicago wedding. We thought it might be sweet and romantic to get married close to his family’s lake home in Southwest Michigan at the delightful Karma Vista winery. Then we found out that Karma Vista does not do special events, that the closest hotel was 20 miles away and the thought of calling a cab was laughable, so we dropped the whole idea. Little did we know the kind of shenanigans possible when Chicagoans attend a Michigan wedding… Read more…

Mr. Peacock and I stopped by Chicago’s City Hall yesterday to pick up our marriage license. Like quite a few bees have mentioned, it was quick and painless. All we needed to bring with us was our driver’s licenses. It was nice to scratch one of the “absolutely must happen” things off our to-do list. I have a strange crush on City Hall, so it was kind of an exciting trip anyway.
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In order to add a bit of a homemade feel to our invites, I came up with the idea of creating cloth envelopes to serve as an inner envelope. It was something I had never seen before, but it sounded simple enough. My original idea was to make them from inexpensive muslin. I would use my Gocco to stamp a monogram on the top, so that the guest would see it first when he or she opened the outer envelope. I would then use a label to address the inner envelope. This would clear up any confusion over who was actually invited to the wedding, while simultaneously closing the “pocket.”

When shopping for muslin, however, my mom and I came up with a better plan. We found some gold and ivory fabric that perfectly matched the ink and paper of our invites. Due to a lovely sale, it was actually cheaper than the muslin. I discarded the stamp idea for the sake of simplicity. I did keep the label for practical purposes. My mom and sister were roped in as part of my DISE (Do It, Someone Else) plan and, lucky for me, they pulled it off beautifully.

Thank you, mom and Elise!

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I believe that I have reached a stage in our planning where I am throwing in the towel on chunks of my to-do list. It’s time to cash in my chips and admit my losses. Fortunately, I have a wonderful family and a few patient friends to help.

1. I could not find a cake topper. After months of searching, I gave up this weekend. I asked my extremely talented aunt to make one for me and she gladly obliged. With only weeks to go, she will be making us two little lovebirds out of felt. That she makes herself. Out of wool. From her own sheep. Her craftiness is literally blowing my mind. I can’t believe that I didn’t ask her sooner!!! I sent her several little birds to serve as models and she is going to town. I didn’t want to give too much direction because I trust her crafty skills.

2. I never learned how to sew. This inhibited my ability to make little fabric pockets for our invites and covers for our programs. My mom and sister stepped up on the pockets and I dropped the programs. I haven’t looked back. My mom and Mr. Peacock’s mom are also making the flowergirl/junior bridesmaid dresses, although I never once thought that I could pull that off. Those poor girls would be walking down the aisle in silk potato sacks.
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The invites went out a little over a month ago and the deadline had recently passed, so the wonderful experience of running to the mailbox is almost at its end. Sad. I thought I would relive it by sharing the invitations with you.

My first plan was to make the invitations myself. After several cracks at Photoshop and a slew of other handmade invites and cards, I threw that idea out the window. I had also spent countless hours drooling over letterpress invitations on the millions of wedding blogs that I read and had developed an obsession. Then I found Margot of Atelier Isabey. Her work was just what I had in mind, and I could customize it to be exactly what I wanted, and she was as sweet as could be. I was still able to sneak in a little DIY, but they are mostly a whole lotta genius from Margot. I asked for vintage garden—that is definitely what we got. I love, love, love, love them.

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Hurray! My Lill bag is here! It was even a few days early. I picked them all up yesterday afternoon. I walked out of there with one little black and white bag for each bridesmaid and my mom. The bags that the purses came in were bursting with bright red tissue. I looked like one of those rich lady shoppers in the movies. It was really quite fun.

Not as much fun as investigating my bag when I got home! I love it! I apologize in advance for these photos, they are kind of stinky. There is much more warmth to the fabric than it appears.

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My sister wanted to make something unique as a favor at the bachelorette party. She’s not terribly crafty, unless you are talking fashion, so it had to be something easily made but also inexpensive and fun. She came up with undies. She bought a variety of cute ones from Victoria’s Secret and had a custom stamp made online. She then bought some fabric friendly stamp pads and went to town. Here is my pair.

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I wasn’t quite sure how to share the details from my bachelorette weekend. There are a lot of pictures of my friends in bikinis, drinking strawberry lemonade vodkas and reading Us Weekly. Other than a boat ride around the lake, we didn’t really go anywhere or do anything- and I LOVED it! It doesn’t make for a very exciting recap. There is one slightly NSFW image, however, just to keep you on your toes.

The party started when my sister (MOH) and I arrived late on Thursday night. Half of the other guests arrived on Friday and the rest on Saturday. My sister and my mom have been working on this weekend for the past few months. They had lots of surprises in store! First off, my unconventional bride shirt. Here is something that I will be happy to wear again and again.

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My bachelorette party is this weekend! I have been talking about and planning this weekend for so long, I can’t believe that it is finally here. My girlfriends, my sisters (new and old) and I are headed up to the lovely Coloma, Michigan for a weekend of trashy magazines, margaritas way before 5:00 PM and girl talk. If everything goes according to plan, I won’t have to talk about the wedding at all… ahhh…

How cute were the invitations that my sister designed?

Aside from some quick storms tomorrow, the weather forecast is 80 and sunny! The plans for the weekend are a complete surprise.

I keep hearing little things about goody bags and activities, but I have tried my best to stay out of it. All I know is that Coloma is mostly without nightlife or strip clubs (thank goodness). I will fill you in on all the details on Monday!

Is anyone else celebrating their bachelorette this weekend?