Weddingbee Blog

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?

… on their own gifts!

I surprised my bridesmaids a few weeks ago with a trip to the 1154 Lill Studio in Lincoln Park to make custom handbags as their bridesmaid gift. I was able to keep it on the DL until they arrived, which was no small feat, and treated them to a little champagne, cheese and these amazing key lime tarts. I gave each ’maid a gift certificate to cover the cost of a Grace plus tax and let them go to town!

The LP store is their flagship store, so there were two floors of custom bag goodness.

All the fabrics!

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Thank you all for your feedback on my shoe dilemma. Although I did not go with the winner of the vote, it was your insistence on picking the more comfortable shoe that really swayed my decision. I brought both pairs to my first dress fitting and took turns wearing them as the tailor hemmed and hawed over my gown. There was a noticeable difference in comfort with shoe #1. I was happy to stand there without needing to constantly adjust my posture. They are also very light and easy to walk in. I also love the idea of adding some cute shoe clips, and I would not be able to do that with the second pair.

They also seem to have a bit of a crush on my dress. I couldn’t tear them apart.

In my search for soft, loose arrangements, I found Saipua flowers. There is so much wonderful inspiration in their blog and a few laughs thrown in. I love, love, love Saipua’s style. The flowers are so loose, garden-like and natural.

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I looooove peonies. Love, love, love. They grow like crazy around my parents’ home in June and then quickly disappear in July.

Peonies courtesy of Mama Peacock

The multitude of soft, romantic petals in just the perfect shade of pale pink and the dark, shiny leaves make them perfect for our wedding decor. Our September wedding decor. D’oh! I found this bouquet on Livia Cetti’s site and it pretty much summed up what I wanted all the flowers to look like:

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Like so many of the elements of our wedding, we wanted to make sure that the flower girl dresses and shoes could easily be worn again. My mom and Mr. Peacock’s mom are making the dresses in a pale pink silk shantung rather than white, so that they might reappear at a birthday party or on class picture day. Trying to find a pattern was much more difficult than expected, but we came up with this Simplicity pattern. A few modifications, and it should be just right.

We are going with version F, the raspberry colored one, without the little flowers. How adorable is that outfit on the model. She looks like a little cupcake! Our flower girls and our junior bridesmaid will not be sporting the detached sleeves and hip wing things.
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We didn’t invite every kid in our life as a guest to the wedding, although it is starting to feel like we are planning a circus. But who doesn’t love a circus (without the clowns)?

These cases of fun are for the three eight/nine year old girls. I included some little goodies from Bath and Body Works (Bubble Gum lip gloss, Sweet Pea lotion, a plastic pocket mirror), a bouncy ball and a card game in a Paper Source suitcase. Our four year old attendant will receive a coloring book game, markers and other fun drawing supplies. Their ballet flats and a sweet little headband from twigs and honey will also be included before we hand them over.

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After we had the big boys’ outfits squared away, it was time to move on to the little guys. Mr. Peacock is the lucky uncle to three adorable nephews and we didn’t think twice before asking them to serve as our ring bearers.

I don’t think there is anything cuter than a little guy in a tuxedo. It totally kills me. When we called around for rental prices on those sweet little suits, we learned that the price wasn’t so cute. I think that renting a five year old’s tuxedo for the same price as an adult’s is crazy business. I had to do better. I did a little digging online and found a few sources where I could purchase a boy’s tux for under $75. Although they may not have another black tie event to attend any time soon, they could all go as James Bond for Halloween. Or a waiter at a fancy restaurant. Or a penguin.

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Mr. Peacock decided early into our engagement that he wanted to buy himself a tuxedo. It was a bit surprising to me as he and I rarely go to black tie events, but he said that even if he only wore it to the wedding, he wanted it to be his own. I think he had romantic ideas of pulling the tux out of his closet decades from now and one day wearing it to our children’s weddings. Cute, right?

We decided to go very traditional with the guys look- bow ties, no vests. I think this is so sexy and romantic- but it might just be that I am also a sucker for Cary Grant.

I think that I found this picture on the Knot, but it has been in my files for so long that I can’t remember! Please let me know if you know!

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I decided long ago that I was going to teach myself calligraphy and that I was going to use said skills on my wedding invitations. I have always wanted to learn and now would be a good time. So I bought a book, studied it, practiced it and became slightly confident in my skills. Then my invitations came- my beautiful, meticulously designed and carefully crafted letterpress invitations. They are my pride and joy. How was I going to mess them up with that slop that I was calling calligraphy? I panicked and started considering labels, printing or just buying a nice gold pen and trusting in my normal handwriting.

Fortunately, my mother knocked some sense into me. I had already spent a decent chunk of change on the book, pens and inks, not to mention hours of practice. Even if it wasn’t perfect, it would still make me happier than throwing in the towel and using labels. So I bought some gold ink that perfectly matched the gold ink already printed on my envelopes and I went to town.
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It seems like kind of a random thing, but people get really excited about their deodorant. There have been quite a few posts on Weddingbee as we worry about how to stay dry on our wedding day. We brides will be running around, smiling for the camera, hugging aunts and uncles, trying to sneak in private moments with our new hubby, all while trying to look and smell fresh.

My favorite? Kiehl’s Superbly Efficient Anti-Perspirant and Deodorant.

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