Weddingbee

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Fortunately, there are lots of good alternatives- many of which I’ve tried. My brother got married while I was in college, and finding myself at the time of the event a particulary unflattering shade of pale, I decided to go the fake tan route. It was my first time, so I thought it would be wise to leave it to a professional. I headed to a local spa and signed up for a “Buff and Bronze”. Seventy heavenly minutes later I had been exfoliated, evenly coated in self-tanner, and moisturized head to toe. The color was nicely bronze, as promised, and the effect lasted over a week. I would totally recommend the treatment, but the hefty price tag means it’s best saved for special occasions. I’ll probably be hitting this up a few days before my wedding- if there’s anything left in the budget by then that is!

The spray tan booth was my next attempt at self tanning- this would be the politically correct version of the traditional tanning bed. Not a bad experience overall, but I did have a few streaky spots on my wrists and hairline. If you try this out, take that lotion stuff they give you at the beginning very seriously! You need a heavy coat of it anywhere you don’t want to be tanned.

Ha! You couldn’t pay Mr. Tiramisu to do this.

I definitely had a fear of the tradional bottled up self-tanner. I’m sure it’s better than it used to be, but like Miss Dahlia, I was scared of the potential for orange (I googled it, but there’s no fancy word for fear of orange skin- but there should be). Luckily there exists a perfect product for people like me- and I should mention I’m also very afraid of my self-tanner application skills.

That’s why I was so excited when I discovered Jergens Natural Glow. This magical moisturizer gradually turns you into a tanner version of yourself over the course of a week or so. I’ve been using it off and on since I discovered it a couple of years ago.Problem is, I’m lazy. I’ll put it on one day, the forget it for the next five- and one application doesn’t really do anything. Next problem is, it’s smelly. I don’t want to be pale, but I don’t particularly want to be tan and smelly either.

Thank you Jergens, for solving my problems and coming out with this:

Behold: Natural Glow Express.

Hmm… “express gradual” self-tanner. So you mean, regular self tanner? It’s okay Jergens, your product works fabulously so I won’t complain about the obvious irony in your marketing. Plus you made it less smelly so I’m in a good mood.Any new beauty routines in your pre-wedding world these days?

Images: 1, 2, 3
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I was impressed and surprised to see that it is full of inspiration! It seems Paper-Source has found their target market, as all but a couple pages of this thing are dedicated to weddings. Not only are there a ton of invite ideas, both custom-made and DIY, but there are also great place card, favor, and table setting ideas. I had my heart set on river rock escort cards- painted rocks like the ones below- but I was really having a hard time figuring out how to get the names onto the rocks without a) paying a calligrapher beau-coup bucks to do it, or b) slapping some paint on there myself and risking looking like a second grader did it.
Enter the Paper-Source catalog! Look what I found on page 15:

Isn’t this perfect?! So much easier to pull off than painted rocks, and it will probably end up looking a whole lot nicer in the end.

So my plan is to actually use these as place cards, not escort cards. There’s an idea in the works (inside my little head that is) for cd favors that will double as escort cards, but I think these would look nice on the table itself. Does anyone think it would be gross to have a rock sitting on your napkin though? Unsanitary? Or is a little dirt okay as long as it is in the name of something cute for the wedding?
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Here’s a real bridal party rockin’ the terracotta:
This color is going to go so well with her “summer sunset” color scheme- think sunflower yellow, burnt orange, terracotta and a few touches of brighter pinks.

Here are a few of the styles I tried on:

#104

#170

And the winner…

#107

Pretty cute right? There will be one other bridesmaid in the same style, with the other five girls choosing 3 different styles. So far we’ve had a great experience with this company (although if you’re visiting the DC location make sure to leave extra time to search for parking!). Kate is placing the order for us today, so I’ll let you know how they look when they arrive! Anyone else going with differently styled bridesmaids? How about different colors?

All images from www.ariadress.com

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I fell victim to the ever-popular Kate Spade Gwinnett Lane dishes.
 

My mom snapped these two up the day I added them.

This one is probably a pipe dream.

I promise I’ll act surprised when I open this Aunt Robbin!

We registered a few months back at Macy’s for everyday dishes, towels and bedding, Williams-Sonoma for kitchen stuff, Bed Bath and Beyond for china and some more kitchen stuff, and Lowe’s (Mr. Tiramisu’s wish). With 4 months left until the wedding, there has been a small dent made in the Macy’s registry, but most everything else is still there. My future mother-in-law’s friends are throwing us a big shower this month, and I’m sure I’ll be stalking in the days and weeks ahead to see what fun stuff disappears from the “still need” list.

I’m worried though, will it be tough to act surprised at the shower, since I’ll inevitably already know who is bringing what? There’s been a lot of talk on weddingbee about registry stalking… almost everyone has admitted to it. So what I want to know is, any non-stalkers out there? Please raise your hands and tell us- how do you keep from looking!?
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I want to make sure I’m a professional gocco’er by the time I actually put ink to invitation paper. Here’s my latest project: a shower gift of personalized stationery for my maid of honor Carolyn (she’s getting married on May 10th just like fellow Texan Jenna Bush).

Two sets of cards and envelopes with her new married name,

and one with the monogram used on her wedding invitations.

I don’t think she was too surprised to receive these (she keeps up with the bee), but she seemed to like them anyway! I’m jumping at every opportunity these days for homemade gifting… has all this wedding DIY brought out the craftiness in you too?

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The whole thing is going to be sort of an invitation folder, with the inserts secured by a ribbon- here’s the mock-up:

Here’s what the inside will look like, with the invitation itself on the right hand side:
I think my favorite part though, is the PERFECT paper I found at Paper Source to line the inside of the envelopes with. It’s a little crinkly, and totally yummy:I’m placing the paper order now, so the actual Gocco’ed invites will be appearing on a blog near you soon! As for the mock-ups, what do you think?
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But in general I think I’d get a bigger kick out of it than him. Groom’s cakes are so fun though… here are some impressive ones for you to check out:

Any requests for next week’s installment of inspiration photos?

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 9, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11
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