Miss Dachshund, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 24, Legal Office AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Computer TechnicianEngagement Date: April 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Victorian Gardens of Two SistersAbout Me: I’m a 24-year-old Californian bride-to-be who found love in the most unlikely of places - an online video game! I’m a farmer’s daughter living in rural Central California, but will always have a special place in my heart for the city. My future husband is a 27-year-old extraordinarily tall, exceptionally cute, and undoubtedly Canadian boy who was able to sweep me off my feet and take me for his bride. I love color, folksy songs that make me smile, interior design, kettle corn, my one-year-old puppy, Juno, and my fiance, of course! We’re planning a DIY garden wedding with a laundry-list of projects, all while dealing with the bureaucracy that is American Immigration!
My favorite part about Germanic languages is the ability to squish as many nouns as possible into one mega word. Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft translates to “Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services”. Wut? My favorite was always “Geschirrspülmaschine,” meaning dishwasher. Isn’t it fun to say? My stepdad’s favorite joke to tell, (and he tells it often), is: How do you say ’bra’ in German? Itkeepsemfromfloppen. Get it?
Um, but I digress. The point of this post is to talk about something with which I’m sure most of you are familiar: Hair flowers. Or fascinators, as they are one-in-the-same. I think. According to Wikipedia, fascinators have only recently come back into style. Maybe Carrie Bradshaw had something to do with the come-back?
Anyway, I never thought I was going to embrace the wedding flower/fascinator trend. I don’t know if I thought it to be too “fashion forward”? (LOL?) Or if it had anything to do with the fact that I know my mom would laugh at it, but I just never felt that I’d want to wear one, especially on a day where all eyes will be on me. *gulp*
Miss Hot Dog, Cheyenne, WYAge and Occupation: 23, Health Information SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Personal Trainer
Engagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Family Ranch outside Glenrock, WYAbout Me: I'm a city girl by birth and rural girl by choice. I'm ready to take on the world with a big heart and a big smile! I love all things crafty and DIY. I live in Cheyenne, WY with Mr. HD and our 2 fur babies, our dachshunds, Ollie and Mia. I love travel, adventure, Finding Nemo, '90s music, animals, and laughing. He is the cheese to my macaroni and together we spend more time watching movies than we probably should! I'm an old soul who is super duper excited to pull off our down home-rustic-chic-country wedding (on the cheap)!
It’s called a “Kanzashi”. It is a Japanese hair ornament that dates back over 200 years! And, it is GAAAHHWWWWgeous!
Since I’m feeling uber-crafty tonight, I found this tutorial and decided to give it a go! So here are my pics that I took. I tried to snap a shot of each step, but forgive me if it’s unclear… Read more…
Miss Pudding, Greater Toronto Area/VermontAge and Occupation: 26, High School TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Computer EngineerEngagement Date: August 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Ceremony, Cultural Hall ReceptionAbout Me: Quite literally a citizen of the world, I was born in Poland, grew up in Canada, and now live in the beautiful state of Vermont. I love reading historical biographies, multi-tasking, teasing my hair, and, despite my height, wearing high heeled shoes. I am the ultimate klutz with an uncanny ability to put on a graceful front. Mr. Pudding and I have been dating for over six years, and are very excited to finally merge our (very large) families. We are planning a traditional Polish-Catholic wedding that is anything but predictable.
I thought that I would take a moment to update you on the state of my current DIY projects. Remember those fabric flower escort cards that I am making?
They’re safely hidden away in a hot chocolate mix can. Does it look like there are 200 of them in there? And my picture frame table numbers? Well, see for yourself: Read more…
Miss Argyle, St. LouisAge and Occupation: 24, Project CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, PilotEngagement Date: February 15, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Jewel Box in Forest Park and Windows on WashingtonAbout Me: I'm a true Midwestern girl (born and raised), lover of red wine, reality TV and the entire J.Crew catalog. I love to dance regardless of who is watching, and enjoy a good laugh with my girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for planet Earth, my two dogs and my fiance. Fall is my favorite season (which is why we are marrying in September), but I love a warm summer day and the Colorado mountains in the winter. We are planning a modern soiree downtown, with lots of bold colors, and fun, eco-friendly elements.
Miss Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
The closer it gets to our wedding day, the less time I’m willing to spend researching options for the list of things I still need to get for the big day. So, thank goodness for Weddingbee, where I can find my solutions right on my homepage (yes, Weddingbee is my browser homepage, both at home and at work!).
Recently, Miss Pencils posted about some beautiful pearl accessories, and low and behold, she found the perfect hair pins for me! Her post forced me—no, twisted my arm and basically held me at gun point—to buy these hair pins, and cross one more thing off my never ending “to get” list! Could I have made something like this myself, like Miss Paisley did? Sure! But with the clock ticking down, I don’t have time to add any more DIY projects to my list (OK, OK, I did add one more this morning… but my mom is going to help and it will totally be worth it!).
Here are the beautiful pins, which will look much better than the cheapie ones I got for my trial from Claire’s. I opted for the ivory pearls with violet crystals.
Miss Scissors, LaGrange, GAAge and Occupation: 25, Art StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Engineering StudentEngagement Date: January 1, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Ceremony - First United Methodist Church; Reception - My parents' house!About Me: I’m a six-foot-three bride with a fifty-foot personality! I love great art, fabulous design, intense color, tons of music, indie photography, watching movies on repeat, and being really awesome. This super-tall, Southern, loud, quirky, neurotic artist is marrying a German, quiet, silly, super-amazing roboticist in an eclectic, funky, fun, snazzy, technicolored June wedding. Anything is game for this shindig, for it is all about us! We’re bringing giant paper cranes, six-foot-tall portraits, fortune cookies, a photo booth, a club-circuit DJ, handcuffs, and possibly a kidnapping to this small Southern town. Watch out, y’all, and try to keep up!
Early on, I fell in love with photos of brides in fabulous shoes next to grooms in ridiculous socks. It has made me a supreme lover of shoe shots. If you remember, I even managed to get some shoe-shot-love out of our engagement shoot.
Since we already have my awesome shoes on lock-down, it’s about time to start looking for some rockin’ socks for Mr. Scissors. An hour-or-so of piddling around the internet proved to be quite fruitful, as I found some pretty neat-looking stuff.
Miss Lace, Pasadena, CAAge and Occupation: 29, Elementary school teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, EngineerEngagement Date: September 6, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Orange County Performing Arts CenterAbout Me: Born and raised in Southern California, my fiance and I are marrying in Orange County. We're planning a vintage wedding with a modern twist. I am an elementary school teacher by day and a wedding planner by night. I love reading, blogging, scrapbooking, trying out new DIY projects, buying awesome finds at incredible deals and spending time with friends and family. Trying new restaurants, traveling and shopping also top my hobby list. I'm anxious to share my wedding ideas and planning with the hive!
I previously posted about all these beautiful sashes that I love, but am not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on. I buckled down and began looking at different flowers at shops. Flowers on belts, shirts, headbands, clips, fascinators, cardigans, dresses and shoes. I knew I had to just sit down and try to make some flowers and see how they turned out. I bought some fabric (with my 40% off coupon at Jo-Ann’s), pulled out my sewing supplies and got to work. Here’s what I came up with. Oh yes, and in case you were wondering who took these awesome photos with doubly awesome backgrounds (rose colored carpet anyone?), it was me!
I made a flower stencil using cardstock and pinned it to the fabric. I cut out a LOT of flowers. Read more…
Miss Sewing, San Mateo, CA/Honolulu, HIAge and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: June 27, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Anela Garden Chapel & Japanese Cultural Center, HonoluluAbout Me: I'm an easily entertained, compulsive idea-scheming machine who loves good art, good food, and a good engineering challenge. I'm planning a half-destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu - imagine a plethora of movies, art and games; savory Hawaiian food; blended Chinese and Japanese cultural details; lush, fragrant tropical flowers and all the air conditioning a NorCal native could want! And once I marry the love of my life, we'll come back to the 'mainland' to party it up all over again in my hometown of Salinas, the salad-bowl capital of the world!
Well friends, throw me on the DIY hair flower bus, because I couldn’t resist!
I loved the expensive hair flower I tried on at my hair trial. Could I make something similar?
The pro-flower I tried on!
I searched around, and decided to use this tutorial by Mrs. Pineapple.
First, I gathered some supplies: a hot glue gun, a fake $1 rose from Michaels, a hair clip and an assortment of beads. Read more…
Miss Paisley, Orange County, CAAge and Occupation: 25, JournalistFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Spanish ProfessorEngagement Date: September 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Family Lake HouseAbout Me: From my earliest days I attracted attention, as much for my intelligence as for beauty. I display an originality, a perspicacity, a certain je ne sais quoi that sets me apart. I posses a mysterious authority which compels people to do my bidding. I am a regal blonde with classic features and the daintiness of Dresden porcelain. I am poised, soft-spoken, and well educated... Okay, now that enough eyebrows have sufficiently shot through the roof, everybody can relax---I kid! I'm just a sarcastic NorCal-turned-SoCal girl who loves outdoor activities, books, letterpress printing and of course, Professor Paisley.
The feather hair flower: the trend of the ’10s (is that what you call the year/decade we’re in now?). I believe a hair flower––and I’m talking a normal-sized (nothin’ against the gimongous ones, they’re just not my thing), plain ivory, with or without a few feathers––will become the one trend of the early 2000s to transcend all time and become a classic. I’m talking, Grace Kelly-chignon-classic. Audrey Hepburn’s-French-twist-and-tiny-bangs-classic. Don’t believe me? Take a gander (haha) at these feathery finds in an inspiration board I made:
And even if they do date your pictures, who cares? Read more…
Miss Lace, Pasadena, CAAge and Occupation: 29, Elementary school teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, EngineerEngagement Date: September 6, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Orange County Performing Arts CenterAbout Me: Born and raised in Southern California, my fiance and I are marrying in Orange County. We're planning a vintage wedding with a modern twist. I am an elementary school teacher by day and a wedding planner by night. I love reading, blogging, scrapbooking, trying out new DIY projects, buying awesome finds at incredible deals and spending time with friends and family. Trying new restaurants, traveling and shopping also top my hobby list. I'm anxious to share my wedding ideas and planning with the hive!
One of the things I’m tackling in March is attire for the entire bridal party. So, here is what we have so far.
Flower Girls’ dresses – check (By the way, I was randomly shopping at Marshall’s one day and spun by the kid’s clothes and found 2 ivory flower girl dresses for $30 each.)
Bridesmaid dresses – check (Originally $200 at Anthropologie and marked down to $50.)
Bride – check (Purchased my dress off the rack at a discount + no tax)
For the girls, I AM missing flowers for the girls’ hair, a flower for my hair and a bridal sash. I’m not a huge fan of the bejeweled organza sash that came with my dress so I plan to strip it for parts (vintage-y jewels) and use them to make my own fabric flowers. I’ve been searching for inspiration and here is what has struck my fancy.
Miss Lace, Pasadena, CAAge and Occupation: 29, Elementary school teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, EngineerEngagement Date: September 6, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Orange County Performing Arts CenterAbout Me: Born and raised in Southern California, my fiance and I are marrying in Orange County. We're planning a vintage wedding with a modern twist. I am an elementary school teacher by day and a wedding planner by night. I love reading, blogging, scrapbooking, trying out new DIY projects, buying awesome finds at incredible deals and spending time with friends and family. Trying new restaurants, traveling and shopping also top my hobby list. I'm anxious to share my wedding ideas and planning with the hive!
I am naturally a sweaty girl. I know, it’s gross. I hate it too, but it’s in my genes. I can’t really help it. So, when choosing a venue, we decided to go indoors with air con. We’re getting married in June, so a strapless dress was the way to go. There’d be no reason to layer on anything else. Until, I came across these shrugs.
I am in LOVE with these adorable ivory, lacey, delicate, flowery shrugs! It makes me want to get married when it’s a bit cooler just so I can have one. Check these beauties out!
Miss Paisley, Orange County, CAAge and Occupation: 25, JournalistFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Spanish ProfessorEngagement Date: September 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Family Lake HouseAbout Me: From my earliest days I attracted attention, as much for my intelligence as for beauty. I display an originality, a perspicacity, a certain je ne sais quoi that sets me apart. I posses a mysterious authority which compels people to do my bidding. I am a regal blonde with classic features and the daintiness of Dresden porcelain. I am poised, soft-spoken, and well educated... Okay, now that enough eyebrows have sufficiently shot through the roof, everybody can relax---I kid! I'm just a sarcastic NorCal-turned-SoCal girl who loves outdoor activities, books, letterpress printing and of course, Professor Paisley.
I fell in love with this hair inspiration from Knottie Mrs. Pdxbride06 pretty early on in my wedding planning process:
I realized more than anything, I loved that hair clip! It turns out they’re custom-made hair pins from August Veils according to Mrs Pdx’s planning page, and I’m guessing they’re most likely based on the Donna style: Read more…
Miss Sewing, San Mateo, CA/Honolulu, HIAge and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: June 27, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Anela Garden Chapel & Japanese Cultural Center, HonoluluAbout Me: I'm an easily entertained, compulsive idea-scheming machine who loves good art, good food, and a good engineering challenge. I'm planning a half-destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu - imagine a plethora of movies, art and games; savory Hawaiian food; blended Chinese and Japanese cultural details; lush, fragrant tropical flowers and all the air conditioning a NorCal native could want! And once I marry the love of my life, we'll come back to the 'mainland' to party it up all over again in my hometown of Salinas, the salad-bowl capital of the world!
Last Halloween, Mr. Sew and I had a party in which we donned some steampunk costumes.
My favorite part of the costume (other than swishing around in my bustled wedding dress skirt!) was the pillbox hat. I followed this video on Threadbangers to get the basic shape: Read more…
Miss Sewing, San Mateo, CA/Honolulu, HIAge and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: June 27, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Anela Garden Chapel & Japanese Cultural Center, HonoluluAbout Me: I'm an easily entertained, compulsive idea-scheming machine who loves good art, good food, and a good engineering challenge. I'm planning a half-destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu - imagine a plethora of movies, art and games; savory Hawaiian food; blended Chinese and Japanese cultural details; lush, fragrant tropical flowers and all the air conditioning a NorCal native could want! And once I marry the love of my life, we'll come back to the 'mainland' to party it up all over again in my hometown of Salinas, the salad-bowl capital of the world!
Miss Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
As I alluded to in my last post, I decided to DIY my garter that will be used for the garter toss. Yes, we will be doing the bouquet and garter toss, another tradition that we decided to include, because… well, we have lots of unmarried friends, and it’s fun! The tosses have been done at almost every wedding I’ve attended, so I thought we might as well do it, too.
So on our wedding day I will be wearing my old blue garter as my something blue, and this new one which will be tossed. And for about $10 of materials from the fabric store (purchased during a sale, yay!), I’d say this DIY garter turned out pretty nicely!
The following is my little tutorial on the steps I took to make this garter. I know there have been several tutorials, such as the ones by Miss Cheeseburger, Miss Poodle, and Mrs. Peach, however they were all a bit different, so I thought I’d chime in with my two cents. I tend to use the “fake it until you make it” approach to sewing, but who knows, maybe this will help someone out!
I started out by gathering my supplies, several types of lace, elastic, pins, thread, etc. (photographed on top of my sweet new purple laptop!):
