Mrs. Toucan, BostonAge and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, ActuaryEngagement Date: February 18, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: November 07, 2007Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine RestaurantAbout Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
Miss Toucan’s been a busy busy bird, so I’m lumping some of my paper projects together in one post!
First - Table cards:
Since poor Mr. Toucan hasn’t had very much say in some of the wedding details, so he named all the tables. And wouldn’t you know it - Nintendo characters! The table cards themselves aren’t that exciting - I just printed out pictures of each character and made a little table tent. Read more…
Mrs. Sundae, Chicago/Lake Geneva, WIAge and Occupation: 28, Knowledge ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Investment AdvisorEngagement Date: July 20, 2007Wedding Date: September 2008Blogging Since: February 5, 2008Venue: The Abbey ResortAbout Me: It’s hard to believe that by the time Mr. Sundae and I get married we will have been together for almost ten years. When we first met in college we split dollar pitchers and now we share the mortgage payments. Despite our love for the city we are looking forward to tying the knot in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
As I mentioned before, Mama Sundae and I decided to make the table runners she’s making look more “finished” with something black around the edges. She tested a few different types of ribbon as well as some bias tape, and the bias tape won out in both look and convenience. I didn’t know anything about this when I started out, so I thought I would pass along some of what I’ve learned!
Our tables are the relatively standard 72″ rounds, which seat 8-10 people. We figured out that in order to get the runners to go almost all of the way to the floor (they’re about 3 inches off the floor on each side) they needed to be 120″ long. We originally thought that we would also be able to pick the width, but looking at the fabric we ordered we quickly realized that to have the pattern centered we had to each runner as wide as the biggest part of the pattern:
Miss Cherry Pie, Seattle/Polebridge, MontanaAge and Occupation: 25, Marketing Communications SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Nurse PractitionerEngagement Date: August 26, 2006Wedding Date: September 2008Blogging Since: April 1, 2008Venue: A tiny town just outside of Glacier National ParkAbout Me: I think of life as a journey and I love the places it's taking me! I went to school to study Magazine Journalism, ended up with a second major in Japanese language, and now work at a company that makes software for libraries. I love writing, computers, photography, and the great outdoors. I spend most of my time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or geeking out online with Mr. Cherry Pie. I'm happiest when I'm on the road, especially traveling abroad, or just nesting quietly at home with my sweetie, who is a fabulous cook and bakes a delicious rendition of a certain cherry-filled dessert!
I apologize for my looooong hiatus. Two shortened work weeks coupled with weekend travel made me one very busy Bee!
Last you heard from me, I was headed out to Montana for my Super Wedding Weekend. As I wrote, I didn’t get to take the train because I couldn’t take my bike on board, which I would have needed to get into the Park before it opened for the season. Instead, I drove with my mom and we had to walk 1/2 mile from the car to the cabin on the first night because the road was still closed at Lake McDonald Lodge. Read more…
Mrs. Cherry Blossom, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative Asst.Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, District Sales ManagerEngagement Date: December 23, 2006Wedding Date: May 3, 2008Venue: Zen Garden in the East Bay w/ reception in a floor-to-ceiling window Atrium with views of the Zen GardenAbout Me: After 5 years of dating, we're finally ready to get hitched! I am a lovah of all things wedding, creative, crafty, and definitely DIY bc I love to add a personal touch to everything I gift or make. In my free time, I like to bake, spend time with our family, friends, and my doggies, read my guilty pleasure celebrity gossip and catch up on TV shows.
Nothing fancy schmancy but we needed table numbers for the Chinese banquet and wanted one that could give us space to write each guest’s name at each table, stood on its own, and showed the number. But I couldn’t find a simple tri-fold template online that I could use and make easily, so I created my own and it’s shared here for you all!!
I kept mine really really simple but you can use the template and dress it up in so many different ways! Here’s how it looked prior to printing it on Staples Cover Letter stock paper. Read more…
Mrs. Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay AreaAge and Occupation: 25, IllustratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise PlannerEngagement Date: May 27, 2007Wedding Date: August, 2008Blogging Since: February 7, 2008Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green RoomAbout Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a bit of a conundrum: I couldn’t figure out whether or not to have menus. After reading everyone’s comments, I decided that I would do menus, but only if it were as simple as humanly possible, didn’t stress me out, and didn’t disrupt my very simple looking place setting. Here’s what I came up with:
You might be wondering where the circle of dots come from. I promise that I didn’t just throw them in there for the heck of it–these match our invitations, which you will be seeing in a couple of weeks. Read more…
Mrs. Penguin, SacramentoAge and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
Time consuming unnecessary DIY project #428: Menus
I bought all the materials I was going to need for some cute little menus to fold in each of our guests’ napkins. I took inspiration from my friend Andrea over at Studio Ayt, who made these incredible “cutout” menus for her own wedding last year.
Mrs. Hydrangea, DallasAge and Occupation: 26, Administrative AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Network AnalystEngagement Date: June 2007Wedding Date: September 2008Blogging Since: January 14, 2008Venue: Catholic Church and Reception at The W HotelAbout Me: Mr. H and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds so I'm excited to plan our wedding with a balance of both traditions. My mom has always been a DIY queen, and I'm just now starting to get into it with a new house and a wedding to plan!
While we won’t be assigning each guest to a specific seat, we will be assigning guests to specific tables. Because Mr. H and I come from very different families and cultures, we didn’t want his side of the family on one side of the room and mine on the other. We are having a buffet/stationed dinner so assigning a specific seat wasn’t necessary (phew! I know that takes a lot of work)!
I decided that Memorial Day Weekend would also partly become my wedding prep weekend. I got quite a few tasks checked off my list, and the great sales around town definitely helped this. My first task was to make the table numbers. I designed the numbers in Illustrator. Because I think that we will be using 6″ stands, my original idea for 5×7 cards seemed too big, so I shortened them to 5×5. Then, I decided that I wanted them double sided, so I bought some black card stock to attach the numbers to.
After my design was complete, I took the document to Kinko’s because I wanted to be sure that the print quality was better then just my printer at home (plus I am running out of ink and was too lazy to buy a new cartridge). While the cards printed, I used their paper cutter to cut the black cardstock to 5.5×5.5 pieces. Read more…
Mrs. Tiramisu, Annapolis, MD/MaineAge and Occupation: 26, Eye DoctorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager/Real Estate Management grad studentEngagement Date: May 15, 2007Wedding Date: July, 2008Blogging Since: March 4, 2008Venue: Oceanfront lawn and tentAbout Me: I was born and raised in Maine, now living in Annapolis, Maryland and planning a hometown wedding from afar. I’m nothing short of obsessed with wedding planning, and am loving the do-it-yourself madness that has now taken over my life! As for me, I’m a craft-loving, martini-drinking, girly-girl who loves traveling, photography, my schnauzer, and above all, spending time with Mr. Tiramisu.
A lot of ideas have passed through my little head about table numbers. For a long time I wanted to do photos of Mr. T and I at the age that corresponded to the number of the table, like this gorgeous example. When those photos proved hard to track down (Mr. Tiramisu is one of five… it’s tricky to dig through so many piles of photos!), we thought about photos of places we had traveled or were important to us. At one point we considered photos that featured our dog, Duncan, posed with signs showing our table numbers. With time quickly slipping away before the wedding, I decided to go with the obvious choice that is right in front of us- our engagement pictures (all photos taken by the lovely Girls With Big Cameras).
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, CanadaAge and Occupation: 25, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing StudentEngagement Date: December 2004Wedding Date: June 21, 2008Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
Like I had mentioned in my previous post, Mr. Flamingo and I wanted some type of chandelier on a stand for our centerpieces, but we didn’t want to make a big hole in our budget. While shopping for the holidays, I suddenly had this “AWWWWWWWW” moment - and I apologize because I never showed you what that AWWW piece was.
Mrs. Penguin, SacramentoAge and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
Taking gobs of inspiration from two of the most talented gals around, Huckleberry Karen and Lisa at Bellissima Vita, I sat down last night to make our escort cards that will tell guests where they are seated and also serve as wine charms for folks to keep track of their wine glasses.