Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Recently, there have been some setbacks in the Save the Date process.
I’m trying my best to stay calm about this, but I’m kind of starting to lose my shit. OK, so this is my first big project, and it’s inevitable that things will go wrong. I learn from it and move on, right? Maybe I will—I’m sure I’ll feel much better when I reach the actual point where I can move on, but right now, I’m still looking at days of more work, and those are days I don’t have. I’m trying to step things up at work because I’ve been distracted all summer and fall and I think people are starting to notice, and I’m supposed to be participating in this crazy fitness challenge. What the ham sandwich was I thinking taking on all these things at once?!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I bet every time I post, you think my entry titles couldn’t possibly get lamer. But I just keep surprising you, don’t I?
Back to business. So, I’ve been deep in the thick of making my save the dates for the past few weeks. First I designed ‘em, then I mocked ‘em up, then we hashed out a printing method, then we picked out colors from the corresponding Pantone guide (uncoated process, in this case), then we chose and ordered matching paper, and now, I’m just agonizing. I can’t order the actual printed portion until I get the printing samples from the company we’re using (Catprint, if all goes according to plan, and yes, I chose them because they like cats) and OUR ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS!
In the meantime, I’ve been cutting, cutting, cutting. I don’t want to reveal too much about them until they go out, but suffice it to say, my Cricut has a starring role in the production process. I took a break from Cricut-ing on Saturday to run to the post office, and I got some “deets,” as they say, about the postage for my precious beauties. As it turns out, the envelope size I chose—six-and-a-half inches, square—is the most expensive thing EVER to mail! Ready for this? Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I bit the bullet and ordered an Ann Wood cake topper. Lord help me. I don’t even want to think about how much it cost and how stupid I am for buying it. BUT I LOVE IT.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Mr. Panther and I still aren’t sure if we’ll have flower girls. And if we do, they probably will be too old to wear something like this, but MAN. If I could give birth to a three-year-old girl just so someone could wear this in my wedding, I would do it. Is that weird?
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Warning: This post will be a bit of a Debbie Downer, but this particular matter is really important to my story and has had a huge effect on our wedding.
Growing up, my cousin (the previously mentioned Cool J) and I lived in a world where nothing ever went wrong. His parents and mine lived in a two-family house as one big family. Our grandpa, aunt, and uncle lived three houses down. We had three healthy sets of grandparents (our moms’ parents split up and both remarried), healthy parents with happy relationships, and a stable, easy childhood. Both our dads were popular musicians in Connecticut, and our lives were filled with raucous parties, packed picnics, and crowded holidays.
My dad bringing me my birthday cake at one of the aforementioned raucous parties:
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I just impulse-bought a hair piece for the wedding—oops! Sure, I’m still deciding whether or not to wear a veil, and yeah, I have no idea what I want to do with my hair yet. But whatever it is, I really hope I can work this in!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Our custom “thank you” stamp from JLMould on Etsy finally came today, so I made some thank you cards for engagement gifts. Woohoo! Actual wedding stationery, sort of!
This thank you card was a long time coming. I’m not going to lie to you guys—I basically totally copied Mrs. Ladybug’s cards. Thanks for the inspiration, Mrs. Ladybug! Please don’t kill me!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
The Dalai Lama was in Atlanta recently. That’s a pretty big deal. Dahlias are, too. Hence my post title. Ahem. Anyway.
I think I might have mentioned my wedding dress, right? I can’t be positive, but I’m pretty sure I did (joking, joking). Reminder: the style by Amsale is called “Dahlia,” and after I bought it, I looked up dahlias to see what they were like. It turns out they’re AWESOME. They’re big, bold, and colorful—a.k.a. perfect for our wedding! I checked in with our florist (a friend of my mom’s—Bill at De Vars-Philips Florists & Antiques), and he said that dahlias were both affordable and available in July. Oh, hey, guess what our Official Wedding Flower is. Yes!
Please, let me enthrall you with some dahlia images.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
So, Mr. Panther and I just spent the last few hours watching wedding shows on TLC. We didn’t mean to—I’m not really a reality show fan in general, especially when it comes to the voyeuristic and generally icky stuff they tend to show on TLC now. I was a huge fan back in the early days of Trading Spaces, but even that show, which should have been restored to its former glory when Paige Davis returned, is just no good anymore. And of course, Mr. Panther wouldn’t watch wedding shows by choice. It just…happened.
Anyway, we were watching this kind of disgusting show called Four Weddings, in which four brides attend each others’ weddings and basically talk shit the whole time because they’re competing for a dream honeymoon. And then we were watching Say Yes to the Dress, which is kind of awesome, especially since one of the episodes tonight featured Monique Lhuillier’s Sunday Rose, which is my favorite dress on the planet after mine. And all this talk of dresses and accessories temporarily took me off my stationery kick, and I started looking at shoes. Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Like many bees before me (Pengy, Mrs. Dachshund, Mrs. Duckling, Mrs. Argyle, etc.), I am officially Cricut crazy. I cannot wait another MINUTE to get my hands on one! For those who are not familiar, a Cricut is an electronic die-cutting machine. It’s like a printer, except instead of printing things with ink, it cuts them out with a bunch of digitally controlled blades. It’s meant to be a cartridge-based system—you buy cartridges (like old school video games!) that contain a bunch of shapes, letters, and/or designs, and then use the machine’s controls to choose a size and such.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Hooray, I finally came up with a concept for naming the tables! Sort of. I mean, kind of. Anyway. I’ve been trying to come up with something cool but not cutesy for naming the tables. I wouldn’t die if I had to just use numbers like a normal person, but I thought it’d be cool to add in a little something extra.
So, as I’ve mentioned, I’m totally cliché and love the idea of incorporating birds into the decor in some way. I don’t want an entirely bird-themed wedding or anything, but I’d like to throw some in where possible. And since there are lots of kinds of birds, I thought naming each table after a different kind of bird would be fun.
But how to execute it? Just writing out the name of the bird would be boring. I thought about using rubber stamps, but how the hell was I going to find stamps of 22 different birds? Black and white printed illustrations like this might be an option:
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I think my “bridal styling” will be among the last few things I choose, simply because when it comes to my looks, I change my mind a lot. I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks that I’d want to get temporary extensions—my stylist says he can dye them to match my hair exactly—and have them styled into relaxed curls/waves, like these:
Unique Wedding Favors
