2nd Fitting: The Bustle!

I have about 40 pictures from my fitting on Saturday, but I wanted a fairly easy post...so before I get to showing the progress (but not completion :-( ) of my dress...i'll show you the few bustle options that my seamstress gave me.

Because I cropped these to only show from the waist down, I think I can still keep the style of the dress a secret from E, in case he peeks in on me. (which means actual pictures...not links!)

My dress is pleated at the back and has a very short train, so I didn't have a whole lot of options for the bustle.  essentially, there is a 1 point over bustle (with two variations), a 1 point under bustle or a 3 point under bustle.

They are all fairly easy to do, but the over bustle is the least stable becuase there is only one point and it has to be a hook and eye or tiny button, for minimal visbility.

this my dress' train

Bustle 1: Three point underbustle

Bustle 2: I think this is one point under bustle..just kind of messy?  hmmm...I should have written them down.

Bustle 3: One point over bustle worn low 

Bustle 4: one piont over bustle worn high (at hips) with the pleats pulled out

Bustle 5: One point over bustle at hips, with the pleats tucked behind.

There's not a dramatic difference between them all, but I think I'm going to go with the last one because it's the cleanest look.  I like the pleats in my dress with the train is down, but it seems funny looking to me to have a pleated bustle.  It is the least secure of the bustles...but I'll take my chances.  

But I certainly I wouldn't want my bustle to slip.  Someone might step on my dress, and I could end up with this!

leaving in 3 hours for Cali.

I have as many pieces of luggage as the airline allows, and I'm out of here!

bridal shower, part II

Time is moving fast over here.

I had a wonderful, but busy weekend with family, friends, packing, and a few wedding things scattered here and there.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't facing the consequences of my birthday festivities right now...

I can't believe I forgot to share with you my second shower put on my my aunt and grandmother on my mom's side of the family for church friends and family friends a couple of weeks ago!

It was daisy themed with cute little blue and yellow accents.  It was held at the community center in the townhouse complex where my grandparents live.

All these photos courtesy of my lovely friend NurseK, pictured here!  (with the decoration shots taken by Sissy)

Baby sis helping to set up before I arrived.

yummy orange punch. (not made yet?)

the pretty wild flower/daisy arrangements

I was glad people chatted while I opened gifts.  It made me feel less intimidated than if they were all watching me the whole time.

lots of tissue paper to fold!  I had plenty of help.

Grandma and me (ps. isn't that brooch awesome?)

I look odd in this pictures (sick of smiling?).  But this is my mommy.

I had a really wonderful time with all the lovely ladies from my church and long-time family friends.  My aunt had each of the married women write me a note of advice.  That was so precious to have advice from women who've been married any where from 2-50 years share with me what they've learning about marriage.

We played a funny twist on bridal trivia game with bingo.  There were some tough questions.

And, as always, my gifts were so generous!  It's always interesting  to see who gets me what type of gift from my registry, according to what their tastes or interests are.

Anyway, that was my second shower!  

I am leaving for CA this time tomorrow for my last 'visit', and my last time traveling without Eric!

We plan to buy a bed, sign a contract for our rental house, start moving into the new house finalize music, and I have a job interview!

I can' wait to see my hubby, even though there are only 3.5 weeks left until the wedding.  I"ll need to keep myself busy for some of the time because he still has two final exams to take , so I hope to get at least one more post in this week.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend! 

wonderful weekend!

Lots of things going on in the next few days over here....

Today is my 21st birthday, and I'm pretty excited to go out tonight. :-)

I have my second dress fitting tomorrow

I get to leave work an hour early because it's a holiday weekend.

I have the wedding of a family friend tomorrow (I'll be paying close attention to all the details--It's going to be a little run-through for me of what works and doesn't work. Especially since my sister is honorary DOC!)

I'm missing my love right now, so this weeks pictures are some of our engagement shots I haven't shared with you(!)

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend

Am I crazy?

About two months ago I was feeling stressed with the details of the setup and logistics of the wedding, and guilty at how much friends and family were helping me with projects, organizing, and decor.

 

So I posted an ad on Craig's List for a DOC with a budget of $400--about half of the average price I was being quoted for a professional DOC.  I only wanted someone to be available on the wedding day to direct people, set up, and handle any catastrophes.

Within 4 days I had received over 50 responses--from certified DOCs that still had the date available and were willing to lower their prices, to young professionals with lots of wedding experience (think former brides and bridesmaids) looking to supplement their income.

I was overwhelmed by the response and started to sift through the emails and narrow the candidates down.

 

I requested futher information from 4 or 5 that looked promising and then talked with my mom, aunt, and sister about it.  After a couple weeks of thinking, I made a decision.

 

 I decided not to hire a day of wedding coordinator.

 

Instead, my friends and family will be delegated tiny tasks on the big day to ensure everything runs smoothly.  I made this decision for several reasons, money being one of them, but not the biggest.

So why no DOC?

 

1. My family didn’t like the idea of a stranger being around telling everyone what to do.

All the weddings I've been to in the past have either hired or asked friends and family to help with all the wedding details.  It definitely creates a comfortable atmosphere when people helping out know my family and wedding guests, and are familiar with everyone.  They know names and faces to pull people for pictures, and they are recognizable when guests have questions.

2. I didn’t like the idea of a stranger implementing all my wonderful DIY projects. (someone not invested in them)

My friends and family have helped me thruogh every step of the way with my crazy DIY projects.  They know how particular I am, they know how much time I (and they!) have invested in making each little touch uiqiue, beautiful, and "us".  They will feel personally committed to implementing my vision.

3. I have UHMAZING family and friends that have stepped up to the challenge.

In the time since I've gotten engaged, I've gotton a dozen offers and requests to help with wedding activities from all my aunts, cousins, bridesmaids, and friends.  I know this is such a blessing, but I have more help than I almost know what to do with.  I'm still trying to get things organized so that I split up all the little duties amongst my wonderful coordinating team--but I think with an organized base, this will go smoothly.

4. The money. 

We are on a tight budget that grew by several thousand once we realized the general cost of weddings.  Even with loads of DIY, my 160 guest wedding was going to delve into my bank account as well as my parents'.  With this is mind, the unstable economy and my lack of job in CA (so far), spending more money than absolutely necessary became stressful.

 

I realize that I have no idea if my wedding day will or won’t turn out, but we’re gonna try (and knowing my psycho-organized type A self….if it doesn’t work out–it won’t be for lack of planning!)

 

My Resources?

Mrs. Daffodil's amazing wedding weekend packet

Customized, detailed photography list (with names of relatives included)

my wonderful family

[Inspiration Fridays]

This Friday inspiration post is a little unqiue...

Last night aunt Jet and I went to scope out a photo location she thought would be perfect for pre-ceremony photos that is closeby (15 minutes) from our church...

Oddly enough, it's on the campus of the organization I work for!  We have a workshop and residential program for adults with disabilities...and the grounds are beautiful.

Sound strange?  Let me share:

We'll do our first look here (the barely-there vines should be much thicker in 5 weeks!)

Then stroll over to the gazebo

and down to the covered bridge...

Isn't it beautiful?

There's only one hitch to this great little plan: I'm getting married on a Friday.  Pictures starting at 11am.  While I will no longer be an employee, it's a normal work day for 400+ employees!

The parking lot is going to be full of vehicles and not make for as pretty a background.  Our photographers will have to make sure to shoot from the right angles!

ps.  can you tell at what point I figured out the perfect outdoor setting for my camera?  Not even post-processing could make pictures 2,3 &5 compare to the others.  Thanks to Jenna of That Wife for the great photo advice!

This isn't just about the wedding

This wedding planning blog is the first time I've blogged so...unemotionally, I guess.

Reading the posts on this blog is making me realize how much I've gotten to share all the little details, and not what this is really like.

It's starting to really sink in that I'm getting married.

and moving across the country.

and finding a new job.

and living in my own house for the first time.

and stepping so far out of my comfort zone.

source

No, that's not our house.  I wish!

I'm going to miss not sharing a wardrobe with my sisters.  Seeing my dad at work every day.

I'm going to miss playing volleyball with my closest friends, chatting over coffee with C.Mc, going for runs with Rae.

I'm going to miss our monthly family get togethers of 30 people (yes, my family is big and very close). and singing happy birthday (warning: it is obnoxious!)

E's never really had a close-knit family like mine.  And I know it's going to be hard for him to pull me away from it all.  I've never lived more than an hour from most of my family.

 And he will miss them too. 

[almost] all of us! (28/30 ain't bad)

It's been one long year of long-distance.  And as much as it'll be hard to be away from home, it's been much harder to be away from him.

But I'm so thrilled to start my own family.  I know it's going to take adjusting, lots of long-distance phone calls, and some loneliness--but I can't wait to settle in as E's wife, wherever he is.

And it's hard to be nervous, and sad, and anxious, when I know what I'm going to: my real home, with E.  It's been a year of feeling torn in two, and never feeling quite settled. 

We have lots of learning and growing to do, but I'm glad we're doing it together.

I'm feeling like a total sap today, can you tell?

DIY Tutorial: Invitation--a lot of love and papercuts

The final installment in my invitations series....

[previously]

I showed you our invitations

Christie, my cousin and graphic designer explained her end

budget breakdown

now for the nitty gritty!

I started with this: Superfine white envelopes, cardstock and text stock, and sage A7 cards from Paper Source, and chocolate brown pocketfolds from Paper and More

I ordered the paper-source A7 cards in sage to fit in the center of the pocketfold, but beware! They were just slightly too big, and the pocketfold bubbled when I tried folding it shut. I ended up having to slice off 1/8 inch off of each of the cards!

I left Christie's with a huge stack of printed paper and a heavy duty paper cutter and got to work! Christie printed thin black lines for precise cutting, and I cut inside those lines, as close as possible.

It was really important for accurate cutting because of my perfectionist tendencies so they would fit properly in the pocketfold.

I shared the beginning of this process here, and spent 2 nights a week plus saturdays for almost the next month cutting these, a little at a time.

In the end, I cut 6 pieces for every invitation and then for about 25 of them, added California Reception insert.

sis K1 taping the middle insert to the pocketfold.

I realize this makes me look like I force all my relatives to DIY for me, but really I only took a short break for [crappy] pictures!

Finally, just for one last time, the final product!

The last two pictures are a little bit sad to post, because I forgot to take a photo of the set before I sent my own through the mail. You can clearly see the indents and folds from the envelope. But it still gives the idea of how it looked closed.

It's a rainy, yucky day outside, but I've been busy mini-moon hotel booking and working on my photography list

What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

the final "other" dress

So, I've talked about "other" dress-shopping for all those wedding-y occasions, like my shower, second reception, and honeymoon.

I've been doing ok finding some steals and deals on my very tight clothing budget, but I was browsing ebay's dress selection upon the recommendation of some bloggers, and found this once-worn j.crew dress I just couldn't get enough of.

Even thought $100 was more than my plan to spend on a dress...it retails for $395!

I think it's cute and elegant and totally fun. I'm going to wear it for our rehearsal and for our second reception/outdoor dinner party in California in July. Gotta have dual-usage. :-)

Thanks to BM Riss for convincing me I needed this dress! I can't wait to see it in person.

[Inspiration Fridays]

This weekend I'm getting major organized--lists, lists, and lists! Sorting and exchanging some wedding gifts, and hammering out our wedding ceremony. Hopefully this mostly be done on the porch outside so I can soak in the sun! Maybe set up another blog or two on all my projects. :-)

Until then, here are some happy pictures for your weekend!

Have a good one and give your mom a big hug!

This glance is just the cutest:

Sarah K Chen Photography

If I was going to get married in Cali and outside...this would be the location, hands down.

wouldn't you love to take some intimate post-ceremony photos in this secret garden?

Evoke Photography

I would.

DIY Tutorial: Table Number Booklets

I saw this fabulous idea for table number booklets on OnceWed months ago and fell in love.

I took the DIY even a step further, and made the booklets instaed of just covering them.

In hindsight--I wish i would've found some pretty patterns, but the textured paper turned out so well!

First, I downloaded the font mom's typewriter from dafont, instead of purchasing the stamp used in the other tutorial. (saved $25 on the stamp)

Then I laid out the table numbers in Adobe InDesign (can easily be done in Word or Publisher!) to fit the print size 5 x 8.

I printed the booklet double-sided on plain white paper at home on a total of 36 pages. Free (saved $54 by not purchasing moleskin notebooks.)

I used all the same phrases listed in the OnceWed tutorial, but added "what should we name our firstborn?"  I know we'll get lots of great responses on that one, as it is sort of an inside joke with E and his married friends.

This is what the font looks like in the booklet:

Afer printing and trimming the inside pages, I got to workon the covers.  I purchased the cover paper from JoAnn Fabrics.  I had used that week's coupon for shepherd's hooks, so no discount.  We bought 7 8.5 x 11 sheets in 3 colors(brown, sage and ivory) for $.50 cents each= $10.50.  I bought a textured linen-like paper.

We looked high and low for numbers that would work and ended up using the extra paper from the boolet covers, and stencils my Aunt Jet had laying around the house. Free! (saved $8)  We traced the numbers with stencils and began cutting them out.  

You HAVE TO remember to trace the numbers backwards so that when they're done, the finished side shows the number facing the right way!  We had to throw a few out because I wasn't paying attention.

Aunt Jet measured the booklet covers so the number would be in the same place on every booklet, and traced light pencil lines.

Then we glued the paper numbers onto the booklet covers

I ended up using a mixture of colors for the booklets and loved how that turned out (i.e. ivory numbers on a brown booklet, brown numbers on a green booklet)  There are only three duplicates of each color combination in the 18 booklets.

Lastly we went through my Aunt Jet's big drawer of thread and picked out matching ivory, green and brown thread.  We stiched the booklet's bind just using a running stitch.  

I'll post pictures soon of the inside of the booklet and a closeup of the stitching.

The booklet will stand up nicely on it's own, so we won't have to have table number stands.

I love how this project turned out, and it was sooo cheap!

Budget breakdown

Font: free

white paper: free

cover paper: $10.50

stencils: free

krazy glue: $3

Total $13.50 for 18 table number booklets

Cost per table number booklet = $.75