Bachelorette Debauchery

So, my bachelorette par-tay was Saturday, and it was out of this world.

The day started off with a present for me to wear for the day. It's a personalized bride shirt from the Wedding Chicks, and it was so, so cute.


Alli and I dropped Henry off at my parents for the day and picked up Mary. Henry sits in our laps while we drive. He isn't spoiled or anything, I swear.


We made a pit stop in Perryville at Hoeckle's donuts. It's pretty much the highlight of the town. Obviously:

Our next stop was close to the City Museum, so we stopped for a pic. If you ever visit St. Louis, definitely go here, it's amazing.

Then we were off to the London Tea Room for lunch/tea! Melissa had called ahead and had dessert waiting for us (bad*ss), and we had a lovely lunch and Alli and I shared a pot of tangerine ginger tea.


The tea was awesome. Iced tea would've made much more sense, since it was 90 something outside with 90% humidity...but then we wouldn't have gotten to pour it out of a tea pot, and that just couldn't happen.

My lovely Maids of Honor.


I was presented with a gift at every stop that day (so much spoiling), and Alli got me a mug from an Etsy seller with a Pride and Prejudice quote on it that said "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." I love it. I love it even more because Elizabeth totally turned Mr. Darcy down after that proposal. Hehehe. I've had my eye on that mug for forever, thank you Alli!

Then we went antiquing on Cherokee street, which ruled. I love thrifting/antiquing, and new stores are always fun. The owner of the following shop was a real artist, he had stuff I have never seen before, like old circus advertisements. I scored a copy of Pearl S. Buck's Imperial Woman (it's my FAV Pearl S. Buck book, and it's a pretty copy) at the coolest bookstore ever. Hammond's books was a maze and shelves of books were absolutely everywhere. I am 100% going back to spend the afternoon the next time I have a chance.


After 2 and a half hours of antiquing, we saw a restored mansion, the Chatillon-Demenil house. Our tour guide was really quirky and funny and she was an architectural preservationist of some sort, so she had some really interesting things to say about how the home was restored.

Then we went to the zoo! I LOVE the zoo, it's such a happy place. No room for sadness at the zoo. I was forced to wear a crown with a veil (I obviously didn't mind) and one little girl thought I was a princess. My ladies certainly made me feel like one!

The ring is ON IT!


Then we rode the train around....I love this train so much. And Melissa, love her so much too.

See how wonky my hair is? Thank you humidity...another reason I was so impressed that my hair trial worked out!


So it poured after we got off the train but we waited it out at the train station and then headed to dinner. The rainbow made it worth it.


Melissa went to dinner there the night before to drop off centerpieces. She made these herself...isn't she the best?


All of the ladies at Square One Brewery. Yum, beer!


Me and Alli.

I am 99.9% sure I said something totally inappropriate and told my sisters to put earmuffs on. I love how grossed out Mary looks, hehehe!


Do you SEE Alli's face here? I am obviously talking nonsense. That's what 3 beers does to me. Yup, 3 beers...that's why Ryan's marrying me, I'm a cheap date.


Then Alli drove us back to Cape. It was a day that made me feel so cared about and loved. Everything was so thoughtful and amazing and I felt so spoiled. I can't thank Alli and Melissa enough for putting everything together, and all of my bridesmaid's for pampering the pants off of me!

What did you do for your bachelorette party? No bad*ss dance moves like you, Em, the only moves I have I learned from the Wii Dance game!

Dads and Grandpa

My dad has carried a handkerchief as long as I can remember. If we skinned our knees or had a runny nose when we were little, the handkerchief was there. When I got a little older I'd embroider dad a set for Christmas or his birthday, so I knew I wanted to do something special for the wedding. Ryan's dad occasionally carries a handkerchief and Ryan mentioned that his grandpa would like one as well.

I bought a set of 3 Charter Club handkerchiefs at Macy's for $10, and I bought red and aqua embroidery thread at Hobby Lobby for $2. I could've gotten away with way less thread, too, since embroidery thread has 6 strands in it and I separated it to use 2. So one piece of thread could go 3 times as long (the stitches were thick and sloppy looking with all 6 strands, 2 definitely looked the best).

I typed up the words I wanted in the font we used for our invites. It's called Tagettes and I downloaded it for free from DaFont.com. After washing, drying and ironing the handkerchiefs, I traced over the typed up words in with a pencil so I'd have something to go from.

After that I just used a simple outline stitch, and that was it, really. I got all 3 done in 3 days, it took about 1-1.5 per handkerchief. (Here's a good tutorial on stitches, the one I used for these was an outline stitch).

Anyway, here's the one I made for Ryan's grandpa:


And I made 2 of this one, one for Ryan's dad and one for my dad.



I am thrilled with how they turned out. They are not perfect, but I love that they don't look machine stitched, they look handmaid. I hope the dads and grandpa like them as much as I do!

Also I really miss having these to work on already...anyone need any embroidery done? I can really only do the cross stitch and outline stitch!

Does your dad carry a handkerchief?

Patting myself on the back...

Because I successfully completed some bridesmaid's bags...and I have never seen more beautiful tote bags in all of my life. I am making some for myself after I get all of the ones for the girls out of the way! I am tempted to take a page out of the Selfish Seamstress's book....

I'm going to be obnoxious and show off...here's a completed bridesmaid's bag:


I really like how structured the bag is, it looks really nice and tailored in real life. Once I got the hang of it, the other bags have been going so, so fast. I have 3 100% done and 2 more that just need the handles sewn on and the sides structured. I thought this project would take me forever but that hasn't been the case at all.

I do want to give the bridesmaid's something in addition to these bags, but I'm kind of stuck. The only thing I can think of is a vintage rhinestone pin. I want to give them something they'll really use and love. What are you all giving your bridesmaid's, any ideas for me?

Bags

Ladies who are standing up with me on July 24th, 2010: If you are not Alli or Mary, please go grab some coffee or water, pet your dog(s), or maybe take a nap. This is somewhat of a surprise.












So I'm making tote bags for all of my bridesmaid's, courtesy of the sewing book I got for Christmas, One Yard Wonders. I have all of the fabric together too! The fabric on the far left is for one of Ryan's sisters, its a chocolate brown with lilac detailing. The coral is for Ryan's other sister, the yellow is for one of my sisters, the brown and green is for my friend Melissa, and the 2-D zoo print is for my sister Mary.

Whew.



The chocolate brown, coral and yellow I got at a discount home decor fabric warehouse for $5/yard, which is a great deal for thicker fabric. The brown and green I got at Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon, and Mary's animal print I ordered offline for maybe $10?

Anyway, I need to buy fabric to line the bags in, but it won't be expensive. I will buy a thicker fabric to line the animal print with since that fabric is on the thin side. The tote bags do much better with a thicker fabric to give them some shape.

I started with the coral, and wow does my machine hate that fabric. It pulled and tugged and was awful to work with. I showed the results to my sister Alli and she said I was being anal retentive, so I'm going to finish it (hopefully tonight) and see how it is. If it's awful, I have another 40% Hobby Lobby coupon I can use to buy more fabric. *Edited to add: I had to buy more fabric last night. Lesson learned!*

It's amazing how fast these go together now that I've made a practice one! I need to get better at cutting accurately.

I'm also hoping to make envelope shaped pouches with the scraps left over from the bags. We'll see!

I feel like I need to add something else to their gifts...we'll see! I want to give them stuff they'll use, and tote bags like this can be used to library books, groceries, work out clothes, anything really.

What are you gifting your bridesmaid's?

Showered

Saturday my Aunt Teresa threw a double shower for my cousin Ellie and I. She's getting married in June, I'm getting married in July, so it made sense to have a joint shower. My cousin Katye just got engaged a week or so ago, so it could've been a triple shower!

We had lunch with a lovely centerpiece on the table.



And then there was cake. This was delicious. My Aunt Teresa had a bakery create this wonderful confection with cream cheese icing. My sister Mary was over the moon about this.


Present Mountain.


After lunch we played games. Toilet paper was involved. Initially, I was like, "really?" but I decided to just have fun with it. And it really was fun! My Aunt Noelle pleated toilet paper for sleeves and there were TP flowers.


No idea why my face was so red. I made use of my fabric flower skills and made TP flowers. I am an accomplished young lady, what can I say.


Before you were allowed to open a present, you had to answer a question about your fiance that he had already answered via e-mail. I sucked hardcore at this. If the questions would have been about books, running, cooking, or anything other than stuff like "who's your fiance's favorite actor" then I would've done much better. For some reason I am seriously bothered by the fact that I didn't do well at this. I guess it's the thwarted over-achiever in me!


Ryan showed up towards the tail end of the shower, so it actually worked out well that I kept getting the answers wrong-he was there for most of the present opening. He's been growing this beard since right before New Year's, and he loves it. Plus it keeps his face warm when he's running, which is always nice.


My aunt had olive oil favors.


My sisters/maids of honor. They're the best!


All in all, it was a really good day. My family is very, very generous. And I got the Martha Stewart teapot that I registered for and I am way, way too excited about. I'm glad it was a double shower, because it would've been weird if it were just me.

Have you been thrown a bridal shower, or is there one in your future? Have you ever had to dress up in toilet paper?

Gifts

I don't think I mentioned that I just asked my friend Melissa a few days ago to be a bridesmaid, but I did and I am super excited!

--Attention lovely ladies who are standing up with me July 24th: This post discusses what I am thinking about giving you as a gift. If you like surprises then I would suggest stopping now. Melissa and Alli, this is not news to you, so disregard.--

I now have 5 bridesmaids gifts to get together, but I think I have some ideas that will do nicely. Remember for Christmas my mom gave me that One Yard Wonders sewing book? In the book there are directions to make cloth tote bags that are nicely lined and have a pocket. There are also directions to make these really cute envelope pouches (literally like a cloth padded envelope with a button or a ribbon to close it). I thought that making each girl a bag and a pouch would be great for bridesmaid's gifts. I want to make each girl a bag and a pouch and have the bag and pouch coordinate, but get everyone a different pattern/color scheme. I'm also thinking (depending on the fabric) about embroidering their initial on the bag.

Have you seen how cute fabric is nowadays?

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It's an Alexander Henry print from his Lorenza collection, and it's $8.95 a yard. A bit high, but I don't need much yardage for these projects, 1.75 yards max (I am way, way overestimating) per set of pouch and bag.

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I should probably save that fabric for baby gifts, but I love it.

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My sister Alli is loving that coral color right now, this would be great for her.

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Melissa is getting married in November, and her colors are sage green, chocolate brown and champagne. I thought it'd be cute to make her stuff in her wedding colors and then she could use the bag to carry essentials on her wedding day (by her carry I mean me, I am there to help!). She has more traditional tastes than I do, and this is awfully mod, so I need to keep looking.

I LOVE this print, I just don't know who for....

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So many options, ahhh!

For Melissa, I know what colors I'm looking for. For my sister Alli, I'd like to find a really modern print with apples on it (she loves apples and they're kind of Orla Kiely-esque). If not, something in a coral color. She likes the really modern graphic stuff like I do. For my sister Mary....something with donuts on it would be funny (that girl really, really loves her donuts) but I don't want it to look kitchsy. I'll need Alli's help on that one. But for Ryan's sisters, Erin and Kate, I am drawing a blank. I don't know them well enough yet to know what colors or prints they'd like.

So what do you all think? Would tote bags with a matching/coordinating make-up bag/camera case/pouch for whatever be too Holly Hobby/Susie Homemade/Cheap? Be honest! I know that I would LOVE something like this (I hoard canvas bags, because I use them for everything, groceries, trips to the library, lunch bags, etc.) and I love to have little pouches to organize things in my purse. But while I appreciate a homemade gift, not everyone does, and I get that. Any ideas on fabric for his sisters? What are you doing for you attendants gifts?