Martha Shrine

A few days ago I was eating breakfast while re-reading the newest Martha Stewart Weddings. My sister finished eating her breakfast and put Martha's encyclopedia of crafts on our Martha Stewart cake stand....


Sigh. We're not obsessed or anything! Alli and I are considering attempting the silk-screening craft from the Encyclopedia this weekend, but if the supplies are super pricey then we aren't messing with it. We are doing a mock-up of our Martha inspired centerpieces, though. I never thought I was a Martha kind of girl...who knew how simple, tasteful and affordable her DIY stuff is? She's been a big inspiration for the upcoming nuptials.

Do you find yourself turning to Martha or another crafting inspiration on a regular basis?

Urgent Dress Update

Ladies!

I have to order this dress ASAP if I want it. I HATE making decisions under pressure...especially since Ryan wants me to wait at least a few months to order it (he thinks I'm going to change my mind....like I've never done something crazy like that before! The man knows me too well...) but I need to order now. I just called the bridal salon and they said since it is being cut particularly for me that I would need to order it now to get it by March. !!!!!

So what do I do? Do I go behind Ryan's back and order it myself and not say anything, or wait and risk losing it, or just tell him to deal with it, and order it?

Pressure!

Have you had to make any high pressure/expensive decisions?

Pre-Martial....Nothing?

When Ryan and I met with our pastor, we were told that he didn't require any sort of pre-martial counseling.

Ryan was jumping for joy! He's way excited that we don't have to do it (he's obviously not a fan). I feel like we need to do something, though.

I just don't know what. I've been googling for an online kind of deal, but I can't find a thing.

I'm not worried about Ryan and I in the least. We discussed some heavy hitting stuff before we even got engaged--like what lengths we'll go to to have a child if we can't get pregnant, how we plan on handling our finances, etc, (I posted about it a while back here) so I know there aren't any deal breakers out there that we are unaware of! I just feel like we should be doing something structured to prepare ourselves for getting hitched, especially with us doing the long distance relationship thing. I feel like we're focusing more on that than on getting married right now.

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What are you doing, pre-marital counseling-wise? Any ideas for an online or by-the-book course?

On My List

My sister Alli and I are itching to do a centerpiece mock-up. We'll probably do it next weekend, since I won't be visiting Ryan (he lives in St Louis, I live in my hometown 2 hours away, and he has to work at a half marathon all weekend so he'll be busy).

This is what we're shooting for:

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I've been collecting milk glass vases to hold the branches, and I'm up to about 28, I think. We're shooting for 40, so I'll have no problem getting more by next summer.

I want to give these a shot because if they don't work, then I need to figure out a back-up plan that utilizes the rows of milk-glass vases I have lined up in my basement! I am having a hard time finding branches with a bit of shape to them. A few weeks ago, I found a decent one and stuck it in a vase and it was very blah, so I'm thinking we could spray paint the branches silver to dress them up. I want to punch paper flowers out of pretty patterned paper and hang those in the branches too. Alli mentioned last night that we could sprinkle the paper flowers around the table like oversized confetti, which would be inexpensive and look nice.

I'm thinking about making an oversized napkin to set the vase on. My sister has a love for no-sew glue which would work nicely with such an easy project. I am also considering votive candles, but our decorations budget is pretty much non-existent, so these would have to be very cheap to be a contender.

What are you doing for centerpieces?

Pretty Colors

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I have a confession to make......I suck at inspiration boards. So I found one that perfectly represents the colors Ryan and I picked out for the wedding--aqua and red!

I couldn't be more excited about this color combo. It was my initial favorite, but Ryan was really unsure. I suggest aqua and emerald, aqua and yellow, aqua and orange....I sense a recurring theme here. Ryan thought about it and decided he liked too, so aqua and red it is!

I'm a big aqua fan, and I love love love the contrast of the red. Plus, it sets me up for some hot red shoes and red nails. We're trying to make aqua the predominant color, so something like 65% aqua and 35% red (I had to bust out the calculator on my computer to figure that out...what can I say, I used to be an English major). The bridesmaids will be wearing aqua (I'm crossing my fingers that J Crew has Tropical Aqua again in the spring) and probably carrying red bouquets or white bouquets with red ribbon.

Since we don't have a theme, other than getting married, these colors are going to be what ties our wedding together. I'm about as indecisive as it gets, and this was a decision I haven't waffled on at all. I knew I wanted it from the get go and I haven't entertained anything else. I have been surprised at how many shades of aqua and red there are...we're having a hard time finding the right shade of aqua (not too blue or too green) and a non-burgundyish red. I had no clue they'd be so tough to match.

What are your wedding colors? Did you have a hard time making up your mind?

Wedding Magazines

I have stopped buying wedding magazines.

Why? But they are so much fun, you say! I agree completely. They were fun at first, but I have lost interest.

The weddings in those magazines? Those aren't anything close to the kind of wedding Ryan and I will be having. And their budget articles are normally....out of our budget. Which is silly, because while Ryan and I are having what I would term a "budget" wedding, we are by no means spending no money....so it drives me nuts when the "budget" options they feature are still too expensive!

Anyway, those magazines are expensive, and they give me expensive ideas! They really make me lose perspective of the fact that the amount of money we spend or the decorations we have are totally irrelevant-what's important is Ryan and I's marriage, our joining our lives together forever. So I've stopped buying them, with the exception of Martha Stewart Weddings, because that magazine is packed with practical, easy-to-do, budget friendly projects.

So I'm going to stop wasting $6-10 a pop on these magazines....

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And continue spending my money on this quarterly tome...

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Do you find wedding magazines useful, and if so, which ones are your favorites? Is it just me or are magazines obscenely expensive?

Dress Update

Remember this dress, it kinda makes me look short?

Check this baby out with a pair of 3 inch heels on!

I showed both pictures to a guy at work (I work with 99% guys, and Austin is kind enough to act like he cares!), and he didn't even know it was the same dress!

All that bunching at the bottom makes sense now! It's pleats, who knew!

Here's the view sans heels from the back....bunched up and messy looking, in my humble opinion.


How perfect is this!


Oh my goodness you all, does this dress not look 1000x better?

Well ladies and gents, I am 98% sure this is the dress. Especially since they can make the dress above in the fabric below, for $200 extra, bringing the grand total to $850 without alterations and tax.

The fabric I tried the dress on in was a pearlized taffeta. It was pretty, but this lustrous ivory satin glows.

I need to call the shop and figure out when I need to order it. Ryan, recognizing my total inability to make decisions, wants me to wait a bit. He says I have 11 months to keep looking at wedding dresses and he doesn't want me to change my mind.

But....this one feels like me. It's classic, it's tailored, it has vintage details, it makes my butt look fab, and I feel like me in it...not like a dressed up doll, but like me. So, I think I'm going to order it in the ivory satin. Did I tell you that they'd make the dress just for me-it would be the only one like it in the world. How cool!

I'm putting this pic in the post because my little sister in the back cracks me up. I'm posing, Alli is trying to get a shot of the dress from every conceivable angle, and Mary's making faces in the back. She kills me!


So wonderful readers, opinions, thoughts?