Survey says.......Solid VS Paisley Ties?

I desperately need my small congregation of followers to help me in deciding which ties to choose for our oh so foxy groomsmen, dad's and brothers.  A few facts I think you should know....the flower girls will be in dark purple polka dot dresses....ring bearers in solid dark purple bow ties and suspenders.  I know, fucking cute.

Now, to sketch a picture of what our men will be wearing:  Khaki suits with light pinstripe pattern....a little like this....

They will have this pinned on the lapel....



Now, here's where I need YOUR help....solid dark purple tie or dark purple paisley?

The fiance & I are divided on  this one....he loes paisley, I love solid.  Help us form a truce.

What...I have to come up with Rehearsal Dinner invites...No f'ing way!!

This is exactly what went thru my head when it occurred to me that I had to come up with yet ANOTHER invite.  I was so f'ing invite-ed OUT after the damn wedding invites, so I totally dreaded this task.  Thinking about it made me want to stab my eyeball with a fork.  Gruesome, I know.  

However, I was pleasantly surprised at how fun, easy and super cute they turned out!

Our fabulous photographer (check her out here) did a blow your socks off job on our engagement pics that I decided to tap into the more eccentric ones and use them for our rehearsal invites. 

Supplies needed:  8x10 photo paper, Microsoft Powerpoint and some scissors....oh and a super fab photographer.  Total cost:  $20.  Can't beat it!

The one we decided to use

Second place, but still kind of my favorite

I wasn't planning on telling anyone, but you gotta give credit where credit is due, so I did find the poem online somewhere via google.  It was just too damn cute not to use!  I tweaked a few parts and here she is...

Jon popped the question and Anne said yes
All the planning is over from  the decor to the dress
Only one thing remains for this day to be great
Practice makes Perfect
April 22nd is the date

We'll practice out the ceremony
And iron out the kinks

Then it's off to the Mercantile Winery

For some dinner and some drinks

Please join the Bride & Groom to be
At 6:00 for a rehearsal
The Elms Resort

Simple, to the point but not skimping on cuteness. 

P.S.  We had a super tough job at deciding which to use and ended up going with the first one.  How we decided?  Took a household vote, the tie breaker vote being my 2 and 4 year old adorable nephews.  They said, "Annie, we like the this one because of the colors."  I'm a sucker so the decision was made. Black and white was out and the colorful one was in. 

Did we make the right choice?



To Cake Top.... or NOT to Cake Top

That is the question I've been facing these past few days.  Being a budget bride, you've got to cut here and there.  I mean, do I really need to invest in a cake topper that 0.5 people will even notice, or do I want to invest in 5 other flower displays to place around the room? 

I can't complain, there could be worse things to ponder over like....should I give my kidney to a family member who really needs it?  Or, I may have breast cancer, so should I do chemo or just get a double mastectomy?  If you know me, you know I'd say cut those puppies off.  I hate lugging around 20 lbs of breast everyday.  It's ALOT of work.

To complicate my decision even more, I'm doing a massive cupcake display...NOT a cake.  My fabulous mother in law bought this super cool display from Europe that will form the cupcakes into the shape of a cake.

She has been awesome in bringing my cupcake vision to life down to the metallic gold icing and baby peacock feathers sticking out of each cupcake.  I'm not particular or anything.... ;)

Just when I thought I had made the decision to NOT cake top....I found this......

Fucking awesome.  I know.

And then, I thought perhaps this would be fun....

My fiance is OBSESSED with the fact that his last name starts with an 'X.'  I mean seriously.  It's tattooed all over his body.  So, I know he'd love to have a massive 'X' sitting atop the cake.

So, HELP all of you (cough, cough) 3 readers out there. 

To cake top or NOT to cake top.  That is my question.

Meeting with the florist = Success

So....I totally suck and didn't take pics of our 'rough draft' bouquets, but let me just tell you.  F'ing perfect.  I brought one of the bridesmaid dresses with which was definitely a good call, because seeing the look all come together was just what I needed to see my vision come together! 

A few of the dark purple flowers I choose to make up the bouquet

Not the green part...just the pretty bloom

Then I choose a sweet little green leaf filled stem to bring the look together.  Completing the look, you ask? PEACOCK FEATHERS. I know, you're so surprised.



65 days...ish. Wow.

So, we are down to about 9 weeks and I just can't believe it!!  J and I were laughing the other day about when our countdown began, it was like 40 weeks to go!  We could've gotten knocked up and had a kid by now.  I know, my humor can be quite disturbing.  Just ask my friends.

I haven't updated much lately because I've been super busy with wedding shizzzzz and haven't had time to even think about uploading any pics to show what craftsy crap I've been dabbling with. 

Next post I'll touch on the super fun rehearsal dinner invites.  If you're anything like I was, you're thinking, "What?  We have to come up with yet another damn invitation?"  My solution--simplicity and fun.  Can't wait to show you pics soon!

An update on the wedding planning progress:  Had first dress fitting on my birthday this past week--best present to myself ever!  I was able to meet my alterations gal who wasn't taking any more brides until April, but she squeezed me in.  I used my fab sales skills to swoon her.  She fell for it.  Now, I have the best gal in town.  She eased my anxiety about the final fit and bustle and I'm more excited than EVER to wear my dream dress.  To be honest, I'd been really second guessing myself the past few months about the decision, which is totally in my nature. But slipping it on again and getting some expert advice did the trick.  It's so beautiful and so me and I just can't wait.

This weekend, surprise surprise, hoping to get a few more things checked off the to-do list including finally meeting with the florist.  Can't wait to see how she plans to bring my peacock feather theme to life.  Super stoked. 

And, while I'm on the bandwagon of my 'look'...I'm checking out some jewelry boutiques in the area to see what I can come up with.  Fallback plan if I don't find anything--I've contacted a super neat designer I found on Etsy.com.  Where has Etsy.com been all my life!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, what has my life become.  Wedding, sleep, wine, wedding, work, wine, HDTV, wine, wedding, work, and more wedding.  Sad, but I'm lovin' every second of it.

Tootles ya'all!

Stuffed, stamped and IN THE MAIL.

Thank. God.  We assembled, we drank, we hot glued, we drank, I handwrote every address, I drank, we stamped, we drank, I stuffed and......a celebratory 'drank' is in order for this evening once I drop off the invitations at the POST OFFICE. 

Thanks to all who helped.....the finished product was WELL WORTH all the blood, sweat and tears involved.  Ok, no blood, but it sounds so much more dramatic.

Hope the invit---ees love 'em as much as I do!


A necessity:  booze

Step one:  Cut each ivory sheet of cardstock in half



Short peacock feathers purchased for wholesale price online

Not a must, but my wonderful Madre did iron each piece of ribbon to make sure they were as beautiful as possible 

Step Two:  Hot glue peacock feather FIRST.  Then hot glue the piece of ribbon on the back of gold sheeet on each side

Step three:  Once feather and ribbon are hot glued to gold metallic sheet, using glue dots (purchased from Hobby Lobby), attach the gold sheet to the cut piece of ivory cardstock. 

Then take a break to play the rubber penis circle toss game
(see background)

Matching metallic gold envelopes, purchased online from envelopes.com (Note:  Can't find these suckers in a store)

I'm an animal LOVER (especially rescue animals)  so I had to go with these shelter pet stamps for the invites and reply cards.  I'm also obsessive compulsive, so I hand picked each stamp based on each invitee's personality. 
Now you understand why I drank so much.

Another necessity:  A wonderful team!



Leave me some love and tell me what you think!







These wedding invitations are going to be the death of me.

A few months back I started thinking about the invites and what 'look' I was going for.  I wanted funky, eccentric but classic and elegant at the same time.  While scrolling thru cyberworld I came across this one and FELL. IN. LOVE.

However as my fellow brides know, wedding invitations can put your ass in debt real quick if you don't reign it in.  For instance, this UNASSEMBLED kit would cost approximately $700 for just enough for 100 invitations.  Key word, UNASSEMBLED. 

Needless to say, the decision to take the DIY route for the invites was a very easy one.  On the flip side, if you decide to tackle the mountainous feat of doing each wedding invitation by hand, you better hope you have the following:

• A wonderful mother who is just as crazy as you are to be your support
• Fabulously devoted bridesmaids to help you not stab yourself in the eye with scissors
• Many bottles of cheap ass vino
• TIME, TIME and MORE TIME, like we're talking weeks

Thankfully I had the holidays to get a jumpstart, but this Saturday is D-day. The day where all the girls are coming over, the day where I see these puppies all come together beautifully (notice how I left out the word hopefully) and the day where we consume more wine than a lady should in a months time.  Hopefully we're not throwing glue sticks at one another and strangling ourselves with ribbon at days end.

Wish us luck.  Because believe me, we'll need it.