August 17, 2009
July 14, 2009
THE WEDDING
all of the professional photos are posted! they are handily sorted into categories like getting ready, bride and groom, reception, photobooth, etc - easy peasey to navigate. check it out, yo. right here.
i wish josh malahy would adopt me. ps.
i wish josh malahy would adopt me. ps.
July 11, 2009
bridesmaid gifts
early in the planning process, i fell in love with this wedding from martha stewart weddings magazine. loved everything about it. especially loved this:
the bride had clutches made for each of her bridesmaids from fabric that matched each girl's personality. FABULOUS! had to do it. except i had to do it myself. obviously. nevermind that i hadn't touched a sewing machine since i made a felt pillow for my american girl doll circa 1992. game on. so i borrowed my mother-in-law's machine, set up shop in the guest room and started trolling the interweb for patterns. and came up empty. i had a specific vision, as usual, and couldn't find a pattern in any store or any website. i did find a pattern for a big shoulder-strap purse that i liked. so, with my extensive years of seamstressy knowledge (not) i set about modifying it. from a giant shoulder-strap purse. into a clutch. by myself. so i could make 10 of them. oh and i didn't actually start until may. i told you you'd roll your eyes at me.
but it worked! after 2 prototypes, i settled on my design. then i cut out a bazillion pattern pieces of fabric and lining, like so:
and ironed interfacing onto the linings:
and accidentally burned the bejezus out of my hand when i picked up the hot iron sideways and spilled scalding steam water....
and pleated the outside fabric and sewed it all together:
and made pockets with little tags that i had made on etsy from my silhouette:
and cut and cut and ironed and ironed and sewed and sewed until my little fingers about fell off
and ta-da!
not perfect, but i think they turned out pretty decent :)
the bride had clutches made for each of her bridesmaids from fabric that matched each girl's personality. FABULOUS! had to do it. except i had to do it myself. obviously. nevermind that i hadn't touched a sewing machine since i made a felt pillow for my american girl doll circa 1992. game on. so i borrowed my mother-in-law's machine, set up shop in the guest room and started trolling the interweb for patterns. and came up empty. i had a specific vision, as usual, and couldn't find a pattern in any store or any website. i did find a pattern for a big shoulder-strap purse that i liked. so, with my extensive years of seamstressy knowledge (not) i set about modifying it. from a giant shoulder-strap purse. into a clutch. by myself. so i could make 10 of them. oh and i didn't actually start until may. i told you you'd roll your eyes at me.
but it worked! after 2 prototypes, i settled on my design. then i cut out a bazillion pattern pieces of fabric and lining, like so:
and ironed interfacing onto the linings:
and accidentally burned the bejezus out of my hand when i picked up the hot iron sideways and spilled scalding steam water....
and pleated the outside fabric and sewed it all together:
and made pockets with little tags that i had made on etsy from my silhouette:
and cut and cut and ironed and ironed and sewed and sewed until my little fingers about fell off
and ta-da!
not perfect, but i think they turned out pretty decent :)
July 10, 2009
friday: bridesmaid luncheon and rehearsal dinner
these events deserve separate posts. really, they do. but that would require me having pictures from the bridesmaid luncheon, which i do not. can you believe? i know. if anyone out there reading this has any, please email asap. until then, combo post it is.
so bridesmaid luncheon. hosted by aunt joanie and godmother linda, most definitely two of my favorite people on this planet. aunt joanie does things like assemble a ridiculously clever scrapbook of my then-boyfriend on his first hargrove family fun trip to the redneck riviera (ie orange beach, al) and mail it to him within the week. this is after she and mom emergency hemmed his new seersucker suit on the condo balcony the night before we returned home for a wedding, using nothing but a spool of thread and corsage pins scavenged from the grocery store across the street. then there's linda, mom's bff since the tween years, whose house is like a b&b run by martha herself, if martha were awesome instead of crazy. she also consistently wins the "christmas gift i can't wait to open" award for having awesome taste. probably the nicest, most creative ladies you could ever hope to meet.
anyway
they hosted the bridesmaid luncheon at the club, complete with mimosas, chocolate lava cake, pink tissue paper topiaries and pink & green napkins monogrammed with an S. so fab. shame i was too busy being "the bride" to take any pictures. what i do have pictures of are the gifts i made for my bridesmaids. you may recall previous mentions of ridiculous top-secret diy projects or sweat-shop style wedding slavery weekends. that was in reference to the bridesmaids gifts. which you can hear about in my next post. heh heh. until then, here's a teaser...
hint: it's not the bouquet.
so rehearsal dinner. hosted by...my in-laws, surprisingly enough. held at jarrett's restaurant. ridiculously delicious food, friendly staff, gorgeous art-gallery-style collection displayed throughout, fabulous centerpieces picked by mom stone. and lots of wine. this becomes key as the evening progresses. but first, the toasts.
someone was reading this blog. and by someone, i mean everyone. embarrassing. i know this because it was mentioned by pretty much every toast made and guest hugged that evening. but we got some sweet accessories out of it:
thanks, dad. my family has a chef hat tradition.
both daddies gave their toasts, which were sweet, funny and meaningful. for some reason, i was extremely nervous about them. i had to tap my foot the whole time to keep from passing out. i was just in a glass case of emotion all weekend, or something like that. the best man and matron of honor toasted us as well, both very well-spokenly, and i wish i had a video of them so i could remember exactly what everyone said. glass case of emotion, recall. my personal fave (maybe because i DO have a video to remember it) was a video/picture slideshow put together by my insanely talented baby brother. he made an adorable and hilarious tribute out of pictures of both me and the captain growing up, pictures of us together, pictures of us with our dogs (duh), pictures of me with the bridesmaids and video footage of me crawling around nekkid and saying my abcs and stuff. so, so super cute. i cried. maybe someday i'll figure out how to post it here for all to enjoy. or maybe i'll just get that insanely talented baby brother to do it for me. did i mention how handsome he is?
we were also toasted by the collective bridesmaids and the collective groomsmen.
the ladies took turns reading lines from a poem about my long lost loves. those of the posted-on-my-tiger-beat-tribute-wall-in-middle-school variety. then they performed the official ec4eva husband induction ceremony for the second inductee by presenting him with his own, manly version of the tiffany necklace we all bought senior year of high school as a symbol of our undying love for each other:
my favorite thing about this picture is my in-laws in the background. and here is the groom with his new bling:
and it was all downhill from there. i'd like to take this opportunity to share with you the groomsmen:
aren't they sweet? and the bridesmaids:
also sweet. deceptive. at the rehearsal, the dean of the cathedral, who was the homilist for the ceremony, made a special note to remind the groomsmen that they should behave themselves that evening and that a wedding is about being filled with the holy spirit, not a whole lotta spirits. they listened. the bishop, who performed the ceremony, stepped in to add that the bridesmaids should pay attention too. they didn't. they're obviously going to hell. exhibit a:
cute hair accessories? nope. dismantled centerpieces. exhibit b:
decorative moss stones? nope. add spoons and you have rocket launchers. which brings us to exhibit c:
and exhibit d:
which is pretty hilarious. i obviously wasn't actually getting mad at them. but this expression is pretty priceless. i think it's the only bridezillaesque moment captured on film all weekend.
perhaps my biggest regret of the weekend was that i had to go home and get some sleep after this, so i missed accompanying the bridal party to a karaokee bar for the rest of the evening. regardless, the day before my wedding was wonderful and memorable!!! much love to all involved!
so bridesmaid luncheon. hosted by aunt joanie and godmother linda, most definitely two of my favorite people on this planet. aunt joanie does things like assemble a ridiculously clever scrapbook of my then-boyfriend on his first hargrove family fun trip to the redneck riviera (ie orange beach, al) and mail it to him within the week. this is after she and mom emergency hemmed his new seersucker suit on the condo balcony the night before we returned home for a wedding, using nothing but a spool of thread and corsage pins scavenged from the grocery store across the street. then there's linda, mom's bff since the tween years, whose house is like a b&b run by martha herself, if martha were awesome instead of crazy. she also consistently wins the "christmas gift i can't wait to open" award for having awesome taste. probably the nicest, most creative ladies you could ever hope to meet.
anyway
they hosted the bridesmaid luncheon at the club, complete with mimosas, chocolate lava cake, pink tissue paper topiaries and pink & green napkins monogrammed with an S. so fab. shame i was too busy being "the bride" to take any pictures. what i do have pictures of are the gifts i made for my bridesmaids. you may recall previous mentions of ridiculous top-secret diy projects or sweat-shop style wedding slavery weekends. that was in reference to the bridesmaids gifts. which you can hear about in my next post. heh heh. until then, here's a teaser...
hint: it's not the bouquet.
so rehearsal dinner. hosted by...my in-laws, surprisingly enough. held at jarrett's restaurant. ridiculously delicious food, friendly staff, gorgeous art-gallery-style collection displayed throughout, fabulous centerpieces picked by mom stone. and lots of wine. this becomes key as the evening progresses. but first, the toasts.
someone was reading this blog. and by someone, i mean everyone. embarrassing. i know this because it was mentioned by pretty much every toast made and guest hugged that evening. but we got some sweet accessories out of it:
thanks, dad. my family has a chef hat tradition.
both daddies gave their toasts, which were sweet, funny and meaningful. for some reason, i was extremely nervous about them. i had to tap my foot the whole time to keep from passing out. i was just in a glass case of emotion all weekend, or something like that. the best man and matron of honor toasted us as well, both very well-spokenly, and i wish i had a video of them so i could remember exactly what everyone said. glass case of emotion, recall. my personal fave (maybe because i DO have a video to remember it) was a video/picture slideshow put together by my insanely talented baby brother. he made an adorable and hilarious tribute out of pictures of both me and the captain growing up, pictures of us together, pictures of us with our dogs (duh), pictures of me with the bridesmaids and video footage of me crawling around nekkid and saying my abcs and stuff. so, so super cute. i cried. maybe someday i'll figure out how to post it here for all to enjoy. or maybe i'll just get that insanely talented baby brother to do it for me. did i mention how handsome he is?
we were also toasted by the collective bridesmaids and the collective groomsmen.
the ladies took turns reading lines from a poem about my long lost loves. those of the posted-on-my-tiger-beat-tribute-wall-in-middle-school variety. then they performed the official ec4eva husband induction ceremony for the second inductee by presenting him with his own, manly version of the tiffany necklace we all bought senior year of high school as a symbol of our undying love for each other:
my favorite thing about this picture is my in-laws in the background. and here is the groom with his new bling:
and it was all downhill from there. i'd like to take this opportunity to share with you the groomsmen:
aren't they sweet? and the bridesmaids:
also sweet. deceptive. at the rehearsal, the dean of the cathedral, who was the homilist for the ceremony, made a special note to remind the groomsmen that they should behave themselves that evening and that a wedding is about being filled with the holy spirit, not a whole lotta spirits. they listened. the bishop, who performed the ceremony, stepped in to add that the bridesmaids should pay attention too. they didn't. they're obviously going to hell. exhibit a:
cute hair accessories? nope. dismantled centerpieces. exhibit b:
decorative moss stones? nope. add spoons and you have rocket launchers. which brings us to exhibit c:
and exhibit d:
which is pretty hilarious. i obviously wasn't actually getting mad at them. but this expression is pretty priceless. i think it's the only bridezillaesque moment captured on film all weekend.
perhaps my biggest regret of the weekend was that i had to go home and get some sleep after this, so i missed accompanying the bridal party to a karaokee bar for the rest of the evening. regardless, the day before my wedding was wonderful and memorable!!! much love to all involved!
July 3, 2009
thursday night: cocktails and bachelorette
i'm not feeling very clever today due to a COLD in JULY (lame), so i'm just going to list the facts and share some pictures. here's what went down: thursday night, there was a cocktail party hosted by bridesmaid madge and her family at their fab house. we had a wonderful time, and i didn't get to eat because i was talking so much (this becomes a running theme).
tada, my cute dress from here and cute shoes from here (plus a random flower clip i added that i can't decide if i like or not but it's too late now huh):
my cute mama:
my matron of honor, my aunt tanya and my aunt joan aka mastermind of cute crafts/motivator extraordinare/part of the wedding decorating dream team:
a portion of the 'maids (including hostess madge, the tall one):
i hear this guy was there too (this is the only photographic evidence):
most of the crew had arrived at this point, so we followed the cocktails with a bachelorette extravaganza in the form of games, panties, cupcakes and champagne at a slumber party in my old room at my parents' house. it was super fun. definitely the best gift was a thong in the shape of an elephant. with a trunk. for the groom. that one made the whole room cry from hysterics. even mom. the giver of the gift (louise, duh) was also the winner of the "how well do you know the bride" trivia challenge. coincidence?
here we are piled on the bed:
if you've spent time in my old room before, you're probably confused. it has since been repainted and restaged for house-selling purposes, so it is a mere shadow of its former glory. i digress. here are some ladies from a different vantage point (including our farthest travellers, from california, colorado and new mexico!):
this is not the elephant, but it's pretty scandalous nonetheless, and what's a bachelorette posting without scandal?
this is me with my "panty line," which includes undies for each stage of our relationship, from the wedding to the first valentine's day to baby-making to the retirement home:
we also played with make-up, which was not photodocumented. i had the best time ever with my girls; the party was totally "me." many, many thanks to moh (matron of honor) and aob (aunt of bride) for all the thought and effort that went into planning the games, gathering supplies, personalizing champange glass favors and wrapping chocolate bars in pink paisley paper :) we had a ton of fun (and a ton of cupcakes and champange). but apparently not as much fun as the groom...
stay tuned for the next installment, "the rehearsal dinner." also known as "the night the bridesmaids were far more inappropriate than the groomsmen." you go girls.
tada, my cute dress from here and cute shoes from here (plus a random flower clip i added that i can't decide if i like or not but it's too late now huh):
my cute mama:
my matron of honor, my aunt tanya and my aunt joan aka mastermind of cute crafts/motivator extraordinare/part of the wedding decorating dream team:
a portion of the 'maids (including hostess madge, the tall one):
i hear this guy was there too (this is the only photographic evidence):
most of the crew had arrived at this point, so we followed the cocktails with a bachelorette extravaganza in the form of games, panties, cupcakes and champagne at a slumber party in my old room at my parents' house. it was super fun. definitely the best gift was a thong in the shape of an elephant. with a trunk. for the groom. that one made the whole room cry from hysterics. even mom. the giver of the gift (louise, duh) was also the winner of the "how well do you know the bride" trivia challenge. coincidence?
here we are piled on the bed:
if you've spent time in my old room before, you're probably confused. it has since been repainted and restaged for house-selling purposes, so it is a mere shadow of its former glory. i digress. here are some ladies from a different vantage point (including our farthest travellers, from california, colorado and new mexico!):
this is not the elephant, but it's pretty scandalous nonetheless, and what's a bachelorette posting without scandal?
this is me with my "panty line," which includes undies for each stage of our relationship, from the wedding to the first valentine's day to baby-making to the retirement home:
we also played with make-up, which was not photodocumented. i had the best time ever with my girls; the party was totally "me." many, many thanks to moh (matron of honor) and aob (aunt of bride) for all the thought and effort that went into planning the games, gathering supplies, personalizing champange glass favors and wrapping chocolate bars in pink paisley paper :) we had a ton of fun (and a ton of cupcakes and champange). but apparently not as much fun as the groom...
stay tuned for the next installment, "the rehearsal dinner." also known as "the night the bridesmaids were far more inappropriate than the groomsmen." you go girls.
June 29, 2009
mrs fantastic
apparently, that's my new name. i won't complain.
so we got married n' stuff. it was the most fun week and a half of my entire life, and it went by far too quickly. every idea that i blogged about and obsessed over came to life in an even more fabulous way than i could have every imagined, thanks to my wonderful wonderful wonderful mom, dad, aunt joan, godmother linda, friend lucy, aunts tanya and carol, bridesmaid louise's mom, and many many others. a huge THANK YOU to those who slaved for hours making bows for topiaries and risked their lives to hang paper lanterns from a giant ladder. many thanks also to my amazing (i'm running out of superlatives here) bridesmaids, each of whom made the whole experience enjoyable in her own way, from doing my makeup to fetching my water to bustling my train to readjusting my veil to initiating a decorative-rocks-cum-rocket-launchers initiative at the rehearsal dinner (aehm) etc and so forth - too many ways to count. my only regret is that i didn't get to spend more quality time with each person. there were so many friends and loved ones, many of whom travelled great distances, and i hated that we only had a few minutes to visit with each one. but it was so wonderful to have each of them there.
but i'll let the initial teaser photos from the fabulous josh (and maribeth!) malahy do the talking. click on the pictures below to see the blog post. more deets to follow soon, pinkie promise.
so we got married n' stuff. it was the most fun week and a half of my entire life, and it went by far too quickly. every idea that i blogged about and obsessed over came to life in an even more fabulous way than i could have every imagined, thanks to my wonderful wonderful wonderful mom, dad, aunt joan, godmother linda, friend lucy, aunts tanya and carol, bridesmaid louise's mom, and many many others. a huge THANK YOU to those who slaved for hours making bows for topiaries and risked their lives to hang paper lanterns from a giant ladder. many thanks also to my amazing (i'm running out of superlatives here) bridesmaids, each of whom made the whole experience enjoyable in her own way, from doing my makeup to fetching my water to bustling my train to readjusting my veil to initiating a decorative-rocks-cum-rocket-launchers initiative at the rehearsal dinner (aehm) etc and so forth - too many ways to count. my only regret is that i didn't get to spend more quality time with each person. there were so many friends and loved ones, many of whom travelled great distances, and i hated that we only had a few minutes to visit with each one. but it was so wonderful to have each of them there.
but i'll let the initial teaser photos from the fabulous josh (and maribeth!) malahy do the talking. click on the pictures below to see the blog post. more deets to follow soon, pinkie promise.
the wedding and reception
the photobooth
the photobooth
June 20, 2009
THE BIG DAY
hi. remember me? i used to blog about my wedding. that's before my wedding was t-minus a week or two away and i had to actually DO my wedding instead of TYPE my wedding.
now, it's t-minus 6 hours away. aaaaaaaaaaand i might vom.
my nails are done, my rings are sparkly clean, my hair and makeup are about to get did, and the reception decorations i dreamed up over the past 10 months are even more fabulous in reality than they ever were in my head. i've been enjoying the best week of my life with my amazing family and friends, many of whom traveled from all over the country earlier this week to help me prepare and celebrate. i don't have a picture to go with this post (since my camera cord is at the groom's house = off limits) but i would like to give a huge shout out to EVERYONE who has helped me in this process, from my parents, aunts and godmothers who have slaved over projects all week slash year to every blog reader who has ever left a comment or been entertained by a post and everyone in between. i love you all!
let's go get married!!!!
now, it's t-minus 6 hours away. aaaaaaaaaaand i might vom.
my nails are done, my rings are sparkly clean, my hair and makeup are about to get did, and the reception decorations i dreamed up over the past 10 months are even more fabulous in reality than they ever were in my head. i've been enjoying the best week of my life with my amazing family and friends, many of whom traveled from all over the country earlier this week to help me prepare and celebrate. i don't have a picture to go with this post (since my camera cord is at the groom's house = off limits) but i would like to give a huge shout out to EVERYONE who has helped me in this process, from my parents, aunts and godmothers who have slaved over projects all week slash year to every blog reader who has ever left a comment or been entertained by a post and everyone in between. i love you all!
let's go get married!!!!
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