sweet victory

today is a momentous day. it shall forever go down in history as the day i conquered photoshop. or at least the day i managed to move stuff around in photoshop without going all office-space on my laptop. tears of joy swell in my tired eyes as the drumroll builds and i present....

voila! this is going to show up somewhere awesome, but i'm not telling where.

sit down

are you seated? ok good. because you won't believe this. i've actually worked on some wedding projects! gasp! i know.

firstly, the topiaries. on last weekend's super-productive wedding supply shopping spree, mom and i came across an assortment of these babies in various sizes for 50% off:
lovely faux ivy right? notsomuch. but wait, after a little snip-snip...
the perfect blank canvas for some hot moss action. like so:
a bunch of pins and some hot glue later, we have this:
the pink ribbon is for effect...the real deal will be white, and the small speckly green pot will be placed inside a slightly larger terra cotta pot. it ended up saving time and money to get the pre-assembled topiaries instead of a bunch of styrofoam balls and sticks and pots and moss and etcetera and so forth. so there you have it. project topiary = success.

here's a little wedding vignette we assembled, for kicks and giggles:
note the topiary, monogram, azaela blooms, candle and assortment of stones. disregard plastic bags, kitchen cabinets, blue gingham wallpaper and anderson family calendar.

BUT WAIT! I'M NOT FINISHED! behold what else i've accomplished!
i made these by tracing profile pictures on my computer, then coloring them black. still have some tweaking to do, but we're finally making some progress here people. you likey?

what you say?

what was that, theknot.com? it's only 78 days until the wedding? and i still have 100 unchecked items on my checklist? oh. well then, i suppose i have some work to do. don't worry though; the eleventh hour is my time to shine. i'll probably save most of my intricate diy items for june, because that's how i roll. in attempt to spark some miracle change in personality, i have been keeping an extensive to-do list. for your reading pleasure, here are the things on my to-do list, a little what-to-expect-at-my-wedding recap, if you will:

*invitations. proofs have been finalized and envelopes are in my car. we just have to place the final order and deliver the envelopes, along with the guest list (don't even get me started on the guest list), to the calligrapher. then we just stuff and stamp. thisclose to crossing it off the list.
*monogram. i need to create it, decide what items i want to grace with it and grace them. also make something like this for the doors at the country club:

*silhouettes. captain fantastic will shed the seasonal beard after the engagement pictures this weekend, at which point i need to have a good hair day and take the pictures to make the silhouettes. then decide how to use them.
*flowergirl dresses. make a decision already.
*decorations. we have thoroughly scoured the reception venue, laid out the floor plan and decided on the decorative basics (star lanterns, candles in vases with stones, moss topiaries, hot pink azaleas). i need to accumulate samples of each, pick exact items i want, purchase and/or borrow said items. collect childhood photos of me (easy) and the captain (hard) for display.
*me. figure out hair and makeup. i know what i want, just need to decide who'll do it and how. no pictures because it's a surpriiiiiiiiiise. shhh.

*passport. nothing irks me more at this moment than the fact that my passport's 10-year lifespan expires 2 months before my honeymoon. the forms are filled out, the heinous pictures are prepared, i just have to send it. but like, how lame that i'll need a new one with a new name two months later. exasperation.

*the final and most difficult to accomplish category = things that involve the groom. tuxedos. groomsmen gifts. wedding bands. it's pretty ridiculous how many times these items have been #1 on the saturday to-do list and have been replaced by more pressing activities like "go fly-fishing" and "host fraternity-style cookout." i digress.
i hope to cross some of this off over the weekend. all you office fans out there, beer me strength.

i'm an inconsistent blogger

apologies.

wedding-related things that have happened quasi-recently:

* my super-fab godmother visited the bridesmaid dress store in nashville that carries the designers i like and acted as my crash test dummy for in-person fabric and fit. she voted for the christy style from lula kate. i was excited, because that was my fav. then i looked at the "real weddings" section of their website and found this
yikes. methinks i need to make a trek to nashville and reevaluate. anybody up for a roadtrip? anyone? perhaps in person the collars are less...intense. if not, i may cry. and pick another style.

* my parents, aforementioned godparents, captain fantastic and i went to hear a potential wedding band. the drummer ended up being the husband of my former coworker and father of one of mom's students. small world. they also ended up being super white and singing songs like "build me up buttercup" and michael jackson covers circa 1986. don't get me wrong, i like that stuff as much as the next guy. we are just torn because we always pictured having some stax classics motown band at the wedding. but dad really likes them, so we may have a winner.

* an engagement photoshoot slot opened up for next saturday, yay! but captain fantastic has a guided fly-fishing tour of the little red river already booked and paid for, boo. back to square one.

* we have had two premarital counseling sessions that have been inspiring and exciting, and now we're even more pumped to get married. good news!

* i got an online coupon for this place, which will make the silhouettes i crave for realz with scissors and paper and a profile photo. goodbye frustrating photoshop! hello legit artwork to hang in our house after the wedding!
(and don't worry, i've nixed the cookie idea. you people were pretty adamant about that.)

* i've gotten tired of planning. don't want to plan, just want to do. i just want it to be june 20. i want all of yall to be here, i want the cake to be made and the flowers to be arranged, i want to be drinking champagne and wearing pretty dresses and staking my claim on c-dawg with a big ole platinum band. i'm temporarily over it. it being wedding planning. i'm hoping that i'll get my second wind soon....

more invite-tations

mkay so i keep returning to my favorite aspect of the wedding planning process thus far: invitations. i INSIST on designing them myself. insist. i have decided, and i shan't be swayed. i think this is one area where i really, truly can d.i.myself and it will turn out great. so i'm determined. maybe i can't print.i.y, but i can as least design.i.y.

this invitation exhibits the type of thing i'd really like to get to do with my life.
i also think it's a great invitation that's part current trend and part traditional. it's not too crazy, but just different enough. it could be done a little toned-down and in b/w to make it more traditional, yes? i like the map too. not that we'll need a map, but you know...

i also super love these:
again, in b/w it would lean more to the traditional side and less to the super-trendy. if you ask me. which, you know, you kinda did, reading my blog and all. i just can't get enough of calligraphic flourishes around lettering. yum.

i saw this on a blog the other day too. (i'm so bad at remembering where...i just grab pictures and put them in my "weddin thangs" folder for inspiration...i hope the internet fairy doesn't get me for not properly attributing my photos...) anyway, it incorporates the silhouettes i've come to adore, and i think it's super neat. this is definitely untraditional, but i think it's neat inspiration.
i love this reply card! to go with my theme, i think marley & sterling would be quite handsome in silhouette on the reply cards. you laugh (not you marie, you understand), but you also know that our dogs are like our children (we have definitely become those people) and i can think of few things more "us" than...uh, them. if we were getting married in someone's backyard, they would be accompanying our adorable flower girls down the aisle. alas, we're not. sigh.
while we're talking reply cards here, i have a few ideas. 1) postcard replies - save paper and moola by not necessitating envelopes 2) reply cards with cute options like "wouldn't miss it for the world" or "be there in spirit" are cute. too cute? maybe.

finally, i'm totally digging these invites:
for some reason i just really like the line across the page, kinda like the white-on-black calligraphy envelope in my previous post. i'm working on my handwriting as we speak. before you nay-say that i can't include monograms, silhouettes and fancily-written names in one wedding invitation, please revisit the above inspirations and notice all the different elements. i think i can make it work. do you?

black & white & adorable all over

my second favorite personalized wedding embellishment (after the requisite monogram) is: the silhouette. i think they're super chic, super pretty and super neato. guess what i've discovered? they're also super easy to make! woohoo! thank you photoshop. now to make an actual, good silhouette, you have to take a picture, in profile, in front of a white wall. since i keep forgetting to pin down my enfianced for this venture and therefore do not have proper photos, i played around with a few photos i already had, just for funsies. both pictures (from lou & j's wedding) had dark backgrounds, so the outline didn't come out so crisp, but i think they're pretty cute anyway. these are not the actual silhouettes i want to use, but you get the idea.

how festive and party-like is this?
i hate this picture because my neck resembles that of jabba the hut, but the pose is adorable, and i think captain fantastic looks pretty handsome
don't you just wanna kiss him? i do.

here are some things we could do with them:

programs...with the monogram, of course
coasters...i could diy these puppies with some silk-screening supplies and some chipboard coasters from a craft store on the cheap. for some reason i really love personalized wedding coasters - one of those completely unnecessary touches that just makes me clap my hands with glee. i'm thinking three different patterns: me, captain fantastic, our monogram.

how cute are these cookies? probably a little labor-intensive, but adorable nonetheless.
so one of these days, i'm going to get my camera, camp out in front of a section of white wall, and take a few dozen headshots to get this ball rolling for real. any other ideas of items just begging to bear an outline of my face?