Pom-poms...a good thing?

I haven't really talked much about my tablescape yet, truthfully, because I don't have a vision of how the tables should look. My decorator is looking after most of the decor at the venue, but not everything, because: a) I'm anal retentive like that, b) cost, and c) I want to feel as though I contributed to the feel of the day in some way.

My colour scheme is black and white with orange accents, as I've mentioned before. The tables will be covered with white linens and black (or possibly black and white damask) overlays and the centerpieces will either be manzanita trees or black candleabras. The chairs will be done up in black chair covers with orange satin sashes.

Sort of like this, but with orange instead of yellow accents, and no flowers:

Image via Bride

Our decorator will be setting up all of these elements herself. Now, we're not doing flowers on the tables due to cost, but when I started thinking about the overall look of our tables, I felt they needed something. So, like any good bride, I turned to Martha for some DIY inspiration and found these:

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

Napkin pom-poms! I die. Martha provides step-by-step instructions for these cute napkin additions, and they're actually quite easy to make. YAY! I can contribute to the tablescape after all.

So now, my only dilemma is whether to make the poms in black or orange. I'm leaning towards black because I want to use orange sparingly (so that my wedding doesn't look too Halloween-y), but they'll look more like flowers if I do them in orange.

What do you think? Orange to add some colour to the table setting? Or black to stick with the overall vision?

Say Cheese-y!

I think I'm sort of a wedding photo snob. I don't know how this came to be (perhaps it's the 5+ hours a week I spend internet stalking other people's weddings). Whatever the reason, I dislike traditional, stiff wedding pictures. I don't want my bridal party lined up like a bad prom photo (see below). I mean, it works for some people, but I just find it cheesy.

Image via John Partridge Photography

Luckily, one of my co-workers has a partner that runs a small photography business specializing in the kind of wedding photos I like. I am in love with her work, and with her personality. Plus, since she's my friend's partner, she's giving us quite the discount. Awesome.

Here's a small sample of her work:

All images via Green Apple Photography

I adore all of these photos especially the last one, as my FH and I spend a lot of time on the couch in exactly the same pose. I can't wait to see what magic she pulls off at our upcoming engagement shoot!

Is it weird to be in love with your photographer?

Will you be my friend, my ribbon-tier, my favour-maker, my hair-holder, my sanity-saver, my shower-thrower and my day-of-coordinator?

When I got engaged, I asked all of my friends if they were up to the task of being a part of the bridal party. But, the conversations were very informal and unofficial, like I tend to be. Being a bridesmaid or a MOH is a really tough job. I fully respect that. So, I wanted to ensure that all of the ladies were indeed prepared to handle the bridal party duties (ohhhh...intense!).

So how did I do this? I sent out "Will you be my bridesmaid?" cards. My first wedding DIY project!

Here's how I did it:

I started off by buying some scalloped cardstock from Staples. Then I used an awesome dress stamp I'd purchased, to stamp the front of the card. Beneath the image, I printed out "Will you be my bridesmaid?" in a pretty font that I downloaded for free called KissMe.

Image via me

I split the back of the card into two sections. One section had a short poem I wrote and the other outlined some important info, such as: wedding date, location, rehearsal dinner time, the first and last names of the bridal party members, and the bridesmaid attire guidelines (since they'll pick out any LBD they choose).

I was originally going to try to print on the envelopes (but apparently our HP printer wasn't up to the task) so instead I addressed the envelopes by hand (I have quite the handwriting, I'll have you know) and then jazzed them up with a tree stamp I purchased for another project.

Image via 1-2-3 Stitch

Here's the final product (with names blurred for privacy):

Image via me

And the poem, if you're interested:

Now that my wedding day is coming up fast,
I think of the people who’ve helped form my past.
You’ve been a great friend to me over the years.

Together we’ve shared smiles, laughter and tears.
I know that I’ve asked this at least once before,

But I want to ask again, so we both can be sure.
On October 30th, ______ and I will tie the knot.

Will you be my bridesmaid? It would really mean a lot.

All of the bridal party really enjoyed receiving the cards, and it makes me feel a lot better knowing we're all on the same page.

Do you think it's a good idea to formally ask your bridesmaids to be a part of the wedding? Or is an informal conversation over the phone/over coffer/in a bar enough?

That which we call an orchid, by any other name...still looks weird on my envelopes.

Ok, I think I'm starting to go a little crazy with the wedding details. You see, my FH and I have managed to finish (mostly) our save-the-dates (herein referred to as STDs as I'm too lazy to type it all out) and now just need to address millions of envelopes, affix postage to said envelopes, and send them out.

Problem is I don't like the postage stamps Canada Post offers.

I know that no one will really care what the postage looks like...but I will. We spent hours putting our STDs together. We had a photoshoot, learned how to emboss, printed each card in our malfunctioning printer, cut to size all the photoshoot photos, designed and printed all the little STD stickers (which took hours because Avery templates suck) and used bucket loads of double-sided tape to stick everything together. I don't want to ruin all my hard work with this:

Image via Canada Post

I know they're not horrible, but I hate them. They'd be perfect for a pink, tulle wedding. But my wedding is modern and black and white.

What I want is these beauties:

Image via Picture Postage

Custom postage. You just take a photo (we could use one from the photoshoot), upload it to the Picture Postage website, choose a frame and the format (i.e. number of stamps/sheet) you want and ta-da!!

Now, the only problem is the price. I'd need about 30-40 stamps for my STDs, 50 stamps for my invites, 50 stamps for the RSVP cards, and 50 stamps for the thank you cards. So 200 stamps, or 5 sheets (40 stamps/sheet).  That works out to $201.50, whereas regular postage would only cost $114.00

My FH doesn't really want to go this route, as he thinks it's silly to spend an extra $100 on something that most people won't notice. But I love them.

So, what do you think? Dole out the extra $100 to have stamps I love? Or go with the orchids, and hope no one notices?

Up, down, up, down, up, down...

Perhaps one of the most difficult decisions I have to make in regards to the wedding is whether to wear my hair up or down. No, I'm not kidding. It's a hard choice.

See, though I hate to admit it, my hair is straight. Stick straight. Looks like I use a flat iron daily, straight. So, for as long as I can remember (at least since 5th grade), I've put my hair in rollers, everyday. I really don't know why I do it; my hair doesn't hold curl remotely well. But somehow, this daily ritual makes me feel better.

Because I curl my hair daily, I wear my hair down everyday. Seriously, if I go to all that effort, the last thing I want to do is put it in a ponytail. Thus, after more than 3 years of dating and a year of friendship, my FH has only seen my hair up (excluding the ponytail I rock at the gym) 20-30 times.

So, when it comes to my wedding day do my FH wants it up.

My mom also wants it up, pretty much all my friends want it down, my sister (and MOH) wants it up, and I want it down....provided I had different hair sprouting from my hair follicles.

But, since it seems I must work with what I've been given, I want it up....I think.

Here's the "up" inspiration:

These first few all have side swept bangs, which I don't have, but could easily cut. I think the side swept bangs make the styles look less severe (which is a good thing, because with my large features, I have the tendency to look severe).

These styles have no bangs, which may be better as my fine hair tends to get greasy fast, and I don't want oil-slicked bangs mid-reception.

Here's my if-I-didn't-have-such-crappy-straight-thin-hair "down" inspiration:

All images in this post via Project Wedding

So, do you think I should try and wear my hair down, despite its tendency to go flat/straight? Or should I just give up and go with an updo?

Duds for the dudes

My FH is nuts. Well, not really, he just doesn't have much self confidence. At all. One of the things he dwells on is that he's short-waisted (his legs are longer than his torso, making his waist look higher than 'normal'). So, when we started thinking about dressing him and the groomsmen, we decided to go with a vest that's the same colour as the tux/suit (to help disguise the short-waistedness).

We were originally going to go the way of tuxes, but decided against this after seeing him and his brother in tuxes at his brother's wedding. My FH and his brother (also his BM) are very thin, and the tuxes fit so poorly, that in pictures they: a) looked as though they were drowning, or b) looked fat.

So, we decided suits were the way to go.

Image via Groom Grove

My FH did not own a suit (we're chemists, remember?), so we went out and purchased an awesome CK 3 piece suit for $400 (on sale from $600). We also bought a beautiful silver and orange paisley tie and a white French cuff dress shirt (so that he can wear his grandfather's cufflinks). Since most of the groomsmen don't have the funds to do the same, we're asking that they wear any black suit they have and we'll provide white French cuff shirts and matching orange/silver ties.

Mismatched groomsmen? I love it. They'll go well with our mismatched bridesmaids. Here's proof it can work:

Image via Wedding Bee

Image via The Knot

Image via The Knot

So, what do you think? Is my mismatched wedding going to shock/horrify the guests? Or is it fun to let some personality through?

What's in a date?

I'm not overly superstitious. I don't avoid walking under ladders, I've broken a few mirrors while moving, and a black cat has crossed my path more than once (my roomate had a lovely all-black cat, Dede).

So why do I care about the date of my wedding? I want it to look cool.

Yep, that's right. I don't care that I'm being married on Devil's night (though many family member's and friends are horrified at the prospect), because the date, when written out, looks cool.

10.30.10

Nice, right? My type-A personality loves me some symmetry.

It would have been awesome to get married on October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), but that:

a) falls on a Sunday

b) is Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday

c) falls the day after my mom's birthday.
d) is FH's good friend's wedding weekend.

So, 10.30.10 it is. And I love it.

What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?

Squash.

I think I mentioned my wedding date in my first post, but for those who missed it, I'm getting married on October 30, 2010 (aka Devil's Night).This wasn't completely intentional, but I'll get into that later. Anyway, since we'll be wed on Devil's night and party into Halloween, it was important for us to have some inspired decor.

It's fairly difficult to do a Halloween inspired wedding without entering into gaudy territory, but I think one of the easiest ways to do this is to use natural decor elements, such as pumpkins, flowers and branches (i.e. manzanita).

Pumpkins will be a very important part of our wedding decor. But can you do jack-o-lanterns without being tacky? I give you my inspiration.

How about some monogrammed pumpkins? My FH loves carving (he usually carves 2-4 pumpkins each Halloween) so this would be do-able.

Image via Better Home and Gardens

Image via Marry Monograms

Image via Domestic Fashionista

We'll definitely have more than one monogrammed pumpkin; probably a few at the entrance of the ceremony/reception hall and then one up at the front of the ceremony room. In addition to the monogrammed pumpkins, I'd also like some 'mini' pumpkins.

Image via Good Houskeeping

Image via Laura Novak

I'd also like to do some white and black painted pumpkins to go with our white and black colour scheme. I am in love with the damask pumpkin!

Image via Home Made Simple

Image via Country Living

And finally, I'll have to cover the mantle (and perhaps the hearth) of the fireplace in our reception hall with pumpkins. Though I'd probably change the "RIP" banner and the "BOO" pumpkin message to something a little more wedding-y, like I DO.

Image via Poetic Home

Image via Good Housekeeping

Image via Good Housekeeping

So what do you think? Too much pumpkin, or just enough?

I want candy.

I have more than a little bit of a sweet tooth. My FH has even more of a sweet tooth. So, when deciding on what to give our guests as favours, the answer was simple, something sweet and edible.

We thought about chocolate covered pretzels (but my FH's brother did that as his December wedding), we thought about personalized M&M's (but what about people that don't like chocolate), we considered caramel apples (though this would be very time intensive as we'd likely do them ourselves) and then we went to meet Kim, our wedding coordinator.

She suggested a candy buffet. Um, yes!

I had seen tons of pictures of wedding candy buffets, but thought they were out of our budget. But since our decorator/WC already has all the jars/plates to display the candy, it actually won't be too costly. Plus, since she'll be helping us the day of the wedding, she can refill the jars as the guests deplete them.

Now the only question is, what should I do for candy colours.

We could just do a mix of colour, focusing on the more halloween-y colours, like orange, green, purple, and black. I think a variety of colours can look great.

via Farfalla Wedding

via mod4

We can stick to our black and white theme and do something like this. Or, we could do this and add in our orange accent colour.

via Hostess Blog

via Ashley's Bride Guide

Or we could go for a primarily orange display, and let the candy buffet be the main orange element of the reception hall.

via MCLELLAN STYLE

So what do you think? Black and white? Black and white and orange? Black, orange, purple and green?