Vegas Vows

Sep072010

Sept 7 TMW Post

Tweet: i’m almost 95% sure that i’m wearing my mom’s pearls and earrings for my Something Old… & cuz she won’t be at my wedding

My parents will not be present when we exchange vows. Nor will his mother, our aunts or aunts, or any cousins or siblings. The only family present will be my younger brother. Sure, we will be surrounded by love from our friends, but is it really the same?

I have been trying to come up with ways for my grandparents to be present in the form of bouquet charms. It seems that I was overlooking the 2 most important people in my life: my parents. The people that raised me and made me who I am today. Um, duh? Yeah, so I decided to wear my mother’s pearls. She has 2 gorgeous sets of differing lengths. The longer ones were a gift when she graduating from high school, the shorter set was her college graduation gift. I am pretty sure I want to wear the shorter pair as they have a really cool clasp.

Tweet: bit the bullet & just reserved my wedding hair appointment for 11am in my room.

Tweet: now that i’ve booked a hair appt, i need to find inspiration, something that can withstand the weight of my knit veil http://bit.ly/a937z9

Y’all have seen this already since I posted it here a few days ago. Yes, I do recycle my blogs sometimes, but it’s rare.

After contacting several Vegas hair and make-up artists about a month ago, I realized that my time is ticking down quite rapidly. I finally booked Storybook Brides after checking their reviews on WeddingWire, Facebook, and even their web page. Yes, they were the cheapest and I’m hoping that doesn’t bite me in the butt. I’ve emailed the owner several times and she seems very nice and responds quickly. All her reviews on WW are really positive. For an updo, it is $80 and they’ll come to our hotel room. I’m doing my own make-up, which means I need to practice! It’s been a while since I’ve worn make-up and even longer (never) since I’ve put on photo-worthy make-up.

The problem now is that I really need some awesome pictures of updo’s that can hold my heavy-ish veil. This is where all y’all can help me. Thrilling, yes? My hair is a few inches below my shoulders. In October, in the middle of the afternoon, the temperature should be roughly 70 degrees. During October, temps fluctuate between the low 50s and the 80s. Holy gorgeous, Batman! What was I talking about? Right, hair. I tend to get very hot and always put my hair up. Add to that about 5-7 pounds of yarn. Basically, as beautiful as a half updo would be, I think it needs to be totally up. Sooooo, feel free to post me links or pictures of hair you’ve seen that you think might work. Thanks!

Aug312010

Aug 31 TMW Post

Tweet: i so want to change all my screen names now to make sure i get them after i print them on my business cards. 42 days left..

To go along with last week’s TMW post, I am designing business cards. Well, more like personal calling cards as I don’t really have a business. Yet. Anyhow, I changed my Facebook username (yes, already), reserved a new twitter name, changed my LinkedIn profile name and am debating changing my Foursquare name to my married name. I also reserved and started using my married name Gmail address. The only thing I wasn’t able to change was my Etsy username, but c’est la vie… nothing I can do about that.

What steps have you taken to change your name after marriage, if you are changing it, that is?

Tweet: my mom described my wedding as “a bunch of 30somethings romping around Vegas for a few days” which i think is quite amusing & accurate.

Oh wow… this made me SO happy! We’re just over 6 weeks away from our weeklong trip to Vegas with about 10 of our friends and my younger brother. My brother’s amazing girlfriend and I have been discussing the various shows we want to see. We’re also planning a day trip to the Grand Canyon and, of course, casino hopping. She also wants to find and ride all the roller coasters up and down the Strip. I, on the other hand, will be perfectly happy taking pictures of her on said coasters. =D

We’re staying at the Luxor, so the far south end. I’ve already checked out the monorail and shuttle system to get us around town without a car or too much walking. Steve and I both have bum right feet (self-diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis) so we’d really like to not have to hike the full 4+ miles of the Strip.

I haven’t looked too much into restaurants to be sure to eat at, but Emeril’s Steakhouse is a must visit for us. And the Flamingo buffet. We want the unique to Vegas places. No chains for us! That’s actually my rule of thumb for almost all my vacations; to get the full experience.

Are you a Vegas fan? What are your favorite must-see shows? What about favorite restaurants?

Aug292010

42 days

It is 42 days until 00101010 (or binary 42) aka our wedding date #wowimageek

um, what, Becca? Why is 42 such a big deal? Here’s why.

00101010 = 0+0+32+0+8+0+2+0

Yes, I did learn to count in binary in my final semester of my MBA degree. We picked 10-10-10 because we’d both only have to remember one number! (Shush, Mitchie, 10 is a single number. Double digits, single number.)

In other news, have you seen my Binary Bride line on CafePress?

Aug222010

Busy Week in Review

Hello friends!

There is so much going on these days… and by so much, I mean wedding/ reception DIY projects, uploading listings to my etsy site, revamping my website, tweaking my business cards (and trying to find the money to pay for them), making jewelry, browsing online for jewelry findings, etc etc etc.

So yeah, DIY projects: I’m trying to make jewelry to wear for the wedding, but the beads I have at home are slightly lacking. I’ve been scouring several websites (Beadaholique, Fire Mountain Gems) for new beads, Swarovski pearls, and findings for both my personal jewelry and also for stuff to post to Etsy.

Personal Picture

Also, I’m now contemplating these adorable favors, alligator cookie cutters! Or rather, buying these and making them into favors for Vegas. I am currently obsessed with baking and, well, I am a Gator for life. Perfect, eh? After posting them on Twitter, my friend suggested mini alligator candy molds. That might make it as Miami favors: little chocolates. Although, the be fair, Steve has already said he wants to do M&M’s for the Miami favors.

Image source

I did a test run with the canvas boards I bought. Using BIC-MarkIt markers and drawing right on the untreated (by me) canvas was perfect. It looks like I’ll be taking an 8×10 canvas board with the bag of markers to Vegas. I feel so good knowing that at least this part has been resolved. And since it’s 8×10, it’s easy to frame.. yay!

Personal photo

Right now my Etsy site only has 2 items posted. It will, eventually, have a lot more. I’m kinda bummed that Etsy changed up their site design since now my profile, with a whole lot more information than before, only shows a few lines. Boo!

Wanna see my full profile? I thought so…

Hello and Welcome!

I am a graphic designer and recent bride.

As a designer, I thrive on unique and creative to market my business. I create custom business cards (both standard 3.5″x2″ and square 2″x2″ or 2.25″x2.25″), print and web logos, letterhead, and just about anything else you can dream up.

As a recent bride, I struggled to find the perfect paper products for our wedding and decided to create my own. Our package included announcement cards, reception invitations and RSVP cards, along with Photo upload cards. Check out all the sample images in this shop to get an idea of what I can make for you.

Also, I was never truly satisfied with the necklace, bracelet and earring sets I found online, and so I made my own. I have several individual pieces and sets available for purchase. I use all sorts of materials and can easily get whatever your vision requires.

Along with the paper products, I designed several stamps, cupcake flags, water bottle logos, favor bag logos for iron-on transfers, and much more.

Do you have a specific vision for your wedding or special event?
Does your business need branding or re-branding?
Custom orders are always welcome.

Cheers!
Becca

You’d be intrigued to buy from me, right? What other design products would you want to see posted?

Aug132010

Flowers and Favors

With t-minus 56 days until we leave for Vegas and 58 days until the wedding, it’s probably time to start working on stuff to take, right? Yeah, me too. This weekend I’m planning on working on my bouquet and the welcome bags… and hopefully embossing all the envelopes for the reception.

Bouquet

This is my initial mock-up thrown together sometime last year and was for the bridesmaids when we were still having a bridal party. Since I purchased enough for 3 bridesmaids and my own, larger bouquet, I have quite a few to work with to make mine a lot fuller. This bouquet is wrapped with a royal blue ribbon then overwrapped with a translucent white ribbon with silver stars. I might switch it up to the orange and blue ribbons. Or even just the blue ribbon and use the orange to hang my memory lockets from. My what?

This one has orange/ red orchids, white miniature calla lilies, grass “filler” and stephanotis flowers. So basically my bouquet meaning is love, beauty, magnificent beauty, and marital happiness. There’s lots of beauty here apparently. I also have tulips, but have no idea how they will match.

Personal picture

Guest bags

I am planning on buying 14″x16″ canvas totes from Cheap Totes and using the iron-on transfer paper I already purchased, putting the graphic below onto it to stuff with goodies for our Vegas attendees. Since I don’t have the bags yet… well or a printer for that matter… umm, OK not much I can do with this project.

In the bags, I’m planning on putting aluminum water bottle, deck of cards, candy, chips, gum, aspirin, transportation maps… what else do you suggest?

Actually, do you have a good printer recommendation for me? It needs to have wifi capabilities since I have a very mobile laptop. If I can buy one this weekend, then I’ll be working on printing this stuff.

The bag: source

Personal picture

Aug032010

August 3 TMW Post

Tweet: i really need to make my hair appointment at the @LuxorLV salon. for a 2pm ceremony, do y’all think 10 or 11am for a simple updo?

Tweet: anyone out there have good tricks for DIY hair updo’s? yes, i’m being conservative & doing my own for the wedding.

I am completely shocked at how much hair stylists charge in Las Vegas. Seriously, for the hairdo I want to get (a simple updo) I am getting quotes upwards of $90, with $120 being from inside the salon at The Luxor. The majority of the quotes do include travel to our hotel room. I had a simple updo done with much longer hair for a wedding in Pittsburgh and it cost me $50 plus a tip. This afternoon I took advantage of the amazingness that is the WeddingWire vendor search and shot off a short email to about 25 stylists in Vegas.

Good afternoon,
I am getting married on October 10th at the Luxor hotel. Could you please tell me what your charges are for hair (no make-up) and if you are available in the morning around 10 or 11am? Please include any travel charges and other fees.
Many many thanks! Becca

Easy peasy and straightforward, right? My only response so far is a quote for onsite hair and make-up for $200. Didn’t I specifically say no make-up? People that don’t pay attention enough to read my super short email don’t deserve my business. Oh wait, nor does a price that high!

Am I crazy to think upwards of $90 is expensive for a simple updo, no make-up in the convenience of my hotel or hotel room? Until I sent out the mass of emails, I thought $120 was the lowest price. Yeah yeah, you get what you pay for, but well, I suck at doing my own hair.

What would you do?

MOH Hair, from my Facebook page

Jul272010

Help Us Pick Flavors, Please!

Hello readers!

I need some help from you and your taste buds. We are having several dozen mini cupcakes at our mini Vegas reception. The problem is, our bakery, Retro Bakery, has some really amazing flavors and narrowing it down it driving me slightly mad. For every dozen cupcakes, we are allowed 2 flavors, which means we get to pick up to 8 flavors. For sanity’s sake, I doubt we’ll pick that many. We also get to pick a flavor for the 6″ cake we’re using as our cutting cake.

The 8 I’ve managed to narrow down for the cupcakes are as follows. We have tried 4 flavors when my amazing friend, TheDearlyWed, sent us a package. Take a peek at all the flavors Retro offers and, if the 8 below don’t satisfy your sweet tooth, feel free to suggest some more.

Red Carpet: Red cake topped with almond buttercream and red glitter sugar
Milk & Cookies: Chocolate-chip cake topped with vanilla buttercream and a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie.
Cinnamon Toast: Vanilla cake topped with cinnamon buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar
Cookies and Cream: Chocolate cake topped with crushed, chocolate sandwich cookie buttercream
Peanut Butter Cup: Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream and dark chocolate shavings
Mint Chocolate Chip: Chocolate cake topped with green mint buttercream and mini chocolate chips
Pink Lemonade: Lemon cake topped with pink lemonade buttercream and hot pink glitter sugar
PB & J: Vanilla cake filled with strawberry jam and topped with peanut butter buttercream

I’m thinking of going “plain” for the cake and getting Vanilla Loves Vanilla, which is exactly as it sounds: delicious! Alternately, Cinnamon Toast was amazing and might become the cake as well. Who knows! I’d love to have all their flavors. 😀

Pick your top 3 choices and maybe it’ll be amongst our choices!

[poll id=”2″]

Jul272010

July 27 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – my last 10min: marshmallows on @levitymallows, flavors on @retrobakery, & searching reviews for wedding dress lingerie. #ohyeahimabride

Thanks to The Vegas Wedding Planner‘s blog, I have discovered a new Vegas treat. Homemade marshmallows in tons of different flavors made by Levity Marshmallows. Well, not tons, more like 10. They’re in Henderson, NV and have a strictly website business. After emailing the owner back and forth, we might end up getting 2-3 mallows for each guest. So, uh, is a bunch of mini cupcakes and flavored marshmallows too much? I didn’t think so either!

I sent out an evite to our potential Vegas guests to get an idea of how many we will be having. I do plan on sending out info packets and, of course, having welcome bags. I purchased a 10-pack of iron-on transfer sheets and figure I have enough to make 19 bags. I think we’ll be maxed out at 15 guests. Once I have a better number, I’m buying the bags and starting to find the goodies. Should the bags go per person or per couple? The water bottles are per person, but can easily fit 2 in the bags with other stuff. I’m thinking the aluminum water bottle, deck of cards, candy, chips, gum, aspirin, transportation maps… what else do you suggest?

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