crafty

Jul202010

July 20 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – i totally want to do this for our guest “book” for Miami: http://bit.ly/bsnMGS #wedding (even if i had one for my bat mitzvah…)

Image from BridalBuds

Seriously, how adorable is this idea?! I showed it to Steve and I think he liked it. Seeing as he’s the one that’ll be drawing the tree or whatever design we decide on, I’d hope so. I can’t decide if I want a small one – like 8″ x 8″ – for the handful of Vegas folks and a larger one – 16″ x 20″ or bigger – for the reception. Either way, we have this great huge half wall over the pass through in our kitchen where they would reside perfectly next to our ketubah. We’re looking at over 100 guests in Miami, so either we’ll make 2 of them, or just have a really small design. Another option is a very large mat framing a relatively smallish photo of us. My friend Abby did that and it was too cute. It was maybe 12×16 with a 5×7 totally off-center picture.

And the bat mitzvah thing? Yeah, I totally had a 2′ x 3′ humongous picture for everyone to sign. Mhmm… it’s crammed in a closet somewhere and was never hung up. Hopefully this one will be different.

Tweet: @msrib – just sent a bunch of inquiries for Miami vendors on @weddingwire… now the waiting for replies begins 🙂

I know that we have a quote from a photog whose work makes my little heart pitter patter, but I decided to do my due diligence (use this word all the time at work) and look around a bit, right? So yes, today I emailed about 15 photog’s in the Miami – Ft Lauderdale area this afternoon. Sure, I sent the same email to them all using @WeddingWire‘s fabu contact form, but whatev, it worked. So far, I’ve received 1 email even remotely within our budget. Her images are totally amazing also, but, well… something is lacking. I think it’s the extra’s that K includes.

Photog K is $1100 for 3 hours of photos and a DVD filled with all our edited images. It also includes extra print credit of $150 towards any prints that we print through her.

“Images are usually processed within a 4 to 6 week time period depending on the current backlog and busy season. Once your images are ready, you will be presented with a link to your password-protected online viewing gallery.

High Resolution Files are include a personal printing license. These files are full resolution with no watermarks. Low-resolution, watermarked files are also included for personal perusal of your wedding collection or for sharing images online.”

Photog A is $900 for 3 hours of photos and a DVD filled with all our edited images.

“The above prices include my photography services, editing the photos for you, and putting them onto DVDs for you. I take about 100-200 photos each hour. All the photos I take on your wedding day will be edited for color/brightness/contrast/sharpness/etc, so they are ready to be printed. Then I will send you in the mail all the photos on a DVD (3 copies actually) about 4-6 weeks after your wedding.

Since you are receiving a DVD of very high quality digital negatives of all your wedding photos I do not offer any online viewing galleries, print ordering services, or wedding album design.”

I’m fairly sure if it’s just between these 2 overly talented photogs, it’s kinda a no-brainer. Which would you choose?

Jul062010

July 6 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib – how many professional photographers do i have on my feed… debating if i want pro pics for our uber casual wedding reception

I’ve been seriously debating this issue. Our big DAY will have plenty of coverage as included in the package by Scenic Las Vegas Weddings. As will 2 days later thanks to the amazing photo shoot we won with the amazingly talented Emeric Photography

In a series of responses from photographer and non-photographer friends, I was convinced that yes, we DO need a pro photog at the reception. As one friend pointed out, the party, with all our family and friends, will look like drunken party pics especially compared to our pro pics for everything else. So now, I need to figure out a budget for the January shindig and see how much cash we have to spend on pictures. I have a friend that I would love so much to use, but I just don’t know if we can afford her. Luckily she said she has a friends and family discount. She is one of those truly amazing photog’s with crazy high ratings on WeddingWire. I am in love with her work. Le sigh.

Tweet: msrib – as open as i’ve been w/all my dress choices, i think i’m gonna keep the final selection a secret until the pics are posted. maybe #weddingwednesday

I did end up purchasing the gown last Monday. I was in and out of David’s Bridal in about 45 minutes with my newest dress in hand. They had the size and color I wanted to try on. To be fair, I did wander around to check on other floor length gowns and tried on one other. Little Miss Indecisive is no longer so! The dress is in my closet. My mom said she like it a lot better than the last all lace one. I don’t have any pictures of myself in it as I was having major undergarment issues. Plus the straps are a bit big so I need to have then fixed before I’ll post any pictures. I suppose in this case, third time really in a charm!

Tweet: msrib – Hello mini future Mr & Mrs Fletcher! #caketopper http://twitpic.com/21eohx

And I leave you with a bit of creativity… all I need to do is spray on the varnish and we’re done!

Jun222010

June 22 TMW Post

Tweet: Today is my parent’s 39th wedding anniversary.. in 39 years & 3.75 months, we’ll be celebrating ours too! 😉

There’s not a whole lot to say about this one. 39 years. That is a loooooong time! In those 39 years years they’ve owned 3 houses, raised 3 children, and owned hundreds of exotic birds and probably about a hundred dogs. Not to mention the odd creatures like goats, tortoises, koi, iguanas, and whatever else they’ve had. While we’re not going for the animal part, having 3 kids after 39 years is something I’d love to emulate. Even if there’s only 1 perfect kid – me, of course! 😉

Tweet: wedding ring mailed yesterday, remake payment just made… now to wait 8 horribly long weeks to get it back. going from 7.5 to 9 #justincase

My beautiful ring finally got mailed back. And what’s better, it was received 2 days later. Before I could even check the tracking, I got an email from the jeweler saying” it arrived, he’d use my old stone and crate the new one… and as a reminder, the current waiting time was 8 weeks.” Le sigh. 8 weeks until I have my precious back in my hands. The timing is pretty dead on since the wedding is just shy of 4 months away.

Tweet: The result of careful counting & lots of painful hot glue injuries: http://twitpic.com/1x510b

Tweet: All I need now are the pillars. #cupcaketower http://twitpic.com/1x6ag8

Tweet: Mini us! Now to hook to the base & varnish the whole thing #caketopper http://twitpic.com/1xannv

That’s right, I finally got some wedding DIY done… or at least seriously worked on. The cupcake bases are complete and I just need the towers. The cake topper is done and I just need to varnish them. We have normal varnish from the kitchen cabinets, but I’m thinking that it wayyyyy too thick. All the sites I was referring to used spray varnish. Too bad a bottle of spray varnish is about 10x what I need and costs like $8. Can’t they just sell a tiny bottle for me?

Tweet: Embossed envelopes… It’s a start! #wedding http://twitpic.com/1yki33

I am actually please with how these turned out. All the stamps I purchased and carefully planned and showed to people… they won’t work for embossing. I tried. All the text runs together. I guess that means everything else will just get stamped onto the envelopes. I did start that part… the stamping onto the envelopes. Our snazzy and complete fab return address stamp got stamped onto all 100 RSVP envelopes over the weekend. Only a handful were either too light, ink missing, or something else unusable. Not too shabby!

And I leave you with this, from Monday…
Tweet: 111 days until 101010! (cc @brokebride2be!)

Jun062010

Not so Quickie Update

In the last few weeks, we’ve had the following wedding progress:

* booked our airfare — yes, this ranks as the absolute highest since it was such a chore! But alas, we have non stop flights to/from Vegas from the 8th to the 13th for $390.99 including the flights, taxes, fees, airline club fees, AND insurance. I may be taking a risk by booking on Spirit Air, but there’s a few reasons why I am OK with it. Namely being in touch with their head of customer service via twitter and email the last few weeks, and also Cat’s sister is working for them. Both make me feel good about the decision. Also you can’t beat that price for 2 people ON a holiday weekend with a stick! Now the problem is finding a hotel room for the 8th since our reservation in the suite is for the 9th-13th. Also, this puts us $200 under our travel budget!

* guest list — I finally typed the names from all the labels and the slips of paper mom gave me into Excel. I was somewhat shocked to find out that it added up to 189 warm bodies including children. The reception will be open to all families, totally casual and just plain fun. Honestly, as much as my head is saying no, I think it’d be completely fun to have a bounce house! The whole shindig is in my parents back yard and guests will have roughly 4-5 acres to roam and play on during the party.

* designed and had printed 2 more stamps for wedding/ post-wedding use — the first is a super fabu address stamp that went through tons of changes before being agreed upon. The other is a stamp for the back of the RSVP envelopes. The envelope stamp says “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Love Robert Frost! These 2 and the original one I had printed were done by the crazy talented BlossomStamps.

* purchased clear labels and downloaded loads of new fonts — yes, I am both lazy and cheap and will be using labels for our invites. The font I finally decided upon is called “MA Sexy” which amuses me, but whatever. It is both easily read and super flourishy. LOVE!

* cupcake tower — during a shopping trip to Home Depot to get the pieces for the tower, dad pointed out that we can do as many projects for the Miami reception, but not Vegas. His idea is to use short pieces of PVC pipe since I was going to wrap whatever I bought with blue painter’s tape anyhow and he has tons of piping. I’m also going to use 2 of the leftover door knobs from our new cabinets since there are a bunch left over.

* cupcake wrappers — I bought 3 shades each of orange and blue 12×12 card stock from Michael’s. After cutting them all out, I’m planning on stamping and embossing the following logo onto each. Steve said he prefers mini cupcakes, so we’ll be getting 4 dozen of those from Retro Bakery. I asked and was told we get 2 flavors per dozen, which is great and all, but their flavors are aMAZing and picking 8 will be torture!

* crinoline — I haven’t ordered one yet as I’m sort of hoping to find one locally. The only problem is I can’t find a store locally that sells square dance outfits. I might just suck it up and order the one from Petticoat Junction. I want a pale blue one, but think getting white and dying it on my own might be a better option than hoping they sell the right color.

+++++++
In totally non-wedding related news:
* ECU finally recognized me as a graduate with 2 degrees (the MBA and the MIS certificate)
* I am officially a Florida drivers license holder, now to get Luna transferred as well
* I am the somewhat proud owner of an iPhone. Somewhat because the signal is horrendous, but that may be due to it being an old phone.

May252010

May 25 TMW Post

Tweet: Yay! Our invites, etc from @overnightprints are here!! http://twitpic.com/1p0hlb

I am so so so so so excited about these! In typical graphic designer nit-pickiness, I am annoyed at the resolution on the bamboo, but hey, I will let that go since *I* designed them and didn’t quadruple check. Seriously, these bad boys are so cute and I’ve been carrying around a sample in my purse to show, ummm, everybody! Well, invited everybody’s that it…

Tweet: decided to get crafty… trying to find inspiration to paint our wedding cupcake topper people. so far the base is gold. 🙂

Tweet: Possibly the collegiate design for the topper. Just hoping I don’t look like a boy. #UF & #WVU http://twitpic.com/1q5baa

Tweet: Our mini-me’s have clothes. But still need logos and faces http://twitpic.com/1q5st7

Tweet: We have logos! These mini-me’s are so stinkin’ cute. http://twitpic.com/1q6fw3

Tweet: With the stand… Not done painting or sealing us yet. http://twitpic.com/1q6gbs

Yes, that is my terrible handwriting on the base. I might repaint and try it again.

Sorry for the series of progressive tweets, but I finally started working on the cake topper. I bought the pieces and paint a few weeks ago. I guess it’s just been sitting here awaiting inspiration. After showing Steve a bunch of super cute ideas on Etsy, including Han & Leia, space suits, and so much more, I had a random source of said inspiration and was off and running. It hasn’t been put together yet as “we” still need faces and then a final coat of glaze, but here’s the progress pictures… cuz “we’re” so cute!

I also exchanged a series of tweets and Facebook posts with friends about airlines. I spent the better part of Sunday checking airfare again with nothing really extraordinary except Spirit Airlines. During one of my question tweets, the manager of customer relations started asking where we were heading and answering questions I had about the possible pilot strike, pricing, etc then said if I had any problems, I could contact her directly. Behold the power of twitter to sooth my nerves. For a company with so much negative reviews, they are really quick to respond to complaints on twitter. As for the rest of the web, who knows how fast they respond.

138 days!

May012010

A real update!

I know I do not post nearly as much as I should. But in all honesty, I do the majority of my wedding “planning” on twitter these days. I am also the featured bride on Tuesdays over on TweetMyWedding. The other brides are amazing and you should really go check us all out. 🙂

sneak peek of the design for all the “invites”

That little plug aside, I’ve finalized the design for our “invites” and just need the final head count to order them. I put it in quotes because it’s a whole package of Vegas wedding announcements, Miami reception invitation cards, Miami reception RSVP cards, and little cards for our photo dump website. Our what? You know… when you go to a wedding, take tons of pictures with your camera then eventually get around to putting them on Facebook. Well, I created a Shutterfly site specifically for people to be able to upload everything there so we can see what everyone has done. We, and anyone viewing the site, can create books, bags, or whatever else from those pictures.

My main reason for posting is that we have been working on the guest list in the last few days. We have a fairly comprehensive list of family and friends. The problem lies in my father’s family. To say they’re all estranged is probably too harsh of a word. I am good friends with one of my cousin’s, and facebook friends with her and 3 others. However, my father hasn’t uttered a word to his step-mother, step-brother or step-sister in years. We kinda like it that way. My dilemma is do we be the bigger people and invite the lot hoping the “adults” decline and the cousins I like accept, or just not invite anyone?

What do you think? I can give back story if you want via email.

Thanks!

Mar192010

Veil, Blocked!

It’s finished. It’s blocked. Now I just need to sew the comb onto it. It’s currently sitting pinned to the blocking mats in our spare room.

Mar162010

4.5 months later, my wedding veil is done

All of my progress pictures since casting on October 29, 2009.

One of my favorites twitter tags lately has been #imcrazy.

I’m crazy for undertaking such a huge knitting project. As a fairly new knitter, I decided that I would knit my wedding veil. I cast on the first stitches on October 29, 2009 and just now finished it on March 16, 2010. It was a very long 4.5 months and well over 48,000 stitches.

I am unbelievably proud of myself for undertaking this project and completing it.
So proud of how gorgeous it turned out.
So proud of my perseverance in knitting every day at lunch and while watching TV at night.

I still need to block* it and attach it to the comb. But for now, it is completely finished.

* Blocking means wetting the piece and pinning it to a board to force it into the proper shape.

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