If you're finding my abrupt switch from brown to black odd, it's a result of our choice of bridesmaids' dresses, which have an element of black to them. Let me know what you think!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
I know, more invites!
If you've been paying attention at all, you'll know that I've been pretty indecisive about the design for my wedding invitations. I'm having trouble deciding how formal to get, what colors to use, what fonts work the best. I come up with a design and feel pretty good about it one day, then completely change my mind the next. Mom and I have set me the deadline of March 1st to finish my design and send it for printing. In that vein, here are some more invite designs:
If you're finding my abrupt switch from brown to black odd, it's a result of our choice of bridesmaids' dresses, which have an element of black to them. Let me know what you think!
If you're finding my abrupt switch from brown to black odd, it's a result of our choice of bridesmaids' dresses, which have an element of black to them. Let me know what you think!
Monday, January 2, 2012
It's all in the little things.
Craft-a-thon was a major success! It think the fun of a wedding is all in the little personal details. I promised you a wedding that had both handmade and vintage flavors, but it's nice to know that all of the "handmade" parts don't have to come from me. (Well, me and my mom, anyway). I spent probably six+ hours taking paper punches to the top of those cookie take-home bags, but with help from friends they were printed in maybe 2 hours. We started working at 6, and with a host of 14 friends and family members, this is what we accomplished:
We created 250 picks for each guest's slice of wedding cake:
We printed designs on 300 cookie bags (though we probably lost 10-20 to printer paper jams. That bag printing thing isn't as effortless as pinterest makes it seem):
We created 100 colorful ribbon dancers:
We colored in and painted the scratch-off date on 250 save-the-dates:
We had some really cute pictures of our teenaged helpers, too, but I'm pretty sure it's not cool to post pictures of the under-aged on unprotected websites without their parents' consent. Sorry, girls!
It's amazing to have so many people willing to show up and do this kind of work. Yeah, we're all crafty people, but we're also all extremely busy. Thanks so much for taking a night out of your holiday vacations to help me out! It means so much!
We've got awhile before another craft-a-thon will be necessary. On the agenda next time? Invitation stuffing and program making, along with the creation of another 150 ribbon dancers (though my sister may have connections that will get us an extra 100 left over from her friend's wedding, which would be awesome). Until then, my major work lies in finally nailing down the invitation design. I'm liking the one I'm currently working on, but we'll see how long it takes me to fall out of love with it!
We created 250 picks for each guest's slice of wedding cake:
We printed designs on 300 cookie bags (though we probably lost 10-20 to printer paper jams. That bag printing thing isn't as effortless as pinterest makes it seem):
We created 100 colorful ribbon dancers:
We colored in and painted the scratch-off date on 250 save-the-dates:
We had some really cute pictures of our teenaged helpers, too, but I'm pretty sure it's not cool to post pictures of the under-aged on unprotected websites without their parents' consent. Sorry, girls!
It's amazing to have so many people willing to show up and do this kind of work. Yeah, we're all crafty people, but we're also all extremely busy. Thanks so much for taking a night out of your holiday vacations to help me out! It means so much!
We've got awhile before another craft-a-thon will be necessary. On the agenda next time? Invitation stuffing and program making, along with the creation of another 150 ribbon dancers (though my sister may have connections that will get us an extra 100 left over from her friend's wedding, which would be awesome). Until then, my major work lies in finally nailing down the invitation design. I'm liking the one I'm currently working on, but we'll see how long it takes me to fall out of love with it!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Craft-a-thon Tonight!
It's been a week of wedding progress! On Tuesday we picked up my dress and picked out dresses for the bridesmaids. We had tremendous success at Stacey's; I'm nearly as excited about the bridesmaids' dresses as I am about my own! In order to get a discount (and because I was super-jealous), I ordered the same dress in ivory to wear for the rehearsal dinner. I'm so excited I might not even put a picture up and just let all of you be surprised!
In other news, we're hosting a wedding craft-a-thon at my parents' house tonight; we will be working on the save-the-dates, picks for the cake, the ribbon dancers, and the cookie bags for the wedding. We will provide our fabulous wedding elves (it's a workshop, right? Ok, dumb analogy) with pizza, beer, and snacks. Should be a good time! Here's some of the art I've created for the cookie bags; I can't quite decide:
I think the rose might be my favorite right now; it's a little more formal than I was imagining, but I like it. Something wonky happened to the typewriters; I swear they're cooler in illustrator.
Finally, I've spent several mornings working on my invites, hoping to come up with a final one. I've created, discarded, and resurrected several ideas and schemes, and here are a few I've been working on:
The top one is a revamp of the first one Wendi and I worked on; the second is a concept I've been thinking about, but it needs a lot more glitz and some sort of clip art, I think, before I might really like it.
In other news, we're hosting a wedding craft-a-thon at my parents' house tonight; we will be working on the save-the-dates, picks for the cake, the ribbon dancers, and the cookie bags for the wedding. We will provide our fabulous wedding elves (it's a workshop, right? Ok, dumb analogy) with pizza, beer, and snacks. Should be a good time! Here's some of the art I've created for the cookie bags; I can't quite decide:
I think the rose might be my favorite right now; it's a little more formal than I was imagining, but I like it. Something wonky happened to the typewriters; I swear they're cooler in illustrator.
Finally, I've spent several mornings working on my invites, hoping to come up with a final one. I've created, discarded, and resurrected several ideas and schemes, and here are a few I've been working on:
The top one is a revamp of the first one Wendi and I worked on; the second is a concept I've been thinking about, but it needs a lot more glitz and some sort of clip art, I think, before I might really like it.
Monday, December 19, 2011
It's HERE.........
My wedding dress is in! I'm psyched that it's safely finished, and that the long alteration process is about to begin! I'm most excited to see what the corseted back looks like: the one I tried on at Schaffer's was so large that I couldn't really get an idea of what that would look like or how it would feel.
On Tuesday the 27th we'll be going to try it on and also look for the perfect bridesmaids dresses! I feel like finding those will be the last big piece of the puzzle. I had always planned on purple, but the popularity of that choice in a season including 4 weddings before mine is causing me to question my colors. This trip should solidify that dilemma, I hope. So far, only Megan, Breanna, and Mom have signed on for this trip. If you want to come, let me know! Sorry, working people, that it's a Tuesday afternoon. If we find the dress, I'll find a time to go look at them with my two other bridesmaids, Amanda and Arielle.
In even more exciting news, my sister's coming home from LA this week! Only five more days, Sister! We've got so much planned for the time she's here; I can't wait!
On Tuesday the 27th we'll be going to try it on and also look for the perfect bridesmaids dresses! I feel like finding those will be the last big piece of the puzzle. I had always planned on purple, but the popularity of that choice in a season including 4 weddings before mine is causing me to question my colors. This trip should solidify that dilemma, I hope. So far, only Megan, Breanna, and Mom have signed on for this trip. If you want to come, let me know! Sorry, working people, that it's a Tuesday afternoon. If we find the dress, I'll find a time to go look at them with my two other bridesmaids, Amanda and Arielle.
In even more exciting news, my sister's coming home from LA this week! Only five more days, Sister! We've got so much planned for the time she's here; I can't wait!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Another Invite Option
I've been working on some more invites, and I'm a little excited about this one. Of course, who knows whether or not blogger will let me put it up; it wouldn't let me upload any of my Photoshop JPEGs yesterday. Anyway, here it is!
I haven't quite figured out how to make the white parts invisible; I'm not exactly an Illustrator wiz, but I'm learning! There are definitely some fonts in here I'm not 100% in love with, but I'll keep working on it. Let me know what you think!
I've had a few hours to play around a little bit, and I added some purple to this one. I started with the flag, but then I thought this might be a solution to my white problem. Does it work? I'd rather have the brown show through, but as an alternative, it's not so bad.
And, because I just can't help myself, I did this one with different central artwork:
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Book Club
Allison and I have started a book club/ writing circle and a are currently in the "recruiting new members" phase. If you're in the DSM area or can be contacted via Skype/Facetime, join up! You can visit our website here. (Yes, I've become a little obsessed with google sites). If you're already a member (Meghan & Allison, I'm talking to you) POST SOMETHING. Our name is kind of silly, but I had to come up with it one the spot when creating the site. Here's the logo I created:
Blogger doesn't seem to be letting me upload JPEGs at this time, so I'll have to add the pretty pictures later!
Blogger doesn't seem to be letting me upload JPEGs at this time, so I'll have to add the pretty pictures later!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Detail Updates
Good morning! I'm blogging to you from the front half of our apartment because we have no power to the back half! Yep, that's right, no heat and no hot water on the first night we have snow. Surprisingly, it hasn't gotten too cold in here, but this is throwing a giant wrench in my preparation plans for Jake's work party tonight! I meant to spend this time taking a shower, shaving my legs, and putting my hair in hot rollers. Is this supposed to be some message from God about vanity?
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to Megan for being the only one to give helpful feedback on my invite situation. I'm feeling kind of stuck on that front; I just can't create anything I really love. I've got a new, half-formed template that coordinates better with my save-the-dates, but it's far from finished. I'll give you a little teaser:
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to Megan for being the only one to give helpful feedback on my invite situation. I'm feeling kind of stuck on that front; I just can't create anything I really love. I've got a new, half-formed template that coordinates better with my save-the-dates, but it's far from finished. I'll give you a little teaser:
As you can see, it's still very rough. This would be the bottom portion. Now that I'm looking at it, the feminist in me is starting to think that the female bird shouldn't be below the male bird, looking up at him longingly...may have to switch them around. I love the font: Jane Austen. How could it be more perfect?
In other news, we've chosen a DJ. We went with Complete Music, based in Des Moines. They seem extremely eager for our business. They're constantly checking in with me about things, even though they've already gotten our deposit check. Seems like a good sign. And, their logo's kind of cute.
Thursday, December 29th, we'll be hosting what I've decided to call "Craft-a-thon" at my parents' house. We'll provide food and drink (the fun kind), and hope all our friends will come to help us create the ribbon dancers, cookie bags, cake toothpicks, and myriad other crafts for our wedding. Hope you can come! As an extra incentive, Megan will be back from L.A. and crafting along with us! See you in two weeks, Sis!
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