I am totally having an OMGheisnevergoingtobethistinyagain moment.

Tell me again, why do they have to grow up so fast?

Wedding Planning

Well, all the big things have been set in stone for a couple of months now. Venues? Check. Caterer? Check. Florist? Check. DJ? Check. Photographer? Check. But boy, you never know all the little details that go into planning a wedding until, well you're planning a wedding! Especially when you're a detail oriented person myself. A lot of the things I'm putting so much thought and effort into may even go unnoticed by my guests, but I want them, and they make me happy so I'm doing them anyways. 

As I peruse weddings blogs (....multiple times a day), my DIY project list just gets longer and longer. There are so many cool ideas out there it's hard to know when to stop, or how to make decisions. I still am not 100% sure what I want to do for a "guest book" because there are so many unique ideas out there that I love. All I know for sure, is it won't be your traditional guest book where you just sign your name. I don't need to take attendance ;) 

The biggest DIY project by far has been the invitations. There's the designing (and redesigning), printing, cutting, gluing, envelopes to pick, fonts to select...yada, yada, yada. And with a little baby (almost 9 months!!) to keep up with (and keep out of things he doesn't belong in!) it's taken even longer to complete them. I'm hoping that I can complete them in the next week or two just so I have some peace of mind and can cross them off the to-do list - and move on to the next project on the list! 

Well, I'm just rambling now....I wish I could share some more specific details of my projects, but I don't want to give everything away before the big day :) I'll leave you with a wedding that I recently came across that I found very inspiring. Bakers twine, bunting, and paper straws - oh my!

*Link* Enjoy.

Something blue...dyeing my crinoline

You know the saying...."Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a six pence in her shoe!" Hadn't heard of the last one? Me either, until recently, but when I heard of it, I decided I had to have it too. So I went on ebay and ordered myself a six pence. It's on it's way for $1.79.  Don't you just love the world wide web?

So, I'm still not sure what my something old and something borrowed will be, but I do have my something blue covered. I was inspired by pics like this:

How cool is that? I love the little hidden pop of color than can only be seen if you raise up your dress a little. I just love the look of it peeking out from under, and it makes for a fabulous photo op. 

Well, I've been thinking about dying my crinoline blue for a while now, but I hadn't really got the nerve to do it. I was afraid that A. It would ruin my crinoline. B. The dye wouldn't take to the material my crinoline was made of (nylon). or C. I would end up with a blue washing machine. Well, today I picked up a box of RIT dye and bit the bullet, and I'm so glad I did. 

The before pic:

The after pics: 

It did come out a little darker than I had planned, but I'm okay with it. Like I said, it's only going to peek out of the bottom of my dress a little - if I let it. And those white streaks in the first pic aren't really there, I think those are just from the flash.

The process:

1. Set your washer to the highest and hottest water setting. Let the basin fill up. 

2. Dunk your crinoline in the hot water to get it wet and then set aside. 

3. Premix the powdered dye in a little water in a separate glass container. 

4. Add the dye mixture to the water in the washing machine. 

 

5. Add your crinoline, shut the lid, and cross your fingers.

6. Easy, no? Here's the labor intensive/boring part. You have to stop the machine every 3 minutes to untangle your crinoline so you don't end up with a tye-dye effect. Not the bridal look we're going for. 

4. After 30 minutes of this, you set the machine to rinse (cold) and let the cycle finish. 

5. You can put it in the dryer on low, but I decided to hang mine to dry because I didn't want it to shrink.

*Immediately after you take the crinoline out of the washer, run the washer again on the hottest and longest cycle with detergent and 1 cup of bleach to ensure your next load of clothes doesn't come out in a lovely blue hue.*

**Oh, and wear plastic, disposable gloves so you don't end up with blue fingers. Not cute.**

A wedding in 7 days...

I'm still as blog obsessed as ever, but these days I spend my free time (while the little one sleeps, ha) browsing wedding blogs (or wedding porn as it is so fondly referred to in wedding blog-land). 

From these blogs I've gotten a lot of great DIY ideas and the courage to stray from the norm and make our wedding truly us. I do not want a cookie cutter wedding.

It's so easy to get caught up in the "OMG I have to have this!" and "We have to do that because everyone else does it." that sometimes you lose sight of what this day is all about. Two people who are in love joining together to spend the rest of their lives together. That's it. All that's needed for a wedding is a bride, a groom, and someone to marry you. The rest is all fluff. And stress. But I do love me some fluff so we're having some of that too :) 

But anyways, the point of this post is this: It has crossed my mind, seriously, several times that we should have just eloped. Not in the true sense of the word, but should have done something super small and meaningful, with just our closest of closest family and friends, without all the stress and excess that comes with planning a big wedding. 

Well, I came across this article on, you guessed it, a wedding blog! It's such a sweet story and how perfect does it sound? A wedding planned in 7 days? A wedding that is just about two people joining together and celebrating with their closest friends and family? Sign me up. That's what it's all about. 

Engagement Photo Shoot

Frank and I had our engagement photo shoot today. 

Despite it being 35 degrees out, we had a lot of fun and I think we got a lot of great shots. 

Our photographer is really great and really seems to have a good eye. She also seems to have the same tastes as me when it comes to photos, so I'm really excited to see how they turned out. 

I think it was the most we have kissed each other and looked into each others eyes in, well ever. Ha! We definitely felt a little silly at times, but I think it was a good experience. 

It was a little refreshing to spend the afternoon focused on us as a couple rather than us as parents. Don't get me wrong, we love, love, love being parents to the coolest kid ever, but it's nice to take the time to just be a couple for a few hours. 

Speaking of the little guy...he is going to be 8 months old on Wednesday! 8 months old! How did this happen? Where has the time gone? Before we know it he's going to be crawling, and walking and then a whole year old! 

It's so fun to watch him grow, learn and change literally before our eyes. He has developed such a sunny little personality and is always smiling or giggling. 

I said to Frank the other day, "How did we get lucky enough to be his parents?". That truly is how I feel when I look at him with amazement. How did I get so lucky to be blessed with these two special guys? I don't know, but I sure am counting my blessings.

Budget

Does the title make you want to shudder? 

Who likes that 6 letter word? 

Weirdos like me, that's who.

It's stressful trying to stick to a budget (a small one in particular), but I think it also makes the whole wedding planning process a little more fun. 

What fun is it if you have thousands upon thousands of dollars at your disposal for your wedding? It leaves no room for creativity.

I'm really excited about a couple of DIY products I have up my sleeve and definitely can't wait to see it all come together on the big day. Which by the way is sneaking up on me faster than I expected. It's already less than 5 months away now! Eek! 

Everything continues to grow bigger. We had originally planned for a very small intimate affair, but as our plans and ideas have grown and changed, we've realized that it's not going to be quite as small as the event we originally had in mind. Despite this, I will try my damndest to keep it intimate, fun and laidback to reflect our personalities. 

Well I'm rambling now. Off to bed I go. But first I'll peak in on my sleeping angel. 5 bucks says he's laying on his tummy with his little tush pushed up in the air. Ahh, so precious. I think I'll sneak me a little kiss too. :) Good night!

dun dun da dun

I've been a little M.I.A as of late. Sorry bout that. 

Well Frank and I are finally planning our wedding and boy is it time consuming.

Yep, if you are a reader that doesn't know me in real life you are probably just learning that I have been living in sin. Yep first came love, then came the baby in the baby carriage, and now comes marriage. 

Weddings always take a lot planning and come with their fair share of stress, but when you decide to plan a wedding in less than 6 months, that stress is a little bit amplified. 

And when you get engaged and plan for a wedding date less than 6 months out, on a serious budget and plan to stray from tradition ("OMG you want cupcakes instead of a wedding cake?!?") you get a lot of mixed reactions, some less than stellar. And if you're like me your over sensitive and you take every piece of criticism or funny "look" to heart and it annoys the shit out of you. 

So this is my less than punchy come back post after a 3 week hiatus. Yay! We're getting married. Agh! We're planning a wedding, and I'm stressed.

P.S. Just keepin it real people, save your "It's supposed to be fun, not stressful" comments for another day...or another bride. d :

Good reading material that sums up my mood.