more DIY inspiration

My DIY, graphic designer cousin just unleashed yet another limit-less, bottomless, plethora of ideas for me. I"m probably the last DIY bride to find this, but here's all you need to do:

go to http://www.flickr.com/

Search "DIY wedding" (or "DIY wedding invitations" or "DIY wedding centerpieces")

voila! hundred of beautiful pictures appear! I'm in awe....and have found yet another wedding obsession.

just take a look

Update: Registry Blues

Remember my awful Macy's registry experience?

Well, just a few days later, I received an email survey from Macy's asking about my experience. I gave them pretty bad ratings (which was difficult for me to do! I didn't want to seem like a total bridezilla). But I followed them up with specific comments about what I was dissatisfied with: lack of service, lack of knowledgeable staff, limited selection, and being told to go online to do our registering (NOT an option for me when picking out bedroom sets and bathroom decor!)

I received a call from Sandy at Macy's--the woman who was off on the day we went to register. She applogized profusely and said she felt terrible about our bad experience. She convinced me not to give up on Macy's (however, we are finishing registering in California...the Macy's are much larger there). She is also planning to send me a Macy's gift card! (and the first thing FI says is: "For how much money? You mean you didn't ask how much?!"). NO dear, I didn't ask how much. I didn't expect a giftcard, but it was a nice gesture, and I appreciated their commitment to customer service.

(I fully believed all those customer surveys go into a black pit once submitted)

So Macy's has been moved back into a reputable place in my book. Though i still wouldn't recommend the Orland Square Macy's unless you call ahead and make sure Sandy is there.

my first big commitment

I did it. I finally made a decision on my centerpieces.

I've been looking almost non-stop on websites, in magazines, and at florists. I think I have been more concerned about my decorations than I have been about my dress!

My two biggest concerns were: keeping with my theme of woodsy, rustic, elegance--and finding something SUPER cheap!
Some other concerns: I wanted to put them all together myself, and if they needed to be last minute put together, they needed to be easy, I didn't want anything too tall, or too inconspicuous (hey, I'm working hard on these, they should be seen, right?!)

Here are just a few of the million ideas I've considered: (All photos should be credited towards theknot.com)

Aren't they all just so much fun?

I love the vase of apples...wish I was getting married in the fall!

But all these lovely pictures (and MANY more) were giving me idea overload. I couldn't pick what I wanted and just LOVE too many things to actually do.

Thank heavens for my wonderful aunt, who is doubling as florist, seamstress, and head wedding designer (though she would never claim the title!) finally convinced me to just make a decision and stick with it!

And I had C, my friend and BM (who is getting married just a month after us!) come along and help me to be decisive.

So we headed over to Hobby Lobby's half-price sale and I picked up these:



So 22 of these suckers were loaded into the cart...at a whopping $1.75 each!



I love them!
(And I may need to remember this in the future when I find a bigger, better idea and start getting bridal regret)

We'll be filling the bottom of the bowls with rocks (either white rocks or little river rocks, then water and mixing in white and green hydrangeas like these:





We'll tie raffia around the bowl (the bowls I got have a slight rim)

What a relief, and what a fun night with two wonderfully helpful people!

Here is C goofing around in florals


And Aunt E helping me pick a vase for my ceremony flowers...4 dozen white tulips in two big vases on pedestals at the front of church

I spent a total of $65 for 22 fishbowl vases, two large column vases and 4 rolls of rafia. Yay!

Another post on my thrifting for more decorations to come...

something old, something borrowed

Last night I convinced my mom to take out her old wedding dress for me to try on. We both knew it was not something i might consider wearing, but it was still a sentimental moment for us.

You see, my great-grandmother made the dress for my grandmother, who got married in 1954. My mom wore it for her wedding 29 years later.

But this is what I saw when we took it out of the box.

Yuck!

It looks so yellow. It's lacy and long sleeved and has sparkles (my one vice when it comes to wedding dresses!)

But my mom is pretty laidback when it comes to wedding things and did not mind the dress at all. Wish I had the picture of my grandparents to show you the dress for it's orginal wearer. Here is the dress circa 1983--see how cute they are?!

and.....here is me in it in 2008!

Not so my style, but so much better than i thought.

The bedroom lighting made the dress look much worse than it looks on. I am thinking of doing a pre-wedding shoot with this dress just to create an album for my mom and grandmother. I can't believe how well it is doing for being 54 years old!

Fast-forward to vintage dress #2. Another dress, another story.

My dad's older sister, my Aunt Dee, died of luekemia when I was in high school. She had a son, my cousin, who I have always been close with and I spent a lot of time over at their housegrowing up. When I got into junior high and got very crafty, she would have me over and we would cross stitch, knit and quilt together.

She made BEAUTIFUL quilts (I'll have to post one on another day) and I'm so sad that I won't be getting my dream wedding ring quilt from her for my wedding. I asked her for it when I was 11 years old.

Isn't it cute? I just love the homey feel it has. But I don't think one not made by my aunt would be the same.

My uncle remarried a couple of years later and cleaned out a bunch of old stuff from their house. He knew how close Aunt Dee and I had been, so he asked me if I wanted to have her wedding dress (he has a daughter, but she is much too big to wear the dress and is already married) So I took it, having no idea if I would ever like it or fit into it, and promptly forgot I had it. We found it when I searched for my mom's dress in the basement and I decided to try it on too!

Here it is, in the box, unopened since 1978.

And here it is on me! Yikes, check out those sleeves! Believe it or not, I like the neckline. (my mom thinks it's terribly ugly) It's so vintage and fun, but it is too big everywhere and it's again, not me. (I'm not sure anything vintage is)

But I had a blast trying on these dresses!

Did you try on any vintage dresses, or wear your mom's dress for a photo shoot? How did you honor your mom or grandmother (or aunt!) with using/wearing their vintage wedding things?

Registry Blues

:-(

This is the best descriptor of my experience at Macy's.

E and I trekked to Macy's on Monday before he left for home, hoping to complete the registering we started at BB&B and find a comforter set we both loved.

Outside of the fact that we received poor service, no one knew how to get us started on a registry, there was almost NO selection in the store, and we were both told to basically register online....

You mean, besides that? The thing that irritates me the most is that I went online, just like they said. And I actually found something I think I like (much to my surprised). And E likes it too! We decided on a modern southwestern style for the bedroom. We'll be in southern california. I can dig it.

Here it is, in all it's Calvin Klein glory:

So, I log into my wedding registry account. I search "Sequoia" in the bedding section. Imagine my chagrin when I find that it is not available for registry!

Maybe it was because it is on sale (see, guests, affordable gifts!) But anyway, I have searched high and low (OK, at BB&B and Carson's) and can't find anything that fits both our styles and still fits E's dream of a Southwestern-looking bedroom.

Have you ever had a major registry dissapointment? Did you find yourself buying things yourself, or registering at multiple places just for an item or two?

back at it: tuxes and a good vendor review!

It's been a few days, but I had a good excuse.

FH has just been dropped off at the airport, tears wiped away as we countdown (again) til the next time we're together, and I am back at work as though my routine hadn't been altered a bit with holidays, shopping, wedding planning and, of course, quality time with FH. But it has, and I have lots of news!

We accomplished a lot this weekend, but amongst registering, DJ interviewing, pre-marital counseling, and more...





We picked out a tux, and I LOVE it.

I am really excited about this right now. Still have to decide on a color scheme for vests/ties...but we can get more specific later. The cut is classy, clean, and the pants only have on pleat (if you have seen two pleated tuxes...you will know why this is a good thing)

We stopped by Men's Wearhouse Tux, and didn't have a great experience with the salesmen there. It might have been a little bit cheaper there, but the woman who helped us at Formally Modern Tuxedo was so much more helpful, and with seven tuxes, we get two free! FH decided to be nice and split the cost with his GMs and it will come out to about $125 each guy.

There are three Chicagoland locations for Formally Modern, but I had a good experience at one of them and I would imgine they are similar at the other two locations.