Stalled

Although it keeps getting closer, I find myself thinking less and less about the wedding.  Last year I spent much of my free time browsing limitless inspiration on the web, paging through wedding mags and envisioning our wedding.  Then I went home over the summer and actually got to try on dresses and purchase picture frames and taste cake and select centerpieces and it was so much more real!  So now, back on the other side of the world, I'm a little bit lost.  It's hard to get motivated.  So my attention has been easily diverted by Christmas decorations and holiday lessons at school and...well...anything but wedding planning.

In Minnesota this week they had a snowstorm.  My sister (a teacher) had a snow day!  I miss winter.

This is all the winter I'll be getting this year...

...but next year I will get to see snow again!

See what I mean?

As long as we’re on the topic of yellow dresses…allow me to support my choice. Finally I’ve discovered some photos from a wedding with the same mix-and-match yellow bridesmaids idea. Photos that can translate the vision inside my head to those who can’t see inside my brain. It’s so exciting!

See?  Happy, lovely, mix-and-matchiness.  Let's just pretend for a moment that you're as excited as I am about this.  eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

All of the photos are from 927 Photography.  See more ::here::

Yellow dresses

The search is on for yellow bridesmaids dresses.  I asked all of my girls to choose a yellow dress, roughly knee-length.  So they are the ones choosing.  And actually, I don't know that anyone except for my sister (MOH) is actively looking yet.  Which might worry me if I weren't way the heck over here on the other side of the world and completely detached from wedding planning at the moment.  But it is fun to browse!  I found a bunch of goodies on sale from J. Crew.  I think my sister has ordered a couple to try, so the first decision could be made soon!  Unfortunately, they've disappeared from the website after selling out and I didn't snag the pictures early enough.

I do have some goodies to share, though, have no fear!  Yesterday I stumbled upon Mod Cloth.  They have a lot of interesting clothing at pretty good prices.  I have never ordered anything from there, nor do I know anyone who has, so I can't vouch for the place.  But here's what they offer in yellow:

Yay?  Nay?  I think it's worth bookmarking and tossing it into the ideas pile.

Centerpieces...check!

While we were home this summer, we did check a couple of things off of the wedding list.  I went to IKEA three times.  That store is so much more wonderful after living on a remote tropical island for two years.  Let's just say our apartment is not very homey here.  Because selection is terrible and prices are outrageous, we get by with just essentials (i.e. not aesthetics) for the most part.  If we had an IKEA on island, that would change in a hurry.  Ahh cheap chic-ness.

Oh, right...back to the wedding.

With the decision making assistance of my mom, fiance, and two bridesmaids (college roomie and future sister-in-law), we decided on the above and below.  Some tables will have three ceramic vases.  Others will have an collection of glass ones.  The mismatched theme fits right in with the mismatched fabric, frames and, of course, the bridesmaid's dresses.  Inside the vases will be daisies.  Maybe some wildflowers, too.  We'll see what's around.

Everything (except for the Coca Cola bottle) from IKEA.

Wild weather

Once again I've gotten off track.

To be fair, there's been a lot going on over here on this side of the world...

Luckily we're safe and our island was mostly unharmed by the typhoons.

If we get another typhoon, I promise to use some of our "waiting it out" time as "wedding time."

Ice cream sundae bar

I love ice cream.  I was thinking of doing an ice cream sundae bar at the wedding but, for the moment at least, have decided to go with something a little less complicated.  Anyway, Eat Drink Chic has created the most opulent sundae bar I've ever seen, along with lots of pictures.  It's a great idea source to get your imagination rolling.

MmmMmmmMMmm....

More non-matching bridesmaids

More non-matching bridesmaid examples, all in green...

::from here & here::

Love it

I don't think I need any words to explain why I love this.

But allow me to add, so that you may understand why I am SO taken with this right now, that I was in love with the wildflowers in Minnesota this summer.  During my visit back, that's one of the things that stood out the most.  Which was kinda weird, because here on this tropical island we have flowers in bloom everywhere and all the time.  Many days I'm overwhelmed with the scent of flowers in the air.  But I was still struck by the beautiful wildflowers growing all over in Minnesota.  I don't much care for fancy arrangements of roses and other fancy flowers but you can give me a hand-picked collection of wildflowers any day.

Loveliness from ::here::

Canning lemonade

How come I've never seen lemonade served in mason jars with the lid on before?

Perfect!

Photo from ::here::

Masking tape makeover

I stumbled upon this Japanese washi paper tape the other day and now I need a reason to buy some. I’m thinking I could set out a roll for guests to seal their candy buffet bags…

Any other ideas?

Find it ::here::

Planning a wedding is like teaching first grade

Hear me out on this one.

All the wedding mags and websites like to point out the average person’s inability to plan a party as large as a wedding. Because most people don’t have experience planning and carrying out huge shindigs, they need to hire a wedding planner to do it for them. That way they can just say “yes” and “no” and leave the details to someone else. I see the point. Some people just don’t think of all the details, and there are a lot of details involved in a wedding. And many people just don’t want to. But there’s no way on earth that I will be hiring a wedding planner to do everything because a.) I don’t have the money for that and b.) I am a huge perfectionist and cannot relinquish that sort of control.

I really do think, however, that I have a huge advantage as a first grade teacher. As a teacher, I think about ridiculously trivial details every day. How am I going to distribute these papers? What will be most efficient? How can I keep them occupied? What will this group be doing while I am working with the other group? How do I make my directions simple and clear? How do I maximize space yet still allow space for traffic flow? How can I involve them in this lesson? What jobs can they perform?

My brain does not overlook much when in teacher mode. When I think about the wedding, I see so many of these details. My mind focuses on the guests’ needs and comfort more than getting my make-up done or posing for photos. In reality, I’ve spent the past year o.d.-ing on details. My sister told me “I don’t really have anything to share…you’ve already thought of everything.”

I’m not trying to bill myself as a professional wedding planner. Just sharing my thoughts. Hopefully my theory pans out and I won’t be thinking of the things I missed after the wedding.  Now if only we were having kids at our wedding (no little ones in either families) ... I would be able to plan a cute kids table!  Darn that generational gap.

Photo from ::here::

If I had a million dollars

…and/or oodles of craftiness, thriftiness, and hours upon hours to kill…

I would get me some of these. I think they are so cute. I would give them to all of my wedding guests with favors of quaint little herb pots. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Of course, I don’t have any of the aforementioned skills or assets, so this is a no-go. It was a nice daydream, though.

Garden markers from ::here::

Overwhelmed

The word of the day today is overwhelmed. As in overwhelm. You know…

o · ver · whelm

1. to overcome completely in mind or feeling: overwhelmed by stress.
2. to overpower or overcome, esp. with superior forces; destroy; crush: the independent and distant budget wedding planner was overwhelmed by the stalwart wedding industry.
3. to cover or bury beneath a mass of something: wedding magazines, ceremony scripts, and other items in the wedding pile have completely overwhelmed the coffee table.
4. to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything: she was overwhelmed by the hundreds of wedding blog posts amassed in her Google Reader.

I have been a very bad blogger. But, as blogging excuses go, well…life just got in the way. I went home to Minnesota this summer for the first time in two years. Blogging was not my top priority. The wedding was pretty high up there, though. I returned to my island only to leave again within the week for a soccer tournament in Taiwan. The internet in our hotel was slow so I didn’t even get to read wedding blogs. And when I got back, school started. I have entered the black hole of the school year, when time is no longer my own and every day of the week is burdened by my classroom to-do list. So, you see, it wasn’t until yesterday that I even had the heart to open up my Google Reader.

I feel so behind and so far away. This summer, wedding planning was real. We actually got to walk through the ballroom and picture everything. I bought fabric and frames and centerpieces in person. Mike even started to get involved. But now I’m back to long-distance planning. Which was okay when I was just brainstorming ideas last year. But now it’s go time. And choosing paper, apparel, and a photographer from thousands of miles away…sucks!

Photo from ::here::

Back to the future

I am officially back on our little island.  The trip home was so nice.  Sadly, though, it had to come to an end.  So here we are, back on the other side of the world for another year of adventure and wedding planning from afar but--one year from today--we will be back in Minnesota, getting married!

I know, I know...I've neglected the blog.  But now I have a lot to share.  Decisions were made.  Centerpieces, the dress, the officiant.  More inspiration was garnered.  And my best friend's wedding.  (Not-so-much like the movie with the groom stealing and such.)

I'm leaving again in four days for a soccer tournament in Taiwan, but I will do my best to squeeze in updates before then.

For now, here's what I'm currently downloading:

It's a free download...so I can make cute pictures like the one above, from here.  :)

Choices, choices!

You'd think that with all these weeks of being home, I'd have something to show for it on the wedding front.  Alas, nada.  For the past year, I've floated along in a sea of excess time.  Things were too far out to really plan and I had all the time in the world.  I perused blogs and websites for hours discovering every wedding-related idea on earth and gathering inspiration.  On one hand this did help me to develop themes and ideas of what I want.  But not really.

Here in Minnesota, I've found myself awash in choices.  For everything, really.  Limitless brands of salad dressing.  An entire aisle devoted to facewash.  This plethora of options has not been present in my life over the past two years.  On my little island I'm lucky to find facewash at all!

And so it is with wedding planning as well.  It's decision time and I'm reluctant to pull the trigger.  The dress.  The invitations.  The centerpieces.  I have less than two weeks until I'm back on-island so I don't have much more time to dwell.

Next on the list is meeting with our reception venue.  Unlike many places, they don't have set menu options.  This is kind of nice, since they would probably be open to any ideas I have.  In reality, though, it's just more stressful!  I don't know which way to go with the food.  Do I fill out the menu with memory-eliciting comfort food?  Go for laid-back picinic fare?  Add some fun with hotdogs?  Or should I just try to have a nice, elegant menu?  Beats me.  At this point, I just want someone to tell me what to do!

:: links ::

mac & cheese : hot dog : burger : boxed meal : pasta salad : lemonade

Sweet home Minnesota

I know I've been MIA lately, but I promise I have a lot of good excuses!

But let's just get to the point.  I am currently blogging from the other side of the globe.  That's right, I'm home in Minnesota!  We flew back last weekend to see family and, of course, get some wedding planning in.  I'm going to be dress shopping, meeting with the ballroom folks, cake testing (just because), and any other miscellaneous bits of planning I can squeeze in, since the next time I'll be here will be <2 months before the wedding!

I'll try to post as progress is made but my internet connection is less-than-desirable, so we shall see.

For now, I'm signing-off to celebrate the 4th with my family!  I hope it warms up!  I'll leave you with my first inspiration board for tabletops at the reception.

:: links ::

thread tealight directions here : wax votive luminaries directions here : buttons from here

$1 make-up

My future sister-in-law tipped me off to the amazing sale happening right now at E.L.F. (eyes lips face) cosmetics.  Apparently Nordstroms has bought out the line and everything with the e.l.f. logo on it is up for grabs at the stellar price of $1 on their website!  $1 for brushes, eyeliner, blush, eyeshadows, mascara and more!  Plus, you can get $5 off when you spend at least $10.  I'm not really into make-up (as in I wear it a few times a year) but that made it all the more exciting news for me as I can afford to build up my beauty arsenal and try out some new things über-cheap!

Non-matching bridesmaids

Before I was engaged I loved this idea.  In fact, for the past six years since planning my sister's wedding I knew I wanted my bridesmaids to wear something different.  Not different colors entirely, and not different models of the same color dress, but unique styles in the same color spectrum.

I love this.  I would like for my bridesmaids to wear something in yellow - hopefully not in that traditional bridesmaid satin fabric.  I'm thinking cotton, chiffon, or something more along those lines.  Casual, summery, cute and fun.

A few more examples...

Sources: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5, photo 6

Birthday shoutout

Today is my sister's birthday.  In six days, I will be in Minnesota and will actually get to see her - in person! For the time being, I managed to unearth this (poorly stitched) photo series of her on the day of my college graduation.  It was the first test for the "panorama" feature on a new camera.  Coincidentally, it's one of the only pictures I have of my parent's yard (where we plan to have the ceremony).  In seven days I will be in that yard - how exciting!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday, hermana mia!

Happy father's day!

"The life and love we create is the life and love we live."

Leo Buscaglia

Fun with colors

This is such a fun little tool to try.  You can choose up to 10 colors and the application will pull photos from Flickr to populate your real-life color palette.  Enjoy!

A wish for our wedding

Photo from ::here::

Photo from ::here::

I love these pictures!  I truly hope that our guests have so much fun at our wedding!

Ties

I'm sure many brides-to-be do their planning a bit more systematically than me.  I do not have a one-track mind.  I follow tangents.  And so, my wedding planning and inspiration gathering has led me to ponder more-or-less every single detail of the wedding.  One example: ties.  I don't know what the men in the wedding will be wearing, but I've seen a few ties that have really caught my eye.  I tried looking for a good tie source and had no luck.  I found some places for cheap ties but didn't like the designs.  I found some good designs that I was unwilling to pay for.  The other day, though, I came across these ties from The Tie Bar.  Each one is $15 and they have a pretty nice selection.

All ties from ::here::

The first purchase

My first official purchase for our wedding was a vintage, free-standing, old-school chalkboard.

I scored it for $30 off of Craigslist.  Luckily, my awesome sister and helpful parents were willing to make it happen, seeing as I'm seven thousand odd miles away and unable to pick up, haul, or store said chalkboard.  I'm so excited to use it!  And, being the nerdy teacher that I am (I actually own my own overhead projector...but that's another story), I am excited to use it post-wedding in my classroom, as well!

As for how I plan to use it in our wedding, check out my inspiration:

I definitely want a photo guestbook!  I'm not a big fan of traditional guestbooks or the big "have the guests sign their names on a photo mat" trend.  I think fun pictures make it a whole lot more enjoyable to look at and a better memento.  We still have to figure out exactly how we'll work out the photo portion, but we have a few ideas and Mike is willing to pitch in on that since it involves technology.  :)

Real wedding chalkboard inspiration from ::here::

Another serving of yellow inspiration

I now present to you the last two of my top six Snippet & Ink yellow inspiration boards.  In case you've been living under a rock and ignoring all of my links, I recommend you go there to see lots more pretty things and a huge variety of inspiration boards.  Really.  They're not all yellow.

I hope you all like this board because I love it!  A perfect picnic.  I would totally do tulips if only they bloomed in August and I really want to buy the eco-friendly wooden cutlery on top, except that I don't need to provide utensils...still looking for an excuse on that one.

And this board is undeniably fun.  I love paper lanterns.

Inspiration boards from ::here::

More inspiration boards

Both of these boards incorporate outdoor elements.  I love the thought of our ceremony being in the yard.

Inspiration boards from ::here::

Snippet & Ink inspiration

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't use Google Reader until spring break this year.  But, oh, did I make up for lost time.  I fell into a black hole of link-clicking and o.d.'ed a little on inspiration.  Luckily, I emerged at the other end with a solid-yet-not-all-inclusive list of wedding blog inspiration.  One of the best sites is Snippet & Ink.  On this delicious blog, Kathryn (the blogger) has posted oodles of inspiration boards.  Of course, I have just about every yellow inspiration board saved in my wedding folder, but I'm going to show a little self-restraint and only share my six favorite yellow boards with you.

Up first, a couple featuring daisies, the flower we'll probably be using.

Inspiration boards from ::here::

Yellow it is.

Once we decided on the location, my vision for our wedding started evolving.  I should note, this process of planning our wedding has really made me aware of how much I have changed these past two years.  Living on this teeny tropical island has removed me from fashion trends and most of pop culture.  I find that my tastes have changed and I am able to choose things I like without even being aware of current trends.

So I have more-or-less decided on yellow as our wedding color.  Believe me, I shocked myself.  Coincidentally, this was actually the color my parents chose in their wedding.

Of course, we're going to skip the canary yellow tuxes.  (Mike occasionally voices an opinion and he put his foot down on that one.)

I think there will already be enough blue between the lake and the sky.  And the grass, trees, and other plants called first dibs on green.  Yellow seems like the perfect sunny addition.  Classic, casual, cheerful yellow.  Just perfect for our wedding.

It's all in the location

Mike and I got engaged last August.  We knew we wanted to have the wedding in Minnesota so we could have all of our friends and family there.  Unfortunately, we are currently living a long ways away from Minnesota.  Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my tendency toward perfectionism.  Full-boar perfectionism.

And so our wedding date was set for August 14, 2010.  We would have two years to plan (and wait!) with one visit back to Minnesota (this summer) to get our ducks in a row.

I guess we'll see how that works out.

That settled, we moved on to the next big decisions...location(s), colors, themes, etc.
Idea overload.  I am a visual person.  I like nice-looking things.  I like to make nice-looking things.  And weddings (and thus wedding-related magazines, blogs and the like) offer up a lot of pretty.  I had powerpoints with color combinations and flower varieties.  And there were so many pleasing options.  How to choose?

Mike and I agreed that we would love to have a lakeside location.  We're really drawn to water (our Aquarius nature, I guess?) and likewise uncomfortable in churches.  With over 11,000 lakes in the state of Minnesota, you'd be surprised how ridiculously hard it is to find a lakeside location.

I scoured the internet and found a handful of places.  Most were in northern Minnesota, far away from our family and friends.  One seemingly perfect site in the twin cities was rejected after a bad review from my sister.  It seemed hopeless and it was looking as if we'd have to settle.

After awhile, a small, quiet spark of an idea began gnawing at me.  An idea I had pushed aside but started to like.  And then it became an idea I loved.  I (er, we) decided to have the wedding in my parent's yard and the reception at the Lakeside Ballroom just down the street.  Perfectly imperfect.

In the beginning

In the immortal words of Michael Jackson...

You wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

I've been dawdling with this blog, waiting for some divine inspiration for a suitable first post.  I tend to get stuck on beginnings.  It's just that, I've paged back through many a blog all the way to the start only to be disappointed by the the less-than-momentous first post.  "There's no beginning!  They just start.  Right in the middle!"

And so it shall be with mine as well.

Perhaps I will back track a bit in the future, but if I don't get started, I'm never going to put this blog to use.  And that's the whole reason I created it in the first place.  To collect and share my ideas and let my thoughts float out to cyberspace.  So without further ado, the thoughts and ideas for my wedding and pretty things in general shall commence.

It all started with this...