Let them eat cupcakes

I figure you can't have cupcakes without having cute little signs to indicate the flavors, right? So I found a great template courtesy of Martha Stewart and posted on the always fabulous Vintage Glam Weddings.


I found the template for these cute little cupcake flags on Vintage Glam, too. Super easy - cardstock + toothpicks + glue stick. Now that is my kind of craft project!

Fiesta!

One of the things I was most excited to register for was our Fiesta dishes. You can read more about the history of Fiesta dishware here. Basically, they've been around since 1936 (with a brief hiatus in the 70's to mid-80's) and they come out with different color options every year.

We registered for place settings in a variety of colors - peacock (bright blue), cobalt (dark blue), scarlet (red), and sunflower (yellow). They look great mixed and matched together - I even pointed out to FH that we can do an 'SC place setting with the scarlet and sunflower. Technically, we could also do UCLA, but I knew better than to mention this.

I think the peacock is my favorite - it's just so bright and happy ... like my bright blue laundry room! (more on that later)

I heart shoes

Someone, please remind me to have my photographer take tons of pictures of my wedding shoes.

Then I can get them framed and hang it up on my side of the closet and laugh at FH when he asks me why I have so many shoes.

[from the always fabulous Meg Perotti Photography]

Monogrammed Stationary

I'm fairly obsessed with stationary. I love to write notes to people - real, handwritten notes that you send in the mail, remember those? I might actually be the only bride-to-be out there that is actually excited about the mounds of thank you notes that I'll have to write.

Now that I almost have a new name - even though I can't sign it to save my life - I'm keeping an eye out for monogrammed stationary. I read somewhere that it is bad etiquette to use your married monogram before you are actually married.

Well, as soon as we are hitched, I'm ordering these:

[from le papier studio]

and these:

[from pixelimpress]

and these, with my new last name:

[from Earmark]

Ready to bake up a storm

I might be taking this whole becoming-a-wife thing too literally, but I came across this apron on, where else?, Etsy, and kinda fell in love:

[find it at The Way We Wear on Etsy]

I think it's part of my dream of becoming a super crafty girl who makes my own stationary and goes antiquing and sews curtains and is capable of making food that my husband's children actually like.

Maybe if I have a cute apron, all of those things will be possible? I don't know, but if anyone wants to buy it for me as a wedding gift, please feel free!

0 to 1650 + 30 Day Shred = Fit Meglette

I mentioned yesterday that I'm getting organized. Along with that comes a concrete workout plan. I'm not looking to lose weight, but I want to feel good and look toned on my wedding day (and forever). I used to be really dedicated when it came to working out, but things have definitely fell by the wayside lately.

I came across the 0 to 1650 swim plan, which is perfect because I hate doing cardio but I love to swim. I bought a rec pass last week so I can swim on campus after work and I just completed my first workout on Monday.

The plan calls for swimming three days a week, and at the end of six weeks, you'll be swimming a mile (1,650 yards). It felt great to be back in the water, albeit a bit awkward. Lots of hitting the lane lines while doing backstroke. But swimming is one of those things that once you start doing regularly, you'll see a lot of results right away.

I'm going to combine the swimming with Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout.


Yes, I would like abs like that, please. And arms, and shoulders, and well, everything.

I'm thinking I'll do the Shred twice a week, on the non-swimming days. That will be five days of workouts a week, which seems reasonable for the first month or so. Once I get closer to the wedding, I'll kick everything up a few notches.

I tried the first Shred workout on Tuesday morning and well, it kicked my butt. It's only a twenty minute circuit (3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of ab work, repeat) but Jillian keeps you going the whole time so it gets pretty tough by the end. I would definitely recommend it to anybody looking to tone up. It's not annoying, like most workout videos, and she keeps it pretty simple and old-school (jumping jacks, squats, etc) which in the end, is always the most effective way to exercise.

The invite's in the mail. No, really.

Whew! The invites are officially in the mail and on their way as of yesterday.

A special shoutout to my little brother for the incredible design and his magic work with getting the printer to work when no one else could (it might have something to do with the dinosaur noises, but who knows?) and to his girlfriend, for staying up until one in the morning with me, sorting, stuffing and stamping away.

Here is our little assembly line:


And the stamps on the RSVP envelope turned out great:

I always see "invite cost breakdowns" on other wedding sites, so I just thought I would recap the total cost per invite ...

Invites - 40 per box at $25/box =
$0.62 per invite (outer envelope, invite, invite sleeve, RSVP card and RSVP envelope)

+

Printing - free, although after a lot of stress and dinosaur noises (don't ask)

+

Postage - $0.42 for the outer envelope + $0.44 for the RSVP envelope =
$0.86 (that means that my postage expense was more the the actual invitations themselves...)

=

Total per invite: $1.48
(!!!!!!!!!)

Problem Solved: The Dress

Finally, after much laying around on the couch and flipping through wedding magazines and obsessing over THE dress, I looked it up on CSIS's website. I never would have picked it out in a million years based on the picture and styling they used online. But I'm glad I looked it up, because it was fifty dollars cheaper than the store price, which had already been marked down. Sign me up for that!

To recap, not only did I buy my dress from a fairly ridiculous place that represents the wedding industry that I have come to loathe, I bought it from their website. And I love it. I can't wait to turn the corner and have FH see me for the very first time.

I don't dare post a picture, or even a picture of something similar, since FH reads this blog. But here's what it doesn't look like:

But if I had the luxury of time...

...I would have used these for our Save the Dates. LOVE the Giving Tree. LOVE these. Sigh.

[Design and template by Merriment Design. Posted here on the absolutely indispensable Intimate Weddings.]

Done and done

FH was in town for the weekend and we got a ton of stuff done, including:



Wedding bands!

FH's band is very simple and modern and for mine (not pictured), we are going to use the ring that FH got for me a few years ago. When we first looked at engagement rings, our jeweler told me that my ring really didn't need a band. The ring is so beautiful and has so much going on that a band would just take away from that. So I will use the old ring (polished and resized for my ring finger) for the ceremony and for times when I want to be more low key. Which won't be often, since I can't bear to be without my gorgeous ring!

Happy Friday (on a Thursday)

From our flight out to Arizona a few weekends ago ... this is looking south from Santa Monica down to the South Bay. Even though flying through clouds is a tad scary, they make for amazing pictures.

Today is technically my Friday and I'm planning on fully enjoying the long weekend ahead. Enjoy your Cesar Chavez Day!

Stressful Wedding Things: Bridesmaid Dresses

This may surprise you, what with my history of strong opinions, but I really didn't care about my bridesmaid's dresses. I've read all kinds of articles and blog posts on brides who dictate every aspect of the maid's appearances, all the way down to jewelry and well, I love my girls, but I just can't bring myself to be that crazy.

My maids are all different ages (31, 18, and 8) and accordingly, all different body types. The only thing I really cared about was that they were comfortable, felt pretty and, most importantly, didn't spend a lot of money on something they would never wear again.

Enter, J Crew.

I've loved their dresses, wedding-specific or not, for a long time. They have a lot of great dresses in fantastic colors. I don't have wedding colors per se, at least, I didn't when I was looking at the dress selection, but for some reason I was drawn to pinks and oranges. Eventually, I decided on pink ("tea rose") and the girls then picked the style they liked best.

My Maid of Honor, also known as my big little sister, will be wearing this:



My Matron of Honor, also known as the ultimate sister-friend, will be wearing this (this is tea rose as well, but for some reason looks lighter than the dress above):



And FH's daughter, whom I love and adore, will be wearing this, which is beyond adorable and I am very annoyed I could not find a proper JPEG of it to upload.

All of the dresses are the tea rose shade and cotton blends. I think the color and style of the dresses will work well for the casually elegant backyard vibe I am going for and each girl can style and accessorize their dress any way they want. I can't wait to see them all lined up together!

Problem Solved: Flower Girl Attire

I was a little worried about flower girl dresses - they all seem so poofy and ridiculous and trying-too-hard-ish - I mean, these are little girls we are talking about here, not reality show contestants in the making.

But then I stumbled across this gem at the one and only Tarzhay...


Isn't it cute? Very summery and it definitely fits my criteria of being re-wearable - I don't want anyone in my wedding party to buy something they will never wear again.

My flower girl is the cutest thing ever so I know it will look fantastic and it will look fabulous with the dresses my bridesmaids will be wearing (more on those tomorrow).

My Amazing Wedding Shoes

My shoes came and...



I love them! And...


I took a million pictures to prove it!


In the words of Rachel Zoe (and really, when can you ever go wrong quoting Rachel Zoe), I die!

Ring Dog. Or not.

I was never really one to dream about my wedding day. But once I got engaged, the one thing I knew I wanted was a Ring Dog. Yes, that's right, Ring Dog. As in, furry ring bearer.

I grew up with dogs and my parents currently have three:

from l to r: Sherman, Jake, Archie

Archie doesn't do well with crowds (he was abused so you can't really blame him) and Sherman is sort of spacey (if you can't already tell from the picture), so Jake was always my main Ring Dog contender. Plus, I've known him the longest.

I'm not kidding when I say these three are a major part of our family. To say we love our dogs is a complete understatement. And I loved the idea of including them in our wedding day. Other people have used dogs in their weddings to great effect. Check out this montage posted by the always fantastic Green Wedding Shoes.

My mom was unmoved by such delightful pics (love the pug in the tux!) and remained firmly anti Ring Dog.

Then I stumbled across this in Etsy seller reggieana's shop:


Is that not the most amazing thing you've ever seen?

I persisted with my Ring Dog campaign, but my mom was still worried about, um, behavior issues. She peppered me with questions. What if a cat walks by? What if Frisky walks by? (Frisky Kennedy, cat nemesis extraordinaire). What if Jake whines during the ceremony? She reminded me of the time they brought Jake to college to visit me and he ran in the dorm and promptly pooped on the floor from nervousness. Maybe I could just rent a well-behaved wiener dog like the picture?

Then, I went home a few weeks ago to find that my Mom had uncovered the ring pillow she used in her wedding, which was made by my great-grandmother, who passed away just last year at the age of 99. I couldn't fathom not using it and I also couldn't really picture strapping my new-found heirloom to Jake's back.

So we arrived at a compromise: I'll buy bow ties for the dogs and take pictures with them beforehand, and use the ring pillow (carried by FH's adorable nephew) for the ceremony.

Has anyone else thought about incorporating pets into their wedding day?

Outside the Box: Table Names

There are all kinds of great ideas for table names out there. Some stick with the wedding theme itself and use a numbering system. You can also name your tables, which can end up being really meaningful and special. At one of my favorite weddings I've ever been to, the couple named each table after a place that had special meaning to them and/or played a role in their relationship. We were seated at the Coliseum table which made FH very happy.

For our tables, I'm thinking airport codes. Yes, that's right, airport codes. Every airport in the world has a three letter code (click here to read a very long, um, in-depth pilot's explanation) and since FH got his private pilot license a year and a half ago, I think we've been to about half of them. I kid, I kid.

However, we do fly a lot together, and I'd like to incorporate that into the wedding. I've already got it covered with the escort cards (more on those tomorrow) but I wanted to go (fly?) the extra mile and name the tables after airports we've flown to together, too.

What do you think - fun or too much?

Go to LACMA. Now.

I love LACMA. They just sent me an email and one of my favorites in their collection, Ganesha, is "Artwork of the Month". This designation probably means nothing other than having a reason to email their members, but still:

Isn't he awesome? I would say cute, but that might be offensive. But he is kinda cute, right? He's housed in a very lonely wing of the museum, so it's good to see him out and about online.

And you might think this has nothing to do with weddings, but Ganesha is considered by Hindus to be the Remover of Obstacles, and what else is a wedding but one massive obstacle?

My Jakey

Nothing at all to do about weddings, I just love my dog.

Check one off the list

I found my blue shoes! (thanks to the ever reliable Zappos)

Now I just need a well-behaved dog to serve as Ring Dog, and all of my wedding wishes will come true.

Your Craft

As you walk in the door, which you find at the end of a very long and very dusty hallway, you catch glimpses of them through the glass panes in the door. They are old and young, male and female. You see them as they present themselves in the very first moments: the older man with three novels under his belt, the woman in the boots concerned about "process" with her finished novel sitting in the bright orange folder in front of her. The obnoxious hip indie chick and the other hip indie chick (not as obnoxious) - this is Los Angeles, you knew they would be here. The shy girls in the corner and the slightly arrogant man sitting next to them who knows all about points of view and narrators. Here they are. This is what you signed up for. You are terrified.

You write. You listen. The instructor doesn't remember your name, even joking about how he won't remember your name until the ninth week, when class is almost over. His eye wanders and you aren't sure where to look. You don't talk much, because you don't like talking. That is why you are a writer. You are protective and not sure of talking about "it" - process, craft, your characters. Buzzword after buzzword. But there are no rules. You aren't ready to expose Nellie to them yet.

You write furiously for two minutes and then realize you will have to read what you wrote. This is it. This is what you signed up for. You read your passage, confidently, surprised at what came out of you. You think you heard appreciative murmurs. Maybe you were hearing things.

You love this.