I promise I’ll shut up now and get to the point already. Set. Go. We’ll start with…

Our Awesome Invitation Suite:

I have no words, just LOVE!

Again From a Different Angle:

And now one yummy little detail at a time starting with…

The Envelope:

Black Envelopes/White Calligraphy make me swoon. The Envelopes are 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 Squares from Paper Source.  And big thanks to Cupcake for her amazing post on designing your own invites- the tip on starting with the envelopes was invaluable!  As for calligraphy, I had the best luck using cheapie white gel pens and I made it up as I went along- no way we could afford a pro! Bonus: I picked up a new skill.

The Inner Envelope:

It became apparent that we needed a way to bundle up the many pieces of our invite and the translucent vellum envelopes offered a little glimpse of our custom artwork. We ordered 6×6 envelopes here and the service was lovely and quick.

The Name Tag:

Probably my favorite part. I have miles and miles of muslin lying around the house, and with the stamps I already had this was a totally free and uber personal way to inform our guests exactly who was included in their invitation.

Don’t Worry! We Didn’t Forget Michelle:

Each guest got their own little muslin tag and for friends who we gave a +1 to, there was an additional tag that said “and guest.”

The Inner Envelopes Backside:

Sigh. More vellum goodness.

Our Actual Invitation/RSVP Tag:

I designed our invitations in Illustrator and printed them off our home printer onto Paper Bag text weight paper from Paper Source. CAUTION: While the text weight of paper bag looks exactly like a brown paper bag in delicious shade/tone/texture, the cover weight is a different/disappointing color and not nearly as awesome/tactile. Since we printed the invites on a light weight paper, we backed ‘em with some black Arches paper from an art store.

And Again:

Not that anyone will notice (except maybe a few paper-crazed readers) but all the paper for our invitations was torn with a tearing edge ruler so as to have a lovely deckle…

An Original Lino Print by Moi:

Did I say the tags were my favorite part? I lied. The artwork is my favorite favorite. It was really important to us that we included something with our invitations that our guests could actually keep/use/display. Now I know the peeps we invited love us and all that jazz, but I don’t really expect that they’re gonna cherish and/or display our envelope or the text of our invitation. But maybe, just maybe, they’ll hang on to an easily framable piece of art?! (IKEA, Ribba $4.99, and yes we made the art this size on purpose) Or not. C’est la vie. The art gets its own post, so I’ll shut up now.

RSVP Tag:

We were a little (teeny tiny) bit green after all and opted not to do RSVP cards/envelopes. Or we were cheap and didn’t wanna shell out left for stamps…. Anyhoo, these manilla tags are a job liability of mine (they’re lying around everywhere) so we decided to put them to good use and let our guests know to check our website for more info and to RSVP.

And FINIS.

Thanks for being so attentive and indulging my crazy! In the end our invitations are exactly what we wanted them to be- unique, artistic, informal, and affordable. We did spend a considerable (incalculable?!) amount of time on them though, so if you’re planning on going the DIY route I recommend starting EVEN earlier than you are planning. Maybe even before you get engaged.

What do you think lovelies- is DIY worth it to you or would you rather shell out the cold hard cash?

First A Little Reminder:

After ripping into these bad boys (swoons & smelling salts aside of course) our guests were greeted with a translucent vellum envelope:

Specifically, they were greeted with one of the following three colors peeking through the vellum:

The envelopes were tied up with bakers twine and bore individual little muslin tags stamped with a heart, and our guests names:

The name tags are one of my favorite parts and man were they a serious labor of love! They took a bridesmaid, a couple dogs, my awesome-sauce alphabet rolling stamp, and loads of time:

And I LOVE ‘em! (The tags, the maid, and the dogs!)

Here’s A Closer Look:

It was really important to us that our invitations make our guests feel like they were getting a special little package in the mail. A beautiful little present.  Of course, I *do* realize that most folks just rip into invites and don’t go all gaga the way us abouttobemarried peeps do, but I’m still hoping our invites put a smile on our guests faces and made them feel just a little extra special.  All paper, twine, and vellum aside, our wedding is quite simply a celebration with the most special people in our lives.  And it felt really good to reach out and invite ‘em!

And that my lovelies concludes this portion of our awesome invitation anatomy: the bones. Next up: The guts (aka. The Big Reveal!) of our Invites of Awesomeness!

Whew! Just writing this post has made me tired all over again! It’s a little mind boggling how much work we put into these invitations, although we were totally, 110% satisfied with the results. As were our wallets. Big Smile.

Did you spend countless hours making your own invitations? If so, I’m curious why you went the DIY route? Budget? Artistry? Blogland pressure to DIY every-’effing-thing? Or something else? AND if you were a super sane bride who just shelled out the cash, were you able to get exactly what you were looking for?

First off, my most sincere apologies to the trees.  As green as our wedding will be in a lot of ways, the invitations are not one of them. What can I say? Hangs head in shame. I absolutely LOVE paper.

And that brings me to these invitations of ours. Our relationship was hot, heavy, and all-consuming.  I should have mentioned them earlier, but quite frankly we just needed a little break from each other.  I was sick of their constant and increasing demands- a liner here, a little twine there, an inner vellum envelope in a nearly impossible to find size, and the list went on.  Our invitations were a demanding lover, and finally I had to say enough is enough.

After the post office lied to us about the amount of postage it would take to get these invitations out of my life (*shakes fist), I resigned myself to slapping a blue goat (“It’s a ram, a ram is better right?” said the placating postal worker) on the last few invites and dropping them in the mail. Yes. You read correctly. Some of our wedding invitations required an additional 15 cents postage, and damn it if that blue goat wasn’t our savior.  But that’s a beast for another post. Har. Har.

And so without further ado I give you our invitations, boxed up and ready to go in all their glory:

The Front of the Envelope:

Calligraphy by moi:

It’s been a few weeks and since I’m out of practice I almost ran out of room for the “Obama.” Oops. Oh well.

Stamps to die for:

The Liner:

A Closer Look:

And there you have it. That’s the skinny (and the skin) of our most excellent invitations. Still to come: The bones, the guts, and finally the heart (awwww) of our invitations. So stick around mkay?

Anyone else recently kick that demanding invitation lover to the curb? Doesn’t it feel good to know how much effort you put into the relationship now that it’s over? Smile. And I certainly don’t miss those non-stop crafting days one little bit…

And totally amazing.

Remember when I wrote about my dress and how I’ve been overcome with gratitude while planning this wedding shindig of ours and blah blah blah? Well folks, during our shower the gratitude reached critical mass, and now my heart has swelled so big it just might burst right out of my chest! I’m not sure how I’m gonna make it through the next three (three!) weeks, and I certainly hope it doesn’t affect the fit of my dress. I’m just saying…

You need a few examples? No worries. I got examples.

My mom sat in the airport for almost 12 hours just to get a flight to Los Angeles. My mom was here you guys! I don’t even have words for this, but it made me SO happy.  And I think she had fun too:

Bridesmaid J (and her bun) drove all the way down from San Francisco and turned our house into a delicious french wonderland.

Lil’ Stripe left her new puppy at home (I finally met the pup, and trust me, this must have been super hard) to organize and wrangle our friends into a fantastic party.

And our RAD friends and family showed up to celebrate our awesome (and imminent) wedding.  The love, support, excitement and champagne pouring from our friends and family was truly amazing and something I wasn’t all together prepared for. And the smiles. There were lots of smiles:

And presents! We got to open presents! (Which to be honest is a little awkward when everyone is watching, but whatever, we got presents!)

And the pups got to have a little fun too:

And the flowers were gorgeous:

And the favors were yummy:

And we received my most favorite non-registry gift ever:

It’s a vintage statue/vase of two little girls. Gal pals, if you will. On one side is carved “I heart D” and on the other side “S heart’s D.”  Pretty awesome right? A little lesbeean history in our living room, perhaps? I sure like to think so!  And this little gem will definitely be making an appearance at the wedding- so big thanks D!!!

And then it was over.  So. Damn. Quick.

We spent the two days afterwards talking about how much fun it was and what this person said, or how happy we were that person came, and then it hit us: The wedding is going to be just as amazing, just as fantastic and overflowing with love, and over just as quick. Gulp.

And so as we enter these last few weeks leading up to our wedding it’s sure to be crazy, but we’re gonna do our best to actually be present and squeeze every last bit of joy out of every single moment.

What about you guys? Were you crazy surprised at how fast it all was over? Any tips for staying present and enjoying the moments as they fly by?

I LOVE the dress aesthetically, ethically, and emotionally.

Are you dying to know which dress I chose?

I chose romance

I chose ruffles

I chose the dress that makes me feel pretty

I chose independent design

I chose reuse

I chose to borrow my dress from the incredible and amazingly generous Mrs. Mouse.

And I could not be more grateful. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you x a bajillion Mouse!

Seriously. The lady is letting me borrow her beautiful wedding dress people! That’s huge! My budget and my heart are bursting with happiness. And gratitude of a magnitude (ha!) that I find difficult to express. I LOVE that my dress was worn by another beautiful bride and that it has a history, a story, a beautiful happy past.

It’s funny, but as this little wedding journey of ours draws to a close, gratitude is the emotion I am most often overcome with.

I am so grateful to have found someone to adventure through life with. And grateful to all our friends, family, coworkers, and even random strangers (or lovely blog friends) for their support, encouragement and excitement about this grandiose adventure. It means the world the to me.

But I’m sure by now your eyes have gone crossed and all you’re reading is blah, blah, blah. So without further ado I give you my dress, and a sneak peak at my bouquet too! Feast your eyes lovelies, because this is the last you’ll read/see of my dress before the big day.

What emotion are you most often overcome with while wedding planning? And would you ever lend/borrow your wedding dress?

And on thursday he denied a stay of his order while the case goes to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. So all legal jargon aside, gay marriages will resume again in California on August 18th at 5pm, so long as the Ninth Circuit doesn’t issue its own “emergency” stay.

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe you’ve been expecting a celebratory post from me, and if not, well I definitely felt like I should be writing one.

But here’s the thing: I just don’t have the words yet.  This is too big and too close to my heart and too close to our wedding and just too tenuous to celebrate quite yet.

Sure it’s a big step. Sure I believe that equality will prevail through the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court and even the public opinion, eventually.

But for us right now, and I’m sure for thousands of other gay couples in California, this is just too personal. We are living and breathing and working and loving in a state of waiting, of limbo, of uncertainty commingling with a shiver of hope.

And isn’t marriage about a little permanence? A little stability? Hoping against hope for the future? Hoping with someone else.

So here’s to hoping in California.  We’re keeping our fingers, toes, eyes, arms & legs crossed.  And if given the opportunity, we’ll be buzzing down to city hall to do it up legal style very soon.

And in the meantime, I can resume talking about dresses, flowers, invitations and all the other beautiful and very welcome distractions that I’d give up in a heartbeat to go down to the courthouse and marry C right now.

Lucky for you guys- we’ve got four more days to go! So let the distractions begin:

Oh sorry- those are just some cute succulents in love.  Stick around though- I promise I have a few good posts in me this week. And maybe some invite madness- b/c did I mention those beauties are in the mail?!

*And we’d appreciate it ever so much if you’d send your good thoughts/energy/prayers for equal rights our direction in California this week!

Tomorrow we can go back to dresses.

The California Federal Prop 8 decision will come down this afternoon.
Come on Judge Walker.
Come on California.
We don’t want to move to Canada.

When you shop for a living and you don’t want to wear a traditionalweddingdress, by which I just mean one that comes from a Bridal Shop, you have A. LOT. OF. OPTIONS. Through the spring and summer months,  short white(ish) dresses jump out at you at every turn, begging to be taken home and put through their couldthisbemyweddingdress paces.

And what else can an indecisive bride do but oblige them?

Seriously, I’ve taken home nearly every white, cream or gold, short/cocktail length dress in Los Angeles, submitted it to a series of fitting photos and promptly returned it to the store. Big Sigh.

And that’s how I’ve ended up with the final three. Yes. You read correctly. Three. Many dresses entered, but only these three made it to the final round. And so with the help of Bridesmaid J (also a stylist extraordinaire) we did a little accessorizing and staged an impromtu photo shoot to determine the winner.  I’m about 99% sure of my decision, but I would LOVE to hear your opinion!

So which one do you like best?

The Modern Romantic:

The French Poet (styled two ways):

The Architectural Cutie:

So again, which dress should I wear? AND are there any other super indecisive Three Dress Brides out there?

Now I’m not gonna lie and claim complete originality on this one- a quick google search will turn up all sorts of similar DIY cupcake stands, varying only by theme and degree of difficulty.

I will say that this DIY is extremely easy, crazy cheap, super fast, and made from items you may actually have lying around the house.  So that’s what I’ve got goin’ on.

Let the cupcake madness commence.

1. Gather your Supplies:

You will need:

Cardboard Cake Rounds- 8”, 10”, 12”, 14”, 3 each

Decorative Paper- 12×12 works for the smaller rounds/wrapping

paper is great for

the larger rounds

Ribbon- 4 yards 5/8” or 1/2”

3 Full Canned Goods- varying sizes

Hot Glue Gun

Zots/Glue Stick (optional)

2. Measure/Cut Paper to Cover the Cans

Use a soft measuring tape to measure the height and

circumference of your cans and cut appropriate sizes of paper. I

stamped mine with this cute strawberry stamp because the

birthday girl is gaga for strawberries.

3. Cover Cans With Decorative Paper

Secure the  paper to the cans using zots or hot glue

4. Hot Glue Three Cake Rounds of Each Size Together

This one is pretty self explanatory right?

5. Cut Decorative Paper to Cover Cake Rounds

Simply use the cake rounds as a guide and trace the various sized

circles onto your decorative paper. Cut out. This should yield 4

different paper circles: 8”, 10”, 12”, 14”

6. Affix Decorative Paper to Cake Rounds

Simply use zots/dots of hot glue/glue stick to adhere your

decorative paper rounds to the top of the cake rounds.

7. Wrap the Edges of each Round with Ribbon

Attach ribbon with a bead of hot glue every 6 inches or so.

8. Glue each Round to a Can

Glue the smallest can to the bottom of the smallest round using

hot glue around the edge/lip of the can. You can totally skip this

step- but it does add a little extra stability!

9. Stack ‘Em Up

Need I say more?

10. Admire Your Work in Action

I was definitely pretty pleased with this last minute DIY adventure and hope that you are too!  And I would love to see the rad themes you come up with to make this project your own!  It’s so easy peasy, I might even make a little stripetastic one (6/8/10”) to display our vegan/gluten free desserts on…

How are you displaying your sweets? And are you offering special options for your guests with dietary restrictions or is that just cuckoo-bananas?

]]> http://www.msawesome.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1540 3 http://www.msawesome.com/blog/?p=1532 http://www.msawesome.com/blog/?p=1532#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:43:27 +0000 msawesomeweds http://www.msawesome.com/blog/?p=1532 This weekend was one of the last 7 or so weekends until the wedding.  That’s not a lot of time folks. And we still have A LOT to do. Like invitations.  And we got very little (wedding related) stuff done this weekend. And that’s okay. Because life happens while we’re busy planning weddings. And it’s important to actually be here for it.

We did have dinner with dear friends who are moving back to SF in only a few short weeks. And I did tackle my backyard clean up/gardening extravaganza. And I did bake/frost 50 strawberry cupcakes for my friend’s daughter’s birthday party. And I did build a pretty awesome cupcake tower to display said cupcakes on. And I did go to the park and spend time watching the birthday girl, now two, eat three cupcakes at once and run back and forth on a mad sugar high. And I did receive many fallen leaves (from said birthday girl) as thanks for all my efforts. Best. Payment. Ever.

And then I came home to our (newly spruced up) backyard, nursed a beer or two and did a little work on our invitations. And I could finally relax a little because it’s all coming together and more importantly I think, because I finally took time to pick up the pieces of all the other life “projects” that have been mowed over or shoved aside to make this wedding happen.

So while it’s easy to get caught up in planning themostimportantdayofourlives (that’s what they say right?! ) I think it’s nice necessary to take a little time to enjoy all the other days too.

And with those deep thoughts I give you my delicious cupcake recipe- which was a hit with toddlers and their parents alike! I hope you enjoy it too!

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. white vinegar

1 tbsp. all-fruit strawberry jam

1 lb. tub (clear plastic) of strawberries

or about 20 berries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners
2. Combine Dry ingredients in a bowl (flour/sugar/bakingsoda)
3. Combine Wet ingredients in another bowl (oil/vanilla/white vinegar)
4. Puree Strawberries in food processor/blender
5. Add pureed strawberries and jam to the wet ingredients and mix well
6. Pour wet mixture into dry bowl and mix until incorporated, but don’t over mix
7. Fill cupcake liners almost full with strawberry batter
8. Bake for 21 minutes
9. Cool on wire rack & frost away!

Strawberry Ice-Cream Frosting:

8oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp. all-fruit strawberry jam

1. Let cream cheese/butter soften to room temperature.
2. Combine cream cheese/butter in food processor/mixer until smooth
3. Add strawberry jam and mix
4. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix
5. Transfer frosting to refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up before frosting

A few notes:

*Why yes! The cupcakes are in fact VEGAN. But don’t let that dissuade you- they’re delicious, light, moist, and soft!

*Why no! The frosting is decidedly NOT vegan, but would be super easy and work just fine if you want to substitute vegan cream cheese/butter.

*The cupcakes will turn out a light pink color and while I kept it natural for the kiddos, you could add some beet powder/red food coloring for a really pretty red cake/pink frosting combo

*Try not to eat all of the frosting before you get some on the cupcakes. It really is yummers! (In my obviously humble opinion)

And finally a picture of a corner of our newly spruced up yard, and the awesome/fully customizable cupcake tower I built in under an hour for under $15. You know you want a tutorial.

I LOVE this cupcake tower (of terror) so much that it almost makes me wish we were having cupcakes at the wedding! Nom. Nom. And our yard. I LOVE our yard.

What do you LOVE about your life right now? Today? Wedding planning/insanity/details aside…