Indecisive once again!

I won’t lie, finding our florist was easy.  One of my bridesmaids is a florist.  Of course I’m going to have one of my best friends design my flowers!  Her work is amazing, and I know she can get it done.  She did her own flowers for her wedding in September ‘07.

I absolutely love all the texture in these bouquets.  Yes, those are artichokes!  I hated to leave that bouquet behind at her wedding!  They were so pretty!

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on flowers.  I like flowers, but I realized early on that I’d rather spend my (very limited) money elsewhere, on something that wouldn’t be dead the next day.  We’re only having live flowers at the ceremony.  Our bridal party (parents included) will get flowers and we will have two arrangements in the front of the church.  That’s it.  I didn’t see the need to have live arrangements anywhere else.

Our centerpieces are a combination of silk peonies I bought at Pier One on clearance last fall and candle arrangements using all those wine bottles.  We haven’t really mocked this up yet, but I promise to share them with you when I do!

My floral inspiration has really been all over the board.  I originally wanted a green bouquet.  Then I was determined to have nothing but peonies.  Now, I’ve settled somewhere in between.

source

I have sent her a million one liner emails that read something along the lines of:

“Can I have fern curls?”

“What about ranunculous?”

“How do you feel about succulents?”

The poor girl has been bombarded with crazy requests from a bride who has no idea what she wants. What I did want was a big fluffy bouquet with lots of texture.  We finally decided on a combination of peonies (yay!), ranunculus, garden roses, cymbidium orchids, and hypericum berries with lots of texture added through the use of curly willow, bear and lilly grass, fern curls, and succulents.  I’m envisioning something with a hint of color (pink) but not a pop, if you get what I mean.

(source)

Yes!!! except not that big…good Lord!

(source)

No!! size is better though, and I love the texture!

The maids will carry similar bouquets, smaller in size, and more on the cream side of things.  They get no peonies!!  I just could not afford to give everyone peonies.  They will get the big fluffy garden roses.

Mini CC will carry a pomander (or kissing ball) made from carnations.  I know, carnations…. but seriously, we’ll be lucky if this thing makes it to the ceremony, and then it’s definitely going to end up being abused.  I can forgive her for beating up carnations!

Mr. CC is not exactly a “pink” kind of guy and requested something a little more manly.  Lucky for him, I love succulents and think they are wonderfully vintage.  His boutonniere will look something like this.

(source)

I love the texture in this, and the Mister loves that it isn’t terribly girly!  The boys are, however, going to be subjected to flowers.  But, likely cream, not pink!

And I’m basically leaving the rest of the arrangements up to my Bridesmaid.  I trust her to design something fantastic, vintage (ish), and totally me.

Revamping the centerpiece process

Remember how I was cutting wine bottles for my centerpieces?  Well, a few weeks ago, my bottle cutter pooped out on me.  It just wouldn’t score the bottles right.  I was having to go over and over the score line (which is bad for the blade (I don’t think it was good anyway)).  I got really frustrated with the whole thing and ended up putting it aside for several weeks.  It sat on my kitchen counter and taunted me with it’s uncooperative-ness.  I think it was silently mocking my ability to make it work.  Meanwhile, the 125 bottles that still had not been cut were taunting me from the shed.  I was beginning to feel defeated by my own project.

During a recent phone conversation, my Stepmother suggested I find a better way to cut those bottles.  The method I was using was extremely time consuming and tedious.  I’d spent hours working on these things.  I was only about 50% done with the cutting and none of the bottles had been sanded.

I did a little research and found out that a glass worker would charge me about $2 per bottle to cut.  This was not an option.  I’d already invested so much time saving money by doing it myself, I couldn’t bare to pay anyone $250 dollars to take over from this point.

A quick google search produced the name of the tool I needed to get the job done.  I set of in search of a diamond blade.  I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I thought it would at least be worth looking into.  Especially since my other option was buying another bottle cutter.  We don’t really have power tools in our house and I wasn’t sure what I was going to put this diamond blade on to make it work, but I headed to Home Depot anyway, hoping they would have some sort of answer.

The sales man (associate, what do you call those people?) in the power tool section didn’t respond well to my initial request.  In fact, he looked at me like I was sprouting a horn from my forehead.  He showed me some drill bits to make holes in glass, but that wasn’t at all what I needed.  Then he sent me off to the ceramic tile aisle, thinking that the flooring guys might have something to offer.

So, there I am, standing around in the flooring section, starring at ceramic tile saws like a dummy, thinking to myself “I am not about to spend that kind of money on this project” and wondering where the flooring associates are, when Power Tools man comes back.  In his hand is a scoreing bit, very similar to what I have at home, albeit slightly more sturdy looking.  When I divulge a little bit more about what I’m doing, the man lights up like the 4th of July.  I swear you could see the little bulb click on.  He practically drags me back to the power tools and heads straight for the dremel accessories.  Lo and behold, there is a diamond blade for dremel tools!  Yay!  I’m a little leary about having to buy a dremel, but as the sales man goes on and on about diamond blades and vice grips, I remembered that my sister has a dremel tool and it’s probably hanging out at my mom’s house.  So, I leave the home depot with my diamond blade in tow and head straight for mom’s to hunt for my sister’s dremel.

Thank goodness it was there.

This past weekend, one of my bridesmaids made the drive up from New Orleans to spend the weekend helping out with some of my wedding projects and the wine bottles were at the top of the list.

The process is similar as described before.  I score the bottles with the diamond blade.  It’s a deeper score than the bottle cutter makes.  The blade will actually cut through the width of the bottle, but this takes forever.  Sometimes the bottles just sort of fall apart.  The other times, a light tap on the stool does the trick.

It’s a pretty messy process, and since I’ll have to wash them all after they’ve been cut, I decided not to waste time washing off the labels first.

While I was cutting, Bridesmaid Nola is sanding away.  A friend let us borrow a second dremel tool and armed with a sanding attachment, she managed to sand about 75 bottles in one morning.

All the bottles have been cut, and a good chunk of them have been sanded.  It’s a huge relief to have this project moving again.  And I’m so happy I found a better, faster, more efficient way to get it done!

And a huge thanks to Bridesmaid Nola for coming up and helping out!!

Our friends are the best, or How we got a free honeymoon

Let’s talk about what everyone really wants to know when it comes to wedding planning anyway….  The Honeymoon.

I wasn’t that girl dreaming of big puffy dresses.  I was that girl dreaming of her one big chance to get to see a piece of the world.  Traveling and vacation was something my parents chose to sacrifice so my mom could stay at home and raise her children.  That’s something I will always cherish (especially as a mom who has to work).  Knowing that it was unlikely I would see the world sometime before I got married, I dreamed of the fantastic vacation that follows the wedding.

I mean, really, we spend months working our arses off, trying to pull the biggest event of our lives together.  We deserve that vacation.  A couple of weeks of peace and relaxation shared with our one true love.

As a teenager, I dreamed of Tahiti and Aruba, Hawaii and Mexico.  I grew up on the beach, and I couldn’t imagine spending my honeymoon anywhere but an exotic beach surrounded by palms.

When Mr. CC and I discussed honeymoon destinations, it was quickly apparent that my idea of relaxation had changed.  Mr. CC and I were throwing around places like Italy, Ireland, and Greece.  Mr. CC and I wanted to go somewhere that we could see history, experience culture, and perhaps explore our heritage a bit.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but Mr. CC is a huge military history buff (um, hello, National Infantry Museum!).  I knew if we traveled to Europe, we would spend most of our honeymoon touring WWII battlefields and concentration camp skeletons.  Have you ever toured a battlefield?  If you aren’t familiar with the actual battle maneuvers, it’s really just a field full of ghosts.  Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the history and significance and sacrifice that those fields and beaches stand for.  I even want to experience it someday.  But, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when it came to our honeymoon. (Gosh, that sounds harsh and inconsiderate.  I promise I appreciate what those Battlefields represent and the sacrifice our soldiers made on those fields.)

Ireland was a definite possibility.  I have family in the UK, so we would have a homebase.  People speak English (Yay, cause we are so not bilingual!) and I think June would be a pretty good time to visit Ireland.  We even sat down with a friend of ours spend two weeks in Ireland a few years ago and got her recommendations.  When we started looking at flight prices, I almost went into cardiac arrest.  We would have to spend almost as much on airfare as we had planned on spending on the wedding.   Then we would have to have shelter and food, and perhaps actually see and do some stuff.  Ireland was no longer a viable option, at least not right now.

Frustrated with the demise of my childhood dreams of an international honeymoon, I started looking at domestic destinations.  Among the top contenders were Sedona, Arizona, New York City, and Seattle.

The same month Mr. CC and I started dating, I spent a week in Arizona attending a medical conference.  I took a day off and traveled via group tour bus from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.  OMG, what gorgeous country!  I immediately fell in love with Sedona and the surrounding region.  I was definitely pushing for a Sedona Honeymoon.

I’m not sure what made us think New York City.  (Btw, I can’t say (type?) that without thinking of those salsa  commercials where the cowboys are shocked by the salsa made in New York City, complete with crazy southern accent!)  Mr. CC has family in NYC (cops, natch!) and I’ve always wanted to visit.  But again, the minute I mentioned NYC, he started yammering about battlefields again.

{Insert record scratching sound here}

Mr. CC and I spent a week touring Civil War Battlefields and participating in the 145th Anniversary of the Battles at Gettysburg last summer.  We traveled with another couple and the boys were overjoyed to visit the battlefields.  The ladies were not so crazy about that plan.  We made it through Antietam (Sharpsburg for you Yankees), but skipped out on Gettysburg and went shopping instead.  Anyway… that’s the deal with the Battlefields… I still get the creepycrawlies from visiting Burnside’s Bridge.

{Back to the main event}

Seattle… How I envy you Pacific Northwest Bees.  I grew up in Seattle.  My roots are there.  I may consider myself a Southerner now, but I can’t forget the years spent under the rain clouds in Seattle.  I miss the Pudget Sound and the feel of the seaweed on your legs in the Lake.  I miss the hills of Queen Anne and the Puyallup Fair.  I pushed and pushed for a trip to Seattle.  Mr. CC wasn’t so enthusiastic.

I was getting frustrated.

Several weeks passed.  I kept googling things like “Top 10 Domestic Honeymoon Destinations” and variations on it.  But I was just getting more and more aggitated with the whole thing.  I was actually beginning to think about minimooning in Savannah and putting off the big Honeymoon until we could afford Ireland when  a friend (the wife of above mentioned Gettysburg travel partners) suggested Panama City.  Pretty soon I was transported back to 16, with images of big blue umbrellas and fruity mixed drinks and Gulf sunsets swirling in my head.  Panama City is nothing new in the Crab Cake household.  We spend New Year’s there every year (at least for the last 4 years).  But this was something different.  PCB in the summer.  A trip to the Coast without my siblings, aunts and uncles, or my duaghter.  This was something new and exciting.  Every trip to PCB for New Year’s has included my daughter.  Her first dip in the Gulf was New Year’s Eve 2004.  She was a mere 4 months old.

My favorite shot of Mini playing in the sand on NYE 2008.

The deal was sweetened by an amazing offer.  We were gifted a 10 day stay in our friend’s parents condo.  Um…SOLD!  How could we turn down such an awesome deal?  We have no idea what the condo looks like, where it is, or what’s around it.  But we do know that we will drive down the day after our wedding and spend 10 days basking in the sun on the Gulf.  There’s no worry about passports, airfare, or lost luggage.  We don’t have to recover from any jetlag.  I really wasn’t even worried about a hurricane.  Yes, June is hurricane season, but I’m well versed in hurricanes and I’m not afraid of the Cat 1 and 2 storms that are produced in June.  I would be concerned if we were traveling to the Caribbean, so I’m not trying to discredit anyone’s hurrican season concerns.  I actually wouldn’t mind watching a Cat 1 come in from the porch.  They are really quite pretty.

So, I ended up with my beach honeymoon, although the destination is a little less exotic than I had originally imagined.  Mr. CC will likely sleep for 10 days, as the sound of the ocean puts him to sleep immediately.  But I’m definitely looking forward to sitting on the porch enjoying the sunset with my new husband!

Wedding Day Accessories

I have been completely and utterly indecisive about my accessories.

Shoes?  It took three pairs before I found the ones I loved.  I’m definitely a shoe whore.  I love shoes!  I have too many and Mr. CC doesn’t understand why I need 5 pairs of black heels.  Picking out shoes for the big day was definitely a challenge.  There was a lot of internal debate on whether or not I should wear heels or flats.  I don’t wear heels often.  My career allows me to wear crocs or tennies to work and I really only wear heels out.  In the end, I decided I wanted something pretty for the ceremony.  I’ll be wearing the Melissa by Liz Rene Couture.

You got to love my footpetals.  I’ve been trying to break these suckers in.  I will take these out and let the photographer get some good detail shots without them!

You might recognize these.  They are the same shoe Mrs. Cupcake wore.  I had them dyed to match my gown, although they turned out a shade darker.  I know I declared early on that I would have colored shoes, but I decided the pink crinoline was enough color and I didn’t really need pink shoes.  I love that the vamp is sorta rouched like my gown and it also has the pearls and crystals that cover the bodice of my gown.

Once my dogs start barking, I’ll slip into these.

Yes, they are crocs.  I told you guys I love them!  Yes my gown will drag, but I don’t care.  I just want to have something comfy to put on when my feet are killing me.

I’ve talked at length about my veil problems, so I won’t drag all that out again.  I’ll wear my custom veil for the ceremony and pictures afterwards, and then I’ll switch it out for this flower.

I purchased this from Etsy seller Belles and Crystals after some long hard debate (and turning to the Hive for help).  It was way more than I really wanted to spend.  But I love it so much!  I had them take out the feathers and add a few more pearls and crystals.  It’s more silver then white, but actually looks really nice next to my gown.

Jewelry was another really tough decision.  But the problem was a different one.  I am not a jewelry kind of girl.  I wear simple stud earrings and my e-ring and my mom’s e-ring and that’s it.  Sometimes when we go out, I’ll put on dangly earrings, but it’s really rare.  So, picking out jewelry to match my gown was a really difficult task.  I’ve been looking at jewelry since the day I picked out my dress.  I bought two pairs that I liked, but didn’t love.  I knew I wouldn’t need a necklace.  I really didn’t want to take away from the bodice of my gown.

After I got my flower, I knew that neither of the pairs of earrings I had would do.  So I carried my flower to the Beadcage, a custom jewelry store here in Columbus.  The sales lady was really helpful and sat me down in a classroom with all the tools I needed to make a matching bracelet and earrings.  I won’t lie, this was expensive.  But it was soooo worth it.  I spent about an hour in that little room, designing my jewelry.

The bracelet is 5 strands of freshwater pearls, swarovski crystals (in silver shadow) and crystal rondels.  I strung it all by myself.  The earrings have all the same components, but I had them add the swarovski briolettes.  They made the earrings for me.

I was really, really pleased with this whole experience and plan on going back for more soon!

So, we’ve covered my something new (which do we want to count, shoes, veil, gown, jewelry?) and something old (the reclaimed vintage hair flower).  My something blue is something I really wear every day.  It’s my mother’s engagement ring.  Well, her stone anyway.  My parents divorced when I was 16.  I’ve been lusting after my mom’s engagment stone since I was a small child.  And once the wounds from the divorce (sort of) heeled, I let my mom know I wanted that ring.  She gave it too me for my college graduation and just after Mr. CC and I were engaged I had it reset in white gold.  It’s a bittersweet reminder of my parents marriage.  It’s a light blue sapphire (which is also my birthstone).

I so didn’t follow Anne’s guidelines here, but I tried.  I must have had too much salt this weekend, it wouldn’t come off!  Sorry for the bad pictures!

I’m still missing my something borrowed.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.  Any ideas?

Crab Cake Invitations: Part IV, the Cost

One of the things that prompted me to design my own invitations was the cost.  Those booklet style invites I loved?  7 pounds each!  I’m not sure of the exchange rate, but OUCH!

I spent a lot of time researching paper and printing for my invitations.  Here’s the final tally.

• Stardream Onyx Cover (105#), 200 sheets- $50.00
• Classic Linen Cover, Baronial Ivory (80#), 400 sheets- $60.00
• Classic Linen Text weight, Baronial Ivory (24#), 500 sheets- $26.00
• Stardream Onyx #10 envelopes, 200- $72.00
• Paper shipping- $26.00
• Printing at Staples- $100.00
• Paper cutting at Kinko’s- $50.00
• Xyron refills (4)- $32.00
• Eyelets- $25.00
• Decorative paper- $6.00

Total:  $447.00

I made 165 invitations, with a bunch of left overs.

Cost per invitation:  $2.71

They cost us 62 cents to mail, and 29 cents for the RSVP, so the grand total is $3.62 cents per invitation, postage included.  Not bad.

I didn’t include any tools I bought for the process (my Xyron, sliding paper cutter with perforating wheel, and Crop-o-dile)

Oh No, She Didn’t!

Yeah, I did!

I deleted all my formal china off my registry.  Why, you ask?

Because we have no use for it.

When we started registering, Formal China was a fairly simple decision to make.  Easy, simple, classic, black and white.  Done.  We loved our choice and moved on to something else.

The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of formal china.  What do I need formal china for?  I don’t entertain people who would even be comfortable eating off my “good china.”  We have dinner parties, but they aren’t that kind of party.

(source)

That is not something you will ever see at my house.  We’re more casual kind of people.  I’m usually barefoot (but not pregnant or in a trailer park).  One cannot have a formal dinner party when she refuses to wear shoes.  We like to sit around with our feet on the furniture and drink beer.  I can’t serve beer with formal china.

It just didn’t seem logical or sensible to register for something I would never use.  Formal china would become the albatross around my neck.  I’d be forced to schlep it around with me the rest of my life.  I’d be overridden with guilt for not using it.  It would get dusty in a cabinet somewhere (in my likely too small house where I could really put that space to use holding something much more meaningful).  I can’t imagine asking my guest to gift us $65 place settings that would get dusty!

So I dialed up Mr. CC at work, which is risky business anyway.  He is often busy entertaining Generals and Politicians, so interrupting his day for something important is one thing, but calling him for silly things like, “Is it ok if I take the formal china off the registry?”  is a little ridiculous.  Fortunately, I caught him at lunch.  The conversation went something like this:

Miss CC: Do we really need formal china?

Mr. CC: I don’t think so.  Why?

Miss CC: I don’t want people to buy it for us, what a waste of money.  We’ll never use it.

Mr. CC:  Ok, take it off, I don’t care.  How is your day?

This was something I was stressed about!  He blew it off like nothing…wouldn’t it be great to have that ability!

So, I went and did some Registry Detox and got all that formal stuff out of my way.  The place settings, the stemware with the platinum rim, the silver.  It was all gone.  And it felt soooo good!!

That evening, Mr. CC says to me, out of the blue, “What if we want it later?”  Um, we’ll buy ourselves some.

Bouquet Charms, Part III: The Complete How-To

I promised y’all a tutorial, and I’ve finally gotten around to doing it!  Yay.

author’s personal collection!

I made this one for Mini CC.  She was dying to have one for herself.  Likely, she’ll lose it in a few days.  But until then, it is her most cherished possesion.

I want to preface this by saying I didn’t come up with this on my own.  I purchased a kit from Annie Howes on Etsy and supplanted her chiyogami paper for my pictures.  I’ll show you how easy it was anyway!

You’ll need:

• Glass scrabble tiles, available here
• Bails, available here and lots of other places
• Diamond Glaze, available here
• E-6000 jewelry adhesive, available here
• Mod-Podge, available at any craft store
• Sponge paint brush
• Pictures or paper of your choice
• Toothpicks
• Newspaper or something to protect your work surface
• Vinegar
• Lint free cloth
• Scissors
• Exacto knife or blade, whatever

Ok, on with the tutorial!

If you are working with paper that has inkjet printing on it (like I was), you need to seal your paper.  This is where the Mod-Podge comes in.

I just dabbed a bit of Mod-podge over each mini picture and let it dry.

Next, rinse your tiles in a 50/50 vinegar and water mixture.  Vinegar helps pull the lint off.  Wipe the tile clean with a lint free cloth (I used an old one from the eye doctor).

Check out Mini helping Mom out.  Really, she just likes to see herself on my computer….

There are two sides to the tile, a nice smooth side and a rough side.  Coat the rough side with a generous amount of Diamond Glaze.

I’m not left handed…it’s just easier to take pictures with my right hand, seeing as that’s what side the button is on.  You get the idea!

Now place your tile over the area you want to feature.

I have no more witty comments…

Now you have to find something else to do, cause that baby needs to dry.  I let mine dry overnight, but that’s only because I got busy doing something else and kinda forgot about them.  They dry in about 30 minutes.  I let them dry for a while with the paper down and then turned them over and let them dry paper side up.

When they are nice and dry, grab a pair of scissors and cut away as much paper as you can.  I used a nice sharp, small set of craft scissors and got most of the excess off.

Hi Granddaddy!

Use an exacto knife to shave off any excess paper you can’t get to with the scissors.  I used photo paper and found that the layers wanted to peel apart.

When you are happy with the way things look, add another generous coat of Diamond Glaze to the back of the tile.  I made sure to seal the edges too, just in case those layers wanted to peel up some more.

Let that dry.

Ok, we’re almost done!

It’s time to set the bail.  I found this to be the most difficult part of the whole thing.

My tube of E-6000 is one of those awful metal tubes that keeps squirting out glue after I stopped squeezing.  Argh!

I used a toothpick, scooped up some glue, and dabbed it on the hatched part of the bail.

Sorry for the blurry picture… see toothpick coming from the right?  That means I’m using my left to mash the shutter button!

Place the bail where you want it.  Don’t stress too much about whether or not it’s centered, it takes that E-6000 stuff a while to dry, so you have some time to move it around.

I adjusted it a few times, until I figured it was centered enough, and then I used a clean toothpick to press the bail down.

Once again, let it dry!

Yay!  I plan to tie mine around my bouquet on a ribbon.