It has officially taken over the house...

Someday I will have a room like this:


from Martha Stewart

instead of this:


Seriously all of the wedding stuff is taking over our house. Did I also mention that I am trying to write a dissertation in the same room? Well I am. And I am always trying to look for a distraction which the wedding projects are right there to tempt me. Last week when I was having a mental block I made mr and mrs signs for our reception chairs. On one hand I love doing DIY projects but I have to admit it is also a welcome distraction from that giant thing I need to eventually get around to finishing.

Awh... someday I will have a craft room that Martha would appreciate. And hopefully enjoy it as a PhD.

And maybe I will invite her over for dinner. But that would mean I have to clean this off first.


She would not approve of this mess.

Is your wedding stuff taking over your life???

Another DIY Hair Accessory Pic

Once I posted the picture of my DIY hair accessory I wasn't happy. Our house is such a dungeon the pictures looked very dark and hard to tell the color. Anyway, her is a slightly better one. The flower is definitely a bright fuchsia and the feather a turquoise - out 2 main wedding colors. I was thinking also that instead of the rinestone button I should probably go with something pearl because I will be wearing a pearl necklace. Oh it is so hard to be consistent...



I would love to hear any thoughts!

DIY Hair Accessory

This is my current hair inspiration. Long with a slight curl, sides back secured with a hair flower and the bangs swept off the face.


photo from Snippet and Ink

I am planning to DIY my own hair flower to complete the look but I need some help deciding what to do. I had great intentions for this project including cutting and layering ivory organza and lace. But am running out of time with less than 4 weeks to go. So more of a semi-homemade style hair accessory it is. Sandra Lee would be so proud.

I got a fuchsia colored flower at Target on clearance for only $4. Since I am not afraid of color and was excited to see it in one of our main colors I went for it. The photos aren't the greatest, sorry. So the question now is which semi-homemade version do I go with.

Version 1: The flower as is. It has an alligator clip on the back and is easy to wear.



Version 2: The flower with the addition of rhinestone button.



Version 3: The flower with rhinestone button and a turquoise feather. I didn't cut the feather yet so the photo wouldn't be the final version.



Version 4: The flower and the feather (not pictured).

So which should I do??

Colorful Colors

So I know that 3 week before the wedding isn't probably the best time to "finalize" the color palette but it wasn't until all of the DIY projects were wrapped up and the final purchases were made that our colors became clear. I have been stressing a little over the colors and beginning to wonder if it will look like a giant pinata blew up all over the reception venue. To recap we wanted to have a Mexican themed wedding inspired by our engagement trip through central Mexico, our food choice of Mexican, and our desire to have bright, fun decor. Well, bright and fun it surely will be but will it also be tacky?


Our colors: turquoise, fuchsia, lemon, orange, lime, and plum.

My color worries were reassured when I saw a couple of posts on one of my favorite wedding inspiration blogs, The Rizy Bee Blog. She has been posting several wedding color trends and low and behold her banner for this series is our wedding colors!



So seeing this and hearing Matt say that "I was being very consistent with the wedding decor" while I was making the cupcake stands got me thinking. Who cares if it will look like a pinata blew up. We WANT it to look like a pinata blew up. Sure, an elegant black and white color palette may be great for some. But we are more of a pinata kinda style. And who cares if there are at least 5 different shades of fuchsia? My mother will notice but she along with everyone else will hold their tongues because it will be our day and everything is turning out exactly how we wanted it.

I also wanted to share some photos of what inspired our theme and colors. All of the photos are from our engagement trip to Oaxaca and Mexico City including a few places in between.





My friend Shannon in so talented and I had to share some of her Mexico photos. She says she doesn't do anything special - Mexico is just that gorgeous. I also think that a digital SLR helps. I just love the turquoise door and the cityscape of Guanajuato.









What inspired your colors?

Something New...

My "something new" is a pearl necklace and pair of earrings. A gift from my parents.



I guess my dress and undergarments are also new. This is probably the easiest to take care of. But I need some ideas for "something borrowed"....

A few bride's had some great ideas for "something old" including pinning parent's wedding rings to the inside of their dress or tying onto their bouquet. Great ideas and very clever. Keep the ideas coming!

Something Old...

My "something old" is my engagement ring. It is a vintage ring from the 1920's.


One of my favorite engagement photos.

What are you wearing as your "something old"?

Colorful Ladies

Since we are having a small, intimate ceremony we decided not to have a wedding party. To make our 7 family members in attendence feel like an extra special part of our day I got all of the ladies each a colorful pashmina in our wedding colors. These are for my mom, Matt's mom, my sister, and sister-in-law.

I asked them to wear something of their choice in black to go with the colorful scarves. I had wanted this present to be a secret until I gave it to them along with a special note - but I am horrible at making decisions. So I had to get their help in deciding which of the colors to get. This was better in the end so then they could choose their favorite.

I think we will look something like this come wedding day.



From Mrs. Pinneapple on Wedding Bee.

I had thought about getting the 3 men something special to wear to the ceremony. But then I realized that with our particular guys they might appreciate something other than clothing/accessories more.

What special gifts are you getting for your special guests?

Legal Action Has Been Taken...

and we now have our Marriage License! We traveled down to downtown Phoenix yesterday and forked over the nearly $100 to get the document to make everything official.



Notice the weird background in the photo? We posed in front of some strange urban graffiti of snowman. That is right. Graffiti of snowman in the desert.

Only 4 more weeks to go! It is strange, I feel like we must be forgetting something because I am not running around stressed out like everyone keeps assuming I am. There are still some things to do, (priority 1: get a haircut and figure out wedding day make-up, as this photo clearly points out is necessary) but I feel like there is plenty of time to get it all completed.

Anyone feeling stressed as W-Day approaches?

Photobooth Additions

Wouldn't these be great to add to our Photobooth props?



from Etsy seller Something's Hiding In Here

But they are a little out of our budget. Luckily I found these great mustaches for only $1.99. They kinda go with our Mexican theme. Don't you think?


Matt looks great showing off some of our props. I can't wait to see what people come up with in our booth!

Favorite Bride and Groom Photos

I was preparing a list of must have photos for our photographer and it got me thinking about my favorite type of bride and groom photos. So naturally looking for some way to procrastinate with a purpose I made this collage on Polyvore.


Favorite Bride and Groom Photos - by M and M Wedding on Polyvore.com

I think this group of photos says two things about the types of photos I hope we get: whimsical and detail shots. I love the photos of the couple on the swing. Since there is no swing at our venue we will have to make up our own whimsy. I love all of the detail shots - the close ups of the boutonniere, bouquet, and hand holding. Not to mention the shoes! I can't wait to get some great shots of our feet with the bottom detail of my dress.

I also love this collection of bride and groom shots.

from Style Me Pretty
I love when one of the pair is standing behind the other doing something silly.

Our photographer, Brides for Brides Photography, is amazing and I am sure Sara will do a great job capturing out wedding.

Photobooth

I spoke with our photographer the other day. We discussed how we are going to turn this:


Gazzebbo from our venue


into this:





from Spencer Boerup Photography


from Molly Vaden Photography


from Calla Evans Photography

from Julia Williams Photography


from Pelaz Photgraphy

I have a bunch of props already - feather boas, fake mustaches, a sombrero, and other misc. things. I still need to get a sheet or piece of fabric to hang. I am super excitted about this project and can't wait to see the restults.

Anyone else doing a photobooth? What sort of props are you including?

5 weeks from today...

... we are getting married!!

Wedding Day is fast approaching. Now if "normal life" would just stop happening we could make some progress on the planning. I was hit hard this week with Bronchitis, a sinus infection, and an ear infection which left me unable to do anything for several days. Seriously, I couldn't even do any blog reading let alone wedding related tasks or even the massive amounts of school work I need to get done before the wedding. But I am on the mend. Yesterday I was feeling better - not enough to do any much needed writing - but enough to return shoes, get some supplies and finish the candy table sign. I am afraid a few projects will be left unstarted. I have made peace with it and not even going to mention what they were because no one would even miss them. But overall making progress and it is exciting to see so many RSVPs returned.

Major Wedding tasks still to do:

Dress fitting - Friday may be my last??
Shoes - got plan, now just need to purchase
Invitation for Friday Toast and Roast for out of towners - since we will already be married we can't really call it a rehearsal
Purchase Candy
Make appointments for hair/makeup - narrowed down timeline so now can proceed
Finish Papel Picado - about half done
Get photo lists to photographer
Purchase rest of alcohol
Pack up all stuff that needs to be delivered to venue
Keep up with Thank You notes

and probably a dozen or so other tasks...

Amazing Bouquet and Flower Alternatives

I am a little afraid that my bouquet and Matt's boutonniere will not last from our ceremony on Thursday to our reception on Saturday. Times running a little short but these flower alternatives would be great options to make sure that we have flowers for both our events.

This bride made these fabulous beaded flowers.



from Martha Stewart Weddings

Maybe Etsy has some less "involved" options.

I love the idea of clay flowers.


from Midoridesigns

or perhaps a felt and button themed arrangement ...


from Princess Lasertron on Wedding Bee Pro also on Etsy

It is likely that if our flowers fall apart we will run out and DIY a new arrangement - or use some of the tissue paper flower arrangements which would be more fitting for our theme. But I do want to keep in mind these other ideas for upcoming projects. The more I look at Princess Lasertron's work I fall more and more in love with it! She is also from Nebraska which makes me love her more and more.