Flowers, updated

I've been working on these, with the help of my master-petal-cutter sister, all weekend, and finally, the flowers are done. Here's a sneak peak of their various applications:







Okay kids, much more to be done! We'll try to pop back in before Saturday!

10 Days Out

Hey there, party people. It's about time for an update. Because in ten days--240 hours--this thing is totally happening. Are we ready? We think so.

So what's been going on? Well, we...

- Applied for our marriage license



- Did our final walk-through at the venue with our caterer

- Spent a lovely day with our photographer, planning out post-ceremony photo-ops and angles



- Experienced a wedding (a sort of practice run of events for us) at my friends Cat & Ken's wedding



- Started to assemble and make decorations for the party

- Hammered out details with our music/PA setup

- Delegated tasks to our amazingly helpful family and friends

- Finished sewing 5 out of 5 dresses for the wedding party, ending on this little number for our flower-girl niece Ella



- And received the first of our wedding guests/bridal party, my sister Nikki!



And you know what 10 Days Out also means? Extended forecast, yo!

We're looking at partly cloudy, in the low 80s. Sounds good to us! Just as long as we're not up against mid-90s and thunderstorms, we're fine. Cross your fingers!

Love,
Gabby

Patchwork for the Party

This and the next few posts are inevitably going to focus on the smaller DIY projects we're preparing for the ceremony and reception. Seriously guys, I had about two days after I finished my dress (did I mention that here? If not, the dress is totally done!), and then I was like, "okay, now what? I need something to do." For reals.

But this is the fun part--details!



So on one of many little trips down to AmVets, we picked up some frames to house a "board" (I'm not really sure what to call it) for seating assignments and one for photos. To tie in our colors, we decided that some patchwork would be cool here. I had tons of scraps from making dresses and flowers, so it made sense.



All in all, I spent about an afternoon and a half working on these. From sewing and spray painting...



...to mounting the patchwork, backed with batting and foam core, into the frames.



These pieces will be part of the gift/whatever table and are a little bit practical but mostly just pretty. I really like them.

Okay, so what's next?

DIY Cupcake Stands

A couple weeks ago, on a mutual day off (a rare and joyous commodity), Joe and I headed down to AmVets, our favorite local thrift store to score some supplies for a little wedding project. Cupcake stands!





We filled our cart full of glass and ceramic plates, platters, cups, candlesticks and vases. Vertical elements for height, horizontal elements for surface area.



I liked this milk glass vase.



Once we got our supplies home, all we did was add some glue! We bought epoxy, but found that plane old superglue did the job. We made a few with a two and three tiers, and others as just regular cakestands.



We think this will make for a pretty sweet dessert table, the perfect home for all those cupcakes I can't seem to go two posts without talking about!

Last Chance, Kiddos!

Thanks to everyone who has gotten back to us in the last couple days. To those few others, remember today is your last chance to RSVP (and to reserve at the Best Western!). And with that, I'd like to share with you my favorite RSVP from our friend and Joe's best man Jamie!

Be back soon with a fun DIY project!

Respondez-Vous!

It's that time, friends. We need a yes or a no! So to the stragglers, send us an email, give us a call, text, facebook. Or just tell our parents, that's cool too.
Either way, holla at your girl! Or your Joe. You know what I mean.

Also, I should remind you that if you'd like to reserve a room at the Best Western where we have held a block, you'll need to call there by the 30th (Thursday!) to reserve at the discounted rate (more info here).

P.S., I've heard that people are getting some rippin' deals at the Holiday Inn just up the street.

*The above is an actual card my sister sent to us as her RSVP. Clearly, she is awesome.

Process: Vanilla Cupcakes

I made a batch of the vanilla chiffon cupcakes we'll be featuring at the reception, and decided to take some process photos along the way. For your viewing pleasure, vanilla cupcakes from flour to frosting:

Roses are Red

"painting the roses red, we're painting the roses red, we dare not stop or waste a drop, so let the paint be spread."

Curiouser and Curiouser! The roses are looking lovely, and the gardeners are hard at work to make them perfect for us. While no one is allowed to take pictures in the garden without permit (which we have for the day, no worries) I thought I might take some opportune shots of the garden from afar. And oh what a sight to see!

In other news, we met with our officiant. After searching far and wide for someone with experience, charisma, and a bit of a spark, we met Malissa Jones, who put our minds at ease. Not only is she excited about what we want in our ceremony, but this is her absolute favorite venue of all those she has been to! Now we're working through the ceremony details, working through any bugs in the program. Exciting things!

Stay tuned! The pace is definitely picking up as the date draws near!

I had half a cheeseburger for breakfast.

For reals.

It's starting to get crazy here, guys. SIX WEEKS until the day!

While I'm not totally dismantling my dress (tip number one: don't inadvertenly lose weight while sewing your own wedding dress.. you'll have to fit in that thing!), I'm google-calendar-ing the other 40 million things we need to do. In six weeks. Six.

Siiiiiiiiix.

So this is me freaking out, just a little bit. I don't really have anything real to report. Just that, HOLY CRAP, we're getting married in six weeks!

/End rant.

*Post title courtesy of kaasadasdaslkdj;lasl;dl;jas. And Joe.

Bakin' It Pretty

I have some fun things to share, guys..

In anticipation of the cupcake bonanza that will be overtaking our kitchen in the coming months/weeks, I've picked up a few accessories. Mostly, I just want to share how awesome this site is: Bake It Pretty. They have everything from novelty cupcake toppers to "baking emulsions" and candy-making supplies.

Here's what I got:





A couple weeks ago I found a really cheap piping set, from Wilton, I think. But all of the tips ended up being kind of small for regular cupcake frosting. I'm hoping these jumbo guys will do the job.

Okay, so here are the really fun things:




Yes. Unicorn molds. Why? Because they are awesome. Obviously. I'm not actually sure how they'll wind their way into the wedding (cupcakes or elsewhere), but I'm sure you'll see them somewhere.

Anyway, I couldn't really keep that to myself. Hopefully this weekend, I can whip up some frosting with my new fiance the KitchenAid and play with the new tips!

It's an Update! From Joe!

Well the ball's really rolling now. After much deliberation, we have an officiant lined up. We'll be meeting him as soon as both our schedules allow. We're working on patching together the ceremony program, and we're having a great time looking for readings. I like this one. What do you think?

Other than that, Gabby's got her dress well underway and the tuxes are almost picked out. (I'm still torn on the number of buttons. And sequins.)

With crunch time now upon us, it won't be long until the day is finally here! Yay!


photos from our date night earlier this week

Cocoa Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago, I whipped up a batch of chocolate cupcakes--the cocoa version of the Alton Brown Chiffon Cupcakes--for an end-of-year studio potluck. And because these cupcakes are definitely going to be on the dessert menu, I thought I'd share!

These pictures seem to focus on the frosting, though, because I was also testing out a swiss buttercream recipe (soooo good). The pairing of the two are pretty great. Since the cupcakes are so light and not super-sweet, you can go pretty decadent with the topping--and it is decidedly decadent.
Mmmm.. buttercream..

Showered!

So I was treated to a really nice afternoon this past Sunday at the bridal shower that Karen (Joe's mom) threw for me. I have to thank everyone that came out--friends and family on both sides--for giving me such a nice party.

Here are some photos:

 

You can see the rest of the photos on flickr.

Oh, and guess what? I totally graduated!

Needless to say, it was a busy weekend.

RSVPs Welcome

Now that everyone has (hopefully) received their invites, I thought I'd post the completed suite.

Behold:

Now let's hear those RSVPs! We'll take them via email, phone, text, Facebook if you're on it... you could even comment on this post if that works for you! June 30th is your deadline!

Check back in soon!

Love,
Gabby

Flowers?

So this past Friday was my official last day of classes (hooray!), and though I still have exams this week, I took a little break over the weekend to soak up the amazing (AMAZING!) weather and work on a few wedding-related projects. I'm not sure if we've broached the topic of flowers yet, but I do plan on making fabric flowers for my bouquet and for various other applications. I guess it depends on how well it goes. I can totally imagine freaking out at the eleventh hour and running to Wegmans to buy fresh, overpriced grocery store flowers. But in the hopes of avoiding that moment, I spent a couple hours Saturday afternoon looking up tutorials and messing around with the scraps of fabric I've collected from sewing bridesmaids dresses. Long story short, here's what I came up with:

Pretty basic. Just petals sewn on to a small ball of wool. To clean up the edges, I plan on just trimming the petals a bit, then painting on some fray-check or even acrylic matte medium. I know that if you use synthetic fabrics, you can flame-seal the petals, which also gives them a little shape, allowing the edges to curl slightly. This was pretty good for a test run, I think.

How this is going to translate into a bouquet, I'm not so sure yet. But this is some of the inspiration I've collected:

I'm thinking I might bleach or dye some of the scraps I have to get variations of the coral color. I'll probably play with some other fabrics to add some textural variety, like the charmeuse and chiffon that's leftover from my dress. I've seen some amazing felt flowers out there too, like these ones. I can't wait to have my slaves bridesmaids here to help me make them!

If anyone has ideas or projects (or better yet, templates!) they'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it.

Talk to you soon!
Gabby

P.S. Have you gotten your invitation yet? Let me know if you'd like to RSVP!

Sneak Peek

Here's a little peek at our invitations fresh from the printer, which I am hoping to get in the mail today.

Look out for those soon!

Holy crap, guys, we're getting married in less than three months!

A Small Project

So I ended up having a whole bunch of newsprint scraps from printing fabric for my capstone project (which is now completed and on exhibit, hallelujah). I was already considering making some kind of sewn paper garland, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It's a pretty simple project, made easier by that awesome fiskars 2" hole punch. The only thing I'm not so sure about it how to store the garland until the wedding without it getting tangled, bent, or ripped. Hmm. Thoughts?

Love,
Gabby