Favor Fever, Please Vote!

Would you like to help me decide how to package the favors???


Zebrawood wine bottle stopper compliments of Dad Windy City Wedding, aren't they pretty!

Option 1: Gift box from Uline, will be decorated with label or decorative wrapping paper. You have to order 100 minimum so extra boxes could be used for dessert leftovers which is a plus.

Option 2: Cloth pouch from Uline, could be silk screened or Gocco-fied with a simple design, in green or gray. Or could have our names and date silk screened. A little plain but a keepsake pouch whereas box would just get thrown away. Downside, I would have to order 200 minimum, only need 70 or so.

(I couldn't get the pictures to copy from Uline, boo I know.)

Option 3: Cloth pouch from Papermart, again would be silkscreened. I am not digging the bulky drawstring so much but could work.




Option 4: Jute pouch from Papermart in Moss. Not sure if the green is right and they don't do samples. Most expensive at 45 cents each.



Voting over to the top right, THANKS!

You Want to be a Skinny Bitch?

I just finished reading the book Skinny Bitch. I know this isn't completely wedding related but if you are like me and trying to lose a few before your big day I suppose it is wedding related.

I had mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand I actually liked the "tough love" tone of the book. Be warned, there are lots of shit, f's, bitches, calling you stupid, fat, moron, which I thought was funny but probably is not everyone's cup of tea. There is even a whole chapter on going number two which was pretty unexpected but humorous. However, the writing style was really the only thing I liked about the book.

Lucky for me I have been a vegetarian since I was 13, but apparently know in order to look good and be a "Skinny Bitch" I must become vegan. After awhile I thought maybe these chicks worked for Whole Foods because everything they suggest you eat could only be found there. And I know personally, that shit is expensive! I try to mix up as much "regular" food as I can with my meat substitutes so I don't go bankrupt. I mean really, what percent of the population can afford to shop only at Whole Foods? And on top of that ALL fruits and veggies, which is the bulk of what you are eating on this "Skinny Bitch" plan, has to be organic or apparently it is "crap."

They talk a lot about how we can't trust the FDA or the USDA which I can somewhat agree with. The are too many pesticides in food and the practices and treatment (the majority) of farm animals is terrible. But instead of running away and buying all soy, all vegan why don't we try to improve food quality for everyone? So people who can barely feed themselves should make sure the one meal they get a day is organic? I suppose they have bigger problems than worrying about being a "Skinny Bitch."

Obviously this book is directed towards and applies to a specific demographic. Umm hello, not everyone lives near a Whole Foods or health food store. Don't get me wrong, I heart Whole Foods, I would shop there exclusively if I could, maybe I am just jealous. But really I felt like the authors, two former models, of course how nice for them, seemed pretty self-righteous and didn't offer much option for those of us not making bank off our new novel and book tour. But hey they got my 10 dollars didn't they!

"I remember meeting you, discovering love could be so true"...

I thought what better way to celebrate the one year away mark than to share the story of how my fiance and I met. I suppose that should have been one of my first posts but now I am glad I saved it.

My fiance and I have known each other since 1998. During high school I used to attend a week long leadership program every summer ( I know, it's nerdy) , I met a lot of people through that including two twins who lived in Illinois. One weekend my parents and I were in Chicago to look at colleges, so I begged them to drive me to the burbs so I could met up with my twin friends. I never thought that would be the night I would meet my future husband!

So we met up with the twins' friends and went to a cheesy punk rock show in the basement of some community center. The details are fuzzy, keep in mind this was 10 years ago, but somehow I got lost from the rest of our group. My "friends" weren't concerned about finding me, but who was? My night in shining armor, my fiance! I thought it was so sweet, he had just met me but was the only one looking for me. I would have just married him right then but he had a girlfriend at the time and we were 16, so we kept in touch over e-mail, IM, phone etc.

We stayed close friends for many years and made visits when we could, we dated briefly my second year of college but still we were too young. We always kept in touch, so when I graduated college and moved to Milwaukee (he was still in Chicago) we could see each other more (only a 1.5 hour drive). And that began our semi-long distance relationship. Many drives for both of us in the rain, snow, early morning, back and forth but it was wonderful and the drive really wasn't too bad.

A year later I decided to make the move to Chicago, three years later we decided to move in together, and now four years later we are on our way to getting married! Now granted there are some details left out of this story, like most couples we had our rough patches, some months here and there were spent apart but we always came back to one another. He really is my best friend and the person I can always count on. And oh yeah, he is smokin' hot!

J, I can not wait to be your wife. Happy negative year anniversary!

One Year and One Hundred Posts

This is my 100th post and tomorrow will be t-minus one year until the big day. OMG that is so far away! I know everyone says how quickly it goes but we already have so much done, I may not have anything left to blog about and then I will resort to talking about how ridiculous The Bachelorette is and how none of my pants fit. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Thanks to all of those who read my little blog!

Helpful Hints: The Candy Buffet Edition

I know the candy buffet has been a bit of a trend for awhile now but if it involves candy or chocolate, sign me up. Some ideas are great ideas even if they have been done before. Here are some tips I have collected that might help in planning your candy buffet.

Tip 1: Make sure you buy enough candy.

Nothing puts a damper on a great candy buffet like not having enough candy. A lot of the time the candy display is more about the visual than it is the actual candy. You really want to "go big or go home" on this one, you are trying to make an impact. It is recommended you judge by the eye and not by pounds. The plus to this is most candy will last if you have extra or you can double duty and pass out the candy as favors. You will probably want around 8-12 different types of candies/containers depending on how many guests you are expecting.

Tip 2: Have some sort of theme.

Whether you go with all white, a color that coordinates with your wedding palette or a spread of retro/old timey candies, make sure you have picked a theme. Candy buffets without a specific feel or commonality could end up looking messy. By simply having rhyme and reason to your candy selections will make a huge difference.

Tip 3: Make it POP.

To take a candy buffet to the next level you need the right tools. Most importantly are the containers. You want a variety of shapes and heights to keep the visual interesting. Think apothecary jars, vintage glass, vases (where to buy listed below). Make sure the containers are large enough to fit a scoop for bulk candies. You may also want to decorate containers with ribbon, fabric or paper.

You will want creative signage for you display. You can either attach signs directly to the containers or have stands. Though some of the candies may be obvious as to what flavor they are I think it is a nice to identify them. Some people may not like sour candies and won't know it is sour until it is too late! If you do not want to make a sign for each item at least make a cute sign that let guests know to help themselves and if you are offering take home bags/boxes make them aware of that as well.

If you do opt for the take home bags, personalize them. This can be done very inexpensively and adds such a nice touch. Think take out boxes or cello bags with personalized labels, stamped bags, (where to buy listed below) put thought into these details and carry out your theme.

Tip 3: Provide an alternative.

Especially if your candy buffet is the only dessert item or favor. Not everyone likes sweets or can eat sweets so you will want to have another option for those guests. Nuts, trail mix, popcorn or sugar free candies are all good options.

WHERE TO BUY

Candy: Candy Warehouse, Candy Favorites, Groovy Candies (specializes in retro candies), Custom M&M's, Jelly Belly

Containers: Ikea, Michael's, Ebay, Save On Crafts

Scoops: Scoops Scoops, Wedding Manor

Take home bags/boxes: Papermart, Paper Source (great for stickers/labels), Uline

Eye Candy (literally!)

I have collected quite a few photos of candy buffets and thought I would share. We are having more of a dessert buffet with mini cupcakes, cookies, truffles, etc. but I may throw in a few jars or bowls of candy as well. I have done quite a bit of research so later I will post some helpful tips and resources for those of you who may want a candy buffet of your own.




















Images The Knot, Rebecca Thuss, Jenny Yoo

Obsession of the WEEK = Seating Cards

As promised (who's pumped!) I wanted to finish my rant on the seating cards. So many cute ideas, only one wedding, boo. Plus, Style Me Pretty had to go out and post about this awesome wedding, I love the pattern they used on the seating cards and throughout the wedding.

AND I found these cards on Etsy by Decoylab and I just love the vintage designs, maybe I could somehow make these into seating cards.

OR I also like this idea from The Knot of combining the packaging of favors with the seating card.





Maybe we could use 3 designs and 3 colors, each design/color combo relates to their food choice. I don't know if the waiters would be able to figure that out or not.

Such a toss up! Go with a simple, modern design or something more fun. I suppose I have plenty of time to change my mind 10 or 20 different times.

Obsession of the Weekend = Seating Cards

I am so happy for the extra day off but it has caused my mind to do some fairly major obsessing. I want to start projects but it is so early in the game! Here are my fav inspiration pics I scrounged up.





We have opted to do only seating cards and not place cards, in other words once the guests get to their assigned table they can sit at whichever seat they would like. This means we must have 3 important pieces of information on the seating cards.

1. Guest's name
2. Table number they should sit their booties down at
3. What food group they are going to chow down on

1 and 2 are obviously the easy ones, 3 is what I am working on. I thought this idea from Miss (now Mrs) Lovebug on Weddingbee was cute. I have also seen people just simply put a small dot in the corner of the cards, red = beef, green = veg and so on. I know already I am too picky to put a dot on my cards that wasn't somehow part of the design.

More details on my obsession to come (I know it is thrilling) but I wanted to see how others were doing this. I suppose this really only pertains to those having a plated dinner but if you are I would love some ideas. You always have great ones!


All images from The Knot or Martha Stewart.

Build Me Up Buttercup

Glen Hansard - Fallen From The Sky (Once OST)

This whole soundtrack is great, from the movie Once.

Twistin' The Night Away

The Four Tops - Loving you is sweeter than ever 1966

Please Don't Stop the Music

Like many other couples, we are just planning to load up our iPod with songs and then have a friend supervise. Our venue doesn't allow a band or DJ to play on the front porch (due to the historic art glass) and we decided against a tent, so iPod was really the only option. And hey it is practically free!

We haven't made a complete song list but I will be posting some of my favorites.

Have a nice long weekend and good luck to Chitown Bride who is getting married this weekend!

Inspiration: Tables

Brooklyn Bride was probably the first wedding blog I ever read and I have found so much inspiration from that site (Thanks Vane!), one post in particular has been the inspiration for our table setting. This real wedding post on Melinda and Dan is amazing, so simple and modern and fresh feeling, make sure to check out parts 1 and 3 also. We won't have the blank white space to work with like they did but I still feel this could look nice with our venue.

Our green linens will either be a little more of a yellow/green or a moss green, haven't decided on that yet, I am crossing my fingers the linen company has some decent colors. As much as I love the floating orchids shown above I am not sure it is in our budget. Then I found the inspiration from MS Weddings via sugar paper.




It is so nice to have visuals instead of trying to explain or draw it. A big thanks to all the talented and creative brides and brides to be who have provided me with so many ideas!

Shoes for the Bridesmaids

Please forgive my poor slide making skills!

Now that I have the dresses decided I can move on to shoes! I am thinking my only real options are either a metallic silver or pewter or going the dyeable route and having the shoes match the belts that I am hoping to find or have made (the belt in the picture was just to give an idea of what it will look like).

The fabulous Molly of These Little Moments suggested these lovelies from J.Crew and Nine West. She is the ultimate shoe-ru!

Can you tell I like peep toes! I am liking the ones on the far left the best, I like the embellishment without it being too much. Dyeable could be really cute but some of them are almost 100 bucks! No way. Or I guess I could have each girl pick out their own silver/metallic shoe.

Are you leaning towards matchy matchy or letting your girls pick their own?

Shoes from left to right found here, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Gossip Girl - Wedding and Finale

I know I am not 13 years old and should probably not be watching shows like Gossip Girl but I love it, I am not going to lie. The clothes, the ridiculous level of drama, everything. There was an empty space in my heart when the O.C. went off the air and now it has been filled by G.G.. Tonight is the much anticipated (ok well, much anticipated by me anyway) season finale. Will they go through with the wedding? Will Serena and Dan end up together? Even if you don't watch the show it could be worth seeing the details of what I am guessing will be a very glamorous and lavish wedding. Famed cake designer Silvia Weinstock made an appearance last week so you know it is going to be good!




Not sure about this choice for a bridesmaid dress...

If you want to see a little of the behind the scenes footage check out this 3 minute clip.

All images found here.

Wedding Website Roundup

Thank you so much to everyone who posted their ideas about wedding websites. It was a huge help and I spent a chunk of time last night researching the different options that were suggested. I thought I would summarize my findings for anyone else out there debating whether or not to do a wedding website.

1. WeddingWindow.com: $79 per year, password protected, you can even have a different password for the bridesmaid and groomsmen information pages.

2. eWedding.com: $49.95 per year, custom domain name included (janeandjohn.com), security/can be password protected, they have platinum, gold and silver options, this is the silver option. The higher priced options allow you more file storage. Nice designs, my favorite were "Classical" and "Chicago."

3. WedQuarters.com: $29.95 per year, custom domain name and extra $14.95, security/can be password protected. I liked the green squares or grey stripes designs.

4. mywedding.com: FREE, password protection available, nice simple/modern designs, invitations available to match your website design.

Personally, I think we may go with mywedding.com. I played around with it and it was very easy to use and since we want something simple it seemed perfect. And free! It won't look as fancy or professional as the sites you pay for and there is no special domain name, you are basically www.mywedding.com/insertyourname, but that was ok with me. I did opt for the password protection though. It seems simple enough, guests would just have to sign in with their name and e-mail address and then type in the password we provide them. I suppose it isn't so much about thinking strangers would show up at our wedding, I just like being able to post pictures and info knowing only our friends and family will be viewing. Just the peace of mind I suppose!

Those of you that use mywedding.com, have you gotten any feedback from guests, positive or negative? Did you opt for password protection?




A peek at our page, I loved the simple dots design.

Wedding Website?

I wanted to see how many of you have or plan to have a wedding website. I know this has become very popular and is a great way to give your guests more information than you could include on an invitation. I was even thinking of doing a separate blog just for wedding guests and that way it would be free. I am a total amateur with Blogger but I think there is an option where you have to be invited to view the blog? However that could get tricky because I would have to have all guests e-mail addresses in order to invite them. I am not sure how comfortable I would be having all the specific details of the wedding that could be viewed by just anyone.

Any thoughts?

What other good and not too expensive options are there for wedding websites?

Too Late to Apologi-hize

Sorry I have been a little bad with the posting lately. We have a party coming up this weekend that I have been running around for, plus we have hit a wall with the wedding planning.

On an unrelated note, I was so bummed Pam and Jim didn't get engaged on The Office last night.

Have a nice weekend everyone!



Misha knows how to party

Bridesmaid Travel Totes: Part Two

(the bags will look similar to these but with longer straps so they can go over the shoulder)

I am not sure what will be harder, choosing what items to stuff the totes with or what fabrics to make the totes out of. At first I was going to pick one fabric, probably something to compliment the pajama set and wedding colors but then I thought it would be nice to personalize the totes for each of my bridesmaids. Now the tough part is deciding which fabrics to use.

Bridesmaid 1: Graphic designer, likes vintage/modern, more graphic/less feminine

Bridesmaid 2: Favorite color is purple, environmentalist, likes bright colors

Bridesmaid 3: No idea what her favorite color is, really hard to shop for! Wears more natural colors, brown, olive, green

All fabrics are by Amy Butler, she has so many great designs it is almost impossible to choose!

Bridesmaid Travel Totes: Part One

I am so fortunate to have a great mom who is also very talented. She has generously offered to make travel tote bags for each of my 3 bridesmaids. She made me one last year and I love it and know my friends and sister would use one all the time. It is the perfect size for a weekend bag or a gym bag.
I want to stuff the totes with goodies, so far I am thinking:

• A matching cosmetic pouch, filled with some yummy Aveda travel size products perhaps.
• Pj set, green tank tops I got a deal on from Old Navy and order some pj pants from American Apparel in asphalt (grey and green are wedding colors) screen printed with a neat vintage floral design or something similar.
• A nice Snow and Graham candle or I could even fashion my own decorative container with the Xyron, maybe?
• Personalized stationery sets made on the Gocco.
• Possibly earrings or other jewelry from Etsy.

Any other genius ideas for great bridesmaid gifts?

What Will I Do For the Next 388 Days?

After seeing this post on Planning My Happily Ever After I wanted to make my own checklist of things we have accomplished. I am guessing a lot of you may think I am nuts (I know my fiance thinks so sometimes) since we still have a little over a year before the wedding. However I was not one of those "since I was a little girl" brides, but I think I had a good idea of the wedding I wanted and what my fiance wanted right away. Plus we have been together a looooong time and had talked about our wedding before the official engagement.

With that said here is our wedding recap:


DATE: Not Memorial Day weekend or Labor Day or whatever day that is, I am thinking we will have to put this on the invitations so people don't automatically think, "Oh it is over Blah Blah weekend I can't go," blah blah weekend is actually the weekend before.


CEREMONY: Unity Temple, Oak Park IL - This is pretty much where it all began. My fiance and I are huge Frank Lloyd Wright fans and have traveled near and far to tour and stay in several FLW homes. When we went to tour Unity Temple last year we knew it would be great to be married there. Once that was decided everything else revolved around it.


RECEPTION: Pleasant Home, Oak Park IL - Being committed to Oak Park the options for reception venues were limited. Lucky for us Pleasant Home is a beautiful prairie style mansion that is available for weddings. I love how unique this venue is and how it ties into our love of architecture and historic homes.


HOTEL: Carleton Hotel- Not even a full block from the reception site, this was a no brainer.


COLORS: Chartreuse, Moss, and Gravel - I am not a huge fan of black but needed a neutral for the color palette, we felt grey was nice and springy. If you have seen our kitchen you know we love green! So green was a natural (ha ha) choice. I have always loved chartreuse and the darker moss green I think will balance it out.


TROLLEY: Windy City Trolley - I don't know why I made this decision so early but I was obsessed with the idea of a trolley and didn't want them to get snatched up so I reserved a trolley. I love the trolley.


PHOTOGRAHPER: Chennergy - He is awesome, my fiance did a great job picking him.


BRIDESMAID DRESSES: Ann Taylor Loft - I think I am about 2 seconds away from making a decision on these, yay!


FAVORS: Wine Bottle Stoppers - My Dad is hard at work on these suckers, thanks Dad!


That is good for now don't you think! We will probably be choosing our caterer in the next few months, we have it narrowed down to 2. I am also determined to find my dress in June when my mom comes to visit. I personally would rather make the decisions now and then take 3-4 months off and do nothing and then pick back up again. Between making our invitations, programs, swizzle sticks, favors, gift boxes, table runners, I guess we will be keeping busy. I love DIY and I am so glad we have the time for all the projects we want to do.

Letterpress Love

Ever since working for a stationery company I have grown to love anything and everything letterpress. There are so many talented companies that specialize in letterpress invitations and I wish it was in our budget. My fiance works for a printing company and we have made invitations for friends before and it would be a little wasteful to spend so much on something we can do ourselves and have printed for very little money.

Maybe I can still sneak some letterpress in, I would love to get these cards for the out of town baskets. I gave this card to my fiance when we moved in together and it was partially responsible for inspiring our color scheme.




Buy some and other cute goodies HERE.

Food Update

Thank you everyone for you input and votes on the food debate. As you can see plated dinner took the win and I think that is what we might actually be going with! BUT with a slight twist.

I loved the idea of a mashed potato bar too much to let go of it completely. Though there is not room for an actual "bar" and it would be silly to serve guest their meal and then expect them to get there own mashed potatoes we had to brainstorm another option. This is still up in the air but what I am thinking is having waiters carry around trays of the mashed potatoes, pre-scooped in martini glasses but will have the 3 varieties on each tray and as they walk from table to table guests will select their favorite flavor. They can have 1 or 2 or 5, whatever! This way I still get the yummy yum mashed potato selection I wanted and it flows more with the plated dinner without just having a plain old scoop on the plate.

Now we just have to make some decisions on what entrees to offer. I am a vegetarian and a lot of my family members are also vegetarian or vegan. No offense to anyone out there but every wedding I have been to the vegetarians get the shaft! Vegetarian food can be really good so I want to make sure our veggie option is delicious. Do you then offer, veg, chicken, beef AND fish, I would be most likely to cut out the fish but maybe people like fish?

If you are going with the traditional plated dinner which entrees did you choose to offer your guests? If you were a guest what would you love to see as an option?

Image found here.

I May Have Found One!!

I may have found the bridesmaid dress! This weekend I was checking to see if my fav sites had any new dress arrivals. I have never really shopped at Ann Taylor Loft before but I remembered seeing some cute dresses in there once. I found this dress online:

It has a grey vintage design that works perfectly with our venue, it is a flattering shape for all body types, and the best part, it is only $89! I am going to try and find a place that can make custom belts in one of the greens we are using. Probably just let the girls pick their own silver/metallic shoes, some sort of jewelry and viola!

What do you think? (you can be honest)!

On a Related Note, What is the Limit?

I was thinking about this in relation to the dress post so I thought I would go ahead and post this as well.

It doesn't seem there is a definitive answer to this question but I would love to hear your feedback. What is the limit on how much your bridesmaid's should be expected to spend? Between parties, transportation, hotels, dresses, etc. there is a lot of cha-ching that goes into being a bridesmaid. Although I have personally only been a bridesmaid twice I know first hand how things can add up.

I was really concerned about this because I wanted to ask my bridesmaids to do a dress shopping weekend. Unfortunately none of us live in the same state, I was thinking about hosting it at my parent's house in Minneapolis since that would mean a free place to stay and one bridesmaid would not have to travel. Then I felt that was asking a lot, they will already have to purchase plane tickets for the actual wedding. I am planning on paying for their hair and makeup for the day if they would like it (but it is not being forced by any means).

It just seems difficult to pick a dress without having them all there to try them on, I was thinking of hosting a brunch for them and making it a fun weekend. Maybe even doing a bachelorette party type of thing so there wouldn't be additional travel for that. I don't want anything outlandish and I don't need a bridal shower. I am just so afraid of asking too much. I know one of my friendships is now strained because the bride asked way too much and never seemed appreciative. That is the last thing I want to happen.

I was also trying to find a dress for everyone under $150 because there would still be shoes and alterations to consider. However, it seems I haven't had all that much luck and the dresses I like are closer to the $200 range.

What do you think is reasonable and what do you think is too much?

Dress Update

If anyone was wondering...I did receive all of the bridesmaid dresses I was considering. I still wasn't sure so I sent them to my sister to try on. Unfortunately the things I was worried about were still true.

The Maggie London dress from Macy's was too shiny and looked more silver than grey though the fit was really nice. The J. Crew rosette dress was the perfect grey and with the cute dots I was smitten! But the fit is all wrong for a girl with any sort of curves. You would have to get a few sizes too big for the hips to fit but then the top is falling off. With the price at $168 already alterations would be pushing it up to the $200 mark. Plus the flower/"rosette" looked a little sad and droopy in my opinion.

So back to square one, Jim Hjelm has a few shades of grey I want to check out and I still haven't gotten a chance to see the After Six/Dessy dresses I was interested in. I also found some adorable dresses by Siri but I am guessing their dresses are pretty expensive.

Here are my new prospects, any thoughts???


Jim Hjelm (in either Sterling or Steel)




Dessy (in Silver Fox) via House of Brides




I LOVE this dress from Simple Silhouettes, the detail at the neck is gorgeous but almost $300, I don't think so...

Tagged Again, A to Z

I was tagged by the awesome Chitown Bride. Here we go...

A- Attached or single? Engaged, so very attached.
B - Best friend? My fiance, has been and always will be.
C - Cake or pie? Cake, chocolate or carrot if you want to send me one.
D - Day of choice? Saturday
E - Essential item? Credit card I guess.
F - Favorite color? Yellow or green or a yellow/green
G - Gummy bears or worms? Bleech me no like gummy stuff
H - Hometown? Born Atlanta GA, but would consider Wayzata MN my hometown.
I - Favorite indulgence? Chocolate.
J - January or July? July
K - Kids? Mmm, maybe
L - Life isn’t complete without? My guy and my family.
M - Marriage date?
N - Number of brothers and sisters? Two sisters, I am the baby.
O - Oranges or apples? Apples
P - Phobia and fears? Flying can be a problem and I always think I am sick.
Q - Quote? "Jim what the f**k" that is what my mom called Jim Hjelm and now we always call him that and it makes me laugh every time.
R- Reason to smile? I am getting married to my best friend.
S - Season of choice? Fall
T - Tag three people: Whoever wants to play!
U - Unknown fact about me? Unknown? Well what do you know? I have been a vegetarian for 12 years. Did you know that!!
V - Vegetable? Broccoli or mushrooms
W - Worst habit? Checking my e-mail too much.
X - X-ray or ultrasound? I would really like to avoid either thank you.
Y - Your favorite food? How do I pick...my fiance makes a mean garlic mashed potato
Z - Zodiac sign? Gemini