New York Adventure: Part Wedding

Too much to fit into one post. The whole reason we went to NYC was to go to Charlie's cousin's wedding. After a shower and a cat nap we set out to find a taxi. The first one we got into did not go so well. The man drove us about a quarter of a mile down a big hill and into a park while trying to figure out where we wanted to go. After several attempts to explain where we wanted to go and him saying "Where?" we finally just got out. Since I am an SLP I try extra hard to be accepting of people with hearing impairments, or language barriers, or whatever was wrong with this guy, but as the clock ticked away towards 6PM and we got no closer to our destination I finally gave up and we got out of the cab. Figures both of us had never hailed a cap before and our first attempt was a miserable failure. We've been in cabs before, we're not that backwoods....just never actually gotten in one without someone else. After hiking back up the hill, boy was I glad I didn't wear heels, we got another cab and then driver had a GPS so he could find the wedding location. And we got there without anymore issues.

As it turns out we didn't even need to worry about the time because there was a crash on the Brooklyn Bridge which caused many of the quests and wedding party to be very late for the wedding. When we got married at 3:59:59 I was ready to walk down the aisle and was so nervous I just wanted it to be over with so I could start having fun, I have no idea how Annie and Rob waited that long for the show to start but I praise them for keeping their cool. I would have lost it no doubt. Since the wedding was starting late we had the cocktail house early, and since it was Derby day they had mint juleps. Mint juleps look like mojitos, but do not taste like mojitos. It was my first and last. I really do not like burbon. Luckily they also had champagne. I like champagne. 

 Another good thing was that there was an incredible view to admire.

That's the Statue of Liberty in case you've time traveled from the past or future, or live under a rock. After taking 100 pictures and staring/ admiring the flowers and table settings (so funny how now that I have planned a wedding I pay attention to this stuff, before we got married I did not look at anything like that, now I love to admire it) the wedding started. Annie look gorgeous. 

Hurray! They are married! It was a beautiful ceremony. Just like with decor and the little details, I pay so much more attention to the ceremony than I ever did before we got married. I know how much planning goes into all of it so I have more of an appreciation for it. 

Seriously, the view was amazing. 

Speaking of amazing, so was the food. I didn't take any pictures though. Instead here is one of us at the table. 

This was the first wedding we've been to on this side of the family that was not ours or Jay and Meera's so we all got to hang out more so than at either of our weddings. I really picked a winner in marrying Charlie, but I got pretty lucky in the family he came with too. They are all so fun and nice, and some even read my blog! We had a great time.

 In the morning we woke up and drove home.We stopped about 80 times for different reasons, and then spent over an hour in IKEA. Once we got home and put together the item we bought we realized it was too big! Doh. Now we have to wait until we go to Boston, or make a special trip to return it. Big oops. Oh well, it was fun.

The whole weekend was a blast.

Lauren 

2011; in 16 Photographs

The past few years I've done a "year in pictures" review. I'm only 13 days late this year! I am just going to warn you in advance; 2011 was the year of the weddings. We went to four and had one of our own. Prepare yourself!

1. Bachelorette party at Water Country! 2. Bridal Shower with my Mum and Grammy. 3. Engagement photos at Profile Falls 4. Bridal Shower with Cait and Lorelei.

5- 8 Wedding shots by Hartery Photography.  

   

9. Kiki and Patrick's wedding, Bar Harbor Maine. 10. Dan and Bethanie's wedding, Waterville Maine. 11. Jay and Meera's wedding, Ringwood New Jersey. 12. Jaclyn and Mike's wedding, Sterling Massachusetts  

13. Braid Gang at Taylor Swift 14. Me and Charlie on the first day of school. 15. Me and Lorelei at Christmas and 16. Out takes from our Christmas Card Photo. 

2011 sure was busy. Can't wait to see what 2012 holds.

Lauren 

Wedding Craft Run Down: Decor

Next on the list of wedding craftiness is the decor. I bunched this all together because there isn't a whole lot to say about each item.

First is the tissue paper pom poms. I can't remember where I first saw these but I knew I wanted lots of them hanging from the ceiling of the tent. Martha Stewart has a how-to that I followed. The only bummer is the length of standard tissue paper is not long enough to make these pom poms. I made one out of a stack of 8 sheets of tissue paper and it was horrible. I finally figured out that the sheets weren't long enough so I had to overlap sheets, to make them the correct length, which took a while, then do the steps Martha outlined. Another sort of pain in the tuckus was rounding the edges; seems pretty easy for the first three pom poms but when you're on your 19th pom pom your hand gets a bit sore.
Here are some pictures of the growing pile.

 

To hang them up you cut small gauged wire and make an "S" putting one end through the loop you made on the pom pom, and one around whatever you're attaching it to. We used the strands of lights. Here is a picture of the pom poms all hung up (Thanks Jaclyn for the picture, can you believe I didn't have time at my own wedding to take pictures?!?): 

While you're looking at the above picture I'll just quickly talk about the other decor. For table decorations my Mum and I picked out a bunch of vintage looking patterned fabric and she made table runners so each table had a different runner. The centerpieces were planted herbs in old enamel bowls we found at vintage stores. We used a bunch of old mason jars to hold candles and my dad made a bunch of candle holders out of birch trees. Lastly, to tell our guests what the table names were I painted pieces of wood with chalkboard paint then my friend Cait wrote the table names on them. The tables were all named for mountains or waterfalls that Charlie and I have hiked or skied. Then we went all geeky and arranged them geographically, even though no one noticed. And now I am sure you can see why the table arrangements took us so long.

Moving on to the outside decor. I painted out barn boards with directions for parking and other activities. I also painted more signs that told the mileage from where we were to towns that Charlie and I grew up in or have lived together. To figure out the distance I used this Google Map Distance Calculator.

Lastly, for outdoor decor, we hung up a bunch of quilts. Jaimie brought along the one she had made and finished the quilt she made us for a wedding gift, and the four I have made we hung up as well. To  hang them up pieces of clothes line rope were cut to length and tied around trees then the quilts were hung on the line with clothes pins.

Alrighty, that's all of decor. Maybe I'll do one last totally random post about all the other miscellaneous projects.

Lauren

Wedding Craft Run Down: Place Cards

Here is a quick wedding how to run down.

First up, place holders. We I knew we wanted people to have designated seats at the wedding. Upon deciding that I set out to find a cute and inexpensive way to make the place cards. Inspiration struck when I saw a picture of clothes pins holding the name cards. I knew I wanted the clothes pins to be more excited though so I decided to whip out my old friend Mod Podge, some paper, and get working.

This is what I came up with:

I cut strips of paper the height and length of the clothes pin, used a paintbrush to swipe on a layer of mod podge, laid the paper on top and swiped more mod podge to seal. I used left over paper from the invitations (because there was is a lot) to make the name cards. Then they cliped right in.

 

I only had 100 clothes pins, because that's all that was for sale at the store, but 129 guests so I needed to somehow figure out what to use to make 29 more place card holders. Inspiration struck again when I remembered a shoe box full of old wooden spools. I used pretty much the same technique for the spools as I did for the clothes pins, measure, cut, glue. These took a bit longer because you have to hold the paper for a while to let it dry since it's rounded (in other words, get your hands all gluey). 

 

After they are dry comes the tricky part, I used a band saw to cut a little line in the top to hold the place card.  A hand saw would work too though.

 

Lots of people asked me; "Didn't it take you a long time to make those?" To which I responded; "Not as long as figuring out the seating arrangements." Which is 100% true, but I liked the way they looked so the time doesn't matter. Now I have about 75 clothes pins and 15 spools and must figure out what to do with. 

At the wedding people also started clipping their place card to their clothes with the pins. Apparently they thought it was what we had wanted, even though the idea never occurred to me, but it turned out to be a good way for our guests to know each others names though. 

Up next: Tissue Paper Pom Poms/ Decor.

Lauren

I'm Not Dead! I'm Married.

Hello blog reader(s)!

I know it has been well over a month sine my last post, and you've probably been worried sick about my health and wondering if I've died of heat exhaustion or maybe fallen off a cliff. No need to fear though, I am alive and well, and married. *Gasp*. Yep Married. Turns out planning a backyard wedding sans wedding planner, is quite time consuming. Luckily I have the summer off and was able to "move" to Maine and put the finishing touches on the wedding for three weeks, and then get married, and then take over a week to recover and post about the wedding. I think I'll break down the wedding into several posts, since there is ohhh so much to share, but here are a few pictures, snagged from my friends and family to hold you over.

 just married.

 

just married part two. 

 

let's all take a bunch of pictures. 

Lots more to come. If you feel like crying here's a youtube video that my fantastic friend and wonderful photographer Sammy made of some of the wedding pictures she took. Or maybe I am the only one who cries looking at them.

Lauren!

Wedding Talk

I had hoped to not turn this into a wedding blog with the upcoming nuptials. However, it seems that with the exception of hand quilting I have not been sewing much and instead have been doing lot of wedding stuff.

As you can imagine, being the blog lover that I am I have started reading, or more accurately looking at pictures, from lots of wedding blogs.  Here is a list of wedding blogs I have recently become addicted to. Don't be surprised if you see many of the ideas used in our wedding.

Ruffled
Wedding Chicks
Style Me Pretty
Real Maine Weddings

I am already trying to bookmark house building blogs and websites so I don't go into total blog withdrawal after July 16th.

Lastly, since I am into shamelessly promoting my insanely talented friends. Here is a picture of the save the dates we sent out.

Our new friend Karina designed them. She's a graphic designer, and a fantastic one at that. She said she wanted to do our wedding invites etc, I sent her every picture I could find of invites and save the dates from above mentioned blogs, we e-mailed about 100 times and this is the final product. I couldn't be more thrilled with them, and am very appreciative of all of the hard work Karina put into them. You should check out her website if you're in the market for anything graphic design related. She also is a miracle worker when it comes to home design, and refinishing old furniture. Her peacock inspired dinning room is to die for.

That's all for wedding nonsense.

I'll be back sometime with some sewing projects.

Lauren

Wedding Dress- Always

Fooled you didn't I! There are no pictures here (yet) of my wedding dress.

For those followers who do not have facebook (hi Dad!) I have decided to post this story here as well. It's an extended version.

My Mum has sewed almost every important dress I've ever worn. For example she sewed the dress I worn on the first day of kindergarten. Skip ahead 8 years to when I started wearing dresses again, she made my 8th grade graduation dress, prom dress, high school graduation dress, bridesmaid dress, and plenty of dresses in between.

In all honesty when it came time to think about a wedding dress, and since we're being honest here, that was in 2009 before I was even engaged, it was clear to me that my Mum would make it for me. I think it was pretty clear to her too, or at least she didn't seem surprised when in 2010, after getting engaged, I showed her a pattern for a dress I wanted her to make and she exclaimed "It's beautiful" and not; "Are you freaking nuts?!?!"

Skip ahead again to us searching stores for the perfect fabric. We found one that was positively beautiful, but the $190 a yard price tag was not exactly in our price range. Then I found another fabric that was equally beautiful in my mind and ordered it. The package came the other day in the mail, in this box:

I've always been a fan of recycling and I found this absolutely hilarious. Who sends expensive wedding dress fabric in a recycled maxi pad box? Luckily my Mum, Rich, and my friend Kiki were around to witness the box arrival.  

Here is what I posted on facebook; "Today the fabric for my wedding dress came. It showed up in an "always" maxi pad box. I suppose that's better than a "depends" box." After the initial hilarity had worn off I began to think about how fabric arriving in a box marked "Always." It's probably a very good sign for an upcoming wedding. I think it's also a good sign that my Mum will always love me even if I sign her up to sew me a wedding dress and constantly stress her out. I know I will always love her and always be grateful for all that she's done for me.


Lauren