wedding mania!

in honor of the impending royal wedding (are you all as excited as I am ? I going to TRY to wake up early, but if not, I've DVR'd the whole thing).... I thought I'd revisit some of my very own wedding photos

I can't believe that Ryan and I have been married 8 whole months! While looking through all of these photos I got sort of teary... our wedding was so lovely we were so lucky to have all of our family and friends sharing in our special day. Not to mention that the weather and location were soooo beautiful....gush gush gush.


I am sure that this royal wedding will be a bit more grand than mine was, but I can only hope that they have as much fun and feel as much love as Ryan and I did! xoxo

all photos by John Taylor

Mrs..... if you please!

photo by John Taylor

thats right folks! it's official! this gal is a MRS!!! and a week into marriage and I am still loving it/him, more than ever! I can't describe how fun and great the wedding was, but it was really magical. We were surrounded by family and friends all weekend, in a beautiful country setting, celebrating ...US (me and Ryan, that is) what could be better?!

so, now that it is all over and I've had some time to recover (honestly I just slept and slept when we got home) I am excited to share all of the hard work/ craftiness that went into the entire wedding extravaganza! ( I feel like I have all this free time now that I am not constantly stressing about wedding planning!)

photo by John Taylor

So, the thing that I am most excited to share with ya'll? why my wedding dress of course!

As I am a professional seamstress I was fairly adamant about not spending ridiculous amounts of $ (those things are like THOUSANDS of dollars) on labor that I could easily do myself. So, I knew that I wanted to make my own dress.... I lucked out when I found a vintage 1940's wedding dress at a local boutique that fit me perfectly....

the original dress! long/rotten lace sleeves and all!

but alas there were some problems with the old dress. First off the lace overlay was rotten, so I took it off!

stage 2

and I changed the hem length ( I added about a foot...yup, Im that tall!) and ....added a new lace overlay, which I patterned and sewed.

I bought 5 yards of this gorgeous lace!

WHEW! I, (of course) finished only the week before the big day... but I was very pleased with the result! I felt retro, and elegant and like the best version of me ever! it was a great dress and a great day!

the final result! photo by John Taylor

wedding countdown! T-4!

we have four days to go until the big day! I am so excited, and can hardly believe that it is this weekend! Today is going to be extra special because my sister is coming to town and tonight is my bachelorette party! (and the whole thing is a surprise, as a bit of a control freak it has been very hard for me to just let my friends do this for me, but im sure it'll be worth it!)

I leave you with 4 jam jars and votives...in honor of our 4 days to go....

flags and flowers

this post is more about wedding crafts rather than my outfit, but I did want to show off this cute flower skirt that I got this summer at the NYC H &M  (which I looove).  

outfit details: skirt:H&M, top: Walmart, shoes: Aldo

Now, on to the main event.. notice those flags behind me?  these are one of the many projects that I've been working on to decorate my upcoming nuptials (only 11 days till the big day).... I rather like how they look strung in my backyard, I may have to hang them about after the wedding.

check out this fuzzy caterpillar I found! so cool!

The flags were really pretty easy to make... here's how...

I made a template (out of a magazine page) it measure 6" long and 3 1/2" across

using the template I cut the fabric ...

and once I had lots of different colors.... I strung them together on twine, using a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine!

..et voila!  I can't wait to see how they look all strung up at the wedding!

wedding invites!

whew! Ive been soooo busy!  I feel like I haven't sat down in front of my computer for FOR_EV_ER!  I just got back from spending a week in NYC with some cousins, and tomorrow I leave for another great adventure in Alaska! 

my entire wedding invitation set, all bundled up!

but before I left I had to be sure and send out all of my wedding invitations!  this was a wee bit stressful, but pretty awesome and fun.  I printed all of the invites at home (with the amazing help of my talented/arty friend Nikki) we used her Gocco printer (a small screen printer) and the bird image was drawn by my talented mom!  

the printing process (step one)

the invitation!

the RSVP: front and back

I love the way they turned out! I feel like they are setting the tone for the wedding (and we got the first rsvp in the mail today!) yay

unbundled:RSVP, directions, invite, envelope

engagement photos!

yay! so we got our engagement photos back, and they look pretty good! im gonna go ahead and put most of them on here (so beware... lots of photos ahead!).... enjoy!

all photos by John Taylor

proof of engagement!

eeek, so today we are meeting with our wedding photographer and we are gonna take some engagement photos!  I am super nervous/excited....  Its been hard to think of photos that will be fun/interisting, but not cheesy and that we wont hate in 20 years.... One of my favorite ideas is inspired by these old engagement photos I found....

aren't they fabulous? now, we'll just have to wait and see how they turn out!

summer=seventies, man.

so i think that i always have a bit of the 70's vibe, but when it comes to my summer duds they are heavy on the high-waisted and peace-loving looks.  As you can see with this outfit!  

Ryan and I went to the...dunh.dunh.dunh.... dreaded suburbs yesterday (an activity that both of us abhor), but for a good cause.... we finally registered for our wedding gifts. 

It was such a strange experience, trying to find and anticipate all of our needs for the future.  To be honest, we are at a stage in our lives and have lived on our own long enough, that we almost have everything that we need (ie toaster, blender, towels...)  Do any of you married gals have some suggestions?  like maybe what was the best gift you got?  or the things you use the most?  We registered at Target and Crate and Barrel...any other ideas?   

now that I am done with work for the summer I have no excuse not to get down to business with this wedding planning stuff, but man-oh-man can it be draining!

outfit details: shorts, belt: thrifted, blouse: Forever 21, shoes: Old Navy

While we were looking for registry items we ended up buying some stuff for the new house... we desperately needed these curtains, but they will need to be hemmed  (as soon as I unpack my art studio/ sewing room)!

wedding inspiration!

well, I still can't find that little thingy that connects my camera and tripod....so I am bringing you some images I have been stalking while planning for our wedding.  We are meeting at our venue in two weeks to have a tasting and make some big decisions....so that is all very exciting!

I LOVE how frothy and ethereal the back of this dress is, I never thought I'd be the kind of gal that would want a big princess gown, but it has happened, I want to be swathed in white tulle, and wouldn't this little blue shoe just be perfect?

these little birdies are adorable, we are not planning on having a big cake (we are gonna have lots of pies and small cakes), but I would love to have them decorated with little, natural birdies!

 ...and this image is just dreamy, right!  so romantic and sweet!

Have a great weekend! 

the bride wore black.

well, at least this bride to be is currently wearing nothing but black.  I am currently working the musical Young Frankenstein (where I am required to wear all black)  we are also getting (somewhat frantically) ready for our winter show over at the ballet, so I am VERY busy, and I am only wearing black.  So, no outfit posts, but here are some wedding inspiration images that I have been collecting!

I am totally gonna try to have this hair!  isn't it beautiful?

oh, how I  wish that we had an old stylish get away car!

these tree slices are a great way to add interest to a centerpiece

doesn't this wedding just look like so much fun?  I hope that ours is just as sweet!

blue skies...finally.

I've been grumpy and stressed all week and it was only exacerbated by the awful/gray/miserable weather we've been having.  So I finally got happy today when I woke up to blue skies and sunshine and a perfect Sunday!

outfit details:dress: Urban Outfitters, sweater: thrifted, coat: H&M, scarf: gift, tights: target, boots: thrifted

new birthday necklace!  It's a Geode!

00ps! I lost my necklace!

I've been doing some serious wedding planning.. booked the venue ( a really beautiful ranch/ country inn in Lawrence, KS)  set the date (September 4!!!!) got the dress (A 1950's gown that I'm gonna revamp!) It's all coming together!  but there is still tons of work to do, I'm just trying to make everything fun instead of stressful, so lots of crafts and diy projects are in my future!