on wedding announcements.

Today I waited for an hour and a half in the line at the DMV.  Apparently, when you move every year, they forget to update your address, so you have to go down and wait. And wait. And wait a little longer.  Luckily, I had a sister with me, and if we had known that the other sister needed to go too, it could have been a family reunion. I mean, all we needed was the potato salad and fried chicken because we certainly had the time.  Next time, I'll take the office advice and go on a Tuesday.  I'm not a very good waiter because I'm not very patient.  Plus the extra time usually makes me think about all of the problems and lists I have. Today, all that waiting made me think about what's wrong with our society. First up: wedding announcements.

photo by Reena Bammi

Yesterday, I spent a long rainy Sunday afternoon flipping through the paper. I didn't learn very much, but I did read some wedding announcements. And found out who participated, what the bride wore, who the grandparents were, and where the couple will reside after the honeymoon. When did announcements become less about the couple and more about the state of who's still alive in the family and what the bride wore? (Seriously, I can't even link to any in the newspaper because they were so bad.)

photo by Reena Bammi

t-5 days

What have I been up to? I've been practicing walking so I don't trip down the aisle.  I'm playing music in my head (even though we're not having any).  And I'm drawing countless diagrams.* I'm really just ready to get on the road. The wedding is in 5 days.  Five. Cinco. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!  And I am ready for it to be here.  Sam and I leave tomorrow--I'm really hoping that the week is relaxing, and I can't wait to see our families.  I've nixed all the extra ideas and am just concentrating on the most important one: walking down the aisle.  But wouldn't it be cool if we had these at the wedding? And people actually used them?

*found here; if you have time, check out her awesome wedding photography! 

dear family, would you actually use these? internet, any clue how to make them? 

*I helped with flowers at a sweet friend's wedding this weekend, and it made me get really excited!  But her organized-ness made me realize that I need to get on the ball.  So, just in case I'm not available for the whole time to help decorate the reception site, I'm drawing it all out and labeling everything.  OCD much?

hair today. gone tomorrow.

Ha! It's not often I come up with a cool title that actually works with my post, but I think that this works well.  So what do you do with your hair on your wedding day? Especially, a wedding day on the beach? My hair has to go up or back.  It's frizzy enough by itself.  Kind of like this:

 

True story: my freshman year of college, I was in a hair show.  And looked just like this.  This is how it all went down.  If you know me, than you know what a sucker I am.  Those kiosks in the mall? Can see me coming a mile away.  So, when the hair chick came and started complimenting my shoulder length chi-straightened hair, I fell hook, line and sinker.  Which explains how I spent the next weekend walking around the BJCC with half my hair a giant frizzball and the other half so smooth.  And also more than half of it cut off.  Yeah, not my best moment. 

So, this could totally happen if my naturally curly hair is let loose on the beach.  Only imagine all my hair like that.  This will not make for an attractive picture.  At all. 

My hair will have to be back.  The question is: how? I'm not exactly the traditional bun or fancy chignon / french twist. I think something slightly messy, to the side, and with braids. Can I pull it off?  I'm so over making decisions right now!  So, dear readers, I'm going to let you decide.  Pick option a, b, or c and let me know in the comments! BTW, no veil.  Am debating on flower or headband.

 A: slightly pouffy ponytail or maybe bun

 B: messy braids

 C. really messy braids

Ok.  Can't wait to hear what you think!

more need to know.

The invitations went out last week.  Chances are, you probably didn't get one.  But it's not because we don't love you.  We do. Lots.  But we're keeping this really small.  Like miniscule. Here's a sneak peek:

 

crappy iPhone photo, sorry! 

Here's some need to know information for those of you out of town.  

We realize that there's no address for the wedding--don't worry, more information to come!

If you're from out of town, we've blocked some rooms at the Residence Inn and the Hampton Inn (there are actually two in town: make sure to book a room at the Sadler Road location, that's where you'll get the good deal!)  Just ask for the Shelton-Fielder wedding.  And if you'd rather stay at a bed and breakfast, there are some super cute historic ones downtown.  Actually, pretty much everything about Fernandina is cute! We're so excited to get married there, and we're so excited you're coming. And if you're not--we're so excited you're in our lives!

cakes. and plates.

Why cupcakes?  I've heard this a lot. And gotten some really funny looks--even though Martha Stewart Weddings has been preaching the value of cupcakes since at least 2003.  And you know, whatever Martha Stewart says goes.  She's the be all end all of wedding planning, so I'm trusting her.  So why cupcakes?  Well, I don't know.  I like cake.  But I wanted lots of flavors and several options.  Plus I wanted something that our guest could just pick up and eat.  No plates.  No forks.  Anyways, I did consider a few alternatives.  Like pie.  Lots of flavors and could be really pretty. 

 marthastewartweddings.com

But then I remembered that I think pie looks a lot better than it tastes.  So I moved on to cotton candy!

 

 marthastewartweddings.com

I love cotton candy.  Love it.  (what's better than spun sugar?)  And how cute would that be on a table?  Single servings with rock candy sticks...all pink and yellow and fluffy.  Except, this is not a baby shower.  And I'm going with green.  Nobody likes the green cotton candy.  So, then I thought about doughnuts

marthastewartweddings.com

What's not to like? Simply bread and sugar...my staples! I love the way they're stacked, and the simple white cake plate.  But my brother in law had doughnuts as his groom's cake.  And besides, if there's an occasion to serve cake, why not serve cupcakes? So I started looking around...

    

marthastewartweddings.com, sprinkles.com

Martha Stewart had these beauties.  And of course, there's my original Sprinkles image.  I'm keeping the monotone icing, but switching up the towers and tiers.  Of course, this negates chocolate icing.  But that's okay.  Sivada's Cupcakery makes fabulous icing no matter what flavor!  So I looked back to Martha, and she didn't fail.  Here's kind of what I'm thinking.

marthastewartweddings.com

Jackpot!  Varying heights and cute arrangements.  I think I'll go a little less uniform and the cake plates will all be different, but overall, I think you get the point.  So this is why cupcakes.  More fun, more flavor, and extremely me. 

Speaking of me...I think I hit the jackpot! 

*photo by mom

 

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? And they're all mine!  I've been looking for jadeite cake plates (and really, any jadeite pieces) for the past 6 months.  Even though I've found a few here or there, they've been too expensive or not in good enough shape.  But these? These are gorgeous and affordable.  Well, affordable to me because my dad got them for me. We found them at a beautiful cake place in Jacksonville, but they weren't for sale.  However, the owner kindly gave us the source.  And voila!  I can't wait to use them at the wedding.  And for ever after.

So that's why cupcakes.  Here are the flavors I've come up with so far: wedding cake (of course!), red velvet, chocolate, coconut, key lime, boston creme, and creme brulee.  Am I missing anything? What flavor is your favorite?  (If it gets enough votes, maybe we'll add it in!) 

 

of envelopes. and liners. and first gifts.

So where have I been? Well, I've been doing a little of this:

And a lot of this:

*can you see my computer buried under the envelopes?

And just a tiny bit of this:

*yay for first presents: i have been drooling over this mixer for at least 5 years. Thanks, mom!

We've been busy in wedding land.  I've been working on our invitations and envelopes (instead of picking a photographer and caterer, but more on that in the future). Rather than pre-ordering everything, I wanted to design them myself--with help from my fabulous designer friend.  I knew I wanted cream, rounded corners, and fun liners, so I started searching.  Thanks to the Paper Studio, Paper Source, and Sam, I'm slowly turning a corner--and it's a good thing since they need to go out in two weeks.  Paper Source has fabulous paper stock for a great price.  Finding Paper Studio was just luck and a little google help, but watch out.  Pretty soon every card I send will have a fantastic lined envelope (kell, I already picked out fun liners for your baby shower.  although, they're dependent on boy v. girl.) And Sam, well, let me tell you.  I may have the best fiance in the world.  He spent three hours last night (after setting up his new blu-ray player and making dinner) cutting out A7 envelope liners.  So go show him some love on his blog or leave a comment here: i already know i'm lucky, but what did your future men (or women) do that really convinced you?

Wanted: 1 really good photographer

Oh, this is funny.  Really funny. I find photographers for a living, but I can't seem to find one for my own wedding.  It hasn't escaped me that the two are probably related.  On the chance that they are not, this is not funny or ironic.  It's annoying.

There are worse things in the world, I know.  But right now, it's really annoying that the perfect wedding photographer hasn't popped up.

I definitely don't want a gimmick.  Today alone, I've looked at countless websites with cheesy names and even cheesier images (no, we don't want our picture taken in a bathtub or running through the ocean, thanks).  And I don't want to trash my dress--even after the ceremony.  (Are you kidding me? I paid actual money for this; I'd rather not trash it even if it sits in a box in my closet for the next 50 years.) I don't want a hard-to-navigate website or flashing colors.  I don't want weird angles in my pictures (yes, the horizon is actually straighter than that, thanks).  I could show you examples of all these, but...I also don't want to burn any bridges just in case I have to resort to these cheesy photographers.

Here's what I want: a great photographer with a good personality and an even better eye. I want good coverage for the wedding and the reception.  I want photos of my family and friends (with and without us) that we'll love looking back at 50 years from now.  I want a photographer comfortable with film because there's no escaping that quality.  But he / she should be good at digital because the immediacy and flexibility can't be beat.  I want the details.  I want to not spend $4500.  And mostly, I want to find someone soon.  I'm about at the end of my decision making limit...pretty soon, I'll be picking burgundy napkins and foie gras just because I don't care. (eww.)

 
Someone who shoots like this.   Or this.

So to all the photographers out there, give me a call or send me an email. PS...if any of you who actually read this know of someone that matches my description, let me know.  i'll be eternally grateful. or at least less stressed.




                                  




*Tara Donne for Martha Stewart Weddings

the color.

It's cold, today.  Really cold.  And after all that talk about snow, there was no accumulation, no ice, and no problems (for which we're really grateful, but they let out schools and closed the libraries). 

I've been working on this post all week, but between my crazy schedule (see below) and the BCS game (13. Roll Tide!), my poor color inspiration board fell to the bottom of the list.  However, I blocked out lunch to create this today.  And it was necessary.  As a non-degreed creative person (meaning, I went to school for English, not graphic design), I needed to organize my thoughts as quickly as possible.

From top left: Country Living, Mint Paper, Paulette Macarons, 

Snippet & Ink, Red Photo Co, Meg Smith, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Sundance Catalog

It's funny.  I've been saying since before I was engaged that I wanted a green and white wedding--with accents of navy blue and gray.  However, when I finally sat down and got to work, no navy blue or gray.  Maybe it's necessary to repeat the process a few more times, but I happen to really like this board. The details are fab: I love the twine wrapped around the glass jars and am hoping that this can somehow be worked into my reception.  I love the messy flowers. And of course, there must be a peace sign somewhere.  It's the theme of my 20s!

Somehow I want to mix industrial aspects, maybe zinc letters or numbers, in with natural aspects, like driftwood.  I really just want my wedding to look like a page out of an Anthropologie catalog.  Big twinkly lights, maybe paper lanterns, and a fire.  I think it will work...

Now we just need the weather to cooperate (sunny warm day, please), and we're good to go.

keep calm.

I don't normally fancy myself a highly excitable person. Unless, of course, there's ice cream involved. But overall, I try to keep things calm. (And I can see Sam rolling his eyes.) So let me start again. In a perfect world, I would not be a highly excitable person. On a good day, I can breathe slowly and let things roll off my back. Every other day, I struggle just to roll with it.

So with the short wedding planning, crazy production month, and teaching schedule, I'm about to lose my mind. I walk out of the house without my coffee or the box that I needed to mail back two days ago. I have a to-do list that's 53 items long; the first item being to check my to do list. I forget to lock the door; I leave the candles burning all night long. I need to finish up the invitations, put together an inspiration board, lose ten pounds, and on and on and on. You can probably guess that I haven't been very calm for awhile.

I love this poster. (You can order your own here.) I've read that the British government printed these (in red) during WWII to put around the subway system. (It seems important to mention that at least two co-workers have these in their office.) Seems to be an admirable quality and very British sterotype: all stiff upper lip and stoicism.

So that's my new New Year's resolve. Keep calm. No panic. Keep all arms and legs inside the car at all times. And carry on. At least for the next 72 days.