A Smelly Situation

One of the many things I would never have even thought about doing until discovering Weddingbee is buying a special fragrance specifically for the wedding. I just love this idea, since I know I already associate certain perfumes and scents with different moments and times in my life. Like Curve.. do they even still make that stuff?

Image via Frangrantica

Apparently yes. I used to wear it when I was in high school, so any time I smell the remnants of the old, nasty bottle I still have, I'm immediately brought back; I even have friends mention that they think of me when they see or smell it (let's say that's a good thing..?) So, wedding fragrance it is.

I hit up Sephora yesterday on my way to work for two reasons: one, to get more of that fabulous Clinique skin care stuff (that Foxy has now taken to using as well), and two, to search for some scents. I spent a good half hour spraying almost every bottle in the store until I finally settled on something much more floral than I ever thought I would have wanted. It had hints of rose and gardenia, and while it was a bit potent on the paper tester, it smelled fabulous on my skin. Body chemistry really plays up those scents! So what was that wonderful, summery scent? It was one I had previously not heard of - Kenzo Amour.

Image via Frangrantica

Or so I thought.

See, like a normal person, I naturally assumed that the tester in front of the boxes of perfume was.. you know.. the same thing. Once at work, I felt compelled to open the perfume and test it out a bit more, only to discover that not only was the bottle color different, but that I just sprayed myself with something distinctly musky and vanilla. As in, not floral. At all.

A quick Google search told me that I indeed did not have the perfume I tested out at the store, and the one I actually wanted was Kenzo Amour Florale. Well, that makes sense. So, back to Sephora I went after work. Lo and behold, they didn't even have that scent for sale at their store. Why it was a tester on their shelves and why they just put it back on the shelves in front of the wrong perfume again is a mystery to me. Regardless, I either needed to find a new scent or just order the right stuff off of the interwebs.

I spent another good half hour searching for scents similar to the floral Kenzo, and finally settled on something very different yet very similar at the same time - Tocca Bianca.

Image via Frangrantica

As described by Frangrantica:

Bianca was inspired by tea time in Italy. It opens with a light citrus blend of lemon orpur, bergamot, mandarin and lavender. Green tea, jasmine and rose petals bloom in the heart, while a whisper of musk and sugar in the base linger on the skin.

This is a much stronger scent than the Kenzo - more of a sweet floral - but it really meshes quite nicely with my body chemistry and evokes such a pleasant feeling for me. Does that sound weird? Maybe. But I just knew that, if I didn't go with the floral Kenzo, this was it. I tested it out again today around the house and it's really growing on me - I kind of hate that I have to wait another few months to actually wear it!

I'm also debating ordering a small bottle of the Kenzo Amour Floral anyway, just to compare the two. Hey, a girl can never have too much perfume, right?! (Eh, that's debatable.)

Are you doing a wedding day scent? Was it hard to find one (or two) for you?

A Floaty Guestbook.. DIY?

I've had a shockingly odd amount of ideas for our guestbook. As is the trend lately, none of them included an actual book.

The initial idea was to have people sign around a picture that would eventually be framed. It wasn't going to be one of Foxy and I, though; instead, I have a print by an artist named Kurt Halsey that I absolutely adore and thought would be just perfect.

Image via Art Star

So cute, right? But I wasn't *quite* sold. Almost, but not entirely.

Then I thought something akin to the Quaker marriage certificates might be nice.

Images via the Merriment blog

I especially love the one on the right, but I still wanted a bit more. I must admit that I have been secretly loving the fingerprint trees that seem to be so popular as of late.

Via Etsy shop Love From The Thumb

Then, in one of my daily searches on Etsy, I saw something a bit different.. it was still a fingerprint guestbook, but it evoked a certain fantabulous Disney Pixar movie.

Via Etsy shop bleu de toi

Up, anyone? I mean, I just love that movie, and I love the idea of using it as a guestbook. My only issue was not wanting to spend upwards of $60 on a print that I just might be able to reproduce and get printed at Kinko's for a third of the price. So try and DIY, I did.

First and foremost, I printed out the clearest picture I could of the Up house - this actually happened to be a photo of the real life version of the house that was built in Utah.

Image via The Awesomer

Next, I took a sheet of velum and traced the image twice: first with pencil, then with a black marker.

Since it was looking kind of.. rough.. after the pencil and even the marker, I decided to scan it into Photoshop and touch it up a bit with the eraser tool. A few adjustments and some added text later, I ended up with this:

I'm actually a bit surprised at how reasonable it looks.. I was a bit wary after I finished the pencil outline with all the smudgies and wavy lines and such. But, as if you didn't know this already, Photoshop seriously does wonders. All it needs now are the balloon strings, and then I can bring it to Kinko's to be printed out on a yet to be determined sized piece of poster paper.

The thing is, I'm in desperate need of your help. I'm afraid that, to quote Cher, "(it's) a full-on Monet.. from far away, it's ok, but up close it's a big old mess."

What do you think, hive? I'm sure no one will really be analyzing this all that much, but should I keep going with the DIY route? If I do.. is black and white good enough or should I try and get fancy and color it in?

The Friendymoon

Some might say honeymoon. We say post-wedding vacation, aka Friendymoon. But we'll get to that.

Mum has been the word on our potential honeymoon up until this point - I wish I could say it was a secret or a surprise, but really, we just had no darn clue what we were going to or even could do. Due to monetary restrictions, we figured we would need to keep it "local" - meaning, within the US. Now, this does not necessarily mean cheaper, as I have realized. Especially when you live in DC and decide that your top honeymoon destination is San Francisco/Napa & Sonoma Valley area. Those plane tickets are rarely cheap. Especially not during peak season. Shocker.

We decided that, if funds weren't going to allow us to travel out west, a good back up plan might be to do a bed and breakfast tour of the New England/Maine area; if we can't have wine, we'd be ok with lobster (and wine). We also decided not to think much about it until closer to the wedding, maybe three or four months out... which would be now.

Before I go much further, I also must share with you that I'm a big lover of all things beach, water, and warm. Last April, brideslady G and I went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico with our mutual friend Bear and it was the best. trip. ever. We've always wanted to go back, but timing hasn't been right.

Warning: gratuitous beachy BFF photo ahead:

Personal photo | Photo by Adrian Ibarra

Which brings us up to present day. Brideslady G came over to help with some wedding related DIY goodness, when she tells me her and her boyfriend bought tickets to go back to Mexico with Bear and his boyfriend, a fellow housemate, and G's cousin. Apparently they found a pimpin' four floor, 12 person penthouse in Playa that would cost each person about $300 for the week. The kicker? They are leaving a mere three days after mine and Foxy's wedding.

Do you see where this is going? You should. Because, after much consideration (like owing dumb amounts of taxes due to me being an independent contractor)..

Personal photo

..we decided that we will be joining in on the Mexico fun with everyone!! We will be responsible for plane tickets, our extremely minimal pay for the penthouse, some money towards food and alcohol for the week, then whatever extra for fun activities and souvenirs and such. I'm estimating no more than $2000 for a week of sand, sun, and absolute magic. Not bad. And oddly cheaper than going to California.

Thus, you now have the reason for dubbing this our post-wedding vacation, aka Friendymoon. Will we be with our friends? Yes. Will there be enough privacy for us should we want it? Yes. We don't need to do everything with our friends, which has been agreed upon by all parties involved. We still plan on one day taking an "official" honeymoon to Ireland or some other fun country, but for now, we'll be living it up in the sun with good friends and guaranteed good times. It couldn't be more perfect, and I'm pee-in-your-pants excited.

I mean, we have our own private rooftop jacuzzi. Just look.

All images via Maison Mauresque

Yep. Pimpin'.

Are you having an atypical honeymoon? Would you ever consider going with your friends if the deal was too good to pass up?

The Color Paradox

It's no secret that turquoise/teal/any sort of combination of the two are my most favorite colors of all time. Hence, turquoise being the main color choice throughout the wedding (with subtle pops of orange creamsicle here and there, of course).

The thing is.. what is turquoise? When I first started planning, I had one specific color in mind.

Bam. Super turquoise.

But then when I was working with my graphic designer friend Michelle, we settled on the following color for a large chunk of the invites.

To add to it, when I started looking for brideslady dresses, the ones I loved most were oasis in color, which is color to a teal than a true turquoise - similar to the following.

My shoes are probably more frequently called a Tiffany Blue than anything else, akin to the next color.

And the list goes on and on. The fact is, the color of the invites does not exactly match the paint that I'm using for some picture frames, which doesn't exactly match the turquoise masons for our centerpieces, that doesn't match the little glass beads that will adorn the cocktail tables, that doesn't necessarily match the string I used for the bubble jars. That true turquoise up top? Really isn't even seen anywhere in my wedding decor at this point. Instead, the color has taken on a life of it's own, in a way, and there will be a whole bunch of different takes and shades of some mash of turquoise and teal.

::gasp::

You know what? I'm ok with it. I'm DIY'ing a lot of stuff, and it's virtually impossible to have everything be the same shade in that scenario. The colors are close enough, and I'm not going to stress myself over the fact that my turquoises don't match. Because I did for a hot minute, and it was silly. I don't see any of the colors as clashing too much, so we're all good. Oh, and don't get me started on the orange - there are just as many versions of that going on as well. It's awesome. And I'm not saying that sarcastically.

Are you having everything very matchy-matchy throughout your wedding, or are there some variations in the colors? Do you prefer one over the other?

Bubbly? Don't mind if I do.

We are officially less than four months away from the wedding. Four months. Stupid.

Once I realized this, I realized that I miiiiight want to get started on the ever growing list of DIY projects I have. And what better place to start than with the bubbles?!

After an afternoon of tedious work, they are about 98% done and definitely ready to share! As a reminder, these were my inspirations:

Image via Hostess with the Mostess

Image via The Pretty Blog

After getting my massive shipment of glass jars the other week, the next step was to create labels. This was pretty easy - I bought clear, precut label paper from Staples, whipped up a quick design using a combo of Swift Publisher and Word, printed them out, and stuck 'em on.

Then came the bows - I got a bunch of the string that I used to use to make those awesome old school friendship bracelets in a light turquoise/aqua and pale peach. Then I simply tied them into little bows around the bottle necks, cut off the ends, and sealed the center knot with a bit of clear nail polish.

The final step (pre-bubble solution, that is) was the bubble wand. All DIY inspiration pictures I've seen have shown wands made out of pipe cleaners, so I went to it with some super sparkly ones from Michael's.

Making them was super easy - just cut each piece in half, loop it around your finger, twist the "tail" part around the longer piece, and center/reshape the circle a bit.

Ta-da!

I initially tried to tie the wands to the side of the bottles, but I quickly cursed the world and decided to just stick them in the bottles and will ultimately only fill the bubble solution about halfway, as to not completely soak the wand. Anyway. Time for the reveal!

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I like them! I ended up running out of string for the bows after the first box, so I can't yet claim this DIY project done, but one more afternoon of a few Say Yes to the Dress reruns should have them done in no time.

Side note: I originally also wanted to spray the bottle caps a fun, glittery, turquoise.

See how sparkly the cap is?? So I went outside to get my glitter on, and.. nothing happened. The caps just ended up looking a bit wet. No glitter to be seen. I promptly got frustrated and declared this can of glitter utterly useless. To which Foxy replied "I'm surprised you would ever declare anything glitter as useless." Touché, Mr. Foxy. (But for the point of this project... useless.) So the caps remain silver, which I think works better anyway. DIY fail win!

Have you found that simpler sometimes equals better when it comes to projects and decorating?

High Tech Weddings

I feel like there's been a lot of talk about "unplugged" weddings lately - cameras down, little to no Facebook sharing, etc. There seems to be a turn towards yesteryear, towards leaving the media to the pros via a photographer and videographer and having guests leave the gadgets off, at home, or in their pockets.  Which I absolutely get.  But what about the other side of it? What about the super techy weddings?

I bring this up because it was a topic of conversation on a popular local radio station this morning - they mentioned techy wedding "trends" that I have never even fathomed being used, and it really got me thinking! What about that other side? Some up and coming trends, according to the talk show:

1. QR codes

First off, I had no freaking idea what they were talking about when they brought this up. In case you don't either, it's this:

Basically, you scan this funny looking image using a barcode/QR scanner app on your smartphone, which will then bring you to the website or information that it is attached to. As for the QR code above.. I made it in a snap using an online generator, and it links right to my Weddingbee blog! Pretty cool, right?!

As for how this relates to weddings, apparently some people are using this QR code idea to have guests RSVP as opposed to sending back a reply card; why use more paper and pay for stamps if they can just scan and RSVP? It's basically an updated (and possibly more confusing?) way of responding online.

Another way people are using these codes is to link directly to their online registries. Part of me thinks this is super neat, but part of me also wonders why you can't just write down a web address. I'm torn - what are your thoughts?

2. Next up is using Twitter for several different reasons. The first is to spread the word to guests and have them track the wedding day and try and get it trending - say, if someone takes a picture and posts it, they can simply add #foxywedding to the tweet. I've actually seen this done, and it is kind of cool; you just have to search #foxywedding later and see a whole assortment of different viewpoints of your big day! On the other hand, people may get a bit too obsessed and end up paying more attention to their phones than to the wonderful event happening around them.

The other way people are starting to use Twitter has to do with trending again, but more so to "earn" an invite. They need to complete tasks, tweet about the wedding, ideas, etc, in order to make it on to the guest list. I'm not sure exactly how this works or who is even doing it, but it all sounds a bit too My Super Sweet Sixteen for my taste. But hey, to each their own. It's definitely different!

Please understand that I'm just reiterating what I heard on the radio, and figured it must be a good conversation starter if it was a featured story. So I'm curious.. what do you think of all this? Are you using the QR codes or Twitter trends? Or are you sticking to a more tech-free wedding?

Weekend fun & the best. gifts. ever.

This past weekend was brideslady M's bridal shower. Now, this is a girl who loves to plan, loves to have control, and is not usually one for surprises.. but against all odds, she was actually surprised at this!! Go us.

This was clearly after some gifts (and some drinks).

It was held at a winery (awesome) with lots of good eats, fun presents, and draaanks.

Me with my MOH Blondie

She got tons of amazing gifts, a lot of which made me so excited for my own shower.. who thought I would ever be jealous of a cake stand?

Best part? She seemed to really love my little DIY monogram!

As for the other gift I got her (along with MOH Blondie).. well, I thought it was the (second) best. gift. ever. I got the inspiration from a gift that Mrs. Panther got at her shower...

...which was a wedding day emergency kit!! Included were items such as clear nail polish, Advil, lip balm, eye drops, oil blotting sheets, mouthwash, travel toothbrushes, gum, Tums, hand lotion, tissues, hairspray, bobby pins, a compact mirror, M&M's, a mini sewing kit, a notepad, pens, and a little bottle or liquor (among other things). Note to others who want to make this: include feminine products! We totally forgot this. :(  As shown, we also decided to spruce it up a bit with a super cute Vera Bradley travel makeup organizer (which I'm totally jealous of and totally want now, btdubs).

*So* cute. And she really seemed to love it, which is even better!!

Oh, and the other best part of the shower? Making and winning the TP dress contest.

MOH Blondie, Sam, me, and Suzanne (an old ballet teacher of ours)

I attribute our win to the fact that we are all dancers and have lots of experience with costumes. Either way, total win = fame and fortune. Or two candles. I'll take it!

So all in all, it was a wonderful surprise shower for M and a total blast being able to see her and some other college friends I haven't seen in ages. It also got me super pumped for my own shower!

What was your favorite non-registry shower gift you received? Or were you all registry all the way?