Something Different: A non-floral, floral boutonniere.

I was always intrigued by the idea of non-floral boutonnieres. Something different, interesting, but still fitting with the overall theme you want to achieve. I'd seen some cute things on various wedding blogs...from pinwheels to vintage soda pop buttons, there really is no written law that the men's boutonnieres have to be a simple rose.

Well, our boutonnieres ARE in fact roses, but they're not picked from a Garden. Instead they are dyed pages from a Jane Austen Novel, curled into a perfect little rose shape. I am so excited about these!

A little inspiration!

Although my colors have varied slightly from these, this collection of pictures does a great job of capturing the feeling I am hoping to portray!

Vintage Photobooth Prop Tutorial

I was given the opportunity to spend an hour or two with my good friend Matt, brainstorming how to create the props we want to use for the photobooth at our wedding. We have a vision of a vintage themed photobooth composed of a gorgeous antique frame in front of a nice backdrop, with lots of different hats and props for guests to use at the reception. It's important that our guests have fun! We came up with an INCREDIBLY easy, affordable way to create them and now it's my turn to tell you how :)

Materials needed:
- Cardboard. Quantity is dependent on how many pieces you wish to make.

- Hot Glue Gun

- Razor/Boxcutter

- Pencil

- Spraypaint (Various Colors)

- Wooden BBQ Skewers ($199 for 100 at Pavillions)

As pictured above, prepare your cardboard for cuttage. Please, children, be careful with the sharp and pointy things.

Draw/Trace out the shapes of the props you wish to make. You can freehand them or print out clipart from the internet to use as stencils. Make sure you draw with the lines in the cardboard being vertical - this will be important later.

Carefully use the razor cuttor to cut out what you have drawn. Be careful and make sure you have something underneath so not to scratch/slice the table!

Continue doing this until you have the shapes you desire.

Choose various colors of spraypaint, and coat the props with two or three layers allowing time in between to dry.

After letting the props sit for twenty minutes, turn them over and spray the other side. Also, be sure to get the sides and hard to reach places.

After all of the props are painted and dry, use a hot glue gun to apply a small dap of glue to the pointy end of each BBQ skewer.

Quickly insert the BBQ skewer into the small holes in between the cardboard. Because you drew your props out with the lines in the cardboard going up and down, it should be absolutely no problem to put the skewer in the proper place before it dries.

Old lady glasses and oversized lips.

The classic monopoly man look.

Voldemort shall stand no chance!

This project was super quick, fun, and oh-so-easy. I hope you enjoy! 

Wedding Ring Shopping in Downtown Los Angeles

This past Friday, I ventured out to the Jewelry District in Downtown LA with one of my bridesmaid's Sierra and my good friend from highschool, Justine. We were on a mission: Somewhere in the mass frenzy of gold stores and jewelry exchanges, we were going to find an amazing wedding band for my soon-to-be-hubby for a hopefully not-so-staggering price.
These things we knew about Steven's wedding band preferences:
- He was a size 10
- Prefers a thicker band
- He liked two-tone rings (Yellow gold looked much better on him than white with his skintone....but white gold matched my ring, so Steven had decided on a combination of both.)
- He liked hammered and antique finishes. He ain't a boring guy! ;)

I had previously gone to The Gold Store in Simi Valley to check out the selection. They have been really wonderful about helping us in the past (We got my engagement ring there) and gave us fantastic deals. However, because of the increase in the price of Gold, the absolute lowest they could go on the rings that fit the above description was around $600.  I knew we could do better.

Sierra, Justine, and I went from store to store to store, finding similar rings. Oftentimes the people there offered to make the ring new for us and have it shipped for a kind of/sort of reasonable price....tempting, but having driven all the way out to LA and being surrounded by SO many jewelry stores, we knew we could find the right one and take it away that day.

Sometime around lunch time...we hit the jackpot. A 6.5mm, 14k gold two tone wedding band with a - whoohoo! - hammered finished. I loved it, and I knew Steven would love it too.

The best part? We were able to talk the price down to $350. With the increase in Gold, I know it's an amazing price.

Crappy Webcam photo...amazing ring!

Just outside of the Jewelry District

We spent (500) seconds being awesome here.

Cute alleyway at lunchtime.

Sierra being adorable.

Justine being adorable.

Skyscrapers!

New Invitation Design

At the last minute, I COMPLETELY redesigned the invitations.
They are now 100% different and 7083932982622637390 times more awesome.

And you know what else? The design is a SURPRISE till you lovelies open up your invites in the mail.

But seriously. In my many hours on photoshop, designing and redesigning, I must have created at least four completely different looks. I could put them into a binder, use them as a portfolio, and start charging people money for invitations! I don't think I'll end up actually doing that...but should you be in need of an awesome original design, hit me up before you go to a professional printer. :)

**** DIY PROJECT ANTICIPATION ****

I have completed my first true, non photoshop related DIY project! A vintage inspired monogram cake topper! The entire project cost me $5.12 and three hours of my time. However, photographs of the project were taken on my mom's iPhone, so I am unable to post the tutorial just yet, it's late and I don't feel like rummaging through her purse for her phone. But...be excited, my friends. Be excited!

JOY TO THE WORLD

A note to all future brides: If a vintage wedding is what you're going for...before you go out scouring antique stores for cool artifacts, be sure to check your own home! Going through boxes in my garage I found a box of 30 GORGEOUS lead crystal glasses which we have now decided we will use for our toast. I also found two fabulous champagne flutes that my mom and dad used at their wedding. Wonderful? Yes.

IN ADDITION, we found three amazing tea sets that completely match my wedding colors. How amazing and wonderful and fantastic is that!!! If it is not already apparent, I am very very very excited. :) We also found a big bin of vintage fabric that we're going to use to sew very beautiful cushions for the benches/chairs/planter walls that the guests can sit on.

TUTORIALS TO FOLLOW.

Lead Crystal Glasses

A preivew from the tea sets

Champange flutes!

Steven Wanted a Look For His Groomsmen That Resembled Burn Notice...

Success? I think so. Just saying.