With this Ring!

Today J. and I hit a major milestone. We put our deposit down on our wedding rings! But finding and deciding on the right ones was not as easy as it sounds. The good news is that there is a lot of selection out there in every price point. The bad news is that there is a lot of selection out there in every price point. Aayayay too many choices!

You probably feel really sorry for us, huh?

We started by looking at the local mall just to get a sense of the market and what is out there. We found some nice looking contenders for me at reasonable prices. For example, a simple white gold band its not at all costly, but its simplicity is quite pretty- and I could wear it riding horses.

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We tried some other more sparkly bands for me, but none were quire right, as pretty as they were. So instead of spinning too many wheels on my ring, we moved on to John's ring. At first, J. found that he was drawn to hammered styles, about 6mm thick.

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After doing some research, we found a great many affordable hammered rings on etsy for very reasonable prices. We almost settled on one of them. But not being able to try things in advance made us both a little nervous- what if the fit was off? What if it felt uncomfortable to wear? What if that .00001% chance applied to us and our etsy seller turned out to be a riper-offer? Irrational fear, I know, but still.

So we went back to the jeweler who made the engagement ring and talked to our friend Kiki, our salesperson. After telling her our likes and dislikes (and our budget), we looked at some options and came up with a perfect plan.

J. chose a matte white gold ring because although the hammered styles were gorgeous, this felt more classic, and not likely to go out of style. Plus, J. felt it was comfortable, which was key.

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And after all my debate, I decided on a ring to match my engagement ring. It has some pretty filigree work in the profile and pave diamonds with milgrain trim on the band. Since my engagement ring has a pear center stone, we decided on a wrap-around band, so that my engagement ring will sit flush with my wedding band. At first, I wasn't sure about not being able to wear it when riding horses, etc., but J. and I talked about it and I realized, it doesn't make me any less married if I forgo wearing it while riding.

This ring from Tacori, is a lot like the one I'll have, with some small variations (my bling will only cover half the band, and will curve to "hug" my center stone).


And this is what I'll be wearing it with!
Photo by Jessica Morrisy

Both wedding bands will be engraved with a personal sentiment too. I can't wait to see how they turn out! Now I just need to find the perfect ring pillow, obviously!

Do you ever change your mind a few times before big purchases?

A Way To Say Thanks

I know I know, nothing is less necessary than wedding favors. And often in lieu of favors, couples will make a donation to charity instead. I love this idea, and we're going to make a charitable donation, probably to a charity my brother helped start with his college pals called Resolve Uganda (formerly Uganda CAN), an organization whose aim is to achieve peace in war torn Uganda , to promote a better standard of living and human dignity for those who live there.

But I'm a crafty gal and I couldn't not do favors. So I'm making favors for each of our guests to take home. A small way for J. and I to say "thank you" to all those who've gone to such great lengths to join us!

I like to cook, and J. likes to eat what I cook, so the idea of incorporating a food theme made sense to us. And what food says "holidays" better than a Christmas cookie? The idea of gifting cookie cutters was born, and off I went to do the usual research. While copper cookie cutters are expensive and lovely, I found you can get equally cute tin cookie cutters for a fraction of the cost. So order I did! In four styles: a gingerbread man, a tree, a mitten, and a snowflake.



By ordering four styles, hopefully everyone will get to take home one they like- and couples won't have to take home an identical favor. I was pleased with the look of them and J. was pleased I'd stayed on-budget! Score!

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Still, something was missing. I could not just smack these on the tables and expect people to understand that they were favors. So when I found these adorable miniature blown glass ornaments on sale at Pottery Barn (originally intended as vase filler) I snapped up as many as I could!

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These ornaments will be tied to the cookie cutters before I chuck them into my cheap bags that don't look cheap, with some green tissue, and a gold foil circle with our monogram embossed on the front (oh yeah, I have a great embosser, and I'll tell you all about it one of these days).

Oh but I still did not stop there. How can you give out cookie cutters and not also give out a recipe for cookies? Clearly I needed to find a good way to make recipe cards on the cheap. VistaPrint postcards to the rescue! I made these using a recipe I found on the food network, leaving the back of the postcard (the part where the message and address normally go) entirely blank. J. and I will hand write a short "thank you" on the back of each before we bag these with the cookie cutters.


Our recipe card, made on VistaPrint...(please excuse my sad excuse for a redaction- I'm still learning).


I hope the guests like these. I know J. and I do!

Are you giving out favors for your wedding?

The Giving Tree

Have you ever read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein? Such a simple story of friendship and connection, it remains one of my all-time favorites. As 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding has quite cleverly noted, it would make a great gift for those who help with your wedding. So when I saw these save-the-dates I literally almost fell off my chair.

Cute, right?! And you can make these for FREE! Check out the instructions at Merriment Design here!

This got me thinking. Could you make this a wedding theme?? I think you could!

Tree favors





Wedding programs from seeded paper





Wouldn't this family tree from Red Envelope be a great gift... or guest book?





You could even decorate the cake with the Magical Marzipan Forest Cake Kit from Wendy Kromer!

A custom tree embosser from Wilshire Graphic Press would be a great touch on envelopes.

And you didn't really think I was going to miss the chance to feature a botanically inspired gown did you? This one is by Melissa Sweet, and sweet it is!

Would you use a theme like this for your wedding?

Outfitting the Men

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When J. and I first started planning our wedding, we envisioned a not-too-formal affair, maybe a destination wedding, something that would allow us to avoid renting tuxedos. Not that we dislike tuxes, we do like them! But ill-fitted tuxedos are bad news bears, and sadly, all too prevalent in our worlds.



Soon it became apparent, however, that our informal, backyard vision was not going to happen. Rather, we settled on a Holiday wedding in December. Our vision of an intimate chapel turned out not available to us, so we went with a stunning larger church who could accommodate our group. And the colors we chose, moss green and gold, were more gatsby than casual.



We reconsidered the tuxes. After all, both my FSIL and my good friend H. had found some seriously good looking tuxes for their weddings. The photos were lovely, and I'd never even thought about the fact that the tuxes had been rented- this was a good sign!



I got online and began fiddling with the Men's Warehouse website. Did you know MW has a free tool where you can select up to six types of fabric swatches (for the vests) and they will send them to you in the mail? Sounds good right? Except when you get them in the mail, they are not fabric at all- they send you a piece of paper with the computer images printed on the paper. I was not impressed.



But we didn't want to rule out MW yet, since they seem to be located everywhere, and our bridal party is basically also located everywhere. To be responsible, J. and I went and visited our local MW. Although we were surrounded by cheesy marketing, and although 90% of their tuxes were not exactly our taste, we did end up finding a nice looking tux that J. looked great in. And we were treated well by the employee who helped us. She was extremely patient and good-natured and I appreciated that she let me pour over all of the fabrics and samples repeatedly, without pressuring us for a choice!

The tuxes our guys will be rocking, sans all the pink...

While MW did not have a huge selection of vests to choose from, we got really lucky because they make a vest in a color called Fern, which looks very olive here but was more moss in real life. It was a solid choice, and the fabric was of surprisingly good quality (and here I'd been expecting them to feel like umbrella fabric)!

The vests!

J. will be wearing the same pattern vest in ivory, and I think he's going to look great! Of course, the proof will be in the pudding and we won't know for sure until we get them, but I think the moral of the story is that even brides like me who want to avoid stereotypical wedding vendors, sometimes have to cave. And sometimes its worth it!



And PS- MW gives the groom his tux for free if five groomsmen rent there. Pretty good incentive if you ask me.



Were you surprised by any of your wedding decisions?

"Surviving" the Big Day

I can't resist posting about this little gem that seems to have made its way around the blogs a million times, but never stops being cute. The bridesmaid's survival kit. What a great way to gift your girls some essentials to get them through a lot of primping, then a lot of smiling, followed by a lot of revelry! I feel like these tap into that little girl part of us that still likes goodie bags- don't act like you don't know- its the same part of us that sends us off to the makeup counters for bonus time, whether we need something or not! What a fun, simple pleasure!

$18 from Mr. & Mrs.

I really wanted to do this for my ladies, but I have ten bridesmaids and I wanted to get them more than one gift. And while there are many vendors out there with super-cute ideas, all of the options I found were just a little too pricey. Fortunately, 100 Layer Cake posted this great tutorial (complete with freebie template!) for how to make your own survival kits at home. How fun are these?

Obviously I'm not going to give out the deets for what mine look like or what's in them (I don't want to spill the beans if one of them happens to read this post) but suffice it to say, I'm having a good time with this one. *grin*



Do you think this would be a good gift for someone in your bridal party?

Cheap Gift Bags That Don't Look Cheap

Yeah you read that correctly. I've been searching and searching for affordable gift bags that don't look cheap, for a project I'll share later. So I was thrilled when I found these great bags at Dunwoody Booth. For $56, you can get 100 little white bags, perfect for favors, bridal party gifts, thank you's-- and they look universal enough that you can re-use extras with colored tissue paper after the wedding.

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If you sign up for their free "preferred program" you can save 5% off your purchase too. Not to mention a quick google search will find you various coupon codes you can use.



Best of all, they are offering a gift with $100 purchase right now, 200 of these vintage botanical stickers. It is my new goal in life to figure out how to use these... they don't go with my wedding but I've got so many ideas for how to use them in my head. Like, on extra white bags, for bridal shower gifts perhaps? On care packages for my grandma? Recipe cards maybe? Hmmm...

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Have you scored any good wedding deals lately?

Shoes, Glorious Shoes

Most women like shoes. Indeed, most of us love shoes. Iconic beauties like Carrie Bradshaw's "Something Blue" Manolo's have haunted my dreams ever since I saw the Sex and the City movie. And oh what pleasant dreams they were!

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But not everyone can afford to, or wishes to, shell out the $945 for a shoe that isn't quite practical. I know people who believe that if you're going to spend that much on shoes, they'd better be able to make you dinner.

But don't lose heart ladies! There are workarounds! Dyeable shoes are making a comeback, and these are not your 1980's matchy-matchies. Lela Rose recently designed a line of very reasonable, dyeable shoes for Payless and from what I hear, they're actually pretty comfy. And if you want to spend more than $25 but less than $945, My Glass Slipper has a great selection of dyeables from Kate Spade, Badgley Mischka, Cole Haan, and more, for price points in the $200-300 range.

At $25 from Payless these would look great in blue!

If I thought I could actually walk in these Badgley Mischka's, I'd have bought them already! ($215)

So let's say you love the idea of a wedding-shoe splurge but you want to make sure your shoes are re-wearable. One thing you might want to consider is adding shoe clips to your wedding attire. And I'm not talking about the clip on bows we all used to throw on our mary-janes when we were kids. Oh no, today you can find the most lovely shoe clips, vintage and new, studded with rhinestones, feathers, fabrics and more. I'll save my own shoes for another posting, but suffice it to say, a great pair of vintage shoes, and a great pair of art deco shoe clips can be restored by the experts more easily than you think, and for less than you'd expect!

$85 for silver and marcasite on ebay

$20 baguettes from Simple Elegance

$25 pearly bling from Shoeworthy

If you happen to have a pair of clip-on earrings that you love, I bet you could incorporate them the same way. My grandmother used to wear clip-ons because she thought ear-piercing was "barbaric." I never quite understood why it was ok to look like you had barbarically pierced your ears, so long as you didn't actually do so (but I digress). A great pair of costume jewelery earrings might be just the right thing for a cute pair of shoes!

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What kind of shoes will you wear for your wedding?