Oh Me, Oh My, Guest List DR-AMA...

Many a Bride before me has written on this very same topic....the Guest List (dum, dum, dum.....). Yeah, it can be a source of stress, a source of worry, a source of guilt and a source of many other unpleasant things. 

It's difficult and it's tricky, and I've been THINKING about writing this post for about 3 months now! Anyone that has dealt with this dilemma, I'm sure, has turned to the etiquette experts for advice....and they all say basically the same thing.  Invite those closest to you and who you want want to look back at wedding pictures and be glad they were there. Don't invite people out of a sense of obligation. Only invite people that you can see yourself being good friends with 10 years down the road. Don't feel obligated to invite your entire office...only invite those that you socialize with outside of work. 

...All sound advice. But slicing and dicing your guest list isn't quite as easy as it sounds!

Mark and I started our wedding planning with a projected guest list of 150. We thought that we could encompass all close family members (i.e. immediate family as well as Aunts, Uncles and first cousins) as well as our friends and their guests (families or significant others). Well, it's hard. It's SUPER HARD! I guess it doesn't help that we have large families. My Dad is one of 6 children and his Mom is one of 7 children. That equals to lots of Aunts and Uncles and lots and LOTS of first cousins. We've limited our Parent's friends to only the bare minimum and we've limited our friend's Parents (those that we grew up part-time at their houses) to the bare minimums. AND we're STILL over! Certainly over 150 and we're pushing toward our maximum - 175 in attendance. You see, our venue only allows for 175 people - period, which definitely restricts our guest list.

This is such a touchy subject because you appreciate SO much that people want to be there with you to share in your joy and celebrate your new life together, but then you have to put that up against getting charged "overages" and additions here and additions there. I mean, this is HARD stuff peeps! 

And here's the other side of it...I'm not one of those brides that wants to have a HUGE wedding *just* to have a HUGE wedding...you know? I don't NEED for every single person I know to see me in a wedding dress to make my wedding everything I've ever wanted. I have everything I've ever wanted....a love that is so unconditional and so real that I didn't even think something like that could exist here in this life. So I certainly don't want just "filler" wedding guests...you know, that person you had to invite b/c you were inviting the rest of their friends, or your third cousin that would "get her feelings hurt" if she weren't invited, or that co-worker that is just going to get wasted on your open bar....I mean yeah, this is a celebration...but it's the most personal, meaningful celebration you could ever have! The union of two people for the rest of their lives! 

So, what's a bride to do? Slice and dice the list until you get to where there is not a single person on there who doesn't know and love you both genuinely? Or do you protect people's feelings and invite everyone so as to not cause any "drama"? OR...do you try to find a happy medium between the two? Part of me wishes that we could just invite everyone so that no one's feelings get hurt and part of me wants to have the small intimate gathering of friends and family - surrounded by the people who are there to love and support you and your new marriage....just close immediate family and lifelong friends. 

Mark and I are shooting for the happy medium. I sincerely hope we don't offend anyone.

Oh No, Domino!!!

I just heard some sad news that I wanted to share with everyone...Domino Magazine is closing it's doors after the March 09 issue! :(

Story here. 

I love this magazine! It's been my inspiration for the entire decor of my house and even

 wedding inspiration. The Aqua/Red color palette that I was so in love with (before I booked our venue and decided those colors wouldn't work in a historic mansion) came from a room design in their magazine. The pages of beautiful design decor is what I aspire to...and they're closing. Who is going to replace this amazing magazine?!? Maybe I'm being a 

little dramatic, but it's a sad, sad day in the interior design world.  Oh Domino, say it ain't so....

Okay, one more...

As soon as I made that last post, I decided to do a couple more searches for bouquets....and I cam across this one...

Isn't it beautiful? Soft, romantic, lush and garden-like...sounds pretty perfect!

I also found these on the same website:

I think they'd be pretty as bridesmaid bouquets...but obviously in a different color for our wedding...maybe replacing those pinks with purples. I do love the greenery in these though. 

all images in this post are from the Nancy Liu Chin website.

Flower Power

I love flowers. ...it's true! Always have, always will. And yes, I even love planting flowers :)

This post is all about the flowers. 

Bridesmaids Bouquets:

Centerpieces:

Bride's Bouquets:

Groom's Boutonnieres:

I unfortunately do not have credits for all of these pictures...I've been collecting these pictures for probably CLOSE to a year now! (wowza!) Most of the colors are pretty much what we would use for the wedding (because that's what i was looking for) BUT obviously, some of the flowers are not the right color - in those cases we'd have to switch the colors but i included them because i like the shape and composition of them. 

So, what do you guys think?? Which are your favorites? 

Even Steven

So, you've seen my purple shoes (that I LOVE!)...well I'm not going to be the only one tossing a little color into my wedding day attire. Mark and I just bought these socks for him and his groomsmen:

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...that's right...purple argyle socks! I've been looking for these for months...MONTHS! We were close to buying some online from Barney's back in November, but the stock ended up getting too low and we couldn't get the full quantity we needed. ho-hum... So, nearly every store we ever go in that sells men's socks, we've looked to see if they have purple argyle ones. In addition to that, I also do random searches online looking for them. Well, tonight was our lucky night! I found them through the ShopStyle website (which I love, btw...you can find nearly anything through there!) at Express for Men. 

So there ya have it! Now we get to take cute pictures like these:

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YAY!! :) ...check that one off the list!

Cake Walk

Remember those? I used to love the cake walks they would have at the school fair. Those were so much fun...and SO rewarding! Have I mentioned that I love cake? Cause I do....corner slice with lots of icing, please!

So next week Mark and I are suppose to have our cake tasting as well as picking out what we want for our cake. So do you know what that means?? I need help deciding! Over the past several months I've been collecting pictures of cakes that I like. I figure I'll post them all here and you can tell me which one is your favorite! Sound like a plan?!? Well here we go....

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So, as you can tell...I'm looking for a damask-like design. I'm thinking probably 4 layers. And obviously, we would change the colors on any of these cakes to match our color scheme and add flowers as a cake topper.  So, what do you guys think? Which is your favorite? Suggestions for colors on your favorite? How about flowers? ..would you add them? ...where and what color?Remember, our colors are b/w damask, deep aubergine purple and pale aqua blue. 

*Also, I apologize, but because I collected these images over the span of SEVERAL months, I no longer have the websites where I got them from. So, if one of these is your image then let me know and I'll credit you for it* Thanks!

Etsy Alchemy

Alchemy - 

1. a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metal into gold, the discovery of a universal cure of disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life

2. a power or process of transforming something common into something special

3. an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting

Etsy has a particular section of their shop that is devoted to custom pieces. If a buyer would like purchase a specific custom item then they can submit their request along with example pictures, description, ideal price and even materials. Sellers then review the listing and place a "bid" if they are interested in creating the item. They list any additional information as well as estimated cost and estimated completion date.  They call this section of their site "Alchemy"...I'm thinking it's because of part "2" of the definition. 

Um....how awesome is that?!? And how did I not know about this until now?? Miss Powder Puff on Weddingbee posted about using this service through Etsy and that's what started me on my Alchemy journey. I instantly created a listing request for wedding invitations specifying what I'm looking for, along with picture examples...of course ;) And guess what?? I've already gotten back over 10 responses...and I only posted about an hour and a half ago!! Can you believe that?!? I'm so excited to see what kind of bids I get back and hopefully one of the seller's designs match what I'm looking for...at the price I'm looking for! 

Fingers Crossed :)

Invitation Envy

This is one of the most beautiful invitation sets I have ever seen:

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I might have mentioned before that I love damask. :) I do! I can't help it! Another thing that I love ALMOST as much as damask is chandeliers. They're so beautiful and intricate and classic....plus they sparkle, and who can resist that?!? Taking it a step further, I even love the image of a chandelier...just it's curve and detail and the pure elegance of the image. So yeah, this invitation set combines two of my loves....and one of my not so much love, the price tag! ;) I'm honestly not sure what this invitation set would cost, but I am sure that it's out of my budget! The pocket for the invitation is a laser cut damask pattern. How cool (and unique) is that?!? I also just love the particular damask pattern that is used (there's lots of variations of this pattern out there) and I love it's printed in a silver foil on the dark paper. I also adore how they used different colors, but tied everything together. That's also a favorite thing of mine (as witnessed by the bridesmaids dresses)...to have things coordinate, but not match exactly. The font used on the actual wedding invitation is gorgeous as well. Very elegant and classic. That's what I'm going for....elegant, beautiful, romantic, classic, vintage with subtle modern twists. This invitation basically sums all of those up into one. 

Here's a couple more detailed shots to oohh and ahhh over...

This invitation suite was created by Lisa Hoffman of Ceci New York. 

Now...how do I translate this into something that is cost effective and feasible?!? And who do I get to do that? Or do I venture out and try to do it myself? OR...do I buy a simple invitation and jazz it up? AH! I don't know!! Help??