Eco-Vintage Weddings

Our Wedding: Wedding Shoes – Part II!

Remember my lamentations about wedding shoes? Well, I think I’ve found a swoon-worthy alternative for trendy sky-high shoes:  Etsy seller OxfordHeaven!

OxfordHeaven crafts fun refashioned & vintage shoes & accessories for your closet. From Rachael, the brains behind OxfordHeaven:  I always think it is unfair that little girls have amazingly fun little shoes, so grown-up girls need something pretty in their lives, too.

I’ve already requested my custom pair of shoes – low heels/wedges in a sunshine yellow color! I can’t wait to work with Rachael on customizing my wedding shoes.

Check out more delightful beauties on OxfordHeaven’s Flickr page!

[All photos courtesy of OxfordHeaven on Etsy]

Our Wedding: Bouquet Inspiration!

I’ve started to focus a little more on wedding flowers within the past week, and I’ve decided that I would like to use real flowers for my bouquet. After making this inspiration board (below), I’m even more excited about my bouquet!

Aren’t these flowers beautiful?! But with no flower market in sight here in Sioux Falls (apart from the farmer’s market, where we might try to get flowers for my bridesmaids), I think it might be best if I bring this inspiration board to a local florist to explain what I’m looking for in my bouquet. Maybe it will be possible for us to pick up loose flowers a day or so before our wedding, and for me and my mother to try to arrange them ourselves?

I am looking forward to starting this process!

[Inspiration board made via Style Me Pretty's Style Circle]

Showcase Wednesday: Wedding & Love Advice from my Mom!

Happy Wednesday, readers! Two weeks ago, my parents unearthed from storage their wedding photos from 30 years ago (!!). While I’ve seen these photos a few times in my life before recently, this was the first time I saw these photos since embarking on my own wedding planning.

My mother looked beautiful in her long organza gown, complete with a full circle skirt and a stand-up split neckline. The whole gown was trimmed with Chantilly lace. The dress was only the second gown that she tried on! Instead of a veil, my mother wore instead a lace-embellished hat with a wide brim. My father wore a white tuxedo – he looked sharp (and he looked SO MUCH like my brother!).

Along with the wedding pictures was a memory book that my mother kept while planning their wedding. Covering everything from bridal showers to their first home, each page is bursting with memories. I had never seen this book until recently, so it was such a treat for me to read through and imagine how excited my parents must have been to marry each other.

While the memory book is full of gift lists and guest book signatures, I took away a few life lessons that I thought I’d share with all of you:

-          Remember that the wedding is only one day in your lives, and act accordingly. My parents were high school sweethearts that married at 19 and 21 years old, so they had a modest wedding. My mother found her wedding dress at a local department store, and she split the cost of it with her father, my grandfather. My father, who was leaving for basic training for the Army, proposed to my mother with a diamond less than one month before he left. Throughout the memory book, I could feel my mother’s excitement – “Went to the church around 5:00 p.m. to get dressed. Forgot everything – my tote bag and my clothes for the next day! Where was my mind?!” Just before the wedding, my mother wrote this: “Time for the wedding; pretty soon my dream would come true!!” My parents served their guests cake, roast buns, mints, nuts, coffee and punch. Instead of embarking on a honeymoon cruise or a week-long vacation to Mexico, my parents moved to Colorado, where my father was stationed with the Army.

In reading her memory book, my mother has reminded me time and time again that all that matters is that Jordan and I end up married at the end of the day. The details of the day (like the wedding dress, the food, and the decorations) are literally just icing on the cake.

-          The wedding day may feel like living a dream, but day-to-day marriage is real life. One of my favorite parts of this memory book is the space where my mother wrote a letter to my father. While she admits that she should have written this letter shortly after their wedding, my mother instead wrote it two weeks before their 4^th wedding anniversary. In her letter, my mother talked about moving to Colorado and what an adventure their first year of marriage was (“the first year was so terrific – but more of a dream than reality”). My mother then talked about how difficult the second and third years of their marriage were, since my father was stationed in Germany during that time. My mother wrote, “We lived through it – and the meaning of trust and faithfulness took on a new light for us.”

Reading these words, and hearing my father tell stories of his life in Germany and my mother’s memories of her life in Colorado, only further illustrates the struggles that come along with marriage. But instead of lamenting that life wasn’t like their wedding day, my mother wrote about how their struggles made their marriage stronger. I can only hope that when I think back to the struggles that Jordan and I will encounter in our marriage that I have that outlook five, ten, twenty years from now.

Happy Wednesday!

Green Friday: Feature & The DIY Bridal Files

Hello readers! Thank you all for your wonderful comments about our DIY Bingo Card Save the Dates; we’re so proud of them, and we’re so excited that you all love them just as much as we do!

Today isn’t so much a “Green Friday;” it’s more like a “Budget-Friendly Friday!” The girls over at DIY Bridal Files were kind enough to feature our Save the Date cards on their blog, so I wanted to show them a little love by introducing my readers to the sheer loveliness over at DIY Bridal Files.

Look for these girls to post twice per day on DIY goodness found all over the blogosphere! From Daily DIY projects to free printables, DIY Bridal Files is a one-stop shop for any DIY, budget-conscious bride.

Big thanks to the girls over at DIY Bridal Files for their feature! Go show them some love, readers – check out DIY Bridal Files here!

Have a blissful weekend!

Our Wedding: Wedding Shoes!

Good morning, readers! Exciting news: I was notified over the weekend that my beautiful Alfred Angelo gown has officially arrived at Happily Ever After, a bridal salon in Sioux City where I purchased my dress! I cannot WAIT to go try it on; I’m anxious to see it! It’s absolutely crazy to know that MY wedding dress is waiting for me … what a reality check – I cannot wait to be married!

But, my wedding dress has me thinking about another part of my wedding day attire … my shoes!

I am absolutely loving the trend that’s currently making brides everywhere swoon – colored shoes under your white/ivory gown!

Here’s a few examples, for you brides looking for a splash of color under your dress (all via Google images):

Aren’t those shoes absolutely adorable!?

Well, with my lovely fiance being just a tad shorter than me, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable standing like a skyscraper beside him in these sky-high heels. So, I’ve been looking for alternative options, including kitten heels, flats and gladiator-type sandals!

However, I came across these lovely Seychelles shoes last week, and my heart pitter-pattered … shoes in our color scheme? I never would’ve thought I’d be able to find shoes like this! But, since the heels on these cuties are 3.5 inches … it may be a better idea for me to purchase lower-height, peep-toe dyeable shoes from a local bridal salon and have them dyed yellow or grey. Hmm … so many options!

What style of shoes will you be wearing on your wedding day? What do you think of the colored shoes trend?

Showcase Wednesday: Our (Finished) Save the Dates!

Happy Wednesday, readers! I always love it when the middle of the week arrives … it means we’re all closer to the weekend, which means that I’m closer to seeing Jordan! We’re living and working in separate cities right now, so I’m always grateful whenever Jordan comes home on the weekend.

Today I am pleased to bring you the fruits of our labor – our DIY bingo-inspired Save the Date cards!

Aren’t they cute!?

Jordan and I worked closely together on these cards, which proved to be a valuable lesson in Marriage 101: Patience is an absolutely necessary part of taking on any project, from DIY stationery to life itself.

As you may recall from this post, crafting the bingo card design came easily. It was the steps thereafter that proved to be more of a challenge.

First was the question of how to design the wrap-around vellum band. Jordan and I began concepting an asymmetrical design, but we quickly decided that we wanted to mirror the symmetry of the bingo card design on the vellum band. So, after a few long hours full of meticulous edits, we finally came to a consensus – we loved the design featuring our engagement pictures, courtesy of Creative Kindling!

After finalizing the design, I set out to find yellow vellum paper. Well, yellow vellum paper wasn’t in my future, I soon found out, which actually ended up for the better; my resourceful mother took a yellow crayon and colored on top of the clear vellum paper we found, and when she placed the vellum over the bingo card, it looked HIDEOUS! I feel very fortunate that I didn’t waste any money on yellow vellum paper.

Once the bingo cards and the vellum wraps were printed and trimmed, I spent one evening seated at my kitchen table with my Mom and two of my best gal pals (my maid of honor Kristen and my bridesmaid Serena), and we folded and glued, folded and glued. Kristen, whose super-fun handwriting is making its debut on the envelopes holding these Save the Date lovelies, spent a good portion of the evening addressing envelopes for us.

Here’s a glimpse of the front of the card:

There were two final parts to the design, the first of which is one of my favorites. The vellum paper wrapped around the back of the bingo card design, and where the two edges of the vellum paper met, my bridesmaid and gluer-extraordinaire Serena attached a button.

One note about the buttons, however:  I didn’t know this prior to crafting our Save the Date cards, but the buttons cost us an extra $0.20 cents each in postage, since they needed to be hand-stamped instead of running through a postage machine. I’m sure glad that none of our other stationery projects will utilize buttons, but at the same time, I love this feature on our Save the Date cards.

The second (and final) design element involved stamping a circle shape around the “July 17″ square on the front of the bingo card. While this should have been one of the easiest parts of the entire process, the company from which we ordered the stamp happened to be experiencing a high order volume, which therefore delayed the order significantly. However, all was well in the end, as the stamp arrived just in the knick of time!

Overall, I’m more than satisfied with our Save the Date cards. I would like to make one recommendation for you readers:  when Jordan and I were stuffing and sealing the envelopes that I had lined with decorative paper, we had trouble securing a proper seal, due to the fact that the decorative paper had covered up the waxy seal (the part of an envelope that you lick to seal it shut). So, we stuck a piece of double-stick tape to secure the envelope shut, and added a sticker seal on top of that. In the future, I will try to be more creative when lining envelopes, so that I don’t cover up the waxy seal.

I estimate the total cost of this project, including postage, to be right around $60.00. Most of the cost stems from purchasing the vellum paper.

What do you think of our Save the Date cards?

Guest Post: Planning the Proposal

Hello readers! My lovely fiance asked me recently when he could write a guest post on the blog (truthfully, I was SO excited that he wanted to write, I said, “Uh, how about now?!”). So, I’d love to introduce you to my dear almost-husband, Jordan – he’s going to tell you all about planning the proposal, from a groom’s perspective:

It was very early after Sara and I met that I knew that I would one day marry her. However, Sara and I took a lot of time falling in love, so it took about two and a half years before I realized that my dreams would come really come true. And reader, she was worth the wait.

I really had some plans to go really out of this world, blow her mind, and make anyone who can listen jealous (Sara requested that I don’t even tell her, so that she won’t be let down, so I won’t mention it here, but what I ended up with was leagues better in the creative and caring department that she should know that she’s ahead.). (Sara’s Note: Reader, he told me one of his ideas once upon a time - all I’ll say is that it involved PENGUINS, my favorite animal ever…but honestly, he wowed me with his actual proposal. WOWED ME. Read on…)

Well money and timing issues, among other things, got in the way of my grand plan, so I went back to the drawing board. Sara had told me that I needed to ask her Dad for permission, so I went along with setting up that meeting, and he gave me his blessing.

I had asked my parents for ideas on how to propose, and they had some great suggestions. I also asked my friends who did their own proposals and kind of got a mixed bag. However, one proposal did stick out, which was my buddy’s and groomsman’s Eric Depue. So, I borrowed his proposal plan to construct the overall structure of my plan.

My plan was to send Sara on a scavenger hunt around Sioux Falls, where we live. I would first send flowers to her office, with a card containing her first clue. I then planned to leave gifts at each stop on her journey, along with cards holding clues as to where she should go next. At the final stop, I would get down on one knee and propose.

Having the plan in hand, and the permission to go through with it, the hardest part came in planning and pulling off the whole ordeal. For my plan, I had to come up with a list of Sara’s favorite things and/or meaningful things we’d shared or experienced in our relationship. Luckily this list was pretty easy to put together, and the next plan came from mapping out the stores I would have Sara visit as she got her gifts from store to store. This was the hard part. I had to first find the right stores, and then make sure they had the right product, or something similar at least. Then I had to make sure I could trust some random employee to be working late enough for Sara to find them. Yeah…it was hard. [A special note:  I wrote special cards explaining the reasoning behind purchasing each gift and how much I loved her. This also became a tough task, as I had to rewrite two of them because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, and had to act on my toes to find the perfect gift for the occasion. But she said yes, so I think I nailed it.]

But by the hands of God, the plan could not have gone more perfectly. She received flowers at her office right on time. She then traveled to get her gifts from Barnes & Noble, to HyVee grocery store, to Triple Play Sports cards (a baseball card shop here in town), and then to Best Buy. The final clue then instructed Sara to trek out the waterfalls of Sioux Falls where she found me and walked (through misty rain) toward me. I said some sweet things that I’m certain she paid little attention to, I asked, she said yes, and we’re now happily engaged for 6 months, and have 5 months until we will be married!

The engagement took tons of special care, time, and thought, but I loved every second of it, and I would do it all over again. Next time, though, I’ll try for a sunny day.

To read Sara’s version of the proposal story, click here.

[Photo: Creative Kindling]

Our Wedding: Bliss Honeymoons!

From the moment J and I first discussed getting married, we both knew that we wanted a honeymoon where we could A) do things we’ve never done before, and B) relax, relax, relax.

However, since neither J nor I have ever planned such an important trip before, we’ve talked on and off about calling a travel agent to utilize their expertise and services in determining where exactly we should go on our honeymoon.

Enter Dana at The Broke-Ass Bride, who recently posted about one of her blog sponsors, Bliss Honeymoons & Destination Weddings. You could say that the clouds parted and angels could be heard singing in the distance, but that would be a little over the top, now wouldn’t it? Bliss Honeymoons specializes in helping couples determine what exactly they are looking for in a honeymoon, whether it’s relaxation, adventure, romance or a little bit of all three.

After I read Dana’s post, I immediately emailed J, and we quickly agreed to contact the wonderful travel agents at Bliss to help us plan our honeymoon. One of Bliss’s agents, Laura, contacted us promptly to set up a phone call (since there isn’t a Bliss office in our area) to talk about our ideal honeymoon and our budget.

The best part about Bliss Honeymoons? Because Bliss is a fully licensed travel agency, they are paid by the hotels. This means that couples just like you and me get all the benefits of working with an experienced travel consultant at no extra cost!

I’ll keep you informed as we talk with Laura about our honeymoon – we’re so excited to get started on this process!

NOTE: This post is not sponsored by the above company, individual, service or product line.

[Picture courtesy of Bridal Tweet]

Showcase Wednesday: Bachelorette Party Invites!

Happy Wednesday, readers! It’s finally the middle of the week. I’ve been battling sickness early this week, but am feeling a bit better today.

I wanted to share with you the invitations I created for my bachelorette party that’s coming up this June. I know, I know, it’s usually the job of the women throwing the party to make the invitations, but A) I know how absolutely busy my girls are, and B) I love being crafty! Planning this wedding has done wonders for me in terms of providing a creative outlet, so I couldn’t resist just one more project.

My ideal bachelorette party is a good old-fashioned slumber party! I want to play Mall Madness, test my luck with a Ouija board, and put on make-up, paint my nails and style my hair. I want to play Truth or Dare, talk about boys, eat pizza and drink wine. Sounds fun, doesn’t it!?

So, in the spirit of all things slumber party, I crafted these little “sleeping bags” out of double-sided decorative paper and glue.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Double-sided paper (I used paper that I purchased from Hobby Lobby)
Cardboard for a pattern (I again used the back of a notebook)
A6 envelopes (or any size)
Glue sticks
Bone folder (optional)

Steps:

1. Cut a pattern that is twice the width of your desired width. It’s important to approximate two times the width you need, because to achieve the sleeping bag look, you’ll later fold the paper in half. To identify the size, I measured the width of the A6 envelope and decided on an approximate size to fit inside the envelope. I cut my pattern to 8.25 inches long by 7 inches wide.

2. Hold the pattern up to one sheet of decorative paper and cut around it with scissors.

3. Fold the decorative paper in half.

4. To make the sleeping bag appear “folded down,” fold a crease into one of the edges. A bone tool works very well to accomplish a crisp fold.

5. Using a glue stick, glue along the bottom edge of the sleeping bag (opposite the folded flap). Also, glue along the unfolded edge of the bag (opposite the fold).

6. Glue under the flap to secure the bottom of the flap to the body of the sleeping bag. Let dry overnight.

7. Stick the pull-0ut invite inside the sleeping bag, and you’re ready to mail your invitations! If you’re using A6 envelopes with the above measurements, the final size of your pull-out invite should be 4.5 inches long by 3 inches wide.

[Photos: All taken by me]

Our Wedding: DIY Projects Update!

Happy Tuesday, readers! I hope today is happy for you – Tuesdays are usually happy for me: any day is better than Monday in my book!

With approximately five months until the wedding, I wanted to give you all a glimpse into what I’ve accomplished these past few weeks. I’ve hit the wedding planning hard, and I’m very proud of what projects I’ve started and finished! Many thanks to my wonderful friends and family for their help, as well as my future husband – I couldn’t do any of this without you!

- I’ve lined envelopes for our Save the Date cards and for the invitations for my bachelorette party (which will most likely be in June).
- I’ve made invitations for my bachelorette party, which I’ll be showcasing for you all tomorrow!
- Our Save the Date cards are nearly complete; I am VERY happy with the finished product, and I can’t wait to show the fruits of our efforts to you all next week!
- We’ve downloaded templates for our rehearsal dinner invitations and for our gift opening invitations; all we need are the details, and they’ll be ready to print!
- I’ve made little “favors” of sorts for our wedding; I’m anxious to show these to you near the end of February!
- We’ve taken profile photos of our entire wedding party, and I’m almost ready to talk with Jordan about what I’m concepting for our wedding ceremony programs.
- I’ve purchased large rectangles of styrofoam, which I will adorn with moss and turn into monograms that will hang by ribbon on the church doors!
- I’ve purchased two large bags of fabric pom poms; I am currently researching making DIY paper cones full of pom poms that our ushers will pass out to guests after our ceremony. I love these little pom poms!
- I purchased my flower fascinator from Etsy, and I can’t wait until it arrives!
- I purchased lace trim to use when making my throw-away garter.
- I’m in the beginning stages of making a few special items for my bridesmaids, including a very exciting purchase of gifts from Etsy! No more for now, can’t take the chance that I’d ruin the surprise!
- I’m in talks with a wonderful Etsy artist about making dresses for our flower girls; I’m a few decisions away from nailing down exactly what we’re looking for!
- My mother and I made a trip to a few area fabric stores last week, and I think we’ve found the fabric that we’ll use to make napkins for our wedding reception. I can’t wait to get this fabric purchased and get started on making these eco-friendly goodies!
- I have added a base coat of cream paint to 15 wooden letter “G’s” (these will be part of our centerpieces); they look great, and I can’t wait to add more treatments to these letters!
- J and I have FINALLY nailed down a design for our wedding invitations; now, all we need to do is add the text to the invitation, and then we can begin working on the supplemental materials for our invitations!

Whew! Looking at this list, I feel SO proud of all of the work we’ve started and finished.

What projects are YOU currently working on for your wedding?