This is kmogilevski's Black Wedding!

We love wine and thought that having guests sign wine bottles is a great idea for the reception. We are going to have two bottles of our favorite wine.

I can't come up with anything clever other than "Sign the WIne Bottles." I need a cute saying, can anyone help?

I have to give credit to Martha Stewart. I don't have a lot of time to do DIY stuff, so in everything that I do, I try to add one special little thing to make it my own. When I was writing Thank You cards for my Bridal Shower, I added the heart stamp to the note.

Heart stamp - all you need is one finger and a stamp pad!

Instructions: take your index finger, press into stamp pad, make a finger print on the paper, press into stamp pad again, make another fingerprint on the paper to create a heart. Do some trials to figure out how to do it. A trick is to place your finger on the paper and then slightly move it down (we're not taking fingerprints here, so by moving it down slightly, the ink fills in). Make sure you wipe your finger after creating the heart.

For the last 6 months, I've been looking on here for ceremony music. We are getting married in a Catholic Church (not having a mass though, just the ceremony), so we can't use secular/popular music. We have to stick with religious/classical music. I love classical music, so the meeting with the Church Music Director went very well. In one hour, we enjoyed him playing the huge organ and decided on all of the ceremony music. I wanted to share for the rest of you Brides who are looking for Catholic Church-appropriate music.

Prelude Music Selections: Selections from "Water Music" - Handel
Seating of the Mothers: Ave Maria - Schubert
Processional - Bridesmaids: Air on the G String - Bach
Processional - Bride: Prince of Denmark’s March - Clarke
Responsorial: Psalm 118: Let Us Rejoice - Haugen
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia - Walker
Unity Candle: Meditation from "Thais" - Massanet
Sign of Peace: Danse Pastorale - Vivaldi (3rd movement from Spring Concerto)
Recessional: Hornpipe (Water Music) - Handel

All of these will be playedon the organ. I do warn you thought that if you download songs and listen to them on a piano or strings, they might sound different. I had some songs picked that just didn't sound good on the organ. Other songs I ruled out sounded awesome on the organ.

Oh my God! I was gladly "warned" that gifts would just start arriving at our doorstep, but I thought to myself that our guests are the type of people to order online and ship gifts. I was wrong! I came back from the gym and saw a HUGE Macy's box on our doorstep. I couldn't believe my eyes! I don't know what is inside because I need to wait for FI to come home so we can open together. I do know that it weighs 4 pounds. My mom thinks it might be bedding.

I will gladly pass on the "warning" to the rest of the brides, gifts WILL start arriving and it will feel just like Christmas. I hope we get more surprises like this in the upcoming months!

Gift: yellow napkins and placemats! They will go perfect with our casual entertaining china (green color).

What a special idea! FI is wearing a new suit to the Rehearsal (see a few posts below) and I plan on making this pocket square love note for him. It sounds simple and quick to make (once I find a pocket square and a quote, lol). I hope I'll be able to sneak it into his pocket without him knowing.

Pocket Square Love Note from OnceWed.com (March 11, 2009):
It's a project the bride should make in secrecy, that will later be discovered by the groom when he's dressing for the wedding. No one else has to know about this. It could be just a secret little loved note passed from bride to groom. Or the note could poke out of the pocket, so some of the message is revealed to others.

What You'll Need
A Pocket Square
Embroidery Floss
Embroidery Needle
Straight Pins
Pencil
Paper
Embroidery Hoop
Scissors
An Iron

Resources
The quote is from The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear: "And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced in the light of the moon."

1. Neatly press your pocket square and fold it to fit in your groom's pocket. I selected the "one corner fold", but there are hundreds of ways to fold a pocket square. (see figure 1)

2. While the pocket square is folded, place a straight pin where you would like to begin stitching your quote. (see figure 1) I chose to have just a tiny bit of the text peaking out of the pocket.

3. Compose a brief note, or decide on a quote to stitch onto your pocket square. Copy it onto a piece of paper, and cut the text into strips. Unfold your pocket square, lay it flat, and use these strips to decide on the placement of your text. ( see figure 2)

4. Once the placement is decided, lightly write your text on the pocket square using a pencil. Block letters are easiest to stitch. (see figure 3)

5. Thread your needle with two strands of embroidery floss and knot at the end. (see figure 4)

6. Place your pocket square in your embroidery hoop and begin stitching over your penciled text using the "backstitch". If you are unfamiliar with the backstitch, click HERE for instructions. (see figure 5)

7. Continue stitching (moving your hoop as needed) until your message is complete. (see fig. 6)

8. Trim all loose threads from the back.

9. Press your pocket square, re-fold, and tuck into your groom's pocket. (see figure 7)

What it Cost:
Pocket Square - $2.99
Embroidery Floss - $.35
Embroidery Hoop - $1.49
Embroidery Needles - $1.49

We mailed our invitations yesterday! That means people are going to start getting them even as early as today. Aghhhhh! This is so exciting!!!

I want to thank Daryl for all of his help with the invitations. It actually did not take long at all to address them (we mailed 58 invitations). We spread the effort over two weekends, but we could have done it all in one weekend. The return address was preprinted on the back and all we had to do is hand write the address on outer and inner envelope and stuff them.

Here is the inspiration board for the rehearsal dinner:

Location: Celestial Stakehouse, Cincinnati, OH (we got engaged here!)
Groom's suit: Express Khaki suit
Bride's dress: Blue silk dress, floor length
Jewelry: Mom's vintage Austrian Crystal drop earrings
Centerpieces: Paper flowers in bud vases, candles
Favors: Russian candy (because I'm Russian)

I would also like to display our engagement pictures so I'm planning on having a small table with picture frames and Russian candy favors.

DIY project #1 - Card Box - has been completed!

Second DIY project has been completed - ring pillow. Once again, I used the fabric left over from my mom's wedding dress to make the pillow, which I stuffed with cotton balls that I pulled apart so they weren't so bulky. I then covered it with doilies crocheted by my great aunt, who passed away a few years ago. (I'm really racking up the "something old" items!) My mom was really touched that I incorporated something my great aunt (her aunt) made a long, long time. I know that my grandma will be even more touched when I send her pictures of it (she is 85 years old and lives in Europe, so there is no way she will be able to make the trip here to attend the wedding).

The rings will be secured using the ends of the ribbon. So you're not wasting a lot of time untying knots, tie the ring into a bow to secure it. Then you just pull on the ends of the ribbon and the ring comes off easily .

I posted pictures of the ring pillow and then some pictures that inspired me. I got my inspiration from OnceWed.com and then found a similar pillow on Etsy.

FI and I went shopping this weekend and he got the hottest suit for the Rehearsal. The jacket fit him perfectly! He looks better than the model in the picture!

Express has very nice silk ties. I plan on getting him a tie as a gift (once they go on sale in a few months, of course! :)

I'd like to give Daryl some kudos - he's been awesome with helping me plan the wedding. I've been pushing him to take on more than he would like to, but we've got a long task list and only 84 days left. Yesterday, he drove all the way to the other side of town to pick up our invitations. Everything looks perfect!

This weekend, I'll take one whole invitation to the post office to get weighed. I'm hoping we'll be able to use the $.42 stamps. I bought the green heart stamps for the response cards.

Then, it's onto addressing! God help me so I can figure out the outer vs. inner envelope addressing!

Invitation descripton: the paper is silver, imported European paper. We're not adding bows. The envelopes liners are sky blue.

For months now, I've been itching to book the Celestial Stakehouse in Cincinnati. This is the restaurant where Daryl proposed to me and it's going to be so special for our rehearsal dinner. After approving the restaurant and cost with his parents, Daryl called and made a reservation yesterday! Yay!

This local restaurant has been rated 4 diamonds by AAA nine years in a row. The guests will enjoy the beautiful wooden walls and a great view of the Cincinnati skyline (and maybe a sunset if we stay long enough, should be around 8:45pm as weather.com indicated).

What kinds of decorations are you using for your rehearsal dinner?

After many months of searching for white shoes (in the middle of winter, lol), I decided to go to the bridal shop and order some from there. I love the shoes. They're simple, but still have a little bit of detail with the ribbon. Plus, they're pretty comfortable. I wish I could have found a higher heel, but I would have to do a lot of online shopping at Zappos, ordering shoes, sending them back, etc. I figured it was better use of my time to go ahead and buy these and spend my time on other tasks. They have a 3" heel.

Designer: Grace
Style: Chelsea
Description: Silk satin closed peep toe with grosgrain ribbon detail.

Question: Does anyone know if you can waterproof silk satin?

Well girls, 7 months (when I first posted on here) has become 100 days! Time is going by very fast. To those brides who have more than 12 months and are freaking out...wait until you get below 5 months, that's when you really start freaking out!

Daryl has been awesome in helping me plan and prepare everything. I've started on the DIY stuff. I'm hoping to order the invitations this week, but the winter storms last week and this week have pushed this back. I need to decide on the design of the cake. Flowers have been chosen. Music still needs to be decided upon. The first dress fitting appointment will be in March. I hope the BM dresses will come in early! Lots to do at the end, but I know it will all the worth it.

P.S. Actually, it's more like 100 days and 100 tasks to do. One tasks a day...hmm, I hope I can manage!

DIY project #1 - Card Box - has been completed!

My vision was a simple, sophisticated, white card box. I began by purchasing a bare hat box at Michael's. My mom had fabric left from her wedding dress, which was made by my grandma. I decided to incorporate this into the wedding as something "old." I covered the hat box with it and I will use the remains to make a ring pillow.

I've posted some pictures of the process. If you need any advice let me know. I will tell you that covering a round box with fabric is a lot harder than covering it paper because unfinished fabric edges fray and you have to tuck them under!

Tips for using spray adhesive. Don't spray it and immediately cover with fabric or ribbon because it will bleed through and the fabric will dry weird. Let the glue dry for a minute or two and then cover with fabric. Don't worry, you can take the fabric off and stick it back on if you mess up. If you're going to use super glue, use it in a discrete place as it will also bleed through.

Cost:
Hat box from Michael's - $6.99 (after 50% off coupon)
Spray adhesive from Michael's - $1.75 (after 50% off coupon)
Fabric from mom - free
Total - $8.75

Time:
About 3 hours, but I'm really slow and I take lots of breaks. It would probably take an average DIY person 1.5 hours.

Fiancé's response: Oh my God, that looks awesome!

I'm so excited! FMIL called to speak to me about a shower date - March 15. FSIL and FMIL are hosting a shower for me. Daryl has one sister and two brothers, so his sister is always welcoming new girls and babies into the family at her place. I didn't even know they were planning it. They've already talked about ideas, games, and looked at invitations. I asked if I could help (not that I don't have 500 things to do myself, but it's courteous to ask). FMIL said all I have to do is show up!

These are so cute. I'm thinking of doing shades of blue paper and scattering across the mirror plates underneath the centerpieces.

What You'll Need
Decorative or Scrapbook paper (not too thick, similar to a text weight,
not cardstock)
White text weight paper
Double faced tape
A pencil
A round plastic lid to use as a template (approximately four to five inches in diameter) or a extra large circle craft punch
A pair of scissors
Computer and printer

Directions:

1. Begin by using a plastic lid as a template to trace circles on your decorative paper. A 12” square piece of paper yields approximately 9 circles. Cut out your circles using your scissors. If you have an extra large circle craft punch, that works well too. (see figure 1)

2. Fold a circle in half with the pattern side in. Make a crease (at arrow A) along the folded edge. (see figure 2)

3. Open your circle, and turn it pattern side out.

4. Turn your circle so the crease you made in step 2 is vertical. Fold the circle in in half horizontally, pattern side out, rounded side down, Do NOT crease. (see figure 3)

Hold the half circle on the bottom, ( where arrow B points in figure 3) between your thumb and index finger. Use the index finger from your other hand to push in the middle of the folded side of the circle at the crease. (where arrow C points in figure 3).

As you push in, the top corners will start to turn up.

Continue to hold the half circle and use your other hand to pull the corners in until they nearly meet and form the cookie shape.

If your cookie doesn't want to stay folded, use a tiny piece of double stick tape to keep the halves together. (at arrow in figure 6)

Compose your fortunes on your computer and print them out on a standard sheet of printer paper using a nine point font. The fortunes can be a simple note for the guests such as "We're so fortunate to know you. Thanks for being here today". Keep the fortunes just a sentence or two long.

Cut the fortunes into small slips of paper approximately 1/2 inch high by two to three inches long. (see figure 7)

Tuck the fortune into one of the open ends of the cookie. (see figure 8)

Display in a bowl or on a tray for your guests.

You may struggle with the first one, but after folding a couple of cookies, you will have it mastered.

What It Costs:
Not much at all ! It works out to be less than 10 cents a cookie.

Resource: OnceWed.com

I absolutely love the wish jar idea. This is a DIY project and I will post pictures once I'm done making the wish jar.

Supplies:
Vase
Ribbon to go around the vase
Card stock, cut into small pieces
Pen for writing
Picture frame for instructions

I'm also going to make a sign to instruct guests on what to do. I found the cutest picture (first picture) and I'll use it as the background.

This was by far the easiest and quickest decision to make. After a little over an hour at Bridal & Formal, BM and I picked out the dress. She is very tall, so I had to make sure I found a dress to fit her. I love the dress because it's flowy and very flattering, so not many alterations will be necessary, as long as the size was measured correctly and the dress fits in the waist.

Designer: Forever Bridals
Collection: Expressions Bridesmaids
Style: #79102, Chiffon, Black dress with light blue sash (removable)

Off Note: While trying dresses, my BMs and I came to the conclusion that to fit the dresses, you have to be 5'10, skinny, and have big boobs, lol. Dresses are made in the same length, regardless of size.

I've ordered lingerie from VictoriasSecret.com. You can't beat their coupon codes, I've only paid a couple dollars for some fun pieces and you can sometimes get free stuff with your order.

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My mom got me the "Sexy Little Bride" jacket during the Semi-Annual sale. It's so cute, my dad even loved it! I'm going to wearing the day of the wedding while I'm getting ready in the morning and when I'm traveling for the honeymoon. It ended up being $15 during the sale!

Remember: When you're getting your makeup and hair done, don't wear shirts that you have to take off over your head because you might ruin your makeup/hair. Wear a bra and a zip up jacket.

I love the idea of a welcome sign on an easel. It's going to fit so well with my elegant and sophisticated theme. My parents have an easel I can borrow! Now I just have to figure out how to do the sign for a reasonable price. I'm sure Kinkos would be able to print a sign big enough.

Any ideas?

aka Spider Mums or Anastasia Mums

I have fallen in love with this flower. It all began at 20 Brix, a local restaurant. A single blue bud vase with one striking white mum brought me back to my childhood in Moldova. I called my mom to inquire about this flower. Luckily, they were being sold at The Fresh Market, so I decided to buy a yellow bouquet. They lasted for over two weeks!!!

The night Daryl proposed, he got me a bouquet of white fuji mums and a bouquet of small red roses. Now, white fuji mums are near and dear to my heart. I was excited to find out at our meeting with the florist that they are reasonably priced and would fit within my budget! Very contemporary and striking, yet elegant!

I am collecting pictures of bouquets and centerpieces with white fuji mums, so if you have any ideas, send them my way. I was able to find a lot of the green mums, but nothing white.

My mom, who is the queen of bargain shopping, and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond this weekend and found the Lenox Forevermore 2-piece dessert set on Clearance. It had a few minor scratches, mostly on the underside. You can't even tell! It was 50% off and we used the BBB 20% coupon on top of that. What a steal!

After looking at $150+ veils, I decided to make my own. I found some instructions online and it should be pretty easy.

I bought a beautiful headpiece with flowers at Michael's. It's very light, which is great because I have pretty fine hair. I plan on sewing the tulle to this headpiece to create my veil.

Price: $16.99
Coupon: 50% off
Final Cost: $8.50

I bought tulle at JoAnn Fabrics. I bought regular tulle (they also have shiny). Available colors: white, shades of ivory. My dress is a light ivory (Maggie Sottero). When looking at the white versus ivory tulle, I realized the the ivory color brought out the yellow in the fabric sample. The white tulle made the fabric look whiter, so I chose white. Btw, ivory tulle was only $1.49/yard, white was $1.99/yard.

Price: $1.99/yard, bought 1.5 yards for $2.99
Coupon: 50% off
Final Cost: $1.50
Dimensions: 72 in x 54 in

I found some examples of how a hairpiece is used with a veil. I will also post more pictures once I style my hair with it in.

Total DIY Price: $10
Total time spent shopping: 20 minutes
Total time spent sewing: TBD

Deadline for mailing Save-the-Date cards and magnets: Thanksgiving (we will be seeing his family, so I want to send those out before then)
Number left to send: 11
We're not sending them to everyone who will be invited, mostly to the people that are coming from out of town.

For a standard postcard and business card size magnet, a regular 42 cent stamp can be used. We bought the "running heart" stamp. Go to USPS.com and read the description for this stamps, it's so sweet. They look so cute in person!

USPS.com stamp options:

Stamp 1 and 2 are your classic wedding ones (for 1oz and 2oz). I will use this design for invitations.

Stamp 3 is cute. I'm using this design for Save the Date cards.

Stamp 4 are blooms, which would go great with my May wedding. Maybe I will use these for Thank You cards.

Since most of our grandparents are no longer with us, we would like to do something special to remember them at our wedding. In addition, I'd like to print out some family recipes that everyone can enjoy making at home. Why keep delicious recipes all to yourself?!?

My grandma (paternal side) is known for her croissant-like cookies, called Rogaliki, stuffed with a nut filling. During my childhood in Moldova, I always remember sitting in my grandma's kitchen and watching her make Rogaliki. I decided to attempt this recipe myself. After many conversation with my parents and calling my grandma, we were able to convert the metric measurements to ones that are more commonly used in the U.S. After a couple of hours kneading dough, spreading, cutting, and shaping the cookies, I am marking this endevour as successful. Although the kitchen is dusted with flour, chopped nuts, and powdered sugar, the cookies are delicious! I feel good knowing that I am continuing to pass down family recipes.

The recipe cards will be on the Memorial Table at our reception.

I order a bunch of paper items from VistaPrint and they came in record time (one week). Always choose the slow shipping (21 days) because it's cheaper and you will get it a lot sooner. The postcards (100 free) and magnets (50 for $3) are so cute. I also got some business cards, which have instructions for uploading photos (250 free).

Sign up for VistaPrint's email and you will get all kinds of great deals for free items and 70-80% off original price! High quality for an awesome price!

I have been on this board daily for the last few months, and I have finally decided to create my own blog. I will doing some things DIY, so I wanted to share tips and tricks.