This is marta12's Blue Wedding!

Ladies, I can't even begin to describe the chaos that has been my life the last month. We finally closed on our house and are in the process of renovating to move in NEXT WEEK!!!!!

But here is something I'm beyond extatic about. Dwayne granted me a wish I've had for over 10 years. A Yorkie puppy. He knew it would make me happy and agreed to get this beautiful gold face yorkie.

We will get her before Christmas and already named her Chanel after my favorite fashion icon.


House is a mess but once we're done with renovations I'll post pics.

I haven't forgotten about anyones monograms. I've been very slow getting to them as I have a ton going on but I will be getting to EVERYONE! I promise.

Hope everyone is doing well!

This is our beautiful topper I got through ebay. It was custom made for us. Swarovski crystals on the entire letter, clear outline and black crystal scroll detail. 5" high.

Ebay store http://stores.ebay.com/Gotta-Have-it-Simply-Disney


Also update: we're not quite moved yet, we're having the seller fix some things. In the mean time we've been on a buying frenzy for the house!

I love ebay! I just got 4 of these frames. I will put one on the candy table, one on the bar, one by the guest book and one by escort cards.

I might get 4 more, one for the card/gift table and one for each bathroom. and I'll have one that will be left over.

I'm getting little packages every day!

I bought two sets (8 total) of these name/title tags for my candy buffet from ebay. They are shabby chic. I think it will give a nice original way to display the names of the candy for our candy buffet.

I might spray paint them black but I might leave them the ivory color they are.

Will come in handy for my hosting parties I'll be having after the wedding :)

I ordered my veil couple of weeks ago from distinctiveveils.com

I came in yesterday. I LOVE IT! Its with Swarovski crystals at the edge (like the one pictured from mrs vintageglam - a knottie favorite..I'm seriously a stalker when it comes to her wedding, noone has inspired me more than this girl, check out her blog vintageglamblog.com)

The craftsmanship and quality is great and the shipment was fast. I highly recommend this online vendor.

my mother who's the only one to see the veil said I should have made it myself and save a few bucks after I told her it cost me $70 (with shipping) oh mothers. but really there's not much to it. I just have too much on my plate as it is.

I'm really dying to show all of you my wedding look. 8 more months!

A friend of mine recently did something similar for her FI who is in Italy on business. She wrote 365 notes (for as many days they will still be apart) to tell him why she loves him/memories they made together.

I absolutely LOVE this idea! I'm going to do 100 starting with 100 day countdown. I'm not going to do a jar like my friend. I will try to insert the notes in different places each day: his wallet, attach to his keys, ipod, car stereo, etc etc. It won't be easy finding places to hide these but I'm going to write 100 things I look forward to getting married to him.

Now I can't wait to start giving him these (well once I make them!)

I am in love with this dress. I saw it in the latest issue of brides magazine and then on the impressionbridal website.

I want to go look at the aqua color in person but I LOVE this dress and so does my MOH. Maybe a white sash instead of black? and black accessories (shoes, jewelry)

$117 on the HouseofBrides website.

As some of you know we've been looking for a house for a while. This saturday we made an offer, it was accepted and we put down our escrow down.

Closing is 10/24. We'll be in the new house as of 11/1.

So excited. My first property purchase!

Sorry no pictures yet. I'll be sure to post some when we move in.

I....can't....stop.....laughing....especially since this is reminds me of one of my favorite parts in How to lose a guy in 10 days! Crazy Kate Hudson!

A friend of mine told me custom-crystals.com were having a sale on some of their rhinestone personalized tank tops. I ordered mine right away. I received it today (ordered Sep 4.)

They have tank tops in Tiffany Blue! I got one with the letters Mrs. on the front. I'm not getting anything personalized just for the day of, I want to wear my stuff all the time after the wedding.

The tank was 19.95+shipping. The sale is still going on.

http://www.custom-crystals.com/bplucida.html

I saw this on one of my new favorite blogs and had to share.

Stencils for your cake! Even if you're not making your own, giving them to your baker can create the cake of your dreams.

Click here for the website to cake stencils

They have damask, spring, fall, winter, fleur de lis, sea shell, different flowers, lace etc stencils for cakes!

Please check out my monogram blog for monogram help!

http://www.weddingbycolor.com/martasmonograms

I really wanted a vintage style bag but everywhere I looked they cost hundreds of bucks. Now I dont mind spending couple of hundred for a bag that I will carry many many many times on but my wedding bag might be reused only a couple of times after the wedding.

I turned to ebay! I found a fabo seller that sells vintage inspired bags for a very reasonable price. They have many styles in different colors. The sellers name is closet_affair.

This is the bag that I won! I'm in love with it and can't wait until it arrives. Will also dye it blush pink like my shoes.

Link to the store closet-affair-boutique

I'm getting ready to order my Invitation supplies and originally I was going to handwrite but I really LOVE these bands (a la Martha Stewart). Too informal? I guess I could still hand write but I really love the band idea. GOING FOR IT!

Has anyone done this? I remember someone writing about possibly doing this.

Anyone has pictures of this look on a square envelope?

Here is the template from Martha Stewarts website

Martha Stewart Wrap Around Label Template

As I have less things to work on, I'm thinking more about after the wedding. I know I'll be keeping my dress and definitely using the shoes again and again but what else?

First tier to eat on first anniversary? I'm a little concerned about keeping something in my freezer for a year. A friend of mine got married recently and her and new hubby ate t he top tier of their cake on their one month anniversary. She said they will get the same cake company to make a smaller identical version of their cake. I really like this idea.

Bouquet? I dont know if I want to keep the bouquet somewhere in a glass box but I've been thinking above sowing the ribbon as trim on a pillow. That way it will be a part of the household but not in the dead dry flowers kind of way.

Unity candle? yes. It will be blessed by the church.

I'm also making a small scrapbook with one copy of the invitation and other paper goods, newspaper from that day, little things like that.

What else?

So when I first started to plan my wedding and picked aqua and damask I thought I was the ish. Well I still think that but that's besides the point.

When I got on this board a handful of us were using Damask, I've always loved vintage things so I picked it based on a seat I love.

Now it seems like its the IT color. It goes it everything (well duh its black and white!) and any other color works so perfect with damask as it was made to be with that color.

Vintage is also back with a vengence....I'm guessing recent popularity in period movies has something to do with it.

I was a little bummed to see damask popping up all over the place as I tend not to follow in with the trends but in my mind I like to think I had something to do with the damask movement, j/k (well I'm only half way joking)

So what trends are you following? which ones are you making? or are you sticking to the classics?

Here are some more trends for 2008

Wedding Dresses
Romantic dresses in floor and ankle-length styles will be popular for the 2008 wedding season. Brides today are choosing dresses with flowing, soft fabrics, ruffled hems, satin sashes, and millinery floral details....In the US, we are now seeing more and more color in wedding dresses which have been popular for some time internationally. Champagne, pink, platinum, and even red dresses are making an appearance.

Wedding Colors
Chocolate brown was the dominant color in 2007 weddings... this year platinum will replace chocolate brown as the new hot accent color.

Fall/Winter: wine, purple, turquoise, navy, emerald, green
Spring/Summer: aqua, platinum, soft pink, pale yellow, coral

Wedding Reception Decorations
Brides are choosing centerpieces that are in the same color tones, but of different sizes. This gives the reception tables a more interesting look and a less "coordinated" feel. Faux rose petals, diamond confetti and shells/starfish remain the most popular confetti for table decorations this year.

An increasingly popular trend, made popular by Martha Stewart, is the candy buffet or confection bar.
Head tables are replaced with a small table for just the bride and groom.

Eco-friendly or Green Weddings
Going green is a hot trend this year in almost every area of life and is spilling over into the wedding scene as well...Decisions that lessen the amount of carbon emissions promote sustainable practices, support local businesses, foster community and worldwide health and longevity.

To read all the wedding trends of 2008 click on the link below

www.yourweddingcompany.com

Finding my shoes last night (pic in blog from yesterday) I got inspired and some energy to work on some wedding stuff.

I really have been wanting damask tealight/votive holders but everywhere I looked they were more than a buck a piece which to me seems ridiculous!

SO since I had such a good time making the damask candy take out boxes (pic in blog below) I decided to use the same technique for the candle holders.

I got the tape at organize.com for 7.99

I don't have all my votive holders yet but you can get them CHEAP! at cudge.net and save-on-crafts.com.

Its much easier to apply the tape to the glass than paper candy boxes. If you mess up taking the tape off the glass is easy!

I took a couple of pictures of the three I made. I had one votive and two tealights that happened to be aqua at home so thats what I'm using on my sample.

I bought white tealights from Hobby Lobby on sale for 3.99 for 100.

I'm kind of liking the taller candle in the holder so I will have to get some white votives.

Best thing about this! it will cost me LESS than a buck per each one WITH the candle!!!!!

Well my OCD is in overdrive today. I've been googling and searching and what not for the perfect wedding shoes. AND I FOUND THEM. I'm so excited...a little bummed that they are not available until October but I placed my order!

The scroll bling has the vintage touch I want and the gathered front is what I've been dying for ever since I saw the Alan Pinkus Reese shoes (which are only sold in Australia).

My decision not to spend $300 is still on place....at least that's what I'm telling myself while I spend about $250 on these beauties.

I wish I could get them sooner but this is EXACTLY what I've been looking for! I will be dyeing them blush pink!

bye bye Monet brooches from Macys LOL I've been a proud owner for a whole 6 hours!

I saw these at Macy's and thought they were pretty perfect to achieve the vintage shoes I've been oogling over.

Not cheap at all at $20 each but I think the feel of them is perfect. Now I have to get shoes and dye them blush pink so I can see if the brooches go with the pink blush.

If not back to Macy's they go.

Our e-pics are in couple of weeks so I've started to think about what I'm going to wear.

Things to consider: I probably will not want to do an outfit change but accessories can change the look into two outfits. Jackets!

I'm a BIG fan of the pencil skirt especially the ones with a vintage feel. I found couple of looks that I really like.

Look #1 posted

I've been away for sooooooooo long. Super busy. We're really aggresively looking for a house, moving my sister into her apartment, also super busy at work.

I haven't done any wedding stuff in about a month (I did buy two magazines to KEEP connected to the wedding world)

Our engagement session is coming up in September and it got me thinking about showing off our pictures.

We are definitely doing a e-session photo book as a guest book. They are easy and cheap to make and I like it much better than the frame with all those signatures around it.

I also want something like a photo room divider or another frame stand in the entrance of the reception for everyone to see all of favorite photos.

The ever famous picture cardbox is another way to display some e-session photos.

Another great idea I've seen on one of my favorite wedding blogs (honeybeeweddings.blogspot.com) is giving a photo frame with e-photo. I would like to do this at either my shower or rehearsal dinner. I've already started getting different frames (damask, vintage oriented) and will put different engagement pictures in them. People will be able to pick their favorite frame/phot combination to take home.

OK now I have to go read and comment on a month worth of blogs.

I am in love with the Alan Pinkus shoes I found the other day (1st photo). They are somewhat expensive (266 US...also its a Australian designer so shipping would be a pretty penny) and i decided i won't be spending $300 on shoes....sooo i have decided to find similar shoes and vintage brooches and make them myself (via a fabulous dye job into blush pink).

I found a similar shoe by touch ups called nona (2nd pic)

when you girls come across similar shoes....and/or vintage brooches that would give me a similar look to the Alan Pinkus shoes can you please keep me in mind.

Thank you much in advance

I saw the first picture when I first started planning the wedding by googling damask wedding. Since then I've googled damask lamps quite frequently with nothing that caught my eye.

Today I went to Target and found these adorable spotlight lamps. They are not quite damask but close enough. I will use them either on the head table or the bar.

I also got two damask picture frames at target.

The lamps are available on Target.com. Do a search for black lamp and then click on college.

We decided from the begining that I would not spend money on personalized stuff...napkinks, cake server set etc....BUT when I saw these matches on SALE at the weddingchannelstore.com for 17.99 (per 100) I couldn't resist! LOL

I ordered 100 with our names, date and a little scroll design that somewhat matches our damask decor. The color is aqua amd a very close match to Tiffany and my other Aqua items.

The matchbooks arrived fast and all look good (yes I checked every single box for imperfections).

I will be personalizing everything else myself in the form of labels, tags etc. But when these arrived I got so excited. It was something about seeing the date of our wedding on these little matchbooks that made me sooo happy.

Once I got into DIYs I can't seem to stop. I really wanted to get my bridesmaids cards that not only have something to do with the wedding but give them a little bit of my personality.

I bought aqua note cards and matching envelopes on ebay. I also got Purse stickers and a Thank you stamp.

I embossed Thank you on the note card.

NOTE ABOUT EMBOSSING: If you are using metalic/shiny paper use a regular ink pad; I've been using Archival Ink in black. If your paper is like linen or notecard paper use the embossing ink. The regular ink gets absorbed by regular paper fast. By the time you pour the powder its pretty dry. On the other hand the embossing ink is a little greasy and stays on top of the paper, however when used on metallic/glossy cardstock and pocketfolds the embossed image easily comes off (its almost like you made a sticker on wax paper)

I added a different purse sticker on each card and rounded the corners with a rounder, possibly my favorite little tool.

I also embossed a damask design on each envelope.

The groomsmen's cards wont be as elaborate because men just don't care about stuff like that.

I've been super busy these days but I still have time for some DIYs. I started and have about 50 finished Take out Candy Boxes for our Candy Table.

I used the packing tape from organize.com and a oval logo (just the middle part from out monogram) to decorate the boxes.

They are a little bigger than I was going to get but they were FREE (from a knottie who changed her mind about them) so I am using them.

The tape goes on fairly easily but it takes a while to get it straight. I did 50 in about 9 hours (not in one sitting).

Hope you girls like, let me know what you think.

I've been on a total shopping rampage. I've bought soo many things in these last few days.

I found these lanters on Amazon.com and loved them. They are 14.95.

I will be hanging them over the bar area.

I might even get some aqua lanters and hang them from the cord of these.

I also got two baskets for the bathroom goodies and damask wall appliques (I posted about the appliques with the direct link yesterday) all on amazon.

I came upon these wall appliques today. They are easy peel and stick on. I bought one for possibly the entry doorway or behind the cake table.

I found one on Amazon.com

and one at Target.com

The come off easy so it wouldn't be a problem with the venue.

In between looking for a house, taking a summer class, being sick and celebrating my last "single' birthday I finally managed to finalize the design of my invitations.

I have not printed anything yet since I haven't ordered my paper...because I don't know how many invitations I need yet.

I bought one tiffany blue metallic pocketfold (its a lot lighter in person, i couldn't take the picture with flash because the paper is metallic and there was a lot of glare) to see how it looks and if the embossing would take to it. I embossed two damask designs on the inside of the pocketfold and added a black background (matte) to the part where I will add the invitation.

For now the invitation and insterts are photoshopped into the photograph so that I can see how the final product will look. They will be printed on white metallic paper. I will post pics once I start printing them but in the mean time let me know what you think.

I'm very happy with the overall look and the design concept. I have to give a BIG shout out to Tammy aka TEMELA808 as I loved her design sooo much I modeled my concept after her invitations! click here to check out TEMELA808's invitation