jenna hein on daily candy

Dude.

Jenna's on Daily Candy New York this morning. You better book her like, TODAY if you want to use her this year. Daily Candy means the greater world outside our happy little blog bubble will know about her.

Article here and jenna's site (for the 20th time) here.

a new project

I've been working on a little somethin' somethin' with some designer friends. And we're about ready to share. But we were thinking maybe you'd like to see what's coming?

100LayerCake.com

can. not. get. enough. wedding.

I'm ready to admit it. And I believe that admitting your problem is the first step?

sweet simple ring pillows

Constança sent me a really nice email the other day announcing her new little ring pillow biz on etsy. Aren't they cute? i love the plaid.



And she also has another shop , called Saidos Da Concha, where she sells all sorts of pretty handmade goodies... shopping bags, bibs, purse organizers (such a good idea). Actually, I need to post a photo these so you can see:



Right? Not more wallet lost in the depths of huge tote bag.

Constança, for the record, I lusted after that Orla Kiely tote for a LONG time. Such a good pattern.

new skinny laminx

i meant to post this on friday, so i could say... "speaking of skinny laminx, i just checked out her etsy store and she has a bunch of cute new things!" but i waited until just now to post these. so i can't really say that. since you all know i was looking at her etsy store on friday when i posted the Heath photos.



i seriously, dangerously, semi-psychotically love her tea towels. i'm not sure i can buy anymore tho. i have many. but i don't like to use them because i don't want to get them dirty. koo-koo.

shower gifts, bridesmaid gifts, anyone? (you can turn any post into a wedding post if you try hard enough.) But really, these make super excellent pressies.

does domino do flowers?

just checking because seriously, these are so great. yes, we love Zooey. But i think i might like the weedy flowers better? Is that bad?







I love them because they are rustic but just sophisticated enough. and they look like they would be easy-ish to replicate on your own... i mean, as opposed to balls of roses or 4 foot tall centerpieces, if you know what i'm saying.

Hoot & Heart did a few similar arrangements (similar to the first one, that is) for us and they were just beautiful. I still have a ton of dried pieces I salvaged before we left for Australia. I'm kind of a nostalgia junkie that way.

ANYWAY, point is: you could make something similar to these yourself if you were doing your own flowers.

And also, if you haven't seen The Go Getter starring Z.D., you should. It's a beautiful little road movie (shameless plug coming up) produced by a friend of ours. And M. Ward does the soundtrack. Which is perfection.

our wedding: DIY succulent centerpieces

Kay, I'm just going to jump into the week here with a long wedding post. Ready?

These are easier than you think. I swear. But of course it means collecting a cohesive body of vessels, growing big pots of succulents for months before you're ready to harvest, and then being willing to pretty much massacre them, PLUS go to the nursery to buy extras to fill in the spaces. But I think it's kind of worth it!







Utter carnage on the back patio. Which was accentuated by my use of the huge coconut-hacking cleaver for the flower foam. You'll notice that the big pots are nearly cut clean of plants. But the best part about succulents is they just grow back. So loyal, they are.






So here's how you do it. Procure vessels. Buy flower foam. Soak flower foam in water. Cut pieces of foam to fit into vessels. Hack apart succulents. Arrange clippings into flower foam/vessels in pleasing manner. If necessary, fill space around the outside of the vase/pot with either little pebbles or spanish moss. VOILA!

Thanks to our super florist for both agreeing to share the centerpiece load with me AND giving me excellent pointers on putting these babies together.

My mom still has tons of these around her house in San Diego and they are totally happy 2 months later. She mixed them with poinsettias and cyclamens for Christmas-y spice and they looked great over the holidays. If you're not attached to your vessels (or you don't plan to resell most of them like I do) these would be excellent favors for your guests. I've got a few around our house too and they seem to be pretty happy, even the ones I actually planted in soil, in the pots with no drainage. (For these you need to start with a layer of pebbles below the soil so the roots don't rot, FYI).

Allow me one eco-friendly soapbox moment... succulents you grow and arrange yourself make the earth soooo happy. Having hundreds of roses imported from Ecuador, not so much. And yes, we did have a lot of our flowers done (most excellently) by our florist, Hoot & Heart, but for the most part they try to source organic, in-season flowers so we feel okay about that.

Maybe I should do a little DIY tutorial on these... would that be useful to anyone out there?

pretty, simple wedding dresses

Kay, i KNOW i'm already done with the bride thing... but i have many important friends who are not. My friend Katya is looking for dresses now so OF COURSE i immediately volunteered to go dress shopping with her. It's like once you are married you are a wedding expert who must spread your magical wedding knowledge dust on all who plan weddings after yours. I hope my friends tell me when they've had enough.

Nicole Miller 09



These dresses have potential, no? I was doing "research" for Katya, I swear. I am such a good friend. Sacrificing precious internet surfing time on wedding dresses...

DIY gocco thank yous

part of our rather luxurious stay-cation (after we returned home from mammoth) included serious craft time. Most importantly the thank yous. I want to write them, I do. And our present-givers/wedding-goers definitely deserve them, but it's such an long slog to get through them all, trying to make each one personal and not totally robot-like.

At least we have them printed:







And to tell the truth, I'm getting sort of tired of our wedding designs. It's much more fun to make something new and different, like our new years cards! which came out perty cute. I shall post those soon. It will be my reward for signing the last thank you.

(jenna's calligs, of course)

our wedding: the ring bowl turned ornament

Confession: I had a ring bowl made. But we didn't use it. It's just that I love Paloma's Nest too much to pass it up. We didn't have a ring bearer or flower girl, instead Brock's brother and best man carried the rings in his pocket. It seemed a little awkward to make a 29 year old guy carry a teeny ceramic ring bowl down the aisle, you know?

And from the beginning, I knew we'd mostly be using it as an ornament on our tree. My parents have an "our first christmas" ornament on their tree and I've always kind of liked the sentiment.

I had the Shakespheare quote that we used on our programs and in our ceremony stamped into our bowl. I like that it doesn't say our names or our wedding date or any traditional wedding-y thing. Instead it's just a pretty, handmade reminder of our wedding and our vows and the awesome time we had that night.



love love love Paloma's Nest. And I promise this is the last Christmasy post.

the other kind of photobooth

I'm kind of torn. We set up a photobooth for my company holiday party on Thursday night... okay WE is the wrong word. I had nothing to do with it. I was busy with the crudite and cheese platter and mixers for the champagne cocktails, but you know, WE as a company set one up. ANYWAY. It's pretty f-ing fun. And now I'm thinking is this better than real photobooth action? I like the teeny pictures from real photobooth but I like the artistic freedom that this allows, you know? we had pictures with people doing handstands and sitting on the tops of ladders. it was pretty good.

I'm not going to say who, but it's highly possible that SOMEONE had 1-2 too many ddlllrinkity-ddllrinks.



Disclaimer - we DID have a professional photographer friend set this all up for us with nice lighting, etc. But I think some wedding photogs can do this too.

Also, after your wedding, every party/event must be executed with wedding-like attention to detail. Which is not always efficient or necessary. You've been warned.

prettiest flowers for an as of yet to be determined event

So since the wedding has passed, i'm going to need to come up with an event that is important enough to rationalize employing Dandelion Ranch. Their work is so rad.







seed pods. love seed pods and persimmons and asparagus fern and succulents all together in one pretty vintage vessel. I'm trying to weasel my way into future sister-in-law Melanie's (now referring to her as FSIL Melanie) appointment with them. Maybe I can hire them for floral decors for my make believe backyard banjo party in the summer?

Images from Dandelion Ranch, (cutest name, BTW). Found via Daily Candy.

my bridesmaids, in their own shade of green

while i'm on the subject of my maids, want to see how my mismatched posse came out?





YEEEEAH. They look good, no? I loved them in their varied shades and different dresses. So those photos I showed you earlier didn't lie after all!

I saw Polka Dot Bride also did a post on this same thing a week or so ago and I cannot say enough how much happier your ladies will be if you let them pick something that looks good on them, that they feel comfy in, and maybe makes them feel just a little bit sexy. (It was a cocktail party after all.)

Now I'm aware this styling isn't for everyone, but just think about it. Plus it's less wasteful when you consider that they will actually wear these dresses again vs. stuffing them in the back of the closet for the next 20 years.

So if you hate the earth, GO AHEAD, make them all buy the same dress. But if you love it, you should consider this excellent option, is all I'm saying.

photos from michéle m. waite, obv.

gifts for my maids or anyone really

Being that I'm not sure where to start with the remaining DIY projects and the wedding itself, how about with something peripherally related to the wedding instead?

For my maids/matrons of honor (they were all equally weighted at our wedding) I wanted to give them something perty and useful and fun that in no way involved a heart-shaped engraved necklace charm. I apologize in advance to those who are into this sort of thing, but barf.

With 9, I also didn't want to spend a ton per gift. I mean I love them all to pieces but, well you know how things add up as the wedding draweth nigh. I decided to give them each a sample of things I love, that I pretty much cannot live without and that frankly, they shouldn't either.



1) A Baggu. I f-ing love these bags. They are super handy, hold a ton of groceries, and come with a little pouch that fits perfectly in your purse. I carry at least 2 with me at all times. And I don't limit their use to groceries. They come out at home depot, jcrew, wherever. Yes, I'm the weird girl who uses her own bag when she buys clothes.

2) Hanky Pankys. OBVIOUSLY. I cannot live without these. They fit perfectly, they are comfortable under almost any clothes, they rarely show lines, they come in as many colors as Baggus, and they make you feel just a teeny bit sexy all the time. And they have a new organic cotton line, bonus!

3) Mistral soap. You can find Mistral everywhere but I love them because their first store and "headquarters" is on Cedros in Solana Beach (my home town, baby) and I've been a regular shop lurker from the beginning. And of course they make the most delicious smelling soaps and lotions.

So my girls got something that makes them smell nice, feel nice, and live nice... in rainbow colors. And I wrapped them all in mismatched, re-used shopping bags, (like the ones from boutiques and Kiehls and wine stores), because I'm obsessed with recycled wrapped supplies.

thoughtful invites from thoughtful day

Kay, I know, I'm obsessed. But really, we're just hanging out at our house, drinking coffee and working on our vows (and quickly checking in with the blog world)... my time on the internet is in no way taking away from my wedding week experience, i swear.

ANYWAY. You have to check out Erica's insane invitation suite posted on Beautiful Paper. omg. I cannot wait to see her line when she's done designing it. I think it might be one of the best out there.

See:




This might also be a good time to warn some of you who are thinking, "hmmm... maybe I should start a blog?" to be careful. It's dangerous territory once you get into it. Just so you know.

DIY ceremony arrangements!

I had to stay away from the blog world this morning. It was seriously encroaching on my ability to finish my projects in a timely manner. But I have some good things to share. Which to me means that I'm working my way through the list!

Kay, first are these:



I started them a LONG time ago, like maybe in June, so they had plenty of time to grow all full and nice by the wedding. There are two different versions, 4 of each... so we have 8 big arrangements to line the aisle. Does that make sense? It's kind of hard to see them in this photo and then right after I took it I realized I should test out the ribbon too.

So the finished product will look like this:



They are totally charlie brown and funny, but guess what? We're going with them! I kind of wish I had black & white ribbon or something more fun, but I don't know if I can bare another trip downtown to the flower market.

No one will notice they even exist I'm sure. Our awesome and creative florist, Hoot & Heart, has been exceedingly nice and agreed to let me get all in their business with my own contributions. I love them. They are adding garden roses and petals to the aisle too.

Here is how you complete this project:

Buy large pots.
Buy cactus/succulent planting mix.
Buy succulents.
Plant in desired arrangement.
Wait. (water sparingly).
Remember they exist, run to the side of the house to make sure they haven't died during months of neglect, and water again.
Wait some more.

THEN, when it's time for the wedding, fill in the empty space where you can see the dirt with spanish moss (the coolest floral supply ever, I just learned).
Tie your ribbons around the top of the pot and VOILA!

A note to interested parties, you can actually make these a few weeks before the wedding too, they will just be a little smaller. But the good thing is you have way more control over the final product and you don't have to worry that your succulents want sun and your sword plants want shade, making neither particularly happy.

DIY jam jar placecards

... or something like that.

In the early days, when the wedding was a fantasy far far away and I was obsessed with the idea that everything about the wedding had to be personal, made by me, and reflect our personalities and lifestyle (HA. HAHAHAHAHAHA), I wanted to make jam for our favors. 200 jars of jam. I smartened up quick, don't worry.



INSTEAD, (because I have issues with letting things go once my heart is set on them), I decided to make jam as favors/placecards for our rehearsal dinner. 40 jars of jam it turns out, was less impossible. Though take note, it did encroach on my crafting time and has subsequently resulted in the recent removal of 2 major projects from my list. For that, I whole-heartedly thank East Side Bride, who in her "wedding graduate" post on A Practical Wedding says:

"3. Know when to let go. Two days before the wedding, your to-do list will seem insurmountable. It is. Take a fat sharpie, cross out three big projects, and get some sleep. Seriously."

Kay, well, 10 days before our wedding I'm taking your advice. It truly feels amazing. I just deleted 1) welcome bags (sorry guests, but I'm sure you'll agree that my sanity and beauty sleep are far more important than the goccoed gift bag full of spiced nuts, dates, oranges, etc. you were going to receive upon checking in to the hotel), and 2) the Cookie Bar. Again so sorry, but we have an excellent favor alternative that does not involve me making 12 batches of cookie dough and then baking 400 cookies in the few days before the wedding. More on our alternate favor later.

But I digress, as usual.



Anyway, I'm super excited to give our bridal party and close fam a little token of our appreciation for coming out 2 days early (our rehearsal dinner is on Thursday), to celebrate with us. I've been making batches of jam for a few weeks... One is the yummy yummy yummy Fig & Lavender jam I posted about a while back. And the other flavor is a new one for me, Plum Vanilla. It's really good too. I stumbled upon it on Martha's site while looking for something interesting to make with the last bits of summer fruit at the Farmer's Market.





It's all about the vanilla beans. Sooo good.

I used leftover ribbon from our invites to tie on the name tags. I don't love the tags actually, but following the advice of many a bride before me, no one will know that I planned to make cute gocco-ed tags instead of these that I busted out in 20 minutes last night with a handy tag-shaped punch from Michaels. Which I finally learned is a pretty nifty store.

speaking of groovy 70's weddings...

I present, my parents:







brown tuxedos, anyone?

This was actually my first wedding. My mom's bouquet and high-waisted dress are just hiding me. :)

31 years and counting...

my first wedding

I'm in San Diego this morning, (not at work, re: this post), at my parents' house drinking coffee and looking through old photos. Being that our wedding is soooooo scary close, it seems like a good time to share my first trip down the aisle. Just for fun.





Here's me, 18 months old as a flower girl in our friend Gail's groovy 70's wedding. She and her family will be at our wedding too, which is kind of a nice full circle thing.

Family lore says that I would only walk down the aisle if my dad was waiting at the other end. And I apparently didn't totally grasp the idea of sprinkling flowers here and there, laying a path for the bride's big moment. Instead I walked straight to my dad, turned the basket over and dumped my entire allotment of petals out at his feet. I've always sort of done things my way. Hee hee.

For those considering getting married...

ALERT.

this is what your life (and house) is going to feel like.



This used to be our guest room/office.

Now it is our guest room/office/craft room/wedding storage unit/temporary home for registry shipping boxes that we might need for the trip out to palm springs/clean laundry staging zone/blogging headquarters/DIY factory/gocco studio/personal nightmare.

Brooklyn Bride posted a photo of their living room after they got married. And I remember thinking to myself at the time, (insanely), OH our house will never look like that because I'm fanatical about picking up after projects and keeping some semblance of order in my home. sooooo wrong. sooo obviously wrong.

sometimes i think this

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

- Marilyn Monroe




Especially when i'm 2 weeks away from my wedding. Luckily my FH handles any sort of erratic behavior I can dream up with infinite good humor and patience. I've found that these tendencies are exacerbated in the final days of wedding planning. Obviously.

(photo courtesy of: the internet)