103 Days to Go: Always the Seamstress, Almost the Bride

Phew! I just finished making Scott's niece a set of motorcycle-inspired garters for her August wedding. She and her fiance, David, are going to be getting married at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota!

This was the most difficult set of garters I've ever made, but I had so much fun doing them! This was my first time to work with leather and grommets, but not the last! :o) I'm going to make a couple more sets of these and sell them on Etsy, so feel free to browse around and pick yourself up a set, if you'd like!

Bridal Garter

Side view of Bridal Garter

Toss garter

Side view of toss garter

I am so anxious to work on my own garter set, but I am having a tough time deciding what I want! I've been scouring fabric stores for the perfect supplies, but can't commit to anything! Good thing Scott's not made out of notions, ha ha!

109 Days to Go: Gettin' Pretty

Scott's Uncle John and Aunt Dani own this awesome salon in Fort Smith, Arkansas called Beyond Vanity. They are coming up the day before the wedding to help me out and I am so excited! Uncle John is going to do my hair like Carrie Underwood's in the picture above. We all think that it's similar enough to my daily style that I'll still look like myself and be comfortable. I generally don't wear curls, so that'll be a huge change for me! Lame, I know, but I'm a pretty simple girl for the most part, ha ha!

Aunt Dani introduced me to something that I can't wait to do! She's going to do my nails and use this new product called Shellac, which is supposed to last up to two weeks. That would be ideal!

I'm so glad that his family is so willing to help me and I'm really comfortable around them, so it's going to make my Big Day a lot less stressful! Ahh, I can't wait to get pampered!

111 Days to Go: Flower Girl Dresses

I finally found my flower girls' dresses! I love these--they're just so sweet! I really think they'll be able to re-wear them a few more times after the wedding.

The girls are going to wear them in Truffle and I've asked their moms to have them wear gold flats. I think they'll really compliment Laura's and Jessica's dress.

I'm going to try to make them little kissing balls to carry down the aisle. I'm planning on using these colors and a few peacock eyes tucked in between tulle puffs. I'll probably use a ribbon similar to the one Erin is going to hand our wreaths with. I thought the girls would like to keep the balls...we'll see if they turn out alright first, though, ha ha!

112 Days to Go: All Dressed in...Ivory

I picked up my dress today! It came in a little over a month early, so this was a super surprise! It definitely needs to be pressed, but I don't think it needs to be altered, which is going to save at least $200!

The seamstress gave me these options for a bustle, but I'm not even sure I'm going to have her put one in. I only have a slight train, which I chose purposefully, so I'm hoping if I don't have one, it won't be a huge deal.

over bustle

under bustle

free-bustlin'

My sister/Maid of Honor came into town to help me out with the dress. She is such a nerd and makes me laugh! It was so good to have her be weird with me in a potentially awkward situation!


All in all, I think I'm pretty happy with the dress! I just need to figure out how to wear my hair, keep working out, and definitely even out my sweet recess-tan!

113 Days to Go: Feather My Wedding

I've always loved anything vintage. I am really attracted to things from the 1920's-1960's, especially. In the first stages of wedding planning, I knew that I wanted something elegant, glamorous, unique, youthful, and vintage-inspired. Yesterday, I told you all about my bird brain and how my cake is inspired by pheasant feathers. Originally, I had planned on incorporating all of the things I wanted into a very subtle and sophisticated fall theme.

Well, after I started looking at my dress, my ring, and thinking about my cake, I thought that I should almost completely change directions and go for an Art Nouveau theme. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with this!

The colors Christie, our baker, is planning on using on my cake reminded me of a peacock. I've always loved peacocks and jewel tones, and knew that they were used a lot in Art Nouveau, so thus began my crazy journey into more featherdom!



I knew that I had hit the nail on the head when I came across this awesome picture below! This is very, very similar to what my bouquet will look like. I'm anxious (again) to see it! These are silks, and my florist, Erin, is going to use royal dahlias, teal-sprayed hydrangeas, berries, peacock eyes, peacock balls, and maybe a peacock sword or two. She's also planning on using the peacock ribbon around the stems, which I LOVE, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I would love to use it in my garters, so I might have Scott screen print some peacock feathers on to some ribbon for me!

My mom and I have been on alert trying to find all-that-is-peacock! Before we went to A Bloom Above the Rest, which we really should have done in the first place, we went to another florist who was highly recommended by our wedding coordinator, Julie. He wanted over $4,300 for curly willow, peacock feathers, votives, and LED lights! There was barely any flowers in his arrangement ideas! So, between our visit to his shop and Erin's, my mom and I have scrounged up some really fun centerpieces in the most unexpected places!

We found these pretty amber hurricane-ish lamps at Wall's, one of my favorite stores now, for just under $16 each! The top looks like a fleur de lise, but also kind of feather-like. I'm going to place a flameless, ivory pillar candle in each vase. I tried a real candle and it was gorgeous, but the to of them got really hot! I'm hoping that everyone takes a centerpiece, so I don't want to burn anyone! A burn mark is not the best wedding favor! I'm planning on setting them on a piece of square glass and Erin is going to put a few votive-size vases with a dahlia posy on each vase scattered around the table, too.

We also found these funky leaf-shaped bowls at Big Lot's, but we think they look kind of like peacock feathers! We found them on clearance for about $10 a piece. Erin is going to float a royal dahlia in each bowl and have a some of those dahlia posies setting around the bowl. Oh! I almost forgot! To add some color to these vases, she's going to cut apart this old Christmas tree garland that my family and I have and float the beads in the vases. I think they'll look really pretty!

Okay, here comes the part where I get the least opposite reaction I hope for, but I absolutely love these goofy things! They are giant Art Deco urns with iridescent coque feathers spilling out of them! We got two sizes--I think 24'' and 13'' urns--mostly in shiny green with a hint of bronze and black, but a few of them are these red and black ones.


Erin is going to stick curly willow in the top of the large ones and hang clear, square glass votives with candles from the branches! She's going to use some really awesome wire that gives an extra pop of color. I loved these urns just the way they are, but they started to look heavy, gothic, and needed some depth. We got each urn half off at Hobby Lobby, for about $50 per large urn and about 15 bucks for the smaller ones. Kind of a splurge, but they really make a statement...of some kind! :o)

This is a shot of the gazebo we'll have the ceremony in. We're hanging these cute feather wreaths around the lanterns. I don't think we need much, since it'll be so dark out at 7:30 in the evening in October! You probably won't be able to see much!



This is the arrangement I'm doing for our guest book table. It's actually not a guest book. It's and address book...or, it will be, at least! Do you know how hard those things are to find nowadays? Thanks, technology!
Oh, and last, but certainly not least: this is what I'm going to use to make our guest/address book pen! Ha ha! I think it will be fun! I think this is just about all of the feathers I'm going to use!