US meets UK

Uh… hey…. it’s me, your favorite split shank purple shoe…. Just so I don’t give you a case of recap blue balls (again) I’ve actually finished writing them and am publishing them one at a time. Being a Weddingbee blogger has meant so much to me and I apologize for taking so long. In case anyone who was here in 2009 is still around, thanks for keeping me company! If you’re new to the hive – welcome! I’m a semi-old timey  Bee who is about to celebrate her two year anniversary!

*Where we last left off*

Before I move ahead with the reception, I just wanted to take a moment to highlight how several projects turned out. Some I didn’t even blog about (for shame!).

Those pomanders? That everyone helped so much with? Looooooooved them and for me, they were so worth it! (Big ups to Mr.D, my cousins Megan and Rachel, my sister Regan, my best friends and MOH’s MB and Beth, and Candy Corn). It takes a big village to make 10 pomanders. They’ve since visited Mrs. Cowboy Boot in Colorado, my cousin Megan, and now one of Megan’s friends!

(image via Jenna Cole)

Mrs. Kitten had posted about the lavender bags from Mint Blog and I enlisted my sister in the construction. Mr.D redesigned the tag, I filled the bags and my sister sewed them with her friend. As a side note, I wish I had used less lavender per bag and created little sachets (the kind you put in your drawer to make things smell nice) with a cute tag as a favor.  I had enough rice, and could have easily ordered two bags to have been sure and it would have been pretty cute.

A few weeks before the wedding my bridal party showed up to help me assemble the ceremony program fans that Mr.D designed-while Mr.D was out on his US bachelor outing (with my father, BIL, and OZ MOH’s Dad/our neighbor) to Hooters. Oh yes.  The night ended with him coming home IN a hooters outfit – as in, wearing a waitresses’ outfit (don’t worry she had another one to change into). Also displayed in bins were hankies gifted from Mrs. Tulip, OFF mosquito repelling wipes (6 pm ceremony+August+Maryland = total necessity) and lavender packets.

After lots of glue gun burns, corner punching cramps and glasses of wine – they were finished.

I also borrowed vintage handkerchiefs from Mrs. Tulip, and found mosquito repellant wipes to set out for guests.
Though not exactly a detail, my mother had the foresight to purchase an aisle runner. She was worried that because of the rain, my dress would get muddy and the lace would snag. During the outdoor photos with the bridal party we learned that yes, in fact my dress loved nothing more than to snag. My dress wanted to get all sorts of friendly with the parking lot, the side walk and the stairs.

And a detail that didn’t happen?

We purchased a large quantity of San Pellegrino Orange and Limonata, and I created signs and zotted purple ribbon to two large galvanized metal tubs. On the afternoon of the wedding we weren’t even sure we would be getting married outside, and made a split second decision to leave them home.

In retro, retro, retrospect, it would have been nice to have them. – but probably not worth the stress of trying to get them assembled (while wearing evening wear) with ice in the buckets prior to the ceremony.
What ceremony details are most important to you?

Can’t remember back to 2 years ago?

• US meets UK: We Get Married!
• US meets UK: Heading Down the Aisle
• US meets UK: Everyone Arrives…Except For My Dad!
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Also Forgot The…
• US meets UK: I Can’t Believe We Forgot The…
• US meets UK: A Spoiler Alert!
• US meets UK: Where I Am Late for My Own Wedding
• US meets UK: Getting Ready
• US meets UK: I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends

Yeah. Oh Yeah… I sang that song and danced around the kitchen while making jam. While trying to link the song, I found this video! It’s like it was made for me. My friend was probably thinking “why did I invite her for jam making”?

My friend Kristen and I have been inspired to try canning as a way of preserving our summer bounty. But, since it never seems to workout that enough of a bounty is ripe at one time we sought out other people’s fruits to can. First stop? Olney Farmer’s Market. When I mentioned to a sweet vendor that we were canning, she directed me over to the “seconds” area-where peaches with issues and bruises were half price!

Afterwards we headed over to Blueberry Gardens (near Olney/Spencerville) to hand pick our own. For the privilege of picking our own, we paid $8 per quart. It was fun to figure out which blueberries were the ripest (one for me, one for my basket…) and chat as we picked through the bushes. Neither Kristen or I have had much success with growing blueberries, so I’m glad we went to the professionals.

We may have picked too many…

Our utensils? Ball Canning accessories – not necessary, but very helpful! A large pot, jars, and a creatively fashioned “rack” out of aluminum foil to prevent the glass from sitting directly on the bottom of the pot. I can really see how having a proper rack to pull the jars out would be easier.

We got started on our jam making using a recipe for Natural Summer Fruit Jam from the Ball cookbook. We decided to go with the “less sugar” kind which uses apples to increase volume and decrease added sugar. Creation the apple sauce was easy… until we needed to push it through a sieve. Not so easy and very time consuming.

We still ended up using 2 cups of sugar for the blueberries and a whopping 5.5 cups for the peaches!

The book says to get the jam to 220 Fahrenheit- but we just couldn’t get it there. What I later learned from Food in Jars is that our jam would have a difficult time reaching that temperature with the reduced sugar. We over reduced the blueberry jam to a super duper thick amount that ended up only filling 2 jars and a little bowl. This batch should have filled 5 jars. The blueberry jam was so good though, that we reduced ourselves to eating it by the spoonful.

We instead used the gel test method for the peach jam-way more successful.

Our Jam canning was a complete success-save for one lid that didn’t properly seal right away. We tested the seals too quickly post cool down, and accidentally popped one off. We probably should have left the jars alone for longer to give it a chance to seal-but we were so excited!

But that’s okay-because that is the jam I’m eating today!

ETA: Live near DC and interested in canning? Common Good City Farm is offering a canning workshop on September 11th. Check it out!

After seeing this post on Engageology I knew that tissue paper pomanders would make a great addition to our ceremony decor.  We aren’t doing too much decorating since we’re hoping to be outside, but in case it rains these would be able to decorate an indoor ceremony as well.

First step? Figure out which tissue paper you want to use.  It’s best to do this by getting samples BEFORE you purchase or finding your tissue paper in person.  Don’t trust your computer or the internet to show you how colors look in real life.  I originally searched for dark purple, then gave up and looked for light purple, then gave up on that and randomly found ivory tissue paper at the Container Store.

Assemble your tools. I used:

• 22 gauge floral wire (stiff, sturdy but pliable$4.00)
• tissue paper (ivory, from the container store 3 packs $3.50 each)
• scissors
• wire cutters (thanks dad!)
• 5 inch Styrofoam balls (about $4 but use those 40-50% coupons to save $$)
• Hot glue ( and glue gun)
• tiny box for the 1,000,000,000+ paper pieces you’ll be cutting out

Next, fold one million flowers. No…for reals, one million.  I’m making 10 pomanders, and at 20some flowers per ball that will be ALOT flowers.  Perhaps not a million, but it feels close.

MOH MaryBeth and I realized that folding the flowers assembly line style works best, so if you have unlimited volunteers the best roles would be “paper cutter”, “flower folder”, “stem twister”, “edge cutter”, “flower fluffer” and “flower stuffer”.

Paper cutter? Cut your paper into 10×5 inch rectangles.

Flower folder? fold lengthwise (so you make more folds and the flower isn’t super wide). Accordion fold it about 3/4 inch.

Stem twister? grab your wire cutters, cut off a piece of wire then attach it to the flower.  Hook it over then twist the ends to make a tight seal.  I like to cut the ends off to give it a nice sharp point and to make the “stem” shorter.

Flower cutter? Cut the ends of the paper into rounded not too pointy tops, I did pointy at first and it just doesn’t look as nice (IMO).

Flower fluffer? Fluff that flower, I prefer to start with pulling up the top layer and working my way around both sides in a circle.

Flower Stuffer? Add a dob if glue where the “flower” meets the “stem”.  Stick in to ball…don’t burn yourself. Continue sticking flowers into the ball, not too far apart and not too close to squish them together too much. It helps if you can sift through the already attached flowers on the ball so when you’re working on the opposite side your fingers are pressing the ball to the new flower and not smushing the flowers.

After several hours of manual labor…you’ll have these I haven’t timed myself on making one yet since I usually chillax and zone out while creating them.

*Credit where credit is due: I used this tutorial and barely altered it.

When we last left off talking about centerpieces it was waaaay back in the day. Waaaaaaaaaay, back in the day.  So it isn’t that surprising, after a color scheme change, and multiple flower posts – our centerpieces have changed too!

Before I even started blogging we were shooting for potted succulents or terariums

(source)

Then we found these two photos

(source)

(source)

Settled on the top one and started to create the vases out of wine bottles. Then…we went back to terrariums.

(source)

And after all that? While Mr.D was still in England I scaled them back. Waaaaay back. As in, no flowers at all.  Which might be surprising because I love gardening and flowers. It always makes me swoon when Mr.D surprises me with fresh flowers. So why’d I do it?

I realized that while centerpieces make large statements AT the reception, there doesn’t seem to be a huge focus on them when it comes to the wedding photos.  When I look at people’s wedding albums, I hardly ever see the centerpieces. What I do notice? The bouquets, so I made the executive decision to focus the money on the personal flowers (bouquets, bouts, corsage thingys) and less on the centerpieces. The people accompanying the flowers have a much higher chance of being in our album and I’d rather see them honored with the best looking flowers.

What do our centerpieces look like now? I did a trial run, and the floating Michael’s candle was a total FAIL. It only last for about three and a half hours! That said, once I find longer lasting floating (preferably soy) candles we’ll be set.  They’re quite easy to set up and hopefully our caterer can light the candles before dinner (so I don’t have to worry about burn time during the ceremony/cocktail hour). I also wanted to do a trial run with these just in case they got hot or exploded (a la Miss Bear Cub), thankfully they didn’t. Without any further adieu, here they are!

Suuuuuuuper easy and scaled down, 3 wine bottle/vases of varying heights, river rocks from the dollar store, floating candles. Maybe a bit of lavender rice scattered on the table. Sorted.

Anyone else scaling down their DIY centerpieces?

If you’re looking for a quick, last minute favor idea I have the recipe for you!  I tried my friend’s mother’s Peanut Butter and Chocolate fudge last week and it was so great I begged for the recipe right then and there! Lucky for me, it’s so easy you can remember it. It’s quick to make and really the only requirement is that you have a bit of patience and some upper body strength.  I have a 4th of July cookout today and forgot to make something – luckily we had all the ingredients in the house because I was feeling a bit too lazy to go to the store right before a holiday.

Start by melting your butter and peanut butter in your pot. Yes, it looks gross. No, there is no way to justify this as a diet treat.

Then add your sifted cocoa powder and vanilla extract.

Next, sift your confectioners sugar into the pot a bit at a time, mixing it completely each time. This is where your upper body strength and patience comes in handy.

Mix it ALLLLL together and stick into a 9×13 pan.  Place paper towels on top and weight with light objects (I used two boxes of crackers).  Replace your paper towels every so often once they’re full of oil, I did it about 3 times.  Let the fudge sit for 2 hours before cutting up.

OM NOM NOM.

Here is the tiny version:

Since we’re considering Mrs. Kitten’s lavender bud throw project it looks like we’re going to have an serious excess of glassine bags.  Which would be perfect for these fudgy favors or OOT treats!

Have you pondered making your own favors?

We did postcard Save the Dates and I thought it would be fun to write a note to each recipient like a real postcard. Oh, yes, I did just say I thought it would be fun to write a note on a ton of postcards. Right….. In any case I found myself in starts and fits and I finally made a schedule to get them finished.

Bee Reader MissCamera posted in our month twin board (Go August!) that she had the resolution of getting out her Save the Dates by January 15th, which sounded great to me! Unfortunately mine made it across the Atlantic in February. Why didn’t I just mail them from England? The Royal Mail must hate me, because they’ve done things like sent Mr.D’s suit from England to Colombia (South America) instead of Columbia, MD, USA. I also did a price comparison and found it would be cheaper to send a tiny package to the US and send each STD domestically than to send each postcard from England to the US.

I’m not going to lie to you guys, if I had gotten my act together before we left the States it would have been much, much easier. I thought this would be a fun project and when I sat down and thought about how excited I would be to have these people with us on our wedding day I was happy to write each of them a note.  That said, it took me a very long time for me to get off my bum and finish them.

I also miscounted and sent my mother too many extras so I didn’t have enough to finish sending a few of them out! What’s worse is that my mother misplaced the extras (she had agreed to send) so several guests didn’t end up receiving a Save the Date which I didn’t find out till I arrived in the US in June…a bit late to send one at that point.

So without any further ado, I’d like to introduce you to our Save the Dates:

On the other side I wrote a note to each of our guests. We re-used the lower bird stamp from our invitations for the Save the Dates.

Regrets? Not being ultra clear about which side Kinkos should print on. There is a textured linen-esque side and a less textured side on the recycled cardstock. Our invitations printed/embossed perfectly on the less textured side, the Save the Dates and RSVP cards were printed on the linen-esque side which led to a few cards not printing quite right and the embossing process not working as well.

I’m glad we embossed these last, because our heat gun died with 10 extra ones to go. Moral of the story? give your embossing gun a rest so it doesn’t overheat and die. The silver lining? I won’t be attempting to emboss anything else for the wedding.

Any one else do postcard STDs or have any other STD mishaps?

Because you see, when you drink and DIY you’re bound to make mistakes.  Mistakes that you’ll likely have to go back and fix. Especially when you and one of your MOHs get together after a year of being in separate countries, and um, a box of franzia (I mean, they were all out of Andre …what do you expect).

This led to the exposure of my inner mathematical genius…where 50 – 15 = 45.  And where I forgot to purchase half of the ribbon we’d need (okay…. I did that one sober).  Not to mention inside out belly band bows and tissue paper flowers with *slight* differences.

oops.

The more you know….

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”

“I think you can in Europe?”

What a timely and accurate movie quote for my life (can you name the film?!).  While in England, I was mostly “whelmed” I had contacted all our vendors (except for alterations and MUAs), sent inspiration pictures and generally felt on top of things. We were focused on the visa, after all what more was there to do?

Turns out, the answer to that is “LOTS”, or “MANY” or even “SEVERAL”.  I’m admittedly not the best decision maker, and it takes me a while to decided, undecided, redecide and repeat that pattern a few times.  Which is why 3 months out, I’ve gone from “whelmed” to overwhelmed. Suddenly, I need to figure out where we’re getting cakes for the cake buffet from, send out the US invites, redecide on centerpieces, figure out hair and make up, find shoes for BMs, design DIY paper and other craft projects…the list goes on and on.

So, what to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed?

Find your friend Excel (or google docs).

Make your columns weeks (ex. 6/14-6/20) and your rows categories (ex. Catering, DIY, Ceremony, etc). All the way to the left after the last week of your columns create a goals column.  An example of a goal would be, mail invitations by 6/15, create seating chart by 8/16, etc.  Then go back, and fill in what you’d need to do to make those things happen.  So, all our RSVP’s are due by 7/27, I have the deadline on the chart, as well as the task of harassing people for missing RSVPS, and the goal to have all outstanding RSVP’s by 8/9.  This way I have an accurate headcount to work on the seating chart.

For the invitations? create bows on 6/10, assemble 6/11, print/address 6/12 and 6/13.  These all went in the same square on the chart though, because they all need to occur within the same week.

I took a few screenshots so you could see snipets, but it’s a bit hard to understand the scope of it on a computer screen.

So I made an absurdly sized poster of it, because this way I can see the plan in it’s entirety and it isn’t hidden away in a file within my wedding folder.

These are a few of the goals.

By planning backwards I’ve thought through each step and what will need to occur in order to achieve the goal.  I also highlighted (in yellow) the places where people could help Mr.D and I and we wouldn’t have to face a project alone.  I then sent this to my parent’s and bridal party so we could all be on the same page and I think it’s really helped everyone to know what is coming and what they can help with.

My father now knows when deposits or payments are due, my crafty BM’s know when I’ll ask for their help and I even included appointments in case anyone wants to or is free to come along to a fitting. I also have no excuse to procrastinate – I literally have a giant poster looming over me!

I’ve shared my 3 month timeline with you, you’ll just need to change the dates/categories to suit your needs.  Remember to start with your goals, and work backwards!

How do you stay organized?

After taking our invites in and out of the envelopes a few times I realized the purpose of a belly band – to keep everything together!  Without a band to hold everything together a few of the slips could go unnoticed in the envelopes. We headed to our “local” craft store (about an hour away) to check out the supplies available to create a belly band.

The vellum options didn’t wow us, and finding chocolate or the right kind of purple ribbon was proving difficult.  We stumbled upon a few wraps of satin ivory ribbon near the check out which  we quickly grabbed and headed out of the store.  I think Mr.D and I had both reached the limit where we’d like to stop thinking about the invitations so we were happy to find a resolution and get out of there.

Thanks to Miss (soon to be Mrs!) Taffy and Mrs.Emerald’s bow tutorials the D’orsay’s have a plan for the English invites. But, which orientation to choose?

Option A, Vertical Left Aligned:

Option B, Horizontal Center Aligned:

Option C, Vertical, Left Aligned with Center bow:

Mr.D is also pondering using a paperclip underneath the ribbon to preserve the brown border from being covered by the RSVP/reception cards. Would a paperclip be odd?

How did you keep your invitations all together?

On the Fontalicious post many of you brought up VERY important points so I decided to put the fonts into practice.  I printed out the fonts on our test cardstock – which is actually several shades lighter than the actual envelopes (oops) and traced over each of the fonts.

As you probably know, writing with a manuscript/calligraphy pen is different than a normal pen.  Which means that it took me a spot of time to get used to writing with it.  But once I came into the swing of it, I started to have fun! Creating the thicker/thinner lines, the flourish of the scroll – all those things were fun.  What wasn’t so much fun? Figuring just how much ink I should have on my pen at any given time. This is why a few of the lowercase “e’s” just look like blobs. LESS IS MORE! LESS IS MORE!

I kept having flashbacks to bottle cutting where my haste (seriously) made waste.  I however, do not have an endless supply of envelopes like I do wine bottles so I need to learn patience with this project.  Or I could hire a nun to rap me on the knuckles when I get ahead of myself. Either one.

On to the Font Tracing Superlatives:

Adine Kirnberg  – Most likely to encourage me to stab the nearest object with a calligraphy pen

As someone who has large, flourishy, style of handwriting Adine Kirnbirg was killing me.  Tracing that font is like having to fit my 10 letter first name in a standardized form box made for 7 letter first names, I hated every second of it. Most of the fonts I went over twice to make the writing bolder but this one I just didn’t bother with.

Chopin – most illegible – from my hand.  Jen’s look nice…mine? not.so.much.

This is where the LESS IS MORE lesson comes in handy.

Ecolier -The sleeper – seemed so simple yet was so irritating to trace

Ecolier was also on the cramped side, though I wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at it.  The f’s and g’s were fun, but I was mostly bored by the time I hit the street address.

Snell Roundhand and Edwardian Script – a tie for most fun to trace once or twice.

They both had lovely flourishes and while I was a fan of the Edwardian Script Mr.D was decidedly not.  Not to mention he hated the line spacing for Snell Roundhand. Although I enjoyed tracing these fonts, I doubt I would enjoy them by the 20th envelope.

As for the most popular fonts – English and Savoey? They’re both winners!

I’m awful at making decisions (in case you hadn’t noticed) which is why instead of forcing myself to choose one font I just went with both.  UK invites will receive invites addressed in Savoye with clear postcodes and gold (smudgeproof/waterprooft) ink.

While US invites will be addressed using the English font with white ink and non-abbreviated States.

Have no worries hive, these are only trial runs! I’ll be doing quite a bit more practice (while mentally screaming LESS IS MORE!) before I take my pen to the real envelopes.

Have you tried “trial runs” for your DIY projects or did you just jump in?