Wedding Card Album

Now for a change of pace, more crafts! This time it's a wedding related one. I've been wanting to make an album of all the lovely cards we received from the wedding. Here's my inspiration: Card Album Tutorial at Something Turquoise. I'm not going to do my own step by step on this one so definitly click the link if you want to make one. Instead, I'll show you how it turned out and give you some tips.

First things first, the album ring. I searched Joann's and Micheal's stores and websites for that silly thing. Every employee and crafter swore they carried them, but alas no longer seemed to. They only had album kits containing an album ring, card board, scrapbooking paper, plastic sheets and embellishments. It seems some of the companies that make these have gone out of business. At any rate I obtained a pack of 3 from Amazon in the end. I wanted a couple so I can do Christmas card albums later.

Other than finding the ring most of the project was pretty straight forward. I think my ring was 1.5" and I wish I gotten a slightly bigger one. I used less ribbon than she did because it was my last piece of ribbon from the wedding. I would have put grommets in the covers, in hindsight. Don't you love my little vine on the inside cover? The whole thing took me three nap times so in the neighborhood of 6hrs.

I'm completely thrilled at the end result! It's totally worth the time it takes.

Our Paper Anniversary

We've come to the end of our newly wed status (not that we ever really were). One year married. We made all kinds of plans for what we would do on our first anniversary, but life happened. We were going to eat at the lovely restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner, but with Leeloo only one day post-op and all the stress lately I just wanted a low key dinner near by and a couple of drinks.

It took three tries to find a restaurant close to home without a ridiculousness wait. Forty-five minutes to an hour, really? On a THURSDAY? I know not all of those people were married on Wednesday a year ago. Third time was the charm and we waltzed in and were seated immediately. It was even happy hour. We had a lovely dinner. We toasted...um...something...I think maybe we just said Sláinte! It means "to your health" in Irish. We were just so relieved to take a moment for ourselves. Once we'd had our fill we decided to take a walk.

After our walk we were both ready to get home. I'd given Mike his present as soon as it came in. I ordered him an LED shower head. We've nicknamed it the "rainbow shower." It's a big hit with Mike and the kids. My gift was an upgrade to my engagement ring setting, but my current side stones didn't fit so that's on the back burner for now. When we got home the kids were still awake watching Wreck it Ralph 3D in their jammies. So, I told Mike to cut everyone a piece of of cake from our top tier.

I was very nervous. Year old cake...um...yum? I had even threatened to throw it out once or twice because it took up valuable freezer space. I was completely reassured by how beautiful it still looked. Can you believe that was in the freezer for a year? I mean look at it! It tasted as good as I remembered. Mint chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. Everyone was pleased. I fully intend to contact our baker and tell her so. Once the kids had their cake and brushed their teeth it was off to bed. Mike and I had a quiet evening of old Sci-fi TV. It was lovely. Bring on year two!

Weddings as a Job

So, I haven't been broadcasting it because it wasn't official and it's still in the early phases, but I started my own event planning company. It's called Ready, Set, Happily Ever After Events. I got my first wedding clients last month and it's going very well. I recommended the venue they chose. We're setting up vendor meetings and talking about invitation design now. My business name as of Friday is officially recognized by the county as belonging to me. Now it was time to design a website, business cards, etc.

I knew I wanted it to be purple, fairy tale related and kind of different, but not exactly what my logo should be. I was image searching for inspiration and I found this:

Fairy Tale by Inessa Emilia

I knew I wanted something just like that. I even loved the colors. I couldn't get in touch with the photographer to get permission to use her image. It also just seemed simpler to take one of my own. I contacted the photographer who had taken my maternity photos because I knew she had done commercial photography.

Today, I took Riley and a bag full of tu-tus and tights to the studio. At first she was thrilled to put on dress up clothes, but when we started giving her direction and trying to double up tu-tus she wasn't pleased. It was a challenge, but still better than the newborn session where she peed all over me.

In the end we decided to go with a waist down shot of running legs. You know because of the "Ready, Set" part. The tu-tu, tights and wand for the "happily ever after." I should have it in a few days. I'm so excited!

Here are some behind the scenes shots.

Drinkin', Dancing & Speechifyin'

It was a wonderful wedding for so many reasons. I love the bride and groom very much and have for a long time so seeing them make it official with a weekend full of personal touches was...well, wonderful. They held their shindig outside of Boston in a picturesque spot surrounded by woods. It was a big white hostel with big hills to roll or run down.

About 30 of us including the bride and groom stayed on site. It was fun, like summer camp, but with grown ups. There were kids both Isaac and Riley's age there too. The morning of the wedding there was a big, big breakfast and then everyone pitched in setting things up. After breakfast they had lawn games and everyone had a chance to mingle.

The ceremony backdrop was breathtaking:


Instead of choosing two wedding colors they choose the whole rainbow. It was a colorful event in every sense of the word.


They wrote their own vows and bound themselves with brightly colored pieces of fabric that guests had written one word wishes for their marriage on. It was a brief and delightful ceremony.

Then it was off to the tent to party. We had a buffet of barbecue treats for dinner complete with cornbread and mac and cheese. At which which point as the bride and groom had so decreed there was much "drinkin', dancin' and speechifyin'".

It was an amazing night and quite a party. Everyone, especially the kids, cut a rug at every opportunity. They guests really celebrate(unlike the guests at our Wednesday night wedding would fled early) no one wanted it to end. Which is saying a lot because I was up at 5am that morning. Lovely, lovely wedding. Despite the challenges (ahem Riley & Isaac this glare is for you) it was a wonderful, memorable, fun wedding.

Here Comes The Bride

My wedding was over a month ago now, but apparently it's still on Riley's mind. She came out of her room and said "I'm a bride!". "Mommy, I say I DO!!" "Mommy you be a flower girl. I'll get you a baskick."

We'll be saving these pictures for her bridal shower some day. (:

Originally posted at: The Hedgehog Blog

Professional Pictures

I made my photographer's blog this weekend. Lovely.

You can see all the pictures he posted at Jason Angelini Photography

One Month Married

Remember when I posted that I ran around telling people I was getting married soon and nobody cared? Well, a month in, I found them: health insurance and car insurance. That's the sum total of who cares who cares (ex-significant others not withstanding). Life is largely the same. I've been sporting a shorter haircut post honeymoon which Mike surprisingly liked right away. I've yet to check off all my "it can wait until after the wedding" to dos. All of our wedding gifts (expect the frames because we're waiting for pictures) are in use. I did manage to finish my thank you cards even if it took an additional week to get the stamps to mail the last batch. I feel good about that. Today I even got my vendor reviews down to the final 3. As far as post wedding goals go I took a schedule for sewing classes, but haven't signed up yet. In a week or two I should be able to see my professional wedding pictures and video. I can't wait. The wedding is getting a little hazy.

I've yet to check the Mrs. box on a form or call Mike my husband to a stranger. I have gotten my first "just because" flowers as a married woman. Also with the recent news that Isaac's mother is expecting (number 7), I cling to my now legal stepmother status. Some more pictures have trickled in from friends and family which is super exciting. Including this proof that I wasn't exaggerating about packing up two carloads of stuff at the end of the night. After a month it's finally amusing what a disaster the end of the night was.

It's nice to have it over and done with. Except I'm not used to not having an unrelenting to do list and a pressing deadline. It can be down right disorienting after years of planning a single event. Overall I really enjoyed planning, but I'm glad it's over. Planning events is fun, but the added emotional intensity surrounding your own wedding makes it...well less fun. I want to help other people plan. I learned a lot from my experience and I think I'd be a huge help to other brides.

In the meantime I have the kids' birthday parties to start thinking about. They'll be 3 and 10 this year. Whoa. This is one of my favorite guest photos with Riley throwing the petals in great bursts. Flower fireworks. She did such a good job. Standing on the stool turned out great. We use it all the time now. Riley's uses it as a little desk or to climb into her highchair by herself. It really is pretty much back to normal around here, except I don't worry about ring checkers or dread explaining our relationship status to those I don't know very well. Now I can sum it up in one word, married. Anyone who probes deeper will surely be confused by us being together 5yrs and having a 9yr old and 2yr old having only just been married, ha, ha!.