Disney Videos

Ok, I love all things Disney, but it breaks my heart that they mixed the original with one of the straight to video sequels here. Now, I've seen the sequels because I've lived in desperate hope of Prince Charming having a personality someday. I enjoyed them on some level, but you really shouldn't mess with the original. My absolute favorite moment in Cinderella is the the look they give each other as their carriage pulls away right before they pan out to reveal the page says "And They Lived Happily Ever After". Close second is when her shoe falls off and her new father in law replaces it and blushes at her thank you kiss on the forehead. Sigh.

Every little girl who dreamed of being a Disney princess gets a shot now. Why did it take so long for this to happen? Granted I couldn't afford the Disney princess dream of my dreams, but knowing it exists is exciting. My favorite is the first Aurora dress.

Best musical number ever. I may have seen it 100's of millions of times.

Vow Inspiration: Literary

General Sources

• Shakespeare (in general & Midsummer Night's Dream specifically)
• Dear Writer, Dear Actress: The Letters of Anton Chekhov & Olga Knipper
• Jewels of the Sun
Ok, it's a Nora Roberts novel, but it has a fairy prince with a love curse so I'm hoping it'll yield some theme related inspiration. I read the trilogy the spring I went to Ireland and really enjoyed them, but this is the only one I own. This one is the first book then there's Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea
• Dr. Seuss, don't laugh he made a lot of really good points. I may just use him for a reading though.
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I read it before I met Mike and then on a road trip we took turns reading it to each other it's so good. I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite Shakespeare quotes (that I used on my Save the Dates and wedding website) is from Comedy of Errors:
“It is thyself, mine own self's better part,
Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart,
My food, my fortune and my sweet hope's aim,
My sole earth's heaven and my heaven's claim."
I also love this quote about rings from Richard III
Look, how this ring encompasseth finger;
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart.
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted servant may
But beg one favor at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness forever.
You get the idea. No one does mushy stuff better than The Bard. There's a lot to choose from.

I don't want to give too much away, but here's a nice one Time Traveler's Wife:
There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.
And
But you make me happy. It's living up to being happy that's the difficult part.

If you wrote your own vows/ceremony what books did you use for inspiration? What were your readings?

More Unlikely Vow Inspiration

Play it from 3:40, They have escaped the country club ceremony that was forced upon them and are kneeling in the grass looking into each others eyes. The words aren't right for Mike and I, but I love the honesty and intimacy of their moment.
Dharma: I, Dharma Freedom Finkelstein promise to never ever become my mother.
Greg: Or my mother.
Dharma: Like that's possible.
Greg: I, Gregory not saying the middle name Montgomery promise I will not bottle up my feelings for 30yrs and spew them like a volcano at our childrens' wedding.
Dharma: Aww, that's a good one.
Greg: Thank you.
Dharma: I promise to let you be you and me be me.
Greg: (whispering) Thank you.
Dharma: As long as every now and then we get naked and switch.
Greg: Uh-Ok. Do you promise to always look at me with that light in your eyes?
Dharma: (Nods) If you promise to always brush my hair off my face like that. (kissing) And kiss me like that.
Greg: You make me feel like the luckiest man in the world.

And then they dance by themselves in the grass. So, romantic. This is what I was trying to explain about having a moment that's just us during the first look photos. I want what Jim and Pam had. An intimate moment that was theirs and then an amazing time with friends.

I just want to take a moment for us, there have been so very few. Then I want to make real promises we'll try to keep every day, together. I want to make them in front of my friends and family. I want to laugh and have a good time. I want to surprise people. I want an unforgettable celebration.

By the way I am not an uncultured couch potato. My post of literary vow inspiration is still in the works.

As You Wish...

Movie/Televison Quote Inspiration

Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind Sigh. The Princess Bride

Post it note vows:
I promise to love you even when I hate you.
I will never run, ever.
Take care of each other when we're old and smelly.
This is forever.
They sign their vows and kiss.

So this I am sure - you are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart beats for you. On this day, the day of our wedding I promise you this: - I promise you me. Grey's Anatomy

It seems right now that all I've ever done in my life is making my way here to you. The Bridges of Madison County

I take the good with the bad. I can't love people in pieces. I only know one way to love my lord, and that is body and heart and soul First Knight

I love you with every cell, with every atom. I love you on a subatomic level. Flubber

Love is stronger than life. It reaches beyond the dark shadow of death. Laura

So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day The Notebook

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. To Love and Be Loved

I will love you fiercely and sweetly. And I look forward to sharing this great life with you. Thank you for marrying me. Rachel Getting Married

May you never steal, lie or cheat.
But if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows.
And if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life.
And if you must cheat, then please cheat death, because I couldn’t live a day without you. Leap Year

I promise never to take you for granted
Or utter a word unkind
Never allow my affections to be recanted
Or stop marveling at your behind Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with. Juno

Etsy Strikes Again

As you know my dress is being made by an Etsy designer (PantorabyAndrea). My headpiece was made by an Etsy seller mignonnehandmade . We decided on custom wood invitations through wood chick studios on Etsy. Here's some of their work.
We also recently decided on the bridesmaid's necklace.
by JenniferMoonDesigns on Etsy. I've looked for all manner of wedding related things (& bought some). More often than purchases what I get from Etsy is inspiration.

Here's the card box inspiration I found once I decided to do a bird's nest from whitetulipboutique

There's a lot treasures on Etsy like these:
(Etsy Seller TheGeneration). Wouldn't they look beautiful with my dress? I'm working on making something like it in my size for less than $78.

I also want to take a whack projects like these (I'm not sure of the sellers I was keeping them on my inspiration list):



.

Etsy is kind of like the enchanted woods of Midsummer Night's Dream full of beautiful things, a place you could lost in forever and not without danger.

Not Everyone Loves A Theme...

I have been looking up "fairy wedding", "fairy bride" and "enchanted forest wedding" for months. Unfortunately, this mainly yielded cheesy images of brides in Tinkerbell inspired dresses and grooms in tights. Not what I envision. Today, I searched "Midsummer Night's Dream wedding" and found this image:

When I saw it I thought "now that's classy looking, even though it's costumes." Boy, was I surprised to read the attached article. It was just downright rude. See for yourself :
Different Perspective

This blogger: Midsummer Night's Dream Wedding, 102 of her readers and I disagree!

It can be done with tremendous beauty, but our wedding will not feature costumes. The only fairy wings will be on the 2yr olds, where I feel they belong. I am inspired by, not re-creating Midsummer. I am offended on these peoples' behalf for all the ugly things that girl said.

Here's the original post and images: Wedding Inspirasi. How anyone can make fun of such beautiful images is beyond me. Philistines!

The Wedding Notebook

I started a wedding notebook years ago and for the most part I'm still drawing inspiration from the same images. Here's the collage I made on the front:

And here's the back:

It's just a three ring binder full of pages ripped from wedding magazines, pages printed from the internet, drawings and lots of hand written notes. Before even the first divider are two plastic sleeves holding those comical fantasies I had the nerve to call budgets once upon a time. There's also a clear pencil pouch containing the highlighter and paper clips with which I attack every wedding magazine. That pouch also contains business cards representing the good, the bad and the mysterious venders I have dealt with thus far. Under all that is the first tab which simply says "Dress".

This is the very first thing I did when wedding thoughts seeped into my brain. Before I even knew it was a possibility I designed this dress online. Everything else in the dress tab is loosely based on this.

Including this picture Lara did of me in my altered Alfred Angelo gown.

This ended up being one of the dresses I tried on at my appointment with the troll if you recall, it was the one that made me cry. It looked much better on me.

There's even this gorgeous pale green designer gown that costs more than my car, sigh.

The next tab is called wedding party. This tab has what you'd expect it to. Pictures of bridesmaid's dresses and flower girl dresses. It also has an amazing picture Mike made in paint shop of himself and some groomsmen:

That's some funny stuff! We had originally liked the idea of lizard lapel pins instead of boutonnieres, but I'm pretty sure we've scraped that. We were imagining lizards here and there before I don't remember why and Mike made this just for laughs:

There is of course a tab labeled "Rings/Vows", but you've already seen those. Beyond that is the "venue" tab. It contains a well worn blueprint of the space and copious hand written notes on cost breakdown, rules and impressions. The next page is crisp and neatly titled in red ink "Plan B Venues" which has then been highlighted in yellow. It has a list of 5 alternative venues. They are listed with their names and prices, but the only one with contact info and indepth notes is the first one which has 2 stars next to it. USF Botanical Gardens the only place besides Sunken Gardens we really considered.

After that somber and straight forward group is "Cake/Catering". It is important to note in that case I wrote cake four years ago and only a few weeks ago added catering. In the original planning process we never settled on a caterer and it was an emotional subject for us (being told who we could use). This go around I have picked and budgeted the meal and need only confirm my date (once I have it (twitch, twitch)). Here are some cake inspiration:

Of course I have one from Ace of Cakes! It's actually pretty simplistic for them. Too bad I'm not getting married anywhere near that bakery.

I'm very much in love with a climbing vine and very opposed to fondant that looks like play dough.

After cakes is the second to last tab titled "Flowers and Decor" it's full of lovely things that the florist informed me are not in season, can't be cut for bouquets or were unidentifiable. Darn magazines. I'll get into all that in its own post. Look at this pretty stuff:

I originally wanted lots and lots of green flowers. I think I've changed my mind completely on that.

Flower girl head pieces. So, beautiful. After green purple is my favorite color (depending on shade).

Anemonies remind me of Alice in Wonderland for some reason. They make me happy, they are in season and can be cut. Phew!

This had to cost a fortune, but it's breath taking.

The only non-floral thing in the bunch. I'd love to have hundreds of lanterns with twinkling candles, but candles are a big no, no and there are budget restrictions. Hopefully, we'll have one or two with led candles to light our way. Writing that flooded my head with quotes from Romeo and Juilet. Nice to think of, but not the Shakespearian work I'm trying to conjur.

Last of all is the "Invites/DIY" tab. One of the only things behind it that I was sticking with was this awesome idea for making your own cake stand:

Thanks Martha! Such a simple, but fun idea. That was until I saw this:

Amazing! Perfect for my enchanted fairy forrest wedding with my climbing vine cake atop it. I get chills just thinking of it.

I hope you enjoyed your guided tour of the notebook that was. Soon it will be striped of inspiration to make room for reality. It'll soon hold contracts, recpits and pictures of the actual dresses and flowers. It's sad, but no less exciting.