a few final wedding projects...

i'm BAAAAAAAAAACK!

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i kept a few wedding projects until the last minute.  i'm a bit of a procrastinator, i have to admit...  :)

anyway, one of the last minute projects that we wanted to do was a cake topper for the grooms cake.  kyle had found some really cute polymer clay ones online that i became obsessed with, so i decided to recreate some (for, well, a lot cheaper than we could have purchased them for.  just an fyi).  i adore penguins, so he had found some really cute ones.

so a trip to michael's, two bags of pluffy and about two hours later, we had our penguin groom's cake topper!

here they are in all their little penguin glory:

i painted the bride's bow red and the groom's tie aqua.  i LOVED them!  when i get the professional pictures, i'll be sure to post a few!  i figured i'd have to settle for something not quite as cool as what he had found online, but i guess those two years of ceramics in college really paid off!  yay, fine arts!

project total:

clay - 2 bags of clay at $2.99 (used a 40% off coupon)

paint - 2 bottles of paint at $.99

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around $8

$160 cake topper found online can suck it!

engagement pictures

i know i'm way late getting these up here, since i've had the cd for like...oh...6 months?  i dunno, it's been a while anyway.


here's our engagement pictures!  we had a blast taking them.  even kyle opened up a bit and SMILED.  now that never happens.  or at least rarely happens.  in photos.  i mean he smiles in real life all the time, just not in photos.  i'm glad our package included engagement pictures, it was a great way to get to know our photographer before the wedding and see how she works and so she can get to know our personalities a little.


all photos by jackie cooper, check her out at jackiecooperphoto.com.

i think this is one of my favorites.  i look like i have a secret or something...

jackie appeased us by letting us bring along the brats.  look at sly, such a model.

i love this one!

we had an impromptu shoot at the house when we went to change.

i heart sun flare!

another favorite.  we are hoping to get one just like this during the wedding with all the guests in the background!  i can't wait to see that one!

doesn't it look like he likes me or something?!?  :)

this is over by my work, so i threw this one in there, and i love that necklace that i happened to find at my grandparents house the last time i was there.

LOVE!  peaks of the exploration place, looking into the future, and the colors look amazing in this.  it was almost pitch black when she took this, but i love it anyway!

when the boy is away...

...the crafter will play!

so, probably something you don't know unless you have been one of the poor souls that has had to listen to me drone on and on about my wedding, is that i'm pretty much DIYing the shiz outta my wedding.  why?  because i love to craft.  and i love weddings.  and i'm cheap.  so why not?  :)

[that being said, i'm SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for the crew i have handling a lot of the projects that i took on and am now like, "holy crap, i'm getting married in almost insertnumberofdaysatthetime days and i don't have this insertrandomprojecthere done yet!"  they have SAVED MY ASS on a lot of this.]

more on the awesome people helping me out later, but i thought this was hilarious.  i found it via weddingsandcookies who found it via 100layercake (side note: how did i miss this?  damn you google reader and my ability to fly through super fast while trying to decide what to read!!!)  and it's totally appropriate being that i'm going to attempt to tackle over half of my "wedding to-do list" this weekend.

anyway...this is awesome.  and so true.  i needed this about, OOOOOOOOOH, 8 or so months ago.  but that's okay, i'll survive, thanks to my awesome crafting crew!  enjoy.

source

ummm...'scuse me?

that's what i said when i found out that all the candles at my venue have to be encased in a candle holder that covers the flame by TWO INCHES.  now, let me tell you, in the wedding votive world, that's a lot.  like it might as well be friggin' twelve inches.  sheesh.
hopefully you remember what i told you i'm doing for my flowers, and since i did finally find a votive candle holder that did cover the flame by two inches, i wanted to show you what they are!


are you ready for this?


blue. mason. jars.


okay, so not as exciting at some people think, but i adore them.  and they remind me of my grandmother (who, coincidentally, i got most of my jars from...)


feast your eyes on some candle jar porn:

source

source

source

seriously, i'm in love with these and i can't wait to see it all put together on the big day.

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in other big news, our house is OFFICIALLY clean!  like really and actually clean!  kyle's grandparents came into town this week to see his great aunt (who lives nearby) and they wanted to see the house, so we spent a few days picking up and organizing all our crap.  it's SO NICE to be organized.  huge relief.  and now i can focus on wedding invites this weekend!  i also have my first dress fitting, so my mom is coming back to wichita to spend the weekend, so it will be a wedding filled weekend!  yay!

my "other" wedding

the other day, i found my "other" wedding.  you know, the wedding that i would have planned if i were to get married again.  (hey, i just thought of this....there's still time for vow renewals!)

ironically, it's still in my color scheme, which is the main reason i clicked on it...to get some inspiration/ideas for my programs.

i am LOOOVING this wedding...80s high school sweethearts?!?  hello, if that doesn't scream "catie" than i don't know what does.  i mean, other than "retroish family-affair kid-friendly i-do-what-i-want awesomeness" which is what my real wedding is.  :)

oh my, i might just have to start blogging about wedding inspiration, because it just makes me smile every day!  :)

i love a good chair.  i can't help it, i'm an interior designer for christ's sake.  and the bunting made out of an old school jump rope?  friggin' adorable!

oh, handwritten font...i SO wanted you for my invites...but you just didn't fit anywhere!  sigh....how cute would it have been if they put an arrow through that heart?  just sayin...

a report card style menu and schedule of events?  adorable!

i love hand drawn elements.  i almost hand drew a few antique frames for my invites and scanned them in, but in the end, i really like what i did (post to come...eventually).  if a cassette doesn't represent the 80s, than i don't know what does!

i love their outfits...that blusher veil is awesome.  don't show kyle though, he'll want to wear a hat to our wedding...i wanted a short dress at first, but changed my mind later.  i got the best of both worlds though, i'm wearing a short dress out to the bars after the reception (yes, you read that right, we are going to the bars after the reception).

okay...ONE MORE!  i love this idea of the "pass a note" guest book, too cute!  we are doing a "recipe for love" guest book...that i have yet to complete!  i did, however, locate and spray paint a recipe card tin (thanks, mom!)

all images from http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/2010/06/23/1980s-retro-high-school-love-wedding-ideas/  and http://www.thesweetestoccasion.com/2010/06/80s-school-theme-wedding-ideas/

milk glass vases

so, i said i was going to work on blogging some more...here we go!  i think i've officially annoyed and bored the crap out of everyone in my life by telling them all about my wedding, so i'll just move on to you all!


okay, so this is probably a repeat of some of you.


deal with it.

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early on in our engagement, i started gathering information from all my recently married friends on where to find inspiration and ideas.  one of the best websites, pointed out by my friend megan, was stylemepretty.com.

oh. emm. gee.

love them, loooooove them!  they have the most gorgeous weddings and inspirations i've ever seen!

anyways...one of the things that kept popping up on SMP was milk glass vases.  i LOVED the idea!  i started gathering some other inspiration images and went to my florist (aka, my mom's friend Cindy) and she also loved the idea!

here's a few of the pics i've been gathering:

seriously, what's not to love about those vases!?!

so i started searching online and found that milk glass vases are very expensive.  don't believe me?  check out ebay.  yikes!

being the thrifty self i am, i started scouring thrift shops here in wichita.

SCORE!  i've been able to find most of my vases in varying prices, but the majority have been for under a buck.

dumb ol' ebay.

i'm not even going to tell you how many i've collected.  it's a lot.  an embarrassing amount.  :)  more than enough for 3-5 vases per table, which was my goal.  and i've got a few extra that i gathered just for myself.  i may have opened a giant can of worms here...

happy father's day!

well, i've been a failure as a blogger lately.  i promise to get some wedding projects ready to post soon...


in the mean time.


happy father's day to my dear old dad (who didn't pick up the phone this evening, but it's okay, because neither did kyle's dad...) and to all the dad's out there!

have a great one!