Happy Thanksgiving!

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I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We're hosting our 2nd annual Orphan Thanksgiving for all of our friends who are away from their families! Should be a good time and a much needed break!

I'm already feeling better than I did yesterday about all things wedding, so hopefully once Monday rolls around, I'll be back in full force! Thanks for all the support too!

Have a safe and wonderful long weekend!

And be careful shopping if you are brave enough to go out!

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It finally happened

**WARNING-LONG VENT AHEAD**

I think I've reached my breaking point! After reading through many bridal blogs, I think it's normal (but you probably shouldn't tell me if it isn't)!

I'M SICK OF PLANNING THIS WEDDING AND WANT TO ELOPE AND BE DONE WITH IT!

I do feel a little bit better after putting that out there, but I still feel like doing this...

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Banging my head against a wall...in case you can't tell!

I knew this day would come eventually and to be honest, I thought it would have come a lot sooner! I feel like I'm in limbo right now. I feel like we have a lot of the planning done, but there isn't much more I can do right now, but feel like I should be spending every spare minute on wedding details.

I know the BM dress fiasco shouldn't have bothered me that much, but it did. The dresses should be ordered tomorrow or Friday, so I am feeling better about that.

My other stress has been the guest list! We've had our guest list together for quite a while, but the thing it didn't include...addresses! I hate mailing addresses! I've sent out quite a few emails, sent Facebook messages and every other form of communication I can think of to get some people's addresses, but they are just not giving them up! Mr. 2SB has some friends on the list that I 1) have never met and 2) he doesn't know where they are. I have contacted the friends of his that I know how for their addresses, but he's got a list of 32 addresses that he needs to get by Thursday! (insert laughing here!) He was to work on his portion of the guest list while I was gone last week. He.Got.3. Yes, 3! He knows the deadline is Thanksgiving and is still dragging his feet! He's working on Friday, so my project was going to be to get the STD's ready to mail! I don't want to sit down every time he gets an address from now until who knows when and get it ready to mail. I'm printing all the addresses on sage mailing labels, so it would be nice and easy to have all the addresses at once and print once, not any more than that!

I'm not just waiting on Mr. 2SB, I'm also waiting on our parents! We are letting them each invite 15 couples (when you're guest list is reaching 400...what's another 30 people, right? But apparently neither side is inviting the full 30). I sent my mom the list a few weeks ago. She's assured me I'll have it by tomorrow. However, Mr. 2SB's relationship with his parents is somewhat strained. His parents are older and communication isn't always smooth. He said he emailed the list to his parents when I was gone. However, when I got home last Wednesday, there was an email still on the computer to his parents, but it wasn't sent. I think I finally got him to send it on Thursday. I asked last night if he had heard anything back and he said no. So he called his mom, he had sent it to the wrong email address! His mom called 2 hours later with some questions, so I know she was working on it and he did tell her we would like it back ASAP! Bless her heart for being so understanding, but I'm just not sure when I'm going to get that back.

So that's where I'm at! Although I'm also stressed that there is only 4 weeks to Christmas and I have not bought one present! That also means I have 3 weeks to set up appointments with our vendors while we're back in MN. And we're having Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment for our friends too!

Sorry for the vent/rant if you made it all the way through! I swear I'm not usually like this, but my face is also showing my stress (I feel like I'm in puberty again!). I may not post much this week, but I'm hoping I feel better after getting a portion of the STD's out this weekend!

Did you hit a wall in your wedding planning? When did it happen and how did you work through it?

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Ladies attire...Round 6

Previous Posts in this series:
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5

I'm hoping this is my last post regarding the BM dresses, but with the way it's been going, I have a feeling it won't be!

So we left off that the BM's were picking their top 2 dress by Halloween. Well, I gave a week extension to 2 of the BM's who didn't have time during the previous 2 month window. One got it done the 1st day of the extension window. The 2nd BM, got it done last week...2 weeks late! I was getting really frustrated because I just wanted the dresses ordered so we could move on to other things, but it wasn't working out.

Before the last BM got back to me about her choices, I decided that they would be wearing style 301.

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The last BM gave me her choices, but I had told her that I had already decided to go with 301. Since it took her so long, I decided she didn't really get an opinion! All girls had this style in their top 3, so I made the decision! I didn't want to do this, but it felt good! Instead of worrying about who was wearing which style and how the different fabrics would look together, even though I really didn't care, I just made the decision!

So, I was about to give the girls the information to call in to the local bridal shop who was going to match my Netbride quote, when I ran into an issue! I had my mom go to the shop to confirm the sash color and while she was there, the bridal store owner whipped out a different price...$35 dollars more than the previously agreed price! So my mom called and tried to have her meet the price again, but she was going back on her word and refused to meet my quote. I was pretty frustrated at this point because I was in MD for work and my meetings didn't go well, and then I was dealing with this issue. I almost threw in the towel and told the BM's to just go get any black dress. Issue over!

Once I calmed down a little, I sent an email to the BM's to see what they wanted to do. Their choices were to order from the local shop and pay more (I was going to split the difference with them) or order from Netbride. They all decided to order from Netbride. They were in the same position I was, if the bridal shop owner was going to go back on her word, then we weren't going to give her any business! Well, not any, my dress is still there I guess! It's a little mean and harsh, but when my mom had gone in to talk to her about the price, my mom wrote everything down. She didn't have the lady sign, but whatever! I understand that times are tough and the bridal shop owner's husband is losing his job at the end of the year, but it's tough on my BM's too and they get my loyalty!

So, my sister/MOH has graciously offered to order all the dresses on her credit card and the other BM's will reimburse her, so the dye lot will be the same! The BM's were supposed to get their sized to my sister/MOH by today, so she could order these early next week. I don't know what the status of this is, but hopefully all the sizes are in. I'm hoping to confirm with my sister/MOH this weekend, but I'm really looking forward to the dresses being ordered!

My mom called today and said that the bridal store owner could get a different designer's dress that was very similar to 301 for $125. I said no because the hassle was already too much and the girls would have to go and get fitted again and to me, it wasn't worth it! Do you think I made the right decision?

Did you have drama when ordering your BM dresses or did it go easy?
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I'm back!

I made it back from the East coast on Wednesday afternoon! I'm still catching up on sleep and trying to become sane again, but I should be able to post some this afternoon!

I hardly remember writing this post, so I apologize for my rambling! I guess lack of sleep and traveling got the best of me!

Hope you all had a good week, and I've been keeping up with most of my Google Reader blogs, so I've been lurking and will be out of hiding soon!
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Something made me smile today!

I didn't think I would have time to post today, but I'm currently sitting on the floor waiting for my 3rd and final flight to take off. Luckily for me, or not so much, my flight is delayed! Boo! The next time I fly to New York, I'm staying! La Guardia airport is not a fun place to navigate if you've never been and you have to switch airlines!

Anyway, getting back on track, I decided to attempt to design our invites after my success with our STD's. So I was working on the invites on flight #2 and the passenger next to me (who was a female around my age...I didn't want to say girl next to me, sounds too young but lady next to me sounds too old...yes I've been going on about 4 hours of sleep all day and probably shouldn't be posting, but hopefully you're at least smiling due to my scattered brain today!) looked over at what I was doing. I was working on GIMP again and she asked if I was a graphic designer! WOW! I kind of laughed and said no. She seemed suprised and said what I was doing looked great! I nervously asked if she was a graphic designer and thankfully she said no, she was in marketing and paid people to do what I was doing!

Being a self-taught, not even close to becoming a graphic designer, that comment made me feel good!

I'm gonna stop now and go get some caffiene! Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Do you get an unexpected compliment when working on any of your DIY projects?
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Centerpiece Cakes...Part 3

Previous Post in this Series:

Part 1
Part 2

I almost didn't write this today and I know no one is sitting on pins and needles waiting, but if I don't do it today...you would have had to waited until next Thursday! GASP! (I'm leaving tomorrow AM to go to Baltimore. I have work meeting Monday and Tuesday and one of my BM's live there, so I'm flying out early to hang out with her and her hubby! I was MOH in her wedding this past May and we didn't think we'd see each other again until my wedding, so we're both SUPER excited!)

Anyway, I re-read through Part 2 and wanted to clarify one thing. Once you put anything through the Xyron, it makes it into a "sticker"! The ribbon had adhesive on one side that was stuck to paper and when you are ready to use it, you peel the ribbon off the paper and onto whatever you are making. So easy and so fun! So fun in fact I came home from work one day and my new buddy (that's the Xyron) was sitting in the kitchen. Since it's just Mr. 2SB and I living in sin, I knew it was him. Unless I was making stickers in my sleep...nope...that wasn't it! He was working on something for work and tried to use it. It didn't work for his project, but could definitely work for yours! (No, I'm not getting paid by Xyron to pimp out their products...I just love mine so much!)

Alright, so now that we had bases, I needed to find a plate or something that the cakes could actually sit on.

Idea #1 - Cake board covered with black foil

This idea could have worked, I don't know because I never tested it out. I realized that cake boards are not super sturdy and I wasn't willing to risk it.

Idea #2 - Clear plate

I did buy a clear plate and tested it out. It looked bad! Just take my word for it, which you'll have to do anyway because I don't have any pictures!

Idea #3 - Black Plate

This is the winning idea! After decided we liked this idea the best, the hunt was on for inexpensive black plates. I talked to our venue and we are going to have 16 people at each table, so when I started talking to potential cake vendors, I mentioned that the cakes would have to serve that many. One vendor said an 8 inch cake would work. So I figured a 10 inch plate would work perfect! So the hunt was on!

We were shopping at Ikea one day and I had found this plate. It's 10 inches and for $2.99 ea, it was a front runner for a while! I bought one to take home. There is an Ikea in MN, so I was just going to buy them on a future visit.

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A few weeks later I was at Wal-Mart. (Side note - I don't like shopping here, but there was one really close to our old apartment, so I usually ended up there when I needed something. The closest Target was in a mall with really bad parking! So please don't lecture me for shopping at Wal-Mart!) I found a very similar plate to the one above, but it was cheaper! I believe it was around $1.50. I'm not mathematician, but that's half the price! When you need at least 20 of these, that's at least $30 in savings! There's a Wal-Mart in my hometown, so that was even easier!

A few months after that, I was reading Amber's blog (who's post wedding blog is here) and she was selling black charger plates that she used for her centerpieces (you can see pictures by following the centerpieces link). I can't remember how many I got (20 or so) for $30. So they were at least the same price as the Wal-Mart plates, but they were sparkly and looked better! So I paid her and my lovely mom picked them up!

So the bases and the plates are in the same location, but not quite assembled yet! I believe that will be done over Xmas and some adult drinks!

So here is the picture of the stand by itself. This picture was the first one I made with the hot glue gun. If you look close you can see the bumps. Just imagine a black plate! (You can see it with a white plate here.) I promise to post pictures after they are assembled. So you'll have to wait around 2 months for Part 4 of this series!


Did any of your DIY projects take a while to come full circle?

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Centerpiece Cakes...Part 2

Previous Post in this Series:

Part 1

So last we left off, I had found the pipe that was to be the base for my cake stands. I had stopped by JoAnn Fabrics to find the ribbon that would become our wedding colors. I decided that grosgrain ribbon would give the stands a textured look. I didn't want to go with satin or flat ribbon because there is a pieces that sticks out on the pipes, so I figured the ridges of the grosgrain would minimize the appearance of the bump.

I played with a few different color schemes, but liked the look of black, sage green and a little bit of bright pink. I chose Offray ribbon in the following colors.

For the green, Offray color "Spring Moss"

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For you visual people, Offray color "black"

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For the pink accent, Offray color "Colonial Rose"

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I had the ribbon and pipe, now how was I going to get the ribbon to stay on the pipe? Here is my trial and error with adhesives.

Trial # 1 - Hot Glue Gun

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The the glue really held the ribbon on the pipe, but there was one BIG problem. When the glue dried, it was really hard and bumpy. You could see exactly where I put the glue. Not the look I was going for.

Trial # 2 - Elmer's Craft Bond Multi-Purpose Spray Adhesive

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The spray adhesive (make sure to use it outside...it has some strong fumes) eliminated the bumps that the glue gun gave, but the adhesive wasn't strong enough to hold the ribbon on the pipe.

At the same time I ran into a wall with what other adhesives to use, I saw a post on WeddingBee from another bride who was trying to re-create Martha Stewarts ribbon cylinders. The other readers had suggested my next and final trial!

Trail #3 - Xyron Sticker Maker

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Now, I have to admit, I was skeptical when I first whipped out this bad boy, but I shouldn't have been! I bought the 510 model because I could run the 5 strips I needed for 1 stand through at one time. Each stand has two strips of black, two of green and one pink. They could all fit through at one time and that made me REALLY happy! You can get either permanent or re-positionable cartridges, but I stuck with the permanent. I also treated each of the ends with Fray Check, which seemed to work out great! (If you want more information about how this machine works, just let me know!)

I decorated all the pipes when the Olympics were on! So the bases are all done. When we flew to MN a few weekends ago, I checked the box for $15. I didn't think I could ship them for any cheaper. So, they are in the location of the wedding!

The hunt for the plates is up next in round 3!

Did you have trial and error during your DIY projects? Did you get frustrated and quit or keep going?

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Centerpiece Cakes...Part 1

When Mr. 2SB and I were dating (have I mentioned I hate that word) we went to a wedding of a mutual co-worker. This was when we both still lived in MN. When we got to the reception, the couple had cakes as centerpieces! When it was time to cut the cakes, the couple came around to each table and cut the first piece. From that point forward, I knew I wanted to do the same!

After we set the date for our wedding, I started to do some research. Although I knew the cake portion of our budget would probably be at least double of the "normal" cake portion, our flower budget would be less than "normal". When I started looking for inspiration, I couldn't find any pictures! And of course I didn't take any pictures from the wedding we went to.

So, I then decided to focus my attention on the cake stands. We both wanted centerpiece cakes, so I knew that figuring out the stand wouldn't be a waste of time. My initial cake stand search resulted in a lot of options, but all seemed too expensive. My goal was to be around $5 per stand.

(This stand was not available when I first started searching earlier this year...I would remember it b/c I probably would have bought them!)

Around this same time, I had found WeddingBee. This group of brides were DIYing a lot of their wedding. I always have crafty visions, but they never seem to get beyond my head! So, with my new found DIY inspiration, I was off to figure out how to make my own cake stands.

My search resulted in this thread where a bride was looking for inexpensive cake stands for her wedding. I read the following post that was submitted by Scrapironchef:

"When I worked for a flower shop we cut down a length of 8 inch plastic pipe to make risers for table arrangements. Spray glue held white satin on the outside and the container sat on top. We ended up using these quite often, changing the colors to suit the wedding."

Pipe + ribbon + plate = Cake stand! Got it!

The only place I could think of to get pipe was Home Depot. So, Mr. 2SB and I stopped into the Home Depot and wandered through. Coming from a long line of plumbers, I found exactly what I was looking for...4in ABS Coupling!

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So, I bough a few of these and knew I still needed ribbon and some sort of adhesive.

My adhesive adventures coming up in Part 2! Stay tuned!

Did you decide on a DIY project after not liking your other options? How did it turn out?

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Men's Attire

So, I completely bored you with my Ladies Attire series, so the Men's attire should be a little less painful!

So, the day I went to try on wedding dresses, my sister/MOH and I arrived, but were waiting on my mom. As we were waiting I noticed this picture book that the shop had of their previous brides. One of the pictures made me stop and look even further! The bridesmaids were wearing black dresses with a colored sash (can't remember the color, but as you know, this is what my girls will also be wearing). The groom and groomsmen were wearing the typical attire...black suit, black shoes, groom in white vest and tie, the groomsmen's vest matched the sash on the bridesmaid dresses, but there was one HUGE difference. The guys were wearing black shirts instead of white! Let me just tell you, it looked AMAZING!

Mr. 2SB and I were on the topic of attire the other night and I asked if he and his guys could wear black shirts instead of white. He was driving (I have bad timing, I know) and he glanced over and gave me a look (you know the one - I'm just glancing to make sure you're serious and not kidding...yeah, that one!) and said, "Well, I don't know. I've never seen that before." And that was his response. I think I commented back with something like, "I saw it in a picture and it looks really neat!"

I'm going to push pretty hard for the black shirt idea for a few reasons.
1) FI wears a white shirt and tie (with a suit of course) everyday for work. I don't want his wedding attire to resemble his everyday work attire.
2) It's something different...ok, not all that different, but I don't think it's one of those "overdone" wedding things. Not yet, anyway!
3) It will look really sharp with the girls in black with the colored sashes!
4) The groomsmen have been in many weddings (most of the same weddings as Mr. 2SB) and they have always (as far as I have been a witness or saw in pictures) have worn white shirts. Time for a change!

I think those are my resons, for now anyway!

I tried to find some examples, but you're going to have to use a little imagination!

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This is the general idea, but with the vest/tie combo below, instead of the purple for the groomsmen.

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Mr. 2SB would wear a white vest/tie. I'm still not sure about the dad's though! I thought about having them in silver, but that would really be the only silver in our color scheme. The only other color would be bright pink, but I won't do that to my dad or Mr. 2SB's dad! Also, our pink is just accent, not a main color.

Do you like the black shirt idea? What color would you have the dad's wear? Read more!

Onward and Upward!

***Warning...this is an image HEAVY post...sorry!***

So, with the Election over, I just want to make a few statements and then it's back to all things Wedding!

I'm thrilled that the Election is over! I almost stopped watching TV because of all the commercials, but have already seen the transition go to Christmas/Holiday ads! So, I'm glad those are over. I am happy with the President elect and anxious to see what the future holds for us in the next 4 (or 8) years! I'm not happy with the outcome of some local propositions, but have faith that with our new President, some of those could change! Maybe even on a National level...a girl can dream...right?!?! So, that's all I'm going to say! If you want more information, I will tell you!

Instead of watching Election coverage last night, we went and registered at Macy's! That will be for a different post, but that's my transition between the paragraph above and the one below!

This past weekend while Mr. 2SB was watching the Bills loose, I played around with GIMP! I had sent my STD to my sister/MOH and mom for proofreading! Good thing I did! There was only one spelling error, but since GIMP doesn't have spell check (or if they do, I don't know how to check it), it was good that I checked! (if you want to see my error, you'll have to search for it here) I fixed my error and have recently decided that I want a monogram for our cakes (note to self...blog about the cakes already). I'm not sure if we'll use any of these, but I'm pretty happy with most of them. It was fun and got me out of watching the Bills! (I don't like watching football because I don't understand it. I am however learning to like it! With some patience and a lot of questions answered from Mr. 2SB, I'm starting to enjoy football...a little bit!)

So, here are my monograms that I came up with! There are quite a few, so bare with me! (Click on the monogram to see it larger!) My favorites are marked with the *!

#1

#2 *

#3

#4 *


#5

#6

#7

#8

#9 *

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14 *

#15

#16 *

#17 *


Yeah, I made 17 of these in an hour! They aren't all that great nor super detailed, but they are very "us"! We haven't decided which one we like best, but I'll keep you posted on our decision!

Which is your favorite? Do you have a monogram? Did you design it yourself or pay someone to do it? Read more!

Uber-ific!

Thanks to Michelle, aka Starry-Eyed Barefoot Bride, who nominated my blog as Uber Amazing! What an honor!

The Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:

~ inspires you

~ makes you smile and laugh

~ or maybe gives amazing information

~ a great read

~ has an amazing design

~ and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:
* Put the logo on your blog or post.
* Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!
* Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
* Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

I nominate:

* Kenzie @ Engageology

* Almostananderson @ With This Ring...

* Carly @ A Disney Wedding

* Holly @ a small town bride.

* Heather @ To The Altar

* And YOU! Comment if I missed you and you want to be included! :)

Thanks again Michelle and here's to all the Uber Amazing blogs!

Side note - today will be a double post day! Yippy!

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Don't forget to...

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I'm taking today and possibly tomorrow off! Not that I have many readers, but make sure you vote! I know there is no possible way that you could "forget" to vote. Unless of course you don't talk to anyone, don't watch TV, don't have the internet, don't leave your house, etc. Although I think it's great to be a part of this historical election, I'm really excited for all the political ads to be over. I have a feeling of what they will be replaced with and that feeling is Christmas ads, but I think those will be better!

Voting this year also has perks! Follow the links below to see what perks you can have, just for voting!
* Starbucks

*Krispy Kreme
*Ben & Jerry's

I do think this falls into the wedding category, so that's why I'm writing today! I am voting in CA and will be casting a vote regarding Prop 8. (No, I'm not going to say which way I'm voting on this prop and which candidate I'll be voting for. If you really want to know, send me an email (hbowar@hotmail.com) and I'll tell ya!)

I wish you all happy voting and hopefully you don't have to wait too long to vote! I'm really dreading my decision to not vote early!
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