gary's ring

He didn't want anything fancy, and certainly didn't want anything expensive (because he's convinced he will lose it). Which gave me a sigh of relief, because his ring size is 11.5 (compared to my size 5) so the cost of the gold or platinum was pretty exhorbitant. We settled on a plain ring made of tungsten, which is a new material they are using these days that is known for its resistance to scratches, dents, etc. It also is very inexpensive- I bought this ring online for $29 - I'm also embarassed to admit that! Amazon isn't just for buying books!

kinda wish i had thought of this

I loved our homemade save the dates, but I can certainly appreciate the humor and creativity of this couple! (found here)

brilliant

honestly, when i think of baby's breath and carnations, it is usually in context of those cheap and ugly and tacky bouquets that people buy at the last minute at the Quik Mart for their daughter's sixth grade graduation. We all do. You know, something like this:

but look at what the geniuses at Real Simple did with the bouquet:

I think may have a bouquet of baby's breath. For real. I was actually trying to grow my own hydrangea for the bouquets, because I love the romantic look of hydrangea and plus I wanted to grow my own bouquet for sentimental reasons. But the hydrangea gifted me don't seem to like it very much in pots on my patio, so I think this is going to be an area where I swallow my pride and buy flowers from the local farmer's market or Trader Joe's the day before. This means we will just be going with whatever is in season and not expensive- I think as long as I plan for a very casual arrangement of one type of flower, it will look beautiful no matter what.

I know that a backyard wedding doesn't equate with a country wedding, but I continue to be drawn to this idea of rural & rustic elegance. I am getting married in a suburban town in Southern California- there isn't, and has never been, wheat growing in this region, but it still gives me those warm-in-the-belly feelings.

night lights

Simple and beautiful.

feathers

These manolo blahnik shoes are beautiful. And over $500. Because of the feathers.

My friend MMC had a good idea to buy a blank pair of pumps and get crafty and embellish the shoes myself...find a pretty, comfortable pair of heels (with a lower heel), buy some feathers at Michael's, and voila!

Quenching the thirst of the masses

I'd like to have a little table set up in the yard with lemonade and water as guests arrive. Heck, maybe spike some of the punch to loosen up the crowd.

Photo clothesline

I have been looking for a fun way to display family photos, and those fun and embarassing photos from our childhoods- Gary came of age in the early 80s so there are a lot of great fashion mishaps, and this is the perfect way to do it.

Centerpiece inspiration

I am fairly settled on the centerpieces already. Some people spend fortunes on their centerpieces and it just baffles me that this aspect of a wedding would garner so much attention and portion of the budget. Our tables are going to be set with a hurricane/candle to light up the table a bit, which will be surrounded by a couple of small mason jars filled casually with a few buds of in-season flowers- maybe mums or dahlias?

Games

I would love to have all sorts of fun games to celebrate our wedding- bocce, horseshoes, heck maybe some badminton and hula hoops!

(Source: Once Wed.com)

love the vibe

We are having a buffet dinner in a tent on the driveway...unless it rains or is terribly cold. In that case, we'll move everything and everyone inside the house to stay dry...and in any case, I hope that this is the general vibe of the evening...a pretty, romantic little dinner party.

backdrop

I love this group shot. I think it would be really cool to set up a simple backdrop like this one.

(Source: A Practical Wedding)

Here is another great photo backdrop from Once Wed:

Fire

Who doesn't love a good fire? We won't be able to recreate this beautiful camp bonfire, but we will be able to light up the fire pit in the backyard, and roast s'mores during the reception. I love s'mores:

I love paper lanterns. I don't know if they will fit into our budget, but I'd love to string them across the pool.

Pinata

Oh, how I would love to have a pinata at our wedding! Isn't this photo adorable? It came from one of my favorite blogs, Brooklyn Bride.

Hair decoration

Since I will not be wearing a veil, I looked for something that was pretty and feminine to put in my hair. I settled on this beautiful piece hand made by Myra Kim. Visit her wonderful and unique etsy shop for more inspiration.

The bridesmaid dresses

My 3 sisters, along with a dear friend, will be honoring me with standing beside me as I marry Gary.

They will be wearing this J Crew dress (Camilla style). 2 will be wearing the Chocolate color, and 2 will be wearing the Wine color. The best part about the dress- it has pockets! I love dresses with pockets. Also, the fabric is a Cotton Cady, so it's casual enough in style that they potentially could rewear these dresses- which is of course always the ultimate goal.

All the dresses are from last season, so I found them on eBay for relatively reasonable- they retail for $275 and all the dresses were found well below $100.

Sweet Inspiration

We are not having a traditional tiered wedding cake. Personally, there are about a zillion other desserts I prefer over cake, and it also seems that only a small portion of the cake ever gets eaten. At my sister's lovely wedding, they had delicious cake but most of it got wasted.

Mom and I decided to have a sweets table in the backyard instead. We may be blessed with some homemade treats from talented bakers- but even if not, we're planning to make a CostCo run and get different yummy baked goods- apple pie, cheesecake, maybe some cupcakes. I think we'll be able to satisfy everyone's sweet tooth!

I would also like to try and make a homemade cupcake stand like this one- it's made from terra cotta pots and would be a great homemade touch!

Fall flowers

I love this look.

The Makeup

The 'Do

These are some lovely inspiration photos for my hair. I love the photos of brides wearing their hair long and loose and wavy, but my hair does not hold curl and ends up looking stringy and messy, not-in-a-good way. So I will be wearing an up do- something relaxed, low on the nape of my neck, with sideswept bangs.

Post #1

I have started this blog to collect my thoughts and ideas on my upcoming marriage and wedding. I suspect that I will be the only reader of it, but anyone is welcome here. For any lurkers who discover this blog, I am getting married to a wonderful delicious man on November 8, 2008 in the backyard of my childhood home in Orange County, CA. I have lots of ideas floating around and hopefully this blog can keep my head from exploding. The idea is to use these next couple of months to prepare Gary and I for a healthy and loving life and marriage, and plan a wedding day that reflects our joy in having found each other.