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.