Cournel's "epic" Save-The-Dates

Courtney here...

Ok, so I lied.  I guess I’m NOT putting out as many blog postings as I thought I would.  What’s been taking up a lot of my time lately is another man.  More specifically, this one:

 

 I definitely have to get my priorities straight!

Since my one and only blog posting where I celebrated finally choosing a venue, much has happened since.  I found my dress (Novella Bridal), we chose a photographer (Imagine Nation Photography) and videographer (Imperial Video Production) and photobooth (Say Ya! Photobooth) and engagement photographer (Letlove Photography), booked the emcee (Lawrence Lee) the band (Foreverland) and DJ (DJ Chickenskratch), met with the ring designer for our bands (Talron Diamonds), booked the transportation (Coach 21) and, of course, the church (St. Patrick). 

WHY DO I FEEL SO BEHIND?!? 

6 months to go… and for all those who have planned a wedding, you know we still have TONS more to do.  You ask my fiancé, though, and he’ll have no clue as to what comes next.  Uggggh.. MEN.

We were able to get our Save the Dates out around Christmas, so that’s one less thing to worry about.  Although I’m not quite sure that was the BEST idea.  Not only did they lag getting to the recipients having to fight for importance amongst hoards of holiday cards, I’m pretty sure some got lost in the mail as my maid of honor and sister haven’t received theirs yet! Note to self… for the next wedding =P 

The funniest part of the whole ordeal was actually mailing the envelopes.  The reality of it all hit us like a ton of… rice.  Sure, he proposed to me in the sweetest way and I’ve been wearing my gorgeous ring for 9 months.  Sure, we met with and booked all these vendors.  Sure, we spent a million years putting the Save the Dates together.  But it took feeding that big blue mouth to really say, “Crap. This is it.”

As we were pulling away we even said, “If we change our minds we just have to be here tomorrow at noon before mail pickup.”    

Anyway, my fiancé, still VERY useful when steered in a direction, did a lot of research on Save the Date/invitations and found a very clever one that consisted of a folded card with a red rope being tied when you open it (see below). 

http://wedsavvy.com/tying-the-knot-diy

We both thought this was BRILLIANT and want to give a shout-out to the genius behind the idea. 

But we weren’t just going to take someone’s creation, plug in our names and pass it on.  That’s forgery.  Haha!  Instead we decided to put our own personal touch to it.  This personal touch took FOREVER to complete, but we feel it was well worth the effort.  Please see the steps we had to take and the final product below.

1.   Take, size & edit photos;

2.   Decide on a font style and Save the Date language;

3.   Buy cardstock online;

4.   Buy a 1/16 hole punch;

5.   Realize the hole punch won’t work so we order another one on ebay from London;

6.   Re-edit the entire Save the Date (maaaaaaaaaany attempts) to print 3 on 1 page;

7.   Lots & lots of paper slicing;

8.   Lots & lots of hole punching;

9.   Drew the string through the holes, taped down on the backs; and lastly

10. Use spray adhesive to attach to the blue cardstock.

After several trips to Jo-Anne Fabrics, Michaels, Office Depot & art stores in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley & Las Vegas, and spending hours upon hours of editing, reediting and laborious construction, this was the final product:

My fiancé did all of the computer work, and for someone who hasn’t studied a lick of graphic design I think he did a spectacular job! 

Thanks for all your hard work, Beez!

Onto the next…

RSVP @ Your Own Risk

Tina here

Wedding RSVP cards play an important role in planning for the big day.  It helps the bride and groom know who plans to attend their wedding, and how many guests in that family or party are to attend.  And not only that, but the response card may include what the guest has checked off as their choice of entrée.

But why is there such a lack of people who RSVP?  Whether it’d be for a birthday party, baby shower, and yes, even your weddings get ducked out by RSVP notices. People say it’s rude and inconsiderate to those planning the event. In some other cases, it might be that a guest(s) can’t commit to that day, or they’ve misplaced the invitation and RSVP card. Alright, understandable. And for some, it just may be the lack of knowledge of even knowing or understanding what RSVP stands for (like me, who did her own research as curiosity struck when I once received an invitation years ago).  So for your convenience, here’s a little schooling session for ya:

According to MyWeddingPlanningTips, RSVP stands for the French phrase “Répondez s’il vous plait”, meaning “respond if you please”.  Plain and simple, right?

According to About.com, response cards weren’t part of an invitation. Once an invitation was received, it was up to the receiver to jot their response on their own stationery of whether or not they’ll be able to attend and include a congratulatory note while they’re at it.  Back then, it was probably just a few cents for postage (today from USPS: First-class stamp = $0.44; Postcard Stamp = $0.28). 

It's ok, I'm not pointing any fingers.  But don't act like you never failed to send in a response card before it's due date, at least to one invite.  I’ll admit that I’ve been guilty for forgetting to RSVP in a timely manner.  But as I was prepping my wedding guest list a couple years ago, I totally understood why it was so essential to receive these RSVP cards.

Let’s face it, sometimes we all get lazy, but just think how much it’ll help the couple keep track of who is attending or not. Let’s do our part to make that easier for them as they plan for their special day.

And brides, don’t let this stress you out in any way. Keep it easy and minimal, and don’t forget to pre-stamp the response cards. Happy Planning~

Sweet Little Cookie

We had attended a beautiful wedding in October and found the delicious bagged cookie favors to be homemade locally by a company called Sweet Little Cookie.  So I contacted her a couple weeks later to ask a few basic questions to post on our blog site. 


Photo Courtesy of SweetLittleCookie.com


From baking to a stay at home mom and wife, Doreen Huezo shares her story and advice on how she started her own cookie business. 

When did you first know that baking was not only a hobby for you but a business you wanted to take to a higher level? 

Well, I've been baking for several years and I've always loved it.  I would bake for friends and family and they always thought I should sell them. But I had a 9 to 5 job, had been working at the same title company for 10 years so the thought was never taken seriously, until I was laid off in February of 2008. The real estate market turned on me and I was devastated, not knowing how we were going to pay our bills. But that's when the thought of selling my cookies became a reality and starting my own cookie baking company became my new venture.  What better time to give it a try, right?  I launched SweetLittleCookie.com in May 2008 and couldn't be happier that I did.

What is your favorite cookie?

That's tough...it changes from day to day.  I guess it depends on what mood I'm in.  But lately, it's been the White Chocolate Macadamia....so yummy! :)

What is the biggest order you’ve ever had? 

A Staples Office Supply in Northern California ordered 50 dozen cookies for a grand opening/customer appreciation event they were having.  It took me all day (literally) to complete the order, but it felt great to know I could do it.

What is your most popular cookie? 

My Perfectly Sweet Chocolate Chip, without a doubt. 


Photo Courtesy of SweetLittleCookie.com

Where is the farthest you’ve ever had to mail cookies to?

To Afghanistan, a couple of times actually.  I receive orders from women who have husbands stationed out there and want to send them a little bit of home :)

What do you like to do when you have some free time from baking? 

Spend quality time with my husband and three kids.  We have a 15 year old son, a 4 year old daughter and a baby boy who's turning 1 in December.  Needless to say, there's never a dull moment.  We have a ton of fun together. 

What have you learned about having your own business? 

Honestly, it's tougher than I thought it would be.  It's extremely rewarding, yet very time consuming.  Some times I feel like the business owns me, not the other way around.  I guess it's because I thrive on customer service and the only way I'm going to offer an awesome product with exceptional service is to give it my all, which in turn means giving up much of my personal time.  But again, it's so rewarding and I LOVE what I do.  When I send out cookies to a soldier overseas or to a mother who just had a baby or to an 8 year old who just had knee surgery and is stuck in bed, I feel like my cookies are making that sweet little difference in their lives. And that makes it SO worth it.

What is one advice you can give others who wish to start their own business? 

Do your homework before getting started.  Find out if there's local competition, if your business would thrive in your area and if you're able to commit full time.  Having this knowledge before getting started can save you a tremendous amount of heartache and frustration.  It can also help make you the best business owner ever.

Accessorize Me Part II: Hair Accessories

For my second segment of the "Accessorize Me" posts, I wanted to go further more into the hair piece selection(s) for a wedding.  Since the 1st segment touched up on Veils, here are some wonderful inputs on other hair accessory selections from some of my girlfriends.

As we all know and can agree on, aside from the jewelry that's chosen, a bride's hair piece is one of the finishing touches to add hints of glamour and unique taste to the full ensemble of the wedding day look. There are so many choices, but keep in mind that you also want to make sure your hair accessory will go with your hairstyle.  So usually, selecting the right hair accessory is no easy task. 

You can as bold with your selection

 

Photo Courtesy from www.etsy.com (seller: Pegasusmaiden) 

...or as clean and priceless as a beautiful, fresh flower.

 

Photo Courtesy from Steve Maller Photography

Take my BFF Lileth for instance.  To match her tropical Costa Rican wedding, she went with a white stargazer lily that matched perfectly with  her bird cage veil. Not only is it one of her most loved flowers, but it matched her white color theme they had chosen. She quoted, "The smell of the flower is sweet and dreamy. It's simple but beautiful."  And she's totally right. According to my online resource, the stargazer lilies are young, delicate bold, beautiful and fragrant all at once, bringing a meaning of wealth and prosperity. 

Some people may be allergic to fresh flowers (poor things) and must go the alternate "fake" route.  Thankfully not allergic to flowers, Arvie chose to wear a simple ivory faux flower from a seller on Etsy.

It was hand cut and made with silk dupioni and silk organza, swarovski crystals, coque feathers, and glass beads. It just added such an elegant touch to this already beautiful bride.

Now if you want to save some money and create something straight from the heart, do what my cousin-in-law Myrene did.  She took a pearl button (which matched her jewelry), and bought white silk flowers from Michael's Crafts.   

She wrapped the comb clip using floral tape and glued it on the back of the flower, attached the pearl button and presto, her very own handmade flower hair piece.  And to my surprise she also made the girls' hair piece too but used different buttons.

Perhaps flowers aren't your thing and you'd prefer to leave them as your centerpeice or as your hand bouquet.  Some brides will opt for a hair pin(s) instead. My friend Karen decided to wear these Tinsel Topper Hair Pins she found at Anthropologie as her "something blue".

 

The petals were white while the center was blue crystals. 

Below, Aimee chose the butterfly tiara purchased on Bridal People.  Her tiara definitely tied in the butterfly theme they had going from their wedding invitations, wedding programs and wedding cake.  It was small and simple.

And speaking of tiaras, I can't complete this post without mentioning what I used for my hair accessory.  I always knew I wanted to have a princess look for my special day. So the very first thing I bought soon right after I got engaged was my tiara.  With my MOH's right beside me, I purchased a Rhinestone and Pearl Filigree Bridal Tiara from the Jessica McClintock Outlet store in SF.  It has an open back, featuring a silver frame covered with clear Swarovski rhinestones and pearls. 

 

I'm hoping to pass this down and have it be used as a family heirloom for generations to come. 

One last addition I didn't want to forget were these super incredible Head Vines.

 

Photo Courtesy of Tiger Lilly Jewelry     

Their adaptibility lets you create your own style and can be placed anywhere around your bridal hairstyle. I guess you can say it's a cross between a flexible tiara, headband, and a pin. Check out Tiger Lilly Jewelry's one-of-a-kind selection.  

 

Photo Courtesy of Tiger Lilly Jewelry   

Here are a few other websites I found to be helpful in providing high-quality and modern hair accessories:  

Hair Comes The Bride: Location: Southern California / Providing exceptional service (hair and make-up), while giving brides-to-be different ideas and tips. If you don't want to overwhelm yourself with too many options, definitely visit this site.  

Perfect Details: Location: Burlingame, CA / "From Demure to dramatic, this season's bridal hair accessories add sparkle and shine to any hairstyle and wedding day look."

Etsy:  Anything you find on here is a great find.  The selections can go on and on…                

 

Good luck ladies!

Accessorize Me Part I: Wedding Veils

There are certain things and ways that can suit a bride perfectly right before the "I do's". From her "fits-like-a-glove" wedding dress, her hair "did", nails done, flawless make-up on, a radiant glow that a happy bride can carry throughout her special day, and not to forget her forever mate hand-in-hand and ready to unite to become one.  But there are also a couple other things besides what I just mentioned above that compliment the perfect wedding dress and the perfect bride. And that is what every girl and every stylish woman can attest to...the importance of accessorizing. 

Today I will concentrate on the wedding veil.  There's one specific wedding veil for every bride-to-be, and one that completes the style of her wedding dress. But before I move on, let's try and understand the significance of the bride's veil with a short history (and some may believe a fictional) lesson as to why a veil was important for brides. 

Photo sharing courtesy of http://weheartit.com/entry/532139

It was said that it was bad luck for the mister to see his future misses before the ceremony (and some will still rule this as a no-no to this day). So in order to conceal her, a veil was placed over her face, until they were face to face at the altar.  Going even further back into time, it was also believed that a veil was to stray away the demons from the bride. Not sure what demons, but all these superstitions carried on for many years or at least showed to prove (in most weddings) the importance of wearing a veil.

Photo Courtesy of Brides Magazine

So for this post, I went straight to the simplest of all resources...my friends. I've asked a few of my girlfriends to share their story of why they chose the veil they wore for their wedding day.

Here we have Aimee (miss mimi). She wanted a veil that had a similar style of rhinestone designs and one that wouldn't take away the focal point of her beautiful wedding dress, but yet accent the dress in some way. So she chose a single layer elbow length ivory Bel Aire veil with a simple design around the edges, adorned with a few rhinestones.  Stunning!

Photo Courtesy of bride Aimee Chow (7/7/07)

Next is Arvie. She chose to wear a thin bordered lace mantilla veil because she liked the way it draped across the top of her head and how it fell elegantly down the back and over the shoulders.  Not only did this veil remind her of the Virgin Mary picture, but she also loved Mandy Moore's character's wedding veil in the movie A Walk to Remember.  Eloquently graceful!

Photo Courtesy of Ed Pingol Wedding Photography - 4/3/10

Our next bride is Lileth (yes, you're right...from Letlove Photography).  For her destination wedding in Costa Rica, she knew right away the type of veil she wanted to wear, which was a bird cage veil.  She said that it was something that reflected her personality and sense of style (which is sooo true). She adds, "I am such an old, classic, vintage soul--it also speaks old glamour which I love."  Absolutely gorgeous! 

 

Photo Courtesy of Steve Maller Photography

To all you brides out there, much luck to you and easy findings on finding the perfect veil. But also remember that no matter what a bride picks for her wedding veil, for whatever reason, there are no explanations to describe the beauty that's extended as she walks down the aisle...it's priceless...a forever moment.

Coming up next in this 3-part segment, I'll be touching up on wedding day hair accessories. Stay tuned...

"I Need a Favor..."

“Mayday, mayday…we have a favor dilemma.”  I know…there are thousands of ideas to choose from. From stylish, to inexpensive, a unique choice or personalized; there are just too many out there.  Some may want theirs to match their wedding theme, others may want something they know will be useful for the receiver.  Either way, it’s a decision that will eventually have to be made.  Well with a little creativity, this can be something to fit your theme, something affordable and can be neatly dressed to look unique and stylish. More importantly, it just might be something useful to most, if not, to all people in attendance.  Even if you decide you want a combination of favors for your guests, let one of your choices be an EDIBLE FAVOR.

You really can’t go wrong with this selection (unless you have a guest or two allergic to your edible favor-woopsie).  Again, there are hundreds of edible favors to choose from and it’s obvious that the choices go on. You can get as creative as you want, or simple as a tasty truffle.

My first pick for no particular reason is a Fortune Cookie favor.



For my wedding, I actually chose this as a 2^nd favor for our guests.  The fun thing about fortune cookies is that majority of the time, you’re able to customize the “fortune message” inside by thanking your guests for coming, or adding a favorite Bible verse or quote. The company I went with was Fortune Nut Cookie, located in Belmont, CA. I decided to go with them because not only did they provide a reasonable bulk price, but the fortune cookies were wrapped individually in their own baggies. Plus, the gal who assisted me was very helpful the whole time.

A next choice you can guarantee your guests won't complain about a beautiful mint tin filled with your favorite mints or other candies. Not only can you choose a mint tin suitable for your wedding theme or colors, this piece can also be personalized with your names and wedding date.



Anybody and everybody loves cookies. You can get as creative as you want to when it comes to the packaging and the cookie of your choice.



One suggestion is to go to your favorite local bakery and cut a deal with them to provide you with x amount of cookies with either your monogram, a certain design or color from your wedding theme. If you have a helpful crew, why not bake your favorite batch yourself. Stack 'em up in a clear baggie that you can find at your nearest craft store, tie it with a colored ribbon, and you're all set.

 

image courtesy of www.marthastewartweddings.com/

A favorite, soothing moment I try and have a few times a week is sipping on my cup of tea (I know I'm not the only one who enjoys this). I think this is just a cute idea; especially if you get to personalize the tea bag itself. It's low-cost and quaint.

As a side note, if you're thinking of buying gifts for your Primary Sponsors or grandparents, a wonderful idea is to locate some beautiful, inexpensive tea sets for them to appreciate. It'd be a great combination, don't you think?

My last but not least pick is the brownie or cake lollipops. In other words...Lollicakes. My husband and I actually have a friend who is starting out her own side business in San Deigo. She's a newbie just like yours truly, and is successfully enjoying what she's doing. Place your order and have them mailed to you within a week before your wedding.  Your final step would be to personalize them with a your preferred color ribbon. 

Congratulations Joyce, and good luck with A Sweet JOYous Occasion.

Yes, the selections are still plentiful and you can go way beyond these few I've listed.  Good luck with your favors!

.candylicious.

Everyone loves candy. And even if they don't, they did at one point in their lives. 

We have dived into the world of candy buffet knowledge these past couple weeks, finding all the different sweet treats this world can offer, and looking into all shapes and sizes of vases to hold them in.  Looking through numerous websites for all sorts of ideas, we've gained quite a sweet delight in learning how to put one together.  Here are just a few examples:



The ideas are e n d l e s s ...



We are excited to make this our own creation...to stamp our personal touch on this table...

Purple (people eaters)

Courtney and I are currently working on Michelle and Thomas' wedding that's set to happen on August 7, 2010. 

:Save-the-date courtesy of designer Joanne Duka (http://www.joanneduka.com):

They chose a beautiful combination of colors:  deep royal purple, silver, and lavendar. I have fallen more in love with the royal purple since I've been browsing around for purple ideas.  It's just so eye-catching and I swear I never quite noticed how elegant and yet vibrant the color can be...

Here are just a few purple ideas that really stood out...

More details on this perfecto purple-pizzazz of a poshness wedding to come... ♥         peace~