Save the Date: Our Reveal!

It's time! I've finally gotten notice from our guests in sunny California that they have received their Save the Dates, so I can officially share them with the Hive!

Now, before I share, I have to caution those of you who, like me, are excited to place your order and therefore, may not be thinking logically. When I revealed the two STD designs that we didn't use, I said that we got a great deal for the 200 cards we ordered. 200 cards... If you're smarter than me, which I'm sure most of you are, you're probably already connecting the dots but, in case you didn't figure it out (like me) - we did not need 200 cards. 200 is our guest list total. There are households with as many as eight guests in them.

Yes, Hive, I ordered a card for every. single. person. Sigh. Thankfully, since we did get a great deal, it isn't as big of a deal as it may have been if I did this with invitations but needless to say - I have learned my lesson, and I now have a list of guests invited by household.

Moving on: the reveal!

Personal photo - the front side / Design work by our photographer, Valerie Carnevale

Personal photo - the back side / Featuring a custom stamp from AngeliqueInk on Etsy

While we had three beautiful choices from Valerie, both Mr. O and I instantly liked this option the best. We nixed the first option because, as much as we love our Wolverines (go blue!), the color scheme didn't really fit with the wedding. That put us down to two, and we just loved the simplicity of this option. It incorporated our love of typography without being too over the top, and it used one of our absolute favorite photos from our e-pics. 

On the back side, we made the four line design so I could hand address our STDs (which took much less time than I anticipated!). We also took the opportunity to use our custom stamp, which I loved! It not only saved me a ton of time in writing our address over and over, but I think it gave the perfect touch to offset the horrible stamps. ;) 

So, what do you think of our final choice!? 

Save the Date: The Stamps

Hive, I never thought I would be that bride. That bride that cared about stamps. Especially the STD stamps! I just assumed that when people received our STD, they would note the date in their planner/phone/etc. and then toss the STD.

But then, there I was, standing at the post office to purchase postage and suddenly... everything seemed to be in slow motion. I watched as the employee pulled open the big binder of stamps. I watched her flip, flip, flip through the pages and start to pull out several pages. What did I see, you may be wondering? I saw these:

Personal photo, unfortunately.

I saw ALOHA stamps staring back at me. And a variety of Hawaiian shirts. Now, if I were having a destination wedding? Sure, toss the ALOHA at me. But for our rustic, romantic, light and neutral colored wedding? No. These simply did not fit the bill. 

Slowly (and sadly) the post office employee flipped over our postcard and noticed that it was a save the date. She looked at me apologetically and said "this is all we have left." With a heave and a giant sigh, I asked for the proper amount, paid, and pathetically exited the post office.

I know, I know - they're just stamps! Nobody will notice! But I noticed, and they drove me crazy right up until I sent them. And now that I recognize that I do care about the stamps, I have to also consider what stamps we're going to be using on our actual invitations... 

Mrs. Genie cared about stamps. Miss Beanstalk cared about the stamps. So at least I'm in good company! Tell the truth: did you care about your stamps?

I'm in a long distance relationship...

...with my MOH Cubbie!

You see, Cubbie and I went to the same college. Then school ended, and unfortunately Cubbie's job took her back home to Florida. Obviously, this is not ideal. And no, not because of wedding planning; simply because I want my best friend back so we can bum around and watch HGTV!

But on the wedding front: I just have to say that even in our LDR, Cubbie has been everything I could have ever dreamed of in a MOH! Not only does she help with anything I ask of her, but she has even been gracious enough plan my bachelorette party long distance AND book a ticket to be in attendance! (Something I was definitely NOT expecting of her!)

Personal photo / MOH Cubbie is also known as my twin. We are exactly the same, hence why poor Mr. Otter sometimes feels overwhelmed when we are together. ;)

Now you may be wondering, while Cubbie is obviously great, why am I talking about her today? Well,  I talked about my failed DIY, and then about my plans to (potentially) DIY my table numbers, but I never really specified how I was going to go from slow mo to fashion glow* or from fail to something wedding-worthy. Well today I'm sharing my secret DIY/decision-making weapon - Cubbie!

MOH Cubbie is by far the craftiest person that I have ever met. She also is... how do I phrase this... an ambitious crafter, if you will. One craft day in particular comes to mind in which she used a very, very dull saw in order to make a jewelry hanger. That same day, when I was trying to craft a glitter chevron pattern onto a letter, she told me I was doing it all wrong and completely took over. (And trust me: I did NOT mind this takeover - my "pattern" was not going to be right, at all.) 

Personal photo / The very questionable rusty saw... Also, take note of the two round wooden squares just sitting there waiting on paint

Personal photo courtesy of Cubbie / The finished product! I was very perplexed as to how she planned to hang necklaces on it, right up until she started screwing the hooks in.

So clearly, Cubbie is my secret weapon for a reason. She is crafty, and I am not. She will work on her projects until they are close to perfect, while I'm more likely to abandon them. And since she has enthusiastically expressed (that's code for demanded!) that I am not to do anything with glitter without her help, I plan to stockpile my crafting supplies until February, when she is back in town. 

Hive, if you're... less than crafty, like myself, do you have a more crafty friend to help out with DIY projects?

* Anybody recognize this quote!? It's another favorite of Mr. Otter's and mine.

GLITTER!

So when I talked about our colors, a lot of you were wondering how I would incorporate the gold glitter into our otherwise soft-colored color palate.

Well, at first, I didn't know! I just really love glitter, so I wanted to incorporate it in some way. Then, I started looking specifically for weddings that had the same color scheme and I happened to come across a couple gems, which gave me a better feel for how we could incorporate glitter without getting it all over our guests (a point that Mr. Otter made early on, because he isn't a huge glitter fan like me!).

The first idea (and probably my favorite, thus far) was to incorporate it in some of our detail shots. I love this shot that clearly features the flowers, but uses gold glitter fabric as the backdrop. And - points for no glitter on guests!

Image via Bows and Arrows / Photo by N Barrett Photography

The second idea I found was from the same wedding - incorporating the glitter into the signage! While I haven't quite determined what kind of signage we're going to need, I do know that we're going to be featuring photos of those who have passed and can't be with us, so perhaps a gold glitter heart could accent the photos on that table.

Image via Bows and Arrows / Photo by N Barrett Photography

My last idea would be a bit of a DIY project. Have you ever heard of the "mermaid manicure"? Take the concept of the mermaid manicure accent nail (a little glitter on the end of the nail, just a small sprinkle) and apply it to these beautiful gold table numbers! This way - I incorporate the gold in a very subtle way that also won't get all over our guests.

Image courtesy of Cupcakes and Cashmere / See the little sparkle of glitter?

Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Lisa Lefkowitz / So now with these gold table numbers, add a tiny dash of gold glitter on the bottom - that's my vision!

What do you think? Out of these options, which way would be the best to incorporate the gold glitter without going overboard?

The Start of the Somethings...

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. A tradition I simply can't let go of! I must participate in this time honored tradition, and get an item to fill each of these categories. I know I'm going out of order, but I'm starting today with something new...

And that something new is wedding day accessories! Sparkly things? My favorite! Okay, okay - I'll calm down with the exclamation points, because I think you get my drift here. ;) I love sparkle, and that's what we're talking about today.

Since I'm not revealing my dress, and only gave away a little detail about my veil, I thought it may be more difficult to talk about accessories. But then I realized - everyone that I've spoken to (yes, including my lovely fiancé) knows that I don't want a plain dress. Be it beading, sparkles, flowers, or ruffles, there is going to be detail in my dress. So picture in your mind a dress with details (I wish I could be more specific!) and then look at these beautiful accessories...

* Let me preface this by saying, I do have more than just one hole in my ears; however, for the big day, I just plan to put studs in all of them except the bottom holes.

First up: these beauties by Etsy seller ElegantChicJewel. They were the first thing that caught my eye, and I've had them favorited for quite some time. Something about them just screams bridal to me! I think it's because I normally don't wear very dramatic earrings, so I'm leaning that way towards the big day.

Next up, from another (but equally wonderful!) Etsy seller, AllureByU, are these gorgeous earrings. In contrast to the first pair, these stand out, but aren't quite as big, which makes me think that they may also not be as heavy. Definitely something to consider since I'll be wearing them all day long!

Now these pretties, from Etsy seller (are you sensing a pattern here?...) DesignByKara. These ones seem to be the perfect middle ground between pair one and pair two. They have a little extra bling compared to my second choice, but will still be lighter than my first choice. And best of all? They're only $49 for the set! 

So here's my something new - I think regardless of which pair I choose, they'll look perfectly understated since I'm wearing my hair down... but regardless of how they'll look, I do (unfortunately) have to choose between the three pairs. 

If you were me, which ones would you choose? (Based on the super vague details I gave you about my dress and veil, of course!)

Wedding Day Makeup

Under 200 days to go... WHAT!? This is beyond crazy to me - especially since Halloween, Thanksgiving, my and my FMIL's birthday (which is the same day, fun fact!), Christmas, and NYE all fall into the next few months. I feel like once the holiday season gets going, we'll be putting some of the wedding tasks on the back burner, so I better get in gear now!

While I've already secured my hair stylist (my lovely aunt, who you will be hearing about along with my hair inspiration!), I have yet to secure makeup for myself and the girls. My fear with the makeup is that I book a makeup artist, and then have my trial, and it isn't exactly what I want. Now, of course this is the point behind a trial, but booking a vendor without seeing their work actually on my face makes me nervous.

Oh and also... I can't do makeup. At all.

The lovely makeup that you see in my engagement photos was done by one of my very favorite people in the whole entire world, Jenna.

All that magic? Not me at all. I applied my foundation. That's it. Jenna did everything else, and thank goodness, because quite frankly when I attempt to do my own eye makeup, I look like a two year old playing in mommy's bathroom. (And that's a nicer version of how I usually describe my makeup skills.)

And it's not for lack of trying! I own the Naked palate, I own brushes. I just have no idea what to do with them. So my every day look is Bare Minerals foundation, concealer where I need it, and heavy heavy heavy mascara. I have anywhere between 8-11 bottles in my makeup bag. I LOVE IT!

So what do you get when you combine my idol (and yes, I'm being serious!) and lots of eyelashes? My wedding makeup inspiration!

Image via VijatMohindra / Photo by Vijat Mohindra

So what I'm looking for is basically - airbrushed foundation, brown/bronze eye makeup, and lots and lots of lashes! I have a few candidates in mind, but like I said, it's hard to decide without actually having the makeup trial.

Brides and brides-to-be: did you make your decision on who to book before you did your trial or after?