Happy Mother's Day!

Any normal person would have just gone to the store and picked up a card......Team Hung-Perkowski is not normal. We, OK, I, decided to make cards this year. But Jake helped!

I found this time lapse video on how to make a pop up flower card:

We used it for the inside of our cards, but on a smaller scale. We utilized super small sheets of origami paper for the flowers spruced up the front of the cards a bit using scraps of cardstock, origami paper, scrapbook sheets, and precut alphabets.

The front:

The inside:

 

Those really look like poppies don't they? Check out the envelope liner! It's scrapbook paper that I found on sale at Michael's. 

We like to think of this as practice for our invitations.

A Bridal Party Proposal

After we got engaged, I trolled around Weddingbee like a mad woman. Once I spotted Mrs. Mascara's and Mrs. Duckling's wedding party proposals, I knew I wanted to do something similar. So what did I do? I merged the two ideas together and added my own spin on things! I have to admit, I was a paper crafting virgin prior to this project. Honest to god, I've never scrapbooked in my life, but I was determined. Now on with the program...the first of many wedding related projects.

First up, the bridal party: maid of honor, bridesmaids, and a bridesman. I personalized the front of each card with a collage of pictures of us throughout the years. All (black) text and photos were printed on my Epson R1900. The colored letters were outlined letters printed on scrapbook paper and then painstakingly cut out with a craft knife.

The inside of the bridal party cards read:

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Will you be my Maid of Honor/Bridesmaid/Bridal Attendant? Please, Say 'I do!'

I added just a touch of embellishments using real miniature pressed roses that I'd found at Paper-Source (I later spotted them at Michael's and A.C. Moore) and Martha Stewart jeweled stickers.

Because all members of my bridal party live in another part of the country and lead busy lives, (who doesn't?) I wanted to make it clear to my bridal party what they were getting themselves into. I came up with a description of duties, attire, and my promise to them, which reads:

I promise not to make you wear an ugly dress. I promise to not become Bridezilla. I promise not to make you fold a bazillion bows for wedding favors. I promise not to give you paper cuts from putting together ceremony programs.

Next, we have the flower girls and ring bearers. I didn't have pictures of me with all the kids, so I had to improvise. The inside of the card reads:

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Will you be our Flower Girl/Ring Bearers? Please, Say 'I do!'

Our ring bearers are brothers, currently the age of 3 and 1. I figured they wouldn't mind sharing a card.

Since I post alot of the pictures that I take (mostly for my cupcake blog), I wanted to copywrite my work. I created the logo below and have since put it on everything I create. I figured if Wedding Paper Divas does it, why shouldn't I?

Click, click, click. Come on and pose for me, pose for me.

High-five if you know where I got those lyrics from ;)

We have completed another big ticket item, we booked our photographer! It was probably the easiest choice we've made so far. I stumbled upon Jason Angelini's photos while perusing Weddingbee. I instantly fell head over heels for Mrs. Coconut's engagement photos. I remember spending the rest of the evening pouring over all the pictures in his portfolio. I pulled myself away from Jason's site telling myself that it would be waaaaaaaay too expensive to even consider him (Jason is based in Florida). 

This is totally a candid shot. Jason caught the groom to be checking out the other chick, while the bride to be was cracking up about it.

How awesome are these shots? To see more, click on Mrs. Coconut's name above. All photos by Jason Angelini

I spent the a couple of weeks searching high and low for photographers with a similar style. It seems that the photography style I loved is hard to find and is scattered across the country from Florida to California. I kept telling myself that I should find a photographer closer to home, as in find one from Boston. Something about Jason kept pulling me back. I would literally sit there and drool over his photos. I swear that I've looked at almost every single blog entry posted. I would check daily to see the most recent post (this was before I figured out what Google Reader was about). Jake would get an ear full about how smitten I was and how  much I wanted him to be our photographer. One day I clicked on the information link and learned that he was in our budget! I have no idea why I didn't click on it sooner. And after all my research, it turns out that a local photographer would actually cost more, even after travel fees! With this new found knowledge, I jumped for joy. Why not go for what I love? 

Back in late November, I emailed Jason and waited patiently for a response. Lucia, his wife, responded back within no time. I can't even begin to tell you how much of a sweetheart she is! Their whole family is just absolutely adorable, they have 3 kids: 2 boys and their youngest, a girl. Lucia and I emailed back and forth for awhile. She answered every question that I had. We've swapped ideas for our engagement session (can you say mini-golf and beach!?!) and most recently she gave me suggestions on how get a handle on the one million and ten ideas that I have floating in my mind. 

5 months later, this stalker has her dream photographer. Oh yes, I not only blog stalk, I also follow them on facebook.

Love!

I loved their engagement shoot. It looked like a ton of fun!

Gorgeous!

That's our photographer in the middle. How can you not love him?

All photos by Jason Angelini. 

Blog --> Wedding Central

Our blog is now our wedding website. I've been struggling for months (yes, months) about how to do our wedding website. While Jake is the software guru of the household, he will not touch websites with 10 foot pole or a 100 foot pole for that matter. It's been a good 10 years since I coded a website from HTML.

After much thought, research, and a bit of learning, I gave up and decided to turn our blog into wedding central. The number one reason is for my own piece of mind. It's one less webpage that I have to think about updating and it's a lot of time and money saved. We won't be shelling out money for web hosting and I won't be sitting in front of the computer for hours trying to figure out the aesthetics of it all. The second reason is usability for our family and friends. They can continue to follow our blog after the wedding without having to switch to a new URL. 

Now I can check off this line item from my DIY project list. Two down, a bazillion minus two to go. 

What do you think of the new layout and colors? Any feedback would be fantastic.

Confessions of a Shoe-a-holic

My name is Celia. Hi Celia. I am a shoe-a-holic; I currently own 50+ pairs of shoes. It's been 21 days since I bought a pair. Applause.

While most women wait until they've found their dress before searching for the perfect pair of shoes, I did not. I've actually had my shoes since the February, I've even tried on wedding gowns with them on. I knew early on what I wanted, the problem was trying to find them in real life. You see, I fell in love with a pair of insensible designer heels; actually two pairs (Valentino and Christian Louboutin): 

(Luce Bella, Bellinter House)

How fun is that bow?! Unfortunately, these suckers are a couple of seasons old. And even if I could find them, they're 5-inches tall, and they cost a small fortune. After searching a bit more, I found a pair of Me Too on the DSW website. Reviews gave this shoe pretty high marks for comfort and style. This was definitely much more sensible with 3 and 1/2" heel and it was a pump. I had originally wanted a pump so that I didn't worry about my foot slipping. And to top it all off, this pair costs $55!

(DSW)

They fit perfectly and were oh-so comfortable, EXCEPT, the peep toe opening was too big! Three of my toes poked out. I'm not just talking about the tip of the toes, I'm talking about the entire toe! One random day, I happened to come across another pair of Me Too while browsing through Marshall's shoe selection (one of my favorite places for cheap but fabulous shoes). They look almost exactly the same as the previous pair except for three things: 1) They are slingbacks instead of pumps, 2) the peep toe opening is much smaller, and 3) they are even cheaper, $30!! I can't tell you how comfortable these beauties are. Honestly, it's like I'm wearing sneakers with a heel.

(Zappos)

Now, you are probably thinking that this isn't much of a confession. Here comes the shocking part of my story. Since I'm a two dress bride, I'm also going to be a two [pairs of] shoes bride. Our friend N was over last week, so I pulled out my second pair to show her. While I went to go wash my hands before pulling them out of the dust bag, N walked over to the bag and proceeded to read the print on the bag. "Lo...Lou...Loub...Loubou...Loubout...GASP...tin. OhMYGOD." It was then followed by "I can't believe that I'm in the presence of Louboutins."

I didn't pay full price for them, but they still cost me a pretty penny. I won't be counting them against my wedding budget as I got them for my shoe collection. But I will still be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a long, long, long time.

What's your shoe story?