Merry Christmas to you and yours from JP, the Christmas cat, the best Christmas ornament ever, and me!
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Or: Some pretty awesome news
I’m sorry for dropping off the face of the planet for the past week. Last week, I got the wonderful and ridiculously ridiculous news that I was accepted to be a Bee! I’ll be writing there as Miss Scissors. Fear not, it’s not going to be dead over here by any stretch. It will still be all of my wedding goodness, but then plus a good dash of non-wedding-related art and design awesomeness as well, if y’all don’t mind too much.
So, with all that being said, I’m back! Hooray!
Photo by Matt Miller
Last week, we (finally) booked our officiant, so of course I’ve had wedding vows on the brain.
I’m on the more traditional wedding vow team for a few reasons:
- I’ve always liked the traditional ones. I find comfort in the fact that these words have been said over and over by so many couples throughout the years. It is familiar to most, and gives me comfort. (Even if the divorce rate is ridiculous in this country, leave me alone, I can still use this reasoning).
- I think we would be extremely, extremely nervous saying our own vows. I’d feel like a turkey reading them, and I think that the “!!!!!!” of it all would make me forget or stumble over the vows. JP and I both can get a little shy.
- I think that using these vows, rather than ones we wrote, might cut down on my waterworks. It is a fact that I will cry like a crazy person on our wedding day. In times of high-emotion, I just start bawling. Not bad crying, just EXTREME EMOTION AAAH crying. We’ll have to get a towel to lay across my chest, or a bucket to hold under my face.
Onwards I went to search for wedding vows. I thought that would be pretty simple. Hmm, what are the ones that I’ve heard a million times at weddings, and the ones they always use at the weddings I’ve been to. Let’s Google “traditional wedding vows.” I started clicking on results, and began to cringe. I’m the sort of OCD-delight that gets really, really bent out of shape if one word is wrong, one phrase is out of place, one syllable is different from something I’m familiar with. Every time I read an “off” one, it was like I was being prodded with a poker.
This, to the best of my brain’s ability, is how I remember the vows going:
I, ______, take thee, _____, to be my lawfully wedded _____, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live.
Still, somehow that sounds off. Or not quite right.
I found this one, that sounds… sort of right? I still think my brain version sounds more right, but I could be wrong. It’s happened a few times before.
I, ________, take thee _______, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold,
from this day forward, for better – for worse, for richer – for poorer,
in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part,
and thereto I pledge thee my faith. (source)
Ehh.
Then I found this one. As I said before, I’m not a fan of us deviating from the traditional vows, but this is sort of a longer/different version of the traditional vows. I’m just not sure if they’re too cheesy-blaster.
I, (Bride’s Name), take you, (Groom’s Name),
to be my lawfully wedded husband,
secure in the knowledge that you will be
my constant friend,
my faithful partner in life,
and my one true love.
On this special day,
I (affirm/reaffirm/give) to you
in the presence of God and these witnesses
my pledge to stay by your side as your faithful wife
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as
through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
comfort you in times of distress,
encourage you to achieve all of your goals,
laugh with you and cry with you,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you,
and cherish you for as long as we both shall live.I, (Groom’s Name), take you, (Bride’s Name),
to be my lawfully wedded wife,
knowing in my heart that you will be
my constant friend,
my faithful partner in life,
and my one true love.
On this special day,
I (affirm/reaffirm/give) to you
in the presence of God and these witnesses
my pledge to stay by your side as your faithful husband
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as
through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
honour and respect you,
provide for your needs as best I can,
protect you from harm,
comfort you in times of distress,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you,
and cherish you for as long as we both shall live. (source)
These longer vows might be a hop, skip, and a jump from writing our own vows, which is/was totally against my original thinking. I am more confused than ever!
What wording do you think of when you think of traditional vows? What did you do for your wedding vows– traditional, halfway-between-traditional-and-self-written, or just write them yourselves? Which one of these vows do you like the best? Or should we scrap them, suck it up, and write our own?
*The title of this post is in reference to a conversation with JP in which he German-accentified “wedding vows” and pronounced them “wedding wows.” In my brain I still enjoy thinking of them as our “wows.” I’m sure he’s horrified that I’m telling this story.
“Is that what that was? I thought it was feathers. ”
“No, it was a bird.”
“It was beautiful!”
I think this was the movie that spawned 1,000 giant bridal headpieces. True, I wasn’t in the bridal-research-wedding-a-palooza that I am in now, but I never really noticed that much hub-bub about giant feather or floral headpieces before this.
While Carrie’s is a little too intense for me, or most people for that matter, I still am curious about hair doo-dads. Headbands, giant flower pins, fascinators (that word makes me nervous), what-have-you. I like them. I’m taking my veil off for the reception, so I need something to rock out for the reception so my hair isn’t all bland and shtuff.
When going the put-stuff-in-your-hair route, however, one must be careful. There is a fine line between awesome and nuckin’ futs. My personal problem is that I’ll bet that I tend to fall on the nuckin’ futs side of the line. I have to pull back the reins a little bit.
Let’s take a look at some of the adornments, shall we? (See how I’m tiptoeing around the “fascinator” word? I swear it really does make me nervous. Anyway, moving on).
First we have two feathered pieces by Etsy seller Jennypickle Designs.
1 is awesome because it’s a flower… made of feathers. Hola, best of both worlds, my name is Lauren. 2 is just plain pretty. These guys are probably some of the more tame choices I’ve pulled, but they’re still pretty funky.
Sweetpea + Fawn has some ridiculously lovely headpieces.
3 and 4 are actually the same headband, but I just wanted to show how it worked. This one I really love, but I think it might be a little too much by most people’s standards. But then again, I’m not most people. 5 is a less intense version of 3/4, which might be a nice compromise. Heck, though, if you’re gonna go, go all out, right? I love the lightness of 6, but I’d definitely have to wear that more towards the back of my head, otherwise those fluffly things would drive me nuts. 7 reminds me of the lovechild of a seahorse, coral, and a be-dazzler, but I like it. A lot. I just don’t know if it would make sense with the dress. 8 is cute, but I don’t know if I can pull cute off.
Next we move along to these by Portobello.
Now we are starting to get a little funkier, at least color-wise, which makes me very excited in meinen Hosen. 9 is a peacock feather headband. The color is great, and it’s much more headband-y. 10 is awesome, because it just screams blue and feathers and fun and stuff, without being too over the top. I do wonder if it could be a little more intense, but then we might border on our friend Carrie’s bird up thurr. 11 is to die for, with the two giant flowers made out of feathers. I also like guys that are shooting out of it. Almost looks like a fireworks-flower-feather-attack, but in a good way. 12 is great because of that killer brooch-like center, but then with the soft feathers around it.
Last, but not least, we have whichgoose.
Whichgoose specializes in natural crowns, which is amazing, and makes me want to dance around in the forest with Puck, Oberon, and Titania. (Bonus points for those of you that get that reference). Out of all of the headpieces here, I think that these might make my heart beat the fastest. 13 is awesome, the color, the pearl-things, the giant-ness. I love it. 14 looks so wonderful and Southern-fairy-princess to me. I love the stick tendrils. I love the shape of the arrangement of flowers in 15. It’s more oblong, and I like that it almost looks like a half-headband. Almost. 16, oh 16. The color is so fantastic. The everything-about-it is so fantastic. The only thing that concerns me is that this one is more of a “crown,” which, sadly, might be too much.
Then again, I could just make the dang thing. *lesigh*
Which are your favorites? How do I (or how did you!) straddle the line between awesome and too much? Should I make my own appropriateness-line, or try not to ruffle too many… (wait for it…) feathers? Any other great headpiece-makers out there that I’ve forgotten? Should I just scrap buying one and just make one?
Since I have done a lot of research on German wedding traditions, I thought it was appropriate to search for traditions from the South. I am nowhere near finished compiling them, but I just stumbled upon one that makes my heart ache.
“A deep connection with family, especially symbolically, then continues through the wedding. The classic Southern bride wants to honor her family with special remembrances such as incorporating flowers that her grandmother had chosen for her own bouquet.” (source)
I started tearing up almost immediately after reading that. Neither of my grandmothers will be able to attend the wedding. My paternal grandmother passed away in 2004 from pancreatic cancer, and my maternal grandmother has very advanced Alzheimer’s. I’ve begged that she be able to come, but it’s not possible given her health condition. The fact that neither will be there is a fact that is hard for me to stomach, especially given that my maternal grandmother is still alive.
That is why this tradition struck me so significantly. I need and want to honor both of them, and thought that having one flower for each that they used in their bouquets in my bouquet would be a wonderful way to honor them.
Now here comes a roadblock– My maternal grandparents were too poor to have a wedding, and we are trying to hunt down photos from my paternal grandmother’s wedding to see what flowers she had. The family sleuths are on the mission, but until then, I think I may have two very good substitutions.
My maternal grandmother’s favorite song, and flower, is The Yellow Rose of Texas. She has always fancied herself as the yellow rose of Texas, and loves, loves, loves, loves, loves yellow roses. It is always the flower I buy her, and she never ceases to be less than overjoyed by yellow roses, even now.
To honor her, I can add in a single yellow rose to my bouquet, which would work well because of the wild bouquet that I’m going for. (More on that later!)
My paternal grandmother’s name was Hazel. Hot damn, that’s an actual plant! Off I trotted to see what it looked like in the wild. Basically, we’ve got sticks, some occasional flowers, and nuts.
So the flowers aren’t much to look at, and I’m not sure how we would even get ahold of them, since they bloom in the early spring, or so my research tells me! I think the absolute coolest thing to do with the hazel-stuff would be to use the nuts. I could take the nuts, dremel/drill a hole through a few, and then either have them sticking out of my bouquet, or string a few onto it. Trust me, it will look super cool.
Another amazing thing that I can and will do to honor them both is to affix an old locket to my bouquet with both of of their pictures in it. My mother actually already has a locket with both of their photos in it, so there you go! Also, that would take care of my “something old” for the wedding.
How are you honoring your grandmothers, both alive and deceased? Has anyone else considered using their grandmothers’ flowers as their own flowers, or one of each in their bouquet?
Paper cranes and I are like BFFs. When I was little, my father brought back an origami book from Japan, and I learned how to fold every piece of origami in the book by heart. I’ve since forgotten how to fold most of them, but not the cranes. I fold them when I’m bored, when I have random scraps of paper laying around, when I want an awesome engagement shoot (heh!), or just anytime.
Since I have been blabbing lately a lot about cranes, I figured I should show you guys how to make them. I know that all crane-folders have their preferred methods, but this is how I’ve done ‘em for 18 or so years!
For this tutorial, all you’ll need is something to fold! My favorite origami paper to fold with is the non-traditional paper. Traditional origami paper has more cotton in it, and is quite fibrous, so it can be hard to make sharp folds with it. I like the el-cheapo rainbow stuff you can get at most art stores. You can also use regular paper to play with, just make sure you cut/tear it down into a square first! Just nothing too thick, or it’ll be too difficult to make the later folds. Also, when beginning, a bigger piece of paper is usually easier for learning.
Ok, we begin!
Here’s the super-duper-easy part. Typically, origami paper has a printed side and a blank side. First, you’re going to put your paper down white-side-up. Fold the paper diagonally, point-to-point. Then, fold it again! Unfold and now you have some lovely creases. Ooooh. Next, fold in half regular-ways, unfold, then fold the other regular-ways. Now unfold. You now have all of your starting creases. Yay!
Flip the paper over so the colored side is up. Here’s where it starts to get a little complicated, explaining wise. See those white fold lines (9)? You’re going to fold those lines inside, and make a diamond/square pleated doo-dad. The creases that you made in steps 1-8 will facilitate this pleating.
Next, fold the two bottom edges of the top layer to the center of the diamond(13). The fold-lines are shown in 12. Then, in 14, along the line created by the parts you folded in 13, you’re going to fold the tip down. Now, unfold these last three folds. Lovely creases, ooo.
The last fold you made, the horizontal one at the top, is now going to be used as a sort of hinge. Hold down that tip, and open up the top section so that the white part shows…. as shown. Do this gently, and as you pull it downwards, crease both sides as shown in 17 and 18.
Now flip it over, and do the same things you did in steps 12-18 on the other side!
Remember how you folded the edges into the center before? You’re going to do that, except now with a skinner doo-dad to work with! Fold the bottom edges of the top layer into the center (26-28), and then flip it over and do it to the other side (29). 29 leaves you with another two-layered-like doo-dad. The bottom point is actually made of two half-points. To me, this looks almost like chopsticks.
On one half, open up the fold so that it looks like a fox (30). I don’t know when or why I started calling it a fox, but always when I teach people how to do this, I call it a fox. Work with me here. Next, flip the fox’s nose up to touch his ears (31). Fold that chopstick-section closed again (32). In 33-35, fox it again. You’re almost finished!
See the gold circle? You’re going to pinch there. With your other hand, pinch the tip (green circle). Then, while holding down the yellow-pinch, hinge the pointed-up chopstick down. The angle doesn’t really matter, just pull it down until it looks about right to you. Now, pinch it again, and do the other side (37). To make the beak (38), you’re going to do another inverted pleat. Invert the tip, and then hinge it out like you did in 36. Usually, I pick the least pretty end to use for the beak. A pointy tail and smushy beak are much better than the other way around. To fluff the crane out, hold the wing tips and blow in the hole in the center while pulling (gently!) the wings outward. Voila!
You’re done! I hope I wasn’t too confusing. Don’t let the tutorial scare you. Grab some paper, and try it. It’ll make more sense then, I promise! Just remember, you can do this with pretty much any ol’ paper– it doesn’t have to be origami paper. As long as it’s a square (or you make it into one!), and not too thick, you’re set. Go forth and fold!
Who all out there hasn’t ever tried folding a paper crane? Does seeing how to make one make the thought more terrifying or less? Let me know if you want or need any clarifications! (Or if this was epic-fail-not-helpful-at-all!)
I’m still alive, I promise. I only feel dead.
This week was finals week, and so I’ve been knee-deep in trying to keep my sanity, finishing 4 6′-tall paintings, making about 203840294324 prints, putting together a book for my photography final project, and writing three essays in German on Goethe and music. Needless to say, I’m a little drained!
So, now I’m back from being AWOL and working on some super awesome stuff for le blog and wedding-land!
Who else fell off the planet and lost their ability to do… anything during and immediately following finals week? Did it take you awhile to get back into the wedding groove?
“JP, what’s your spirit animal?”
“Uhhg, what are we talking about?”
“Your spirit animal. You know, like, your… spirit animal.”
“Um, a cat?”
“Not manly enough. Plus, you call me Maus, so then our possible spirit animals would be mortal enemies.”
“A wolf?”
“No, you can’t be a wolf either. That’s a dog.”
“Ok, well, then what’s your spirit animal?”
“A cat? No, I’m too tall to be a cat, or maybe I’m a… Oh you could be a robot, no wait that’s not an animal…”
Something that I’ve had an issue with since the beginning of wedding planning is the abundance of FREAKING ADORABLE wedding cake toppers. There are all of these super-cute animals, from birds, to alligators, to giraffes, to, well, pretty much anything.
I shall begin with the lovelies made by Etsy seller Bunny with a Toolbelt.
Even though I said that cats were too girly, those cats are just too adorable not to show. I love them, but I’m not sure if my spirit animal is that adorable of a cat. I think I’m maybe more of a Ratatat Wildcat. I love the gators, but my mother has an unhealthy obsession with the University of Florida, where both she and my father got their doctorates, but I don’t think we’ll bring those guys into our wedding. Sorry, Mom. Those giraffes are super cute, and even though we’re tall, I feel like giraffes are sort of dainty. I think, as awkward as I may be, that my spirit animal has a little more hulk smash in it.
Moving along.
Here are the ever-famous Goose Grease cake toppers…
Yes, I know they aren’t animals. But HUMANS IS ANIMALS TOO. These toppers have been seen everywhere, and part of me screams, “NO DON’T DO IT EVERYBODY IS DOING THAT NO PLEASE NOT DIFF’RENT ENUFF!” The other, more-rational-and-less-all-caps-part calmly states, “Well, that’s because they are pretty fantastic. Simple, yet still you’re still able to personalize them. They’re just adorable.” Then the neurotic-and-self-conscious-part chatters, “Um, yeah, so do you really want to be associated with something so… round on your wedding day? I mean, you aren’t very dainty, and do you want to draw attention to the big round head you have?” Thanks, me.
Then, I stumbled upon these animal-people hybrid cake toppers. I also do not use the word hybrid lightly in this case.
These are just totally out there. I’m usually a huge proponent of stuff that’s way, way, waaay out there. While these certainly are… different and special, I’m not sure if we’re the right couple to pull of these toppers. I don’t want to possibly creep out the guests. They also might border a little on the furry side of things, and we don’t swing that way. Call me old fashioned…
*Le sigh*
Maybe we just have MerMice for spirit animals.
*Found long ago on Google, and the seller “Dorian” has since dropped off the face of the planet.
Anyway, so concludes the first leg of the search for our spirit animals. I think I should go chant now.
When approaching wedding toppers, did y’all search for your “spirit animal” as well and come up short? Or did you just pick one because it was super-adorable, and not tangle yourself up into crazy over-analyzing like I have?
P.S. What is YOUR spirit animal? What do you guys think my spirit animal is? :p
