Tag Archives: Planning

Videographuuuuuggghhhh…

Mar. 30, 2010

In the beginning, there was no want for a videographer. I hate my voice recorded, refuse to ever watch a video of myself, and JP is the same way. It tends to really highlight my inner (hell, who are we kidding… OUTER) spaz.

But then, then, then. Then. Then the universe shoves things in my face that I cannot avoid. I see things like this by StillMotion, and my heart aches.

I choke back tears, get a giant lump in my throat, and just am blown away by the power and beauty of this. Power and beauty and wedding film? Same sentence? Oh yeah, I went there. I’m pretty lame and sappy right now.

There’re also tears and giggles, all rolled into one…

Unfortunately, we did not allot any big bucks for wedding videos. Again, remember, I thought it was pish-posh-hogwash.

The universe has also shown me weddings shot in Super 8 by awesome people like Craig Johnson of Bus 33, and I go wild.

Those are three good examples of things that I love. I’ve been tirelessly looking for more wallet-friendly options that still are in line with our aesthetic and personalities, but, I hate to say it, it’s been a big bust. In comes the failboat, toot toot. I’ve seen things that have sent chills down my spine, but not in the good way– instead in the “nails on a chalkboard” way. I’ll just let you imagine things that I, well, let’s not say hate, but… don’t really mesh well with… other things that I like…

Things that bug me

  1. Anything with “starring.” Deal-breaker. Reminds me too much of the creepy parts of Red Dragon with the Leeds’ family videos.
  2. Creepy fades with shimmer.
  3. Creepy midi music.
  4. Creepy stuff in general.
  5. Barf-gag-cheesy stuff. If I do an overly dramatic eye-roll, it’s bad. I cry at pretty much every wedding video, so that says how un-fond I am of some of the recent things I’ve seen.

At present, it has boiled down to this: The things that we love are out of our price-range. I’m still trying to find fledgling indie/hipster videographers that would be more in our range, but it’s not looking good. I may just stick my uncle in the corner (Sorry Joe!) with an HD cam and say, “GO!” Or even just a tripod. Basic and unedited videos rank higher than the super-cheese-or-stuff-that-bugs-me. Dumb opinion? Maybe, but that’s how I roll.

It does not look good for our heroes, kids. The universe might just win this one.

How did you handle videography? Did you know you wanted it from the start and PLAN FOR IT, or did you start freaking out at the end of the planning-road over it? Any advice as to what we should do?

Posted in Our Wedding Tags: , ,

Press this.

Mar. 27, 2010

Yesterday morning I was climbing the walls. Our invitations were in LaGrange, on the truck for delivery, but weren’t scheduled to be delivered until 4:30 pm. After refreshing the FedEx tracking page about 400 times, I began to consider chasing down the truck. How could I possibly wait all day when I knew they were in this tiny town? Right as I was contemplating how best not to sound like a crazy loon, the doorbell rang. By the time I realized what was going on, I was standing downstairs next to my father and JP, while my father was threatening to stab-open the box with a Swiss Army Knife. (Both he and JP enjoy pushing my buttons).

My father and his Swiss Army Knife of (possible) doom.

Okay, okay, I’ll get on with it! I will save you the gory opening details, but everything is here, accounted for, and completely and 100% fabulous. These beauties are all on yummy Lettra, and printed in Rhodium Red, Process Blue, and, well Black. As with other posts of this nature, you’re probably only here for the pixxx, so go on, give our delightful invites a once-over.

I am totally in love with the results– the feel of the paper, the deep indentations, the weight of it all, the perfect floods… I really cannot blabber on enough about these.  It’s just magic in cotton and ink form.

A big thanks goes out to Colleen of Cleanwash Letterpress, and Brooke (Mrs. Cupcake!) for referring me to her. They both really rescued me during my printing conundrum, and Colleen did such a beautiful job printing these guys in a jiffy.

Now comes the yellow-lining, the website-sneaking-in, and the writing. Oh boy. This will either spell disaster or awesome-aster. I’m hoping for the latter.

How many backflips did you do when your invitations came in? Did you design them yourself then have them printed, had someone else design and print them, or go the totally DIY route? Oh yeah, and what do you guys think?!

Posted in Our Wedding Tags: , , , ,

Card-box gold?

Mar. 24, 2010

Being an art kid who has done her fair share of sculpture and installations means that I have a whole lot of random stuff laying around. Until a few weeks ago, I never thought to tap into these things to use for the wedding. I already knew that we would have my fairly ginormous paintings and drawings of the two of us all around the place, but I forgot about the other things I’ve accrued over the years.

The main thing as of now that I’m excited about using is an antique double-sided gumball machine. (Ok, I’m not sure how “antique” it is, given that it has some plastic parts. Let’s call it vintage instead. Work with me here). For an installation, I bought it from a salvage place [read: a place straight out of Deliverance] and repainted/restored it. Then jammed it full of cranes.

This machine, dusted, old cranes removed, painted in our colors, would be such a fun piece to use as our card-box. There’s only one problem– how do said cards get into the machine?

Option 1: Leave the tops off.
Yeaaaahh… that might look a little ghetto. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Option 2: Have a sign that tells people to take the tops off.
Too much work? Pain in the butt? Breakage? Bah.

Option 3: Cut slots into the metal tops.
This would be cool, and I think fairly doable. But still, there’s that think part. Not exactly 100% sure.

Option 4: Cut slots into the clear part.
Actually this would be disaster. Or probably a disaster. It has tears written all over it.

What should I do? Ghetto-haxx these into card-boxes? Use them for other fun decor? Fill them with something else, i.e. non-crushed-internal-hanging cranes? Check myself into a facility for crazy brides?

Posted in Our Wedding Tags: , , , ,

Falling in Like

Feb. 15, 2010

With lines like that, it’s difficult not to fall hard over Big Poppa E‘s poem “Falling in Like.” I’m not quite sure what made me remember this dude, or his poem, but it hit me the other day while thumbing through the pages of I Like You. This poem, while being pretty drastically different in form, given the fact that this is technically “slam poetry,” evokes some of the similar feelings of I Like You. It’s sweet, innocent, and just plain awesome.

Take a little listen and watch… (The poem starts at 2:30, but before that he gives a little background and says some bad words. I like watching the whole dang thing, but skip ahead if you wish).

I love it.

Perhaps I look for wedding inspiration in all the wrong places, or I’m a little off my rocker, but this just speaks to me in a, “USE ME USE ME! I HAVE A GREAT MESSAGE!” sort of way. It’s probably a little late in the game for me to start tacking things on, but I just can’t help myself. Whether or not we find a way to work this into our wedding day, I still think it is worth a thought, listen, or at least a hearty “Awww!”

Do you find wedding inspiration in the strangest of places? Anybody else have a problem with finding more, and more, and more, and more [ ... ] and more things that you’d like to incorporate into your wedding? How do you weed it all out?

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In L-O-V-E with the love flats

Feb. 14, 2010

I am so thrilled to announce that my shoes are here, and they’re more fabulous than I could have ever imagined.

On Thursday evening, while I was hurrying up to Atlanta before the snowstorm hit, my mother was heading back down to LaGrange from a hair appointment with Luke in the ATL.

“Hey Mom. I’m on the way up right now. Just letting you know…”

“OH! I-have-your-Valentine’s-Day-present-let’s-meet-at-an-exit!!!”

“No, we don’t have to do that. I can just wait until Sunday and we’ll do it on-”

“I don’t think you want to wait.”

“…?”

We met in the parking lot of a random daycare right off of the interstate. I was pretty sketched out, given the fact that it was past 8pm and I was hanging out in an empty parking lot. I began to wonder why I agreed to this silly plan when Mom drove up and practically burst out of her car. I got out of my vehicle, locked my car, made sure my cell phone could speed dial 911, and followed her to her trunk. She opened the trunk, pulled out a shiny red shopping bag, and I thought I was going to fall over.

“HOLY SHIT! Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit!!! You’re kidding, you’re kidding, you’re kidding, right?”

“See? I thought you wouldn’t want to wait.”

I gently lifted off the lid of the shoe box, lifted the bright red dust bag, and carefully peeled back the tissue to reveal the most amazing shoes I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on– my wedding shoes. The Christian Louboutin love flats. It was about to start snowing, so I used every ounce of my willpower to keep the shoes in the box and not shove my feet into them.

I thanked her close to 300 times, we parted ways, and I finished my journey to Atlanta in a wonderful state of twitterpated-shoe-ecstasy.

Oh, and later I took some pictures. What would a freaking-out-about-shoes post be without excessive amounts of pictures? That’s what I thought.

Wednesday thought this was the perfect time to ruin a shot.

Take 2

Those battle scars on my feet are from the cat. Blame her.

Wednesday had to do a little quality control.

Like butta.

The carpet matches the shoes. Interesting.

Cannot beat that red sole.

These babies were definitely worth the wait, stress, and effort. I cannot wait to prance down the aisle with love on my toes and red on my soles. Now if only I could decide how to properly protect these from the elements and the cat…

Did you freak out when you finally got your hands on your wedding shoes, or am I just a total spaz? How are you keeping your shoes safe until the big day?

Posted in Our Wedding Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I am a bad bride with too many STDs.

Feb. 10, 2010

So you know those Save the Date things? The ones that you’re supposed to send out, oh, roughly six months in advance of your wedding?

Holla, homegirl over here never made a decision, and it looks like it’s probably too late, or a moot point… at this point.

You see, I didn’t just not do them. (Double negative, ahoy!) I did a lot of them. Quite a lot, actually. My biggest problem is that I obsess and nitpick over any design work I do for myself. I can churn out stuff for other people– no problem! There is just some sort of roadblock for me when it comes to making decisions about our wedding, and the paper goods have had the biggest roadblock of all.

Let’s just take a look at a few, shall we?

First, the ones we’ve seen before. Looking back on these, I still really love them.

Then I got restless, because I couldn’t find anyone to print them to my liking in the appropriate timeslot, or so I thought. Our engagement pictures came in, and I made this one.

I got neurotic about the text coloring, so I moved on. I found the gorgeous work of MaeMae Paperie, and so I started playing with some vector drawings I had done as mock-ups for a series of etchings I made for my printmaking studio.

Then Bunny pointed out that if someone didn’t know about my crane thing, that, well, it sort of looked like a bagina. (Yes, I am calling it a bagina). I have to agree. Man down.

Anyway, moving along. I decided I was going to get my rear in gear and just order some postcards off of Moo and be done with it. Our stuff on the front, website on the back, kraft envelope, finito.

After a test run of those puppies with my trusty new printer, I decided that they were sort of “meh” when printed out. Just didn’t really do much for me… at all. Then, I printed out these, which were purely a joke.

It was a silly cut-paper scan that I had done from a printed-on-cheap-copy-paper-and-draft-setting of one of our engagement pictures. And it looked fantastic printed out. I loved it, JP loved it, Mom loved it… ok, you get it. It was loved.

I never pulled the trigger. Why? I have no idea. At this point, is it too late? We could have these in, printed, and ready to go in 10 days maximum, but, well, worth it?

So wonderful peeps, I am at a standstill. I do not know what to do. Should I order these last babies and be done with it? Should I scrap it all and just move on to invitations? Is it ridiculously too late? Has anyone else had some major trouble pulling the trigger when designing your own stuff? Did it drive you to the point of “can’t do a damned thing,” or did you man up and get the job done?

*Engagement photos were taken by the awesome Matt Miller, as if you didn’t know! All the rest is by me.

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The only wedding book worth buying.

Feb. 8, 2010

I hate to break it to you all, but…

There is one, however, that isn’t quite so worthless. In fact, it’s not worthless at all. If I were to recommend ONE wedding planning guide, resource, what-have-you, I would tell you to buy this one:

The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day by Mindy Weiss and Lisbeth Levine

I didn’t buy this book initially because it didn’t look too exciting– it wasn’t hot pink, it didn’t look very fun, I thought it had a fairly cheesy title, and I just judged it by its cover. After buying about every other book on the planet, including every terrible one offered by The Knot, I decided it was time to look at some reviews. This book consistently was reviewed as being the very best. I put aside my book-judging and went out and bought it.

Let me tell you– it is the ONLY wedding book that I’ve used fairly religiously, and it’s the most comprehensive one I’ve found. Not only is it packed with answers to pretty much any question you might have regarding weddings, it also is fairly style-and-level-of-conservativeness-neutral. There is information and etiquette for different levels of strictness. You don’t have to barf because of a cheesy photo of a bride holding your least favorite flowers. You can get your information without having to wade through pages of crap.

Another thing I like about this book is the layout. I tend to glaze over at pages of solid text. Every page of this book has diagrams, examples, little blurb-boxes without stupid questions, tables– you name it. It quells the ADHD monster inside of me, holds my attention, and, well, I pretty much love this sucker.

So yes, if you’re in need of a great wedding book and one whose advice I’d trust implicitly, go buy this book. It is $13.57 on Amazon. Win.

Look forward to next time, where I’ll let you in on which book launched 1,000 panic attacks.

Any other lovers of this book out there? Who else has had problems finding a wedding book that was worth four hoots?

Posted in Our Wedding Tags: , ,

Honey this moon.

Feb. 7, 2010

For our honeymoon, all I want to do is sit on my ass for a week, stuff my face, roll around in bed, and be in my comfort zone. I don’t want to worry about wasting money. I don’t want to be nervous because I’m in a new and unfamiliar place. I don’t want to feel guilty for not going sightseeing every day. I don’t want to deal with epic amounts of luggage, flights, taxis, butlers, rat-bastards, or anything of the like.
That is why we will be spending our honeymoon at my parents’ beach house in Seagrove Beach, Florida. Wedding in one house and then off to the other.

1. This house is where we first said, “I love you.”
2. This house is where we got engaged.
3. Four-hour drive from the big house. I’d like to hope that will be a four-hour nap for one of us. (And by one of us, I mean me. Mama di’n't raise no fool).
4. White sand beaches, Gulf of Mexico. Need I say more?


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5. We know the area like the backs of our hands.
6. Our favorite restaurant ever is here.


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7.Did I mention food?
8. I’ll be able too cook with good cookware and good knives. I’d go insane without those two things.
9. Hot tub, pool, and 3 stories of amazing all to ourselves? Yes, please. Let’s take a little tour…

The house and view from the top. Pay no mind to the white pool furniture. Long story.

Downstairs guest bedroom, pool room, and bunks.

View of the pool from the pool room.

Second floor great room. My personal favorite spot in the house. Great kitchen to cook in. My father made our dining room table, as well as all the beds in the house. True story.

Our bedroom and bathroom at the house. I fought tooth and nail for those brown walls and that drugstore tile.

View down the staircase from the third floor, third floor sitting room, plus the views from the balcony off said sitting room. Again, ignore that white furniture.

Master bedroom, master balcony, and part of the ginormous bathroom. This is my parents’ room, and we’re debating whether or not to stay up here. Note the cameo of my mother in the shower door. All of these house pictures were by her. Awesome.

So yeah, that’s where we’re spending our honeymoon, and we couldn’t be happier. Relaxed, no annoying travel shit to deal with, and besides all of that, it’s a freaking awesome place to have a honeymoon. Suck it, all-inclusives, with your warmed-over food and your annoying waitstaff. Adios, security check-in at the airport. Goodbye, over-starched hotel sheets.

Is anyone else forgoing a big honeymoon for a more relaxed one? Anybody else taking over their parents’ (or other family member’s) vacation house for the event?

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