Wedding Reception Photo Booth - BRILLIANT!

At the risk of sounding incredibly Bridezilla-esque, I had one really awesome wedding planning idea. The best part is that it actually turned out as well (or better?!) than I'd imagined.

Behold the Photo Booth:
Okay, so it wasn't my own original idea...I saw it on the wedding blogs first...but I tweeked it my own way so I'm claiming it. The PB was a cheap way to liven up the reception and ensure fun candids of something other than cake-cutting.

In truth, it wasn't a booth. It was a wall. We found a big piece of red fabric at a discount warehouse in Minneapolis and taped it to the wall. We set up our own tripod and digital camera (since the last thing on my mind that day was snapping pictures) and took a few test shots to ensure the lighting was okay.

Behold the test shot:
I raided my costume bin and that of an equally well-provisioned friend, and then added about $14 of silly stuff from the party store.
I grabbed a couple cheap frames from Goodwill and spray-painted them black (ala Mrs. Lovely).
And tossed in a couple cheap dry-erase boards (lots of people were using chalkboards for this on the fancy wedding blogs).
But the best part comes to us from Her Royal Craftiness, Martha. Her Moustache-on-a-Stick idea (with a few modifications) won the day!

(This *may* have been their family holiday card)

We made the moustaches out of thin stiff felt (found at Michael's) and hot-glued them to small dowels (also found at Michaels).

Good times had by all! And these are going straight into the guestbook =)


Saved for last, my favorite PB shot:
If you've ever met my crazy step-dad this makes all kinds of sense. Sometimes I look at it just for a good laugh.

Willamette Valley Wedding Planning Yays & Nays

We had the luxury of spending 18 months planning our August 2010 wedding. Nearly all the vendors and service providers we ended up using were great and I thought it would be worth passing along the Yea's (and a Nay) to others planning a wedding in the Willamette Valley.

First the Yea's!
Attire:
I bought my first dress on a GREAT sale at Bridal Gallery in Salem. It's a nice shop, and the employees were friendly and helpful. Their big sale took place in November (the weekend prior to Thanksgiving?) and everything on the rack was 50% off. Sadly, I realized later that I'd purchased the wrong dress for me, but that had nothing to do with the service or experience at Bridal Gallery.

My second dress - THE dress - came from Charlotte's Weddings and More in Beaverton. This was a really nice shopping experience. You get your own large dressing room, furnished with a big mirror and comfy chairs for your crew. Take photos and ideas of what you like and let the Bridal Consultants pick dresses for you! SO much nicer than sifting through crowded racks of dresses in plastic bags. Ordering my dress was easy, and it came earlier than they'd predicted. It was also reasonably priced.

We got Jim some pretty rad unconventional tux shoes at Men's Wearhouse in Beaverton. These were a big hit, and are getting some play on his conducting gigs.

Alterations:
I used Specialty Sewing by Leslie in Corvallis. Leslie came highly recommended, and I can see why. She was friendly and easy to work with. Her cost was very reasonable considering the delicate work she was doing. The best part? She also steamed my dress for only $45! The cleaners would have charged at least $100.

Fabric:
We ordered fabric for bridesmaid dresses from Fashion Fabrics Club. Turned out great!

I made my own birdcage veil, and had a hard time finding the special Russian Netting required. I finally found it (in white, cream, and black) at the Mill End Store in Milwaukie. Later I discovered that I could have ordered it (in every color imaginable) on Etsy.

Jeweler:
For over 30 years, Jim's family has been using Packouz Jewelers in Portland so there wasn't really a question about where he'd go for my ring. They helped him design a totally unique ring (all via email and phone because he was living in Minnesota at the time!) incorporating stones from both of our families. They also created an incredible necklace for me using a piece of costume jewelry that belonged to my grandmother. Jim's wedding ring actually belonged to his dad, and had seen a lot of wear and tear. Packouz cleaned it up to look like new! Our friends Mason & Greta tied the knot about three weeks before we did, and they are also sporting beautiful unique rings from Packouz.

Spa & Salon:
My girls and I spent the day before the wedding at Phiz Spa in Salem and had the best time! All our services (manicures, pedicures, waxing and airbrush tanning) were great, and the atmosphere made it such a fun place to spend the day. Online booking (through the website) is super convenient, and you receive a discount for multiple services.

Shelly Gritton at Salon Gorgeous has been my go-to gal since college so there wasn't a question who would do my hair for the big day. She did a wonderful job, and one of her colleagues did updo's for some of the girls. They basically let the six of us swoop in and take over the place - even using their mirrors and good lighting to do our makeup. They made it really fun for us!

Photography:
When I saw the photos from Beth & Adam's wedding six years ago, I knew I wanted Eric John to be my wedding photographer! (Nevermind that I didn't even know who I'd be marrying...). We acted fast, and booked Eric over a year in advance. This is especially important if your wedding will take place during senior picture season (late summer/early fall) as he books up fast. His work is gorgeous, and I really liked the way he's able to capture moments and emotions with his photo-journalistic style. Though we were thrifty on most aspects of the wedding, this was our splurge. The only downside (if you can call it that) to hiring Eric is WAITING for the final product. We were told to expect a wait of 8-12 weeks. It's week 10. Still waiting...

Venues:
Our rehearsal dinner was a casual BBQ at Rudy's at Salem Golf Club. Their outdoor BBQ area is a bit rustic, but they make it work really well. We were able to have a full bar as well as a catered menu. The best part was proximity to a really nice lawn where we played bocce ball and let the kiddos run around.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church was the venue for our ceremony. Since this is our home church we didn't shop around for other options. However, I think it's worth mentioning for anyone looking for a nice traditional church setting! The church provides a facilitator who met with us ahead of time, organized the delivery and set up of our flowers, and was on hand on the wedding day to help with all sorts of details. The organist is pretty awesome too =)

Willamette University's CAT Cavern was our reception venue. We got a nice discount as alums, but it's available for anyone to rent. We liked the fact that tables, chairs, dancefloor (and all the set up) were part of the package price. Using any of Willamette's facilities does obligate you to use their caterer, Bon Apetit. This wasn't a problem for us, but might be a deal-breaker if your heart was already set on a different caterer.

Wine:
Because it is a favorite of my family (and perfect for the occasion!) we made a special effort to bring in Amity Vineyards' Wedding Dance Reisling. It's a wine that we love, and it's affordable too (especially when purchased in quantity directly from their winery in Amity).

Paper Goods & Printing:
We wanted to send save-the-date photo cards around the holidays and ended up ordering them through Costco. They have quite a few templates available, but we ended up designing our own and uploading it with their blank template. The cards were fairly large (5x7) and came with high quality envelopes. Total cost? 32 cents each!!

I knew I wanted pocketfolds for our invitations, but was horrifed to see the $2/each pricetag. Some searching produced Paper & More where I found the same pocketfolds for 79 cents each! In addition to the great price, their shipping cost was reasonable, and the product was very high quality.

For printing invitation components, we found Northwest Graphic Imaging in Corvallis. When the cute office beagle greeted me at the door, I knew it would be good. We were on a really tight timeline, and they did great color printing on the paper we provided. I know they would have done more (found special paper, cut the pieces to size) but they were also great about doing the basics to help us stay in our budget.

Sparklers:
At the last minute I decided I HAD to have a sparkler send-off. We ordered 20" white sparklers from Sparklers Online. I knew I was taking a risk ordering 10 days before the wedding, but they made it with three days to spare. They were awesome! It was so fun for everyone and it made for some great photos too!

Thankfully, there is really only one NAY. It's nicer to focus on all the friendly, helpful, high-quality YAYs anyway.
Nay to Olson's Floral in Salem. We had quite an ordeal with them (an hour before photos started) and it was the only stress of the wedding day. To their credit, they eventually refunded our money for the ruined items, but that also required an ordeal. Just go somewhere else!

Happy Planning!

Oh Neglected Blog (Wait Till You Hear Our Excuse...)

Dear Friends, Family and former loyal blog readers,

We moved Jim. Unpacked Jim. Got a dog. Reorganized Nicole's house. Finished Planning the Wedding. Delegated the Wedding. Had the Wedding and said I DO! (Actually I think it was "Absolutely" and "Most Definitely"). It's official: We're Married!!

For everyone involved, thank you for making it the perfect day. We couldn't have asked for anything more. The outpouring of love and support was more than we ever could have expected, and was truly humbling. Now that life might settle down a bit, there will be lots of blogging, including an overhaul of the blog in the next months. So add us back to your reader, check in regularly, and we promise not to disappoint.

In the meantime, we're sending you a warm Aloha from Kauai!

PS - BIG thanks to our friend/shutterbug Tim Adams for getting some great wedding images (including the one above) to us so quickly!

Dear Bridesmaids,

I found the inspiration for your wedding day look!

Love,
Bridezilla

April Shower

Last Saturday was one for the books - my best gals threw me the bridal shower to end all showers! We started the day with lunch at the Wild Pear - NUM!
Then we got right down to business:
One of the advantages of being the last of your girlfriends to marry is that everyone has special keepsakes to share with you. Just such a keepsake is discernible in the photo. That pink beer coozy (coozying a cocktail rather than a brewski) reads "Because I'm the Bride, That's Why." It has a black coozy partner which reads, "What Would I know? I'm just the Groom." We will treasure them forever! Or at least until August. Then we might share the love with some other couple.

A few snaps from the festivities:



This is my bestie, Brenda Lee. It's too bad we don't have more fun together.

Can you make out the detail of this beautiful fabric banner? A certain crafty gal used our engagement photos to decorate it!

And these are my best gals. Could I have five prettier friends? No. It is not possible. Shall I really make you jealous? Not only are they picture perfect, they are each wicked smart, talented, funny, loving, and a darn good time!

And they share my love of pretty shoes. And umbrella drinks. And that's what really matters.

On to the May Flowers!

The One With the Plastic Forks

Since it's springtime in Oregon, I found myself wedging yet another box of allergy pills into the medicine cabinet this afternoon. Why am I suddenly outgrowing my medicine cabinet? Because it's full of expired OTC products, that's why! Oops. Please don't tell the dozens of Pharmacists with whom I work. Or the nearly 800 aspiring Pharmacists we are educating...they like to practice their "patient counseling" skills on me from time to time, and I can only imagine the lecture this irresponsible behavior would merit. I'm supposed to be the one pestering them about responsibility - not the other way around. Anyway, I dutifully purged the 2008 cough syrup and the "real" Sudafed I smuggled home from Chicago many moons ago. (Note to self: cross the border to a normal state before cold season sets in). In the process I came across a nearly-full bottle of now-expired Maalox which reminded me of a lovely tale I've been meaning to share for quite some time. It involves the Maalox, a tube of crescent rolls, a pregnant lady, and a plastic fork.

It was Friday, February 27, 2009 (right here I wish I could insert that harp-music that always plays when someone in a movie is flashing back to an old memory) and I was having a crazy-busy day at work. I was absolutely determined to be out the door on time that night so that I could head off to start birthday weekend festivities with two of my favorite gal-pals, Jessie & Beth. Not having packed a lunch, I dashed over to the cafeteria and grabbed a salad to go. A salad and a plastic fork. Dun dun DUN! Moments later I was back at my desk with about seven minutes to consume my salad, and was stabbing wildly at it with the fork. In my fervor, I broke off two of the little plastic tines. I glanced at the salad, and didn't immediately see the broken tines - sadly indistinguishable from the cafeteria's shredded iceberg lettuce. I thought to myself, "I should fish around and get those things out of there." Then, realizing that I now had only 5 minutes to finish eating lunch, I decided that I would certainly notice biting into a tine, and would just spit it out if I got one in my remaining few bites. Mmmm hmmmm. No flaws in that plan. Minutes later I'd scarfed up most of my salad (quite an achievement with a two-tined fork) and congratulated myself for not eating any part of my utensil! I tossed the rest of the salad in the trash and got back to work.

Later that afternoon I was on my way to Beth's house, eagerly anticipating a night of fun. I also seemed to have developed quite a tickle in my throat - it almost felt like the beginning of a sore throat. How could I possibly be getting sick? I'm ruthless with the anti-bacterial lotion and lysol wipes for a reason. If I could just clear my throat...cough, hack, sputter. Drink some water...cough, hack, sputter. Still really sore! And maybe a little obstructed. Swallow, cough, hack, sputter. And then, in a palm-smacking-the-forehead moment of realization, it dawns on me. Gulp. There is a fork tine lodged in my throat. Let's get the birthday party started!

Immediately upon my arrival at Beth's place the wine was poured, and I confessed my latest shenanigan to the girls. (For the record: we poured sparkling cider into a wineglass for the pregnant lady. We did that A LOT that year). I figured we could probably come up with some kind of solution. I regaled the girls with stories of our old dog, Sunny, who was notorious for eating all sorts of things that shouldn't be eaten (shoe laces, crayons, razor blades...), as well as the charming feed-her-a-lot-of-bread-and-then-monitor-the-backyard-till-you-find-the-item-again routine with which our family became all too familiar. As we drank our wine, my problem seemed funnier and funnier. Eventually, it was suggested that I should be stuffed full of bread crumbs like a Thanksgiving turkey and then set out on the lawn. What a touching testimonial to our friendship.

Seeing no sensible solutions showing up at the bottom of that bottle of pinot, I decided to give Jimbo a jangle. What the heck? Even if he doesn't have a remedy, all my "I got carried away and ate the whole dang place-setting" jokes would be new to him. Apparently I caught him at a bad time. He was out a some loud restaurant and didn't find my predicament all that funny. Thankfully he did have one half-way decent recommendation: call his parents, the retired nurse and paramedic. I don't remember which one of his parents I called first, or exactly how the conversation went. It was all a little jumbled since they were also out to dinner at a loud restaurant, and kept consulting each other while muffling the receiver. I do remember coming away with the distinct impression that we were going to really kick this slumber party into high gear by having my stomach pumped.

Eventually, it was decided that the tine probably wasn't actually lodged in my throat (since I'd been able to chew and swallow our pizza at dinner). Apparently it had scratched the inside of my throat on the way down - hence the soreness. I got instructions to drink a big dose of Maalox as the topical anesthetic would help my poor scratched throat. But then there was the matter of at least one - and quite possibly two - sharp pieces of plastic now navigating my nether regions. If I wanted to avoid having my stomach pumped, I'd have to do something to ensure that those little tines didn't prick, poke, or puncture anything precious! Solution? Feed-her-a-lot-of-bread-and-then-monitor-the-backyard-till-you-find-the-item-again. I am now officially sorry for making fun of the dog for all these years.

So, the three of us piled into the car (this is where the pregnant/sober lady really came through like a champ) and drove across the street to the Thriftway. You read that right: we drove across the street - our pregnant lady had hit her 8-month waddle. I opted for the mint-flavored Maalox (vs. cherry...cough, hack, sputter) and a tube of the Pillsbury Doughboy's finest crescent rolls.
Nothing says party like minty-fresh vacuum-packed dinner rolls! Thankfully there were *delish* birthday cupcakes to cap off the night.
I don't remember now how many crescent rolls I made myself eat, but I'm fairly certain I mustered the fortitude to polish off two of those cupcakes. Overindulgent? Maybe. But I had a mandate: feed-her-a-lot-of-bread-and-then-monitor-the-backyard-till-you-find-the-item-again. Believe it or not, it worked! The Maalox soothed my scratched up throat, and the baked goods did their trick too. That's all I'm going to say about that. This is a family show.

I never touched that big bottle of Maalox again, and it sure felt good to pour it out today.

This story requires not one, but two epilogues.

Epilogue One:
Remember my jangle to Jimbo? He was in a loud restaurant and tried to get me off the phone as quickly as possible. Remember my call to his parents a few minutes later? Loud restaurant, muffled discussion. They were together in the SAME loud restaurant - just miles from me and my Maalox. That boy is lucky I don't have an investigative bone in my body or I would have blown his big plan for a surprise proposal the next day!
What a special birthday treat! Almost made me forget all that bread.


Epilogue Two:
A couple weeks later I received a picture text from Beth. She'd snapped it at her desk that day at lunch.

No caption necessary.