snippets and tidbits: August 2013

This summer has been really busy for me - besides the whole getting married thing and the sending Noah off on his mission thing, I have been studying, studying, studying. I spent the end of June and the whole month of July studying to take the GRE. And I studied hard. I even banned myself from the internet (hence the complete absence from posting) and I was really good about not checking blogs and Facebook and Pinterest and tumblr etc. etc. just so I could give my complete focus to horrible things like math and such.

But now I'm done! I took the GRE at the end of July and it went really well and now I'm free! So I decided to take advantage of my school free summer and actually make some of the things I've pinned on Pinterest so that husband and I can have some decorations to put in the apartment. First up: coasters! They were actually super cheap and really easy, and I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Here's the pin I used as inspiration.

And here's my take:
As usual all my pictures are the unedited ones straight from my iPhone - only the best people, only the best!

Here's what you need:

White ceramic tiles - I found mine at Home Depot and I bought 12 for $1.98
Spray paint - I'm on a gold kick so I chose gold leaf by Krylon (Martha says it's the best brand)
Masking tape

Step 1: clean your tiles and then tape them up with whatever shapes/designs you want

Step 2: go somewhere ventilated, lay down a tarp or old sheet, and then spray away to your little hearts content (I used two coats for my tiles)

Step 3: when the tiles are all dry, pull off the tape and enjoy your new coasters!

I think I am going to go buy some of that Mod Podge sealant spray and put that over the top just so the gold doesn't scratch or get messed up from wet cups.

So here is the final bunch of pictures. These were all taken at The Ivy House where our reception was held. It was absolutely perfect down to every last detail. I think the best part of our reception though was that it was totally stress free! I thought I would be a ball of nerves on our wedding day but I was so calm - I almost can't believe how smooth the whole day was.

People wanted to know, so I'm telling.

My dress came from Danielle's, a local bridal shop. They have a great seamstress with over 30 years of experience who does all their alterations. It's a smaller shop but they have a huge selection - I found all my favorite dresses there and it ended up being difficult to choose just one! Plus the owner is the cutest lady ever. Conner's suit is from J. Crew and his bow tie is from Nordstrom. The watch was a birthday present I bought him and it's Nixon.

Some of the groomsmen were all a little confused by what I had in mind for a sock picture, and some of them thought it was just silly, so here's their interpretation. I actually love how candid and natural all our pictures turned out. Alta did a great job just capturing personalities and the excitement of the day rather than having everything posed and planned.

My bouquet and Conner's boutonniere came from our local florist Brown Floral. We love them, they are so sweet and so willing to work with you to make your floral visions come to life. They also did the arrangements for our food tables and sign in table.

We decided to use a friend for the rest of the bouquets and boutonnieres and I am so happy we did! She did such a fabulous job, they really turned out beautifully! If you are looking for a more affordable option for any sort of floral arranging let me know and I can give you her contact information!

Here our beautiful cakes by Granite Bakery. We chose an almond poppy cake with simple buttercream icing... seriously the best wedding cake you've ever tasted - ask anyone who was at the reception! And Brown Floral did the gorgeous cake flowers.

I've been asked by so many people about our rings so I'll just tell you some quick details.

My rings are white gold 'un-dipped', meaning they are not rhodium-plated. So instead of your typical silver looking white gold mine are the natural color and have a slight yellow gold hue to them.

Conner's ring is also white gold with turquoise. I had it made by a local Native American Jeweler.

For the food at the reception, we used a local caterer named Sara Voortmeyer. I could rave about the food all day long. She created a fabulous menu for us: chicken pesto shish kabobs, roasted vegetables, spinach salad with fruit and vinaigrette, baked brie, an assortment of crusty breads, and a big bowl of juicy strawberries. I might be missing something but I think I got it all!

For those of you who wanted to know, the shoes came from DSW. I definitely recommend wedges, I was able to wear them the entire day and my feet didn't get sore until just before the reception ended. That's like 12 hours in heels people! I'm patting myself on the back a little for that choice ;)

Conner's brother Reed was the best man and he gave such a funny and sweet speech before we did cake cutting and dancing and all of that. We loved it!

My dad and I danced to I Will by The Beatles. It was so special because this was our lullaby when I was little. Side note: my dad actually sang a lot of Beatles when putting me down as a baby - I Will and Blackbird were some of the first songs I ever learned to sing, I think I knew all the words by the time I was three.

My dad then handed me off to Conner and we danced to A Kiss To Build A Dream On by Louis Armstrong. I thought it was fitting because Conner and I love listening to old music and watching classic black and white movies.

And what's better than slow dancing to Louis?