Clay Flowers in Progress!

When I first stumbled upon Diane's work I was amazed. I thought it would be cool and funky to have clay flowers, plus it was one less thing I would have to worry about. Having the flowers created and delivered before the wedding left out any surprises you may get from a florist on your wedding day. So, it seemed unusual, safe, affordable and a little off beat. It wasn't until Diane sent me photos of the flower mock-ups a few months ago that I really became excited. Blown away doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about her work every time.

Well, with most of her summer weddings out of the way Diane has begun work on the flowers for our wedding. She has been working all day everyday since Saturday and sending me photos to document her progress. Here is what she has accomplished so far:
First she made the tuberoses. Each of the 40 flowers has 21 little petals. The detail is truly amazing.

Next she began work on 60 pearl-centered stephanotis flowers, a creamy white peony with golden center cake topper, peonies, champagne peach roses and white/green ranunculus. For the photos she decided to put them into a bouquet similar to what the final result will be.

The cake topper was a little bit of a late addition. After we picked out our wedding cake, I kept picturing a big white peony on top. So, I e-mailed Diane and she added it to my order. Left on her to do list for my bouquet is the copper colored roses, then she can start the flowers for the 5 bridesmaid bouquets and 9 corsages/boutonnieres. Whew...

Now that Mr. Pineapple and I are already married, I can safely say this is the part of the wedding I am most excited about!

What part of your wedding are you looking forward to the most (other than marrying your significant other, of course)?

Showered with Love: Cake Contest

See that sign in the background? It says "Best Wishes Ryan & Emily" Bridesmaid Katie made that sign by cutting the letters out of pink paper. The amazing part if she didn't even draw them on the paper first, she just started cutting, even the ampersand. Very impressive. (For those font nerds out there Sister Pineapple and I called the letters Comic Serif :) )

A couple days before the shower, Mom Pineapple and I baked mini wedding cakes for a cake decorating contest. The morning of the shower my bridesmaids and I mixed up different colors of frosting and filled decorating bags. Then each guest got a mini cake and we passed around the frosting.I'm pretty sure this messy contest was a hit. We had prizes for the prettiest, most creative, most unusual and most colorful cakes.
My Aunt Laurie won for most colorful cake. We wanted her to be able to win a prize no matter what her cake looked like, so Sister Pineapple and I made up the most colorful category after seeing her finished cake. She loves sprinkles, a girl after my own heart.
Nana Pineapple won for most unusual because her cake was decorated with two hearts, but it was upside down. When I picked it to win the prize I assumed that the creator did it on purpose, turns out, not so much. Sorry Nana! :)

Bridesmaid Kim won most creative for her alien cake. She has been drawing this peanut-like alien for almost the entire time I have known her. It makes several appearances in year books as we grew up. Nice work Kimmy.

Next up we have the prettiest cake belonging to my friend Lisa. Lisa just got married herself so she said she had spent a lot of time recently looking at cake designs.

And for the curious here is a shot of my freckles and my cake, it's plaid.

What is your favorite bridal shower game?

All Dolled Up

Requisite before shot, I think I like this look even better.

When it came to having my hair and make-up done for the wedding I had a plan, a good one, but no back-up. So, when it came to the hair trial I was really hoping things would go well.

Our wedding is going to take place in down town Pittsburgh. The club that is hosting our festivities, and where we will be getting ready the morning of, is on the 4th-7th floors of the building. Coincidentally, there is a hair salon on the second floor. The salon is part of a regional chain called Philip Pelusi. I have been going to two different branches since moving to Pittsburgh and have always been very happy with the results. The price is right too, about $35 for your average haircut and style.

I had my trial scheduled for the morning of my bridal shower so that I had a reason to looked fancy pants. It also worked out well because I could confirm with my friends whether or not it was the right look for me. Mom Pineapple came along with me and also had her hair cut. She is almost as bad as I am when it comes to going to the salon, for her it had been a year since her last cut and for me 18 months.

Here are two of my inspiration images:
She first dyed my hair back to what is probably my natural color, a deep brown. Then she cut off about 4 inches, my hair was in bad shape. Then she straighten and curled it, putting it halfway up like in the second photo. It just didn't feel like me. I look a lot younger than I am to begin with (in fact, the stylist thought I was the 17 year old little sister of the bride from another bridal party who was in there at the same time we were) and it made me look even younger. I felt like a middle school homecoming queen or something, not a bride.

So, I asked her to take it down. Sorry the photo is fuzzy, my mom's camera seemed to be on the fritz.
Soft and simple, done and done.For make-up I didn't bring any of my inspiration photos with me, I just used some of the key phrases you all taught me. :) I pretty much just told her that I was thinking I would like warm colors and nothing too over the top. She said, oh good, me too!

So here is the final result:
Self-portrait in a mirror, perfect for my new myspace photo.

What do you think? Did you have your hair trial on the morning of a special occasion?

October 18th: The Sweetest Day

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When Mr. Pineapple and I first started talking about possible wedding dates our first thought was sometime in October. We were looking at venues more than a year in advance were surprised by how limited the available dates were, especially here in somewhat sleepy western, PA. Our goal date was October 25th, simply because it was a nice simple number. When we decided we to get married at The Rivers Club, October 25th was booked by a bar mitzvah so October 18th became our new future wedding anniversary.

I immediately added "Wedding!!!" to my calendar and discovered that October 18th was noted as "Sweetest Day." I thought "Well, that's cute, but what the heck is Sweetest Day?" So, I turned to the knower of all things, the internet.

So, what is Sweetest Day? Celebrated on the third Saturday of every October, it is pretty much Valentine's Day to celebrate people you just kind of like a lot in addition to those you love. It is described by Retail Confectioners International as an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."

You know how a lot of people say Valentine's Day was just invented by greeting card and candy makers to drum up business? There are two stories that describe the origin of Sweetest Day. One story is that it originated as an act of philanthropy by a candy company employee named Herbert Birch Kingston who wanted to give gifts to the forgotten such as orphans and shut-ins. The other story is that it really was invented by candy makers.

The first mention of The Sweetest Day can be found in the October 8th, 1921 edition of the Cleveland newspaper, The Plain Dealer. The paper says that the holiday was planned by a committee of 12 candy makers. The Sweetest Day in the Year Committee distributed over 20,000 boxes of candy to "newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor."

The Sweetest Day never really caught on like the candy makers had hoped. It is still celebrated by a few cities in the U.S. such as Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit. Pittsburgh is nestled amongst these cities, so I was surprised that I had never heard of the holiday before.

Sources:
Wikipedia
The Romantic

Are you sharing your wedding day with another holiday?

A Wedding in a Week: Getting Ready

After this post, it is time to say goodbye to our wedding in a week and get back to planning our October wedding. I just wanted to share with you some final photos and tidbits, beginning with a little better shot of my dress:
The reason for the wrap was two fold. Since I didn't have time for any alterations the fit was not quite right. The top of the dress was a bit too loose. No one else probably would have noticed, but it made me more comfortable to wear the shall. I am going to take it to a seamstress to add straps before it makes another appearance for the rehearsal and dinner. The second reason was the coming of fall. It was a bit chilly out and I felt silly bearing so much skin.

When my parents were married my paternal grandmother made a hanky for my mom to carry with her down the aisle. She tucked it into her waistband and I pinned it under the lace of my gown.
My grandmother passed away when I was 8 years old, so it was really special to have something that she made with me.

Getting ready was not the normal big to-do for this wedding. Mr. Pineapple left about 20 minutes ahead of me so I could slip on my dress without him seeing and add a little lip gloss. As you can see, I decided to wear my glasses fearing I would start to cry and loose my contacts.

Did you carry anything special with you down the aisle?

A Wedding in a Week: Rehearsal Dinner and Cake

Believe it or not we had a rehearsal dinner for our quicky wedding. Well, at least that is what we are calling it. Friday night my parents, Mr. Pineapple, myself, and Oliver & Rooney the dogs roasted hot dogs and marshmallows down at the pond where we live.
Our house is the white one you can see off in the distance. We live on a 100 acre farm, which is very relaxing during crazy times like these.
Rooney spent the RD eating sticks and choking on acorns.
As you can see it was COLD. Here I am rocking about 5 layers including a massive CMU sweatshirt. I am one beautiful bride.

Here is Mr. Pineapple making our gourmet hot dogs.

Earlier in the day Mom Pineapple and I baked the wedding cake. When I was a very little girl, I used to watch my mom's cake decorating videos over and over. I was most amazed by the frosting roses, that were made so effortlessly. My dad also tells stories of his mom's amazing wedding cakes. So, when I had to opportunity to test my own skills, I jumped at the chance. I was really hoping I would be the next Bob Ross of cake decorating. Turns out, not so much. I think I need more practice, our cake looks like it has spikey hair. :)
Luckily it tasted better than it looked!

Did you ever try your hand at cake decorating? Any tips for me? (Like avoiding all those peaks on top of my dollops.)

Emily Ink Etsy Store!

Today I set up shop at www.etsy.com. I am so excited and hopefully I will be able to continue working in weddings after my planning is all said and done! Here is a sneak peak of the custom invitations I have up for sale: