Mom Pineapple, She's a Crafty One

One of my favorite gifts I got at my bridal shower was made by Mom Pineapple, a dress shopping scrapbook.

Way back before I was a bee, my folks and bridesmaids flew from all over the east coast to go dress shopping with me. I didn't want to plan the weekend before March because Pittsburgh winters can be messy. However, I didn't want to wait too long just in case the dress would take a while to arrive. So March it was. I was wrong about the weather being okay. Almost every flight was delayed and our neighborhood (home to the steepest streets in the world) was covered in ice.
After we got everyone to the house and fed were we able to actually have some fun in the snow. Kim and Lindsay, from Florida, I am pretty confident enjoyed the snow the most. We built a snowman with stubby arms (thanks to Kim) and ears. Then my sister decided the snowman needed a heart and hair made from strawberry syrup.
He looked like he was impaled.

Then first thing Saturday morning we went David's Bridal, the only store we ended up visiting. After an hour and fifteen minutes I had my gown.
Having all of my best friends go shopping with me was a wonderful experience. It really meant a lot to me and now, thanks to my mom, I have a lovely book to remember the weekend by.

Were you able to bring your bridal party dress shopping with you?

All Wrapped Up

Yesterday I spent a couple hours wrapping the handles of the a Diane made. All of the ribbon I used I got on sale at Michael's for $1. It was a cheap project, but really not all that easy. If I were to do it again, I would probably just pay Diane to do it for me.
I wrapped my bouquet using a scrap of copper satin. The rest of this satin will be used as a runner of sorts on the cake table.
The bridesmaids' bouquets, bouts and corsages are wrapped in that wonderful dollar ribbon.
Did you wrap your own bouquets?

Centerpiece Mock-Up

Remember these?
Well, I can't even tell you how many hours I slaved over these coffee filter roses. Then we moved and the box was stored in a closet for a couple months. Yesterday I pulled out the box to mock-up the centerpiece and all the flowers were smashed. They are very light so they couldn't have smashed each other. I don't know how it happened, but it wasn't good. I was able to salvage just barely enough for our centerpieces.

In addition to the paper roses the centerpieces include these crazy (and borderline tacky, let's be honest) copper leaves/sticks and candles atop mirror tiles from Ikea.

(ignore the plastic wrap left on the mirrors)

I am pretty happy with the outcome. It is warm and cozy and has that handmade feeling I love. The tables we are using are rectangular 6 person tables with big cushy chairs. So that alone will give the reception an intimate feel, plus scarves and candle light --mmmmmmm.

As far as cost goes I wanted to keep each centerpiece around $10, but with a decrease in the number of tables we have the individual cost went up a couple dollars. The flowers cost about $30 total, the copper sparkle plants were about $30 total, the mirrors were $1.20 each and the candles were $7/table. Making each centerpiece cost about $12.20.

Now as long as the candles don't burn down to the mirror and catch the flowers on fire and burn down Pittsburgh, we'll be in good shape! hrm.

Are you going for a fresh flower alternative for your centerpieces?

Photo Projects: Table Numbers & Guest "Book"

A while back I asked the hive for suggestions on how to incorporate our herd of animals into the wedding. Many of you suggested doing something with the table numbers, so I did.
I purchased 2-sided frames from the dollar store and used my photo printer to create the images. On one side is just a photo of either Rooney, Harrison, Onyx or Zazu.
And on the back is the name of said pet and the number. This was a surprisingly quick and easy project, especially with the help of Momma P.

Next we have our photo guestbook. I had grand ideas for the guestbook, possibly a sketch book. In the end we decided to go with a photo people can sign around to keep things simple. The logistics of something so complicated and possibly messy as a guest book were just too much to worry about. We put it in the frame and removed the glass. We are having a rather small shindig (70 guests) so there should be plenty of room to sign.

Are you incorporating photos into some of the details of your wedding?

"Getch Yer Programs!"

When it came to the programs I wanted to keep it simple, but still in keeping with the rest of our paper goodies. We decided on a vertical half-sheet for the layout and to open with a little blurb about our first wedding, written by Mr. Pineapple:

"On September 20, 2008, we were married in a ceremony with only our parents in attendance. The ceremony was planned to ensure that our families, the people who have loved and supported us for entire lives, could see us commit the rest of our lives to each other as husband and wife. We are thankful to them for everything, including sharing that special moment with us. We are honored to have our friends and families here to join us as we celebrate our new life together."

The paragraph is followed by a simple listing of our parents, bridal party, musicians and officiant. We then backed the programs with the same copper card stock used on our invitations.

Done and done.

Did you decided to keep your programs simple?

Mailbox Card Box

Beyond the copper in our wedding, Mr. Pineapple and I really love the use of copper in other elements in our home. Someday we are going to be billionaires and have copper all throughout our fabulous kitchen. When it came to the card box I thought it would be cool to use a copper mailbox that we could then use for real mail. Once I began searching though, reality hit, copper mailboxes are crazy expensive. So, I made one for $15.

As you can see, I used an inexpensive black metal mailbox and copper metallic spray paint. The paint actually covered pretty nicely. I used many many very light layers to make sure there were no drips.

There was one mishap during the painting process. After I painted the back and walked away, it blew over and got newspaper stuck to it and I couldn't get it off. I spray painted over it and hopefully no one will look at the back of the box. :)
Card box. Check!

Our coordinator is going to put the card box out of site once all the guests have arrived so we do not have to worry about any sticky fingers.

What are you using as a card box?

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Mom Pineapple Did Me a Huge Favor

She did 95% of the work for the scarf favors herself! Really the only thing I did was design the tags and draw the lines for her to cut along. Mom Pineapple is a crafting queen and you can bet the lines she cut were perfect. She even counted the tassels on each scarf to make sure they all had the same number. Intense!

I know it is creepy when people dress their pets, but Rooney is different, he loves fashion. Last night he jumped onto our bed with his sweater in his mouth and lifted his paws so I could put them through the sleeves. You'll see him on season 15 of Project Runway.

So here is the step my step guide to making Scarf wedding favors:

Each scarf is 8 inches wide, so you can get about 4.5 scarves per yard of fleece. I was able to get the fleece on sale at Jo-Ann fabrics for about $3/yard. Each scarf costs about $0.67 for fabric.Then I spread the fleece out on my floor and used a yard stick to very very lightly draw lines every 8 inches. As you can see, Harrison the cat helped by getting the fleece all fury and playing with the yard stick.
Then Mom Pineapple then cut the scarves apart.
The next step was to cut the tassels. No need to draw cut lines for this part because any variation would go unnoticed. At this point you have a scarf!I had a hard time finding a local screen printer so I called Sister Pineapple in NYC to rescue me. She made tags for her own scarf project last year. She went back to that screen printer and had him make tags for me. They are brown ink on a thick white fabric. I made the file that she gave to the printer in Adobe Illustrator.Then Mom Pineapple used fabric glue to glue the tags to the scarves. You can then sew all the way around the tag, but the fabric glue works pretty well. We attached two tiny buttons in opposite corners of the tags, just in case.Now just do all of that 100 times and you are done! We are probably going to drape them over the backs of the chairs in the dining room. I think it will be so nice and cozy with all the fleece and candle light.
I cannot thank Momma P. enough for her many many hours of hard work on this project!

Did you make handmade favors?

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: