My Dream Registry

Mr. Pineapple and I almost started our registry one day, but then we decided to go home and take a nap instead.

So, while we will probably do something uber unique and register at Target and Macy's I do have an alternate "dream registry" floating around in my head. On this registry are things you can really ask someone to buy for you or cannot have a guest buy at a chain (online or real life).

Case and Point, Item 1:

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A PUPPY!
particularly a mini schnauzer or Mr. Pineapple would like to have his 15 year old jack russel cloned

Item 2:
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A Rachel Denny cable knit deer head

Item 3:
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Brake Rotors
(They are pretty essential to making your car stop, mine are warped and rusted. It would be super nice to stop at a traffic light without my car shaking violently for 100 yards first.)

Item 4:
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A Tulip Farm!

Item 5:
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A cooking class with Alton Brown, for Mr. Pineapple

Item 6:
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Season tickets to either the Pittsburgh Pirates, Penguins or Steelers (in that order) for Mr. Pineapple

Item 7:
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A fancy schmancy new camera.
Now technically I could register for this, but unfortunately none of my family members have several grand to throw at me.

What would be on your dream registry?

Fresh Clay Flowers

I am so excited about the vendor we just booked! Not only is she my final vendor, but this could be my favorite wedding decision so far (sans saying yes to Mr. Pineapple).

Since Mr. Pineapple and I are not using real flowers for our centerpieces I was a bit torn about using them for the bouquets, boutonnières and corsages. I love love love flowers. How could I dare not have real flowers in my wedding?

Well, this is how:

Oh my goodness! Those flowers are not real! They are made out of clay by an artist in California named Diane Phillips of DK Designs Hawaii.

I stumbled upon her etsy store while browsing around a few blogs last week. I immediately sent her an email and asked if she would be able to create the flowers for our wedding. I didn't even give it a second thought. Since my centerpieces will be made out of paper, why not bouquets of clay?!

Here are the kickers 1: they cost the same as what I had budgeted for real flowers and 2: they will last forever.

So far, Diane has been an absolute joy to work with. She provided me with a quote and asked about some of my favorite flowers. I sent her the following inspiration images and color palette:

{image a la Miss Flamingo}

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Although I have some idea of what I would like - vintage, a little rustic, muted - I want to leave as much up to Diane as possible.

She will be creating my bouquet, 5 bridesmaid's bouquets, groom's bout, 5 groomsman's bouts, 3 mom corsages and 3 dad bouts. Whew... she has her work cut out for her. In a few weeks she will have some sample flowers ready for me. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with!

They will probably be a bit heavy to carry and I know some of my more traditional guests will think this is crazy, but I am stoked.

What do you think? Anyone else not using real flowers in their bouquet?

Paper Roses Tutorial

Originally I was not going to post a tutorial because there is one on Martha's site, but after all the difficulty I had I decided to show you how I was able to get them looking flower like. (you can click on the images to enlarge)

Here are the pieces:
You can download and print the templates from Martha's site. Her templates show only one petal on each coffee filter, using 8 filter per flower. I cut out 2 or 3 petals from each filter depending on petal size.

Step 1:
Take petals 1 and 1.5 and overlap them. Poke a hole through both layers. Put the wire through the hole, bend it down and twist to secure.

Place a piece of DST (double stick tape) along the bottom edge of the petals.

Roll the petals around the wire and secure with DST.

Step 2:
Roll petal 2 around your bud and secure with DST.

Repeat with petal 2.5.

Step 3:
Roll petal 3 around bud and secure with DST. This one is a little difficult you may have to play with it a bit to get the petal to wrap around smoothly.

Step 4:
Wrap petal 4 around bud and secure with DST

Step 5:
This part is very awkward to try to hold onto while taping. Stick 3 of the number 5 petal around the bud and secure with DST.

Repeat with 3 more number 5 petals and secure.

Step 6:
Start to pull apart the flower and curl the petals. I use the edge of my scissors to curl as if I were curling ribbon for a birthday gift. You don't want to curl them too much or the look like they are falling off the bud.

Carefully pull apart each layer of petals. The inner layers are tighter and don't pull apart easily. The inner most petals don't move at all.

As you can see, after this step you have a messy flower-ish type thing.

Step 7:
At this point I use more DST around the base of the flower to tighten up the outer petals and clean things up a bit.

You can also see if there are any holes in the flower where one or two additional petals are needed.

Add these petals and secure with DST, curl.

This is what your flower should look like at this point:

Step 8:
Cut about 8-10 inches of floral tape.

Wrap the floral tape around the bottom of the rose and about and inch down the wire. Pull the tape as you wrap and it will be slightly sticky. If you pull too hard it will rip and if you don't pull hard enough it wont stick. This stuff is tricky.

Step 9:
Fin!

Will You Marry Me? Right Now?

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Mr. Pineapple is out of town for a couple days giving me chance to catch up on all of the wedding shows I have recorded. Most of them are pretty ridiculous. Even the fairly tame "Who's Wedding is it Anyway?" is out there compared to what we are planning. Well, for me, tonight wedding programming went to a whole new level of outrageousness. Ladies I present, "Surprise Wedding 2." I don't know what I was expecting from Fox Reality, but it wasn't this.

Five brides tell their long time boyfriends that they have won a free makeover weekend in Vegas. The true story? The makeover includes a gown and a whole heck of a lot of hairspray. When the grooms arrive at the "free Vegas show" included in the weekend they are taken to the stage where their girlfriends are in gowns and propose. The grooms have time to decide what they are going to do while they put on their tuxes. Dressed and back on stage either the groom gets hitched or faces the end of his relationship with an embarrassed bride. The show is way over the top, the bride proposes multiple times in every way the produces can image. Then the ceremony is two minutes before the next groom decides his fate.

Mr. Pineapple and I went to Las Vegas two months after he proposed. He was going for work (mostly) and I was going for fun. We tossed around the idea of eloping and we both seriously thought it was a good idea. When Mr. P thought it was a good idea, I didn't. When I finally convinced myself it would be fantastic, he changed his mind. Our main motivation for considering elopement was to save money - down payment on a house, honeymoon in Ireland. In the end we decided that in the future, when we actually had savings, we may regret not throwing a big party. Now that I am neck deep in wedding planning and completely obsessed with Weddingbee I am so glad we decided to wait. Regardless, I definitely would not have asked Mr. P to elope before he even proposed.

What do you ladies think? Would you surprise your boyfriend with a wedding?
Anyone planning to elope?

Long Distance Relationships

Image Sources:
Manhattan
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Florida

When it came to asking my bridesmaids to stand for Mr. Pineapple and I at our wedding, I didn't do anything cute. I really wish I had, it didn't even occur to me. In fact, I was only able to ask one in person. Of the 5 bridesmaids in our wedding, only one lives in the same state as I do. My two very best friends from childhood live in West Palm Beach and Orlando, Florida. My sister and maid of honor lives in China Town, Manhattan. My bestest friend from college lives in Boston. Leaving Mr. Pineapple's dear friend from college the only lovely lady within arms reach.

At first, I didn't think it was really a big deal. All the girls were very excited about flying in to help me shop for my gown and coming up again for a party weekend and the wedding. I felt guilty, knowing they would have to buy so many plane tickets for my big day. I love them all dearly and I know they know I would do the same for them in a heartbeat.

As the planning continues I miss them so much. I didn't realize what it would feel like to bounce ideas about ribbon and candles off of Mr. Pineapple. He cares, but he trusts me and my judgment to the point where I don't get much constructive feedback. I want my friends here to say "Oh gees, that is going to look a little strange, don't you think?" or "Oh! How about using satin?!" My super crafty mother is also 1250 miles away. I call her anytime I get an idea and she gives me a few more, but I wish I could be with her and go to the craft store with her, wedding plan with her.

I have a few of my local friends who I have dubbed my honorary bridesmaids, including Jacki who is so sweet and offers to help in any way and Michael (also a groomsman) who is helping me scout out creative folks in his work field. I still feel bad asking for help from them, and guilty that Jacki wont be in the wedding. My other friends are all male and wonderful, but not into "wedding stuff."

All of these long distance relationships are why I began blogging. I wanted to have a forum where I could show my friends and family my ideas and get some feedback. They are also what lead me to Weddingbee, a dream resource for a bride seemingly going at it on her own.

Does anyone else feel alone in the planning process? Any suggestions on how I can include my ladies in the planning without burdening them?

The Begrudging Budget

So this is a bit awkward, maybe.Brides have budgets that range from a penny to a million pennies. The Pineapple's budget is much closer to just one penny. Our parents are giving us gifts to help with some of the wedding costs, but the majority of it we are paying for on our own. When first laying out the budget I had no clue how much everything costs and how much we should plan on spending. My goal was to cut out as many little expenses as possible and hope they added up to something big. Our final budget is about 60% of the average wedding (which doesn't really mean anything since that number varies across the country). The Knot gives recommendations on what percent of your budget should go to each part of the wedding, at first this was helpful, but I ended up not using their recommendations at all because Mr. Pineapple and I have different priorities than The Knot. Their budget tool has still been extremely helpful with keeping track of expenses.

I know many readers are curious about budgets, but sharing numbers can get tricky. So, here is our budget breakdown based on the final projected total. These numbers don't yet include Mr. Pineapple's attire (because he is still unsure what that will be), my engagement ring or our honeymoon.

Food, Drink and Cake: 48.84%
Bride Gown, Alterations and Headgear: 6.72%
Bride Accessories: <1%
Bride Hair and Make-up: <1%
Ceremony and Ceremony Accessories: 3.2%
Flowers: 2.03%
Reception Decor/Centerpieces: 1.34%
Photographer: 16.02%
Invites and Stamps: 1.23%
Wedding Bands: 16.02%
Hotel Room: 1.34%
Gifts/Favors: 2.14%
Rehearsal Dinner: 2.5%
DJ/Music: 0%
Transportation: 0%
Officiant: 0%
Wedding Coordinator: 0%

The rings cost as much as the photographer! The food and drink is almost half! Not at all what The Knot recommends, but we are still planning the perfect day for us. More to come on what we are doing to save on a lot of the typical wedding costs. Also, after all is said and done I will let you know what the final percentages ended up being. I have a feeling there will be some extra costs along the way.

Image source - icanhascheezburger
How typical is your budget?

The Photographer Search - Part Fin!

I knew about Mary Mervis's work before Ryan and I even started dating. I was at a coffee shop with some coworkers and noticed her work on the walls. I loved it and pointed it out to my coworkers. Low and behold one coworker said, "Oh that is Mary Mervis, she is a friend of ours and shot our wedding!" - mental note taken

Fast forward to Ryan and I as a couple. We were visiting Ryan's friends Pete and Tina who were recently married and I loved the shots of their wedding throughout their home. They were lovely and definitely captured the feel of the wedding. Tina said "yeah, I don't even know how she got that shot, but I love it." Sounds good to me, an invisible photographer with wonderful work. -second mental note taken

At this point I had pretty much decided that Mary would photograph my wedding... to someone, someday. I looked around at some other photographers (such as Melody Farrin and Bob Fritz) but in the end Mary's work felt right.

I emailed Mary 10 months before the wedding hoping she had the date open, and she did! Ryan and I met with Mary and discussed have two of her assistants shoot the wedding, rather than one Mary. Her assistants have the same artistic viewpoint and have worked with her for years. She has hundreds (thousands?) of images on two sites, MaryMervis.net and her pbase galleries. Here are some shots taken by either Mary or one of her assistants:
Above is our friend Tina, mentioned earlier.

Again, Pete and Tina.

This is a shot of my coworker and his wife mentioned earlier. They had a great 1920's themed wedding, even the guests wore period clothing.

How did you know your photographer was "the one?"

It is Official - bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am a bee! I was introduced on weddingbee.com today. My posts there are only slightly different, more organized and such. I have started a separate blog for those, at least until they get caught up with where I am on this blog. Oh dear so many blogs, I have an addiction.

Looks like there are several Carnegie Mellon alum and Pittsburgher readers which is great! Either this is a good thing for Ryan - giving me a wedding related outlet or a bad thing because I am addicted, we'll see...

Soon everyone will know... Save the Date!

Ryan and I put together our save the dates last night.
Lesson learned:
I made way too many of everything. I have a bunch of extra magnets. After sealing all the envelopes I wish I would have put two magnets in each one. The cards are bigger than I originally envisioned and the magnets barely hold them onto the fridge. I am also worried that people will not realize there is a magnet in the envelope and they will get thrown out. An alternative would be to make different magnets, but it was too late for that one.

Here is a recap of the whole kit n' kaboodle:
The front:

The Back:Here is a shot of how it (barely) works with the magnet. Hopefully, my friends and family don't slam refrigerator doors:
Organized chaos. I had a flashback to middle and high school when I did all of my homework and artwork on my bed or floor. Back then I didn't have cats trying to eat all of the pieces of paper from the back of the labels, nom nom nom nom.
Ryan's task was to seal the envelopes and add the return address labels. We ended up going with the "Tiffany" stamps at the post office. The cream background was a perfect match and they are not as cheesy as the "wedding hearts." I love custom stamps (in fact we got a sheet of them from a friend as a gift), but they end up costing about twice as much.

Invitation Idea 5 - Love Birds

I almost wish I had gone with this concept. I love this simple and sweet exchange.

Invitation Idea 4 - Argyle with Hearts

I love the preppy look of argyle, but wanted it to have a little hint of romance. So I made the stitches out of little hearts. You can see a close of view of the stitches to the right of the invite. I also love the bold colors, but not for our particular venue.

Ready to Go!

So I finally finished trimming out all of the save the dates (I printed 5 on each page). As well as all the return address labels. Now I could have just purchased sheets of pre-perforated Avery labels, but no, I wanted them to be a certain size. So, again with the double-sided adhesive.

I printed out sheets of the labels on a desktop printer, applied the adhesive and trimmed them out. Here is the final product:
I was once again able to use my istock pattern. I am about to head to the post office to get stamps and then tonight I will get them ready to send away!

Invitation Idea 3 - Monogram & Polkadots

This idea has the main focus on our monogram. The little polka dots remind me of a string of pearls (that hopefully I will be wearing for my wedding). It's modern, but distinctly a wedding invitation. It seems that many modern wedding invites look more like birthday party invitations.

My New Housemate

After a 20 minute ride home in the passenger seat, my dress is now in my hands! I was worried, because that is what I do, that my dress would be somehow delayed or the order lost. My first attempt at picking up my dress didn't go perfectly and they had to order me a new one. Well, two weeks later and it was in! I picked it up after a thorough inspection and brought it home.

The only place I could hang it was on the back of the door to our guest room. Our closet is much too full and the other closet it too short. So there it hangs, at least for now.

New Website!

I first built my website, www.emilycritchlow.com, 2 years ago during college. It was terribly outdated and dark. Well, I finally sat down this weekend and did an update. I am very excited and feel it reflects my personality much better than the old site did. Let me know if you find any broken links! (You may notice I already have my married name on there, I didn't want to confuse people and change it in a few months. It's a little strange, I know.)

On the site you will find my design and photography portfolios as well as some stationary design. I will keep adding and updating as time progresses. You can also find some more contact information if you are interested in working together on a design, photography or stationary project.

Here is a peek at a few images from the site: