Save the Date Magnets

I am a fan of the trend to send magnets as your save the date. I like that people can just throw them up on the fridge and they won't get lost in the pile of junk mail. On the other hand, I can't help but think they can look kind of cheap, I love love love paper.

So, I decided to combine the two. I am making paper save the dates and little magnets to send along with them. I am still working on the paper portion (I have to jump on that!), but have finished the little magnets.

I made over a hundred of them - just in case. Here is how:
Materials:
Card Stock Paper
Magnet Sheets
Double Sided Adhesive
1" Hole Punch (used for scrap booking)

1. Draw the monogram using a program such as adobe illustrator. (You can use any program you are comfortable with photoshop, corel draw, microsoft paint - anything. A vector program such as illustrator will, however, give you the smoothest results.)

2. Print out sheets of card stock with about 40 per sheet

3. Apply double sided adhesive to the card stock

4. Peel and stick the card stock to sheets of 5 mil magnet. The brand I bought was about $2 a sheet at Jo-Ann Fabrics. If you don't have adhesive you can buy sheets with adhesive already on them. Such as this one.

5. Using a 1" round paper punch, punch out the individual circles. Here is the one I have.

How are you doing your save the dates?

Color!

I love the unique color of my engagement ring (rose gold) and wanted to somehow incorporate it into the wedding. My primary concern was that I would not be able to find enough accents that were the same tone. So, I decided to use champagne as a base color and copper as an accent. They have a similar feel as rose gold, but are much more common.

Here are some of the details I have so far in the copper color family:

Copper has turned out to be a pretty tough color as well. Some coppers are really dark, almost a burnt umber (such as the paper for my invite). Other coppers like the flashing in the photo above are really bright.

I have not exactly decided what I am going to do with the above items yet. Some of my ideas are to use the flashing to make the place cards and cover the guest book, the ribbon to cover the metal cups the tea light candles sit in and the crazy sparkley leaves inside the candles holders.

Any ideas of how I can incorporate copper on a budget? (Yes, pennies are cheap - like 1 cent each ;) - but also cheesy maybe?)

Venues

1. Neither Mr. Pineapple nor myself belong to a church.
2. Most of our guests would be traveling from out of town and out of state.
3. We love to eat.

These were the drivers for our venue selection. We wanted to find a location where we could have both the ceremony and the reception.

This first place we visited was absolutely gorgeous, Springwood. (Their website is awful, you have been warned...)Pros:
• ceremony and reception in one location
• on-site catering
• on-site sounds system
• beautiful, especially when we visited in the fall
• both inside and outside spaces to entertain
• not too big and not too small

Cons:
• the ceremony would have to be outside and I am afraid of the weather
• rain site was an outdoor tent - still scary and moist
• it was located about 45 minutes out of the city
and the one that broke the camel's back
• expense, it would have been almost twice what we wanted to spend

The Second place we looked at was in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, The Rivers Club.Pros:
• Indoor ceremony and reception
• Close to our home
• on-site executive chef
• per guest cost includes food, open bar, cake, linens, china, dance floor, sound system and 5 candles per table
• no restrictions on decor
• no minimums
• no time restrictions, we have access to the entire club, including gym, all day
• within our budget
• on-site event planner

Cons:
• the curtains in photo 2 :)

So, the winner is... The Rivers Club!
The decor is a bit fancy 1990s, but it will do. Mr. Pineapple took me to the club for dinner on Valentine's day and the food was amazing. I cannot wait to do our menu tasting in a couple weeks!

So, we chose our location after just two site visits. Yay for the internet!

Is anyone else planning a ceremony and reception in the same location?

web domain and gmail address

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I have never had a second thought about changing my maiden name. It is not very easy to pronounce, even I - after 24 years, slur the syllables. I always have to spell it out to strangers and my signature isn't very pretty. Also, my brother is planning on having upwards of 7 children so I certainly don't have to worry about passing it on. Using it as a middle or hyphenated name would make my full name epic in length.

Now Mr. Pineapple's name is not much easier, but it is - a smidge. Plus I think that taking his name is very romantic. I am actually very excited and feel like I can take on a whole new identity.

With the death of my current name looming in the horizon (ok, maybe that is a bit dramatic) I have already begun planning the transition. One of the first things that came to mind was my domain name. Currently, it is www.MissPineappleMaidenName.com. So, I quickly snatched up www.MissPineappleNewName.com and MissPineappleNewName@gmail.com. I have even started receiving emails at the new address from new clients. Mr. Pineapple thinks this is a bit strange, but I don't want to confuse people come October.

Now I know this is just a teeny tiny little detail, but it made my future life seem so much more real!

Has anyone else taken early steps to say goodbye to their maiden name?

DIY Bride

My favorite shows growing up were 20/20 and the Carol Duvall Show. I loved trying out Carol's cheesy crafts on the floor of my bedroom. That woman did wonder with a glue gun. Some girls know they will always be a princess bride, I knew I would be a DIY bride.

So, when buying my coffee filters for the paper flowers from Amazon.com I also bought a book called DIY Bride. I almost bought this book one other time, but resisted. Well, I finally cracked and I am glad I did! I can't wait to get it in the mail.

The author Khris Cochran also has a blog called DIY Bride with projects and forums at diybride.com.

Any other owners of this book? Or better yet, lovers of Carol Duval? ;)

Sketchbook Guest Book

I have been stumbling along the internet trying to think of a creative guest book that would be more than just names.

I love the idea of a Polaroid guest book, like the one above seen here. This may end up costing more than it is worth since I will have so many photos of the guests from the photographer. I would have to invest in a camera and the not-so-cheap film.

My second idea is to do a Sketchbook Guest Book. I have always loved sketchbooks, since my days in art school. So many little pieces of art in one place.

I am planning on making my guest book by purchasing a perfect bound book and cover it in copper flashing. I will definitely post more about this project when it approaches. Then along with pens next to the book I will have small pieces of paper, glue sticks and colored pencils. (I'll try to pick tidy craft supplies.) Then ask everyone to make a little drawing or doodle on the scrap along with their name and put it in the book with a glue stick.

What do you guys think? Will people be into it? Too messy?

Paper Roses

I was checking out Style Me Pretty's Handmade Weddings at Etsy.com and saw these lovely vintage inspired paper roses.
At $5.00 for 3 roses (times 33) they are a bit out of my budget. I am looking to replace typical floral arrangements as centerpieces with candles and other special touches.

I googled "how to make paper roses" and most of the results were not very attractive. The roses looked like paper wrapped around a stick and were not as realistic as the esty roses. Eventually I came upon Martha Stewart's paper roses via Mommy Makes Roses.


Martha's version are pretty big and colored with water colors - a bit more gaudy than the etsy ones, but we're getting closer! Martha's roses are made out of cone coffee filters.

I am going to give these a shot with the help of my bridesmaid, Katie, with a couple variations to Martha's instructions. First of all, I am going to make the roses small by leaving off a few of the outer petals. This will make them more dainty and save me money on coffee filters.

I am also going to use "natural" colored filters instead of white. I don't want the roses to look like real roses made of paper, I want them to look simply like paper roses. Plus the natural filters will give them the vintage look of the etsy roses.

I'll give you updates at the project begins!

What do you think, good enough to replace the real thing?

Blog Addiction

I love finding new wedding and design blogs and get so excited when I find one worthy of bookmarking!

So, I want to share with you my favorites. One design and one wedding at a time.

First off:
d*s was the first blog I ever read religiously. Grace blogs mostly about interior and industrial design with splashes of graphic design, crafting and food thrown in. She has fabulous regulars such as sneak peaks (of home interiors), DIY Wednesdays, mini trends, guides, before and afters and such much more. If you havn't heard of design*sponge, you must go.

Next up:
The inspiration boards on Style Me Pretty are what got me hooked. I love them as a glimpse of the big picture made up of all the tiny details. I can rely on this blog to be good inspiration a few times a day.

Horray!

My dress has arrived!

This is very exciting! I have an appointment on March 22nd to try it on and take it home! After it comes home it will probably be moving to Mr. Pineapple's Dad and Stepmom's house for safe keeping. (The kitties loves to chew on dress bags - go figure.)

Hopefully it will fit with very few alterations. The size ordered was a size smaller than the one I tried on so of course that is one more thing I get to worry about for a week.

Invitation Progress!

Many of the details of the reception have not been hammered out, such as the menu and hotel. However, I wanted to get started on my multiple piece, time consuming invitations. The two most time and labor intensive pieces are the folder and the actual invite. Luckily I had all the information I needed on those pieces.

Materials:
White Card Stock
Copper Card Stock
Double Sided Adhesive
Paper Cutter (to save time, otherwise scissors or an exacto knife will work)
Bone Folder (you can substitute a pen with out the ink barrel and a popsicle stick)

The folder is on the left in the image, unfolded. The reverse side is a copper pattern. It will be folded in three and hold all the reception and ceremony details. (More on those pieces to come.) I purchased 80# cover paper from an online wholesaler and had them printed digitally. Then I scored the paper where the folds will be and cut them out.

For the white portion of the invitations I used the same paper and same printing method. I then purchased copper metallic card stock from a vendor online and trimmed it out to 5" x 7". I applied double sided adhesive to the white portion and then trimmed them out. The last step was to peel and stick!

I made 100 invites and folders, even though this is more than I will need. I assumed I would mess a bunch of them up, but I didn't (yet)!

I have a feeling, after all is said and done, these are not going to be cheap to mail. Anyone have to spend a fortune just to get their invites in the post?

Dress Shopping!

My bridesmaids and mother live all over the east coast. My sister (MOH) lives in NYC, The other girls live in Boston, Orlando and West Palm Beach. I have one Pittsburgh gal, Katie, and I am glad she is within arms reach - and crafty! I am lucky to have amazing friends who flew all the way to frozen Pittsburgh to help me find my gown. Since everyone was only going to be here for one weekend, I had to make it count.

I heard some bad things about David's Bridal, but really wanted it to work. I had a back-up appointment about an hour away just in case, but I didn't need it!

Here is the dress shopping adventure, you will notice some of the dresses I have on are ones I posted about earlier.

I really loved the waistline of this dress, it made me feel super skinny! The beading looked a little cheap or something.

This dress did not meet requirement number three, too much boobage.

I loved this dress, well the idea of this dress. Once I had it on it did this weird pucking thing below the waist, very disappointing.

This was my least favorite of all the gowns. It made me feel like a fatty. The waist was really wide. You can see me trying to make myself skinny in the left shot...didn't work.

This was my favorite from the pictures. However, I am not built like the model wearing the dress and I didn't want to get my hopes up. It was also the most expensive dress I had planned on trying on, so in the back of my head I was almost hoping I wouldn't like it on.

Then, once I had it on I loved it! I loved the color, I loved the ruffles! This dress was a size too big which threw me off a bit, but once it was clipped tighter I loved everything about it!

As soon as I put this gown on I said "Um, what is this made of? It's crunchy." It was also shiny and not very pretty. Not a winner.

I also really loved this dress on. The halter top kept me in place and was flattering. Other than that there really wasn't anything special or unique about it. It was still in the top two of the day. Also, after looking at is in the photos, I'm not impressed.

Now this dress my maids and Mom Pineapple picked out as a joke. They picked the biggest (and heaviest!) dress in the store. I was completely lost in it. Oh the poof! It even stood up on its own without anyone inside it!

Trying on all the gowns still felt somewhat surreal. Like I was trying on costumes for a play. Until, the veil and headpiece. As soon as she put them on me I turned completely red all over and had to fight back tears. The dress looked so different with the accessories. The veil is perfect, slightly girly, slightly vintage. At first I was anti-headpiece but this one was perfect for me- champagne and ivory pearls.

The final choice!

Anyone else find THE dress on their first try (in less than and hour and fifteen mintutes for that matter)?

Stuff Your Doodles

Random design post!
I stumbled upon this website and it is beyond cool.
You send them a doodle and they make a real life stuffed animal of it. I adore this idea and think it would be wonderful for kids drawings!

Wedding Dress Inspiration

I, like most girls, always imagined what my dream wedding gown would be. Now that I am actually getting married I find myself less and less worried about the gown. My only requirements are 1) it fits, 2) i feel pretty and 3) my boobage is kept under control.

Here are some of the dressing that I love and that are affordable!








This one is my absolute favorite! I love that it is not white, but still very much a wedding gown. Hopefully it will live up to the hype in my head.


This is the only gown not from David's Bridal. I am not fond of the top, but I love the gathering at the waist (it is from the knot)!

Adults Only

image source: voices in our heads

Mr. Pineapple and I love babies. In fact, we would like to DIY some of our own in the future. Unfortunately, our venue is just not baby friendly.

I have read that putting "adults only" or "adults, please" on the reply cards is frowned upon, looking a little too harsh. However, I have concerns that guests will assume their babies are allowed because they are family (we have a new nephew on each side) even if other babies are not.

I would love to hire a baby sitter for the parents, but 1) it isn't in the budget and 2) when I say babies I mean little babies, the oldest will be only 17 months old. So, finding one baby sitter for all 4 of these little ones may be impossible.

In order to avoid a family feud I think it is necessary to lay it out there, no questions asked.
What do you think?
What should the wording be?

Invite Inspiration

Here are a few of the invitations I have stumbled upon and love!

These colors are amazing, the pattern is fantastically inspirational. Patterns allow for the addition of color, texture and spunk without breaking the bank. This is the Oslo invite by KenzieKate. Check out her blog: Something Old Something New for great ideas!


These invites are by The Lettered Olive. I love the delicate typography, layered papers and bold colors. I am also a huge fan of the book style invitation, how could you ever toss this invite out?! Beautiful. I found this via Style Me Pretty.

Another invite by KenzieKate. This one is called Manhattan.


I am so sad I cannot find where this invitation is from. I lost all of my bookmarks a little while back. I will keep searching for the source of this stunning invite. I love how all the pieces fit so neatly together, stay organized and stay put!

One final invite from KenzieKate, I can't help it, I love her work. These pink and toffee invitations are to dye for. Aberdeen

Finally, my favorite invitation of all time:

It is a book handmade by the Groom to be! I love this idea and try to find ways I could do something similar, but the cost was more than my budget allowed. Check out the great flash presentation the Groom made of the design. Ryan Masuga

The Big Date

Mr. Pineapple and I will be married in Pittsburgh, PA on October 18th, 2008. (only 7 months away! oh my!) Picking the date was the hard part. Step 2, picking the colors, was the fun part.
We decided on Copper and Champagne both because they reminded us of rose gold and because they are perfect for fall.

Being a designer I was immediately excited about and afraid of the invitations. I always knew I would make them by hand, but I had no idea how hard it would be to begin the process.

I used inspiration from a painting of a tree I made that is now hanging above our fireplace.
Here are a couple pieces from our invite:The piece on the left is a folder, unfolded. It will contain all the little bits of information such as directions, reception card and an "about the Pineapples" card. (Most of the guests only know one of us.)

Hopefully, I will be able to begin production on these soon. I have a feeling they are going to take a thousand hours of assembly! (Well, maybe not a thousand.)

I'm Getting Married!

The first week of August 2004, Ryan and I went to New York to visit my sister. We had a great time staying in Chinatown and adventuring all over the city, it was Ryan's first visit. (My sister is the one on the left.)

On Saturday, Ryan and I had the day to ourselves. We spent the day hauling our stuff up to midtown and wandering about. We had dinner at a steak house and headed back to Central Park, this time sans sister and sister's boyfriend. It was a thousand degrees outside and for some reason Mr. Pineapple was wearing his heavy coat and not looking very comfortable. I let him lead the way through the park and then we stopped on the bow bridge.
When we were alone, Mr. Pineapple got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes and was on cloud nine. Turns out, he had to wear his coat because the box the ring came in was huge and it wouldn't fit in any of his other pockets!

Speaking of the ring:

Mr. Pineapple knows me well, that is for sure. He wanted to find something unique, but not over the top crazy. During his search he found the website of Gelin Abaci, and found out about rose gold. (Bookmark the link "accidentally" on your hopefully-future-husband's computer)
After deciding which style he liked he moved on to finding the diamond.

Gelin Abaci is located in California and the diamond was located in Chicago - the Pineapples are in Pittsburgh. So, he did everything online and over the phone working with the Chicago jeweler, Diamon Scaasi. He had a great experience with them, but never saw a thing until the ring was mailed to him! I don't know how he did it!