Our Hallowedding: The Invitations!

I really appreciated all of your responses when I asked you to help us choose our Hallowedding invitations!  After taking all of your thoughts into consideration, I decided that I liked the idea of the boxed candy invitations best.  So I began my search for 5x7 mailer boxes.  Unfortunately, I put the task of making my invitations off for too long.  I needed to get the invites in the mail this week; not only would it take too long for the boxes to arrive, but the shipping costs put them just over my budget.

I was a bit disappointed in myself because I think the boxed invitations would have turned out great.  But I came up with a new design that I hope you like just as much!  They're a lot simpler than the boxed invitations would have been, but I think they turned out pretty well!

I designed the invitations in Adobe Illustrator and had them printed at Kinko's.  I know that Kinko's isn't the greatest for print quality, but they turned out better than they would have on my home printer.

I designed the pocket template in Illustrator, too, and cut them with my Cricut.

I used a bone folder and a ruler to make clean, sharp folds.  I put a piece of heavy cardstock under the paper that I was folding so that it wouldn't damage my table.

I also cut the vellum with the Cricut, and attached it to the pocket with a hand-held Xyron adhesive dispenser.  I used an adhesive eraser to get rid of any stray sticky.  Once the vellum was all stuck down, I used the same Xyron tape to close up all the flaps.

Finished!  Now for the envelopes...

I picked up some black envelopes from Staples, and printed the label wrap on full-sheet label paper and cut it out with a small paper cutter.

I downloaded both fonts for free from dafont.com.  "Happy Halloween" and the names on the address labels are Danzig 4P, everything else is Another Typewriter.

So, what do you think?  I really like them in person, but I can't help but think about how great those boxed invitations would have been.  Have any of you had to change any of your wedding plans because you simply ran out of time?

On Being a Small Town Bride: Our Cake

Living in a small town definitely has its perks.  So the nearest Ikea or Crate and Barrel might be 200 miles away, but we are getting a Macy's, and our freeways will never look like this:

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Sure, I have to drive two hours to find a Korean BBQ restaurant, but we have plenty of delicious (and authentic!) taco stands just around the corner!

Anyway, it's taken me a while to embrace my town after moving from Los Angeles.  I spent so much time focusing on what would no longer be available to me that I forgot to notice how much charm small towns have!

Then, as soon as I started planning our wedding, my attitude immediately reverted.  I was so worried I wouldn't be able to find any talented vendors here in this middle of nowhere town.  Granted, we won't have many vendors because so much of our wedding will be DIY, but at the very least we would have to outsource our food, photography and cake.  The three most important things.

Great.

Actually, I've had pretty good luck so far with our photography and food, which I'll blog about soon, I promise.

The cake, however, has been a different story.

It may be a result of the multitude of cake shows on tv, but I believe the standard for wedding cakes is much higher than it used to be.  I was positive that I'd never find a bakery in my area that would live up to my sky-high standards.  I knew I wanted something clean and modern, and was terrified we'd be presented with a cake like this on our wedding day:

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So I started my search for a bakery with a gallery of cakes that lived up to my expectations.  After a few months of searching, I hadn't had much luck.  By way of website galleries, bridal shows, and walk-ins, I had browsed through cake photos from eight different bakeries.  None of them impressed me.  Lumpy fondant, messy scrolls and misshapen flowers abounded.

I was starting to consider cupcakes.

Then, I found Creme De La Cake in Fresno.  They make cakes like this:

and this:

And this:

{all images from Creme de la Cake's website}

I finally have confidence that a local bakery can create a beautiful cake using a collaboration of many inspiration photos.  So I started searching!  And boy, did find some FANTASTIC cakes!

I love that this cake looks like it's wrapped in ric-rac and grosgrain ribbon.  It'd definitely fit in well with our overall look!

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The flowers on this cake make me so happy!

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I wish this picture was larger so that I could see the detail.  I looks so pretty, though.  And it's in our colors!

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These cakes are from the first real wedding I saw after considering our wedding colors.  I think it was the little red stitches on the blue cake that sealed the deal for me!

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At this point I really have no idea what our cake is going to look like.  We're going to go for a tasting as soon as Mr. Doxie gets here in October, and I'm looking forward to seeing the designs we come up with together!

If our cake ends up looking anything like our inspiration photos I'll be happy!

Did any of you small town brides have a hard time finding vendors that exceeded your expectations?

Dressing Our Party: The Guys

A few weeks ago, reader Mrsv2bee posted a link to her photographer's blog on the boards, which led to absolutely gorgeous pictures of her wedding.  Though they were all amazing, one photo of her hubby and his perfectly styled groomsmen caught my eye:

Don't they all look so handsome and modern in their light-colored suits and mismatched sneakers?

I've known all along that I don't want our guys to wear traditional tuxes.  I've always pictured light gray suits, stylish ties and classic Vans or Converse.  Fortunately, Mr. Dachshund is on board with this vision.
 
Until recently, I hadn't really put any effort into searching for our ideal groomsman ensemble.  I had browsed Men's Warehouse's website, but that was about it.  So, in search for inspiration, I turned to Rock 'n Roll Bride, the internet's mecca for modern (and slightly edgy) bridal parties.

Boy was I inspired!

(all photos found browsing Rock 'n Roll Bride's "groom style" tag)

I don't think I want our groomsmen to wear black, but I love the modern fit of these suits.

Mr. Doxie doesn't really like khaki suits, but I love how these are styled.  (That's a pretty impressive beard, don't you think?)

Love, love the vests and colorful skinny ties.  I think I'd have added cute socks, though!

More skinny ties.  Plus, there's just something about a man in suspenders!

LOVE the vintage style suspender clips, shoes... everything, actually.  I wonder if they wore jackets at all?

How adorable is this groom?  I really like these suits.  The unique pocket-squares make the look, don't you think?

Aren't those ties fun?  Shutter shades are great for photo-ops, too : )

And last, but certainly not least:  V-neck sweaters.  I'm not really a bow-tie kinda girl, but I'm really digging the look of the sweaters over dress shirts and gray slacks.  I haven't really seen this combination before in a bridal party, but it'd definitely be more pocket friendly than having each GM buy a suit (they all have to purchase plane tickets, too).

I love that non-traditional styles are so widely accepted now in the wedding world.  What are the men in your bridal party going to wear? Are you going to dress your guys up in suits or go with more traditional tuxedos?  Where did you find your inspiration?

Floral Alternatives: Part Two

As a sequel to my last post, in which I wrote about paper flowers and shared inspiration, I'll continue to share my ideas for alternative, DIY flowers... focusing today on flowers made of fabric!

I'm not sure where it was that I saw my first fabric flowers.  Etsy, maybe.  Those little organza flower hairpins have been popular for quite some time, after all.  Anyway, I love the whimsical, DIY feel of colorful fabric flowers!

These colorful blooms made with patterned quilting fabric have so much character!  Only a few flowers make a bit statement.  The sweet little vases play a large part in the role; but with eight months to go thrifting/ebaying/antiquing them would be easy peasy.

 
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The taller arrangement would be lovely on our guestbook table, and I think the smaller vases would make very pretty centerpieces.  These would be great projects for any fabric leftover from our napkins.

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Miss Beagle blogged about these oh-so-romantic fabric mums a few months back and I bookmarked them right away.  Though it's a little pricey, you can purchase a pre-cut kit here.

 
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Buttons twisted onto wires and arranged in various jars and bottles would make really fun centerpieces.

 
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Or you can combine the two, fabric and buttons, to create really beautiful, creative bouquets that can be soft and romantic...

 
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Or bright and super-fun:

 
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Ribbon is also a great medium for DIY flowers!

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I think I love the yellow button centers of these daisies the most.  They're so happy!

 
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These ribbon carnations would look great as a hairpiece or on a stem.  They're made from a wired, silk ribbon... the tutorial seems very do-able!

 
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This bouquet is from Martha Stewart, who else!?  Made of ric-rac, grosgrain and fabric, this might be my favorite of the DIY bouquets.

 
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These aren't flowers, obviously, but I found them on Etsy and I fell in love.  Even if they won't fit in with our wedding decor, they'd look fantastic in my house!

 
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I like them all so much I wish that I could attempt them all!  I know that isn't feasible, though.  I have to make a decision soon because the clock is definitely ticking.

Sooo, now you've seen my paper and fabric flower inspiration photos.  Which do you like the best?

Dressing Our Party: The Girls

MOH Erin is visiting this week after her return from a month-long European vacation (jealous?  So am I!)  I haven't seen her in over a year due to crazy schedules in both of our lives and a 200 mile stretch of freeway between us.  Although I am beyond excited to see her, her upcoming visit has really turned up the pressure to get all of my wedding thoughts and ideas organized.  I want to make the most out of her few days here because I'm not sure when we'll be able to get together next.  First order of business was figuring out the bridesmaid's dress situation.

Just the phrase, "bridesmaid's dress," is off-putting, isn't it?  I haven't had much personal experience, but I couldn't help but imagine the stereotypical floor-length gown with tons of beading, tons of taffeta and a whole lot of tacky.  Blech!  I didn't want to put my bridesmaids through that.  After all, they're my nearest and dearest!  I want them to love me after the wedding's over!

So I began my search.

I found this first dress back in April right after Mr. Doxie and I got engaged:

It's by Charsa, whose website no longer works.  (Have they gone out of business, does anyone know?)

I was drawn to its retro vibe and imagined it paired with a pair of cute red flats.  It was the first BM dress I was excited about... until one of my more amply bosomed maids expressed her concerns about the logistics of keeping her girls modestly covered.

So I searched some more.

And I found Vivien Leigh by Siri.

Isn't it lovely?  Siri conveniently doesn't list prices on their website, so I called the closest bridal salon that carries the line.  The woman says, "That dress is so pretty!  It's one of the pricier bridesmaid dresses..."  $360.  And that's including the discount for ordering more than three dresses!

My maids all agreed that the dress was great and they'd be willing to fork over the cash for it...  But I'd still feel bad making them spend that much.  I'm keeping it in mind, though... it's just so great!  But I did continue to look around.

Yesterday I found an amazing designer on Etsy.  I'm not sure how I've missed her before, she's been featured in SMP, Offbeat Bride, Martha Stewart Weddings and tons of other wedding blogs.

She's Amanda Archer and she makes adorable dresses.

See for yourself!

Pleats, pockets, ruffles, oh my!

And a super cute strapless dress for good measure:

She takes custom requests; I'd like all of these dresses in a pale aqua cotton fabric.  Her cotton dresses run around $160, so they're definitely a better bargain than the beautiful Vivien Leigh!  I'm thinking of having each bridesmaid choose a style and having them made in the same fabrics.  What do you think?  Fabric swatches have been mailed out and should be here sometime next week, hopefully before MOH goes home; I'd really like her opinion.

Where did you find your bridesmaids' dresses?  Will they all be wearing the same style dress?

Cricut Madness: STD Tutorial

I recently posted about my new Cricut and my save the date mockup I made using it.  I know a lot of you are interested in the Cricut, or Sure Cuts A Lot if you already have a Cricut.  On its own, the Cricut is a very handy crafting tool.  Paired with Sure Cuts A Lot, a program used to cut custom designs, the Cricut becomes a gadget with limitless possibilities!

In addition to the Cricut and SCAL, you'll need a program that allows you to create .SVG files.  You can find a list of programs here; my tutorial, however, will use Adobe Illustrator.  I think I went a little overboard on the screenshots and photos, so bear with me if some of the steps are obvious.  I definitely have a tendency to over-explain!

Here goes:

I started out by making a simple design in Adobe Illustrator.  By no means am I a graphic designer; I don't even know AI very well, but I know enough to scrape by.  With the help of Martha and her cute little placecard template (I wish I could take credit for that window shape... I'm terrible with the pen tool), I came up with a design that I liked.

The rounded rectangle is 9"x4", just big enough to fit in Paper-Source's string and button envelopes.  There are two rectangles, because the one on the right will be the back of the STD card.

Sure Cuts A Lot requires that all fonts be converted to outlines.  While your text box is selected, click on type from the pull down menu, and select "Create Outlines."  Alternately, you can hit Shift+Ctrl+O while your text box is selected.

Once your text has been converted to outlines, it will look like this.

Now, we're finished with the design and we're going to save it as an .SVG file.  The option is right in the regular save window pull-down menu.

The text in the window here will not be part of the .SVG file.  I made a rectangle slightly larger than the cut-out window and arranged the text so that it fit the space well.  Once everything was to my liking, I copied the text box and the rectangle and then pasted it (in multiple) into a new file.

This will be printed using my inkjet printer.  I lined up the lines of the rectangles so that it'll be easier to cut once it's printed.  If you get a good quality inkjet paper, you can't tell that it was printed on your home computer!  I think the paper I used is HP brand, but I can't be sure.

  

While that's printing, I went back into the original .SVG file and made a little rectangle around the date.  I'm going to copy, paste, and save this rectangle into a separate .SVG file.  This file will be used to cut the paper that will peek through the cut-out numbers.

Now we're done in Illustrator and we can start cutting! Open up Sure Cuts A lot:

 

When you first open the program, there are some windows that will open containing different shapes.  I close those, maximize the window that contains the cutting board, and use the de-magnify tool so that you can see most of the board.  This is going to make positioning the design much easier.  Click on the little SVG button and locate the file.

After you open the file, you can move the design around as you please.  I put it a little more toward the middle of the mat.

Almost ready to cut :D

So, I ran out of the aqua paper I used in my original STD.  For the purpose of the tutorial, I'm using this textured yellow paper. 

You load up the paper on the cutting mat. This thing is super sticky.  Make sure your paper has a substantial weight to it, or when you try to lift the delicate cuts around the numbers it's going to stick and bend when you scrape it off.

This paper has a lined texture, and I wanted to make sure I positioned the paper on the cutting mat so that when it cut, the lines would be running vertically on the card.  When you look at the mat, there is an arrow that matches up with the one in Sure Cuts A Lot.

Once you've got your paper all stuck down well, you load it up into the machine. 

Then you have to adjust the blade pressure and cutting speed.  This is one part of Cricut use that I haven't mastered yet, but I suppose it'll come with practice.  As your paper thickness increases, your pressure will increase and your speed will decrease.  You might want to get a few extra papers so you can play around with the pressure and speed until you get the cleanest cuts.  For this cardstock, I had my pressure set to the third highest, and the speed set to the second lowest.

You can see that there were a few spots where the cut wasn't exactly clean.  I think that had to do more with the softness of the paper, though.  In these instances you can clean it up with a sharp x-acto knife if you have one handy.

Now that everything's cut, we'll lift it off the cutting mat.  That little spatula is Cricut brand, and I'd highly recommend it.  It makes lifting the paper SO much easier.  Without it, I tend to peel the paper off rather than lift it, and it makes the paper all curly.

Also, see the little middles of the zeros?  Save those!  They're going to be used at the end, and they're teeny-tiny, easy to lose.  When I start making these en masse, I plan on having a little bowl for the zero centers.

Now we'll go back into Sure Cuts A Lot and we'll cut those little rectangles we made.  These are small enough that you'll get a lot out of one 12x12 sheet.  I'm not cutting that many today, though.  I turned them on an angle because they'll be cut out of striped paper and I wanted the stripes to be diagonal through the date cut-out.

Same deal.  Load up the Cricut mat, cut, and lift off the little rectangles.

We're finished with the Cricut at this point.  I used my paper cutter to cut out the text that I printed.

Aaand we have all of the pieces to assemble one STD.  Minus the little zero centers, that I lost...  Kitty was very interested in what I was doing, they probably got stuck in her fur : (

Turn the front paper over, and apply adhesive around the date and window cut-out.

This little hand-held Xyron tape thingy is pretty handy.  I like it because it lets you get adhesive on all of the little pokey parts of your cut that would be easily bent if they weren't glued down properly.  If you use it, make sure you put something under your paper that you don't mind getting adhesive all over.  That stuff is sticky.

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Position the little rectangle cut-out behind the date, and your text print-out behind the window.  I did that from the front so I could make sure it was all lined up well.

Once everything was stuck down, I ran the whole front sheet through my Xyron.  I peeled off the Xyron backing and then stuck the STD cut-out to the backing.

I'm going have to come up with an alternate adhesive solution for this part once I start making these in bulk.  The Xyron refills are $18 for 18 feet... and each of these STDs are 9".  Have any of you had any luck with spray adhesive?

No, I didn't find the zero centers, I had to cut new ones : (   I turned them upside down, ran the handheld Xyron adhesive thing over them, and stuck them in the zeros on the card.

One last step, and it's important if you're using a Xyron.  Those things leave all kinds of sticky residue behind.  That little square I'm holding is a generic brand adhesive eraser, found at any craft store for like $2.  Rub it along the edges, and anywhere any sticky might be exposed.

And that's it!  I know it seemed like a lot, but it's actually pretty simple once you get the hang of everything.  Once you get the first one perfect, it's smooth sailing for the rest.

For any of you interested in the fonts I used, the "Save the Date" font is Pointedly Mad, the other font in my printed window is Existence Light, and the date font is URWoodTypD.  All are available for free download.

So I'm still super excited about my Cricut.  Sure Cuts A Lot really make the possibilities limitless!  I imagine I'll use it for our placecards, favor tags, signage... and so much more!  In fact, you'll see many Cricut projects show up in our Hallowedding! 

Do any of you have a Cricut?  Will you be using it for any wedding projects?