Penguins all in a row

I am VERY lucky that Mr Elk and I actually agree on his attire for the wedding. Why am I lucky? Well, I picked my own dress-a dress Mr Elk has expressed to me is not his favorite. But I love it, and let's face it, I am the one who will be wearing it. And so, I decided that it isn't important what he thinks on this decision.

Bearing my decision in mind, I realized that I would be completely and totally hypocritical if Mr Elk decided to wear something that I did not like and I put up a big stink about it. It is his body, and he can wear whatever he feels comfortable in.

Even though I am aware of this rationally, I was still nervous to hear Mr Elk's thoughts on his wedding day look. I was frightened that he would tell me his plans for our black tie optional wedding was to wear khakis and a button down shirt (his daily work uniform), and I would be obviously be cringing inside. Instead, I was shocked by his desires- to look straight out of The Great Gatsby (a book he has never read btw!).

To me, The Great Gatsby look means a certain level of elegance, definitely fancy, and overall timeless. I think this:

via Extra TV

Mr Elk agreed, with one major point of contention. He apparently thinks bowties are stupid (ummm really? Cuz they look pretty hot to me!). Anyway, I may have tried to convince him (in a very futile attempt). Ultimately, we agreed on simple black tuxes sans vest and cummerbund with simple silk black ties for the groosmen. Mr Elk did want to look a little bit different, and we found this tie to give him a little umph without taking away from the simple elegance we were going for :

via Ties-Necktie.com

On sale for 12.95 it is a steal! I was a little nervous about the quality, but I was super impressed with the overall service we received from Ties-neckties.com and plan on purchasing the groosmen's ties from them as well! And with that, a major decision made and two happy Elks!

Did your groom care about his wedding day look more than you anticipated? Were you happy with his desires or did you knock him down and pick his outfit yourself?

Sparkle And Shine

So remember how I promised that I'd focus on the important things for the wedding? Well, I promise I looked up the process of getting a marriage license in NY state, and learned that we need our birth certificates, drivers licenses and can't do it until we are <60 days out from the wedding day. Task #1 Complete (sort of)!

And to celebrate the fact that I did something important (well, at least researched something important), I did the most non-important project EVER. Inspired by Miss Fox's awesome pimped shoes, I flat out copied her (hope you don't mind Miss Fox!). So hive, I leave you with my awesome, newly sparkly Badgley Mischkas. (PS- I still can't walk in them)

Did you reward yourself for completing an important task by doing something totally and completely not important at all?

100 days to go....

and I am starting to freak out! Where did all the time go? When you have a fairly long engagement (for me it was about 1.5 years), you can feel like you have an unlimited time to get everything accomplished. And today, on the verge of being in the double digits, I can't help but feel overwhelmed. Sure I've tried to get a lot done slowly but surely, but my to do list still feels about a mile long!

I suppose I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed about life in general. In 5 weeks I find out where I will train for my residency. After that, Mr Elk has about 2.5 months to find a new job. Then I graduate, we get married, go on a honeymoon, move, and start our new jobs all within a 1 month period. I feel like I've kind of put the wedding on the sidelines because there are so many other things occupying my brain at the moment.

But I can't procrastinate any longer. And most pressing on my to do list include:
1) figure out marriage license and name change information
2)make sure our friend is actually certified and ready to perform our ceremony
3)write our ceremony

All the cute little DIY projects I still have lined up to complete will simply have to come second to those on my priority list, even though the DIYs are tempting, as they seem like a lot more fun!

So hive, I am here today, 100 days from my wedding, pledging to you that I will no longer put off those most important details of the wedding day! Please, when I tempt you with ridiculous glittery self made creations, don't forget these words. Hold me to them. Yell at me! Get me moving in the right direction so I am not freaking out the week of the wedding.

Have you realized how much there really is to get done the closer you've gotten to your wedding? How did you handle the pressure and make sure everything was in place and ready for the big day?

Ribbons and Hemp and Lace, Oh My!

I've known that Mr Elk and I would have a handfasting ceremony from the moment I heard about them. It fits perfectly with our personally tailored ceremony (which by the way I haven't even started writing), and beautifully incorporates an Irish tradition (since Mr Elk's parents are fresh off the boat, and we will have a few of his relatives flying in!). I love that our hands will be tied as one, and we will talk of how our hands will forevermore be linked together.

Anyway, this desire to have a handfasting ceremony was only intensified when I saw this gorgeous shot months ago:

Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Larissa Cleveland

I was inspired to create a cord similar to add to the ceremony, and so began the easiest DIY project I have yet to take on!

I bought a purple, ivory, and lace ribbon as well as a roll of hemp. I cut them to length, tied them together and here you have the Elk's handfasting cords:

And all wrapped around my hand (yes, that ring shot was intentional. I can't pass an opportunity for such glorious ring porn!)

Now if only I could use some of that enthusiasm to write the freaking ceremony!

Did you take on any easy DIY projects despite larger, more important projects looming in the distance? And are you doing a handfasting?

If it first you don't succeed....

A long, long time ago I showed you the plan for my escort cards and table numbers, which, to refresh your memory you can see below:

(The numbers are paper mache which I mod podged with fancy papers. The escort cards will correlate to the table number, made of the same fancy paper.)

Even though I talked about my table numbers months ago, I basically hadn't touched them since then. I had a stack of paper mache numbers waiting to be made pretty, but every time I tried to tackle the project, I failed miserably. Mostly, I couldn't seem to figure out how to cover the numbers and make them actually look nice. Here you can see my failed attempt at number 4:

For some reason I tried to wrap it like a present, which clearly did not work out so well. He looks tortured and just plain sad. But that was not my first failed attempt at this project. In fact, that was my third completed number, and of those 3, only 1 has survived my scrutiny. Despite my failures, I simply couldn't give up on my table numbers, and after a few attempts, I seem to finally have a system down that creates a nice finished product without making me want to kill someone. And because people seem to love oversized paper mache letters and numbers here in the wedding world, I figured I'd share my successful venture with you all in the form of a tutorial!

What You Will Need:
1) paper mache number or letter to be covered (you can purchase them at most craft stores)
2) mod podge, which can be purchased from any craft store, or can be homemade (apparently it is a 50:50 mixture of Elmer's glue and water)
3) foam brush

Step 1: measure the width of the item you will be covering. These numbers (from Hobby Lobby) are an inch wide.

Step 2: cut out long strips of paper slightly wider than the width of the object to be covered (I cut out 1.1 inch strips)

Step 3: using a foam brush, apply a moderately generous layer of mod podge to the edge of the object (covering only the part that will be covered by the length of paper you have). Apply the paper, press down firmly, and smooth out any air bubbles

Step 4: if any piece of paper extends beyond the edge of the object, apply more mod podge to the adjacent side and slowly fold down the edge with your finger until it remains down. The more mod podge, the easier this part is. Note- you will get messy!

Step 5: cover the entire paper you just placed with a layer of mod podge. ***Allow time to dry before moving on. If you do not, and you touch the paper while it is still tacky, you can pull off some of the color and be left with a white blotch. Repeat steps 1-5 until all edges have been covered.

Step 6: Trace the number (**both sides) and cut out (cut on the outside of your line, making the paper slightly larger than the object! It is easier to fold the edges over than to try to cover spots you missed!) repeat steps 1-5 to apply the front and back.


Step 7: repeat a bagillion times until all numbers or letters are complete... or so it feels!

And in case you are wondering, here are some of the numbers I have completed to date:

(see that little white spot at the bottom of 6? thats where I touched while it was still tacky and pulled off some of the paper :( )

At first, I cursed this project! I cursed while i was doing this project! I cursed myself for thinking this was a good idea! But now that I see nice looking finished products, I'm actually pretty excited (PS I'm madly in love with number 5- isn't it so cute!?). I'm even contemplating buying large paper mache letters and an ampersand and mod podging them so that we can put our initials above the fireplace in the ballroom of our venue.

Have you started a project only to realize it was way more difficult than you originally anticipated? Did you continue with it despite the extra time and money required to make it work, or did you drop it like a bad habit?

Put A Bow on It

A little while ago I showed you the results of my hair trial, and I discussed possible hair accessories to add a little umphh to the style. I was trying to decide between a rhinestone bow or some sort of floral accessory, and in the end I decided on the bow. It's kind of funny, because I am not really a "bling" sort of girl, but I just love bows so much!!! I stalked Etsy for quite some time, and ultimately decided on an adorable comb by seller DanaCastle. Unfortunately, it became clear to me almost immediately after receiving my cute little bow that my thin hair was way too limp to hold it up. I didn't want to give up wearing the bow, so I decided to take it apart and try another strategy. (Personal photos ahead)

I went to my nearest Michael's and bought a plain headband covered in black ribbon (I didn't want the headband part to show). Then,I pulled out my handy dandy hot glue gun, and in less than a minute I had a new rhinestone bow headband!

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out- here you can see me with the headband on (please excuse my crazy face- I seem unable to smile while concentrating on taking photos of myself!)

While I really love my bow, I'm concerned that it looks a little kiddish.. What do you think- too cutesy or the perfect level of adorable?

Are you adding any unique accessories to your wedding day look?

A Bee's Welcome

After taking a little bit of time off to refeul my wedding fire, I am back with a few major projects checked off my list!!

A long time ago I decided I would buy canvas tote bags from cheaptotes.com (99 cents each!) to use for out of town bags. They cost about the same as typical gift bags that I have seen used, but are reusable which I really appreciate. I bought about 50 bags a few months ago, and have had them sitting in my living room since then, waiting to be made special- the problem was I couldn't decide what to put on them.

My original thoughts were to put a design that did not overwhelmingly screem Mr and Mrs Elks wedding, so guests could potentially reuse them if they wanted without our names and wedding date screeming at the world. Since I love bows, that was the first idea that really suck with me, and I found this adorable tote as inspiration:

Lauren Moshi Taylor Bow Canvas Tote

If anyone needs to get me a gift for any reason, this 88$ bag would do the trick. Adorable! Unfortunately, my skills at designing bows aren't great, and the best clipart bow I could find just wasn't cutting it- so I moved on to my next amazing idea- llama llove.

Llama clipart via Arthur's Sillhouette Clipart

Do you get it? Llama is spelled with 2 l's! Love is now spelled with 2 l's?! I know it has nothing to do with us or our wedding, but I thought it was kind of hilarious! Nobody around me got it, though. My mom thought it was dumb. Mr Elk didn't understand what I was thinking. And so, my llamas were nixed.

Finally, I had a genius rush of inspiration! The mascot of our college is a bee. It used to be a cute fuzzy bee until he was deemed "too cuddly" and retired for a more menacing looking wasp. But I loved that cute little bee! I found a picture of him (his name is not so creatively URbee for University of Rochester bee) and got to work.

via the University of Rochester (now officially retired)

I found a cute little bow and arrow sillhouette from clipart and made it look like URbee was holding on to it. At first, he looked like a bee archer. I quickly added two little hearts, and easy as 1 2 3 he was cupid URbee!

Next, I printed him out and created a screen for my gocco printing press (which I've been looking to use in another project for a while now). I had bought black ink that was supposedly fabric friendly a while ago, and so this was the perfect use.

Finally, I ironed the print once it had dried completely to heat set it. And amazingly, they came out great! Here is the finished product:

And with that I'm back in the game! Did you incorporate how you met into any parts of your wedding?