another short break (this time i'm going to california!)

my dear sweet readers, i'm leaving you again! can you believe it? 

i'm hopping on a plane this morning to palos verdes, california to do some wedding-related things (including going to a bridal shower that is bring thrown for me!!) because my wedding is in 5 weeks-- WHAT??? oh my goodness!

so you can picture me all weekend running around southern california with my dear fiancé's mom, tasting cakes, buying fabric and jars for candles and flowers, renting tables/chairs/dishes, figuring out how everything will be laid out on the beach where we're getting married, possibly getting showered with embarrassing gifts..... it's going to be great.

so i'll be back here blogging with a vengeance on tuesday-- i hope your weekend is full of fun and relaxation!

{image via maralina!'s flickr photostream}

my wedding invitations

now that my wedding invitations are *finally* finished and mailed out, i thought i would post some pics here for you to see! our wedding is 2 months from today, and i'm sort-of in shock about it. we've been engaged for a year and a half, so the wedding has felt really far away for a long time. but all of a sudden it's really SOON!

anyway, here are our invitations. i designed and printed it all, and ryan helped me put them all together. he was also a huge help in getting the wedding animation i made onto DVDs to include with the invitations-- i love how the front of the DVD looks so pretty that it will be a surprise when they pop it in to watch! (i put the animation on youtube yesterday, too, if you're interested...)

i loved designing these so much-- it'd be so fun to have a side business design wedding invitations, or even wedding animations for couples! wouldn't that be crazy?

my wedding animation, finally!

oh.my.GOODNESS. this project was almost the death of me. i'm not even kidding. there were nights i would go to sleep as stressed as can be, because when i can't figure out how to do something, i obsess over it and stress over it until i figure it out. i had no idea getting into it that i'd be wanting to pull my hair out and scream as much as i did..... the good news is that i learned A LOT about flash through the process of creating this animation, and it's always good to learn new things. :)

so, after all that drama, here is my wedding animation. FINALLY. this will be going out to my friends and family as part of ryan's and my wedding invitations, and i couldn't get it to play the right size on a TV (because i made a rookie move and created it in the wrong size, i guess), but it looks decent on a computer.

i do hope you like it! i'm celebrating it's completion today, and i'm not sure i'll ever make another animation again! whew. it's hard.
(and yes, before you ask, it's supposed to be wiggly and choppy.)

*the song is "blank slate" by the national.

happy monday, a nnew pattern, and some wedding talk

good morning! can you believe it's monday already? i woke up to massive thunderstorms very early this morning, so hopefully that's a good sign for an exciting week!

my weekend flew by, pretty much without a lick of work getting done. instead, ryan and i spent most of the weekend finalizing our wedding invitations, printing them, putting them together, and excitedly planning our honeymoon roadtrip. so fun! we even ordered his wedding ring (from an etsy seller!)- eek! it's really happening.

what a process it's been designing these invites! wow. the pattern above is a sneak peek at the overall look of the invitations... i created this pattern and then printed it on vellum to use throughout, and i used the same flowers throughout the rest of the invitation. they look so pretty! i can't wait to show you. the only piece missing is my animation that is not quite finished yet that will be included with the invite.... i sure hope i can get it done in time!

we'll be sending them out in a couple of weeks, so i'll be sure to post some pics as soon as they've been delivered to the recipients. :)

did you all have a lovely weekend? i hope so!

super 8 video wedding

ok, i am totally and completely in love with this idea. i was reading a a cup of jo this morning and came across this wedding video shot by friends with rented super 8 cameras.

**where can i rent a super 8 camera in the los angeles area??**
and if i do, how do i get it turned into a video afterwards? i know nothing about video. if any of you have any thoughts on this, i will love you forever if you share! can you imagine having a keepsake like this for the rest of your life? wow. i'm in love.

i love this feather hairpiece

i have serious wedding brain lately. it's quite funny, because i am not a girly kind of girl, but i am all about this wedding.

i'm trying to figure out what i want on my head or in my hair that will complement my dress..... and this feather hairpiece by jenny pickle designs is striking my fancy at the moment.

{i'm also reminded of this post by samantha hahn about making your own hairpieces...perhaps i just need to get my craft on and make my own!}

if you know of any lovely hairpieces or cute mini veils (maybe like this one?), please send them my way!

wedding inspiration

so, as some of you may know, i am getting married in just a little over 4 months. 4 months! oh my gosh.

i have a lot of the big details worked out (photographer, band, venue, cake, dress), but the little details are the part that i haven't even started thinking about yet because it's the part that scares me the most!

i thought you might like to see some of the images that have made their way into my wedding inspiration folder recently-- one of these days i'll be able to show you my own ideas, once i finally face my fear and start planning the "look" of our wedding! such pressure, i tell you. :)
i haven't even thought about what the invitations are going to look like yet-- ack!

if you have any wedding resources that you swear by, please feel free to send them my way! i think i need to have a stockpile of resources ready to go for that looming day on which i realize i have to figure it all out, and fast!

*have a great weekend, my dears! see you monday!*

wedding map

somehow my brain has entered full-on wedding mode in the last week or so-- it's seriously consuming me! weird. so yesterday i spent more time than i realized it would take to draw a map of the area where ryan's family lives and where we are getting married, for people that will be traveling from out of town. drawing maps is harder than i thought it would be! but i'm pleased with how it turned out, and i'm excited to illustrate some more things for the wedding. stay tuned!

also, do any of you, dear readers, have any suggestions for where to get a fabulous (read: inexpensive) wedding cake in the los angeles area? i feel like this might be a challenge, since we don't live there.... you're supposed to do cake tastings, right? well, i don't see that in my future since we live in atlanta, so hopefully someone will have the perfect place to share with me.

comment away!

i dream of paper lanterns

i dream of sending off paper lanterns full of wishes at my wedding, out over the ocean.....

save the date

our wedding is fast approaching. 6 months and 5 days from now, i'll be on the beach getting ready to marry ryan!

we made our save the date cards over the weekend and i'm getting ready to send them out. they're postcard style! simple and to the point. i'm happy with how they turned out- i rounded the corners, too, after i took these photos, which i think makes them look nicer.

we used a hand-carved linoleum block stamp for the white underneath, and then my gocco printer for the green letters. i'm *so sad* that the gocco printers have been discontinued and the supplies are almost gone.... won't someone please start making these precious printers again? pretty please?

commitment canopy

how much would i love to get married under a hand-made canopy like this on the beach in california? plus, after the ceremony it could be used as shade for anyone needed respite from the sun. uh-oh... ryan might not be happy when we have tree branches and sheets strewn across the living room floor and i tell him "don't worry, honey, it's for the wedding".... :)

[via readymade magazine]

wedding dress love

oh my god, how much do you love this wedding dress?? and how awesome is this photograph? i first saw these pics on the offbeat bride, and i'm totally nuts for that dress.

and i'm wowed by the photographer, too-- her name is becky novacek, and oh what i wouldn't give to have her photograph my wedding next summer.
do you think she'd trade some paintings for her services? :) (just kidding.)


{and another photo of that dress... swoon....}
***
speaking of weddings, i need your help, dear friends.

do any of you know of a great photographer (read: affordable) in the southern CA area? i have no idea where to even begin looking, so if you can point me in a direction, i would appreciate it mucho!

also, do any of you know of a great bluegrass band in the same area? we're having our wedding on the beach and are looking for a non-amplified bluegrass band. (a gypsy-type band is also in the running, so if you know of any of those, send them my way, too!)

ANNNNNNND....... the next post will be the calendar pre-order post. are you so
excited???!? i am!! stay tuned...

daily wedding love: paper flowers by dozi

i'm finally starting to think about planning ryan's and my wedding (eek! we've already been engaged for almost 6 months!! i feel like maybe i'm not a real girl! aren't girls supposed to start planning a wedding soon after they get engaged?!)

anyway, i saw this tutorial (by dozi) for these sweet paper flowers yesterday on creature comforts-- it was sort-of serendipitous, because i just discovered dozi's etsy shop a few days ago and am eyeing her goods daily!

but i love the idea of using these flowers on place of some real flowers-- wouldn't it be so pretty? not to mention cheaper than real flowers!

click here for the full tutorial. and be sure to check out dozi's goods-- you'll love the beautifully patterned pocket-sized notebooks!