Bridesmaid Dresses

I knew right away that I wanted to let my bridesmaids pick out their own dresses, but so many details came up when trying to make the look cohesive.  I thought letting them pick out their own dresses would be easy!

The reasons why I wanted to let them pick out their dresses included: making sure everyone looked good, having happy bridesmaids, comfort, let the girls choose their price range, let them pick something that they may wear again, save me a little stress.

Of course, those weren't the only reasons, but they were the big ones.  I didn't realize that just picking a color wasn't enough.  After googling some images, I realized that even if the dresses didn't match, something matching would definitely tie everything together and make it cohesive.  Since there are really only 2 big items that most bridesmaids wear (dress and shoes), I figured letting the girls pick out whatever shade of green they wanted for their dresses would be easiest (on everyone)--no worrying about a slight difference in the "same" shade, or different materials looking like different shades, etc., but I want to make the shoes the similar component.  I will have my girls wear cream/beige/champagne colored shoes. 

 I emailed each of them, letting them know my wishes, and that they can choose any style (as long as it's tea/knee length), material, price range, etc., and also stipulated that the green not be any sort of radioactive color.

Here's the inspiration board I put together for them via Polyvore (awesome website for this):

bridesmaid dress colors by sillyme118 on Polyvore.com

J Crew strapless bridal dress
$50 - jcrew.com

Dress
$55 - eshakti.com

J Crew strapless dress
$225 - jcrew.com

Wedge shoes
$50 - delias.com

Marc by Marc Jacobs high heel shoes
$330 - net-a-porter.com

House of Harlow 1960 open toe shoes
$240 - endless.com

Kg shoes
160 GBP - kurtgeiger.com

Cole haan flat
$128 - colehaan.com

Shoes
$40 - shopruche.com

eShakti - Shop Women’s designer fashion dresses, tops| Size 0-26W...
$55 - eshakti.com

I love that this shows not only ideas on color and styles, but if one of my girls HAD to have one of these styles, they could easily see the price and where to buy it.  Polyvore is amazing.  They should have the same thing for wedding dresses...and Etsy!

Anyways, I can't wait to see what each girl picks out!

Ina at the gym

If you know me, you know that I'm a huge Ina Garten fan.  Her and Anthony Bourdain are amazing, talented people.  Because I don't have TV here at home, the only times I get to indulge in Ina/Tony is at the gym--yes, when I'm working out.  I usually head to the gym after class, so most days, I'm there before Ina and Tony are on (1pm PST), which just means I'm reading, watching something else, or trying not to think about how  much longer I should workout for.  Well, today was one of those lucky days when I got to get on a machine, sweat like a pig, and switch between the Travel Channel and Food Network.

Today, Ina was making finger food for a friend's party, which gave me so many ideas for our rehearsal dinner menu.  We're "self catering" our rehearsal dinner because it will be out in the middle of nowhere (the place we're getting married), cheaper, more laid back, and most of all, because we want to show our closest friends and family our appreciation for them and their support.  Three of the recipes from Ina really stood out to me, though.  We are planning on doing a BBQ, but I was thinking that adding some finger foods from Ina's show today would be an awesome way to add a little something special to the dinner.  Here's what she made, with links to the recipes:

Tuna Tartare:  I dont know about you, but this looked simple to make, and has gotten rave reviews...plus, it's TUNA!

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches:  I love tea sandwiches--they're easy to make, delicious, and can be made ahead of time!  Besides...if you think herbed butter doesnt sound amazing, then you're probably just crazy.

Flower Cupcakes:  These are just simple cupcakes--vanilla with cream cheese frosting.  They're simple and beautiful, and I love the idea of putting cute little pansies on top!  This would be perfect for our natural, outdoorsy wedding theme!  One of the reviewers of this recipe even suggested filling these cute cupcakes with lemon curd, which I thought would be a brilliant way to make this a light, summery dessert.

I know most people wouldn't consider making a meal for 40-50 people, but I'm really excited about it.  I know it will be a challenge with all the other stressful things going on, but I think this has the potential to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the entire weekend.  Keeping on budget and finding the time to prepare everything will definitely be my biggest challenges.

A new project

So I've been seeing these really cute hangers in not only other couples' "getting ready" pictures on the day of their wedding, but also while browsing Etsy.  A few days ago, I ran across a post on Wedding Bee on how to make these for myself, so I decided to give it a shot!  Here is the original post/tutorial (Thanks, Sady Jane).

Now after picking up some hangers and 16 gauge wire (hangers from Walmart for $4.24/5 pack, and 200 ft. 16 gauge galvanized rust-proof wire from Home Depot ~&6.00), I made an attempt at MY hanger!  Here is the final result:

 I actually LOVE the way it turned out.  It's definitely not perfect, but I think it'll be a cute little detail for me and my special gals:)

I think after making this one, my hands are ready for a rest--maybe I'll venture to make one per day.







What do you think?

Wedding planning

Well, we've got our location (and our date)!  It's a great place in Ariel, Washington.  It's out in the middle of nowhere, and we've got the place for the weekend!  I can't wait to spend some quality time with the most important people in our lives...the ones who will be in/at our wedding.  Just deciding who will be invited and who we can live not inviting really puts a lot of my relationships into perspective.  Especially being on a tight budget.  Of course I'd love to invite my old college roommates, classmates, friends from high school, old professors, etc., but it just doesn't make sense.  It's really too bad, considering I am pretty nostalgic about all those good memories I share with so many people--the people who had a hand in shaping who I am now.

Anyways, our location: Anderson Lodge, Hilltop House.  It's got a great view of the valley, and has the feel of summer camp.  I loved summer camp when I was little! I've added a few pictures of the place from their website (below and above).
Our date: September 10, 2011 (9.10.11).  I can't wait to spend a few days out there with everyone!
More wedding planning details to come!

 

A lot has happened

Since my last post (which was a really long time ago), I've gotten engaged!  Craig picked out the perfect ring (with a little help from me), and I cant stop looking at it!  We've set a date--we'll be married next year, September 10th (9/10/11).  I'm so excited, and have been eager to finally feel ok about looking at wedding porn!  After a lot of thinking, deciding, more thinking, and redeciding, I've come up with a theme and color scheme for the wedding.  Since Craig and I both love the outdoors, and in particular camping, I decided that would a good theme to go off of.  There will be a outdoorsy-camping-vintage theme to accompany the natural brown, green, and ivory color palette.  I want things to be simple, romantic, and thoughtful, and have taken ideas from other brides including http://2000dollarwedding.com/.  I'm so excited to start crafting invitations, programs, make centerpieces, etc.  It's going to be a great day!

Dinner Together

I love having dinner with Craig. It feels so much nicer to just make dinner, and sit at the table together enjoying the food, drink, and conversation. I grew up eating dinner with my family every night, though, so maybe that's part of why I enjoy it so much. Unfortunately, it gets hard to find time in our busy (and most of the time conflicting) schedules to make a nice dinner and enjoy it together. Tonight was a night when we were able to do that. We didn't make dinner together--Craig went to get a workout this evening, so I prepared dinner so it would be waiting for him when he got home. Here's what was on the menu: Goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts with rice, salad, artichoke, and baked vegetables topped with Parmesan cheese. It was really good, but I spent a good amount of time making it.

The chicken was really easy--I made the goat cheese filling with plain goat cheese, chopped basil from the backyard, lemon juice, and lemon zest.















The beautiful artichoke--haven't had one of these in so long! It reminds me of my Aunt Jane.


Here are the mixed veggies that I stuck in the oven--it's a mix of potatoes, onions, and zucchini with lots of garlic and some sesame oil. I topped these later with parmesan cheese to get a nice golden crust!


The final result: Too much food for two people! Huge plates of delicious food. It was awesome!

Weekend

I probably should have been studying...but when you've got two days off, it's just so hard to do! Today was more productive than usual (which is not saying much)...I just haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I cleaned up the apartment a little today, which felt nice, and have been doing laundry all day. I also tackled something I've been wanting to try for a while--making healthy, high-fiber energy bars. I didnt measure ingredients, but here's kind of what I did:

threw dried dates (pitted), sunflower seeds, and almonds into my magic bullet. Blended them until it made a course, sticky mess.
Then I added all of this to my stand mixer with bran flour, oatmeal, applesauce (a great replacement for oil in any recipe), one egg, and a little water. Mixed it all together, and then pressed it into the bottom of a square cake pan.
I baked it for about 15 minutes on 425 until the edges were brown. That's it! They don't have any added sugar, salt, or fat, so they're not sweet, but the applesauce and dates added a little sweetness. For the second batch, I added a little pumpkin pie spice to the mix. I'm definitely going to try this again, and maybe add apples to the mixture--yum!









Craig cooked a huge cut of pork in some home brewed brown ale last week, which tasted amazing, and saved the broth for later. I decided to use it up today since I had nothing but studying to do. I threw it into a crock pot with celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, and tempeh. Looking forward to trying that as well--it smells so good! No meat in this one (except for the broth).