anoisette

The other day I picked up a lovely letterpress wedding card for some friends of the boy who just got married. It’s by a Canadian outfit out of Montreal called That Sky Blue Stationery. While browsing their site I noticed that they have a line of Letterpress Invitations for weddings. Invitations are another thing I need to tackle soon. Anyway, I wish they’d show more of their wedding invitations line on their website. It’s annoying to have to track down a retailer and then make the trek out there if you’re not even sure what the offerings are.

One of the first dresses I ’saved’ from my online browsing is this one from the Vineyard Collection by Priscilla of Boston.

Asides from the fact that it’s probably totally out of my budget, I don’t love it in its entirety. But there are elements that I really like a lot. Namely the neckline and the horizontal pleating happening on the bodice.  Later, while browsing patterns at Fabricana, I came across this vintage Vogue  1950s dress pattern that has some of those same elements that I like.

I’m just not really sure about the off-the-shoulder look though. I have a feeling this pattern would have to be modified if I wanted a definitely on-the-shoulder look and that’s enough to keep me looking. But I’ll keep this in mind. I’d have to modify the skirt as well, because I tried on a very full skirted dress and wow that’s a whole lot of poofy, Poofy, POOFY white. My mom actually burst out laughing when I walked out of the change room. I think I’d rather go with an a-line or slight trumpet bottom like the Vineyard dress.

I’ve really been procrastinating on dress shopping because I’m just not that excited about it. I think my first experience going to a giant Mississauga bridal dress warehouse a number of years ago with a friend who was getting married kind of left me a little bit weary. It was too much like a big explosion of poofy white. Poofy white and more poofy white as far as the eye could see. There was no escaping the poofy white.

Two weeks ago I finally started on the much dreaded task by going down to Washington state to David’s Bridal. I’d found a few dresses online that I thought were ok and really reasonably priced, so I figured it would be a good starting point. Here are some of the dressed I tried:

I liked the simplicity of this one, but when I tried it on I thought the top looked a little too ‘adidas’ and sporty with the three bands and halter combo.

This one was similar to the first one in a strapless version. But I don’t think I really dig the strapless look. Plus it’s practically starting to look like a wedding dress uniform.

This last one I tried on a whim in the store even though it’s totally not my style with the lace and all, but the fit and cut were surprisingly flattering. I think it’s a very nice dress but the lace just isn’t me.

So that was my David’s Bridal experience. It’s definitely worth the trip if you are a dress hunting Vancouver bride. I didn’t have an appointment, but the staff were pretty accommodating, although if I had to do it over I would make one. My consultant was really nice and helpful and helped me with the dresses (dive in to the white poof).

If I’d found The Dress For Me there, I’d definitely be taking advantage of their infamous $99 dress sale. There’s one currently happening until March 23rd.

How cute are those save-the-date pencils?! They’re only part of the save-the-date package that Vancouver bride Amber put together. Her whole school theme was beautifully executed. Check out her wedding bio page to see her full wedding and all the fun ideas she had. I also love her little monogrammed magnets.

That reminds me of an alternative I thought of after I had already ordered my save-the-date magnets: pinback button style magnets. Local outfit, The Mustache Press does magnet back buttons for very reasonable prices. I found them while perusing the Indie I Do exhibitor list.

I think I have the last of the Save-The-Dates addressed and ready to go. Just had a few addresses I was waiting on or had to verify. Here’s a photo of them before we assembled them and sent them off. I ended up using assorted colored envelopes my mom had gotten for free. At first I wasn’t crazy about the assorted colors, but then I realized they were free and that’s hard to say no to. The green polka dot card is what we mounted the magnets on to mail.

To make the addressing manageable I used the form feature of Google Docs, as per this post on WeddingBee, and my parents and the boy entered the addresses. It saved me tons of time and now the addresses are all in there for when we send out the real invitations. From Google Docs I imported the list into MS Office did a mail merge to print the addresses. And my printer handled those freebie envelopes like a champ.

This is what I worked on yesterday. Put up the SLÄTTHULT wall sticker and I had picked up. It was surprisingly more challenging than I thought because it all came in pieces and my first few attempts didn’t feel authentic enough tree-wise. I originally started it so it would begin below the table height, but after all the unsticking and resticking I did, I guess it migrated up without me noticing. The tree is centered on the wall, but the table isn’t and I’m not sure if it looks funny that the tree is off center from the table. What do you think?

The table cloth was an awesome find of cut of fabric in the As-Is section for $3.50. I hemmed it up on my sewing machine and the result is easiest best priced table cloth ever. That print is from the KATRIN set which even at the regular price of $7.99 a meter is not going to break the bank.

One of my lovely friends, who often sends me delightful etsy finds, directed me to elephant and chickpea to look at lovely soft mary jane room shoes with tasty names like Avocado, Mustard (the two are such a good combination) and Strawberry. Seeing that they are made here in Vancouver I went to the blog to find out more and found a cute photo of little house pincushions. Her style feels very zakka to me, and I like it.

I just discovered ink & spindle, a hand printed textiles studio based in Melbourne, Australia. Amazing amazing beautiful stuff! And printed with sustainable principles to boot. It’s incredibly inspiring to see people following their heart and talents and doing what they love. One of the designers, Lara Cameron, shared this post on her blog which I really like: 10 (Potentially Controversial) Tips for Starting a Small Craft/Design Business.

I found it after giving up in frustration on the freehand machine embroidery I was attempting for friend’s very late wedding gift. Although actually it’s technically not late since it hasn’t been a year yet. But still, I need to get this done.

my embroidery epic fail

This was after coming home from breakfast with an inspiring friend, who runs a fantastic store, and thinking that I should just make things and stop thinking so much about what to do next.

I’m way over trying on wedding dresses after going to a bunch of places last week. After a while they all start to look the same. I’m seriously thinking of making my own. But first I want to get some of my ideas on paper, quickly and easily, while still looking recognizable. I’m really out of practise sketching though. Luckily I found these awesome free fashion croquis templates. They’re great quality and you can even download them in Illustrator format. I printed a basic front facing one and now we’ll see what I can come up with for dress ideas.

Oooh go check out WhatALovelyName.com. It’s a beautifully designed site meant to help expectant parents find a baby name, but it also has a fun little logo builder. Pick a color scheme, style, and font and it creates a logo for you that you can download, or use to buy all kinds of you branded wares like stickers, postcards and onesies.  I’m making ones for my friends it’s fun to see what they make for me! Found via How about orange…