Heel Protectors

Most women know that dressing up for an outdoor soiree can lead to this...


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The sinking-into-the-grass annoyance, and the tragic demise of an otherwise perfectly good pair of heels.

To avoid this problem, I have thought about alternatives to stilettos, like wearing chunkier heels or flats or wedges. But my dress really won't go with chunky heels or wedges, and I don't want to wear flats on our wedding day. So those are out.

I have also thought about just getting over it, trying to ignore the problem during our wedding and just prepare myself for whatever damage might come to my shoes. That's pretty much what I do on any other day, so that could work...

But I was prompted to look for a solution when I started thinking about the possibility of walking down the aisle, sinking into the grass--or worse, accidentally getting my shoe stuck and "walking" out of it, where it stays stuck in the grass--with hundreds of eyes on me, for the duration of that slow, long walk down the aisle.

So, I found some prospective problem-solvers.

Here is a set of "Smart Heels."


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While this is a useful invention, I don't think it addresses my specific concern. It could come in handy walking around town, where there is a risk of smudging up a heel by inadvertently slipping it into a grate or a crack in the sidewalk, etc. But it doesn't look like it would do much for keeping heels above grass.

Sole Mates' "High Heeler," on the other hand, is a product marketed specifically for using with heels in grass.



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It looks like it would help to keep a skinny heel from sinking in. But it also looks kind of clunky, doesn't it? I mean, anything along these lines will look a little clunkier than just a naked stiletto, but the lip on the top part of the attachment just looks a little distracting when it is on the shoe.

Pretty Pink Toes, based in England, makes these Clean Heels Heel Stoppers:


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Ignore the little crystal in the photo above. Here is a different view:


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Not bad, huh? It certainly has a wide enough surface to keep a heel above ground. And its narrower heel-gripping sleeve looks a little sleeker than the High Heelers above.

There is a very similar product called Heels Above, shown here:



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The contrast of the clear-on-black is a little stark, but if you look at the photo just above (the one with the clear Heel Stopper on the ivory shoe), it is much less noticeable, don't you think?

Ladies, what do you think about this? Should I just tough it out? Are these too noticeable? What would you do?

Zenadia Design's "Rock & Roll Chic"

I have shared photo montages from Zenadia Designs' blog before, but I started to feel like that was blog cheating or stealing or something... so I wasn't going to feature any more. But that was before I saw this one, which I had to share. Rock and Roll Chic!


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If you click on the picture, you'll be able to get a closer look at it. My favorite pictures are the ones of the layers and layers of pink and white chiffon in that messy studio, shown in the top center photo, and the full, feathered skirt in the bottom right photo. Actually, I like them all and the way they are put together.

What I want to know is, ladies, how would you have reacted if I said I wanted you all to wear long, strapless bridesmaid dresses in horizontal black-and-white stripes?

Fonts for Peas

Through my favorite blog/forum/advice/everything-wedding-related website, weddingbee.com, I discovered a fantastic website called Fonts for Peas, which is part of the blog kevinandamanda.com. It's an e-valhalla of cool, free fonts that are derived from real people's handwriting.

The blog's readers can submit their own handwriting samples to Amanda, who then transforms the handwriting into an electronic font. Pretty cool, huh? The best part about it is that all of the fonts are created at no charge to the submitter and can be downloaded by anyone for free! I picked out a few of my favorites to share with you all...

"Pea Quinn" would be cute for invitations to a kid's birthday party, wouldn't it?





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I really like that "Pea Lovey Dovey" is swirly but not stuffy... it's whimsical!





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"Pea Nic Script" is a good every-day font... it's like, I am in a hurry because I am a busy person, but I am never too busy to look chic. I like it.





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Isn't this a cool idea? How would you use a font of your handwriting? For those of us not blessed with remarkable handwriting, it's kind of nice to be able to find fonts that look like handwriting, except cooler than our own. But doesn't it seem weird that--if your handwriting was converted to a font--a person could download your handwriting and use it for their own purposes?


p.s. For those of you who may not have any experience adding new fonts to your computer's basic repertoire (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, etc.), you can do so by simply downloading an electronic file to your computer, and then complete a couple of additional steps to "add" the font file to your word processing program. This website provides some guidance for Microsoft Word users. You can also buy software with font "libraries," but there are many available for free online if you just search around a bit.

Reception Entrance Song

So, two main points about this post. First, I learned how to embed youtube videos, which I am really excited about. It's super easy (or else there would be no youtube video in this post!). If you're interested in learning how, this site breaks it down pretty easily. I think it is safe to say that there will be several more youtube videos in future posts.

Second, I was looking for inspiration for songs we could have our DJ play when we enter the reception tent, and I found this clip:



The DJ introduces each pair of the wedding party and then plays a song as they walk/dance/strut out, do a little dance or something in front of the crowd, and then line up as the next couple is introduced, and so on, until the bride and groom are finally introduced.

This particular "entrance" was laden with several Star Wars references, which made me think of Steve, of course. I also really like the idea of introducing each of our wonderful friends to the rest of our guests.

Even though it is a little cheesy and drawn-out (almost 10 minutes!), I would really enjoy watching this kind of grand entrance if I were a guest at a wedding. But if I were in the wedding party, I would most likely die of embarrassment! Having to "dance" into a reception alone--with hundreds of people watching--could be one of my greatest fears. I am the kind of person who only enjoys dancing after several drinks, preferably in the middle of a large crowd of less talented dancers.

Would you enjoy watching this kind of entrance? Would you enjoy being part of this entrance? Which song would you want the DJ to play for you?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Seattle!


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Un-Matchy Bridesmaids

In a recent wedding magazine, I saw an ad for bridesmaid dresses by Anna Elyse. Her dresses were kinda pretty (kinda predictable), but the combination of different colors caught my eye.

Anna Elyse dresses can be ordered in well over 100 different colors in silk dupioni, taffeta or satin. With so many colors and fabric textures to choose from, it would be difficult to choose just one (or even two or three), and the designer's suggested collections of close-but-not-matchy-matchy colors are just brilliant.

For example, here is a line-up of her "Simplicity" silhouette dresses (long A-line with empire waist):



When I look at these, I think of hot chocolate, toasted marshmallows, graham crackers and whipped cream... Basically all the essentials for the destination winter wedding in Big Sky that I blogged about a while back.

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And this is the "Audrey" silhouette (classic A-line):



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It's like watermelon meets bubble gum meets candied apples. Perfect for a July wedding!

The Winslet silhouette (empire waist with wide A-line) is shown here:




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I love these earthy green colors... the skirt seems a little dramatic for a "green" wedding, but these colors in a shorter style would go perfectly with tree sapling favors and an all-organic menu. And plantable wedding invitations, obviously.

Of course, the bridesmaids' dresses have long ago been picked out and ordered, and--somewhat by accident--they are all exactly the same color and style. It just so happened that nearly all the girls* loved (and looked gorgeous in) this particular style, so it just kind of worked out that way. But if we did not find the dresses, I would have loved to do something along these lines, with different but coordinating colors. Which color would you choose--blues? Greens? Browns? Pinks?


*For the record, it was not as if one of them did not like the dress... it's just that she hasn't yet had the opportunity to see it and try it on!

Billy Balls

Aren't these the cutest flowers you have ever seen?


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They are officially named Craspedia (genus), and they are of the daisy family. However, they are usually referred to as Billy Buttons or Billy Balls.

They are perennials and have a fairly long season, usually summer as well as fall. The "ball" is actually an aggregation of teeny-tiny florets.


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I think they look awesome clumped together in a tight bouquet like the one on the right below.


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What do you think?

I also love their modern/minimalist look in these white vases:


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I could see these being used in a casual summer wedding... the ladies could wear aquamarine dresses with bouquets of these, and the men could wear grey suits with a simple little billy ball boutonniere. And sneakers with their suits... they would fit in perfectly with that kind of wedding.


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How would you use these flowers?

Rules of Engagement

Steve here, making my blogging debut. For this special occasion, I really wanted to write about which stamps we were going to use for our save-the-dates and wedding invitations, but somebody already used that idea.

So what to write about? I thought to myself, there are a lot of minefields out there when talking about wedding planning with your fiancee. Now that Kara and I have been engaged for just over one year, I have become somewhat of an expert on these so-called "Rules of Engagement." I write now to share a few of these for the benefit for all bro-kind.

Rule No. 1

The first rule of engagement is that there shall be no jokes when talking about wedding planning. This is serious business, my friends--trust me.

The first clue that the mirth of your engagement has been eclipsed by the planning of your pending nuptials--and that, therefore, no wedding-planning-related jokes should be made--typically comes in the form of the arrival of sack of 25 pounds of wedding magazines.

In case you missed this potentially subtle indicator, do not fret. There is a second phase of warnings, typified by the appearance of an assortment of excel spreadsheets on your computer desktop (e.g., master wedding guest list, master wedding budget, master list of ice sculptors in Yellowstone County specializing in small woodland creatures, etc.) and scraps of the aforementioned wedding magazines strewn about the house, waiting to meet their gluey fate in your fiancee's wedding scrapbook.

If you fail to heed this cautionary tale, unto the breach you will go, my friends. For instance, while you may relish the awesomeness of a Star Wars themed wedding, pontification about your bride wearing a full-body Chewbacca costume with a tiara will be met with scathing disapproval from your betrothed. Suddenly you will realize that an easy laugh is not worth the verbal disembowelment. Wedding planning is no laughing matter. Think of it this way, would you like your fiancee to joke about the size of your penis?

Rule No. 2

The second rule is that one shall listen very closely to his fiancee as she explains to him the minutiae of wedding planning. While it would be easy to zonk out, daydreaming about your next Grand Theft Auto mission, do not take this road. You must learn the art of active listening, or risk being subject to random comprehension and approval testing ("so which swatch do you think will go better with the chivari chairs?"). Failure of these pop quizzes on more than one occasion may lead to an onslaught of irrational, rhetorical questions, including "Do you even want to get married?" and "Do you even care how the universe will see us as a married couple?" Just repeat after me: "I am sorry honey, of course I do. Can you repeat that last part? I had just been thinking about whether we should go with 'plum' rather than 'aubergine' as our color palette."

Rule No. 3

The third--and most important--rule is that, during any battle, the general is always right. You need to know the chain of command. Your fiancee will always outrank you. Always. Although this sounds like an adversarial process, wedding planning can actually be quite fun, you get to do it with the woman of your dreams. If you play your cards right, you may also find activities that you enjoy (e.g., wedding cake tasting, food tastings, etc.), so long as you remember the most important maxim: just as it is in marriage, your lady is always boss.

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious."

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Stamps

I have never given very much thought to what type of stamps I use... I rarely use them, and often the postage has increased since the last time I bought a few, so I have to keep a bunch of those $.02 stamps around. Speaking of which, I only recently learned (when I was browsing usps.com for wedding stamps) that this picture is of a "Navajo Necklace," not a crazy-looking reindeer, like I previously thought. Doesn't this look like a reindeer at first glance?


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Now that I look at the picture close-up, I see that it clearly says "Navajo Jewelry" on the side. Ha!

Anyway, since we have put quite a bit of thought into the other aspects of our invitations, it would sure be a shame to use those blasé forever stamps, wouldn't it? And, we're going to need more than the standard book of 20 to get these suckers out the door... if we're going to be sticking hundreds of stamps, wouldn't we at least want them to look nice?

You can do your own stamps these days, as you are probably aware, like this couple did.


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I am pretty sure all of our friends would make fun of us for getting stamps made of ourselves, so we're going to opt out of those. I am not really a fan anyway. And, it's difficult to justify the added expense of custom stamps.

How cool would it be to mail invitations with collections of vintage stamps, like these ones:


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Here is a pre-vintage-stamped envelope that you can buy:


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I love this! But wow, very expensive.

The Post Office now offers a couple of wedding-specific stamp options like these:


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... and these:


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I really like both of these a lot.

But I really LOVE the "Love" series. Here was 2008:


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And 2007:


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2006:


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2005:


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But my favorite so far was the one from 2009 (luckily, huh?):


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It's the King and Queen of Hearts! The King and the Queen are each their own $.44 stamp, but I like them pushed together like they are shown above. As it turns out, our invitations will require extra postage, and it might make sense to use two of these--wouldn't that be perfect?

I just hope that the postage doesn't go up again before we send out our invitations. I am nearly out of reindeer.

Paper Shopping

As I mentioned a while back, we've been working with Kristin of Twin Ravens Press to come up with a custom design for our save-the-dates and wedding invitations.

Kristin runs a letterpress studio, which means that she prints invitations using a process wherein the ink is actually pressed into the paper, leaving an inked impression in the paper. If you are not familiar with the process, she wrote about it briefly here and included a short video about "The modern art of letterpress printing." It's pretty interesting!

Anyway, because in letterpressed paper the text and the design of the invitation goes into the paper, the weight of the paper makes a big difference in the way the final product turns out.

I am no expert on this matter, but it seems to me that 110 lb. paper seems to be the usual weight for letterpress. It is substantial and relatively inflexible, and thick enough that you can get a crisp impression. This reply card was printed on 110 lb. Crane Lettra paper:


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See how it leaves an indentation along with the ink? Here, you can see it a little better in this close up of a blind-embossed "thank you," also printed on 110 lb. Crane Lettra paper:


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Looks nice, right? For single-sided designs, I think it looks great.

However, in my opinion, 110 lb. paper does not work very well with a design that is printed on both the front and the back of the paper. For example, take a look at the card below--the client that ordered these wanted a really deep impression on the double-sided response cards:


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See how the impression on the back shows through on the front? For this particular design, I think it looks okay, but in general, double-sided designs would look a little... cleaner (or something) if you could not see the "push back" (as Kristin calls it) from the opposite side.

Because we wanted to use both sides of the paper in our design, Kristin recommended that we step up to a thicker paper in order to avoid this issue. She suggested using 220 lb. Crane Lettra--it is essentially the same as two 110 lb. sheets fused together. This picture is a good way of "showing" you how awesomely chunky it is.


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Even if we don't print on both sides, I just love how indestructible it looks.

Another paper we considered using was a 100% cotton, recycled paper by Porridge Paper that is embedded with mixed wildflower seeds. Not only is it environmentally friendly as far as paper goes, but also it will actually sprout flowers if the paper gets wet. Here is a close-up of an invitation that Kristin printed for another couple using this paper:


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Ultimately, we determined that the rough texture of the paper would not work with the particular design that we have been working on, so unfortunately... that paper is out :( It is pretty cool, though, isn't it?

Take the Cake

If you have ever watched "Platinum Weddings" on WE tv, you would probably know that Sylvia Weinstock is hailed as one of the most talented wedding cake designers in the U.S.


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Although I really dig her glasses, I am not a fan of her "more is more" modus operandi. Personally, I prefer cakes with less goop than Ms. Weinstock usually uses. Here is just one example (though I admit it is a masterpiece):


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Who could have guessed that this one would be Steve's favorite?


When I think about what kind of cake I like, I really don't think about the design, but more about the flavor...

Lemon raspberry is such a fresh, light combo. It would be perfect for a summer wedding, don't you think? Especially loaded with extra raspberries, like this one:


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Raspberries with chocolate is another classic combination. Especially flourless chocolate cake:


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When I started thinking about how I wanted the cake to look, I found that I like relatively simple designs, with smoothly frosted layers and just a couple of key details, like this one by Cabin Ridge in Bozeman:


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I think it's impressive, without being visually overwhelming with a lot of details.

What do you think? Is more really more?

Let Them Eat Cheese

Part of me wants to skip the wedding cake and just serve a cheese course as dessert. Yum!


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We would serve it with fruit, to make it seem more dessert-y...


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And I suppose we could even arrange it to look like a wedding cake, like this one:


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What do you think? Is cake at a wedding a "must"?

All the Pretty Papers

Thinking about, picking out, designing, aligning the text of and just plain dreaming about wedding invitations has been one of my favorite wedding-related tasks.

My first favorite invitations were these rustic beauties by Oblation:


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And then I had fleeting crushes on these ones...


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...and these ones:


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And ever since I stumbled upon them, I have been in love with this super-chic set:


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Our printer, Kristin from Twin Ravens Press, recently posted on her blog an invitation suite with these sweet little drawings she created based on "landmarks" in Jacksonville, Florida, where the couple got married. I think these drawings are really cool, and I like the idea of tying elements of the venue into the design of the invitations.


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Ultimately, we decided to work with Kristin to come up with something unique and personal, just for us. It has been so much fun so far!

Does anyone else lust after paper? Do you save old wedding invitations in a box on a shelf, even if you never really look at them ever again? Or are you one of those people who calendar the date and time, and then throw it away?