La Dolce Vita

The Future Mrs. Lock

I probably sound like a commercial by now, but Marshall's is amazing. On the same trip that I got my amazing "reserved" signs, I also found adorable flat stationery from Martha Stewart. Again, for only $1!

I put my MS Publisher skills to work on the blank stationery and I'm so pleased with the results.

What do you think?

So, for $1 I now have 8 sassy note cards with lined envelopes. I think Martha would be proud!

I Heart Marshall's

On a spur the moment trip to Marshall's this Friday, I stumbled upon Bridal Gold!

 

These adorable signs are going to be perfect for reserving chairs for family at the ceremony (btw - they don't actually say Katherine... that's just the sample). Here's the best part:

 

Only $1 --- such a steal!! I bought all the signs I could find and went right to work customizing the signs an... 

Tada!!!

To bring these into the theme, I incorporated raspberry text and a gorgeous navy ribbon. And of course I had to use my fav font (albermarle swash).

I have a total of 8 signs, but I'm going to hit up some other Marshall's this week to see if I can find more. I think they look like a million bucks (don't tell anyone they were $1!)

Heaven is...

... beautiful shoes.

Check out these beauties:

And thanks to endless.com's free overnight shipping, they are racing to my house as we speak.
Swooooon.

I'm hoping to keep them on at least through the first dance before switching to equally cute (but yet to be found) flats. Think they're too high or can I make it to the reception?

Stressed

165 days to go. It feels like this.

 

via www.bridalpartytees.com

Gorgeous Girls

A few weeks ago, my lovely bridesmaids and I ventured onto Newbury Street to pick out the bridesmaid dresses at Aria!

Love these girls!

It was such a fun morning and so good to catch up with everyone - a perfect break from the crazy house hunting I'd been stuck in for weeks.

You'll remember from this post, the dresses that we were most interested in and while the girls truly looked great in all of the dresses they tried on, we had a clear winner in Style 121:

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I love the sophisticated feel to this dress. It just screams glamor. And the boat neck is very similar to my own dress - which makes it all fit perfectly!

I even got in on the action and tried on the cutest little bolero! I was completely sold and will be picking it up in the same hot pink as the girl's dresses to wear for the reception. It's pictured below in green:

 

Before we left I even got sold on the idea of pocket squares for the guys suits in the same lovely pink... hope the boys don't mind!

I couldn't believe how easy and fun it all was - wish all wedding decisions were this easy. And a big shout out to my maids who made the day a blast!

All Our Guests Now Have STDs

Our Save the Dates have (finally) been sent!

I feel a huge sense of relief. It was a ton of work, but I could not be happier with the results.

Here's how we did it: 

1. Envelopes First - Whenever I'm making invites, I start with the envelopes. Envelopes come in very limited sizes. By starting with the envelope size and working backwards, you guarantee that your design will fit inside! I knew right away the 4x5 envelope would be perfect - a cute little size for a cute little invite. I found all my products at www.envelopeme.com. Their envelopes are slightly bigger than the standard sizes, but they have this handy guide to assist you.

2. Pick an Outer Layer - this needs to be in a heavy cardstock as it will be the backer for the entire invite (again, make sure the dimensions of your outermost layer fits inside your envelope!).

3. Pick a Second Layer - I knew that I wanted to incorporate both our wedding colors in the invite, so I picked a fun pink, metallic color for the second layer.

This layer can be in a "text" weight paper as you already have the heavy cardstock backer holding the invite together. To determine the size of the second layer, you'll need to figure out how much of the first color you want to see. I chose a .25" border. I simply took the size of the outer layer 4" x 5" and subtracted .25" from each dimension. So, for our invite this layer measured 3.75" x 4.75".

4. Design The Third Layer - this was the layer that had the text. Again, I chose a .25" border of pink to show. So, the size of this card is 3.5"x4.5". I always use Microsoft Publisher for laying out the invitation. I'll have to do a more detailed post of that some other time.

AMAZING TIP - my favorite free font website (www.dafont.com) has several fonts of flourishes. Those swoopy, swirly accents that gives invites that beautiful flair.My favorite is called Nymphette and you can find download it here. It added a great touch to the invite.

5. Finishing Touches - The finishing touches make all the difference - we went the extra mile and put in our own liners. It made such a huge difference in the final product, but it was not easy! Of course, I found this amazing guide to assembling envelope liners well after the envelopes were completed. Hope it helps you! Most importantly, remember that if you're sending your envelopes through the printer, you must print first and then line!

6. Execution - lots and lots and lots of stickies! For the layers we used six photo sticker squares (four in each corner and 2 in the middle of the long edge).

Charles loves "arts & crafts" time

So, all in all it took several episodes of 24, 1 meltdown and $150 dollars, but it was a job well done!

For the budget minded, here is my cost breakdown

Envelopes                   $0.28        $28.00

Envelope Liners          $0.22        $22.00

White Paper (8x10)    $0.22         $8.80

Pink Metallic Paper     $0.32        $12.80

Navy Paper (4x5)        $0.18         $16.20

Shipping                                     $16.60

Stamps                       $0.42        $42.00

Grand Total               $1.63       $146.40      

So, I was able to get the professional look that I was looking for and keep it within my budget of $150! I've loved hearing everyone's reaction to the invite. I think it was an excellent first impression for our guests. What do you think?

Perfect

 

Took this in Concord last week and had to share!

Worried about Rain

Maybe it's just because we've had torrential downpours here in Boston for the past 3 days, but I've been a little nervous about our rain plan.
So nervous in fact that I just bought these bad boys from Target:

 

Which actually made me a little excited for a picture like this:

 

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Or this adorable shot with The Maids:

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And because you can't have boots without an umbrella (obvi!), I had to get this funky bubble umbrella too:

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So, maybe a few showers won't be the end of the world. We have a gorgeous carriage house to have the ceremony, an awesome team of people that will make it work and now I have the gear to make lemonade with.

(but really I still hope it doesn't rain!)

Milk Glass Centerpieces

My new obsession is milk glass! 

 

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My grandmother has so many beautiful milk glass pieces in her basement and I've always loved decorating with them. I never thought of using them in the wedding until I came along these beauties:

 

from upper left corner: peonylove, style me pretty,  snippet & ink, the knot

I'm hoping that these will make beautiful and relatively easy centerpieces. I think they really fit our "garden party" theme and they just look so darn cute. 

So, I think I just signed myself up for a Spring full of yard sales and thrift stores as I try to stock up on milk glass gorgeousness! Let the hunt begin!

I'm Back!

I've been such a bad, bad blogger. I apologize. But I do have a fantastic reason.

Charles and I are now very, very close to being the proud owner of one of these: 

I'm not going to say too much now, because we still need to sign all the papers, but we're so close!

Now that my life is not completely taken up by open houses, it's time to update you all on the wedding fun :) Coming Soon: the STD breakdown, the bridesmaid dresses, food fun and much more!