Devil in the Details

I have 70-something days until my wedding and last week was about as close to a meltdown as I could possibly get. Having set up the venue for the ceremony and reception almost a year ago, bought a dress, picked a menu, and picked out bridal party attire I figured all I had left were the little things.

Turns out its the little things that nearly drove me off a cliff last week....

1. The first fiasco was that my future mother-in-law called and let me know that the never ending search for the cake continues. This wouldn't have been a problem until she told me that the "back up" baker we had the next town over called and canceled on us since we didn't commit yet. Couldn't blame her though--we were shopping for someone better. But that wasn't a big deal---worse case scenario we get cupcakes.

2. The millionth florist that I have called is still quoting me in the $2000's. I don't know if I want to spend that money on flowers that will be tossed out . I need to either get over the fact that flowers, if I want them, cost a lot of money, or I can just minimize the flowers. I don't know where my heart falls yet.

3. I had a terrible experience with a printer for my invitations. I had been communicating with a printer for almost a month now. The student designing my invites was away studying at Oxford so I had to hold off on getting them done sooner. She came back, the invitation designs looked fantastic, and I was happy. So I contact the printer, he tells me to come by and bring him the files and we would get started, not problem. Plus, he was only charging me less than $150 to print out a total of 400 pcs of paper.

So I show up on the day of my appointment, thumbdrive in hard, files perfectly set with a 1/8 " bleed. I get there and this place is---well, less than professional looking. Then I wait for 45 minutes because he was meeting with a customer who walked in (he even saw me, waved, and resumed meeting with someone as my appointment time ticked by). Once he was done and could finally meet with me, I give him the thumbdrive and he says, "I can't pull your files, my computer doesn't have a USB drive." Not only that, but his computer couldn't support the .pdf files of the invitations. I was ok with that because I could easily convert the files and email them to him in a more compatible format--but what really got to me was that after waiting almost an hour past my appointment time, he looked at me and said, "I can't meet with you today. I just realized I am running late. Can you come back next week?"

No. I couldn't. Invites have to go out soon. I was devastated. I had driven out (way out) to see this vendor just to be told that they were too busy to meet with me on the day that I was scheduled to meet with them. I spent the rest of the day frantically looking for a new printer who would print my invitations and inserts for less than the $350+ I was getting quoted around the area.

Good news is that I did find someone and my invitations are ready to be picked up tomorrow. I will certainly post pics once they are all assembled. They look wonderful and they make the whole wedding really feel like it's coming together.

So lessons learned:

- Don't be so last minute: I should have known that the wedding was going to creep up. I should have anticipated more snags in the planning process. I know that I am a huge procrastinator and planning my wedding was not going to change that.

- Be positive: As awful as my experience was with the printer, I should not have had as big a meltdown as I did. Overreacting definitely did nothing for me and in the end it worked out...it always does, doesn't it?

Now that all of that is solved and taken care of, I do have great news, which is my dress is done and ready. I went to Angie who did a phenomenal job with making me pockets, fixing the neckline, and doing the bustle and hem. She was worth the drive! After a year I still love my dress!

So this week I am checking off invitations and dress of my to do list. Now I just have to wait for those RSVPs to start rolling in so I can start working on escort cards, programs, and the menu. It's all the tiny details now that are starting to pile up. I am pretty sure I have to rework my "to do" list.

Have you hit any snags in planning? What are the little wedding details that you're working on now or what have you decided to just toss out completely?

challenges of DIY

I'm starting to think all my DIY aspirations are a bit too optimistic! I have so many ideas rolling around in my head and I really want to make Everything myself, but this past long weekend I sat down and tried my hand at creating some of the pieces I was imagining and.. it's just not that easy! I think I'm going to rely even more on Etsy than I originally planned - as well as my mom. She is actually quite a seamstress, and she really wants to help. For some reason I'm having a really hard time delegating - is this an issue for any of you?

Here's my list of things I'd like to make:

- programs

- birdcage veil and fascinator

- shrug/bolero (I'm thinking satin or silk shantung, since my dress is all lace. I've never sewn anything like this in my life, not sure what's possessing me to think I should make this myself)

- button bouquets (more details later)

- a bunch of other tiny little details??

I still think I can handle the programs and some of the other little detail items, but after playing around with buttons the past few months, I'm losing a little steam. Using flowers would just be easier! But my sister is all excited about the button thing, she's making my cake and plans to incorporate little candy buttons as part of the cake decorations - I think she's a genius and it's going to look awesome. Here's a pic of her first attempt at making the candy buttons (she got a mold for these here). Photo source: personal.

Hmm I want to gush about my cake for a sec. She made a test cake for us and it was amazingly delicious - white cake with poppy seeds, with lemon curd and fresh strawberries for filling. And then european buttercream frosting (it's lighter and less sweet than other common buttercreams). I have pics of it somewhere, I'll have to share! I'm very excited about my cake. Mostly because Mr. Fairfax was blown away by it and he's not really big on sweets, so I was very pleased we came up with a cake he could really get behind.

Oh and the favors. My sister also had the brilliant idea to give away candy buttons as favors, and I found some sweet tins for cheap at Save-On-Crafts.com that I could buy and my mom has volunteered to hand paint each one.

So I'm feeling kind of committed to the button thing - which is awesome because I still love love vintage buttons and the whole idea is great. I'm just having doubts about my motivation to create hundreds of button flowers. They're really not as easy as they might look! Especially since each flower is basically a stack of 5 - 7 buttons and creating just-right color combos is a bit of a challenge. How does this lady make it look so easy?!

Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland Park

It's official! Were married! We just got back from Hawaii and I have a lot to share. Ill leave you with a few pictures until things settle a bit.
All photos were taken by our guests.

The day started with hair, make-up and a delicious brunch. I was calm as could be! (even I was surprised by this!)

And then it was time to get in my dress and see my man!

While we waited, I got a little anxious....

ok maybe a lot anxious!

After we saw eachother it was picture time! Note to all brides: DO NOT sit on a Piano....there is a finish and it made the back of my dress BLACK! Thank god for a bustle!

My beautiful Bridesmaids!

The Ceremony was perfect. I had fake eyelashes though, which do not work well with a veil...just FYI :)
And we were married!

Mr and Mrs Cleveland Park!

My favorite picture, our first dance. How sweet is this picture!?

The dreaded chair!

Our cake, with our bobblehead cake topper

Yes, I did it....I just couldnt help myself!

Our wedding was everything I dreamed of!

I'm Not Usually a Big Cake Person, But...

...I have to make an exception for Victoria's Cakery!

One of my dear friends (who has also volunteered to be our "DOC"!) brought me the most delicious slice of cake heaven the other day. It's a tradition in her family that on each birthday you get a cake from Victoria's Cakery. DOC's sister had a birthday last week, so she brought me a piece of cake to try and blog about!

Victoria's Cakery is a family-owned business located on Main Street in Fairfax. They have a pretty basic menu, and do simple cakes, and the taste is simply out of this world. I had a slice of the white chocolate cake with raspberry jam between the layers and iced with vanilla buttercream. Let me just say OMG. It was awesome!

The prices also seem VERY reasonable. The website quotes $2.25-$4.50 per slice and many of the reviews on Wedding Wire commented on the great prices. The design choices are limited. They offer tiers in several sizes (and actually list the number of people each feeds!), and they only ice with buttercream, no fondant here. If you are in the market for a very tasty cake that is simple, you might want to check them out.

I know that when we were looking for a cake vendor, the difficulty was finding someone who could do a really simple cake. Our cake aesthetic tastes run towards the very traditional layer cake without a lot of frills. Many of cake companies are able to do such amazing specialty designs that if you want a simple cake, I feel like you still end up paying for their skill even if you don't use it. I have a hard time getting on board with a vanilla buttercream three-tier cake for $8 a slice, you know? I mean, you wouldn't call up Duff Goldman if you want a two-layer cake with "Happy Birthday" on it, right? Nah, you call him when you need a cake that spews fire!

source

Nope, we just need a simple little thing. Here are a few of my favorite cake designs. What are you considering for your cake? Have you been to a tasting yet?

This isn't a Victoria's Cakery cake, but is one of my favorite cakes of all time! I love the simple design, the white icing, and the cake stand.*

This is another favorite I've been saving for when it's time to talk cake. The two little layers and the texture in the buttercream remind me of an old-fashioned birthday cake.

Have I made it clear yet that I love little cakes on cake stands? The one on the far left is my favorite in this photo.

What I want our cake table to look like! I really like the idea of cake and pie (or in this case a few other desserts as well). Mr. Fairfax loves pie. And look at all the cake stands! Love it!!

*I've been saving these pictures for a LONG time and am not sure where I picked them up! Please let me know if I can credit them to you!