Pin Party! Makeup!

Woo! Pin Party! This month's pin party is all about gettin' pretty! I have been pinning wildly about make up inspiration! Although I am pretty sure I am going to try a bunch of these for everyday looks. So get ready, here are my favorite wedding make up pins so far!

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Don't have a link for this one :(

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Sorry, I couldn't help myself! Here are the serious ones!

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Using Pinterest Responsibly

I don't know how many times I have been told "I wish I had Pinterest when I was planning my wedding! It would have made everything so much easier!"

Oh Really?

While I see what they are saying and I want to agree with them picture this:

It is about 12am
I should have gone to bed hours ago, but I... can't... stop... Pinning! I don't know how I ended up making a board about cats in bow ties, but I have managed to collect over 200 pins for it. Wasn't I doing something? What did I come on here to look up in the first place? OH! Wedding stuff!

(Goes back to pinning wedding related pins)

It is 2am
I am currently pinning chicken salad recipes... It's 2 AM?! I really need to go to bed!

Sound familiar? I have lost count of how many times this has happened to me. I go on Pinterest to try and figure out an awesome solution to some detail on my wedding and end up all over the place, hours wasted, and no real progress made. I knew I needed to make a change or Pinterest was going to end up as more of a distraction than the amazing tool it should be. So here is how I use Pinterest Responsibly.


Plan Before You Pin
Have something to pin about. Focus on only that item or theme. Don't just start pinning blindly and hope you end up with a good collection in the end.

Don't allow yourself to change the board you are pinning to
Since Pinterest automatically assumes you are going to pin from the board you last pinned to it makes focusing really easy if you set some rules. Don't let yourself change the board you are pinning to and it will force you to stay focused.
TIP: If you find something in your focused search that you ABSOLUTELY NEED on one of your other boards open the pin in a new tab and let it sit there until you are done pinning or have time for less focused pinning.

Schedule It
If you are not currently PINspired you are less likely to spend so much time pinning, so schedule a time to pin and while it will be less fun it will also be more efficient!

Variety Over Quantity 
You do not need 20 versions of the same necklace on your jewelry board. My goal is to usually pin a small variety so my boards don't get too big and confusing yet they have a lot of ideas and options. So use a lot of differing key words in your searches and try not to pin more than 3 of similar looking items.

Make a lot of boards!
When it comes to wedding pinning I have a lot of boards with not too many pins. I of course have my crazy big general board to take pins from when making more focused boards, but a majority of my boards only have 100 or less pins. This keeps every thing easy to find and forces me to use Pinterest as a planning tool and not a picture collection.

If you want to see how I organized my wedding planing pins check out my Pinterest Profile!

Good luck fellow pinners!

Take Some You Time

Recently I have been overdoing it. I feel like I am working 5 jobs, and in a way I kind of am. I have:
My Full Time job
My Blog
My New Business Fezfetti!
Freelance Side Work
Babysitting
Usual Life stuff that I am surprised I have managed to not slack on, like cleaning, bathing, making food/eating, scooping the cat box.
Oh yeah, and planning a wedding!

Lucky (not lucky) for me my body does this awesome (not awesome) thing when I am overdoing it and it shuts down in a wonderful (not wonderful) variety of ways! Most recently is was a week long migraine, but getting sick and panic attacks are also some of it's favorites to throw at me. So this week I am on vacation going to see the Grand Canyon to take some much needed rest and me time!

But being the planner that I am and inspired by the tendency to take on more than I can handle, I bring you this post I wrote 2 weeks ago.

While not directly wedding related this is crucial to the any large planning process!
Take A Break! Part 2! Take some YOU time!
Just you all by yourself doing whatever makes you happy. It is so important to just stop and take a day from the usual! This is an incredibly hard thing to do for some people, and is something I have always have trouble with. So here are some ideas to take a moment for you!

Schedule it! 
For me if it isn't in my planner it doesn't happen.

Take a relaxing shower or bubble bath
Light some candles, use up those bath fizzes you got for Christmas,  throw them all in at once! Just make sure it feels special.

Take a walk or run
I always feel awesome after I go for a walk, you might be surprised at how it will help you with any thoughts that have been bugging you.

Read! 
Lock yourself in your room or do whatever it takes so that no one can bug you, then settle in with a good book.

Paint your nails/Do something that makes you feel put together
This one might be different for some people, but when my nails are done I really feel like I have my act together.

Take a "Sick Day" or Vacation
Taking a sick day when you are not sick is a great way to not get sick. Having that extra day to just relax and catch up on to dos or sleep in is refreshing.

Make favorite food or dessert
There is something about ice cream and frozen yogurt that just makes me happy! Having that after one of my favorite meals makes the whole day better no matter what happened.

That is just a couple of my favorites! So go out and treat yourself!

Now it's your turn!
How do you give yourself some much needed you time?

What's in my Wedding Bin?

Last month I purchased a big teal bin! The plans I had for this bin were huge! All my procrastination and stress for making my own wedding stuff could be gone because of this bin.

What is the deal with this bin?
This is my wedding craft bin! I was supposed to buy it back in April so when I started gathering the supplies May for the DIY work that was planned for June I would have a safe place to put everything. There really isn't a point in doing everything so far in advance if it is just going to get smooshed and you have to start over. I also had an easy way to transport everything.

It was a great plan. It was all outlined on my Planning Sheet I was going to have all the boutonnieres done by the end of this month and I would already have the bulk of the centerpiece stuff bought and ready to start assembling. I was going to be oh so very on top of things.

Here is what is currently in my wedding bin (that I ended up buying only a few weeks ago)

1. A few yards of messed up fabric - I found this a while ago with my mom and didn't want to get it because the low price at the time wasn't quite low enough to make up for the big black marks on it. It went on sale again and I couldn't help getting it this time since it was only $6.
2. Ribbon - This was going to be my test ribbon for making flowers for bouquets and decoration. I have yet to even attempt making a flower. 
3. Wire for ribbon flower making - Yeah, I really don't have a good excuse why I haven't tried them yet.
4. Random pipe cleaners - I don't know why these are in here. Maybe I thought I could use them for the flowers? 
5. Empty Space! 

Pretty pathetic... It WAS a great plan. Too bad I didn't stick to it! So now I am tweaking the plan and basically redoing everything for the next few months so that I can catch up. I will do another post like this in a few months with an update on the state of the wedding bin. Hopefully it will have a little more to it...

So what projects have you been putting on the back burner? I know I can't be the only one!

Pin Party! Accessories

Oh boy was this a fun one! I know I won't be able to stop pinning on this board for a while. I will take any excuse to window shop online for pretty things! So here are a few of my picks so far!

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Let me know if you know where to find this!

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There is so much more too look at too! I have no idea what I am going to end up choosing but I doubt it will be very traditional. Maybe a combination of my favorites. This also got me started thinking about what I am going to do for my veil after I saw that cute top hat & veil. To see the whole Pinterest Board Click Here!

See you next week!

10 Wedding Superstitions

I have always loved superstitions and odd traditions. If there is something strange I can do and have a semi-justified reason for doing it, I am game! Weddings are full of these and I plan to do as many as I possibly can! Today I am going to share the fun with you and give you a list of 10 funny superstitions/traditions and where they came from.

1  Bridesmaids - Bridesmaids originally dressed just like the bride to confuse evil spirits so they wouldn't know who the real bride was and wouldn't be able to curse the wedding.

2  Seeing each other before the ceremony - This one started back in the time of arranged marriages. It is also why a bride originally wore a veil. Marriages were more like business deals and the bride's family didn't want the groom backing out on the deal if he didn't like how she looked. Their solution was to not have the couple meet until the ceremony and the groom wouldn't see the bride until her unveiling when it was too late to back out no matter how much of an uggo he thought she was.

3  The bride stands on the groom's left during a Christian ceremony - Back in sword wielding days this left the grooms right hand free to pull out his sword and fight off anyone else interested in his wife to be.

4 - Bridesmaids who want to dream of their future husbands should put pieces of wedding cake that have been passed through the brides wedding ring under their pillow.

5  Carrying the bride over the threshold - This I found a lot of reasons for, but my favorite was the threshold of the home was packed with evil spirits and if a bride tripped on her way in it would bring back luck to the marriage and home. So the groom carries her over the threshold to avoid the possibility of her tripping.

6  A bride should take a final look in the mirror before she leaves her house for the ceremony for good luck, but don't look in a mirror again before the ceremony or it will become bad luck!

7  Whichever one of the newlyweds purchases something first after the wedding will be the more dominant force in the marriage. I read that some brides buy some small token off of a bridesmaid right after the ceremony so they are first!

8  A bride should exit her house from the front door and step out right foot first on her way to the ceremony.

9  Knives as gifts - It is bad luck to give knives as gifts because it will sever the relationship. If you have the person receiving the gift give you a coin as payment it has then been bought from you and is no longer a gift. ;)

10  Can't pick a date? Here are some rhymes that may help you not pick the wrong one.

"Married when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind & true,
When February birds do mate, You wed nor dread your fate.
If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know.
Marry in April when you can, Joy for Maiden & for Man.
Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day.
Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you’ll go.
Those who in July do wed, must labour for their daily bred.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see
Marry in September’s shrine, your living will be rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.
Monday for health, Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday best of all, Thursday for losses,
Friday for crosses, Saturday for no luck at all."

I will be doing more posts like this in the future because I just can't get enough of them!
Now don't go tripping over any thresholds!

Pin Party! - Flowerless

It's that time again! Pin Party!

This month's focus is my flowerless wedding! Click on the link to see my post on how and why I chose to not have flowers at my wedding. All month I have been happily pinning away about flower alternatives for my wedding. I have to admit I had a lot of fun with this one and I really look forward to doing these pin party posts to share all the cool stuff I find with you!

Here we go!

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If you find the link let me know I love these!

One of these is what I will be having my bridesmaids carry! I won't tell though!
You will have to wait and see!

2 Dresses? No Way!

Dresses!? Two? What are you made out of money?
I have watched my fair share of say yes to the dress and it always blew my mind when one of the brides would drop $10,000 on two or even three dresses for the wedding. For me it was hard for me to imagine spending any large amount of money on just ONE dress let alone multiple dresses that I was only going to wear for a day.

When I was in the fitting room with the dress I ended up purchasing the main thing I had going though my head was "I love this dress, but it is not what I thought I wanted" I struggled back and forth over if I should get it since it was my plan from the beginning to get a Tea length or shorter dress so I could dance in it easily. While having my inner dilemma one of the ladies working the dress event asked me if I had thought about having 2 dresses to solve my problem. I looked again at the price tag of the dress I was wearing and gave that a serious thought. That seems very doable, and the only reason 2 dresses was never an option was only because of price. It seemed excessive and a waste of my already small budget. So I decided to be one of those girls and have 2 dresses for my wedding.

So I can't find out where I read this (Despite spending over an hour looking) but I read that at one point it was common that a woman's wedding dress was re-purposed as her best dress or a church dress. After her wedding she would have the dress dyed another color and be able to wear it for more than just her wedding day. Financially this makes a lot of sense and it is a lot less wasteful compared to current traditions.

So I want to do just that! I plan on making my shorter dancing dress with my mom and then wearing it as a nice dress later on like what women did back then. I might even try to dye it a new color!!! I will get more use out of it and all the work we put into it will be more worth it if I wear it more than once.

Frugal Me #2 - A Flowerless Wedding

I know it is very early on to choose such a big thing, but here is a very brief summary about my relationship with flowers you help you understand why.

1. I receive the gorgeous arrangement 
2. I put them in water (the arrangement suffers drastically)
3. I forget to change the water (or that they are there in general)
4. They Die
5. 3 weeks later I finally notice and throw out the smelly science experiment they have become

On top of that if you look at my general wedding pinterest board it is seriously lacking in flower inspiration. Even the newly created bouquet board has almost no flowers on it. So clearly my subconscious couldn't care less about flowers. AND! Flowers are REALLY expensive! So I saw an opportunity to save some cash by not having any flowers at my wedding.

Now let's talk numbers for a sec. I used http://www.costofwedding.com/ to do their default calculation for a wedding of 100 guests with a total cost of $21,851 (this is basically the average cost for a typical wedding) Here is the section on flowers.

-Bride's Bouquet - $167
-Bridesmaids & Groomsmen - $284 + $146 = $430
-Centerpieces & Decor - $355 + $471 = $826
-Ceremony Flowers - $471
-Flower Petals - $103 (this seems like a silly category to me, but whatever!)
Average cost of flowers total - $2,025 (9.3% of total average wedding cost)

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A quick pinterest search brought up this gem (Right) that I can do a basic estimation from.
1 Flower = 1 Yard of 1 inch ribbon
50 yards = $20
Supplies needed & costs:
Needle & Thread - $3
Wire - $40
Main Bouquet Ribbon - $ (50 Flowers)
Bridesmaids & Groomsman (10 total) Ribbon - $ (160 Flowers)
Centerpieces Ribbon - $ (200 Flowers)
Ceremony Ribbon -$ (200 Flowers)
Extra Ribbon - $12 (30yrds)
Supplies total: $299 (610 Flowers)

Cost difference of fresh flowers vs super basic ribbon alternative: $1,726!

Also this will take a lot of time so you would have to decided if the time it would take to make all of these is worth the $1,726 difference. For me that was a pretty obvious decision since I would spend my TV watching couch potato time making them. I don't plan on just using ribbon flowers either. I want to have a mix of several things keeping with my vintage carnival theme.

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Hate ribbon? Here are some other options I came across when looking for ideas.
-Broaches
-Pin Wheels
-Candy
-Paper/Origami
-Silk or Fake Flowers
-Feathers
-Fabric & Lace
-Toys!

This list could really go on forever depending on how crazy you wanted to go with your decor. And keep in mind this is a great and unique opportunity to insert some of your personality into your wedding. On the right is a fun example of boutonnieres I found in my flowerless search.

What other ideas are out there? What cool flower alternatives did you use or plan on using? Let me know in the comments!

Also I will be doing a Pin Party! later this month on my favorite non flower options I found so stay tuned!

How I Accidentally Found my Dress

It didn't hit us until we started walking to the car. We REALLY just bought our wedding dresses! I certainly felt weird buying my dress over a year before my wedding, but it just seemed so right. Here is how it happened.

The week before I was going through my email and I had a message about a wedding event in Napa. It was strange because the past few events I had been to were never so close. So I asked Olivia (my maid of honor) if I could drag her to another wedding show. She of course said yes and a few days later we got lost (in the town I live in) looking for the event...

So when we finally got there we looked around. It was a bit smaller than I had thought but there were A LOT of dresses! This was a Brides Against Breast Cancer event.

Brides against breast cancer is a non profit organization that collects donated wedding dresses and resells them at a discount to raise money to help people with cancer. Since wedding dresses are usually only worn once it means these dresses are usually in pretty good shape. All the ones at the event I went to practically looked brand new other than a little pull or stain here and there. Easy fixes! Overall they do a really good job and I would really recommend buying your dress at one of their events. Plus you will save a ton of money and what you do spend goes to a great cause! Win Win!

So back to shopping! We started looking around and instantly found tons of hilarious dresses! It was too much fun looking at the crazy dresses that someone actually wore on their big day! So I grabbed a few short dresses that I thought might have a chance and then Olivia and I both decided to try on one of the silly dresses just for fun. I chose a big poofy long dress, the complete opposite of what I wanted or planned on getting.

Can you guess what dresses happened to look amazing and fit us both perfectly?
Yeah, the silly dresses...

When I looked in the mirror after zipping it up I actually said "Oh no!" because I really really liked it and it fit like a glove. I then looked at the price tag hoping it was too expensive. It was really affordable! DARN!

Olivia's was an amazing deal also and we ended up getting them. It didn't really hit us until we were walking out to the car and we weren't entirely sure what to do after because of the shock of doing something so impulsive. It was a strange day.

So that is how I accidentally bought my wedding dress! Well, one of them anyway... but that is story for another day!

Pin Party! - Short Dresses

Welcome to this month's pin party! I spent my extra time Goofing Off Wedding Planning by pinning about short dresses! I am changing to a shorter dress for the reception so I can actually dance and party without worrying about tripping over myself all night. (What? 2 dresses!?!?! That is a post for another day)

So here are my top picks!

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If you want to see my entire dress board on Pinterest you can click HERE!
Now it is your turn!
What dresses are you pinning at the moment? wedding or otherwise!