Holy Holly Stalder!

I am LOOOVING her collection of shrugs! I know I want something to put over my dress as the night begins to cool down and these are just screaming PICK ME! PICK ME! I'm not sure how much warmer they would keep me but they'd look good trying!

Causally flirty

 

 This one was featured in the Modern Bride Magazine

A splash of color is always nice

The best part is she's from Portland Oregon, so I could work directly with her and my dress!

Look:

http://www.hollystalder.com/

Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollystalder

She also makes dresses.... Hmmm maybe my maids and I could pay her a visit. Custom made bridesmade dresses with a taste of her style might be kinda fun!

I looked at a dress...

Yesterday my mom took me to Xtabay Vintage Clothing in SE Portland that carries wedding dresses and I found this dress! Of course a vintage size 4 is a lot smaller than a modern 4 so the dress didn't fit. However I liked it! It's very similar to idea #1 I have for my wedding dress!

Here take a look:

Lots of pretty lace.

Tight in the bust, party on the bottom.

I love the deep sweetheart cut, and that the lace comes up just a bit higher than the other material. 

Wrap a vintage leather belt around the waste and WALLA! 

Love is an emotion of strong affection

This pretty much sums it up:

Oh So Succulent

 I've been thinking about flowers a lot lately..... I looooove peonies but those are out of season in September and because I'm always looking for ways to save a buck I don't want to order a bunch of out of season flowers... Plus we're camping and I don't want to have to deal with the hassle of trying to keep them alive or worry about getting them delivered way out in the middle of nowhere..... So I started thinking...... it didn't take long and it wasn't very hard to figure out that I want Succulent Plants! I think they would look absolutely stunning in our rustic venue, they match the vintage theme and they work well with my color pallet. Peach, warm yellow, plumb purple....

Kinda like this picture!

There is so much you can do with them:

I LOVE THIS!

So cute in a tea cup!       

   

oooo I love the burlap 

Elegantly simple

They're even pretty in a bouquet. Although I think I still want to add a few peach peonies :o)

 Best part is, center pieces like this are easy to make! 

Succulents reproduce easily, all I'd have to do is borrow some leaves or stems from already matured plants and start my own garden. Oh snap! Free flowers! (well plants anyway)

I'm thinking 3 per table in assorted jars of shapes and sizes would fit just nice. 

AND you can give them to your guests when the night is over!

I'm Your Man

How can you deny a godfather like Leonard Cohen? This might not be your typical "first dance" song but it's romantic all the same:

We like Kraft dinners

Levi & I had date night last Friday and on our way to dinner we heard this on the radio. It makes me laugh because we always talk about what we would do if we had money..... It usually revolves around our dream home... You know things like his and her sinks/shower heads in the bathroom, stone floors, an awesome sun/dinning room, big wrap-around-porch, sliding barn doors instead of swinging doors... and all those other fun things that our beautiful minds come up with that would cost us a million dollars. 

I told him we should do this as a duet at the wedding but he doesn't think he'd hear the end of it from his friends, but I tell him it's a good way to make people laugh because it's totally us! We like treeforts, we like pets, and we like kraft dinners!
He said he'd do it if it meant me practicing the guitar more!

Us Over The Years

This is just a small tribute of the many memories Levi & I have shared together: 

Manic Monday Music - Addicted to Florence

I can't stop listening to this Robert Palmer cover by Florence + the Machine. 

Thanks to Levi's sister I now have an addiction to Florence. She's a real talent this girl with an amazing set of lungs and legs!

Here's another cute cover of one of my all time faves!

Brainstorming a wedding dress

I'm ashamed to admit it but...... I watch American Idol. I can't help it! I've never really been a fan or have had a tv show I watch religiously but this year I just can't stop. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Steven Tyler..... I've had a crush on him since Areosmith released their Big Ones album in 1994, which would have made me 10. I know gross right? Cause he's like 63 years old now..... BUT JUST LOOK AT THIS HOTNESS!

This is probably why I've chosen a husband closer to his 40's than his early 20's.

Ok, Anyways.... The other night on Idol one of the contestants Haley Reinhart had a dress on that I couldn't help but wonder..... Does that come in white?

Thanks to the world wide web I found out.... It doesn't. That's ok because like I've mentioned before I'm planning on making my dress and now that I know the designer and I've had a chance to take a closer look at it really the only thing I like about it is the top. And besides that I don't really want a WHITE dress, I want tope, off-white, ivory, champaign.... something like that.... 

I love this deep sweetheart cut, and the ruffles. I could even change the ruffles and use LACE! I love lace! I dream of lace in all different directions all the time!

This might be a great design for the original image I had in mind for a wedding dress....

The dress is made by a company called Basix Black out of New York

After browsing their website I noticed they have a few fun beaded & sequined dresses as well. That could be kind-of-a fun alternative to a wedding dress....... hmmm.....

Wish Upon a Wedding - Nonprofit Organization

While browsing a blog I frequently visit, greenweddingshoes.com I noticed they had an icon that said: We Are A Proud Sponsor of Wish Upon A Wedding.... What is that?

I opened the link.... It's a nonprofit organization that provides weddings and vow renewals to couples facing terminal illness or other serious life-altering circumstances, regardless of sexual orientation. Often, couples facing such situations do not have the energy, time, money, or resources needed to plan their wedding. This organization takes care of all the details, offering couples a chance to relax and enjoy a very special day while surrounded by the love of their closest family and friends providing memories that will last a lifetime.

This touched my heart more than any other nonprofit organization has and I campaign for a few: Habitat for Humanity, American Heart/Cancer Association, Shepherds Door, and United way. This one though.... Here I am planning a wedding, it's the most exciting time of my life and for these people it's their last wish. Everyone who is in love should get to experience the joy of getting married. And it reminded me of the first book I actually read front to back without putting it down: A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks. Still a favorite of mine, and I've read a lot of books since then. 

Here is a short video of one of the many fulfilled wishes Wish Upon A Wedding has granted. 

(Get out your tissue, you're going to need it)

When Wish Upon a Wedding was first contacted by a social worker at Providence Hospice of Seattle, they were told Shelly had less than three weeks to live. Battling a rare form of cancerous lymphoma, which had left her very weak and nearly unable to leave her own bed, Shelly was in hospice care, and had a desire to have one last special celebration of life, to marry her long time fiance James. Shelly passed away just over three weeks after she married "Jay" who faces his own medical challenges with MS.
Read the rest of their story here along with others here. 


After I watched a few of these videos and read through the stories I knew I wanted to get involved. I emailed the president for my local chapter in Portland OR, explained to her my experience in nonprofit fundraising and asked for a meeting to go over what I can do to help. Everyone deserves to feel a love like that and a wedding to complete it, regardless of illness and sexual orientation. I'd be honored to help fulfill that. 


If you feel the need to get involved as well you can help by making a donation here. Or see if there is a Wish Upon A Wedding Chapter in your area here.


And if you know someone who is facing terminal illness or other serious life-altering circumstances that would like to get married please refer them to Wish Upon A Wedding. They've got a good thing going on here.



Danielle and Tony-Wish Upon a Wedding 


Thank you.

Save The Date Idea #1

Now that the venue is in place I think I'll start working on some save the date ideas. We plan to make these ourselves, we're both creative people and find stuff like this fun! And it will give me a reason to NOT turn the T.V on.
(DAMN THAT DIGITAL ANTENNA MY MOM GOT US!)

So here is idea #1:

It's the math equation to graph a heart. Even though I HATE math I like this idea because if it wasn't for Levi I never would have made it through my college math classes. I miserably failed the last math class my degree forced me to take. I learned the material but come test time I bombed it. So the second time around Levi would pick me up every night before test day and take me down to NW 23rd street, buy me a giant espresso, and we'd sit doing math equations for hours. He had a way of showing me his methods that helped me remember come test time, a new way of looking at numbers. $600 later I had an A in that math class. Reason #586 Why I love Him, his amazing math skills left handed people seem to come with.  

But I don't want it to just be a piece of paper with this design on it. Our venue is in the woods so I'd like the piece of paper to image bark and I'd like Levi to put his Photoshop skills to the test and make it look like it's been carved into a tree, off to the left side of the card as shown below. It might be cool to make our verbage look something like: L + S = 9.8.12