Taking a Moment

Today, while I was surrounded by scraps of fabric, thread and beads galore, I got an IM from Mr. Lace.  Now, he's not really the romantic type, but I am, so that's always been a struggle for us...for me to not expect picture perfection like in chick flicks and for him to find opportunities to offer romantic gestures that are completely out of his comfort zone.  So, amidst my frustration and stress in finishing up the hair flowers for my BM's and to move onto the next project, his IM made me stop and take a moment.


I poured hours into our wedding website and although he liked it, he never said much about it.  But his IM today said, "I just wanted to let you know that the wedding website is really great. You did such a good job on it. You made a good choice for the music and every time I come back and reread the stories, all these moments come to life again."


Sigh. So, while I was sitting in the middle of a huge fabric mess, I was reminded why I am going through all this trouble.  

Did you have any moments that reminded you of why you're wedding planning?

Worry Wart

I know that I get stressed too easily.  But, sometimes, it's embarrassing how much I think and worry about wedding related stuff. My current worry?

RSVP's.  We sent out a really early first round because our venue/caterer is on the pricey side so we need to stick as closely to 225 as we possibly can. An extra table of 10 people is $1,600.  We sent out 247 invitations. Our first RSVP deadline is March 28, 2010. Of the 247, 113 have said yes and 21 have said no.  That puts us at 226, which makes me very happy.

However, we also can't go under 225 since that's our guaranteed minimum. So if we receive 113 more yes RSVP's, we're cool. If we don't, we get to go into our second round of invites.  However, what if these 113 people don't respond on time? I'd like to give our second round of invites ample time to respond as well.

So, I know, I'm thinking too far ahead because I have been getting more RSVP's in the past few days as we approach the deadline, but do I ask people? Do I write them a personal e-mail asking if they're coming? Do I send out a mass e-mail to remind people to RSVP? I don't want to be rude, but I need to know!

What would you do? Have you had any RSVP worries?

I was determined to get some wedding DIY's done this weekend so I whipped out my votives that I purchased from the Salvation Army.

I punched along the top of a piece of vellum and wrapped it around.

Boo. The vellum was too low and didn't give enough of that warm, glowy effect I was hoping for. So, I moved the vellum up.

Yes, that's it! BUT, when I tried this with a piece of vellum that reached all the way to the bottom of the votive, it didn't work. The vellum didn't meet evenly on the backside, but overlapped upward! My votives aren't straight cylinders. They are ever so slightly smaller on the bottom, but enough that wrapping a wider sheet of vellum around would make it plainly clear that this DIY was a bust.

Maybe some people wouldn't care and most of my guests probably wouldn't notice either, but I do. I shouldn't. But I do. :(

I was going for something like this which I can do on the bigger glass containers I have.

So, I was off to figure something...anything out. I decided to wrap the entire votive with vellum. I first cut out a curved piece of vellum that would nicely fit around the votive. I stamped it just because it looked so darn plain.

Then I wrapped it and lit it up.

Warm, glowy effect - check.  But, I don't like it. it doesn't have the same feel as my doily edged votive.  So, at the end of that evening, I had nothing done and no solution to my DIY fail.

I decided I could suck it up and just cover the votives completely like pictured above, do that and add something to it, have the vellum only go halfway up the votive, or some awesome novel idea that I haven't yet conjured up.

How would you solve this problem? Have you had any roadblocks in your wedding projects?

Yes. No. Maybe So.

I was an indecisive person to begin with and then, I began planning my wedding.  I am hit in the face with wedding-related decisions everyday and I'm finding that every decision I make takes a lot longer than I want it to.  It takes so much research, analyzing and thinking before I can make finally make up my mind about something. You don't believe me??!  Please, walk with me...

1. Clipboards. Yes. Clipboards.  I wanted to get my two friends, who will be my day of coordinators, clipboards to hold all the important papers for the day such as contracts, checks, schedules, contact lists, etc.  But in order for me to finally pull the trigger, I visited Staples, Target, Office Depot, Office Max and searched online.  I finally pulled the trigger on a clipboard case from Office Depot.  That decision took me a few weeks when it probably should've taken me 5 minutes.

2. Bridesmaid dresses. I probably bought five different dresses that I showed one or more bridesmaids to see what they thought.  I settled on a dress, FINALLY, drove high and low to collect the dresses. After passing out the dresses and having all my bridesmaids try them on, I found another one that I liked the best. So, I recollected the dresses and returned them all before going to buy the next BM dress. 

3.. Sash. Remember that post? Well, for that one, the hive helped me make that decision because I ended going with the option that most people liked which I was leaning toward anyway since it was a bit less cluttered looking. Thanks guys. Can I hire you as my executive decision maker? No? You're busy planning a wedding too? Darn. 

So, I guess I'll need one of these then - the Original Decision Maker.

(source)

When unsure about ANYTHING, give it a flick and listen to whatever the necklace says.

Have you had a hard time making wedding-related decisions?

Ninety-seven days and counting...

This week, we hit 100 days until the wedding. Currently, the count is at 97.  When people ask how planning is going, I smile and say, "It's going great!"  To people I know better, I say, "There's still a lot to do," but still with a fake smile plastered to my face.

But in reality, I feel like this:

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For real...with my head about 10 times larger than my body, ready to explode! I am super stressed out even though I'm sure 3 months is plenty of time to finish everything. It's just so much!

I've had a headache everyday this week because of wedding planning.  This will pass. I made a plan this weekend for what I am going to do everyday for the next few weeks. Mr. Lace and I have a couple of days off and we'll be hard and work getting that difficult stuff planned.

I'm having anxiety dreams too. For example, in one dream, the flowers showed up in boxes and I was in the reception hall in my wedding dress, arranging flowers.  In the second dream, we ran out of time for a rehearsal so I was barking instructions to everyone as I was standing up at the altar.

Breathe, Miss Lace, breathe. It will all get finished. Whatever doesn't get finished, doesn't get finished. 

I went to work out and I felt a lot better afterwards. Well, minus feeling sore, tired and sweaty. I felt better emotionally. :)  The three cookies I ate afterwards also helped me feel better.

Are you experiencing stress or anxiety dreams about your wedding? What do you do to destress?

Bridesmaid Lovin'

Everyone struggles with what to get for their bridesmaids. I couldn't decide if I wanted to just get them one big thing or put together a little "basket" for the day of.  I found a happy compromise and just finished their gifts.  Here's what they're getting.

Oh yes, Lace bridesmaids, please stop reading here.  Come back tomorrow.

Are you gone yet?

Here we go, hive, now that the bridesmaids are gone.

I started out with a day of survival kit.

It includes:

• a Starbucks gift card since they have to get up so early that morning
• tissue to clean up after themselves
• a Shout wipe in case of any spillage
• a pack of gum so their mouths feel fresh.  By the way, my friend and day of coordinator, Priscilla introduced me to this Trident gum. It's green apple and golden pineapple and like a party in your mouth!

It also includes:

• a sewing kit in case anything comes apart (I've heard of a groomsman whose pants split during photos and had to find a tailor to fix it because there was no sewing kit!)
• a tube of Kiehl's lip balm #1 in Pear in case their lips are chapped (one of my favorite brands)
• a pack of Q-tips to wipe away any stray makeup
• a pack of blotting sheets to ward off midday shine
• a pack of bobby pins to keep everything in place

I wrapped it up in a cello bag (20 for $2 at Target) and made a little topper to close the bag up neatly.

The survival kit, flip flops and Anthropologie necklace are going in a monogrammed bag from Land's End.

I've been toying with the idea of a pashminas or a cardigan to wear in our wedding photos, but it will depend on if I have time to shop for them.  So for now, this is it. 

What are you getting your bridesmaids?

How to Tie a Perfect Bow

When I discovered Martha Stewart during my high school years, I was addicted to her show and would watch it as often as I could.  My favorite segment? Good things.  She'd teach you one really cool trick to a problem that you never new was a problem. In addition to learning how to fold a fitted sheet (what? You're saying folding it in half and rolling it up isn't right?), I learned how to tie a perfect bow.  I remember, after that episode, sitting there practicing and practicing until I figured out how to tie a perfect bow. I can't remember if my bow is the same as Martha's, but it works so here's what to do.

First, tie a knot. I go left over right. I like to try to keep the ribbon flat.

Make a loop with the ribbon end that is lower, in this case, it's the right side. You'll notice from here on out, I use my ring finger to hold the knot down and tight.

Now, take the ribbon end that is higher, in this case, the left, and put it over the loop you made. 

Put the left ribbon end around the right loop and pull it through. Notice that all the ribbon lays as flat as possible.

Last, but not least, pull tight. You'll have your loops on top and the end on the bottom!  I used grosgrain here, but if you use a softer ribbon, the middle of the bow tends to look nicer than a firmer ribbon.

Oh and don't forget to trim the ends to slant. I usually cut my ribbon at a slant hoping that it'll just come out right, but as you can see, that didn't happen here. 

Have any "good things" you learned along the way? 

I Heart My Bridesmaids

My bridesmaid has been awesome and supportive, but I think it's because I haven't asked them to tie a thousand bows or cut a million sheets of paper and fold...yet.  Oh, just you wait girls!

However, with boxes of jewelry from J.Crew, my almost finished sash and dress in hand, I was at a complete loss with my total look for the day. Which bracelet? Which pair of earrings? What direction should the sash go?  I had been staring at everything so long that I didn't feel like I could make a good decision anymore. I needed help...desperately!

(personal photo)

I decided to ask MOH Lace (you may have seen her around as a commenter named Best Friend Lace) and BM Lace-dini (her dad's a magician) over to my place to give me a hand. I decided early on that if I asked anyone to help me with wedding stuff, I would make sure they were fed. So, we began with this:

(personal photo)

Don't judge me. It's about 100 days to the wedding and I have NO qualms having me animal style cheeseburger.  I would've had my own fries if MOH Lace hadn't been watching out and asked to share.

After stuffing our faces, I slipped into my dress and put on the sash to see how it looked and if I needed to change things around.  If you've been following me, I said I wouldn't reveal my dress, but I changed my mind. :) What do you think?!

(personal photo)

Is that sauce on my face? :) Anyway, they adjusted the sash to the right, then to the left, then to the middle and then flipped it upside down. I'm holding it because we didn't want to wrinkle the satin just yet.

(personal photo)

Here's a close up of the sash. The fabrics ended up coming together pretty well.

We were also trying to choose between the necklace, bracelet and earrings which you probably can't see here. However, I did decide on a bracelet and earrings. I'm back on the search for a gold colored necklace that isn't too heavy or chunky looking. So, the night ended and I knew what I needed to return, what I needed to purchase and what I was ready to put away until the big day!

I haven't tried on my dress for several months and my dress feels a little tighter than when I first purchased it so I guess I should cut out the cheeseburgers and the dessert we decided to eat afterwards. :) Okay, I promise to eat healthier starting...NOW!

(personal photo)

Did your fabulous bridesmaids help you make decisions that you were having a hard time with?

Dressing the Mister Part 1

Looming on my to-do list was picking out tuxes for Mr. Lace and the groomsmen.  It seemed easy enough. I knew it wouldn't be as hard as picking out a wedding dress or bridesmaid dresses and both of those were completed awhile ago. So, how hard could this really be? I pestered Mr. Lace and we finally set aside some time one weekend to visit Men's Wearhouse and Friar Tux.

Around 5:30 p.m. one sunny afternoon, we headed out to Friar Tux. On the way there, we decided to call and make sure it was okay that we dropped in. Easy peasy, right? Yup, they were closed already.  We called Men's Wearhouse and luckily they were open until 9 p.m.

We walked into Men's Wearhouse and found a lot of commotion. A family of men were there buying suits and trying things on and they were super loud. No bother though. Someone quickly welcomed us and asked what we were looking for. When we mentioned that we were looking for tux rentals, he brought us back to a desk with a catalog and explained how the tux rentals worked. They'd be ready for pick up two days beforehand. They'd fix anything for us within that two days if something didn't fit correctly.  There was a fee for drycleaning and damages that'd be added onto your package. He let us look through the catalog in peace. After eliminating the white tuxes, zoot suits, pinstriped tuxes, one and three-button tuxes and any tuxedo that wasn't black, we had two choices.  I guess, I was right, the decision wasn't going to be terribly difficult if we only had two choices.  We looked at the laminated catalog page and positioned and repositioned it to try to ward off the glare of the overhead lights so we could get a good look at it.  We asked the salesperson who was helping us if we could see these since it was difficult to see off the catalog. Nope. They didn't have any of the tuxes in the store so you had to pick off the catalog. Now, I'm no salesperson, but doesn't it seem right that your customers should be able to at LEAST look at the tuxes before they commit? What if it looked completely different on?! Well, we got his card and left wondering if we'd have to just choose one of the two black two-button tuxes off those huge laminated pages.

We decided to visit Friar Tux the following weekend just to see what else was out there. Now, first off, I'm a bit put off by the name.  Why is it called Friar Tux? (Father Serra? That's a 4th grade teacher thing). Anyway, we knew tons of people who rented from them and were very happy.  So we went on our way. When we arrived, I saw this:

(personal photo)

...and was put off by the sign. We walked in anyway. We weren't initially greeted by anyone until we sat down with the catalog and started looking through it. Ten minutes passed before we approached and someone asked if we needed help. We told them we were looking for tuxes, yada, yada, yada and she told us to look through the catalog to see what we liked. 

Well, we didn't know much and they had huge laminated pictures with glare too.  On top of that, there were things like Super 100's, back vent, notched, winged...and we had no clue what all of it meant.  For the next twenty minutes, we looked through swatches and plastic cards and wrote down the styles that we liked. No one else approached us, no one offered to help and there weren't very many tuxedos on display so we left. It just made NO sense to me. We'd visited two shops. The first one had no displays for you to look at and the second one had no one to help or explain anything to you. I was super frustrated. Really, this is how tux rentals went? It was harder than I thought!

My smart Mr. Lace said, "maybe we should visit the Friar Tux in Costa Mesa. It's right by the OCPAC and it's in a nicer area." I was pretty sure they'd have the same stuff, but at this point, we had no other options so we made out way south to Costa Mesa.  First off, Friar Tux in Costa Mesa is located in South Coast Plaza. You'll need to check that out if you have never shopped in the OC before.

(source)

Back to the story. So we walked into this Friar Tux:

(personal photo)

I already had a much better feeling walking in. We were greeted immediately by a salesperson who asked if he could be of service. We told him the schpiel.  He began by taking us on a tour of the showroom and pointing out the differences between tuxedos and basically what we'd have to make decisions on. He explained what Super 120's, vented, winged and all that jazz was. Plus, they had every tuxedo in the catalog on display so if you saw it in the catalog, you could walk up to the display and look and feel it. Oh! I knew there had to be something better out there!

In addition to that, as we were looking through the catalog, he asked if we'd be interested in registering. It was a no-obligation registration of our wedding party, but along with it, he could order three full tuxedos with vests, shirts, ties and shoes for Mr. Lace to try on so he could see how he LOOKED in them. Oh, I KNEW you existed! So, we quickly registered and Mr. Lace found three styles he liked.  The salesperson, as he listened to us debate over the colors of the vests and ties, offered to order us all of the options we were looking at so we could mix and match them.  He said he could have them in by the next business day if we'd like so Mr. Lace could try them on.  Yes, please sign us up for that!

So, we're going to go in a couple days and I'll post photos of that soon.

Here's what I learned about tuxedos:

1. Lapel:  

Width: Slimmer (modern) or wider (traditional)

Style: Plain, notched or winged lapel

Fabric: Nothing fancy, satin-y or framed

2. Fabric: There were three types of fabric for tuxedos at Friar Tux. The standard wool blend, then the Super 100's and then the Super 120's.  The higher the Super number, the lighter and more breathable the fabric and the higher the price.

3. Pants: Stripe or no stripe

4. Shirt: Winged or standard collar

5. Ties/Vests: You can mix and match any tie or vest so even though they're laid out in groups in the catalog, you CAN get a green vest and a black tie or an orange vest and pink tie or whatever your heart desires.

6. Shoes: The rental package will give you five options for shoes. An upgrade to a better looking shoe will cost you $10.  Just go look at the options. I think the $10 might be worth it.

7. Cost: Out of the packages we saw, the tux packages ranged from $130- $150 + tax. The damage waiver is included in the cost of the rental.

Good luck! Did you have any luck with tuxedo rentals or are you going a different route?

So You Think You're Smarter Than Your Fiance?

The Salvation Army has been doing me right lately. I stopped in and found 72 votives for 15 bucks! That's about 20 cents per votive. My wallet is happy since we were looking at almost a dollar apiece.

However, a few of these babies had used candles in them and I went back to a previous post about cleaning out votives and tried out all the suggested solutions. I tried, unsuccessfully to pop them out. I got a couple of smaller ones out by digging a knife into it and turning the blade, but it only worked for a few. I microwaved one for a few seconds, but that turned into a goopy mess. While I returned to my try-to-pop-it-out-with-a-knife method, Mr. Lace
came up with his own solution.

"Put them in the freezer," he said. "Huh?" I replied? In my mind, I thought it wouldn't work. I was pretty sure I could do it with a little more elbow grease. But, I reluctantly listened though since he's an engineer and his job is to solve problem AND my methods had been unsuccessful thus far..

After a few minutes, I went back into the freezer and pulled out my now, very cold, votives. They looked no different. However, when I stuck my knife into the candle and turned the blade, they popped right out.

"Woah! You were right!" I said to Mr. Lace (words that, I am sure, are music to his ears). Mr. Lace explained that the cold would make the candle condense and pull away from the glass, therefore making it easier to pop out. DUH. I was always pretty good at science, I don't know why I didn't think of it. I didn't document the process because, well, I didn't think this would turn into a tip for you all, but here are votives, shiny and new ...well, sort of.

Did your fiance figure something out that you couldn't find a solution to?

Then I Will Do it Myself Part 3

Have you been super close to finishing a wedding project and itching to cross that item off your to-do list? That's me, so I need your help girls. Awhile back, I blogged about how I was going to make my own sash here and here.  I have been working on it here and there and wanted to give the hive an update and get some feedback.

I quickly fell in love with the black sash (the dress ain't bad either!).

(source)

If any of you have been following me, you know black has been a bit taboo, but I'm moving forward with this because I want it. :)

This is what I've come up with so far. I'm not set on them yet although I'd really like to finish it and check it off my to-do list!

Option A

Option B

I know it's difficult to tell without seeing my dress, but it's a strapless number.  Just based on the two photos which one do you like better? Thank you hive!

Score and Double Score!

A lot of bees shared the same feelings with me about their wedding planning lull.  So, I've been trying to work on something wedding-related every night. The first thing I did was work on decor since it was something easy that I could do on the way home from work.  However, that was easier said than done. What I didn't tell you about my  search for vintage books was that, before finding the One Dollar Bookstore, I was completely clueless about where to find them!  

Well, there was the accidental visit to the One Dollar Bookstore.  Then Miss Chirpie, one our very own bees, mentioned that she was stockpiling vintage books from Goodwill.  That triggered my memory of Miss Nachos' post about the Salvation Army and how I was also in need of votives.  So, I took off from work and headed to the local Salvation Army.  

I have to give you a little background. I am a germaphobe.  I.hate.germs. When swine flu/H1N1 broke out, I sprayed down my classroom with Lysol everyday and cleaned with bleach and water every other day.  I think I was slightly OCD about washing my hands all through middle school.  So, you can imagine how I'd feel about going through other people's old stuff.  I have friends and coworkers that shop there regularly and find the cutest stuff.  So, I decided to get over myself and go and I'm so glad I did. 

There were four awesome quilted mason jars with lids that were PERFECT.  Unfortunately, they were in the arms of an elderly lady who didn't look like she was about to put them down. I did wait around (okay, stalk) until she checked out JUST in case she put them down (don't judge me!).   It was senior day and there were a TON of people there. So although I didn't find any of the votives and books I was looking for (well, not this week at least :)), I did find this:

 

SCORE! I don't know what Cuervo 1800 is and I haven't had a chance to Google it and find out. 

I'm planning on using this box to either put the bags for our candy bar or our programs.  I love that it's worn and weathered.  Depending, I might have to put something over that Cuervo 1800's sign.

I was super happy and knew I'd have to go back to the Salvation Army in a few days to see if any new goodies came in. I was driving home, feeling pretty proud of myself, when I began thinking about the vintage books. I wanted to go to the One Dollar Bookstore and see if they had anymore vintage books. They were so cheap, but it was too far from my house.  Then... it clicked.  They have books at...the library!  Most libraries have a Friends of the Library.  I stopped in on my way home and looked through their stock. For $2, I found these:

DOUBLE SCORE!  I still am not 100% sure what I'm going to do with all these (after I take off the little red and green dot stickers).  I'm thinking stacked on our escort card table or guest sign in table with a vase of flowers on top? Maybe as a part of our table centerpieces? Any grand ideas, hive?

Did you stumble across any good deals during your wedding planning?

A Happy Accident

When I teach art to my students, I emphasize that there's no such thing as a mistake.  You can always turn it into something.  If you do that a few more times on your piece, it'll look like you did it on purpose.  It's a happy accident.

Well, I had a happy accident the other day.  Over the weekend, Mr. Lace and I, after determining we needed to kick wedding planning into high gear, decided to take a look at tuxes.  By the time we finished all our previous engagements and were ready to go it was 5. I decided to call ahead and check the closing times on two of the tux shops we were going to visit.  The first one closed at 5 (of course).  With my fingers crossed, I called the second shop. They were open until 9.  We got there, sat down with the sales rep, looked through the tuxes and were out of there in 20 minutes.  More on this topic later.  We ran a couple of other errands and then decided we should stop for dinner before heading back to Mr. L's place.

We threw out a couple of places, went back and forth and finally decided on Panera Bread. It was the healthiest option in the area and we had just started our wedding diets and didn't want to break them so quickly.  While parking, I saw a wee little bookstore.  I had vintage books on my wedding decor list and had yet to find an inexpensive spot to purchase them.  I made note of it in my head and we went to Panera for dinner. After dinner, it was raining, so we in a bit of a rush to get to the car since we didn't bring an umbrella.  But, I noticed that the bookstore was still lit and people were coming in and out.  I wanted to go check it out, but Mr. L is NOT a book guy. He's a blog, magazine, Google reader kind of guy.  I knew he'd be totally bored.  I hesitated, but for some reason asked him, "Do you think we can stop in that bookstore really quick?"

It's called the One Dollar Bookstore.  You can imagine why I wanted to go in. A dollar?!  I thought, there's a very slim chance that they'd have vintage books here, but decided to give it a try anyway.  I walked up and down the rows of disheveled books looking for anything that looked old. Well, old, but not too old and dirty that I wouldn't want to touch them.  Up and down, right and left. I told Mr. L what I was looking for and he joined me in the search. We didn't find much, but we did find a few and at one dollar each! Better yet, if you buy five, you get one free. So even if you don't need vintage books, they have all kinds of books that you might find to be a good read for $1.

So, this was my happy accident.  I accidentally stumbled up on this store and found exactly what I needed at a budget friendly price.  I bought a handful of books for under $10. Out of that handful, there are TWO that are my favorite - a red one that Mr. L handed me entitled Girl of His Dreams.  I didn't care that it was red and it has nothing to do with my wedding colors.  The second one entitled...well, you can see for yourself below.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the second one - a vintage book for our ring bearer to hold as he walked down the aisle.

Tonight, I pulled out the book and began adding my own little touch to it for my nephew, our ring bearer, to hold.  What do you think?

Did you stumble across a happy accident in your wedding planning? Amidst all the things that could go wrong, did something surprisingly go your way?

The Wedding Planning Lull

Many engaged folks that I talked to tell me that the beginning and end of wedding planning is the busiest.  In the middle, they hit a lull where they didn't do anything for a month or two.  I thought to myself, That's not going to happen to us. I am a go-getter, a worry wart and non-procrastinator.  Yet, these past four weeks, after passing out invitations, we really haven't done any major wedding related tasks.  In fact, I didn't even realize that we were in a bit of a lull.

UNTIL...

I went to look at my registry and it said that there are 112 days left until the wedding. 112?! I quickly made a new to-do list.  My wedding to-do list from now until June is four pages long.  That quickly made me come out of my wedding planning lull.

First, I flipped out and wondered if I would be able to finish everything in time.  I could feel the stress creeping up into my shoulders. Mr. Lace said to me, "calm down. It'll all get done."  I showed him the list. He agreed, that we should do something on the list today.  Then, I organized my list to figure out what I should tackle first.  Then, I blogged about it. :) And now, I am off to wedding plan.

Did you hit a wedding plan lull? What did you do to get out of it?

I Love Johnny Depp

Okay, the title has very little relevance to what this post is actually about, but I felt like I needed to proclaim this to the world. :)

Has anyone seen Alice in Wonderland yet? I'll say it again, I love Johnny Depp and I think Helena Bonham Carter is such a good villain (wasn't she an awesome Bellatrix LeStrange?). I've seen a couple of Alice in Wonderland inspired bridal showers and LOVED them. They're so whimsical and fun.

I'm not planning any bridal showers soon, BUT every month my school takes turns doing "treats" for the entire staff. It's usually good food and no decorations, but we wanted to do a little something that would spruce our drab workroom up a bit.  February was my month so the three teachers I was working with indulged me and threw Valentine's Day and Alice in Wonderland inspired treats.

We had fondue, tea sandwiches, sparkling lemonade, hummus and pita chips, brownies, cake, veggies and dip, quiche, etc. It was DE-LISH. In the excitement of eating, I completely forgot to take pictures of the food. Here are a few personal photos of the tables. It's definitely not anything fantastic since we did it in the workroom/teacher's lounge, but it was fun anyway.  Please excuse all of our supplies, photocopiers and butcher paper in the background.

See a familiar face in there?

Then, yesterday, while doing my regular perusing-of-the-blogs, I found these! I wish I threw a party like this!

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Are you throwing or having a themed shower? Is there something you would love your bridesmaids to do? Share your fabulous ideas and let my bridesmaids steal them from you!

I Hate Pink.

No offense. I know a lot of people who love pink. In fact, I knew a girl who LOVED pink. EVERYTHING had to be pink. Pink shoes, pink shirts, pink purses.  Before this, I never had anything against pink although it wasn't my favorite color.  But after I met this girl, I started to dislike pink. I think it's because she'd make a huge deal about how she needed someone's help (usually a boy) and would ooh and ahh over the boy who'd help her.  It made me want to puke. I'm a pretty independent person and if I can do it myself, I will. In fact, it's difficult for me to ask people for help.  So, I think that association with pink made me hate the color.  


It's mellowed out since then. I even bought a pink shirt recently. The shirt itself was super cute and only came in pink so I bought it anyway. However, this past week, I found a reason to HATE pink.


I'm a teacher and I recently discovered that I will be receiving a pink slip.  I have been teaching in my current district for four years. Last year, I managed to slip by and hung on for dear life to my job.  But this year, I am not so lucky. Now, a pink slip doesn't necessarily mean that I will be laid off, but that the district can legally lay me off. Since we're unionized, they lay off, not based off performance, dedication or talent, but seniority. 


I have mixed feelings. First, I'm mad. I am being laid off because of my hire date and not because of my dedication to my students or passion and talent for teaching. Second, I'm worried because after June, I won't receive a paycheck anymore.  BTW, did I mention that I am planning a wedding that's happening in June? Also, once I move in with Mr. Lace, we have a huge mortgage payment to pay for that we needed my salary for.  Last, I'm curious if I'm being steered in a different direction. I obviously won't be able to find another teaching position in this economy so I'll have to find a job in another field until schools are hiring again.  Which field? What will I do? 


As if wedding planning isn't overwhelming enough, now I have to wait to see if I'll still have a paycheck after June. Is there anyone going through a difficult job or financial situation in the midst of wedding planning?

Envelope Backlash

By no means am I particularly traditional. When Mr. Lace and I asked our Moms about any traditions they wanted us to have at the wedding, they didn't have anything they needed or wanted to do. We asked to make sure. Tea ceremony? No. Change into a different dress? No. Chinese banquet? No. We thought we'd covered all our bases. We even mentioned to them we were thinking of having our bridesmaids wear black dresses and use black tablecloths at the reception.  Nothing was said.

There was a bit of grumbling when we passed out our invitations in their black envelopes.  You see, in Chinese culture, black and white mean death.  So, when you get married you want to pick a prosperous, lucky color...like red. While red is a lovely color, it's SO not us.  However, within our parents generation, only a couple of people said something about it to my Mom, but dismissed it saying that we are really Americanized so it's not a huge deal.

However, little did I know that I'd get backlash from my Grandparents on Poppa Lace's side, who I hardly see and am not very close too!  They were so upset at the black invitation that they didn't even open it initially.  When they finally did, they called Momma Lace to complain about what kind of daughter they raised. My Mom tried to defend me, but my Grandparents were NOT having it.  I think, at the end of that conversation, they were okay, but still like, "Why in the WORLD would you pick BLACK of all colors?"

So, when Momma Lace relayed this conversation to me, I experienced a rush of emotions.

First, I felt bad that my Mom had to endure a belittling conversation with my Grandma. I felt horrible that she had to bear the brunt of it.

I then felt mad. We are family, but we're not close at all and the last time I saw them was at my cousin's wedding.  Although my Grandfather is over 90 years old, he didn't initially recognize me when I saw him two years ago. Someone had to say to him, "that's Poppa Lace's daughter." So, where do you get off rantin' and ravin' about black envelopes? You obviously don't know me well enough to know that I'm totally westernized and not superstitious.

Last, I felt stressed out. Our bridesmaid dresses are black. Our tablecloths are black. I was planning on using more black in our paper goods at the wedding. Would I have to scrap everything and start over?

I've only talked to my family, Mr. Lace and now, the hive about this.   I feel like I shouldn't change my plans because two people are unhappy about it.  At the same time, I don't want there to be a blowout at the wedding because of a black envelope.  I am considering calling or writing a letter, but there's a communication barrier between my Grandparents and I.  I am considering resending an invitation with a RED envelope even though it doesn't match.  Any advice on what to do? Have you had an unexpected issue arise during wedding planning?