Deux fois deux oui

Great Scott!

2009-03-04T11:38:00.003-05:00

My husband decided to honor his Scotch-Irish heritage.
When he said he would wear a kilt I did not imagine that there were so many other elements included in the Scottish outfit, especially for a formal occasion.
With the help of this wonderful image that I found on greatscotshop.com, I am getting closer to understanding and visualizing everything.

If I laughed a little bit at the beginning I came to like the idea. What sealed it was to see three handsome man in full outfit that I saw at Biltmore Estate when a wedding was taking place in the wine cellar.
Oh my! I had to admit they looked quite dashing, there was something out of the ordinary that came from seeing them in this beautiful traditional outfit. And I would have no problem whatsoever marrying my husband (again) in those clothes.

Starting from the top and going down to the feet let's see what elements we have to work with.

The jacket. There is a variety of jackets available to wear with a kilt. The most well known ones are Prince Charlie jacket (left), a fitted military cut jacket, traditionally worn with the kilt for more formal occasions, 100% wood with, trimmed with chrome plated Celtic buttons.
Or the slightly more casual Argyll Jacket (right), This is the classic cut kilt jacket. In wool and silver toned celtic buttons, this jacket can be worn with a long neck tie, but can also be dressed up with a tux shirt and bow tie. it's considered semi-formal or for day wear.

The Kilt itself of course. in his family colors (Tartan of the MacLeod of Lewis). Notice that the pleats are in the back and the straight fabric in the front. Kilts are made out of wool and therefore quite heavy. After holding one, I doubt there is any risk of a gust of wind moving anything.
Garter Flashes: They are used with Kilt Hose (described below), the elastic is hidden
underneath the hose (it's turned over). Colors can match or compliment the tartan.

Sporran: Kilts do not have pockets, so the Sporran is a pouch attached to the kilt to allow the gentlemen to store anything they need. They go from very simple to fancy. Often made out of leather or fur. In my opinion black leather is nice for the groomsmen while a white fur Sporran makes the Groom stick out.

Kilt Pin: this is just a decorative item. It is believe that it's used to "Maintain modesty", not really because it adds weight, but because it ties two or the drapes together. All sorts of shapes can be found although a common one is in the shape of a dagger.

Kilt Hose: Those are simply thick wool socks that go up to your knee and that are folded over, especially when you wear garter flashes.
They can be a plain color or with motives. Personally I like the natural wool color. They are surprisingly long, but that's because they have to be folded over several times. No risks of cold legs with those. Note: if you rent a kilt, you will however likely have to purchase the kilt hose (simple question of hygene).

Gillie Brogues: Originally, gillie brogues were simply a flat piece of leather with holes poked along the edges then laced at the top of the foot.. They are now considered the traditional footwear for gentlemen. There are many ways to tie them it seems, but a basic explanation can be found here: Andrew's Bagpipe.
They are quite pretty and traditional, but in our case we knew we would not use them again, so he went for simple black shoes (a more affordable option) and it worked out just fine.

Sgian Dubh: This is a ceremonial dagger that you carry tucked in the hose, only part of the pommel should be visible. I see that one as optional for my husband.

Tie or bow-tie? While my husband was adamant about not wearing a bow tie, it came as part of the whole outfit he rented, and you know what? I think it looked even better than a tie would have. It just makes more sense with the jacket. A tie would have to match the tartan or be black. The bow tie in black is simple, dressy but doesn't over do the look. Well that's my opinion.

For more information:
A fun blog to read about kilts: http://kiltmaker.blogspot.com/ and the old address:
http://blog.albanach.org/index.html

A very interesting post on how to wear a kilt (and everything that comes with it)

Just checking

2009-02-25T16:18:00.002-05:00

In the last weeks before the religious ceremony, life got hectic, it was to be expected.
The wedding happened and then, well I lost interest in this blog and choose to focus on my French one that I share with Friends, online friends and family.
I'm surprised to see the stats and that readers still come here...

So I decided not to give up on this little blog and try to finish it. Go back on the decisions we made and talk about what we did, who we used and maybe also do a wedding recap.
So stick with me and let me know if you have questions.

A climber's garter

2009-02-25T13:37:00.002-05:00

I wasn't originally thinking about doing a garter, my husband seemed to like the idea but said it was completely up to me. My dad though when I mentioned did was almost horrified that I thought about doing it, maybe he thinks it's too old fashioned?

In the end I decided to go with my gut, I wanted a garter, one to throw away to the guys since I had a bouquet to throw to the girls, and I also wanted to make a keep sake for my husband.
I had two options: buy one or make one.

If I had bought one, I would have gone with either a University of Florida or a Miami Dolphins garter. My hubby is a big fan and I wanted something fun. Here is an example from Etsy seller: GartersbyKristi.
I like the fact that it has a fancy garter for keepsake and a lighter version to throw. And all that for only $23. I have to say that for personalized and really cute garters, Etsy is your friend. No question to it.
I like that some Etsy members manage to make a very feminine garter out of a more Masculine theme. I think we would have both laughed with one like that.

But in the end I decide to make my own, it made more sense with our budget and I could really personalize it. I got the idea from Mrs Peach post on a DIY (Sports) Garter. It looked pretty easy and I figured I would be able to manage it on my own. I did additional research and found several online tutorials, including this one: Make your own garter which had good information on how to get the right measurement for your fabric and elastic.

My garter was going to be a little bit different. My husband loves to climb and boulder and I wanted to acknowledge that side of him. I knew I wouldn't find any patter for such and idea, but with a bit of creativity it had to be manageable. My idea was to have a simple garter decorated with a very thin climbing like rope of about 3mm and a small carabiner (like the key chain kind).

I went to the local fabric store and bought lace, organza ribbon, ribbon and elastic.
I went to Diamond Brand (a sports store) and bought 2 key chain carabiners and a little bit over my thigh size lenght of 2mm rope.

1. I cut the Organza and Lace so it would be over twice the circumference of my leg where I will wear the garter. Same for the ribbon (same lenghts as the lace and organza).
Cut the elastic so it's tight enough to hold where you will wear the garter, but give extra inches for sewing.

2. By hand I sew the sateen ribbon close to the middle of the lace with a matching thread colol (same for the organza), as I went, I pushed the elastic in, making sure I had a safety pin attached to the end so it wouldn't get all the way in. It makes it easier that way.

3. I sew together both extremities of the elastic, making on last check on my leg to be sure I had it right. Then I sew together the lace extremities and the ribbon extremities. My work was far from perfect but it held together. And I figured I would have my Figure 8 Knot on top of the stitches.
At that point you have a very basic garter and all that is left to do is to decorate it.

4. At that point, it was the trickiest part for me, I had to attach the cord to the garter. It's a stiff material and it wouldn't work quite like like the ribbon and fabric with their little waves.
So what I did was to put the garter around my tight, make a figure 8 knot of the rope on top of the garter. Then I used pins to keep the rope in place, and I made stitches every few inches, looping around the rope and going in the fabric (be careful to avoid the elastic) to attach it.
For the final touch I clipped the very light carabiner to the rope.

And voilà, my Climber's garter was done. Here they are on my wedding day. They were also my something blue.
If I was to change one thing, I would probably had more anchor point for the rope, because as you can see it didn't stay straight.
My Hubby removed the garters very discreetly and I don't think anyone even saw us doing it, they were too busy dancing. He liked them so much that he didn't even send the organza one to the single mens around us (we would have removed the carabiner of course).

Eco friendly lighting

2008-10-17T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hubby and I are on our path to being Earth responsible people. We started a good decade ago. I remember being a teenager and helping my parents to recycle, separate the vegetable remains to compost, turning off the lights when leaving a room, turning off the water while soaping in the shower, etc. In the past years we've also worked on replacing the lights we could with eco-friendly lights.
There are three basic steps to being green: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. It is definitely important for us to include this in our wedding as much as possible. Lighting is one section where we can easily apply those steps.

1)Reuse.
We want to decorate our reception room with the LED christmas lights. At first I thought about buying some lights on E-bay, preferably LED so they use less energy (reduce). But then I realized I was beeing silly not to use our ressources.
We're in the United States after all. Everyone here seems to decorate their home to something extraordinary extents when comes Christmas. Meaning that most of the people we know own Christmas lights.
So we are going to reuse by borrowing lights from our family and friends. We will label each lights with the name of the person it belongs too, install them in the room a few days before the wedding, remove them a day after and give them back to their owner. Our wedding is weeks before Thanksgiving, when the official Christmas season and house decoration starts, and therefore no one will actually miss those lights.
We save money by not having to buy any and we protect the planet a little bit by reusing what's already there.

2)reduce
I love candles. And let's be honest; what's a wedding without candles? Candles scream romance, soft light and magic to me.
But there is one tiny problem. Those cheap tea light candles you buy in the stores are made of parrafin. Paraffin is a petroleum product, which is not a renewable resource and causes pollution in its production. They release soot when they burn (unhealthy) and carbon as well, contributing to a big issue I don't even need to mention. Not very eco-friendly is it?

Well there are alternatives: beewax, soy and palm oil.

Bee wax candles.
Who doesn't know bee wax? It's probably the oldest type of wax known to men. It's a renewable ressource because bees keep on creating it. As long as the beekeepers are careful in the way they harvest it, there is no damage to the bee population.
Pros: It's smokeless and smells good as it burns. It's a renewable ressource with a low impact on the environment. Last three times longer than paraffin and two times longer than soy candles.
Cons: they pretty much only come in their natural yellow, they are expensive
(image source)

Soy Candles
Those candles are definitely growing. It's a more recent product made from soy. You can find them in many colors and sented or unscented.
Pro:biodegreadable, clean burning, renewable, lasts up to 50% longer than parrafin when burning because it burns cooler. Hard enough to make in any shape.
Cons: still more expensive than regular candles (but less than bee wax), soy is a food therefore I wonder the impact on soy production and food access... The flame is not considered a "warm flame". And how we we know it's GMO free soy? Soy is soft and has to be kept in a jar.
(image source)

Vegetable-oil based candles (palm and more)
Again, a renewable ressource since it comes from the fruit of the tree. Again clean burning.
Look for GMO free.
Information on those candles seems a little bit harder to come by.

Make sure you check the labels and that it's 100% what you are looking for.

Personally I'm thinking of getting beewax candles, not only because of their great smell but also because my mom is a beekeeper at times and although she doesn't make beewax candles, I feel like it would be an extra touch to honor my parents.

Sources: www.epicureantable.com
www.greenyour.com/

A rush of sugar to the head

2008-10-15T07:22:00.000-04:00

As I mentionned before, I have a sweet tooth. The cake can look any way the baker wants, it doesn't really matters to me. No what matters is the taste. I want flavor. I don't need tones of tasteless icing.

In France the traditionnal wedding cake are little puff pastries filled with pastry cream. Martha Stewart has it on her site as Croquembouche, and it's my grandmother's absolute favorite. She could eat the whole cake on her own, scary.

We didn't plan to have anything traditionnal (French or American). To be honest the wedding cake did not really matter in the sense of what it represents. We just wanted some good desserts.
At first I was ready to have family pinch in and bake some cakes: pumpkin cheesecakes and other recipes with a seasonal touch.
But it so happens that his mom offered to pay for our cake. So it's a baker who will take care of it, well of our cakes.

As I mentionned before, I really want one of the cakes to be a pumpkin cheesecake. And afte tasting Filo Pastries Dulce de Leche cheesecake, I knew I wanted them to do it, and then do the other cakes too. I talked to the owner Maria and she was open for a cake tasting, we discussed ahead of time what we were looking for: seasonal cakes. One of the main reason for that is that we want to use ingredients that are in season and don't have to be exported from far far away.
So on top of the pumpkin cheesecake she suggested: a hummingbird cake, a spice cake, an apple cake and then Hubby wanted a red velvet cake.

We decided not to try the spice cake because the other options just seemed more unique. So one evening after work, we went to meet Maria at Filo Pastrie.
A table was waiting for us with 4 plates, two glasses of water, forks and 4 giant slices of cake.

From left to right and top to bottom, I present you:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cake
Hummingbird Cake
Apple Cake.

I was salivating at the view. Maria sat down with us to listen to what we though.
I started with the Pumpkin Cheescake, I think that no matter what it was going to taste I already knew it was in. It was as light as a cloud, just like whipped cream (I don't mean calorie light). Pumpkins are not quite in season yet when we tried it and while the taste was good, I think it will be even better comes november.

The second cake was the hummingbird cake made with pinapple, pecans, banana and a cream cheese icing. Excellent, great texture and with a hint of cinnamon in it; it had my vote. Pineapple and banana are not exactly local products, but I think we'll make an exception on that one.

The third cake was the Apple Cake, also with pecans in it, and with plenty of spices. Cloves were very obvious and I just loved it. A perfect fall cake. The icing was also covered with crushed pecans making the outside of the cake as beautiful as tasty.

The last cake was the Red Velvet Cake that Hubby suggested. While it was good, it tasted a bit bland after the three others. I guess I was expecting something else, I was told it had chocolate and I really couldn't taste it.

So in the end we eliminate the Red Velvet Cake from our list and decided instead to have a Mochat Chocolate Torte. Thicker (a nice change to the other cake's textures) and definitely more chocolaty. I like chocolate and when it comes to it I don't do it halfway. We did not taste it, but given the other cakes, I have no worries that it will be fabulous.
We will also have a least one Pumpkin Cheescake, a Hummingbird Cake and a two tiers Apple Cake. Yes, we will after all have a "ceremony cake" for us to cut. The decoration wil be the crushed pecans all over, and I'm consiedering finding a few really pretty fall leaves, washing them well and placing them around the cake at the last minute.

No need to tell you that I was not very hungry for dinner after that. I did very much enjoyed the cake left overs in the day after and I really look forward to have our guests try those great cakes. Our baker will also be bringing the cakes on site.

What's your favorite cake? Did you pick that one for your wedding or did you go for something more traditionnal?

A deal on a ring

2008-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Deciding what ring we wanted for me motivated us to find his.
We had already looked at rings before to get a general idea of what he was looking for. Back then I had ahd to drag him in the store for him to look at someting.
From the star he had be adamant about no gold. He definitely did not want yellow gold, but even white gold was out of the question. The metal is too soft for him, especially being outdoors all the time and climbing at times (although he would remove the ring in such a case).

So we looked at alternative metals: tungsten and titanium were the main ones, we also considered stainless steel. At first he mentionned silver, but I was against that one. Sure silver is a precious metal, but it's just as fragile as gold and it darkens a lot as it ages and I didn't see that as a good symbol of our marriage. We had in mind the qualities and flaws of each metals.

That day I had a special incentive for him, especially after going over budget for my ring: two jewlery stores at the mall were going out of business and had clearance prices on most of their stock.
Neither jewleries had stainless steel ring; but they had tungsten and titanium. I think it's again the practical part that helped Hubby decide. Tungsten is much heavier than gold and you do really feel it on your finger, while titanium on the other side is a lot lighter, and for him easier to wear because of that.
Hubby tried several rings, he didn't want something too wide and something flat.
The first store had a potential winner, 5-6mm wide and the price was great.

But it was in the second store that we find the right one. By then he had decided that titanium was what he wanted for its lightness and practicality. They only had one ring left in titanium, 7mm wide, 2 different polish and Hubby loved it. It was just a little bit more expensive than the previous ring, but still under $100. So even if he looses it, we can always get a replacement. The size was right so we left with it and I went to play in the garden with my camera and the rings.

What metal did your husband/future husband picked for his ring? Any reasons?

Too busy

2008-10-10T21:32:00.003-04:00

I'm congested and not feeling my best, a lot or work to do at work and way too little time with my husband have made me stay away from blogging a lot more than usual. Not to mention that, well, we're less than a month away from the big ceremony. I am so excited about it. I really cannot wait.
I'm on my own this week-end, so I'm going to try to write a few posts and schedule them for the coming weeks.

Several things have happened since my last post:
We picked Hubby's ring.
My dress's alterations are on their way
What to wear under the dress
The climber's garter project
Getting ready for the guests
Working on the food.
Hubby's outfit options.
The right shoes for me
The cake tasting

How to wear it?

2008-09-09T11:16:00.001-04:00

When we got married at the courthouse I had my godsister do my hair. She created many loose curls in it and I just clipped my Hawaiian Plumeria flower on the left side as it means you are taken. It was a way for me to honor his mom.

I like it, it was simple and worked great with our civil, unplanned wedding and having no veil.
So that made me think, why not work it out the same way for the wedding and have the girls do my hair? It seems like a good idea and helps to stay within budget.

I still can't decide what hairstyle I want for our family wedding. The strapless gown calls for an updo that would beautify the cut.
The season calls for something that covers the shoulders a bit.
My personal taste tells me I don't want my hair in my face.

If the loose curls worked well for our wedding I did have some issues with it though. The first being that my hair is so thin and straight that it does not hold any haircut unless you put a gazzillion pins in it, by the evening most of the curls were gone. The second part was that I had hair in my face.

Now I've veen looking around at possible options. I do not want something too formal. Some loose hair here and there would have my preference, and because of the veil and the "no hair in the face" I need it attached somewhere.
So here are some of the styles I liked on theknot.com, the only part is: if I go for any of those styles: I'll need a hairdresser.
My hair is now below my shoulders, almost at armpit level.

The half up-do:
The few curls make it romantic, it's loose enough not to look strict. We could probably pull off this one on our own.

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realweddings/View.aspx?type=1&id=24420

An other half up-do
Again very loose so that it doesn't look too formal.

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realweddings/View.aspx?type=1&id=13626

Curlz
This is the one I probably dreamed about as soon as I started thinking of weddings. Those curls are just gorgeous, feminine, defined and yet a bit loose. I love the few strands of hair going down too.
But how long would it take to do this? And would it hold?

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realweddings/View.aspx?type=1&id=14038

The informal updo
It has a touch of simplicity to it, and yet it's sophisticated and beautiful. I do not have a brooch to put in my hair though. The bride described her hair to be just like mine so it's duable.

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realweddings/View.aspx?type=1&id=20023

Original bun:
I love the way the hair is attached in the back. It's very unique and can probably handle not to have flowers at all. I would definitely need a hairdresser to make sure it holds throughout the day. It fits our outdoor wedding too.

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realweddings/View.aspx?type=1&id=20805

How are you going to wear your hair. Did you choose the style for it's look or for the practicality?

I'll have it cutstom, please (part 2)

2008-09-05T06:56:00.000-04:00

I left you at the moment when I opened the door of Blue. It was a Saturday morning and the store was calm. I could here some sounds upstairs but no one came to greet me, so I silently moved aroudn and used the opportunity to look around without being questioned by the sales assistant.
After a few minutes, someone came down. He presented himself as the assistant of the jewlers and took time to show me what they had and answered most of my questions.
I tried a few beautiful rings, some thin, some larger.

Here is a sample of their work, all copyright to Blue.

As you can see there is definitely creativity involved.

At that point I knew I wanted texture, so I was attracted by the brushed rings, the hammered silver bands and the engraved ones. The assistant told me that it could be difficult to do a thin hammered ring, so I took that option out of my mind. It didn't matter because my eyes go caught on this:
A diamond engraved band. I didn't want a diamond though, but thankfully the assistant had a few simple band with the hand engraving to show me. I tried it and well loved it. I liked the yellow tones of gold and the contrast it made with my ring. However my husband's opinion was also important, and this ring was twice what I was thinking to put in my wedding band given our budget so I decided to come back with him.

The second visit was a fiasco. We were on our way out of town, I was expecting a wedding shoes delivery from UPS and stalking my phone to hear from them and knowing I was stressed, my husband didn't say a word when all I wanted was to hear his opinion. All he said was that white gold matched my engagement ring better.
But after I calmed down we talked in the car and though more about our options. I did still want a mix of golds so when he came up with the idea on his own I couldn't help myself from dreaming about a 3 level ring, with an engraved center.
We came back the next week and takled with the actual jewler.
It was quickly obvious that my idea was not feasable for them.
The engraving would dissapear when they would "melt/attach" the 3 sections together, not to mention that that technique is super expensive.

I was ready to just settle for my pretty engraved ring in white gold, but I played with the rings on my fingers a little more and we decided that a white gold and an engraved yellow gold ring looked pretty together as the yellow gold was framed between the e-ring and the other one. I loved it. There was the option to get the middle one engraved and instead of getting them together like one ring, the jewler could do a two point attach in the back. There would still be a little space in between but they wouldn't move. Since the e-ring would be separated from the rest anyway I wasn't bothered.

However, again the budget price put a halt on things: it would be a thousand dollar. Ouch! But I loved that idea so much.
So what we decided was to get the engraved ring now as a wedding band and that later on we would add a white gold band and attach it. That girl loves the idea. The hubby said "Thanks!" pretending to be trapped in a "buy me later gift".

I decided on the green gold verstion (it has more silver and zinc than copper added to the gold), it looks more like the medieval gold and I love it. What I love too is that this is all recycled gold and my little eco-friendly mind sure is happy with it.

Here is what it looked like with a way too big for my hands ring:

On the way to the car I told Hubby: "We could have this second ring for a special occasion, like having kids.." I paused and then said "Do you want to have kids now?" Yeah, I'm a girl and I can't wait to have my rign.

How was your wedding ring shopping process? Did you already plan to have an anniversary ring?

I'll have it custom, please (Part 1)

2008-09-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

I didn't have much of a saying in the choice of the engagement ring. I remember once talking with him about it, way before we seriously thought about getting married. At the time it was my opinion that it should be a diamond ring. Time went by and I became more open to other options, I think I would have loved a ruby or a sapphire ring. Ruby is my birthstone and I just love sapphires.
But when he went down on one knee, it was with a white gold, princess cut diamond ring and I couldn't have cared less what it was made of, I loved it for what it meant.

We decided not to exchange rings for our civil ceremony. We wanted to keep some of the meaningful moments of a wedding to share with our families on our big family wedding day. So I didn't even bother thinking about what I wanted until a few months ago.

At first I though about a simple gold band just like my parents and my grandparents had (source):

And yes I wanted yellow gold because I like the contrast between white and yellow, also to me it represents two different people uniting their lives to each other.
The simple gold band was also great for our small budget wedding. But of course I couldn't settle on it.

The more I thought about it, the less I felt satisfied with the plain band. Yes I could not find something else. Most chain jewelery only have either plain bands or diamond bands, nothing in between.
I knew I wanted gold, but I also realized that I wanted texture like a mix of brushed and shiny gold. They did not have that.
So I went and searched online.
There was one ring I kind of liked: a 14k Two tones ring, 3.5mm wide. It was a little bit over $200 and came from www.weddingbands.com Link.

But I still was not entirely satisfied. So I went around town to check out jewlers who make their own rings.
First I went to Jewels That Dance, it looked quite posh. The sales person even asked me if I was here on vacation and I was like "No, I'm local". It made me feel like it was there only for tourists and that they didn't feel like the local people could afford their work. Indeed I could not. But the attitude really threw me off. And while there were a few pretty rings, there wasn't anything I really wanted to try either.

The only other place in Asheville that I knew to make custom jewelry was Blue, in Biltmore village. Many times I came by their door but was too late to get a sneak pick of their work. Finally, one saturday while my hubby was at work, I pushed the door open.

...to be continued

Have fun with the Rules at Kelly's Closet

2008-09-02T10:20:00.002-04:00

Hubby, no peaking! If you're smart you won't look down and spoil the surprise!

Moving in to the US to be with my husband has motivated me to blog, at first to keep my family in the loop and then just to share my experience as an expat with others. Therefore I started searching other French expat's blog in the US. It's thanks to that, that I found out about Kelly's closet. A fellow expat (Froggie) found her dress there and recommended the store.
So I went online and looked it up.
I fell in love with their way of thinking. Want to know why? Well read the rules posted on the website:

Source

Play dress up? That's exactly what I've been wanting to do. Be positive about yourself, don't say you're fat? How come those rules are not posted in every woman store already? It's just a dress and the partner is more important? Agreed.
This all philosophy that is advertised for from the start made me smile and feel so excited about going to the store. I didn't know if I would find my dress there but I knew that I wanted to.
My fellow expat had found a dress for $500 and told me that while they do have expensive things they also have options for smaller budget and that you are not looked upon for not buying the pricey items.

Just in case though, when I called to make the appointment, I mentionned the price range I was looking for. The woman on the phone told me it would not be a problem that they had items in that price range.
Already in good spirits from a better shopping experience at David's Bridal I was so excited to go to Kelly's Closet. It's located in Little Five Points in Atlanta and the area could not be cuter and more fitted to the store.
The windows and doors are painted a light yellow, the store is bright from natural sunlight and screams happiness. Just looking at the windows from outside I knew I was going to have fun just by looking at the dresses there. The store has two parts: one with street clothes and the other is the bridal shop where you can only go with an appointment.
They never take more than three brides at a time and while it's not a big room you never feel crowded, there are two sofas for the bride's crew, tasty decoration and the dresses are well organized on the walls.

My assistant, Kristen, quickly welcomed me and told me that I was allowed to try any dress I wanted. I could try every single dress in the shop if I wanted, it wouldn't be a problem. No dress limit like every other place I had been to. I explained again my budget limit, she was honest with me and told me most of their dresses were in the higher ends, as high as $7000. However they had some dresses under $500 and while I looked around she would bring them in the dressing room for me. She also told me that I was welcomed to try the expensive dresses too, as long as I made sure not to fall in love with the ones I knew I couldn't buy.
While she want looking for budget dresses my SIL Kalisa joined us, the fun could begin.

I knew right away the first one I wanted to try. I was out of budget, but there was no way I could resist it, it had caught my eye and my SMIL as well: a Suzanne Ermann dress.
While you technically can not take pictures in the shop, our sales assistant closed her eyes when I explained that my Mom was in France and that I wanted to share the experience with her. We didn't get all the dresses on camera though.
An other thing I loved with my sales assistant: Kristen came in the dressing room with me, and while some brides might feel uncomfortable with it, I was oh so happy to have someone helping me put every gown on.

I loved that dress. It was so much fun to be in it, I felt very unique and absolutely adored the bottom of the dress. I was not 100% in love with the top though and it was out of budget anyway. But oh so fun.

Dress: Suzanne Ermann

This one was very greek goddess like, but it had one slight problem: from the side I looked like I was pregnant. Err no thank you, not yet. I think it might be a Nicole Miller but I'm not certain.

Now I have to tell you the story of how I found The dress. You see, Kristen brought in a few dresses from the other side, but then she brought me to one of the small dressing rooms. There was a rack there with a bunch of sample sale dresses from the last season, every tag had punches marking the discount on the price. Kristen looked through and selected about 3 dresses within my price range and then told me to look myself in case she missed something. I looked and my eyes caught a piece of lace, I grabbed the tag and looked at it. It said 99.
-"99? As in 99 dollars?" I asked not believing it could be right.
-"Yes it is" she said smiling.
If only for the price I had to try it.

And so I did, along with other dresses: a silk mermaid gown, beautiful and I loved the fabric and the $99 price tag, but I felt that I couldn't move enough in it. A stunning dress that made me feel like Wendy's mother in Peter Pan: 1900's style, glamours, sleek and out of price, not to mentioned that it felt more like a cocktail dress than a bridal dress to me. There was a vintage style Claire Pettibone with tulle straps. All beautiful but not quite the one.
In the middle of all this was the One, my $99 dress. It had three pieces: the crinoline, the dress and the corset style top. It had a trumpet shape just like I wanted, it wasn't a diamond white color, just like I wanted, it had lace, a lace up back and I felt good in it. It also had much more train than I was planning for and it was strapless but for once I let go of my initial ideas because I just felt so good in it.
I couldn't help myself from playing with the lace. Indeed the lace is set up in funky ways, hanging down in some spot and covering a beautiful dupioni silk top. The skirt gives a floating effect and yet follows my curves in flattering ways.

I bought my dress there and then, along with a veil that was about as much as the dress itself. It needed a few alterations of course, and I could have had them done at the store, but it was a bit of a drive for me and I figured I could find something closer.

So here is the One ( I had to try it again at the end and didn't want to take it off). My SIL told me that the dress looked fun and creative just like me.

The original price tag was $3650, I bought a dress 97%off! The whole experience seemed like it was meant to be. The dress is by Linda Britten, an Australian designer.

I can only recommend Kelly's Closet to all Southern brides. If you are looking for something unique, great customer service and a fun experience this is the place.

Kelly's Closet
1649 McLendon Avenue NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
kellyscloset.net

Did you have an unusual experience finding your dress? Did any part of your planning made you feel like something was meant to be?

Unexpected consequences

2008-08-31T10:42:00.001-04:00

It has been two years since I left my home country. Two years in which I've tried to keep in touch with not only my family, but also the few close friends I've known since high-school.
Last year, as we were about to get married at the courthouse I found out that my Senior High School friend M. had her relationship with D. going down the drain.
I wanted to be there for her, but the email she used back then was the one she shared with D. And I lost touch completely.
I considered contacting the Hospital were she works at a nurse to get in touch and my Mom even found out how to do that but the process was quite complicated. I have to admit that I got caught up with things and never got around to go through the Hospital administration to get a card to her.

But when came the time to send the wedding invitations, I still wanted her to know about it. So I used the French white pages. I assumed she was still living in the same city, and only one address came out with her name. So deciding that in the worst case someone would think I was a nutcase, I sent an invitation out, hoping it would be to her.
Several weeks later, I remembered to check the wedding website and I had a wonderful surprise. I had forgotten to remove the password. So I had a little note from my friend M. asking for it, and along was her email address.
Luck was on my side. It was the right person living at that address!
She might not be able to make it to the wedding, but who cares, we are back in touch again and that is all I could ask for.

Have you gotten back in touch with lost friends because of your wedding?

David's Bridal redeems itself (The Dress part 4)

2008-08-29T20:27:00.001-04:00

If you read Part 3 of my dress search, you know that my experience at the David's Bridal in Asheville was far from good.
I had a good time at the small bridal boutique on Charlotte's St, but I didn't find The One there and I knew their dresses where not in my budget.
The only other bridal store in Asheville I knew about looked like they had beautiful dresses, and although I considered going there just for the fun of it, in the end I went against it for budget reasons.

So I was at the point of not knowing where to search next. I went online on pre-owned wedding dresses websites. I considered driving to Charlotte, NC; Greenville, SC and Atlanta, GA. All great places but without a bridal shop name it doesn't do much.
It's thanks to the blog of an other French expat' that I came across THE place: Kelly's Closet, which I will talk about later. I also wanted to go to La Reine, but they were closed the day of my visit. So I decided to go to Atlanta, we would spend Memorial Day week-end at my step-mother-in-law's place in the Georgia mountains and spend one day in Atlanta to do bridal shopping. My SMIL was very happy to join me and so was my SIL.
The day before we drove down, I talked with a friend and explain how bad of an experience I had had at the Asheville's David's Bridal. She was surprised. She had been to the one in Kenessaw for bridesmaid dresses and her sister's dress and did not regret it. I had a few doubts, but I decided to give them a last shot.

Before our road trip, I showed the previous shopping pictures to my SMIL so she would have an idea of what I looked good in and what I liked. I called David's Bridal 30mn before getting there to check if they had an opening and they did.
So we went it.
I was impressed at the size of the store: much bigger of course so close to Atlanta. But more than that, I was invited to look through the racks of dresses while I waited for my sales assistant instead of staying in the middle of the store. When the sales assistant came in she was so friendly, hugged us, quickly asked about my tastes and went on to the business of helping me find dresses. She listened to both my SMIL and I.
I tried 3 dresses in one hour compared to 4 dresses in 3 hours in Asheville. No comment.
She was there all along as I tried various dresses, said what she saw and was shocked when I told her about my previous experience. She even called several times since to check with me.
I think her name was Sheilah, and she definitely redeemed David's Bridal in my eyes.
I now know you can and should be picky with your sales assistant, and that there are great ones in chain stores too.

As far as the dresses, all the ones I tried were withing budget: $399-499 + a $50 discount if I bought it today.
The first one was dress T9395 A satin trumpet gown with beaded metallic lace, satin empire band with bow, and lace-up back. Chapel train.
While the train was definitely too long for my taste I absolutely loved the lace-up back. I tried it in Ivory with a Champagne ribbon.
Style VW9340, Beaded lace trumpet with godet inserts at skirt hem and charmeuse sash. Sweep train. I tried it before, but this time I got the right size.
Pretty, but it did not feel like the one either.

Styel EK9343, Floral print satin/chiffon burnout halter gown with beaded empire band. Sweep train.
I liked the halter and V neck look of it. But it wasn't the trumpet shaped I was looking for.
Although I let the sales assitant write down the styles of dresses I tried just in case, I couldn't decide which one I liked best. A sure sign that I had not found the right dress yet.
But I had a good time and it made a good introduction to our visit to Kelly's closet.

What experience did you have with bridal chain stores?

I wish I had guts (The Dress part 3)

2008-08-26T21:00:00.004-04:00

I don't know what your personality is like but mine is the kind who doesn't speak up. It's not that I don't want to really. It's just that most of the time I simply don't know what to say when I'm in an uncomfortable situation. So rather than saying something right away I think about it, and by the time I have the perfect answer well, it's two days later and often too late. Not only that, but I try to be accommodation, too accommodating and when you are a bride this is not a good idea.
See the third time I went shopping for a dress, I brought my aunt-in-law and her granddaughter with me and things did not go as planned.

I had asked to have a new sales person, because the previous one was just not helping me. The manager was very accommodating and booked my appointment with an other lady. I had explained that the previous sales assistant had not been very helpful and that well she wasn't there for me. So I definitely had expectations with this new sales assistant.
When I smelled her cold ashtray breath I didn't get a good feel. I am a non smoker and while if other smoke or not is none of my business I expect a sales person to at least chew on a mint or something so I don't have to smell that. I'm sorry but ashtray breath does not ring quality service in my mind. I should have known right away, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
I wanted the granddaughter to have fun too. She is 11 and taller and bigger than me, I figured that at that age she would enjoy the fun of trying on dresses with the only goal of playing dress up and indeed she did.
That's the second time my opinion of the sales person went down. The way she commented on D's size was plainly and simply rude. So what if she is not a size 0 at 11 years old? She is there to try dresses. I had to ask her to go get a measuring tape to find out what dress size D needed.

When it came to my turn to try on dresses (because it seems we couldn't do both at the same time), things turned sour. I was simply left on my own with no idea where the sales person was. In the end my aunt-in-law told the store manager and that person came herself to help me, a little bit. It took three hours to try on three dresses, and the atmosphere and lack of help made me loose my smile and my interest in dresses. I simply didn't care anymore.

To top it all I had a conversation with my aunt-in-law about who were my bridesmaids. When I told her who they were, she turned to her granddaughter and said "Would you like to be one?".
What the heck? I was so shocked. I felt trapped too, she had not asked me but she had asked D, in front of me, without giving me a chance to discuss it. And because I was at the time hoping she would help me make a dress if I couldn't find one I like, I didn't have the guts to say no. Instead all I could say was: "Yes D, would you like to be one of my bridesmaid?"
I could have slapped myself.
While I later on figured out she could be a Jr Bridesmaid which would be much more appropriate to her age, I still felt like I had been forced upon a choice that was not my own.

So I wish I had some guts yes. I wish I had told the sales person that I expected her to be there for me and help me, here my questions and be there when I needed an other dress. Trust me I did not act like a bradzilla and I know I deserved better.
I wish on the way out that I had told the manager of the store that I'm very sorry but given the lack of customer service they provided they could be sure I would not buy my dress there, and that she should get her sales person to wash their teeth after smoking.
And finally I wish I had told my aunt-in-law: "No! No, I'm sorry but I have three bridesmaids and that's plenty enough. No offense but I'll find something else for Dorian to do if she wants to be involved in the wedding."

Oh and because it was dress shopping non the less here are some pictures (all dresses David's Bridal):

I loved the lace and the light feel of the dress, it was the wrong size however

The halter, trumpet lace dress that I thought was the one.

An A-line champagne dress I didn't like but tried to please the aunt-in-law

Me and Dorian (my unplanned Jr Bridesmaid)

Trying on a veil

Do you have the guts to stand up and give your opinion? Or are you like me and do you get in complicated situations just because you can't say no?

E-share the news

2008-08-22T14:36:00.000-04:00

With the family scattered all around the globe and my heavy usage of Internet, it was obvious to me that we should have a wedding website.
I wanted it to be a fun informative tool where our guests could find information that would not fit in the invitation unless we made it a book.

Now all that is great but you have to find the support for it. Although not an Internet professional I do have a little bit of html knowledge (I learned a lot with http://www.lissaexplains.com/) and I know how to create a webpage from scratch. But my skills were definitely too low when it came to creating a full website where every page would have the same background, with an index to the side and pretty pictures everywhere.
I considered using a site like freewebs to create my page but quickly dropped the idea for the reasons mentioned above.

So I started searching pre-made wedding websites were I could host our informations.
I had several criterias in mind:
1)A free website. With our tiny budget I wanted to avoid that kind of expense.
2)A website with flexibility where I could put the information I wanted to share with our guests and even better: pages that I would translate in French.
3)A pretty background. I couldn't see myself with a background that would scream :"Chessy" at me.

Armed with my searching page I typed in "free wedding website".
The first one I came across was:

http://www.ewedding.com/
Their websites have a cute intro and you can create a lot of different pages with various information.
It also has unlimited photos, events, rsvp, etc. You can create files to download and it has a lot of very fun features.
Except that, when you look into their packages option, the Free Website really does not offer much and you have to pay to be able to use all those features.

http://www.ourweddingday.com/
Only offers it free for the 30 day trial.
It is however free for David's Bridal customers.
The main thing was: I couldn't see the features or the background without registering. Wanting to avoid Spam and not sure if just trying David's Bridal dresses was enough to be considered a customer, I decided to skip.

http://www.weddingannouncer.com/
I think I actually started a site there, but gave up because I didn't really like the background and I couldn't have all the information I wanted on the website. It has some cute choices and the basic information you might want to share though

http://www.weddingchannel.com/
A bit like ewedding, they temp you with a free version but you can only put so much in it and should pay to share all you want.
The plus part is that they make a donation to the charity of your choice if you post the registry there.

There were many more but in the end it was under the advice of a friend that I choose to use
http://www.mywedding.com/
Without signing up I was able to look at their various themes and I could even change it's color a bit. They have a wide variety of templates that can fit just about any theme or season.
They are entirely free and not only do they have all the pages I needed but I could customize some of them.
It's very user friendly too, so even without html knowledge you can create a beautiful site.

Do you have a wedding website? Which one are you using and why?

Unplanned dress shopping (The dress part 2)

2008-08-20T10:24:00.005-04:00

My second dress shopping experience was completely unplanned.
My car was under repair and my husband dropped me north of downtown were I had an interview. I had been planning to take the bus home, not realizing that here on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, public transportation was not functioning. It was a cold day, I was all bundled up, and while I walked downtown to catch a bus (I still though there was one) I went by this very cute boutique that I had always wanted to go in:

Wedding Inspirations
Just the look of the boutique had always made me want to go in it.
But when I face the door I found out that they were not open on Mondays. I was ready to turn around when a sales person came and opened the door just for me. She had an appointment coming up that morning but offered to take some time with me.
I couldn't believe my luck.

She quickly asked for some information about me and our wedding and then explained how things worked. She pointed at the rack sales spot, showed me around the other rooms and then gave me several red ribbons that I was to attach to the dresses I liked.
What a difference from David's Bridal where I had to select gowns from a catalogue. This time I could feel the fabrics, feel the weight, look at the details and the shades.

The atmosphere was warm and cozy, I didn't feel pressured by the sales person and I took my time to look around and select gowns that caught my eyes. I was then escorted to the dressing room (a former bathroom) that made me feel in a boudoir. She then brought me a few dresses at a time.

Because I was on my own and didn't have my camera, I never took any pictures and I didn't think to write down the names of the dresses I liked either.
I had been looking for halter top, ivory color and trumpet shaped dresses. I didn't want really want an A line dress that seemed to puffy to me. There were few. So my selection included anything with straps.
No underskirt or bustier to struggle with made my experience much more pleasant.

I really like the second dress I tried. It was a Jasmine Couture gown made with silk. I mention to the salesperson that I like natural material, she says she is not surprised because all the dress I selected are like that.
I feel pretty in that dress, the trumpet shape is definitely flattering, the décolleté looks good and the natural silk color and texture looks great against my skin.
But when I look at the price back inside the dressing room, I read $1080 on the tag. Oh dear, natural fabrics means luxury tastes!

I try an other dress with an interesting structure but it's obvious that the color does not work with my complexion. The sales person uses the opportunity to tell me that I have a skin with blue undertones and that I should therefore avoid fabrics with too much yellow in it as well as diamond white that would wash me out.
So off white and ivories are my colors. Good that was what I had in mind anyway.

I also tried this Alfred Sung style 6631 wit organza and sateen ribbons, it's an A line but I do like it.
Nothing more catches my eyes after that so I headed downtown after thanking the salesperson and promising to come back with friends next time to get their opinion.

That's when I find out that there are no bus. I will have to walk miles to get back home. Not so exciting when it's close to noon on a cold January day.
On my way I stop by David's bridal with the simple goal of picking up their new collection brochure. It's close to 2pm and I wasn't really in the mood to try things on, but the sales person there insist that I should.
I get the same sales assistant as the last time. I don't like her. She makes me follow her, has me sit down on a chair and then leaves me to wait. I start chatting with a mother of the bride, a wonderful mom who will end up helping me out more than the sales person throughout the experience.

I spotted a new dress in the brochure that I wanted to try. It's far from what I had imagined so far: covered with lace when I was thinking of a simple gown.
The dress as select is Style: T9512, it's an all over lace, trumpet shape with an illusion halter top and a ribbon with the color of your choice in the middle. I love it, the shape falls so well on me. I want to try it with a coper colored belt but of course the closest they have is chocolate. I like it but the near-by mother of the bride tells me it makes it look more casual. The only thing is: it's way too long and it does not exist in a petite size, not to mention the $800 price tag.

The sales person believe then that she knows what I want and brings me an other dress. It simply looks awful on me. The sales assistant obviously does not understand what I am looking for nor what works with my figure.
I do try one last dress though, the one that my neighbor had been trying: Style: CV226, it's pretty too with it's empire waist and beaded lace sheath.
I like it too although not quite as much as the first one, and again it's close to $1000. But with little energy left I have to put a halt to my dress shopping and head home.

But the visit was not fruitless, it did help me again to define what I was looking for, and the T9512 made me realize that I do love lace and that maybe it's part of what I would like for my wedding dress.

Did you ever go shop on your own? Do you think it made it easier or harder to select gown without a close friend's opinion?

A unique Cheese Cake

2008-08-17T06:00:00.002-04:00

I dream of a pumpkin cheesecake for our wedding and I've been looking for alternative ways to present our wedding cakes.While searching around the web, I came upon this.
I though oh, cool, a cheesecake that imitates cheese. What a fun surprise for the guests right? It's beautiful and definitely creative
...
Then I read the description
"a tantalising blend of mould-ripened blue, mild firm-textured and crumbly smoked cheeses"
What? Mould-rippened blue? You mean... no way!

Ok, I'm French, I come from the country that probably makes the most variety of cheese. But when I search for a cheesecake I was not thinking a cheese-cheese cake.

The Wedding Cheese Cake Co. says the following:
"Let The Wedding Cheese Cake Co. make your wedding day the one event people will always remember with a beautiful wedding cake made entirely of cheese! "
That is indeed something our guests would remember, but sorry as much as I love cheese this is not what I was looking for.

I wonder if people really do get that for their wedding cake. I could be a good alternative if you don't have a sweet tooth and are more on the savory side though.

What is the weirdest thing you came across while doing wedding research?

Image source: http://theweddingcheesecakeco.co.uk/

I do not want to look like a meringue (The Dress Part 1)

2008-08-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

I never dreamed about a big wedding. Probably because I never real thought that I would meet someone I would marry.
I have to admit that I was very lucky when we had our civil wedding, I had a simple dress (picture to the left) that I had bought at Etam years ago. I saw that dress in the display, it ended up being the only one there and my size. I bought it for 50€. It was simple yet beautiful: ivory linen, sheath with 3 flowers embroideries in a light pink on it. Of course linen wrinkles extremely quickly, but I loved that dress and it worked perfectly for our wedding and one friends saw the pictures they couldn't believe it wasn't an official wedding dress.
I was happy given how quick things went that I had something available right then and there.
The pearl necklace and earings my sister-in-law let me borrow me also worked perfectly with the outfit. I couldn't have been happier.

When we decided to have a formal wedding though, I knew I wanted a real wedding dress. The only thing I was sure of was that I didn't want to look like a meringue. I also wanted something that would look different from my first "wedding dress".
I have too many memories of friends of my parents marrying in puffy outfits that really did not flatter the bride. I have curves, I am not a size 0, and guess what? I am proud of it.

So when I had a friend visiting in August 07, with only a fall wedding date in mind, I went in to the only wedding shop I had seen: David's Bridal. I did not even know at the time that it was a chain, nor that appointments are usually required, that's how ignorant I was.
With no definite idea of what I wanted I pointed to some dresses on the magazine that I was curious to try and let the assistant do the rest.

I had a hard time putting my first dress on. What with the corset and the underskirt and all those zippers that I couldn't get a hang off. I felt a bit abandonned. Thankully my friend was there and I managed not to get out of the dressing room in underwear.
Here are the various dresses I tried in that shop, and as you will see I tried very different things from halter top to sleeveless, A-Line to mermaid and long to short.

The first wedding dress I tried, ever. It was nice but it was hard to put one and...
... the cathedral lenght trail is not exactly my cup of tea.
The second dress is, beside The One, my mom's favorite dress. She of course only saw the dresses on line. I wasn't too fond of the strapless idea though.
This one is probably one of the least flaterring dresses on my figured that I tried. I was curious about a halter top, but obviously that shape is not for me.
This one was quite cute, but being a petite size didn't help to make me look taller. It's also not the best lenght for a November wedding in the mountains as I was not planning to wear wool leggings!

I had fun in the last one. I think it's mainly because by the fifth dress I started feeling like a real bride and I really like the trumpet shape of the outfit.I didn't come out of this first visit with a dress but it helped me tremendously to understand what I was looking for and what shapes looked flattering on me.

Did your first dress shopping experience gave you an idea of what you were looking for? Or if you already knew what you wanted, did it changed it?

DIY Invitation cost breakdown

2008-08-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Our invitations are done and in the mail. It is now time to break down our invitation cost. More pictures to come:

Invitations supplies
100 Marquis Ecru Outer envelop 6x6 (LCI Paper) - $23.00
50 12x12 Card Stock Soft White Linen (LCI Paper)- $16.00
+ shipping (LCI Paper) $8.50
50 Paper stock nepalse paper in Brown (Nepalese Paper)-12x5.75 - free (should have been $20)*
30 yard of 3/8 inch chocolate brown (AC Moore) - $11.17
24 yards of 1/8 inch chocolate brown (AC Moore) - $2.14
Cutting paper at office max - $1.25
Total $62.06

Other
Stamps:
12.18 (heart) + 21.75 (blueridge)+ 14.85 (postcard) +23.56 (dragonfly) - $72.34
Calligraphy pen (Michael's) - $3.73
Total $76.07

Grand Total $138.13

With 78 invitation, some going to France and some going to the USA the average cost per invitation is $1.77 stamps included and $0.85 without stamps.
It should have been $2.02 with stamps if the Nepalese paper had been like ordered, 1.10 per invitation without the stamps.

I'm amazed we made them for so little, this definitely fits into our budget, and people love them.

After much searching I bought the ivory card stock with a linen effect and the square ivory envelops from LCI paper, the shipping was fast, the quality of the product excellent.
The paper was 12x12 so I brought it to office max to get it cut so it would fit in our printer: 6x6.

I wanted a paper with a texture to go around our invitations, I though about all sorts of different papers, went to Michael's, A.C. Moore, and then I found a small party store that had this beautiful nepalese paper. The shop could only sell some classic letter size paper from them, so I took the name of the company, searched it online and contacted them directly.
They sent me several paper samples in the brown shades and I selected light brown.
Now things got a bit complicated because I was making a custom order. Their nepalese paper is Lokta paper and it comes directly from Nepal.
At first I thought about ordering some 12x12 sheets, but I didn't want to waste tiny strips of paper and I also decided to save myself from the grueling cutting. So I ordered some 12x5&3/4 of an inch.
Because it was a custom order they had to ask for it directly in Nepal and it was to come with the next shipment (takes about 3 weeks). Well...
*The order was messed up and we received the wrong color, Nepalese Paper offered us to keep the paper for free because of it (it was a custom order), there was no shipping fee because we ordered other items with it.
The paper is of excellent quality, beautiful colors, and the customer service is excellent. It's a small company and they are very arranging. I talked directly with the owner chuck and when the paper came out wrong, he shipped it overnight at no extra charge so I could quickly decide whether to order the right paper or not. He is the one who offered not to charge me for the paper since 1)it was not what I asked for and 2)it's such a custom cut that he could not re-sell it.

I brought two different types of ribbons. I originally only wanted the small one, but the store only had so many left and I took them all. I ended up running out of it and had to go back to A.C. Moore. They had not been resuplied so I had to buy a larger version of the first ribbon. It was more expensive, but I don't regret it because it's very pretty too.

And finally, I wanted the names and address to be written down in a beautiful way. So I bought two calligraphy pens (I was not planning on running out of ink) at Michael's and wrote it all myself.

I'll do a post on how I made everything late on in case someone is interested.

My DIY Fall theme invitations

2008-08-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

The supplies I started with: Lokta paper stock, Ivory card stock, paper cutter, printer, scissor, ribbon.
I ended up with a different shade of paper than I ordered but it still worked out in the end.

The envelops for three destinations, stamp fun someone?
From left to right: France, USA, Canada
Addresses done with a calligraphy pen by myselfFirst glimpse at the opened envelop

Side viewFirst glimpse at the invitation

French version of our invitation

English RSVP

French RSVP

Directions Card. I also created some with a column about accommodations on the left for the out of town guests.
All the elements together

Rainbow of postcard stampsClose up

Did you choose to DIY your invitations?
If you have two cultures and two different languages, did you do a bi-language invitation or two separate invitations (one for each language)?

Design & Supplies

2008-08-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

As I mentionned Friday, I was doing some research on our invitations.
I thought finding the paper for it would be a breeze, well not so much. But I did use the wonderful tool that is internet to figure out how to make the invitations themselves.

I quickly realized that I would have to put the ribbon a certain way to make sure it kept the invitations closed, and that the traditional layout like the following one is easier to do to present things in a pretty way.

Source

I also decided that I wanted a fairly thing ribbon, something around a 1/4 of an inch.
I originally wanted some 6x6 invitations because I knew it would be easy to order a 12x12 paper to that size.

But the hardest part was the paper. I needed two kinds: the paper for the invitation itself, the map/direction and the rsvp and a different paper for the outside layer.
I did Michael's, A.C. Moore, nothing. They had a lot of scrapbook paper yes, but nothing I could use to create such a large number for invitations without exploding our budget.
Thankfully there is a little store: Carolina Party and Paper that had a better selection, well at least enough to get me inspired.
I looked over every single sheet of paper they had. I looked at envelops, card stock, paper stock and all the colors they had. I checked every sheet of every paper sample book in hope of finding the shade of chocolate paper with a bit of texture that my mind was set on.

This is how I came across the paper from nepalesepaper.com. The paper had a beautiful texture and and one of their paper in the sample book was exactly what I wanted. A rich chocolate color that would make you crave chocolate anytime. And they had one in the sample catalogue, they also had a very pretty light brown color that I enjoyed too because it reminded me of copper.
Because the store only carried their paper in 8&1/2 by 11, I decided to contact the company directly.
I discovered through their website that their paper is not only beautiful but good for our planet. Indeed it's the woman of the villages who make this paper and it's also tree free as Lokta is a bush that grows back quite quickly.
They sent me some paper samples so I could decide what I wanted and the owner gave me quotes on their prices.

Here are the various colors in the "brown" scheme that I received:
I decided to go for the light brown since it would look good with a chocolate ribbon. I made a custom order for 100 sheets of 12x5&3/4in paper stock. The goal was to use the paper on the outside of the invitation.

Inside, I visualized an ivory square card stock paper with fall motives such as leaves, or an oak tree branch.
Here are some examples:

I found envelops on envelopemall.com that I liked at $18.75 for 100 in chocolate or $12.95 for 100 in a natural color.

But in the end, because I wanted to order both envelops and cardstock paper from the same company to lower the shipping costs, I went with LCI Paper.

I also search for fall/autumn vectors and here is what I came across:
Autumn
Grunge Floral Background
grunge2
Flowers and foliage I really liked that one, it was actually used to make some very inspiring invitations.

I was thinking of using chocolate tone fonts.

Two websites that helped me to develop my ideas and narrow down what I really wanted are:
DIY invitations
www.invitesite.com they have incredible invitations. If only I could afford them.

Did you used internet to find your inspiration and supplies as well?

Inspire me oh paper.

2008-08-08T13:27:00.004-04:00

Although I quickly figured out some simple Save the Date to send by email to our families, I wasn't sure what I wanted for invitations.
After a visit at David's Bridal, I received a brochure full of a variety of invitations, each uglier than the other. Well ok, not that ugly, but just too "made in china by the thousands".
I looked over it to find some inspiration however, all it told me is that I was motivated to include fall colors in it.

I wasn't thinking much of invitations when I went to the local wedding show in January 08, but that's where the inspiration started. I picked up a bunch of documents and once I got home and went through it, one of the photographer's item caught my eyes:

It's a pocket folder with various information about the work of the photograph. I didn't necessarily want a pocket folder but I liked the shape, the color and the design with the star element and the ribbon.
I did some scavanging in the house and found some supplies that could help me make some sort of mock up: a sheet of black card stock left from Halloween, raffia, and some paper I cut and colored. Here was the result.

And the open version next to the Photographer's
Nothing overly exciting, but the idea was there.
I showed my work to my husband and I really liked the whole idea.

What I wanted was something that would match our wedding colors (chocolate and copper), so a chocolate paper wrapped by a copper ribbon and a fall leaf sticker.
All I had to do was to find the right paper right, which I thought would be so easy...

What was your first inspiration when it came to your invitations. What did you imagine of them?

Sweet tooth

2008-08-05T14:00:00.002-04:00

I have a huge sweet tooth. I always need candies or treats around the house. I love making cookies and cakes, they're actually the first thing I ever learned to cook.
So because of that, the choice of dessert for our wedding is something important. I don't really care how it looks but I want it to be good.

I've tried a few American like wedding cakes and well let's say that the spongy flavored cakes are not up to my expectations. Sure they are easy to turn into giant layered towers but taste wise... And don't even mention the crazy colored cakes I see in the supermarket. The fluorescent colors that only food coloring can provide, the thick glazing hiding the same cake over and over does not make me drool over the displays.
No offense but I grew up in places were we had more boulangerie-pâtisserie than supermarkets. My parents would always make a chocolate cake for our birthday and an other one of our favorites was the Gâteau Russe, a creamy cake with hazelnuts and probably more butter than I want to imagine. So yes my expectations were set high.
I believe that it's because of my disappointment in the taste of layered classic wedding cakes that I decided to go an other way.
Originally, because our meal will be a buffet, we figure we would do the dessert pot luck style and have locals bring some of their specialties. But my mother-in-law offered to pay for the cake.

Well, since Thanksgiving 2007 I've known exactly the kind of cake I want: a Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pumpkins will be in season in the fall and I want to use seasonal food as much as possible, not to mention that the cheesecake in question I tried for Thanksgiving was to die for.
So while I haven't had the time to go around bakeries and taste their products, I've done my researches.
Several options were available:
Greenlife Groceries: our local/organic supermarket had a daily and makes wonderful desserts.
Weel-bred Bakery and Cafe in Weaverville, north of Asheville, their cake display is of the drooling kind.
I even heard about a restaurant located in Marion in the next county were they are supposed to make an incredible variety of cheesecakes.
I was ready to explore all those options until Saturday.

What happened Saturday? We celebrated my birthday with some friends. I had told my husband that all I wanted was a party, a cake and 25 candles. Well he was up to it for the cake. He went to a pastry place called Filo were he usually gets his coffee in the morning and picked a Dulce de Leche/Caramel Cheesecake.
What can I say? That cheesecake was absolutely fantastic. Not only did it look good it was good, creamy, tasty and surprise: light.
I am used to the thick and filling texture of cheesecakes, well this one is about as light as a feather. I brought a slice to my co-worker who missed the party, she had a first bite, looked a me and was like:
"This is not a cheesecake"
"Yes it is."
"But it can't be. It's too light."

So yes you guessed it, I'm very very much tempted to have Filo make a Cheesecake (or two) for our wedding reception. I hope that we can organize a tasting because we also want other cakes available for our guests and we need some inspiration.

Are you choosing to do something different than a traditional layered wedding cake? If so what and what brought that choice?

Bon Voyage

2008-08-01T10:48:00.003-04:00

That's it. My invitations are gone. Well 75% of them that is, since 8 are still missing their address and 10 will be personally handed out at a party this week-end.
I am so happy they are done. It was exciting to put the stamps, cut them, get them ready and write the addresses with a calligraphy pen, at least for the first 20 or so. After that I was in robotic mode and well not the most sociable person.
I learned things while making them, little tips that could help other.
In the coming weeks, I'll try to calculate the cost of each invitations, and then once I know they've been received I'll show you pictures.
I'm very happy with what I did and I sure look forward to see the RSVP coming back to us in the mail.
I've read things about stamps that get messed up by the machine, well ours are square shaped so I know they will have to be handled manually. I was also lucky that there was this big line at the post office but I found a post office agent on the PO Box room and asked where I should put them and he took them all directly to the back room. So now the waiting begins, who will RSVP yes?

Here is the batch ready for the post office:
Where you just relieve or happy when you finally dropped your invitations at the post office? Did you asked to have them man handled?

Stamp your heart out

2008-07-30T09:37:00.006-04:00

When I decide to go for square shaped envelops, I quickly found out that there would be an extra cost to it. Well, who cares for a few more cents if this is the design you want right?
On top of it of course there was a postage fee change which means that half of the stamps on the market require additional stamps to be sent.

With the invitations close to being ready I was finally able to go to the post office today and see how much it would be.

We have about 29 invitations going to France for $1.20 a piece and close to 50 going to the US for $0.83 a piece.
Dang the stupid ribbon the A.C Moore ran out of, I had to buy the bigger size and because of it the US envelops can's fit in the slot and are therefore more expensive... I guess it's one of those little details you need to look into when you make the invitations. It's definitely not something I was thinking about.

Anyway, there is this one stamp I really want to use for France and only a few post office seem to have it left: The $0.75 stamp with the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is where we are so I definitely want to use it. So I need $0.45 more to make up for the total.

For the exact sum, here is one of the best choices

Or we pay $0.05 extra per envelop and it's:

For the United States it's an other story. The number of combinations is pretty high.

1) Mt McKinley+Silver coffee pot
+

2)Wedding heart+Florida Panther ($0.01 over)
+

3)Yosemite ($0.01 over)

4) Two wedding hearts ($0.01 over)

5)or two Love All Heart ($0.01 over)

6)or one of each ($0.01 over)

So it's hard to choose, although I feel like option 3: just the Yosemite stamp or option 4 the two wedding heart are the best one. It matches it's not too much and yes it costs 0.01$ more for each envelop, but really I'd rather pay $0.50 more than have a gazillion of stamps on the envelop.

Did the postage fee for your envelop made you look at off combinations of stamps?

All images: USPS.com

Invitation sweatshop

2008-07-28T09:29:00.002-04:00

Our living room has turned into a full invitation sweatshop. Ok we might not really sweat but finding a place to put your feet without tripping over a mountain of ribbons, a pile of envelops and invitations is getting pretty hard to do.
This is invitation week baby.
And soon I'll be able to reveal the whole design.

Double the honeymoon

2008-07-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

So as I mentionned yesterday, the green-card approval had us rethink or honeymoon plans.

Well there was one tiny issue though: I miss my home country and my family, and I miss them pretty bad. Even though some of them are coming to the wedding it's only a tiny part of my family. Not to mention that one of my grandmothers is not doing too well. So I want to go to France next year, I can't wait much longer. But I don't want to honeymoon in France either.
This might not seem like a big issue in itself, but the thing is I only get 10 paid days off per year, and a trip to France should be at least 2 weeks for us to see everyone. I didn't want our honeymoon to eat up all our vacation capital when France was my priority.

Last week-end, while hiking, Hubby brought up the subject of the honeymoon again. Well we know New-Zealand was out of the way, also with gas prices the way they are, the road trip did not seem like such a good idea anymore. So Hubby mentioned skiing in the Rocky Mountains. I was like great, but since I have the green-card, why not look into foreign country options. And that's when he mentioned British Columbia.
He was ready to go there and have me snick up without a green-card, to which I said no because it's not worth the risk, so I had forgotten about it.
But now, with the GC in hand, thing were completely different. As we walked up the mountain he told me about ski resort of Whistler, one of the best skiing/snowboarding in the world according to him. I liked the idea.
The next day I was looking at the B.C. tourism website, checking out B&B and completely in love with the idea.

Now the one thing is: he still wants to go to Hawaii and I still want to go to France, so we compromised. If things go according to program we would take 1 week off on honeymoon in B.C. at the end of winter, early spring. Maybe have his mom and step-dad meet us at the end of the trip somewhere on the west coast, and then take weeks off later on to go to France where one of my week would be unpaid.
And for Hawaii: we'll have an other "honeymoon" in 2010. Who said you have to honeymoon only once right? That way we can go to Kauai that I'm curious about and spend more time on Lanai too.

So now we need to plan things, decide on the dates and figure out all those little details. I'm very excited.

Images: http://www.verityjaneproductions.com & www.movingtofreedom.com

A road trip honeymoon?

2008-07-24T11:13:00.004-04:00

When we got married last year, we didn't have any money to go on honeymoon. Also my little brother was visiting for a few weeks and that mattered more than anything else. We were however very lucky. His family offered us a mini-moon: two nights in a bed and breakfast. It wasn't very far (45mn away) but we didn't care. It was such a nice moment for the two of us. I think it also helped us realize a bit more than we were married after the speedy ceremony.

Now we still wanted to go on a real honeymoon. His parents wanted us to as well and they offered to pay for it. I won't tell you the budget they gave us, but it's very generous.
Our dream was to go to New-Zealand. We are both very much attracted by this country and wanted to go there to hike and discover its beauties. However even with his parents generous offer, the plane tickets only would have eaten a huge portion of the budget. Not to mention the time to fly there. We realized we had to give up on that dream.
There was an other issue: we didn't know when I would get my green card, and without it I could not leave the country.To me a honeymoon should be done in a place you can't go to easily and a foreign country was definitely my top choice, even though I haven't seen more than the South-East of the United States. I was ready to wait as long as necessary to go on a honeymoon, but he was not.

Months went by and we were still waiting for the green-card interview. One day, I remember we were watching a program about other US states and both of us had the same idea at the same time, one of those: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking moment".
Since I couldn't leave the states, well then why not do a Road Trip and get the opportunity to discover some American landscapes we didn't know.
It might not sound like the most romantic idea in the word, but we were both excited at the thought, not to mention I wanted to see the West.
Now an other thing came up. As a way to thank his parents for paying for our honeymoon, my husband wanted to take a trip to Hawaii at the same time.
Now my though was: heck no!
Sure I want to thank them, but visiting your in-laws on a honeymoon is not a honeymoon move I'm in for. Not to mention that we would have to either rent a car for the road trip and then take the plane. An other reason against it? We've been to Hawaii twice and his parents live here and will do so for the rest of their lives. We can go anytime we want, we don't need special occasions. They already invited us once and paid for the plane tickets too. No matter what I did he still wanted to do it.

Well then came June and the green-card interview notice and just one week ago the interview itself where we were approved. This means that I can leave the country. We can go anywhere we want. So were thought about it again...

M.I.A.

2008-07-19T19:29:00.002-04:00

I've been slacking on the updates of all the wedding planning. Although I do have good excuses:
Our first anniversary was followed by my birthday and by a long awaited immigration interview.
We passed. I'm approved and should be receiving my Green Card in the coming weeks. So hopefully I'm going to be able to write down what's been going on.
I should be receiving some of the missing paper for the invitations, and we have some meetings to do with the officiant and photographs in the comings weeks and I'm trying to get my husband to go registring since I know his family is expecting us to. Not to mention I have to write down how I found my dress, now all I need is time...

Fall for flowers

2008-07-07T18:39:00.004-04:00

I don't want too many flowers at our wedding. For one thing we are on a budget and flowers are expensive. But that's not the only reason. There is also the nature girl here thinking: why would I want a bunch of flowers cut for my wedding and then left to die?
Sure I could bring them to a retirement home afterward and make people happy, but if I can avoid it I'll make us happy. Not to mention we are having a November wedding and only so many flowers will be available. We want local seasonal flowers as much as possible.

Now that said I do want a bouquet and possibly one for my bridesmaids as well.

So I've been looking around for inspiration.
One of the first bouquet I saw was this one:
Found on istockphoto.com, copyright Joey Nelson.
I love the colors, bright coppers, some chocolate and a touch of light green highlighting it all.
I can see mango call lilies, proteas and many more elements whose name is unknown to me.
It is so stunning and so perfect for a fall wedding. Although most of the flowers are unlikely to be local nor seasonal.
I love the color inspiration however and this is definitely something I would like to work from.

Today on weddingbee.com, there was a post about Polyvore/Minted Boards and on one of them I saw this very surprising wheat bouquet.
Photo: Kathy Blanchard Photography from Courtney & Matt wedding in the Knot Real weddings.
I love the simplicity of it. The fact that it's not really flowers. And the chocolate ribbon that would work perfectly with our colors.
I'm considering it either for me or maybe for my bridesmaids, it would look great with their outfit.

Do you want a sophisticated bouquet or do you like a simple one?

Melting pot touches

2008-07-01T12:40:00.005-04:00

I am French, as French as it gets since according to the genealogy recherches my Mom's family did it goes back to the 12th century.
As I mentioned previously, I am trying to include some French touches to honor my family and my culture. Well Hubby is too.
My husband is his own melting pot/salad bowl. From his father he is Scotch-Irish and Welsh. From his mother he is Japanese and Portugese, with a touch of Hawaiian culture if not blood since that's where his Japanese and Portugese ancestors have been for the past 100 years.

One of the first things he mentioned was the possibility of him wearing a kilt for the ceremony. He has never worn one in his life, nor shown such a great interest in things related to his heritage, but suddenly he wants one. Well he had been talking about getting a utilikilt for a while but that's about it.
My first though was probably to giggle at the though of him wearing a skirt and how to avoid the temptation of teasing him about it.
However I have to admit that after doing some research on the option, I've come to fall in love with the idea. I know he can pull it off and I would love to see the blend of our various cultures.
I will develop later on the different options we've been looking into for him with more details.
[image source: Scottish-weddings.scotclans.com]

Now on top of the Irish-Scottish-Welsh heritage, we have the participation of his mom. She's offered to bring some Lei, the Hawaiian flower necklace, to put on the groomsmen, they would be made out of Ti leaves and maybe Kukui nuts if I understood correctly instead of flowers. Which would look somewhat like that:

[source: www.paradiseflowers.com]
She is now also offering to bring Macademia nuts as favors for our guests. I'm not sure how they'll manage to bring of that, but hey why not.

Now, however much I love each idea separately, I have no idea how we are going to pull off this mix of styles and cultures without looking like a party of clowns.
So this is going to take some serious thinking, and I hope we can included the various aspects of each culture. Let's say that we will not have a boring wedding...

Do you have any weird cultural elements that you want to or have to included in your wedding? How are you going to blend them together?

French touch

2008-06-26T08:55:00.002-04:00

Our wedding will and should be the blend of two different cultures: American and French.
I'll have to develop this in an other posts, but my husband has among other things Scottish-Irish heritage (way way back) from his Dad and a Mom who lives in Hawaii. He has some plans to incorporate both.
On my side I've been thinking and hard on how to incorporate some French things. Not only do I want both our cultures to be visible, but I also want to honor my family. Well those who can make it anyway.

One of the first things that came to my mind is the vows. We want to write our own vows, and if I was originally thinking to each have our own version, I cam to think otherwise.
The biggest issue is: my mother and my grandmother barely understand a thing in English. So if there is no way to avoid that most of the ceremony will be in English, I would like them to understand a few things without having to hire a translator.
I plan to have their version of the program with a translation of the ceremony, but that is not enough. So what I'm thinking is: he reads his vows in English and I read the same thing but in French.
So that's the first step.

Now besides that it's hard to think of very specific things. French and American weddings are extremely similar, and I haven't been to enough weddings to think of things that would be specifically French.
I don't see my bridesmaids wear a beret not a baguette under their arm no matter how cliche that is. If my dad and great-grand-father used to own one and even wear(worn) it at times, it just doesn't fit with the vision I have of our wedding.

The question is pretty much: what makes France: France? What will be seen as a special touch by my French guests?
Well, I had one surprise last night, my husband's uncle announced that he was going to do two big dishes of Cassoulet. I could have cried when he announced that.
You may not know what cassoulet is, but I do. It's the regional dish of where I grew up, it's definitely not a light, nor sexy nor summery dish. It's a rich dish, slow cooked full of beans and several types of beans. And I have not had any in years.
I am so excited at this wonderful and generous offer andd I simply cannot wait to see my parent's face when they will see a Cassoulet made by a local.

The there will be a touch of French with the food. Great.
Now what else?

Well, while singing in the shower, I realized that one very easy way to add more Frenchness was simply music.
I am now thinking to have either our first dance or the father-daughter song be a French song, and more.
I am also thinking of involving somehow during the event the song Se Canto. It's a song in Occitan, the old language of my region that means a lot to some of my guests. It's like a local national anthem.

I will need to think of more ways to incorporate and celebrate the French side of our marriage, but I think this is a good start.

What did you do to incorporate an other culture in your wedding? If you were French, what would you do to celebrate it?

[image source: http://www.souvenirsofparis.com/]

Inviations: DIY or buy ready made?

2008-06-25T18:39:00.000-04:00

I started looking for wedding dresses back in the summer of 2007. One of the results was to get uninvited advertisement in our mailbox regarding wedding invitations, tacky favors and suits rental.
As I glanced through the thick invitation booklet, it quickly became obvious to me that this was not what we wanted. It just didn't match us.
Therefore after talking with Hubby we decided to go the DIY way. We still needed some inspiration.

My first inspiration came from the little package a photograph gave me at a local Wedding Show. It was simple, square and brown with a little ribbon and a star sticker:
It open up as one of those pocket folders which looks great but seemed too complicated for me. However I liked the idea of the shape and the color matching my color theme.
With bit of paper left over available I drafter a first idea:My though was to use a card stock brown paper in place of the back one, have a copper colored ribbon in place of the raffia, and use a fake oak leaf in the middle to decorate. The outside two flaps would open up to a simple ivory square on which the invitation would be printed.

So I started looking around for paper I could use for our invitations. My first visits at Michael's and A.C. Moore were close to fruitless. They had a few things, but the price and size of the paper sheets would have made our invitations completely out of budget. I knew there were many more places to look at so I put the project aside and worked on other things. As time went buy I reviewed my ideas on the invitation and decided to turn it 90 degrees so the ribbon would actually keep the flaps closed. I couldn't seem to find the leaves I wanted and pretty much gave up on that too. All my ideas seemed more and more impossible, I couldn't find anywhere a chocolate colored paper that would be warm enough to say: party!
I even considered buying ready made invitations to print at home at that point, because I knew that if I couldn't find the right paper then it was worthless to take the time to work on a DIY project, however much Hubby loved my ideas.

I didn't think again about our invitations for a while and focused on other parts of the wedding planning instead. When I went back to it, I needed fresh inspirations, so I looked around the web for ready made products, which is how I came upon: www.invitesite.com/
I fell in love with their style, the natural looking invitation that fitted our theme so perfectly, the papers they used had texture and I was inspired again.
Not only that, but they had a link to a couple's FlickR album with what they made out of their Carmine product.
It was so beautiful. Had it not been for our budget I think I would have bought either the Beatrice or the Carmine invitations. However we could not afford it.
It did help though because not only did I found inspiration, but I also had names of papers to look for and knew that I wanted something with more texture than a simple cardstock. I was back on the DIY project.

Dressing my girls

2008-06-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

On most wedding pictures, you see a bride in white and an army of bridesmaid in identical dresses. This might not be our case.

You see, given our budget I know I can not buy bridesmaid dresses for my bridesmaid. That means that on top of having to come here they will have to pay for their outfit.
I do not wish them to have a dress that they will hate and will not be able to wear again.
I want my bridesmaid to feel comfortable and happy that day and after.
So even if the wedding etiquette seems to say: don't let them choose their dress, you will regret it, you want everyone to match. Well I decided that it was not the most important thing for me.
Not to mention that one of my bridesmaid is in France and will only come 15 days before the wedding, there is therefore no way for her to try things in advance and get them fitted.
So I decide not to follow traditions and to let my bridesmaids pick their dresses. Unconventional and a bit risky, but also most likely to let them have something worth it for their money.

I did have one little rule that came from my color inspiration, and that was a chocolate dress. Call it brown or expresso, any shade and shape would work for me.
Now because my cousin decide to buy something in the US, I went on a search to find affordable dresses that she could be interested in. J.Crew; Wtoo, Nordstrom, David's Bridal. I looked and looked and looked. Nothing overly exciting even though there were a few finds that could work out.

Then I came across a post about Victoria's Secret having bridesmaid dress. Not one to pass an option I went and looked into it.
I came across a very affordable dress at $95 on sale, with a chocolate color option, but best of all, it could be worn 7 different ways.
I decided right away to email my find to my matron of honor to see her reaction.

The next time I checked my email, I had two from her, the first started with "Oh my goodness!!! That is awesome. I will wear that if everyone else wants to. I'll even wear it if I'm the only one!"
The second was telling me that she ordered two, one for her and one of my godsister/bridesmaid.
So now I have to see what my cousin/maid of honor thinks. If she likes it I would end up with bridesmaids wearing the same dress after all.
I do look forward to see pictures of them wearing it to see if it's a go or not.

Here is the dress

Are you selecting the dress for your bridesmaids or are you leaving them options?

Finding colors on the hanger

2008-06-20T18:43:00.002-04:00

When we decided to have a traditional wedding, I had no idea of what is involved in the process, venue, color scheme and cake tasting where not even part of my vocabulary.
So I guess I was lucky that I found inspiration even before I started looking for it.
It was the day I set foot with a friend in the local David's Bridal. There under my eyes was a bridesmaid dress with its sash on display. While it wasn't exactly on a clothe hanger, it was on display on a mannequin.
The colors were chocolate and copper and they just struck my eye.

We were in the middle of summer and fall colors were far from my mind, and yes as soon as I saw those colors together I had to ask my friend to try that outfit.
I had to know what it could look like on my bridesmaids. Well the only dress available had to much going on to look pretty but non the less, the inspiration was there and from then on I knew my bridesmaids would have to be in chocolate.

I remember showing the pictures to my husband and he thought it looked great and decided with me that they would be great colors for our fall wedding.
We decided to add some ivory to lighten it up and lately I've also been thinking of a few green accents to stay out of a monochromatic theme.

Where did you found your color inspiration?

Warm me up darling

2008-06-18T09:13:00.002-04:00

The first bridal magazine I bought was the 2007 Fall issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.
I've got to say the lady amazes me and her magazines are probably the most useful ones in the wedding market. She doesn't just talk about hiring everyone to do the job. No, the famous American lady gives recipes and plenty of do it yourself ideas. And thanks to her, I found inspiration for the cocktail hour.

How much as I know we will need to have beer and probably wine as well for our guests at the cocktail hour, I'd also like to have a special drink to share with them. And my idea came straight from the issue mentioned above.
At the end of the magazine my eyes fell upon this very appetizing signature cocktail:

Brandy Cider for a fall evening

2 1/4 cups apple cider
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh ginger
2 whole allspice
3 ounces brandy
Candied ginger chunks, cut into cubes, rolled in superfine sugar (optional)

1. Bring cider, fresh ginger, and allspice to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, and cover. Let stand 10 minutes. Skim foam and strain, discarding solids.
2. Ladle 1/2 cup hot cider into each mug, and add 3/4 ounce brandy. Add ginger cube to each mug, if desired. (Makes 4)

(source: Martha Stewart Blog)

I love the simplicity of the recipe, it doesn't require many ingredients, it's very seasonal, nothing too expensive and just the little kick of the candied ginger to add a special touch to it.
Add to it that if the weather is a bit chilly it would probably be very welcomed by our guests, and a version without the brandy can easily be given to the children.

Or I could do a Mulled Cranberry Cider

* 9 1/2 cups cranberry juice
* 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
* 6 cinnamon sticks, plus 12 more for garnish
* 8 star anise
* 6 whole allspice berries
* 3 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (about 18 slices)
* 1/2 cup water
* 4 tablespoons sugar
* One 375-milliliter bottle port
* 12 thinly sliced kumquat rounds, 6 to 8 kumquats for garnish optional

1. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients except port and kumquats. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat. Cover, and let steep until ready to serve, up to 1 day.
2. Just before serving, add port to mixture in saucepan, and bring to a simmer; do not boil. Keep warm over low heat while serving. Strain and divide among glasses, and garnish each with a cinnamon stick and kumquat slice, if desired.

A bit more ingredients, but it also has such a great feel and color to it. Not to mention that in either case I absolutely adore anything with spices.

(source: www.marthastewart.com)

Are you having a seasonal signature drink or just your favorite cocktail for the cocktail hour?

Finding the officiant

2008-06-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

Our civil wedding was well... what you should expect of a civil wedding in a Courthouse with a magistrate who doesn't really care. Because we have it on tape I know that it took him exactly 40 seconds. Yes only 40 seconds to marry us. It took longer for our witnesses to sign the papers.
Obviously since we are having a family wedding we want to have a special ceremony, with an officiant who takes the time to articulate. I'm still not 100% sure what I said "I do" to last year.

Neither one of us are part of a Church. I was raised Catholic, he was raised Baptist, but we don't feel like we belong to any specific branch of the Christian Church.
We believe in God non the less and if we do not want a religious ceremony we would love to have a spiritual one.
That's why our eyes turned toward the Unity Church.

I was introduce to the Unity Church by his mother. In Hawaii that's where his mom and step-father go to. They have subscribed us to the Daily Word, a Unity Church monthly magazine with some good words and things to think about and to thank God for. I don't necessarily put into practice everything but I find it a good read every morning.
Because we are also mingling two different cultures/nations, we want to have something that would please everyone and mostly us.

So I have to say I was pretty excited when Hubby's aunt told us she new Unity Church Ministers and that they are good friends with them.
It took a while to call. She gave us the number months ago and well we kept on putting it off and waiting for a good time to call and whatnot.
Then two weeks or so ago I called and found myself with the husband on the phone. He told me they are retired ministers but that he still does funerals and her weddings. She wasn't there so he took or phone number to have her call us back.
They lost our phone number and had to ask the aunt for it, called us back and left us a message about 10 days ago.
I talked with Hubby and he wanted to be with me when I called, so again I put it off But with our hectic schedules, it quickly become obvious that I was better off calling on my own, which is what I did tonight.

Well the first contact was full of promises. Fran seems like an open and fun person, she let me know what when we meet she'll have a copy of what she usually does for the ceremony and that we can add or take what we want and we can even write our own ceremony, so that's very promising since we were thinking of having our own vows.
She asked if our family knew we are already married, cute and important question, but yes they do know so nothing to worry about with that part.
She asked if we would exchange rings, which we will as we decided to keep that for the family wedding.
She mentioned a candle ceremony, but said that it could be an issue outside.
She is a liberal person and I am happy about that because for a wedding it means openness.

Now all we have to do is schedule an evening to meet her and see if it does work out or not and what ideas we can both bring into it. I plan to ask her about how much she asks then.

I am very excited about this.
Now on to the next tasks: printing the invitations and contacting photographers.

Light and bright

2008-06-17T10:02:00.002-04:00

Well, I looked around last night and I also got Hubby involved because his opinion really matters to me.
He was a bit bothered by the starts on the lantern I showed him because it reminded him of the Star of David and he thought some of his family members wouldn't understand.
So I looked around on E-bay some more and found some white lanterns. They have a very pretty glass that has a vine designed in it.
They were smaller than what I was thinking about: only 4"75 so 12cm when I was looking into 7-8" (18-20cm). But he voted for them, so I got ahead and ordered them on Ebay.
We will have to put something in the middle of the box to get the candle high enough.

The fun thing is: I didn't tell him at all what I was thinking about putting in the boxes besides grass and yet he said right away that we should put mini pumpkins, bittersweet and also mini gourds. So I'm glad our ideas are the same.

Here is the candles we are getting, 13 of them "a baker's dozen", enough to do all the tables and probably add some around to decorate.
The good part is I know I will have no problem reusing those later on, or we can always use them as gifts for some people.

Rustic Centerpiece

2008-06-16T14:06:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about our centerpieces, the little decorations that will go on the tables.
Given that we are going to have a fall wedding, both Hubby and I want something that fits with the natural theme.
Friends of ours were going to let us have the vases they are using for their wedding, but then again I want to keep our options open.

We were thinking of having pumpkins on the tables at first. Well I can't imagine full size pumpkins there, not only it is a waste, but on top of it people wouldn't be able to see each other since we will have some round tables.
So my though would be to use some mini pumpkins and work things around with beans, corns and other things in the vases that our friends would let us use after their wedding.

Well that was until I came across a post in the weddingbee.com boards about a centerpiece from a member of The Knot.
Here is a picture:

I just find it so cute and romantic.

I probably wouldn't have some herbs in them because you don't want fragrances to affect your guests meal, but some type or plant like some of the ground fast growing plants or moss, a lantern and a mini pumpkin, maybe even some pine cone or bittersweet branches with berries to add some color. I just think it would look fantastic.
I would love a rusty or copper looking lantern to match the wedding colors, but if not Ikea has some at a very affordable price in a dark color: $4.99 a piece (Rotera) that would work with a classy touch.

Even better, after a bit more search, I found some brass candle lantern with the same pattern as Ikea, which are exactly what I would like:
Now all I need is to find the place selling them at the best price. E-bay here I come!

We could probably ask a friend of Hubby who does wood working to make us some woodboxes, or just find wood an make them ourselves.

Yes, my godmother did matchmaking

2008-06-13T11:03:00.003-04:00

I am French, and my husband and I met on my 3rd trip to the US while I was visiting my godfather's family leaving in Georgia. My "godmother" (godfather's wife) had decided that we really had to meet, to the point that a bit before I met him she said that I would "meet her cousin, fall in love, get married, have children and stay in the United States with them".
No pressure at all to me someone right? Thankfully someone told met that match making never works so I wasn't as freaked out about it as I could have been.

Well we met when we visited the family in North Carolina. If it was a bit awkward at first, not to mention that I was a ball of nerves, we had a good time talking and enjoying the outdoors in the beautiful mountains. We spent two afternoon together and before we left he gave me a note: "Hope to see you again soon. Call me. Much Love. Colt".
The next morning I made him a note that I put with a shirt he had left at the house.

We didn't see each other for an other 10 days or so, when he stopped in GA, on his way to his sister in Florida. Well... so much for Florida, because he stayed with us for 6 days until I had to go back to France. Two very smitten people, very much in love and heartbroken to be separated.
The rest is a lot of long distance, several trips back and forth for me until I decided to stay for good in June 2007.
We got married at the courthouse with some of his family around as well as my little brother that my family sent over. Then applying for the immigration papers to be able to legally stay over. It was that or going back to France and waiting for a fiance visa to come.

We are getting married again, in a more traditional way because we want to share the joy of our relationship with our family, not to mention it's about time my parents meet him.

Be a savy bride

2008-06-11T15:43:00.000-04:00

One of the first things we knew when we started to plan this wedding is that we were not going to be in the average wedding budget.
30K for one day? I don't think so. I would much rather buy a house.
My husband's idea of a wedding budget was probably 1000$...
I'm thinking more $5000 at the maximum.
Our wedding list has about 80 people in it and I doubt our budget can be as small as he dreams because of that.
I've been working my ass off to not only save extra money for the wedding but also to have some bits lefts afterward for a down payment.

Thankfully for us, our friends came once again to the rescue, well and Daddy and the current exchange rate...
My dad put some money in my bank account and let me tell you: Euro to Dollar = happy bride. What he gave us should cover a big part of the wedding expenses.

Now onto the friends. J. Didn't give us money, nope, they need it as much as we do. What she gave me was the link to a fantastic website called: Fire your wedding planner.
Fun name don't you think?
While the site doesn't promote firing anyone, it does have a bunch of great tips to save money.
You can do two things there, the first one is:
1)Suscribe to the newsletter. It's free and every so often you will get some mails with many informations, tips and real stories that you can learn from.
2)If you think those information are what you are looking for, then download the e-book. There is a free trial for 30 days or so, after that you pay something around $30 which is well worth the money.

Tips given go from: negotiating everything, it can result in a free (yes free) honeymoon suite in the place your guests are staying, to little extras or simply better prices.
Keep in mind that the wedding tag leads to price increase, etc.
Lots of good information and something basic things a bride should think about when working on a budget.

I printed out the all book so i can have an easy access to it and highlight as much as I want. I've enjoyed the tips I get by mail as well and passed on some to other brides. It is definitely a good thing to do and know about, whether you are on a tight budget or not.

Let's have a fall camp!

2008-06-08T09:42:00.001-04:00

Two of Hubby's co-worker got married in the area and this is how we heard about a summer camp in Swannanoa.
D.& J who will get married in Ohio this summer actually looked all around Ohio for a location like that summer camp because they love it so much. J talked about how they had candles all over the place and that it was really beautiful. That was all I needed to get excited.

With a little bit of search over the Internet, I came accross a few pictures whose result was to increase my interest.
Hubby had a connection to this location through his work so he was the one in charge of getting us an appointment there, especially since I wanted to see it with the few fall leaves left on the trees.
Well trust a man to forget anything that has to do with a wedding.
The first time we went there ended up being for his work's Christmas Party. It was a rainy evening and pitch dark. But what I saw of the main room got me really excited. The wall were made of a dark wood and on each side many windows opened up to the outside with enough room in from of the glass to have candles. The ceiling and the beams were wight. The room was large with a fireplace in the left well that had several people gathered around it.
Even though it was mainly used for a summer camp, a heating system was in place and the few people who were there (definitely not enough to make a temperature difference) never got cold.
The main room has a direct access to a full kitchen as well as a patio. The patio is covered with rocks, has its own fireplace (sharing the chimney of the one inside), you can see a staircase from there and the forest behind, a great spot for the ceremony.
There is also a room attached to the main one that can easily be turned into a bar for the cocktail hour.
I loved the rustic feel of it and we decided to come back and make a full visit by day light to see more.

It wouldn't be until January, so much for fall leaves left on the trees... Oh well, even bare as it was I could see the place had some potential.

Here are some pictures of the site.

The entrance porchThe back court where we would have the ceremony

The back court seen from the top of the stairs, plenty of room to sit down everyone without having the chairs digging in the mud

Inside at night

Main room for the reception, fireplace to the left

Access to the kitchen from the main room

The bar

Outdoor views from the field

We can ring the bell to announce the reception :)

The great part about it is that it would be perfectly within budget: $500 with full use of the kitchen.
The only issue I have with it is that there seems to be only one bathroom...
This is definitely not your classic wedding location, but we both love the outdoors and it fits with who we are.

How about you? Is your wedding location different from the classic ones?

Going outdoors

2008-06-06T00:03:00.001-04:00

As most of those who plan a wedding know, having the date is one thing but you also need to have a venue available at the date of your choice which is why it's always best to be flexible.

Well, we both knew we wanted to have an outdoor ceremony. I was ready to have it somewhere on top of a mountain, that I have to admit would have made me very happy.
We are after all having a fall wedding and even though it will be late fall we hope and cross our fingers that there will still be some colors in the trees. How could we pass on having such a beautiful and natural background?

Our search started back in the summer of 2007. Every hike we went on became a possible site.
We though about Dupont State Forest, Craggy Gardens and many other places whose name now skips my mind. There was a problem however: one of our guests, Hubby's grandmother has difficulties moving because of Parkinson. She is not on a wheelchair but she has to use a wheeled walker. So as much as we love the outdoors, there was no way we could have a ceremony in a remote location because we wanted to include her.
We though about some of the overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but the traffic there isn't the most motivating site.

Of course there are a lot of beautiful venues in our area such as Biltmore Estate, the Grove Park Inn, Chimney Rock Park, Grandfather Mountain, the Crest Center and Pavilion, Claxton Farm or Hidden River Events. But we are after all on a small budget and had to play around that.
So as much as we kept looking around we could not find the perfect location for what we had in mind.

We needed something with a beautiful background, outdoors, with an easy access, not too far from Asheville to avoid extra driving and with an easy access for the elderly.
Thankfully we have many friends who are or just got married and therefore a lot of inspiration to work from...

(to be continued...)

Where at?

2008-06-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

Our civil ceremony took place in Western North Carolina. We wanted to get married quickly so we could send the Green Card application that would allow us not to be separated again and for the same reason I simply couldn't leave the country without the risk of not being able to come back unless under a special visa.

So when we announced around us that we would be having a family wedding I should not have been surprised that most people said: "So it will be in France right?".

Well no. It shocked people and I even had some rude comments when I said so, but still: NO!

Sure it would have been great to have a wedding in my home country, to make sure that the 30+ members of my family plus the friends could be there, I would have loved that.
Americans have such a romantic idea of France too. Not to mention that I would have had plenty of people more than willing to help and probably cook the food.
And yes I could have finally shared with my husband the place where I grew up.

But there are also many thing that told me not to do that. The first one being that I am not sure when I will get my green card. At the time we took the decision I though it would take maybe 6 months to get an interview, with the risk of the FBI namecheck still pending until???. You cannot make plans for the time when you will have your green card. Without it, if I can leave the country, I can't some back without a spouse visa, and re-starting and paying again for the AOS. So no way it is too big of a risk.

But if I had had the card in my hands, would it have changed anything? Well maybe not.
I wanted to have a full wedding in the US so it would be close to us and easy to organize. I didn't want to find the place online and have my parents do all the work.
I have also dreamed for many years to be married outside, something that is very rare in France.
Not to mention that it is a wonderful opportunity to share the place where we live with my family, my parents and those who can make it.

So even if some people though that our decision was not appropriate, not respectful to my family, I say too bad. We made our choice and I am happy with it. Not to mention that even though we are having this wedding ceremony so we can share it with more people this time, it is still OUR wedding, and I find it very normal that we make it what we want.

Edit (June 6th): I finally received our interview notice, the Green Card is a bit closer. But I am still happy we made the decision to have the wedding here, I can't imagine the stress it would have been to wait for it and not be sure if I could make it to my own wedding.

Save the date

2008-06-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

One of the first step in our wedding planning was to select a date.

Right after our civil wedding, family started asking when we would have the wedding ceremony with everyone. Hubby always told them: fall of 2008. We didn't really discussed it. We knew we wanted a full year to be able to plan our wedding and that summer time was out of the question because it was
1)too hot
2)my mom has too much work with her bees and berries to be able to come.

Hubby's best friend works in the fall, it is with summer time his biggest season, especially October. So although that is a beautiful month we decided to postpone our ceremony to the second week of November to make sure that "would be Best Man" would be of the party.

Because my family would be coming from overseas and some of Hubby's family are pretty far away as well it was of the most importance to share the date with them as soon as possible. So as soon it was set, I made some save the date cards armed with Photoshop and emailed them.
Yes you heard me, I emailed them. I wanted something that would be fast and wouldn't use any unnecessary paper, yet something cute that would give an idea of our theme.
As it turned out our wedding would not be in the city of Asheville itself, but it was enough to give an idea of the location to our families.
We are on a small budget and I didn't see the point of spending money in making fridge magnet, stickers of fancy cards with photographies.

I am quite happy of how it came out and I made both an English and a French version to send out.

Did you make save the dates? Did you do anything special for them?

An other blog

2008-06-01T14:00:00.001-04:00

I'm creating an other blog and in English, why? Because I'm planning a fall wedding in the beautiful Mountain of Western North Carolina and I want to keep track of it.
There is so much more I have to talk about besides our wedding on my main blog that there is not enough room for all the planning going around right now.

We are planning a wedding that will involve two cultures: mine a French one and his an american one with some Irish-Scottish-Portugese-Japanese heritage and a mom who lives in Hawaii. It is also our second wedding. Or as his sister said: we had a marriage now we're having a wedding.
We want to have a special ceremony to share our love to each other with our families and be able to tell each other what we really want and not just the fast forwarded words of a magistrate.

This blog is to help me keep track of my inspirations and to share with those who are interested in the subject.
English might not be my mother tongue, but since most of this wedding is being planned in English it makes more sense for me to use it.