Busy with all our DIY projects

Nick and I are doing a lot of DIY for our wedding. I'm so excited and having so much fun, though it is a bit more work than I'd anticipated. So far we've made:

1. the Save-The-Dates
2. felt flower bouquets for the bride and all of the bridesmaids
3. table numbers and centerpieces
4. some props for the photobooth

I've also started several other projects that are works-in-progress, including:

-the cake topper
-red birdcage veils for each of the bridesmaids
-boutonnieres for each of the groomsmen
-birdcage veil to go with my reception dress
-an Activity Book to keep the kids entertained
-the card box

But the big project right now is making our wedding invitations, which has already involved days (not just hours - yes, days) of cutting paper.

Nick is busy working on the card box. I'm so proud of him! He has already worked hard cutting and sanding the wood and screwing the box together. It hasn't been painted yet, but it already looks so beautiful:

So WHEN and WHERE is your wedding?

As we have passed the one year mark before our "so-called wedding date" of 8/20/11 (so-called only because the date may change if our venue is not available for that day), more and more folks are asking for more specifics about our wedding. In fact, I myself have been getting pretty anxious about these first two decisions - when and where. I found a "Wedding Count-Down" To Do List in a magazine and those seem to be the two most important things to accomplish this month:

Wedding Countdown Calendar:

12 months:
-Announce your engagement
-Choose a wedding theme and style
-Work out a basic budget
-Research reception venues
-Determine number of guests
-Look through magazines for attire ideas
-Research wedding pros (photographers, videographers, reception bands or DJs, ceremony musicians). Set up appointments, review portfolios, tapes and recordings
-Meet potential wedding consultants; obtain bids


11 months:
-Select a wedding consultant and meet to discuss details
-Determine theme/decorations for your reception
-Meet with several caterers; arrange for tastings
-Select and book a caterer
-Reserve musicians/DJ for reception
-Determine ceremony musicians and make musical selections
-Book wedding videographer and photographer; make a list of photos, such as ceremony and receptions shots
-Research and interview florists
-Select and reserve your ceremony venue and schedule a rehearsal time
-Choose reception venue; negotiate contract; leave a deposit
-Secure parking and/or transportation for your guests at the reception location
-Visit local bridal stores to browse their selection of gowns
-Choose your wedding party members and ask them to participate in your wedding
-Meet with your officiant to discuss the ceremony
-Determine your honeymoon budget
-Mail save-the-date notices for a destination wedding

10 months
-Select and order your wedding gown
-If your ceremony or reception will be held in a park or recreational area, obtain necessary permits
-Discuss attendants’ duties with your maid of honor and bridesmaids

9 months
-Register for gifts
-Coordinate with vendors to incorporate your theme/style into all aspects of your wedding
-Decide on the food and liquor to be served at your reception
-Prepare a playlist of wedding-reception musical selections
-Select and order your headpiece, veil, gloves and shoes
-Confirm orders of and delivery date for your wedding attire
-Research airline, hotel and rental-car reservations for guests

8 months
-Go to first gown fitting; invite your maid of honor to attend
-Choose and order bridesmaid dresses and accessories
-Research a variety of wedding ring styles
-Select florist; discuss wedding theme and style

7 months
-Review and finalize your wedding details with consultant
-Notify bridesmaids about dress fittings
-Discuss attire with groomsmen and make referrals to local formalwear store
-Select attire for flower girl and/or ring bearer
-Determine the design, wording, font and paper stock for your wedding invitations, stationery, table cards and thank you notes; finalize order
-Arrange a printer or hire a calligrapher for table cards
-Determine order of ceremony events and choose appropriate wording for your programs
-Negotiate rates and book a block of hotel rooms for guests
-Select and order your wedding rings
-Purchase bridal accessories: jewelry, lingerie and so on
-Choose and order something fun for guests to throw after your ceremony (rose petals, confetti or birdseed)

6 months
-Review and approve proofs of invitations and stationery
-Discuss the type of honeymoon you want, start reading up on potential destinations and consult a travel agent for ideas and suggestions

5 months
-Order table cards; place print order for programs
-Finalize choice of honeymoon destination
-Taste a variety of wedding cakes and select a baker; place cake order and arrange for delivery
-Make reservations for rehearsal dinner and select menu

4 months
-Determine method of addressing invitations and hire a calligrapher, if applicable
-Print labels and hand-address or have a calligrapher address invitations
-Choose your wedding vows
-Have groom try on tuxedos
-Purchase or rent groom’s wedding accessories
-Make honeymoon reservations and place all deposits

3 months
-Review and approve wedding announcement and printed program proofs
-Book venue or secure reservations for post-wedding brunch
-Discuss bachelorette party plans with your attendants
-Plan your bridesmaids’ luncheon or dinner
-Make appointments with stylist to discuss your wedding hairstyle
-Create hotel information cards and maps to include with your invitations

2 months
-Secure a wedding-day dressing room for your bridesmaids
-Weigh, purchase postage for and mail invitations
-Go to final gown fitting; arrange for pickup or delivery
-Have groom’s formal wear fitted
-If you plan to have a prenuptial agreement, meet with your attorney to discuss it
-Purchase attendants’ gifts
-Arrange transportation for bride and groom from the ceremony site to the reception

6 weeks
-Send rehearsal dinner invitations
-Write thank you notes as you receive gifts
-Confirm music selections (“playlist”) with musicians and/or DJ
-Select menu for post-wedding brunch
-Purchase a gift for your fiancé
-Shop for wedding favors
-Purchase honeymoon clothing, luggage and accessories
-Go for a practice hairstyling and schedule a day-of wedding hair appointment

4 weeks
-Confirm floral order and arrange for delivery times
-Meet with ushers and assign duties
-Discuss the details of your ceremony with your officiant
-Determine the placement or distribution of programs at the ceremony venue
-Arrange for preparation, storage and break areas for musicians/DJs at the reception venue
-Determine seating arrangements for guests
-Go in for a dry run with a professional make up artists and schedule a day-of-wedding appointment
-Schedule a manicure/pedicure for the day before your wedding
-Finalize details with photographer and videographer
-Finalize honeymoon plans and confirm all reservations
-Arrange for transportation to and from the airport
-Post announcement and photo on your website
-Arrange for table card setup at reception venue
-Schedule pickup/return of groom’s formalwear

3 weeks
-Finalize list of reception guests
-Give the final headcount to the caterer and review details
-Arrange for delivery of flowers and other decorations on the big day
-Call anyone who has not responded to his or her invitation

1 week
-Confirm your honeymoon travel arrangements
-Start packing for your honeymoon
-Pick up your wedding dress

Wedding day
-Eat a good breakfast
-Attend hairstyle appointment
-Give yourself plenty of time to get ready
-Relax and enjoy yourself

Post-wedding: 3 days
-Arrange for transport of gifts
-Have family or friends mail wedding announcements

After the honeymoon
-Take wedding gown and veil to dry cleaners who specializes in gown preservation
-Submit name-change forms for driver’s license, passport, Social Security card, state and federal tax boards, banks, credit cards and so on.

I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself, though before reading this time-line, I'd already done several items way before schedule. I've made 6 bouquets of flowers (mine and one for each bridesmaid). And almost all of my bridesmaids have already purchased their dresses. I have also selected and ordered my wedding dress. But this budget part has really been throwing a wrench into things. Neither of us is willing to go into debt to make this wedding happen, so we have been trying to figure out both how to do things affordably and then to do it affordably, how soon could we make this wedding happen? That question has taken a lot more time and research than I'd anticipated. I think there needs to be a different timeline for those who are paying for their own wedding and want to do so without breaking the bank - Start researching costs and calculating savings based on your income well over a year in advance! AND seeing as I want to do things DIY (do-it-yourself), making my bouquets and decorations, I think it's smart to start working on those projects ASAP. I'm having fun making the bouquets. If I keep up this obsessive flower-making until our wedding, we may not have any room left for the guests! Tee hee hee. But it's a big relief to know I'm not going to be up until 2am the night before our wedding because I need to make more flowers. At least I hope not!

But back to the question that titled this post...

We still don't know. But I think we're getting much closer to the answer. So stay tuned!

My Dress

This has been my latest obsession. And I blame it on my dreaming mind. I had the most vivid dream of this organza bridal gown with little polka dots all over it, but in a vintage, 50's style. I vividly recall feeling so "at home" in the dress. I'm having a hard time accepting that the dress may not exist. I've been searching all over - etsy, eBay, google images, all to no avail. I've been tempted to try to find a seamstress that could make the dress for me. But even then, I'm not sure I could grasp this dream dress well enough to even describe it to someone. I just want to find it. *sigh*

Don't worry, I'm not going all Bride-zilla here (or at least not yet - tee hee hee). Even the search for this elusive dress is kind of fun at this point. And I'm still easy-going enough to accept, I may just wear whatever. My big thing is that I want this wedding to be *fun* for Nick, me and everyone there. And I don't think whatever dress I'm wearing or not wearing will affect that one way or the other.

Felt & Button Flower Bouquets - FTW!

O.M.G. Okay, so when I started to run across felt flower bouquets and button bouquets on Offbeat Bride, I went goo-goo-ga-ga over them. But feeling a bit intimidated, I felt the need to order a "kit" with all of the supplies together and step-by-step instructions. The kit I ordered was through Princess Lasertron and indeed, it was awesome. And yes, initially, I was quite intimidated by all the bits and pieces in the box. But now? I am obsessed! I want to make an endless supply of these flowers. They are so much fun and many of them have turned out so pretty!
So, these are some of the flowers I've made for my bouquet so far. And I am thrilled! So how have I gone from being totally in love but intimidated to obsessively wanting to make flower after flower? I've had to take things little by little. As Nick has said to me before, "Melaina, you can't eat the whole elephant in one bite." And in this case, that was very sage advice. So first off, I told Princess Lasertron the colors for our wedding: red, orange, turquoise, purple and pink. So she sent me a kit made of felt flower shapes, buttons and embroidery floss in these colors. While I waited for the kit to arrive, I'll admit, I did a little more shopping. I found more felt flower shapes on EBay and bought some extra supplies. I ended up throwing in a few yellows just to mix things up a bit, too.

Even after the kit arrived, however, I was still intimidated. I let the kit sit by my desk for several weeks (though admittedly, I was also on a deadline for finishing my latest comic, so I did have to keep my priorities straight for that time). But once the comic was done, my dear friend Mari and I decided to have a drawing date. Seeing as I was finished my latest comic and still conceptualizing my next one, I decided to use my time to start making my flowers.

In the approximately 5 hours we spent together, I don't think I finished a single one. BUT... I had so much fun! What I ended up doing was starting to put together the pieces for each flower. So I chose what colors of flowers to put with which color leaf and found a button that looked nice with each flower. I also dug through my own personal collection of random buttons that I've had for years and years and pulled out several of my own buttons to incorporate into the flowers. I'm giddy just thinking about how much fun that process was.

I will admit I got a little OCD about it. I actually made a chart that showed every possible two-tone and three-tone color combination amongst those 5 (well 6, including the yellow) colors. I think I came up with 34 options. As I'm only making 17 flowers, I could only choose about half of those options, but I wanted to try to avoid repeating color combinations. I feel very strongly about diversity! ;-) Next I put each individual flower combination into a snack-sized plastic baggie. And THEN I started to make the individual flowers.

I hadn't considered the colors of the embroidering thread when I was initially putting the flowers together, so that was another decision I had to make. But I tried not to feel too overwhelmed by that one and just went with my gut as to what looked best.

I only have 6 more flowers to make for my bouquet. But as I've been having so much fun with this, I've already gone onto EBay to buy some more random supplies so I can put together my own kits to make the bridesmaids' bouquets and groomsmen's boutonnieres. Seeing as I've decided to go all the way with this, you *must* believe me when I tell you how much fun I'm having!

Cake Topper

A lot has happened that I've skipped posting about. I've been wanting to keep some pieces of information to myself, as I'm afraid if I spill all the beans on here, there will be no fun surprises at the wedding for those who attend. But today's progress with wedding planning was too fun to keep to myself.

Nick (my handsome fiance) spends a lot of time at this place called Noisebridge in San Francisco. It's known to be a bit of a "hacker hangout." He finally took me there about a week ago to show me this place that he's so crazy about.

On what I thought was an unrelated note... I have been searching the internet trying to find a cake topper that inspired me. I found some cute wood cut-out style toppers on Etsy that someone would make for us and base the images on a photo we provided them with. I thought that was cool, but how odd to have a cartoon character version of ourselves drawn by someone else. I then emailed and asked the gal if she would make a cut-out based on an image that I drew and she said she would, but that she'd charge me more. Then all of a sudden, I remembered hanging out with my friend Lisa when she showed me a wood cut-out project that she was working on. AND I remembered seeing a woodshop at Noisebridge when Nick had given me a tour there.

So today, Lisa and I made plans to hang out at the Noisebridge woodshop together today. I somewhat spontaneously came up with an illustration after we arrived and painstakingly sketched it out directly onto a piece of woodscrap that was there. I would recommend sketching it on paper first for future reference, as brushing eraser crumbs off of wood left me with a couple of splinters. But in the end, with *much* needed coaching from Lisa, I was able to cut out a final draft of the illustration.

I'm planning to paint it and probably sand it down a little better. But I'm pretty psyched by my first draft, especially considering this was my first time using a band saw. And I left Noisebridge with all of my fingers intact! Yay!

Location Hunt becomes Frenzied

So we made a budget for having our wedding at Letchworth State Park (which was my dream inspired by photos I'd seen on the internet). But the budget may not be affordable. We are still planning to go there for my birthday (July 6) and have our engagement photos taken there. But we're now brainstorming ideas for other places to get married.

The traditional places have not been exciting me, though I think we'll at least look at the Avanti Mansion just to give it a shot. Nick wasn't too excited by these places either, as most of them require us to use their catering service and Nick wants to be in charge of the food.

So then I got on this Frank Lloyd Wright kick. I emailed two Frank Lloyd Wright destinations in Buffalo, but neither of those places allow weddings. Falling Waters, which is my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright creation, allows weddings, but that's 4 hours away in Pennsylvania, so I think that's probably out.

I've also been thinking about outdoor city park spaces that might be nice, though Nick hasn't gotten too excited by this idea.

A comic book store would be almost perfect, but they are all *way* too small.

So the latest has been exploring possible art gallery or museum spaces. At least one advertises that they're available for rental, but I'm not sure how many people could fit in that venue. So we'll have to wait and see, I guess.

In any case, I'm trying to get the list of places to see complete before we leave, as I'm not sure when we'll be back to Buffalo again to figure this out. So cross your fingers for us!

New Wedding Website & Other Updates

A lot has happened since I last posted on this blog. Where do I begin? Maybe I'll go section by section.

Theme:
So we have pretty much agreed upon a theme - Comics, since that's what brought us together. I'd like to subtitle that "He colored my world," but Nick thinks that's too one-sided. But even without the title, we are definitely planning on having a colorful wedding. Beyond that, I may keep things a secret, so at least something is a bit of a surprise that day!

Date:
We are still hoping on 8/20/2011. But we have not confirmed that date with the location yet, so write that in pencil on your calendar for now!

Place:
We are 99% certain it'll be at Letchworth State Park in New York, but we won't confirm that until we've actually laid eyes on it in person. We are traveling to New York in July for Nick's cousin's wedding, so we plan to see Letchworth and complete the confirmation paperwork on my birthday (July 6), so stay tuned!

Budget:
Don't ask. Although several items have turned out to be less than anticipated, even more items seem to cost more than we'd planned, so the figure just keeps going up. Fortunately, we started pretty low to begin with, but still...

Photographer:
We are going to do an engagement session with the photographer we chose when we are in New York in July. So I'll keep her information private until then. I guess engagement sessions are kind of like a paid job interview (we pay her, of course). Hopefully we'll all work well together!

Flowers:
So this one has been fun researching, but I still don't have any answers. I have looked at tons and tons of bouquets. So far, my favorite is the bouquet that my friend from college, Leah Feeney, had at her wedding. The challenge is that most of the flowers I like are not in bloom in August. So I got another great idea from Offbeat Bride: flowers made from ribbons. I love how vibrant the colors look and that the flowers are not limited by the season. So I'm kind of leaning towards doing this. It looks like a lot of work, but I figure I've got over a year to pull it off, right? If you live near San Francisco, I may be calling on you to help me with this project. And let me know if you have any experience in this department, because I, mostly definitely, do not. Cross your fingers I can make it happen!

Attendants:
Nick and I are still figuring out who all will be in the wedding. There are so many people I'd like to ask, but we want there to be a balance between the number of groomsmen and bridesmaids. So for now, I've asked my sister to be Matron of Honor, my dear friends Mari and Johanna to be bridesmaids and my niece Jessica to be a junior bridesmaid. Jessica was all cool and casual about accepting my invitation, but I bet she's more excited than she's letting on! My sister was in town this weekend, so we went dress shopping for both my bridal gown and the bridesmaid gowns. Mari was able to join us on this excursion. I thought this dress was a lot of fun. But from the look Mari gave me, I thought she might kill me if I picked that one. I couldn't ask Nick to come with us, because I didn't want him to see me in my dress if I found one that I liked. And his response when I emailed him that photo was similar to Mari's facial expression, "R U kidding?" So I guess that rules out that one. In the end, we left with just a little bit more of an idea what Nick and I are looking for.

As for groomsmen, I hadn't really thought beyond your basic suit or tuxedo, but again, Offbeat Brides helped me to think outside the box. Unfortunately, Nick didn't get too excited about any of those ideas. So we'll have to see how that turns out.

Guests:
Nick has an enormous family. So another project I got kind of obsessed with was figuring out his family tree, especially on his Mom's side. His Mom has 9 sisters and there are 24 cousins on that side alone. So I created a family tree of photos to help me keep track of which cousins belonged to which aunts. I had a lot of fun putting that together and it's already been helping me. I am just hoping I can memorize faces and names and connections before our wedding. A year sounds like a pretty decent amount of time to get that all figured out. I posted this photo on Facebook and have amused Nick's family with it, as well.

That sounds like more than enough to have accomplished since my last post, huh? I am still leaving a lot of details out that I've been working on, but I have to keep some stuff as a surprise. But lastly, I'll mention, we have a new website. This site is where I'll post all of the finalized information so you won't need to weed through this blog to figure out... Now *where* is the wedding going to be? And now *what date* is it going to be? Those details will all be kept well organized over on our theknot.com website. The URL is http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/NicholasIannone&MelainaEller.