Tuesday, June 29, 2010

With HIS Ring, he thee weds...

We went to Springfield Mall (Yes i know, a ghetto mall, but its 5 minutes from home) to look for a wedding band for Mr. Smallville.

Since Mr. Smallville works as a cable internet and phone field technician, many accidents can happen to him. One of his coworkers got his hadn smashed, and the gold wedding band bent INTO his finger! So Mr. Smallville took that coworker's advice and chose a "Tungsten Cabide" ring. Tungsten Carbide is this really strong metal that never breaks. In fact you'd need to use a special tool that only hospitals have to cut it. Mike thought it was perfect (though we are also forewarned that if his hadn ever swells up, that we couldnt get the ring off unless we went to the hospital)

we ended up with this one:

I like that its nice and simple yet unique in its material and all. the color is darker than most wedding rings you see out there. I loved the brushed metal, he likes the shiny, so its a great compromise! Yey!

Groom's wedding band, CHECK!

I am awaiting pictures from my tasting of the food so i'll post about the tasting and final menu decisons later!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Tuxedos!

So we finally decided on a tux accent color for the guys. Let me introduce you to "Cognac"
It's actually not as  bright as the picture. Its more of a warm/brighter chocolate.  This will be worn by the groomsmen, coin bearer, and ring bearer. 

Meanwhile, I chose a tie and vest for my dad in chocolate.




For those of you wondering why HIS dad doesn't get his own color, its because his dad is the best man, and therefore will have the same color as the groomsmen!

and of course we have Mr. Smallville in Ivory:


We chose very traditional one button black tuxedos with ivory shirts, and black patent leather round toe shoes. For cuff links, we chose black on gold for the guys, and black on silver for Mr. Smallville!

A review about Mens Wearhouse in Springfield, VA... though they were helpful, the reception was quite cold and because I didn't answer the gentleman's questions right away (I had to think of answers) he looked at me like i was stupid. And then he left us to work with others who walked in, and the girl he left us with didnt know how to smile. It was very awkward and after a while I just wanted to leave. I enjoyed talking to the bride that sat next to me than the sales people! If MW wasn't such a convenient chain that has locations everywhere (most of the guys in the bridal party dont live near by) I would've left! 

Otherwise, we can check off TUXEDOS from our list!


Thursday, June 24, 2010

A Busy Weekend Coming!


This Saturday, 12 noon: Tasting at Heritage Hunt

I will be sampling the dish options I will be providing my guests. My sister is coming with me.

I knew I have a few issues considering Mr. Smallville and his family are finicky eaters. They don't like seafood, most vegetables, and many other things. I didn't want to serve them things they wouldn't enjoy, so I had to come up with a meat option.

I have a few friends who are pescatarians (they love fish and other things from the sea) and will only eat that much, so i have to provide a fish option.

The Filipinos would probably want a crack at both.

Here are the options:
Pan Seared Chicken Filet on Garlic Mashed potatoeswith a light Madeira cream sauce, caramalized shallots
Jumbo Lump Crab Cake and Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken Breast served with Roasted Tomato Coulis
Flounder Stuffed with Crabmeat nested on Julienne seasoned vegetables with a lemon-chive butter sauce

Starters will be:
Ceasar Starter Salad (Romaine Lettuce is the only vegetable the groom will eat)
Hot Rolls and Butter

For sides I'm choosing the same two for all three dishes:
Garlic Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans (The only vegetable other than Lettuce that the Groom's parents will eat).

The tasting will help me solidify these choices so I can finally send my invitations to print!


This Sunday, 12 Noon: Choosing Tuxedos at Men's Wearhouse

Mr. Smallville will be in town this weekend, so we will be choosing our tuxedos and colors.

I know you saw my post about choosing colors for the Euro Tie and the vest for the tuxedos.

We'll be ironing those details this weekend, so wish us luck!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Graphic Designer Bride

In case any of you don't know this by now, I'm a motion graphics artist and a graphic designer by day. I have a lot of training on things such as layout, and typography. I know trade secrets liek "the grid," and the all important "white space."

I LOVE GREAT DESIGN.

And incase you haven't figured it out... i also love weddings.

About six years ago I offered to do my cousin's wedding invitations and reception print items. I designed them, printed them, etc. I found it to be stressful (what design job isn't) but fun at the same time! To do design work that doesn't have a department of defense theme or a higher education accounting concept is WONDERFUL!

I've done about seven weddings since my cousin's in 2006. I am even in the middle of another wedding reception design right now!


As you all know, with the work I’m trying to get into with print design for weddings, I have a bunch of ideas for my own event. It’s my way to showcase what I can do, so a lot of what I’ve planned is a bit involved. Since I’ve got my tasting this Saturday, I’ll be able to secure the entrĂ©e choices and schedule. Printing for invites will go out a week from today, so after the weekend of 4th , it’ll be go time!


Just to give you an idea of what I’m gonna do, here are some ideas revealed:

Invites:

http://www.mygatsby.com/product.jsp?ProductID=405856

  • So that's the format, but with a much better design and layout than the rotating gif above (which to me is a little too generic. sorry mygatsby, but its the truth).
  • the cards that are actually printed will be from a real print house in Maryland. They’re using something called “offset” printing. I’m using a great uncoated (Nonmetallic) textured ivory paper and a dark orange metallic ink, and an uncoated chocolate ink. I’m using my gocco to add a gold swirl to the main invite card (to save money b/c a new color means an extra $200).
  • The cards in the pocket will be taller than what you see in the picture. Some people will have 4 cards for the rehearsal dinner invite. There will be an extra vellum sheet behind the directions which is the map of the area.
  • The metallic ivory gatefolds will be wrapped in a vellum/ribbon sleeve with the swirly design. The sleeve a little monogram of our first names as a seal on top (see picture below, but without the cheesy bow) and then stuffed w/ a metallic ivory envelope which is lined w/ the same swirly designed vellum.

Yes, I just reread that and it sounds just as confusing to me as you might feel right now. But it will be awesome. I promise! lol

Programs:

http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/05/10/programs-done/

  • I have the gold thread to sew them together and all, just like Mrs. Plumeria did (who happens to be a graphic designer too. I got the idea of sew-binding a book from my bookmaking class in graduate school

.

  • The cover won’t be vellum like the example online. It will be a hard cover (same paper as my invites), but there will be a vellum page utilizing 2 of the awesome engagement photos that Trang did for me in march.



Ceramic Favors (to be done by one of my witnesses/godmothers/primary sponsors):

  • They will be stuffed in this box with chocolate colored tissue paper:




  • They’ll then have a vellum sleeve that matches the one that wraps around the invite, just to bring in some continuity… kinda like this, but without the cheesy bows:

·

M&M Favors:

  • These are my very bags, of course w/ my swirly design:

  • and then im ordering orange and cream M&Ms (and since they’ve already got M on them, I don’t need to do any special printing.
  • these are what I plan on doing with the bags, but with gold thread:

The favors will alternate on the tables between place settings (ie you get M&Ms and the people on either side of you get candle holder.

Other items that we’ll have that im doing myself are:

  • Table Numbers/Names
  • Menu cards per place setting
  • Escort Cards/Place Cards
  • Welcome Bags for Hotel
  • Cookie Favor Bags

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Table Runners!


We bought the left at williamsburg Pottery for $6/each (but there were only 10), and had the left one made in Manila for even less!