72 days and lost in color

...paint colors that is. I've been looking at color swatches for months now trying to decide the color palette for our soon-to-be new home. When I was little, I hated spending Saturday afternoons trudging through boring Home Depot with my parents to buy DIY things for the house (my Dad doesn't believe in hiring handy man or gardeners)....but now I actually find myself begging Will to take me to Home Depot on the weekends so I can hoard paint color swatches and pick out small samples of wood flooring that we can use to envision the look of our future home. Even with our growing collection color of paint and floor samples, I am still having trouble committing to a particular color. The two main color groups we have been considering are green or beige. We have been leaning more toward a light and calming green until I saw these beautiful creamy rooms that bring so much warmth and light. I just fell in love~

three above via delightbydesign

I also found great inspiration from reading Young House Love, a blog by a talented young couple who renovated their old home to look bright and beautiful. My favorite work of theirs is the dark, dreary, red-brick den that they reworked into a comfortable and airy space absolutely overflowing with light. 

What a lovely and functional space! Read more about their amazing transformations here. I wish Will and I were this handy...

Chair with Flair!

I adore the idea of embellishing the bride's and groom's chairs for the reception~

via ruffled 

via ruffled

via simplybloomphotography

via elizabethannedesigns

Will and I decided to have a "family style" round table as our head table instead of a long presidential head table or a sweet heart table. We felt that a sweet heart table with just the two of us would be too isolated-- we definitely want to celebrate the special day feeling like we are surrounded by friends and family. The long head table, on the other hand, would feel too much like we are being put on display...Will and I would feel most truly comfortable at an ordinary table where we can simply talk and laugh with our friends. We will be distinguishing our head table with decor and I also thought it would be fun to have something special for our chairs. It's one of those little details probably not many will notice (especially since the embelishments will be on the back of our chairs, away from the rest of guests) but it's a unique touch that just makes things more personal~

74 days

It was a long and busy Father's Day weekend! We finally had our engagement photo session at UCLA on Saturday and luckily it turned out to be a beautiful day with glowing sunshine and blue skies-- in fact, in was much better than the weather on the day we had originally scheduled for the photo shoot. After another full day with church and family on Sunday, I was absolutely exhausted.

On top of it all, I am having growing frustrations and trouble with our rental vendor. I really don't want to sound like a spoiled, high maintenance bride who just complains about every little superficial wedding frustration, but I just feel that with this particular vendor, I've had to stretch myself way beyond what is acceptable for a customer to accommodate them. 

I was actually in the middle of writing out an angry post about the latest childishly rude email I received from them when another new email popped into my inbox-- from a leader at church. Reading the email, though it was simple and short, I was reminded of how much my family of God cared for me and Will and our marriage. Though very special, our wedding day will only last one day while our marriage will be a lifetime. I shouldn't let the little frustrations or hiccups in the planning (which actually seem terribly large in the moment) distress me because at the end of it all, Will and I will be married, so it will be the most perfect day anyways. There will always be ill-mannered people, miscommunication, and unforseen challenges... but I know it is more worth-while to focus on my patient fiance and preparing my heart for a God-centered marriage.

Of course this doesn't mean I won't express my opinion and experiences with this vendor to other potential customers. There will definitely be a review on the way to wedding wire at the very least-- but after the wedding (because I'm a pansy). I'm nervous about having any more trouble with this company before the wedding and giving them the benefit of the doubt (yet again), these next few months will also give them time to redeem themselves.

81 days and 3 ideas

Most of the big items on our wedding check list have been completed, save for a few in-progress tasks such as DJ, cake, and tuxes. I am now thinking a bit more about the details. These are four little ideas I'm just loving at the moment~

Wedding activity book: I have a few vague memories of a couple of family weddings I attended when I was a child… and while I was always well-behaved (I think...) an activity book would have been a great way to quell the temperaments of the more impatient little guests.

via aimee'sboutique

Personalized wedding dress hanger: For that one (but staple) photo featuring the wedding dress, a pretty hanger is a lovely detail. Also, since I have decided on renting my wedding dress instead of purchasing it, an extra special hanger would be a nice momento in lieu of the actual dress and it would also be much more useful in my closet after the wedding.

via myambercolouredworld

via hofferphotography

Pretty drinks in a glass beverage dispenser: wonderful colors and also nice and refreshing for guests on a hot summer day. From LA almanac it shows that the average higher temperature for our wedding day from past years is a balmy 84 degrees. The record high was a boiling 103 degrees! Goodness I certainly hope not...

via stylemepretty

via elizabethannedesigns

Happy Graduation!

90 days. This week my brother and many of my friends will be donning caps and gowns to finish off another important chapter of their lives. College was definitely some of the most memorable and important years of my life and I miss pretty much everything about it except all of the actual schoolwork...

I spotted these beautiful bruin-colored desserts from a summer pool party that would actually be really perfect for a graduate from my beloved alma mater UCLA

via somewheresplendid and hellonaomi

I can't believe its already been a year since I graduated (for the third time). Time goes by so fast... 

87 days and paper pretties

Today I stumbled upon a treasure trove of paper crafts and invitation inspiration. I could spend hours poring over the beautiful card creations of Homespun with Heart by Danielle Flanders. Each lovely handmade card is absolutely overflowing with creative details and it takes me a good few minutes looking at each photo to take in all of the intricacies of her designs. Here are a few of my favorites~ (it was so hard to choose! everything was so adorable)

 love the cute moss detail~

the aqua and lime green are so summery and pretty together

"lifting you up in prayer" and hot air balloons~ so clever

I love the creative use of all the various materials like thread, twine, felt, lace, and buttons. So many fantastic scrapbook and card ideas! See more at her lovely blog here. 

Paper resources

Just thought I would share some of my great finds for specialty paper and envelope retailers. These are great resources for card making, crafts, and of course DIY invitations, programs, seating escort cards, menus, and pretty much all other wedding stationery on a budget.

Cards and Pockets

Cards and Pockets was the first DIY paper materials site I came across that really inspired me to make my own wedding invitations. Will and I really like pocket fold-style invitations because they are elegant and keep everything neat and simple...but ordering them through an invitation designer typically runs more than $5.00 per invitation. Cards and Pockets, on the other hand, has all of the materials for pocket fold invitations for under $2.00 per invite. Their color selection in pretty basic so they didn't have exactly what I was looking for but its a pretty fair selection and a great place to start when thinking about DIY invitations.

Paper Presentation

Paper Presentation is a wonderful boutique paper shop without snobby boutique prices. Their website is adorable and they have a great unique selection of pretty paper patterns and unique styles and shapes for their pocket folds. There's also pre-cut cardstock in many useful shapes like tags, circles, squares, and hearts. Makes putting together designer-looking invitations super easy!  

Paper and More

Paper and More is like a paper wholesaler but you don't have to buy in ridiculous bulk like some of the other online retailers where the minimum order is 250. I like their collection of recycled paper products, the colors are nice and earthy and they are made from 100% recycled materials so its perfectly green! Also, pretty much every product I've browsed on their site has rave reviews from customers about the high quality items for affordable prices.