Calligraphy: Which Pen to Choose?

This is my first major embarkment into DIY territory so I hope you've got your seatbelts fastened!  We ordered the STD magnets from vistaprint.com and they came in last week (Yay!!).  Now, I had already decided that I wasn't going to hire a calligrapher.  I think they charge WAY too much money, and honestly, if my wedding guests are anything like me, they're just going to throw the envelopes out.  So I decided to DIY.

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I took a trip to one my new favorite stores since I started wedding planning, Hobby Lobby.  There I purchased the following items:

1.  A fountain pen with different sized nibs and 4 different ink colors.  
2.  A Calligraphy book
3.  Some other random wedding things that have nothing to do with this post. :)

The book I bought has been immensely helpful and if you're looking to do some simple calligraphy, I would recommend it.  If you're looking for more detailed, elaborate calligraphy it's probably not the book for you. 

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They also sell it on amazon.com so you can read more reviews and maybe get it used.  It's called "First Steps Calligraphy" by Don Marsh. 

The pens I purchased were pretty basic pens.  From what I've read there's some pros and cons to the most common types of pens.  There are others such as the reed pens and quill pens but these are much more advanced and they're a little bit beyond my DIY capabilities.   

Dip Pens (This is overall the best quality, but also the most advanced)

Pros: 
There's a large variety of nibs available for this type of pen.
You aren't limited as far as ink goes.  There's a lot of different inks available for dip pens.

Cons: 
More difficult to learn.
More difficult to control than fountain pens or markers.

Fountain Pens
Pros:
You don't have to pause to reload the pen so it's easy to maintain the smoothness of calligraphy.
More portable than Dip Pens.

Cons:
Limited variety of ink types.
Limited nib sizes.

Markers
Pros:
Easy to use.
The most inexpensive option

Cons:
Inaccurate definition.
Very limited size and color range.
Limited use. 


After weighing the pros and cons, I decided on the fountain pen because it's less maintainence and much easier to learn and control. 

Next up, more DIY Calligraphy!

To Veil or Not to Veil?

I have a confession to make.  And it's a doozy.  I hope you're all sitting down.  Here goes...



I never really imagined or had any details planned for my future wedding day before.. well, before now.  I know, shocker, right?  All I hear from all of these vendors is that we should make this the day that I've been dreaming about since I was 5.  Umm, no.  Thanks though.

So this confession brings us to my question.  To veil or not to veil?  Since I've never really imagined myself as a bride, I can't really even picture myself in a dress.  Even the pictures of me in dresses don't really help.  I know, I'm weird. 

I know I don't want anything like this: 

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The whole veil covering my face thing is just not me.  It kind reminds me of a burka, which isn't an image I want to be conjuring up on my wedding day. 

I've also seen a lot of brides who are looking for these long cathedral veils, like this:

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Well, as gorgeous as this is on this bride, and many others I've seen, it's also not really me.  So if I do go the veil route, I probably won't be wearing a very long veil.

Of course, this is all going to depend on how I wear my hair.  And seeing as I'm still in the hairspiration stage and not really ready for a full trial, it could be awhile til this matter is resolved. 

I think I know why I'm having such an issue with this.  You want to hear my theory?  Well, I'm really not good at being the center of attention.  I feel awkward about it.  This whole center of everyone's attention thing for a whole day scares the bejeezus out of me.  And the whole white dress and veil thing just makes me stand out even more.  I know it's my one time to have everyone fawn over me but you know, I'm just not the "pay attention to me" type. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I did already buy a veil.  But I'm having second thoughts about wearing it.  Because I just love the simplicity of pictures like this:

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What do you guys think?  What did you or are you planning to wear in your hair?  

OOT-ers Get a Room

Yesterday was an all-wedding, all-the-time day for me, and it was glorious.  I feel very accomplished today and I wanted to share one of the things we got done yesterday so you can share in my getting-things-done-bliss. 


As I've mentioned, we have a lot of people coming in from out of town for our wedding and they are coming from all over the place.  We're thinking that when they arrive in hotlanta they'll probably want a bed to sleep in for a couple days.  Awhile back K and I decided to start looking at hotels in the area and figure out room blocks for our guests.

One itty-bitty problem with our venue....

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It's in the middle of nowhere.

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Okay, so it's not that bad.  But there's not a whole lot to do in Hiram, GA.  There are 2 hotels very close to our venue and we will block rooms at one of these for the convenience of it.  But we wanted our guests to have an option that put them in an area with things to do outside of our wedding. 

Unfortunately, the next closest major area is 30-40 minutes away from the venue. We're planning on having a shuttle for our guests, so they'll just have to plan to be ready to go a bit earlier than normal.  I'm only a little worried about this...

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Okay, so it has potential to be an issue.  But we'll just have to deal.  I really think our guests will be much happier in the area we've chosen, even if it means having to travel further.  And for those that don't want to travel, they can stay across from the venue in Hiram.  Problem solved. 

So I know you're wondering what we did yesterday, and trust me, I'm getting to it!  A few weeks ago, K called a bunch of hotels in this area we've chosen (I think about 10 hotels) and we sat down to go through and narrow them down to just a few.  Here's how we did that:

1. By hotel class.  We had enough hotels that were in the nice range that the Super 8 just didn't make the cut.  Actually, we didn't even call most of these for pricing, but we still ended up eliminating some because of this. 

2.  By price.  If it was expensive, it got crossed off the list.  There were enough hotels in a decent range that we could do this fairly easily.  It actually only took 1 or 2 off the list. 

3.  By ease of contact.  There were a few hotels who we never heard back from or who were just not easy to contact.  We want our guests to have a good experience when they book their rooms so these hotels quickly got the ax.

4.  By obligation.  Some hotels have a requirement that you fill 80% of the rooms by a certain date or you pay for the additional rooms.  Umm, what?  I'm sorry but, no.  We stuck with the hotels that would just release the room block once we got 2 weeks to a month out. 

5.  By breakfast.  Okay, so this may not be a big deal, but we narrowed it down based on which hotels offered breakfast.  Some people won't have cars and it makes things easier if they can just go down to the lobby in the AM.  We'll also be staying here on Saturday night and we wanted to be able to eat breakfast with our friends and family as a newly married couple.

6.  By extras/amenities.  Let's face it.  Some hotels have perks that others don't.  We picked the perkiest of hotels. :)

We got it down to three using these methods.  So what we did yesterday?  We went to go see the hotels!  We wanted to see the rooms, the lobby, the extras.  And I'm so glad we did.  It made our decision a little easier because we'd seen the rooms, sat on the beds, seen the restaurant and bar (or lack thereof).  We're still deciding between two of them but we've eliminated one.  Why?  It doesn't have a restaurant or bar.  We want people to be able to come back to the hotel and hang out on Friday night.  I know there are plenty of places within walking distance, but what could be better than being an elevator ride away from bed? 

Did you ever do room blocks?  How did you decide which hotel to choose? 

  

Scanning Silliness

I think I'm going to drive my fiance crazy.  I'm learning that this whole wedding planning thing is much more difficult and time-consuming than I ever thought it would be.  See, I am a planner.  I like to do things WAY in advance, do them, and get them done and out of the way.  This annoys people.  I'm well aware. 

This weekend we went to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond, our 2nd scanning adventure.  We got there around 11 AM on Saturday and got started around 11:30.  The gadget wall is initimidating.  I mean, how many different meat tenderizers do they really need to sell?  Honestly. 

Well, after about 2 hours, I realized that I was starving so we had to break for lunch.  We were only about halfway through the store, and were about to get deep into bedding, which I knew would take awhile.  I think K would have been happy leaving and coming back another day.  But, not me.  I wanted to get it done and over with.  So, after our lunch break, we came back to BB&B and continued scanning.  We spent quite awhile walking through the bedding department, deciding what we wanted our rooms to look like and how we would do the two beds. 

You want to see one of them?  It looks a lot like this:

What do you think?  Not too girly, but it's still fun. 

So we made it cleanly through the bedding department and that's where things started to go downhill.  We hit the bath department and... well... see for yourself. 


We got a little silly.

And sillier.... I really liked the beach ball pillow!! 

 Oh... well..  this one.  I just.. 

Kitty!!  

<ahem>  Well, we had fun.  Don't worry, I didn't register for the cat.  It was quickly vetoed. 

Anyway, so I would highly recommend BB&B.  We had a great experience with the people there, they were extremely helpful and knowledgeable, without being pushy.  And they really went to great lengths to make sure we got everything we needed.  Two thumbs up.  Five stars.  A perfect 10. 


Here's some suggestions/tips for those of you who haven't gone through this process yet:

1.  If you are registering at more than one place, register for EVERYTHING you might possibly want at the first place.  Even if you don't find the perfect silverware at place #1, scan one you'd be happy with.  That way, when you go to place #2, you can compare to what you chose at the first place and you have the names and the price so you can later compare.  You can always take things off later.  And I'd rather go online in my pajamas on the couch and delete things than have to go back to the store to scan more items. 

2.  Take into account the return policy.  Some places have a terrible return policy (i.e. - no returns without a receipt at Target), and that will really matter later when someone gets you something off the registry and forgets to tell the cashier... you get the picture. 

3.  If you have a color scheme in mind based on colors you already have, bring in a paint swatch that's close.  Or, if you can't do that, head to the towel room and choose the towel that's closest in color to the color of the rugs/walls/couch etc. you are trying to match.  Carry it around with you when you're making your decisions.

4.  When you're registering for sheet sets, remember that they usually only come with 1 set of pillowcases so register for extra pillowcases! 

5.  Bring a registry checklist with you so you can keep track of what you've registered for and what you still need.  Obviously some things won't apply to you (i.e. - a garden hose when you live in an apartment complex), but you can be sure you won't forget anything.

6.  Try to diversify your registry with various price points.  Big items that you think no one will buy for you, may be purchased as a group gift.  And small things are nice for people who don't have a big budget, but still want to get something for you off your registry.

7.  Don't let the salespeople tell you that you need something you don't need.  We had a saleswoman at Macy's insist that we needed to buy wine glasses to match the crystal glasses we registered for.  We told her we already had wine glasses that would look fine with it, but she insisted we should match everything.  Fine for her, not for us. 

8.  Compromise.  You'll both have to live with these things so try to find a happy medium. 

9.  Lastly, have fun!!  Be silly.  Don't fight over registry items.  It's just stuff. 

My Bling: Part Two

Before I dive in, let's recap, shall we?

I told you all about the proposal and the ring passed down to me from K's grandmother.

I showed you his grandmother's ring, madeover and told you that I'm wearing that ring on my right hand.

So you are probably wondering what I'm wearing on my ring finger.  Well, shortly after proposing, K told me that he really wanted to get me a ring that was mine and that we should choose what we do together.  The original plan was to take the diamonds out of his grandmother's ring and incorporate them somehow into my engagement ring.  But I just couldn't bear to destroy that ring. 

So instead, we went shopping.  And, let me tell you that as soon as I put my ring on my finger, I knew.  Here's the backstory:

The weekend after K proposed, he took me up to the GA mountains for a weekend of hiking, wine tasting and overall fun.  Unfortunately, I got hit with a bad cold the day after our engagement so the hiking was cut short.  Instead, we went to the nearby North Georgia Premium Outlets and saw that they had a Zales Outlet.  We really just went in to start looking and see what was out there, not intending to purchase a ring that day.  But, like I said, as soon as I put this ring on my finger, I knew it was the one for me.  It was perfect.  I have simple taste so I didn't want anything too huge or with a lot of design to it.  The band is thinner than the typical engagement ring which was perfect for my short little fingers. 

The saleswoman wrote down all the details for us so we could come back if we wanted to purchase it.  But the thing was that they couldn't guarantee that the ring I tried on would still be there.  It would be something similar, but the diamonds wouldn't be the same diamonds.  The idea of that just devastated me.  That's how I knew that, that ring, was my ring.  So K paid for the ring and we left it with them (*sniff*) to get resized. 

Here's one piece of advice I want to give you.  Don't let the salesperson talk you into getting a different size than you think you need.  I was pretty sure that my finger was a 4.75 and she talked me into a 5.25.  She said that since it was cold out, the 4.75 would be too small on me later, so I trusted her judgement because this is what she does for a living. 

Well, after waiting for my ring for a painful 10 days, it finally came in and we drove up to go get it.  I put it on, and it was slipping and sliding and shifting all over the place.  It was so uncomfortable, 2 days later I brought it back to be sized down to my actual size, a 4.75.  After waiting another painful 2 weeks, the ring finally came in, in the right size.  And it's gorgeous.  And I love it.

Here's some "ring porn" for your viewing pleasure:

Head on: 

From the side, love the prongs!  Haven't seen any other rings with prongs like mine:  

 Another one, head on: 

And because I love the artsy pictures: 



Disclaimer:  The below paragraph may cause spontaneous tears or induce vomiting.  Please use caution in proceeding and know your limit of mushiness you can take.  Thank you. 

One I love about my ring is the imperfection.  There's a so so small little black dot in the diamond that you can only see when you look at it from the side and I love it.  It makes it unique and it reminds me that there's no perfect diamond, no perfect person, and no perfect relationship.  It reminds me that I have my flaws and K has his flaws, but regardless of those little imperfections, we have an amazing relationship and more importantly, an amazing friendship.  I can't expect him to be perfect and he can't expect me to be either. We're just us.  His quirks are part of the reason I love him so much and they complement my quirks and flaws perfectly.   

I think that's enough cheese for the moment.  :)  Next time I'll tell you guys what we did with the extra gold from his grandmother's ring, and I am so excited and happy with our decision!  

 

Size matters

We interrupt the normally scheduled wedding blogging to bring this psuedo-wedding related vent session.  Please feel free to navigate from this page until the normal blogging has resumed.



It's wedding season.  It also happens to be "get ready for the beach" season.  Both of these things combine to bring a giant hot mess. 

All I see these days is a whole lot of advertisements telling us women that we aren't pretty enough or thin enough.  And seriously, it makes me sick.  Planning a wedding should be fun!  The dress you buy should be made to fit your body, not the other way around.  And honestly, your fiance is marrying you for you, not for the you that is 20 pounds lighter. 

Don't get me wrong, I like working out.  Going to the gym and staying active helps me stay sane and I feel better about myself when I'm living an active lifestyle.  So I get the concept of wanting to be fit and healthy.  And I understand wanting to look good on your wedding day, and thinking that those last 5 pounds will do that for you. 


But here's where my issue comes in. 

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This is just gross.  And unnecessary.  But society drives us to want to look like these impossibly thin models who eat rice cakes and splenda for lunch.  All I'm saying is I'd like to see commercials and advertisements that are celebrating women's beauty and not offering us 50% off of liposuction if we act in the next 10 minutes. 

Eating disorders are a real thing.  A very sad, real thing.  And the sadder part about it, is with all the technology that's available to us now, we can very quickly get onto websites that tell us how to be anorexic and hide it from our families.  Communities of people that praise each other for getting below a healthy BMI.  Friends who help each other "stay on track" by keeping below 500 calories a day.  All I have to say is, what is wrong with this world?  What is wrong with people?  Don't we brides-to-be have enough pressure on us without the added stress?   Ughh.

But the reality is that we all do it.  We all look in the mirror and see something about ourselves we don't like.  Maybe it's your thighs or your hair.  Maybe it's your nose or your arms.  We all do it.  And we all want to look good in those pictures that will be posted on your walls for the next 60 years.  But, I've never seen a bride who didn't look gorgeous on her wedding day.  Whether you are size 2 or size 32, you have reason to celebrate.  You are getting married!  You and another person are choosing to spend the rest of your lives together  And that, my friends, has nothing to do with the size of your jeans.

For those of you who stayed with me, thanks for reading and letting me vent.

My Bling

As I was looking back over all of my posts today I realized that I have yet to tell you guys about my ring.  Shame on me. 

I told you all how he proposed.  I'm still amazed by his creativity on that front, but don't get me started talking about that again.  I'll never stop!  So anyway, I showed you the ring that he proposed with as well, but the story doesn't end there.  Here it is again for those of you who don't want to stalk all of my old blog posts to find it. 

This ring isn't just any ring.  It's special.  Not that they aren't all special, but this one was K's grandmother's wedding ring.  The symbolism of this still warms my heart.  During the proposal he said he knew we'd have to work with the ring because I'm not a yellow gold kinda girl.  And he was right.

So, soon after we climbed back down stone mountain, we started brainstorming. 

We came up with a lot of options:  making it into a necklace, taking out the diamonds and using them in a new ring, melting it down and using it to make my ring.  But after all of this discussion, I just wasn't happy with any of these options.  I felt like to do any of these things would destroy the ring and I wanted to keep it as close to the original as possible.  So after doing some research, I learned that I could get it rhodium plated to make it appear white, but it would still be the same exact ring underneath.  Perfect.  

So I took it to a reputable jeweler here in Atlanta and talked to them about my plan.  I also wanted to get the setting swapped out for something a little more modern with a little less metal.  The center diamond is gorgeous and the setting just wasn't doing it justice.  So after discussing my options, we came up with a plan and I left my ring with them.  

For the coming weeks, I waited on bated breath for the phone call.  Finally, I got the call!!  Let me tell you, when she handed me the ring, I couldn't contain my joy.  They did such a great job with it.  It still looked like the same ring, but with a makeover.  Perfect. 

Ready??

I know what you're all thinking.  I'm not wearing it on my ring finger!  Well, that's a story for another day.  But this ring is currently gracing the middle finger of my right hand.  I'm so so glad that we decided to keep the ring as close to it's original state as possible. 

But wait!  I haven't told you all the coolest part about this whole thing.  You probably noticed that there is considerably less gold in the "renovated" ring.  Well, they returned the gold to me to use for a future project and I can't wait to tell you all what we decided to do with it!