yip yip! I figured it out!

So, here's the thing with been uber-cheap, but unwilling to just allow things to continue to suck due to said cheapness: it's takes a LOT of thinking to figure stuff out. You can't just run out to the store to BUY the table that would look perfect in that space. You need to somehow either MAKE it, or FAKE it. In general, I have a $40 maximum budget for any given project, and that has to include EVERYTHING needed for said project, regardless of size or involvement. So when I figure out a few ideas along the way (like buying paint that can be used for EVERYTHING, thus making it worth having a $25 bucket around at all times. Or like having yummy vanilla icing by the tub, that can easily be tinted any colour to suit, instead of making whole batches at a time. Or like the fact that a package of co-ordinating scrapbook paper can be a miracle when it comes to crafting (everything will GO but not match, and you'll look like a co-ordinating freaking genius). Or that Modge Podge came straight from heaven.) I get pretty excited.
So, after upcycling the kitchen table and chairs, and with snow on the ground inspiring future project-dom, I've turned my eye to the large cedar chest currently taking up residence at the end of our bed. While awesome, and the PERFECT size, this chest USED to be in my daughter's room, which is where it received it's FIRST redo... in hot pink felt (it's from the late seventies and was previously covered in ripped up, nasty brown leather. Not exactly princess friendly.) Yeah, oddly that glaring pink doesn't exactly GO with our champagne, pewter, and grey/blue bedroom (shocking, I know).But with the cost of fabric being, you know, stupid, not to mention (believe it or not) we're down to just ONE fabric store in the city which makes it HARD to get to, I've been trying to think of more cost-effective ways to recover the poor thing.... At first I thought "Aha! Ikea!" But the only fabric that was suitable was, obviously, the most expensive... So then I moved on to "Hey! I'll just use a cheap curtain panel!" But the "cheap" panels only came in either brown or taupe NEVER JUST EFFING GRAY (ok, ok. the no gray thing kind of frustrated me...)
But now, with the help of post over here I've got a think! I already have a fleece blanket that we're not using that'll match our bedroom suite perfectly! Yay! So off to the garage I go to wrangle up a staple gun and a screwdriver! Wish me luck! Image from aforementioned post.

other people's weddings: Stephanie & Dave

A short-haired, cupie-doll-faced bride with a dress made out of AMAZING stripey fabric... Love it. And oh my goodness! Am I ever a sucker for the looks on grooms' faces when they first see their brides! Make me grin every time! Images from here.

favoritest invites ever

Absolutely not exaggerating. How much do I wish I had thought of this?!?! And though they went with a very "rustic" look, this could easily be reinterpreted as more modern, or classic, or vintage (maybe modeled after a favorite tea cup and saucer??), etc. ps. meant to post about this ages ago, but I've been crazy swamped lately. I'll definitely try to catch up on some blogging today (especially since I'm too sick to really do anything else :( ) Image from Design*Sponge by Lauren Venell.

other people's weddings: Amy & Craig

Awww... I love this wedding... this is a great example of my favorite level of... well, I guess the word would be formality. Notice how the details are all still special: the shirts are crisp, the shoes are killer, the dress is detailed and amazing, BUT the overall feeling seems to be one of warm, summer nights, with your best friends. I know this sounds silly, but to me, a really great wedding ends up conveying the same feelings as any great party, and our greatest parties always seem to be our barbecues! Great music, great food, and cool friends... Really, you can have all the lighting schemes you want, but that combo is unbeatable... As long as you're able to keep it "special" (no hockey jerseys or sweatpants... and no, I'm not joking. Both of these things have been worn to weddings I've been to!) you're good to go! These gorg details were shot by Heather Wendling and more can be found over at Style Me Pretty. Now I just have to convince both my brothers to wear suspenders *words I never though I'd be saying!*

movin' on up: soft and smoky

Shockingly, I love me a smoky eye. BUT and this is a big but (haha! big "butt"... ok, sorry for that), I think it can tend to look kind of harsh and overdone, particularly if it's something you're not used to seeing on yourself. Which is why I have such mad love for a softer smoky eye in shades of grey, taupe, lilac, you name it. So much prettier and with the extra touch of colour you can seriously play up the colour of your eyes.
Rule of thumb: to play up your eye colour select from the opposite end of the colour wheel: blue eyes + brown shadow and vice versa, green eyes with lilac shadow, black eyes with silvers, etc. The other key to keeping it soft, and more wedding/bride friendly is to keep the rest of the look soft as well, no hard lines, sparkles, major tans, etc. Keep brows natural, slick on some lipbalm, and dust pretty pink or peachy blush and voila! Major bridal fox! Images from: Freida Pinto in Glamour, from the Erin Fetherston show in Glamour, from the Versace show in Allure, Mila Kunis from BellaSugar, Natalie Portman from Squidoo, from the Bottega Veneta show in Allure

Falling into Place

So, now that we've got dresses, shoes, a veil, linens, centrepieces, and even wineglasses, I feel like it's time to do a little update on how things are looking so far. Here's a little board of what I've got nailed down so far. Comments?

Brown, and purple, and grey, and tan... and I'm feeling bruised.

So, I can't seem to settle on a table cloth colour for the life of me. This might seem foolish, I know, but it's potentially the biggest colour choice I'll have to make. And unfortunately each choice I've got in mind sets me up for an almost completely different look AND feeling. Dark purple? Ooohhh, rich and deep and would be a great way to add dimension to our wedding... Light grey? A little more fashion forward than the classic ivory, with more depth, but not the same oomph as the purple... Maybe chocolate brown? But I'm worried that under the bright July sun it'll look more faded than rich, and will really emphasize the "polyester" in the poly-cotton cloths I'll probably be stuck with. And I keep holding out hope that maybe I'll come across even cotton table cloths somewhere in the internets, but so far, no such luck. At least not for anywhere near the price of rentals. Honestly, I can't even buy the fabric for as cheap as I can rent them. But... pics like this make me want to keep holding out. Honestly, how pretty is this grey linen? Soooo pretty and textured! Maybe I should give it another go... image from Hostess with the Mostess.

Great invite idea... colours and Photoshop needed!

Found these super-cute wedding invites that would be SO great to incorporate the colours I've got in mind! I think any combo of chocolate brown, pale lilac, eggplant, and charcoal or dove greys could be stellar. And as an added bonus we could add in, say, the word "Finally" (something I've had in mind since at least the five year mark ;) ) in lime green!

Colour Scheme: Chocolate, Lavender, Grey & Chartreuse

Whoo Boy! So back on the horse I go with the whole "inspiration board" thing. It might seem like I'm spending more time thinking about what I want than actually doing things, but it's just the way I work. The clearer an idea I have in my head, the easier I find it to execute, and then when it comes to crunch time I already know exactly what I want instead of having collected all this random shizz only to have no clue how it'll all fit together. Besides, when you have an EXTERMELY limited budget you need to make sure that ALL of your details count, which means being very particular about what those details are going to be!

So I've been toying with the idea of using chartreuse as an accent instead of aqua, and this board is kind of cementing it for me! I think we can TOTALLY still use the vintagey aqua here or there in combo with the chartreuse, but chocolate brown, lavender, chartreuse and shades of grey just seem so sophisticated and I think it'll be a good way to avoid going down the "girly" path. Also I think this better reflects the kind of vintage vibe I'm going for: more Mad Men, less shabby chic. You like?

How country is too country?

So obviously we're from the boondocks. This is nothing new. Which is a BIG part of the challenge of planning this wedding. Let's face it, with the advent of the internet I could feasibly have anything I wanted shipped out here. The problem lies more with trying to get people to "get it". I mean is it worth incorporating details that not only may people not understand but might actually think are *gasp* dumb??? I could storm in there, pretending I don't care what anyone thinks, but let's face it: if we didn't care what anyone thought we wouldn't be getting married in front of them! Of course we care! And really I didn't start off this post meaning to write about this, but here we are!

Anyway, the point was supposed to be: how do I incorporate "country" details that DO still very much represent us, without making it a "country" wedding??? And now that it's obvious that flats are a must (bummer) would it be ridiculous to change into my fallback cowboy boots? Is that lame or cute? I can't decide! Honestly, I LOVE these boots, though, and I could wear them for YEARS afterwards, I LOVE the brand (they fit like a dream), and they're my wedding colours! A sign, maybe?