Austin Wedding Inspirations

Listen, I've combed a lot of blogs.  I have a hard drive full of right-clicked images, a book filled with (literally) cut-and-paste pages.  I've gone through glue stick after glue stick collecting pictures and ideas. You really can't believe all of the inspiring stuff out there--and if I had known how fun wedding planning could be, I wouldn't have put off getting married for so long. Weddings are becoming so creative, fun, and expressive. So don't believe all of the shows on TLC.  They scared the heck out of me, too.

Here is one of my all-time favorite weddings. This amazing wedding took place just outside of Austin, Texas.  I just want to steal everything about it. But, sadly, I won't. You can see more beautiful photos of the wedding on the Nichol's blog, here.

So here's to creativity, individuality, and 'weirdness'.  And I think Austin represents pretty well.

Eight Weeks!

Rain falls all around as the latest hurricane from the gulf disbands in the skies this far inland.  I've always loved rainy days--the gray color of the sky and the diffused light, the force indoors, the excuse to relax.  Lately, though, I've developed a sort of resentment toward the weather, and any bride planning an outdoor wedding can relate.  Months of planning could go awry on the whim of a weather pattern.  The jet stream, El Nino, barometric pressure--a radar filled with color--could force the dreaded relocation, a change of plans.  Yet the mark of well-adjusted human is adaptability.  So, I'm acknowledging this.  But I'd just prefer no rain eight weeks from today.

So--onto the dress!  The dress is almost done, just a few measurements and a hem.  The dress now rests in Muskogee, as my grandma will help me with the hem.  Right now the fabric falls in a pool around my feet, and if it wasn't an outdoor wedding, I'd be tempted to leave it.  But grass and gravel suggest otherwise.

I couldn't speak more of the process of dress making.  It's been about discovery, trial and error, and problem solving.  It's also been about surprise.  The dress has come together almost completely apart from my hands--and sometimes I feel like I just helped it into existence.  And after slipping it on this weekend, it feels as soft as a cloud.  A light, airy, sunny cloud.

Here are a few detail pics.  I'm most proud of the neckline, a crocheted piece that I hand-sewed into the top of the bodice.  It's not quite the guipure lace, but the delicate design is close.  I love it.

So, here's to rainy days.  And the hope of sunny ones...

Milemarkers

I made the long drive to Muskogee last night.  Out of the city, across vast and empty land.  The landscape changes around mile marker 236, and the flat and windy horizon of Oklahoma City smudges into taller trees and the hills of "Green Country".  I wonder how many times I driven this stretch of highway?  Hundreds of times, possibly.  It carried me to OBU in a whirlwind, and I remember watching the exit signs as we got closer to my future.  There's one sign in particular:  Earlsboro. Earl was my beloved dog that died tragically the first Christmas break after I started college.  I still pass it and it makes me think of him.  He seemed to represent the last bit of home, the time before I left out on my own.

There's one stretch of highway that falls from a graceful hill, exposing a long curve.  When you live in the "flatlands", any type of dip or rise that you can visibly recognize is a wonder.  I love the sight.

So, thank you I-40. We've had a love/hate relationship over the years.  I've dreaded your uneventful miles, your indifferent pavement.  But you've carried me home and back, through my college years and now into another life change.  You'll carry me to my wedding day, the climax of all this waiting and planning and dreaming. We've shared a lot of good music, time to gather clarity of thought, a few speedometer readings I'd rather not admit.

And we've many miles yet to come.


My latest I-40 enjoyment, The Orbans.  Enjoy.

Invitation Inspirations

They're out there.  They're in the mail!

Jacob helped me stuff and stick return address labels on invitations last night--and they're finally done!  I took them downstairs this morning to the mailroom in a box labeled "brown kraft".  They came to rest in a US Postal Service Bin, just waiting for their little homes in mailboxes on far away streets.  We've been through so much together--me and those little #10 envelopes!

So, the giant hurdle is jumped! And the invitations came together perfectly.  I'll be posting more pictures later, because I'm quite proud of the design.  I'll just wait until all my sweet guests get them first.

I've totally enjoyed this ride of invitation development and design.  There are so many inspiring invitation ideas out there--you could hop from blog to blog and never get enough!  I finally narrowed down my concept to that of a "gig poster".  Jacob has quite the gig poster collection amassed already--some hand-screened, small-series prints.  I just love them.  And invitations these days have finally taken the hint from gigs.  Here are some posters that offered a hand in some inspiration: (And we're the proud owners of a few of these guys!)

Aren't they fun?  Bright colors, vivid imagery, an emphasis on font and type--you can see why invitations took the hint. And here are some of my favorite invitation designs.  So fun! 

These invitations really reflect the freedom I've found to make this wedding truly a reflection of our own personalities and interests.  I'll always see the value in tradition, but not in confinement or commercialism. One of my favorite art professors always said: "Art is about ideas".  And art can be anything you do--even a wedding!    

50 Lines

All things are in motion.  The greater moments in my life I have felt swept along a current--and I like to think of it as the river of God's goodness. When circumstances exist beyond my own accomplishment or activity, I can only acknowledge the Lord's blessings.  I can only step back, thankful.

We have a new house, the sweetest little Tudor Rival on the quietest little street with large oak trees shading the sidewalks.  We have a backyard full of rose bushes and a mantle with Art Nouveau embellishments.  The house was built in 1927, and I can't help but think of the first owners.  Were they young?  Newlyweds?  I like to imagine these details, the history of a home that is now mine.

We'll be flying to Ireland the day after the wedding.  Eight days there: cliffs, castles, traces of my own ancestry.

The past and present collide, affirming these days of transition and change in my own small existence.  It's a chemical change of sorts--simple and quiet, an altogether new substance of life formed by the exchange of energy.

And I can only step back, thankful.


Enjoy Sarah Jaffe, "Clementine".  Love it.

DIY Ice Cream Topping Tins

So, in addition to changing the wedding location, time, and date, there were other inevitable changes on the horizon.  The reception has now been replaced with what I'd like to call an "Ice Cream Social".  We're talking ice cream, sorbets, tons of toppings, cherries, banana splits, and root beer floats.  Oui!

I remember having these church-wide socials when I was growing up.  I remember all of the homemade ice cream makers spread out on tables in the church parking lot, so many flavors that it would take bowls and bowls to sample all of the different recipes.  Still when I think of summer nostalgia, I have to think of sharing ice cream with people I love.  And the sticky fingers are totally worth it. 

So, here's the "scoop".  Not much about a traditional wedding reception appeals to me.  After we first became engaged and I first contemplated the meaning of a wedding, I had to narrow it down to a very simplistic purpose:  to celebrate making the lifetime commitment of marriage with everyone I love surrounding me, and then to enjoy--really enjoy--this gathering.  I can think of only one other time that all of your closest friends and family gather, and it's the very opposite of a wedding.  I want to make the most of celebrating the life that awaits because the next time it will be a celebration of the life that has already taken place.

So, all of these sentiments to present...
my latest DIY project!

First, let me give props to Eat Drink Chic for this amazing post about a DIY Ice Cream Parlor.  It's definitely a major source of inspiration.  I love the creative method of displaying the toppings and making the table a very coherent visual.  Check it out, here!  Here are some of my favorite photos from this amazing ice cream creation:

So, here are my DIY Ice Cream Tins.  I want a super buffet of ice cream toppings, so these are the first in a series of projects to create serving containers for the Ice Cream Social.

I got these guys at the Dollar Tree.  Score!

And so I painted them using all sorts of colors (as all colors are "my colors"), using the most amazing little gun.  Get this thing before your next spray paint project.  It snaps on to the top of the spray paint can and the trigger applies pressure to the top of the sprayer.  No more tired fingers!

And...here are my little serving tins! 

CrossTimbers!

So, as of today, the wedding is 81 days away!  That's eighty-one!

Jacob and I found the perfect place to have the wedding.  While we love my Aunt Helen's farm and are so thankful that they would let us trample all over it, we realized the risk we were taking with an October wedding.  I just had to trust my instinct, a nagging feeling I had that the weather might be poor.

So...August 28th.  Camp CrossTimbers.  Absolutely.

It's a nice drive, tucked away on a hill outside of McAlester.  It's beautiful, quiet, and quaint.  I love the overall relaxed feeling of the place and even more--imagining all of the people I love in one place.  Hopefully they'll be enjoying some volleyball, paddle boats, and ice cream.  Perfect.

P.S. Jacob made an awesome video of the day we spent at CrossTimbers, so watch it here!