Making your a cake a little fancy!

Y'know how there's a few (dozen) completely unnecessary wedding-related things that you just have to have. Like someone to make balloon animals at the reception or 13 pairs of wedding shoes? For me, (this time), it was cake flags.

I'm not sure where I first got the idea, but I'm thinking it may have been from the fabulous Mrs. Cupcake.

Of course, Mrs. Lemonade later followed suit with some flags, too.

I'll be the first to tell you that our wedding doesn't need these. Chances are they'd be time, effort, and money that I don't want to spend. . . Right, but who could deny something so cute? These all mostly cupcakes, but they're just so gosh darn cute. See them for yourself! (source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Something about them just adds fun and whimsy to their cake counter parts. I never seen them at a birthday/holiday/wedding, but it looks like people use them for all kinds of occasions.

Cake flags of a flag? How cliche!
I love the bright colors on this one!

What do you need for your wedding (that you don't really need at all)?

Finally, a card box!

Hive, do you remember the card box I had started, but hadn't finished? Probably not, because I had started it even before you had seen it, way back during the summer. It then sat in my basement for ummmm a few months until I started to freak out about our deadline - oops, I mean timeline. While Daddy G, Mama Giraffe, and Sis Gee yelled at the Bears/Packers game behind me, I decided to get things done!

So, are you finally ready for the finished product? I'm sure you've all been dying for the final result ;-).




So, it's done. That means something, right?

I'll be honest, I don't love it. I don't hate it either, but it's kind of 'eh' in my mind. It looks a little sloppy, the colors aren't perfect, the blue sticker letters are the wrong shade of blue, but I all ready had them and didn't feel like going out and buying new ones.

It's not awful, I guess, and I don't dislike it enough to start over, so I think I'm just going to go with it. Even if it doesn't look perfect, it actually feels good to cross something off of my giant/enormous/bigger-than-a-house to do list. I'm just going to go with it.

Any wedding projects not come out perfect for you guys? Did you use them anyway?

Colored Gems are Special Too

My daily commute into Chi-City is about an hour and fifteen minutes. I pass a Illinois Lottery billboard every day, so I day dream about what I'll do with my millions when I win them, but I also listen to the radio to help pass the time.

Eric & Kathy on 101.9 is my go-to every morning, but during commercials or when it gets slow, I tend to flip to other morning shows.

I got really offended recently, because I heard that other morning show bring up what they thought was an interesting story. The radio hosts mentioned that there's strange new trend going around, as a direct result of the royal engagement and Prince passing on Princess's Di's sapphire E-ring. Apparently, more and more people are now receiving gemstone rings for their engagement ring.

The three hosts then went on to talk about how awful and weird that trend is. One host said that, "No way. Even if my girl said that's what she wanted, I wouldn't get that for her. It's got to be a diamond ring." The female host said, "Maybe... if the girl didn't like diamonds, but probably not." And the main host chimed in that that there was no way he would buy someone an engagement ring that showcase a gemstone.

The three hosts went on for a while like this, and then they accepted one phone call. The caller said she had received a ruby necklace as her E-ring. That's what she wanted, and that's what she had asked her (future) fiance to get for her.

The radio hosts almost didn't believe the caller, and they made it clear that they thought it was strange.

Lame.

Now, I'm a gemstone E wearer myself. My E-ring is exactly what I wanted and I would not have picked anything different, if I had been able to choose it myself. I love my e-ring and Mr. Giraffe did an amazing job.You've seen my ring before, but I can't help sneaking it in there again.

Anyway, I find it hard to believe that people can't accept gemstone rings as just as special and important as a standard diamond rings. I've gotten some comments about my ring in the past that definitely indicated that those people may have not thought about my ring the way I do. At the time, I was clearly flustered and didn't know what to say.

With everything an engagement ring means and is supposed to represent, I find it a little offensive that people can just write them off as not quite e-ring worthy.

So, hive, I'm going to show you all, because you might not know, just how awesome a gemstone (E)ring can be. Enjoy :)... but don't get too jealous, there's enough to go around.

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Has anyone else had a nonfavorable reaction to their ring? What did you do about it?

Garlic: Does More than just Get Rid of Vampires

There's one thing I don't want to look like on my wedding day. Okay, really, there's probably more than one thing (others in the list include: crazy person, sleep deprived crazy person, etc), but one thing is like this:

If you want to buy them for yourself, go here.

Today I'm going to talk to you about a kid of embarrassing health problem. Warts. See, as far as I know, they don't really hurt you, but they are obnoxious, annoying, and -again- embarrassing. Nobody wants some lumpy bumpy thing sticking out of their skin. I've had my fair share of experiences with them, too.

When I was younger, I had about 3 planters warts on the bottom of my foot. They were on the pads of my foot so I couldn't get them burned off or anything so I remember going once a week, after soccer practice, and the doctor would use a knife and cut out more of the wart until it was gone. In high school, I got a wart on my elbow that I got frozen off with liquid nitrogen. As a freshman in college, that wart came back and I also had another on my elbow. I got those both frozen off. As a junior in college, I had about five on my hands, but 3 were small. I got two frozen off and the other three burned off with acid. Ugh, what a pain, right?

After I graduated, and as I was (still am) getting closer to the wedding, I noticed I was starting to get about a dozen warts on my arm. They were super small - no bigger than a pin head - but I could finally recognize them so I knew they were there.

Getting warts burned/frozen doesn't cost more than just my co-pay, but it is ridiculously painful. Getting them frozen is by far the worst pain I've ever felt, and it usually take three times for them to go away. Needlessly to say, I was looking for a less painful solution for the future.

So what did I do? Well, I tried the band-aids, at home freezing treatments (also painful), and at home gel stuff, but nothing worked. I guess I just got a nice strong strain of warts. My doctor says they're just a virus in your body, and they effect some people more than others.

Well, I bet you can guess what I did next. I did what any smarty pants would do, I went to visit my good ol' friend, Google. I read a bunch of things people claim work, but, frankly, I'm lazy and cutting off a small piece of banana peel and putting it on my arm with duct tape seemed like too much work. I kept looking until I found the simplest, easiest, and least time consuming solution. (source)

Garlic. Yeah, werid, right? I read online that taking garlic tablets help get rid of warts. I didn't believe it, but I seemed easy so I gave it a try. I bough the odorless ones (which I highly recommend so you don't smell like garlic bread), and they taste kind of gross, but I took them daily, and guess what? No more warts. That's it, they were gone. I could barely believe it. I had warts forever and in about two months, they were no longer!

I would recommend Garlic Tablets to anyone that has a similar problem, but, fyi, from what I've noticed, they don't really work for planter warts (the ones on your feet). I take the Nature Made brand, and I just pick them up at the grocery store. They cost between $9-$16 a box, it seems, which seems like a lot, but it's less than my co-pay and feels totally worth it to me. It feels really nice to finely clear up something that's bothered me since middle school.

Anybody else trying to take care of weird health things before the big day?

A new Bathing Suit. . . or Two

Ever since I read Brooch's post about potential Honeymoon Attire, I've been totally distracted. Seriously, I don't know why it hadn't occured to me before, but after reading that she was looking for a new bathing suit (and more), I had a crazy moment of "I NEED a new one, too!" Since then, I've put all this wedding planning out of my mind to focus on the big h-moon coming up (Darn you, B, for distracting me!).

I totally need to clue you in on our honeymoon, but since I haven't written that post yet, I'll just let you know I will be spending a week on a beach.

Anyway, I had no idea where to look for a suit at this time of the year. It's only, you know, a cool 20 degrees in Chi-Town today. I knew I'd have to shop online, because no where in the area is carrying swimwear right now. I went to the boards for help, ad got some great suggestions, but ended up going to Kohl's.com. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, seeing as I'm saving my cash from some -ahem- different pieces of honeymoon attire.

I don't know if you've ever been to Kohl's, but it's kind of like a JC Penny's. There's a store right by my house, and I pretty much get all my clothes there.Out of what I'm wearing today, my jeans, shoes, and bra all came from there. Yes, I just mentioned my bra. You didn't know I'd get all personal.

I was only going to buy one bathing suit . . . but I couldn't make up my mind, and then partner in crime, Mama Giraffe, somehow convinced me to get them both.

Honeymoon, here I come! So here's are the goods (yes, I still shop in the juniors department. Don't judge me.) All screenshots come from Kohls.com.

Doesn't that one remind you of Lisa Frank stationary?!

I was going to use my 20% coup, but found a 30% off one online, the pieces were all ready on sale before that, and then I was able to use a free shipping coup too, so needless to say, I got a pretty good deal.

Any other Chicagoans dreaming of sunny beaches? Oops - I mean, anyone else shopping for their honeymoon?

Big Trouble in the Tux Deparment

Hive, I'm going to freak out, but before I do that I feel like I have to clue you in on the back story here.

Where to begin? Well, Mr. Giraffe is totally a stud muffin, if you weren't aware. He always looks good, in whatever he wears, but it's mostly jeans and T-shirt. One school he subs at, lets him wear that exact thing, or else it's dress pants I got him from Gap (on sale!) and a button down shirt. Suffice to say, Mr. G is a pretty casual guy. (And by casual, I mean awesome.)

Mr. Giraffe in his casual clothes, doing his favorite thing ever.

From the start, we decided our wedding would be pretty formal - not super formal, but way fancier than normal for these Giraffes. I (or we? not sure) decided that the groom and company will be dressed to the nines in tuxedos. Mr. G doesn't dress up much (or ever), so I naturally got pretty excited about seeing Mr. Giraffe turn into a Mr. Fancy Pants.

Way back, early on in our engagement, I went to bridal show with a fashion show at the end. And that's when it happened, folks! Yes, you are correct. I fell for a tux. See, Men's Warehouse was showing off their brown tuxedo. In the past, I always thought brown tuxes were cheesy and lame, which is unfortunate because our whole wedding is based around brown and blue.

But I was so wrong. They're suave and dashing and debonair and, most importantly, fancy pants. (source)

See? It's perfect! My girls will be in brown and blue (more on that later), and can you images a black tux next to them? No way! Out of all the tuxes Men's Warehouse carries, there is only one brown one, but, like I said, it's just perfect.

So what's the problem you ask? Well, Mr. G wasn't sold on the brown tux, and at 4 moths out we need to get this figured out, so we stopped in at Men's Warehouse this weekend. He liked the tux too, and I was all ready to jump for joy . . .

But Mr. G looks up from the book of tuxes and says, "These are all made of wool. My mom is super allergic to wool."

You mean the mom you have to dance with? The mom that will hug you? The mom that will line up for pictures with you 3 brothers all in wool tuxes as well?!?

Commence freak out!

So what are my options? I have no idea. Men's Warehouse has 2 polyester tuxes, but they are all white, and Mr. G will not wear a white tux. All of the suits at Men's Warehouse are made of wool as well. I called Black Tie Formal Wear, and after some looking, they called me back and said that all the rentals are wool, but Mr. G can buy/order a polyester tux for ~$125

I know Mr. Giraffe won't use a tux again, most likely, so buying it is out. I also don't feel right about asking the groomsmen (some of which have to fly in for W day) to purchase a tux the won't wear again (they're casual dudes, too). What about having them wear a suit that they all ready own? Well #1 it might be made of wool and #2 none of the guys, including Mr. G own a suit, and that would be way too big of a purchase to ask for.

I'm freaking out hive, and I really don't know what to do. Mr. G is going to have to go all Emperor on them and show up in his birthday suit, and just tell everyone he's in fancy duds.

Hive, help! Does anyone have any suggestions? Pretty please?

Feeling Like a Short Haired Bride

I have a confession to make with you hive. See, I'm finally starting to think about my whole wedding day look, and, well, I feel like a short haired bride.

That's not to say that short haired brides aren't fantastic. They are. I mean, look at this lovely lady.It's just that I never thought I'd feel like a short haired bride. When I was younger, I always had short soccer mom style hair because I hated brushing and dealing with it. Then in high school, I grew it out until senior year when I cut off 8 inches of it.

Then in college, I got lazy again and let it grow and grow. I mean, cutting your hair took time and about $14. I wasn't going to have any part of that ;-). This means that my hair kept getting longer, without me really realizing it.

But then I started zipping my hair into my purse and shutting it in my car door. It was getting too much to handle soooo . . .
Well, 13 inches later (and yes I donated!), I feel like a short haired bride. I'm worried that I won't be able to have the pretty and fancy hair I've been looking at. There are some unbelievably gorgeous hairstyles out there. (source 1, source 2)
Now, I don't know what too do. I'm not sure what my hair will be long enough for or what exactly want I want it to look like.

Fantastic Fonts

I've seen it on the boards, I know there are other people as obsessed with fonts as I am. Although, I feel like obsessed is an understatement. As a graphic designer and typographer, my whole life revolves around letter forms. To this day, I swear my font design class in college still ranks in one one my top ten things ever. I mean, if I wake up on the Cooper Black side of the bed, you know it's going to be a good day.

That is all background information, but I swear its important. Now that you know all that, you guys can understand how excited I get about receiving my MyFonts Newsletter in my email.

Yesterday I got the Best Fonts of 2010 newsletter. Now, I'm sure you all are as on edge as I was to find out who the winners are. There's some good ones, I promise, and a few Script Typefaces that really made me stop and think "Man, this would like great on a wedding invitation." Of course, by "a wedding invitation", I meant "my wedding invitation", but I'm sure they would work for yours too!

Ready for some font eye candy? I'm all ready drooling over these babies!

1) Affair designed by Alejandro Paul. Available for $99. Below graphics by John Collins. Oh wait, is that all ready in my shopping cart? Maybe! Although, I feel like if I spent the money then I'd totally have to use it, and it might be a little weird to use a font called Affair on wedding invitations. Just kidding!
2) Lady Rene also designed by Alejandro Paul with Laura Varsky. Available for $59. Below graphics also by John Collins.
3) Breathe designed by Maximiliano Sproviero. Ohmygosh, at only $20 ($37 from the Pro collection), I'm pretty sure I need this in my FontBook now! And, bonus, it includes over 1000 glyphs so you can set your type perfectly! Graphics below designed by Maxispr.


4) Okay, okay so Parfait Script also by Maximiliano Sproviero wasn't on the best of 2010 list, but I still love it (and want it!) so I had to sneak it in. It costs as little as $19 ($57 for the Pro collection) and is just wonderful. Graphics below designed by Maxispr.


Anybody else look into buying a few font for the big day?

DIY Save the Dates: Finally!

H to the Ive, I hope you're excited because now that I've finally found my camera cord (aka bought a new one), I can share more photos with you!

Where we last were, I didn't choose an STD, then I designed a million save the dates, and then we finally decided onone, and then realized I needed a postcard to put that sucker on. Phew! Good things that we're past those crazy steps!

Anyway, enough with the talk; here's the goods!

Of course, I wasn't thinking when I took the photo on a super distracting carpet so I just Photoshopped it out. Hope you all don't mind! Also - apparently the light in my basement is super yellow and I'm lazy and didn't feel like color correcting my images so ummm, just pretend it's not so yellow :).

What our guests saw, a nice little touch of a blue stamp on the front and on the back!

Wait! I'm forgetting something; those perfect little stamps we bought to finish it off!

I know - the stamps just fit so well! They make me smile!

I'm not quite finished yet; I still have to share the assembly and, everyone's faovrite, the budget breakdown!

I was so excited to send these suckers on their way. Who else was totally excited to get their STDs out the door?