Addressing the Envelopes

When it was time to address the envelopes for the save the dates, I knew exactly who could give me a hand (or at least let me borrow one). Enter my honorary bridesmaid Jacki. She is also a designer and has crazy lovely handwriting. She even brought over yummy cinnamon rolls from Dozen Bakery. So good. How come she is the one doing me a favor and she is the one bringing goodies?!

Above is one of Jacki's envelopes, she addressed the actual invite envelopes and I did the save the dates. Hopefully no one will move between now and invite time.


This is one of my envelopes. Not as fancy as Jacki's, but it'll do.

How are you addressing your envelopes?

Fresh Paper Flowers

I was checking out Style Me Pretty's Handmade Weddings at Etsy.com and saw these lovely vintage inspired paper roses.
At $5.00 for 3 roses (times 33) they are a bit out of my budget. I love real flowers and growing up I wanted to be a florist, but now with the wedding approaching and my pocketbook emptying I am looking for alternatives such as candles.

I googled "how to make paper roses" and most of the results were not very attractive. The roses looked like paper wrapped around a stick and were not as realistic as the esty roses. Eventually I came upon Martha Stewart's paper roses via Mommy Makes Roses.

Martha's version are pretty big and colored with water colors - a bit more gaudy than the etsy ones, but we're getting closer! Martha's roses are made out of cone coffee filters.

I am going to give these a shot with the help of my bridesmaid, Katie, with a couple variations to Martha's instructions. First of all, I am going to make the roses small by leaving off a few of the outer petals. This will make them more dainty and save me money on coffee filters.

I am also going to use "natural" colored filters instead of white. I don't want the roses to look like real roses made of paper, I want them to look simply like paper roses. Plus the natural filters will give them the vintage look of the etsy roses.

The tables at the venue are rectangular and seat 6 people. I was thinking of making a centerpiece candle arrangement with a small vase on either side containing 3 paper roses.

What do you think, a good alternative to the real thing?

Temporary Engagement Bling

My engagement ring was custom made to fit the diamond Mr. Pineapple picked out, so we had to send it away to have a wedding band made to match. This makes me sad. I have been without my ring for over 4 weeks now. You would think that being engagement ring free for 4 weeks after being engagement ring free for 23 years would not be so bad. I just love being engaged to Mr. Pineapple and having the ring remind me of how lucky I am every time I look at my hand.

So, I we to Claire's and got 2 sweet cubic zirconia rings for $6.50. I purchased 2 because they were all fairly ugly and because I wanted Mr. Pineapple to be able to have a hand in the choice. For a while, I wore the first one, but it felt kind of ridiculous. It is so big and there were definitely clouds in my stones.

Here is the first ring:It's huge! Look at the pseudo blang! My honorary bridesmaid Jacki said "oh wow, look how it has no sparkle!" She was obviously impressed.

Here is option number 2, smaller stones which is good but there are more of them:
This weekend we spent some time with folks we haven't seen for awhile. All the girls were excited to see my ring. At which point I had to go through the explanation of where my real ring is before they told me how beautiful the fake was. Both rings are too big, they spin and slide around. I cannot wait to get my ring back. It also feels weird to be wearing a ring that is so not me.

Did any of you brides to be have temporary engagement bling?

The Dress!

(Back away slowly and calmly Mr. Pineapple and no one will get hurt.)

As I explained earlier my bridesmaids and mother live all over the east coast. This made me the saddest when thinking about gown shopping. I am lucky to have amazing friends and family who flew all the way to frozen Pittsburgh in late February to help me find my gown. Poor Mr. Pineapple had to survive a weekend with 6 girls, my father and himself in a 2 bedroom apartment. Since everyone was only going to be here for one weekend, I wanted to make it count.

I heard some bad things about David's Bridal, but really wanted it to work. They are such a huge business and have so many stores how could they be that bad? The woman helping me out was so patient and kind. She let everyone shoot many many photos of each dress and didn't mind a bit that I brought so many girls along. I had a back-up appointment about an hour away just in case, but I didn't need it!

My only requirements were 1) it fits, 2) I feel pretty and 3) my boobage is kept under control.
Here is the dress shopping adventure.

I really loved the waistline of this dress, it made me feel super skinny! However, this particular beading looked a little cheap or something. Now looking at the photos it is a bit too booby too.

This dress did not meet requirement number three, too much boobage.

I loved this dress, well the idea of this dress. Once I had it on it did this weird gap thing below the waist, very disappointing.

This was my least favorite of all the gowns. It definitely did not make me feel "pretty." The waist was really wide. Drop waist + curves = bad news bears. You can see me trying to make myself skinny in the left shot...didn't work.

This was my favorite from pictures on the web. However, I am not built like the model in the photos and I didn't want to get my hopes up. It was also the most expensive dress I had planned on trying on, so in the back of my head I was almost hoping I wouldn't like it on.

Then, once I had it on I loved it! I loved the color, I loved the ruffles! This dress was a size too big which threw me off a bit, but once it was clipped tighter I loved everything about it!

As soon as I put this gown on I said "Um, what is this made of? It's crunchy." It was also shiny and not very pretty. Not a winner.

I also really loved this dress on. The halter top kept me in place and was flattering. Other than that there really wasn't anything special or unique about it. It was still in the top two of the day. Also, after looking at is in the photos, I'm not impressed.

Now this dress my maids and Mom Pineapple picked out as a joke. They picked the biggest (and heaviest!) dress in the store. I was completely lost in it. Oh the poof! It even stood up on its own without anyone inside it!

Trying on all the gowns still felt somewhat surreal. Like I was trying on costumes for a play. Until, the veil and headpiece. As soon as she put them on me I turned completely red all over and had to fight back tears. The dress looked so different with the accessories. The veil is perfect, slightly girly, slightly vintagey. At first I was anti-headpiece, but this one was perfect for me- champagne and ivory pearls.

The final choice! So, the most expensive gown won, but it was on sale and ended up being about $150 more than the others and I loved it more than a $150 more.

Anyone else find THE dress on their first try (in less than and hour and fifteen minutes for that matter)?

Early Name Change

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I have never had a second thought about changing my maiden name. It is not very easy to pronounce, even I - after 24 years, slur the syllables. I always have to spell it out to strangers and my signature isn't very pretty. Also, my brother is planning on having upwards of 7 children so I certainly don't have to worry about passing it on. Using it as a middle or hyphenated name would make my full name epic in length.

Now Mr. Pineapple's name is not much easier, but it is - a smidge. Plus I think that taking his name is very romantic. I am actually very excited and feel like I can take on a whole new identity.

With the death of my current name looming in the horizon (ok, maybe that is a bit dramatic) I have already begun planning the transition. One of the first things that came to mind was my domain name. Currently, it is www.MissPineappleMaidenName.com. So, I quickly snatched up www.MissPineappleNewName.com and MissPineappleNewName@gmail.com. I have even started receiving emails at the new address from new clients. Mr. Pineapple thinks this is a bit strange, but I don't want to confuse people come October.

Now I know this is just a teeny tiny little detail, but it made my future life seem so much more real!

Has anyone else taken early steps to say goodbye to their maiden name?

Will You Marry Me? Right Now?

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Mr. Pineapple is out of town for a couple days giving me chance to catch up on all of the wedding shows I have recorded. Most of them are pretty ridiculous. Even the fairly tame "Who's Wedding is it Anyway?" is out there compared to what we are planning. Well, for me, tonight wedding programming went to a whole new level of outrageousness. Ladies I present, "Surprise Wedding 2." I don't know what I was expecting from Fox Reality, but it wasn't this.

Five brides tell their long time boyfriends that they have won a free makeover weekend in Vegas. The true story? The makeover includes a gown and a whole heck of a lot of hairspray. When the grooms arrive at the "free Vegas show" included in the weekend they are taken to the stage where their girlfriends are in gowns and propose. The grooms have time to decide what they are going to do while they put on their tuxes. Dressed and back on stage either the groom gets hitched or faces the end of his relationship with an embarrassed bride. The show is way over the top, the bride proposes multiple times in every way the produces can image. Then the ceremony is two minutes before the next groom decides his fate.

Mr. Pineapple and I went to Las Vegas two months after he proposed. He was going for work (mostly) and I was going for fun. We tossed around the idea of eloping and we both seriously thought it was a good idea. When Mr. P thought it was a good idea, I didn't. When I finally convinced myself it would be fantastic, he changed his mind. Our main motivation for considering elopement was to save money - down payment on a house, honeymoon in Ireland. In the end we decided that in the future, when we actually had savings, we may regret not throwing a big party. Now that I am neck deep in wedding planning and completely obsessed with Weddingbee I am so glad we decided to wait. Regardless, I definitely would not have asked Mr. P to elope before he even proposed.

What do you ladies think? Would you surprise your boyfriend with a wedding?
Anyone planning to elope?

Esty Weddings - Copper Heaven

Everyone these days is talking about the Etsy Handmade Wedding Series, and for good reason!
I bookmark pages from Esty almost everyday with inspiration and items to add to my wish list. It is also a great place for general inspiration. Here are some of my finds. Some of the items may be sold by now. I know the copper satin is gone, because I am the one who purchased it. :) (I am on a bit of a jewelry kick at the moment)


Row 1: Persephone Necklace, Copper Dome Key Chain, Seven Sisters Stacking Rings
Row 2: Copper Plated Bell Charms, Copper Satin Fabric, Vintage Copper Star Flower Earrings
Row 3: Hammered Copper Earrings, Samanthas Earrings, King Midas Garden Necklace


Row 1: Lola Lola Necklace, Copper and Silver Leaf Mirror, Victoria Bobby Pins
Row 2: Vintage Carved Ivory Flower Necklace, Vintage Paper Roses, Turning Leaf Votive Holder
Row 3: Ivory Rose Earring, Pocket Album, Embossed Copper Notebook

Row 1: Glass Leaf Beads, Copper and Sterling Pendant
Row 2: Penny for Your Thoughts Ring, Pure Copper Bracelet

What are some of your treasured Etsy finds?

Save the Date - It's for real!

Mr. Pineapple and I finally put together our save the dates, using our engagement photos. I wanted to get them out a little sooner since most of the guests will be out-of-towners, but I think 6 months before is definitely still reasonable.

Lesson learned:
I made way too many of everything. I have a bunch of extra monogram magnets. After sealing all the envelopes I wish I would have put two magnets in each one. The cards are bigger than I originally envisioned and the magnets barely hold them onto the fridge. I am also worried that people will not realize there is a magnet in the envelope and they will get thrown out. An alternative would be to make stronger magnets, but it was too late for that one.

Here is the whole kit n' kaboodle:
The front:The Back: Originally I didn't want to put the words "save the date" anywhere on the card. I thought that "formal invitation to follow" would be enough and it was kind of redundant (and repetitious). However, even with it written on there, we have already had a couple people attempt to RSVP thinking it was the final invite. Here is a shot of how it (barely) works with the magnet. Hopefully, my friends and family don't slam refrigerator doors:

Organized chaos. I had a flashback to middle and high school when I did all of my homework and artwork on my bed or floor. Back then I didn't have cats trying to eat all of the pieces of paper from the back of the labels, nom nom nom nom.
Mr. Pineapple's task was to seal the envelopes and add the return address labels. We ended up going with the "Tiffany" stamps at the post office. The cream background was a perfect match and they are not as cheesy as the "wedding hearts." I love custom stamps (in fact we got a sheet of them from a friend as a gift), but they end up costing about twice as much.

Here are the return address labels:
Now I could have just purchased sheets of pre-perforated Avery labels, but no, I wanted them to be a certain size. So, again with the double-sided adhesive. I was also able to find another use for the pattern that will be appearing on our invites which is nice.

I printed out sheets of the labels on a desktop printer, applied the adhesive and trimmed them out. Here is the final product:
What should I do with all those extra magnets?

Engagement Photos

I had many amazing professors while I was attending Carnegie Mellon, one of whom was photography professor, Charlee Brodsky. After graduating we worked together on the School of Design's newsletter, Re:View. Working with Charlee is always a wonderful experience. During our 8 months working on Re:View I lived in 4 homes with 5 different cats, a dog, several goldfish, and 4 different roommates. Also, I ran Mr Pineapple's car into a curb, followed by getting my first pair of glasses, and my first fiance. Charlee was there though it all and we got to know each other very well.

Engagement photos were not one of the things to make the tight budget, but Charlee said she "would love to take pictures" of Mr. Pineapple and I. She is amazing.

It was the dead of winter and Pittsburgh, not a great time for outdoor photos. Unfortunately, we never quite know when winter will end and I was anxious to have some photos shot so I could get to work on our save the dates. Luckily Charlee has a studio in her home. Studio photos are not common for engagement photos, but it is what we had.

She took a lot of photos of both of us as well as of parts of us. Charlee and I are going work together to put together some sort of composition of the images for the save the dates.

Here are some parts of Mr. Pineapple. He has a hard time not flashing his "cheese ball" smile, which is funny - sort of.

Here are some parts of me. I am so not used to being on this side of the camera.


The shot above was an accident, but it is one that really shows our personalities. I think Mr. Pineapple is dancing.

Mr. Pineapple and I are not very publicly affectionate so being romantic in front of Charlee and her camera wasn't going to happen easily. For the shot above Charlee said "Ok, now touch each other." Of course that is what first comes to mind for the Pineapples.

My cowboy boots. I can't remember the last time I had to tie my shoes and that is pretty great.

One of the few that we can give to our folks as "the newspaper shot"

Anyone else get lovely-dovey camera shy during their photo shoot?

Perfect Photography for Pineapples Part - 3/3

I knew about Mary Mervis's work before Mr. Pineapple and I even started dating. I was at a coffee shop with some coworkers and noticed her work on the walls. I loved it and pointed it out to my coworkers. Low and behold one coworker said, "Oh that is Mary Mervis, she is a friend of ours and shot our wedding!" - mental note taken

Fast forward to Mr. Pineapple and I as a couple. We were visiting Mr. Pineapple's friends Pete and Tina who were recently married and I loved the shots of their wedding throughout their home. They were lovely and definitely captured the feel of the wedding. Tina said "yeah, I don't even know how she got that shot, but I love it." Sounds good to me, an invisible photographer with wonderful work. -second mental note taken

At this point I had pretty much decided that Mary would photograph my wedding... to someone, someday. I looked around at some other photographers (such as Melody Farrin and Bob Fritz) but in the end Mary's work felt right.

I emailed Mary 10 months before the wedding hoping she had the date open, and she did! Mr. Pineapple and I met with Mary and discussed having two of her assistants shoot the wedding, rather than one Mary. Her assistants have the same artistic viewpoint and have worked with her for years. She has hundreds (thousands?) of images on two sites, MaryMervis.net and her pbase galleries. Here are some shots taken by either Mary or one of her assistants:
Above is our friend Tina, mentioned earlier.

Again, Pete and Tina.

This is a shot of my coworker and his wife mentioned earlier. They had a great 1920's themed wedding, even the guests wore period clothing.

How did you know your photographer was "the one?"

Long Distance Relationships

Image Sources:
Manhattan
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Florida

When it came to asking my bridesmaids to stand for Mr. Pineapple and I at our wedding, I didn't do anything cute. I really wish I had, it didn't even occur to me. In fact, I was only able to ask one in person. Of the 5 bridesmaids in our wedding, only one lives in the same state as I do. My two very best friends from childhood live in West Palm Beach and Orlando, Florida. My sister and maid of honor lives in China Town, Manhattan. My bestest friend from college lives in Boston. Leaving Mr. Pineapple's dear friend from college the only lovely lady within arms reach.

At first, I didn't think it was really a big deal. All the girls were very excited about flying in to help me shop for my gown and coming up again for a party weekend and the wedding. I felt guilty, knowing they would have to buy so many plane tickets for my big day. I love them all dearly and I know they know I would do the same for them in a heartbeat.

As the planning continues I miss them so much. I didn't realize what it would feel like to bounce ideas about ribbon and candles off of Mr. Pineapple. He cares, but he trusts me and my judgment to the point where I don't get much constructive feedback. I want my friends here to say "Oh gees, that is going to look a little strange, don't you think?" or "Oh! How about using satin?!" My super crafty mother is also 1250 miles away. I call her anytime I get an idea and she gives me a few more, but I wish I could be with her and go to the craft store with her, wedding plan with her.

I have dubbed a few of my local friends honorary bridesmaids, including Jacki who is so sweet and offers to help in any way and Michael (also a groomsman) who is helping me scout out creative folks in his work field. I still feel bad asking for help from them, and guilty that Jacki wont be in the wedding. My other friends are all male and wonderful, but not into "wedding stuff."

All of these long distance relationships are why I began blogging. I wanted to have a forum where I could show my friends and family my ideas and get some feedback. They are also what lead me to Weddingbee, a dream resource for a bride seemingly going at it on her own.

Does anyone else feel alone in the planning process? Any suggestions on how I can include my ladies in the planning without burdening them?

Monogram & Magnets

I am a fan of the trend to send magnets as your save the date. I like that people can just throw them up on the fridge and they won't get lost in the pile of junk mail. On the other hand, I can't help but think they can look kind of cheap, I love love love paper.

So, I decided to combine the two. I am making paper save the dates and little magnets to send along with them. The magnets were the first actual project that I completed. I was anxious to get something checked off the list!

I made about 40 extra - just in case. (Really, just in case? What did I think was going to happen to a third of them?) Here is how:
Materials:
Card Stock Paper
Magnet Sheets
Double Sided Adhesive
1" Hole Punch (used for scrap booking)

1. Draw the monogram using a program such as adobe illustrator. (You can use any program you are comfortable with photoshop, corel draw, microsoft paint - anything. A vector program such as illustrator will, however, give you the smoothest results.)

2. Print out sheets of monograms on card stock (about 40 per sheet for me)

3. Apply double sided adhesive to the card stock (or use a Xyron "sticker maker," I want one so badly :) )

4. Peel and stick the card stock to sheets of 5 mil magnet. The brand I bought was about $2 a sheet at Jo-Ann Fabrics. If you don't have adhesive you can buy sheets with adhesive already on them. Such as this one. If you want stronger magnets, you can do that too, but your costs will go up.

5. Using a 1" round paper punch, punch out the individual circles. Here is the one I have.

How are you doing your save the dates?

Color Palette

As you saw during my invitation process I was all over the place as far as which colors I would like to use in the wedding. The venue ended up influencing the color palette quite a bit. I didn't think it would be wise to take a space with tealish pinkish curtains and red carpet and add purple and yellow to the mix.

Mr. Pineapple and I also love the unique color of my engagement ring (rose gold) and wanted to somehow incorporate it into the wedding. Mr. P and I both have some Irish in our blood and since rose gold is Celtic it holds special meaning. My primary concern was that I would not be able to find enough rose gold accents that were the same tone. So, I decided to use champagne as a base color and copper as an accent. They have a similar feel as rose gold, but are much more common. Also, rose gold is made by mixing copper with 18k gold.

Here are a couple of the details I have so far in the copper color family:

Copper has turned out to be a pretty tough color as well. Some coppers are really dark, almost a burnt umber. Other coppers like the flashing (thin sheet of copper often used for termite protection, but also great for crafting) in the photo above are really bright.

I have not exactly decided what I am going to do with the above items yet. Some of my ideas are to use the flashing to make the place cards and cover the guest book, the ribbon to cover the metal cups the tea light candles sit in and the crazy sparkley leaves inside the candles holders. (fire hazard?)

Any ideas of how I can incorporate copper on a budget? Yes, pennies are cheap - like approximately 1 cent each ;) - but also cheesy maybe?

Read more >> Options >>

The Begrudging Budget

So this is a bit awkward, maybe.Brides have budgets that range from a penny to a million pennies. The Pineapple's budget is much closer to just one penny. Our parents are giving us gifts to help with some of the wedding costs, but the majority of it we are paying for on our own. When first laying out the budget I had no clue how much everything costs and how much we should plan on spending. My goal was to cut out as many little expenses as possible and hope they added up to something big. Our final budget is about 60% of the average wedding (which doesn't really mean anything since that number varies across the country). The Knot gives recommendations on what percent of your budget should go to each part of the wedding, at first this was helpful, but I ended up not using their recommendations at all because Mr. Pineapple and I have different priorities than The Knot. Their budget tool has still been extremely helpful with keeping track of expenses.

I know many readers are curious about budgets, but sharing numbers can get tricky. So, here is our budget breakdown based on the final projected total. These numbers don't yet include Mr. Pineapple's attire (because he is still unsure what that will be), my engagement ring or our honeymoon.

Venue, Food, Drink and Cake: 48.84%
Bride Gown, Alterations and Headgear: 6.72%
Bride Accessories: <1%
Bride Hair and Make-up: <1%
Ceremony and Ceremony Accessories: 3.2%
Flowers: 2.03%
Reception Decor/Centerpieces: 1.34%
Photographer: 16.02%
Invites and Stamps: 1.23%
Wedding Bands: 16.02%
Hotel Room: 1.34%
Gifts/Favors: 2.14%
Rehearsal Dinner: 2.5%
DJ/Music: 0%
Transportation: 0%
Officiant: 0%
Wedding Coordinator: 0%

The rings cost as much as the photographer! The food and drink is almost half! Not at all what The Knot recommends, but we are still planning the perfect day for us. More to come on what we are doing to save on a lot of the typical wedding costs. Also, after all is said and done I will let you know what the final percentages ended up being. I have a feeling there will be some extra costs along the way.

Image source - icanhascheezburger

How "typical" is your budget?

Perfect Photography for Pineapples Part - 2/3

Bob Fritz was definitely in the running for our wedding. Bob is the Vice President of the News Photographers Association of Greater Pittsburgh and I love his photography. The lighting is spot on, the little moments are there. His images make me want to befriend some children to have in the wedding! Adorable. (Somehow the oldest "kid" we know is 9 months.)




I don't have any real reason for not choosing this photographer. I think his work is amazing, but we chose someone else (whom I am also thrilled with).