Be our guest be our guest be our guest.

One of my biggest projects for the wedding has been the invitations. The insanely expensive type of invitation that I wanted was not in the budget. I have a love-hate relationship with Adobe Illustrator. It has amazing functions but some things are just so damn complicated. After designing it, I let it sit on my computer for a few (several) months, since invitations did not need to go out until December. I figured the easy part would be printing and sending them out.

Well, December crept up quickly and I ran into several issues during the printing. First of all, the paper was too thick to print on our own printer. Gah. Thank you, mrs. a, for letting us borrow yours! Then, the yellow I used in Illustrator was printing brown the on the printer. Gah. Finally, though I set the size on Illustrator to the size of the paper, it was getting enlarged in the printing. Gah. I am easily frustrated, especially when technology does not work. Lucky for me, I have a very patient, computer-savvy, perfectionist fiance'. He spent several painstaking hours fixing each page. Thank you, mr. c for doing everything for me that I don't have the patience for. You spoil me.

While he printed, I made address labels and return address labels. We used our customizable stamps by Stamps.com purchased from Walgreens during the summer upon a deal alert from this guy.

4 different engagement photos taken by our wonderful photogs, Chris and Erinn Austin.

After printing, we folded each page and perforated the RSVP postcard and it was ready for assembly. I went back and forth on how to bind it. I tried ribbon, I tried thread, I tried staples. I know it wasn't the best looking option, but I went with staples because it was the easiest and I was already behind in mailing them out.

i love this thing. thanks, mrs. gb.

ready to assemble.

The invitations finally went out last Tuesday, with, of course, one more complication. Unfortunately, when mr. c went to mail these out, they weighed 1.2 ounces, 0.2 oz over the 44 cent stamp rate. Gah. So, he had to purchase 17 cent stamps and stick them on each envelope:


I am completely happy with the final result:

it reads: leave us a message...but nothing boring.

Invitation Cover: Kelly Paper Solar White Classic Column $32.59/250 pages
Invitation Pages: Kelly Paper Solar White Classic Crest $21.90/250 pages
Envelopes: Kelly Paper Pewter Class Crest $55.95/250 envelopes

How lucky we are.

We are so lucky to have such ridiculously talented friends.

My long time friend, Laurie, recently started baking and designing the most amazing cakes. When she started posting pictures of her cakes on Facebook, I knew I wanted her to do my wedding cake. She makes cakes for all occasions and her creativity never fails to impress. Here are just a few showcases of her talent:

Can you believe these are EDIBLE?!

I am super excited about what she is designing for our wedding. I know it is going to be amazing. If you need a cake or just wanna see crazy food art, check out I believe it's cake!

My make-up is being done by my high school friend, miss cakeface. If you need make-up tips, you should definitely check out Beauty Booger! We did a make-up trial last month and I could not be more happy with the results:

Thanks, miss cakeface. :)

Here are a few more pictures taken with the photobooth on my new mac book:

I love these lashes.

taking pics of yourself feels kinda awkward. :-)

I'll be getting my hair cut and styled by another high school friend, Kylene. She works at Carlton Hair Salon at Westside Pavillion. I am always happy with the results, like for our engagement shoot:

If you need a great haircut on the westside, make an appointment with Ky.

If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

mr. c spent a lot of time designing an engagement ring perfect for me. I didn't even know what I wanted, but apparently he did.

Perfect and lovely it is.

While I was teaching, I got to wear it everyday. I keep it in the box when I don't wear it. Since I started working in a lab again, it stays in the box most of the time because I can't wear it with gloves. My first day, I almost threw it in the trash with my gloves! Eek!

On Saturday, we went back to the same jeweler in LA's jewelry mart to get our wedding bands. Gah, wedding bands are expensive! But, it is something that is going to last a few years lifetime right? ;) Since my engagement ring is custom, I had to leave it there so the jeweler can create a perfect fit for the wedding band. So, as he says, I am "unengaged" for the next two weeks.

Please Mr. Postman, look and see.

I've taken quite a long break from posting and wedding prep all together. I just got back from a week in Hawaii for a WORK trip. Amazing.

view from the Sheraton Waikiki

But I can only use the new job and new apartment as an excuse for so long. Now, it's November and we are less than 100 days away from our wedding!

I love getting things in the mail. Thank goodness for online shopping, especially Etsy!

We got some ties that don't suck for our groomsmen from here:


I purchased a customized feather hair piece from here:


I'm looking forward to receiving our bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages from here:


One last thing we got in the mail from our photographers, Chris and Erinn Austin:

One super swanky DVD of high-res images from our engagement shoot.

After looking through hundreds and hundreds of pictures of ourselves, we chose several to print out at Target to decorate our new apartment. Here are a few more of my faves...

We sure are cute for two ugly people.

I love our photographers, Chris and Erinn Austin of White Haute Photography. Who knew taking pictures could be so much fun but such hard work? The most difficult thing... having to "look into each other's eyes" without laughing.

Seattle is an amazing place to take pictures and an amazing place to visit. We started our engagement session at Gasworks Park. Gasworks Park is located next to Lake Union and is a converted plant for manufacturing gas from coal.

While we waited for our giant bouquet of red balloons, we took a few pictures in the park. I don't know what this thing is but it was quite nice:



This "play barn" was once the exhaustor-compressor building. Personally, I think it is too dangerous for kids to be running around in:


Erinn was super excited with the arrival of our balloons. She was determined to get this shot and did so as gracefully as possible, having to lie in the dirt. It paid off:



"Acting..." or not:


These last couple in the park are in front of former plant:


After a quick change at the hotel, we headed out to downtown Seattle. I just saw this shot on a guest post Chris Austin did on The Broke-Ass Bride this past week:


There are so many cool alleyways throughout downtown Seattle:




Several hours later, we ended our session in Pike Place Market area:



These are just a few of the many posted on Chris and Erinn's blogs. Check them out here, here, and here.

Thank you, Chris and Erinn. We are looking forward to seeing you at our wedding.

One day we'll get out of this sh*tty apartment.

Things have been busy...but not wedding-related busy. Due to state budget cuts, I had to take a break from teaching. I miss my teacher friends, my classroom, and my students. I decided to go back to using my science B.S. and I started a new job working in a lab. One good thing is, with a new job, comes a new apartment.

Packing and moving is a bitch. UNpacking is a million times worse. Cleaning the old apartment in hopes of getting a good amount of our deposit back is a gazillion times worse.

But, alas, we finished and turned in the keys. My last picture of our first apartment together:

My lonely ihome and ipod blasting Michael Antonia's Seattle mixes

His mixes made cleaning so much more bearable...and possibly slowed me down because I was dancing half the time. Now I can listen to my ipod at work (can't do that as a teacher). He has posted enough dj mixes to keep you going like the energizer bunny. Go get yours on The Flashdance.

Who wouldn't want this guy spinning at their wedding?

Seriously.

Lucky me (and my lucky friends).

You got the wicked style.

I finally bought my dress from here. Correction, my wonderful MOM bought my dress. Thanks, mom.

I'm over the colored shoes. Besides, the yellow Charles by Charles David's that I bought, I already wore for our engagement pictures. They are really more of a casual summer sandal anyway. I am going with my original plan and wearing the fluke-Nordstrom-sale Stuart Weitzman's, which are STILL regular price in store by the way:

Stuart Weitzman Gigiritz from Nordstrom

I bought this necklace from Etsy seller treeandkimball. It is something a little bit bold to go with my no frills dress.

Wistar by treeandkimball

Now what to wear in my hair...I got some help from the ever fabulous and always stylish East Side Bride. Thank you, ESB. I'm so moving on from the big flower and in search of feathers. I can't afford the lovely Sara Gabriel shown here and here, but yay for Etsy.

#1: Love these feathers, is the beaded star too much for a wedding? Maybe a vintage button would be better.

Dreamy Star Ostrich Feather clip by Batcakes Couture

#2: No beaded star but too poufy?

The Cream Puff by Batcakes Couture

#3: Love the button, but too flat?

Chastina by YJdesign

#4: Cute, but not enough of...something?

Lovina by YJdesign

#5: Cute, but too small?

Justina by YJdesign

#6: Too big and too much going on?

Madamme Bride by Dreamcatcherstudio

and #7: Just for fun, but too costume-y?

Deco Flapper Sequin Beaded Feather Headband sash by Blue Sugar Bridal