moving. again.

Today I move to Tucson.

These past 4 weeks have flown by, and it has been heavenly to be back home in Phoenix. I've LOVED all the meals shared with friends, my daily doses of my favorite guy (Tommy!), the loud boisterous reunions with my sisters....home is always awesome.

My time in Tucson will be another adventure - wish me luck :-)

love words weekend

via Green Wedding Shoes

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy, dancing way you feel
As ever fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way.

- Joni Mitchell

real life: wild{flowers}

My dreams were answered when I saw this wedding featured over at Once Wed earlier this week. Spectacular. Natural. Organic. Radiant. Real. Fresh. Effortless.

I've been exploring floral design this week, as we have decided to "officially" go the DIY route for this...and the flowers used in this celebration are so perfect and fitting for the beautiful mountain setting. Just lovely.

And that bride? No seriously - how jubilant does she look!!! Yes...this is a rad wedding.

No tears here - only SMILES!

Here is that clustering effect of same bloom in different vases. Looks amazing.

via Once Wed

floral itemization a la Lori

One of my readers went above and beyond and sent me a "mock itemization" for our reception decor. Good Lord. She made this all look easy as pie...as I was having a hard time picturing everything meshing together. Lori....you are amazing for all this crazy help!! Your ideas are awesome!!

This is AN EXAMPLE of one way we could do things....take it away Lori:

The Supplies

Crystal Candlesticks, Candles, & 80 Mason Jars - Paid For

Pine Cones - Paid For

6 Lemon Cypress Topiary - $210 http://www.ftd.com/green-plants-pcg/new-heights-lemon-cypress-topiary/product-plants-greenplants/p365/

108 sprays Sunny Romantica Roses Yellow (3-5 blooms per spray) - $200

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=36&id=165&idt=537

200 stems Freesia Bi-color Orange (orange-yellow) - $200

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=3&id=4&idt=14

16 bunches Green Hanging Amaranthus (8-10 stems per bunch) - $161

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=16&id=136&idt=408

Case of 8 - 5 pound bags Brown Polished River Stone - $40.00

http://www.jamaligarden.com/apps/catalog/product.asp?pID=19688

2 Feathered Robins - $6

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/arbi.html

2 bags - 100 Skeleton Leaves - $7

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/peepultree.html

Small Glass Votive Candles - Cheap

Floral Supplies - Cheap

Needle and Thread for Leaves - Dirt cheap

The Plan

Brides Bouquet - Sunny Romantica Spray Roses Yellow

Bridesmaid's Bouquets - Freesia Bi-color Orange

Boutonnieres - Pine Cones

Guest Book Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Escort Card Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Family Love Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Cake Table - Sunny Romantica Roses (flower heads only) placed on cake tiers, one complete spray Sunny Romantica Roses on top with 2 Feathered Robins clipped to it. Crystal Candlesticks in back or around cake.

20 Guest Tables - Ivory Tablecloths & Napkins, 3 Mason Jars in center, each filled with 2 stems Green Hanging Amaranthus, 1 spray Sunny Romantica Roses, 2 stems Freesia Bi-color Orange, Brown Polished River Rocks scattered all around Mason Jars, small Glass Votive Candles nestled in rocks all the way around.

Reception Space - Thread Skeleton Leaves on strings and hang from rafters.

Ceremony Site - You can tie more Amaranthus and Sunny Romantica Roses to an arbor or railings. The Amaranthus hangs down beautifully. Scatter Skeleton Leaves down aisle and at the spot where you will stand.

Etc... - You can also scatter Pine Cones and/or more Skeleton Leaves on the Guest Book, Escort Card, Family Love, and Cake Table to coordinate with the boutonnieres.

grouping "like" flowers

The Sweetest Occasion

One thing that I have noticed, and have read, and have been told by those "in the know", is to group like flowers. I have also heard that it's easier to DIY your flowers if you stick to the "same color" of all the blooms.

I think this looks smashing. It is clearly a fancy shmancy formal arrangement, not what I'm envisioning for our day, but it's easy to see the the idea of grouping similar flowers here. (And would look just as lovely with a bunch of hodge podge glass jars for vases.)

This concept is touch upon in this article at Real Simple. (Seriously, if you are into doing your own flower thing, you should probably read this....or if you like to decorate your home with fresh flowers...very sound advice.

how many flowers do I need?

I sought out the help of Abbie, the lovely lady behind, A Glimpse of the Girl Next Door, who did a flipping bangerang job DIYing her own wedding flowers. Her arrangements are crazy drool worthy. My flowers will be much more simple, I don't think we will be arranging them so artfully like Abbie so flawlessly did...we will probably be grouping them into mason jars. None the less, I was still at a loss as to "how many flowers do I need?"

Her advice rocks. And seriously...check out these arrangements of hers. Holy amazing.

Here's the advice I found on the "how many" question. The only thing about this advice is that most brides aren't DIY'ing with actual vases. If you're using mason jars, then I would suggest buying a few bouquets or floral bunches and playing around with it before you place the order. That way, you can see what you think looks good as far as how many stems of the flowers you prefer.

How do I know how many flowers to order?

First you need to make a list of all the arrangements you will need. As a general rule you want 18-24 stems per table arrangement or bridesmaid bouquets. 12 stems work nicely for a small bouquet for mom or a little girl in the bridal party. 20-25 stems is a nice amount for the brides bouquet as well as large arrangements using line flowers such as gladiolas or snapdragons. Each boutonniere is 1-3 stems, corsages are 3-5 blooms. The definition of stem here is a main flower like a rose, carnation, delphinium, snapdragon and so on. Large flowers like sunflowers are most often used in groups of 3-5 with other flowers added in for a total of around 10 stems. For fillers such as babies breath, misty limonium or statice a field bunch will do approximately 3-4 arrangements. For greens you will need 1 field bunch for each 3-4 arrangements.

how do you make your flowers do that?

Little did I know that when I wrote this post about flowers confusing the bejesus outta me, I would get such INCREDIBLE feedback. It was probably the best feedback day of my "blog-life" as it answered all of my questions and gave me concrete direction for what to do for our wedding blooms.

So. Welcome to Flower Week.

Abbie sent me a tutorial from Weddingbee about bouquet making. Check it out my friends...very very insightful.

GOTTA get one of these bad boys to strip all the thorns away :-)

ta-da! perfection.

big n' bold bibs

QuirkyBeauty

I spent last night drooling over rad fashion statement jewelry. I did so while wearing a XXL sweatshirt, old ripped jeans with the ends stuffed into my furry Uggs and my hair in a ponytail on the top of my head.

That's right. I'm a freakin' fashion disaster. I don't know what it is about winter...but there is nothing I want to wear more than big roomy warm sweatshirts, jeans and my Uggs.

Until I spotted these necklaces on Etsy. And I instantly want to wear something hott so I can flaunt one of these. I think that some of these would be amazing wedding jewelry.

QuirkyBeauty

savagesalvage

FloraBond

FirstFan - only $10!

QuirkyBeauty

Jacey's Girl - $2,750.00 (wow!)

love words weekend

Julie Harris Photography

Next to you.
In our favorite hats.
On a park bench.
Watching.
Until we are wrinkly.
And then some.

victory #9: dj

Tommy dancin' with the flowergirl

Yay!

We found a hip young local guy to bring our party to life :-) He has a phat music collection, will download music on the spot during the party, has incredible sound equipment ...will do the sound for the ceremony site and reception, and is an all around cool dude. Oh. And was in our budget.

Hallelujah.

I took some suggestions from you fine ladies and inquired if he would consider a discount if we paid for everything in cash up front. Turns out this is something that he does quite frequently. So. Hello radical discount.

And Tommy really wanted lights...(who knew?) so we will have lights. Umm...and there is a fog machine...I dunno if we really need all that...but it's there if we want.

I have to tell you that just doing general searches for a DJ online didn't get me anywhere. The difference was asking for referrals from people "in the know". For example, I asked friends/brides in the area for DJ suggestions, our venue coordinator suggested a couple different companies, and the party planner at the hotel gave me a couple numbers (she led us to our GUY!)

I'm just relieved we don't have to download all the music we would want to play via the iPod route - some people have patience for that. We don't. :-)

shoe-in

Feather's & Frills

I've been browsing shoes lately. It's fun. (Especially with my sister Leslie...the girl is straight mad about darling shoes...)

Surprisingly, I'm loving the ones with the fun stuff glued all over the front of them... the ruffles, the flowers, the feathers. This is interesting because usually I'm quite the plain Jane...and am seriously considering just wearing Chaco's to my own wedding (have you ever worn Chaco's? a life altering experience...for real.)

That's why these shoe clips are beyond bodacious...take a pair of simple shoes and make 'em dazzling.

I'm love love loving these shoe clips from Etsy. It's too hard to pick my favorite.

bpoetic

Feathers & Frills

Fabulize

Cultivar

RouziliGarden

Fascinating Creations

wedding wish wednesday: #24 she'll have fun fun fun

Fancy Fin Photography

We've been in communicato with lots of our wedding party folk this weekend. As hotel arrangements are underway, and plane tickets are being purchased, I'm thinking less and less about the "wedding" and thinking more and more about how FUN this whole damn thing is going to be!

I know the "reason" for our friends and family to congregate in Flagstaff is to celebrate "our union"...but it's also to see and experience a new region of the country.

I want to party at our rehearsal/welcome dinner! I want go out in Flagstaff that night! I want to spend the afternoon leading hikes up the peaks or down in the lava tubes with my friends who have never been out west. I want to experience Walnut Canyon (as I've never even been there myself!) I want our guests to see the red rocks of Sedona. I want them to see the Grand Canyon!!

My wedding wish is that all our fave peeps have one hell of an adventure. Arizona is the perfect place for that. Shoot. I want to have one hell of an adventure (though...I'm pretty positive I will.)

sweet sales at whispering pines

These are 50% off - nice rustic feel for either displaying family wedding photos...or table numbers!

I'm a sucker for a sale. Especially about wedding stuff these days...I'm really counting my pennies. While browsing the goods over at Whispering Pines (they've added boatloads to their inventory recently!) and noticed they have a new sale section that pretty much rocks.

I'm a Christmas ornament whore...so their collection of vintage looking blown glass ornaments at around 50% made my heart pitter patter.

our invitations!

designer: Earthly Affair: Earth Friendly Invitations
design: Juliet
colors: Mustard, Grass Green, and Dark Gray
Font: Script 5 (names) Formal 3 (everything else!)


After playing around with the colors a lil bit, and the font selections, and the wording, we have finally ordered our invitations to be printed!

I have to tell you, Jen of Earthly Affair, was delightful to work with. And quite a trooper I must add. I try to be an easy going kinda gal, but she had to revise our invitations more than once because I kept changing my mind on the font selection...I'm not proud of that...but it's true.

I am a paper keeper...I keep beautiful invitations, fun greeting cards, ticket stubs, postcards. I have this "wall" in our office full of these paper beauties. It constantly evolves. A couple of years ago I "themed" the wall to match upcoming holidays...or the seasons...or I will color coordinate it. I'm guessing our invitation will be a part of that collage for years.

What do I love the most about ours? They are made from 100% recycled paper..."using no new trees and averts waste from landfills." *sigh* I love that.

I'm so glad I entered Earth Friendly Wedding's Earth Day Contest and WON a huge chunk of these pretty invitations! (Enter blog contests ladies...somebody always wins...and it might be you!)