Showing posts with label weddings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weddings. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Wedding Invitations

I thought it might be fun to show a few elements from our wedding that we created ourselves. I just think there are far too many crazy difficult wedding-related things on this little internet of ours. There is simply SO much wedding inspiration out there it becomes overwhelming and frankly a little discouraging... cause you can't do everything. And you don't want to copy everyone else's ideas. And what gets me the most is the impression that's given that everyone should have an endless budget and throw money at it like a maniac! There are far too few resources for brides (and grooms) looking to do things affordably, without compromising on the look and feel of the day. Okay, maybe you'll compromise on things because of money, yes. But good taste is good taste and it has nothing to do with money.

If you want to see the inspiration for the feel of our wedding, see my Wedding pinterest board, by clicking here.

So I will share the first thing we made ourselves in the whole process: invitations, of course!

I wanted them to be more than some coloured paper glued together... I love texture and mixing materials, and  I had noticed lots of different things that are, indeed, paper but are not normal card-making papers. I guess re-purposing is what I'm getting at. And since a mix of neutrals was the look I wanted, there was no concern over matching turquoises or anything like that.



The front sheet was ivory linen-textured card stock we found at Micheal's on sale. I think it was something like 30c a sheet.  We cut it to size, printed the text using our friend's laser printer, and used a punch to round the corners ($20). The paper doilies are from the dollar store. I think we bought 6 packs of 15ish at $1 a pack. The kraft-paper cardstock on the bottom was a $25 stack from Micheal's which had all different patterns but the Kraft brown background in common. I had originally planned to use torn out sheets from an old dictionary to provide this 'patterned' layer. But when the time came, the yellowed dictionary I had was a really off colour next to the other whites and it just didn't work. So when we found this stack at Micheal's, we went for it. And we used every last sheet, so it was worth the money. The return envelopes came from Value Village. I love perusing their stationary section and had found airmail envelopes there before so I found more luckily. And I bought the large envelopes from Grand & Toy near my work because I literally couldn't seem to find them anywhere else ($8/25 I think). This is the largest envelope you can mail with standard postage and it made sense since we had the long airmail envelopes to fit in there. Also, I honestly can't get over the price of envelopes at places like Micheal's. I went to look for some for our thank-you cards but then realised it would have been like $1/envelope! And I don't want shimmery gold thank you very much! (their white envelopes all seemed to come with cards. I remedied this another way. WHOLE other post...)
The thread for sewing the sheets together was stuff already lying around so call it free. Some people's had brown thread, some read, but my favorites were just black thread. I used glue dots from the dollar store for attaching the top invite card to the doily paper. ($2)



 By far, the thing that took the longest was choosing the fonts and laying out the wording. We found that by making some words grey and some black, it made the whole thing look a lot more legible and kinda professional looking. Thanks to DaFont.com for the fonts Peach Sundress and Return To Sender ! The other text was all Rockwell. Everything was laid out in Word and printed on a desktop printer. Simple.



The back held the RSVP card, which was sewn on together with the doily and the kraft card stock. (that was easier than you might think too. Stack them, and push them through the sewing machine one after the other. Cut them apart later.) Before sewing the RSVP on though I took them through the sewing machine with an unthreaded needle to give it a perforation. Most people figured out that that meant you could tear it off. :) 


The Cow, Chicken and Carrots graphics were all found within 5 minutes of Google image searching. 
Love the internet. They, again, were correctly interpreted by most. :)




I was really attached to the idea of a hand-drawn map or something really cutesy, but frankly we didn't have the time. We just printed a Google Map to show how to get to the park as well as a park map to show how to get to the lodge. It looked better than I expected just because of the coloured paper background.





And that's all folks! I think all in all we spent more on stamps than on the invitations by far, so I would call it a success. And it was really really fun to do!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The day he proposed...



I get the nervous jitters every time I watch it!

And I'll never forget this day or the crazy feeling of utter confusion over "who is this man, and what does he have to do with me?!" when I saw the picture of him in the magazine pullout and I'd seen him walking around the thrift store... the only thing that made it all add up was when he smiled. And then I still couldn't believe it!
I just kept saying "you're crazy, you're so nuts" and I couldn't stop laughing!!!

Best day ever! And I'm so glad it's documented so beautifully so I will always be able to re-live it!

Thank you Ron for always blowing my socks off. You never cease to amaze me!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

L&J Wedding Photos Sparkled!

Lane & Jocelyn's photographer has blogged some of their Wedding photos here
Look good so far, don't they!?
This was my surprise for them:



I thought it would make a great departure shot, and the photographer captured it perfectly!
They loved it. I had fun covering all the little match boxes with lace and paper with their initials stenciled on (my new favourite way to do lettering, if you haven't noticed my new banner!)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Next Wedding


Thought I'd share a little post about my brother and his almost-Anderson girlfriend. I don't wanna use the F word. Nope. Don't like it.
I liked their engagement pics, done by Bliss Photography & Design
But don't they kinda remind you of this cute and adorable couple? Don't tell. Either couple. :P

So I am looking forward to the weddding, three more weeks, and I will be there in Wintery Wonock (pronounced Wonnick, I was promptly scolded) Lake, wearing my long deep purple Grecian-style bridesmaid dress. I need to work on a speach which will be a challenge, because it is my brother's wedding, but I am HER bridesmaid, and sorta her friend, more like a sister but y'know sorta...that comes later. Anyways, I am sure you can imagine the confusion with it all. Hopefully I will be able to manage.

Gotta go out and face the dreary grey and drizzling day. I will be sad to leave you, soft blanket...

Monday, June 29, 2009

The Wedding

The wedding was beautiful and amazing and such a pleasure to witness.
Also, A Bear & Bison surpassed my expectations and was a luxurious stay...
I loved this detail of the tiles cut around the tub
The 3 sisters...

And the actual 3 sisters out our room's window on June 25th 2009 at 5:30am




I will share some photos of the wedding here, but not wedding-Wedding photos (Zoe's got that covered!). Wedding photos of the morning of the wedding when I woke up at 5:30 and thought wow ... the light in this room is sooo pretty right now! (don't worry, I got back to sleep after that)

The 3 of us girls slept in a roomie king size bed and, as has always happened, I got the middle. :) those 2, they just rock, they just never change, they just never fail me, they just ... are my favorite cousins ever.

Anyways I managed to find my way out of my middle spot and took pictures of them sleeping. Some people might call it a little creepy but I thought it documented a very VERY special moment for us. And I doubt Wade will let it happen again real soon. Husbands these days. Wanting to sleep with their wives. Pffft. What is that about anyways!?


Photobucket
The 2 sisters. The bed. The dress.



Tara and her dress, just waiting for her to wake up!


Photobucket

K girls, I'm sorry, but who in the world gets to look that amazingly beautiful when they are sleeping!?



Am I being creepy yet?


I love it.







Wednesday, June 17, 2009

People - behind my lens!

I am very happy; I was asked to do a little photography at the wedding of boy's brother. Boy's Mom asked me about a big blank space on the back of their house (their yard is the wedding setting and it is soooo perfect!), where it was just plain siding - no windows or trim or doors - and she thought it might look funny in photos to see such an expanse of nothingness... I noticed it also had the garden hose attached to it, so I thought yeah, it could do with a little covering (even though I really didn't think it was an eye-sore) so I snatched up the opportunity share a little idea I love!



I saw the above left image quite a while ago on a blog and ever since it has popped up over and over... Anyways, the bride and M.I.L both loved the idea and I was also asked to take care of the guestbook so I will set have them side by side and everyone who signs also gets a photo taken.
Their colours are blue and orange; I am thinking Ikea might have a bold fabric pattern that would work. Or Urban Outfitters, if they had a sheet sale; thats what the above prints are from.

AND I was thinking of maybe having a bin of optional props to make it a lil more fun, but I am not sure if that would be the best idea in the world, I will have to talk to the bride about that a little more... I am pretty sure the groom would like it.
Tell me what you think!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Home-made Spa treats!


I used this home-made almond face wash this morning. YUMMY! It looks and smells like scrumptious cookie dough, and it leaves your skin feeling oh...sooo....soft.
It got me to thinking that I might put together a few things like this for the night before my cousin's wedding. Perhaps a lavender bath milk to calm the nerves and a nice massage oil for our feet and backs, cucumbers for our eyes, etc. Me and the two cousins that form the bride and maid of honour used to FILL our summers with spa days. We had face masks coming out of our ears. I remember more than a few times that they would both beg me for a foot massage promising they would give me one back. I'm still waiting... but for some reason I enjoy it anyways.
I am really excited for this wedding - small and intimate, cousins that I've been wedding planning with since we were 6, my boy will be there, in beautiful Canmore, at a bed & breakfast, Crave cupcakes will be present ... - I think a little added hotel room spa will bring it all together to perfection!



Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

BAM - my inspiration board

So here we have a wee little screen shot of stylemepretty.com right now...



And if you scroll down, you will notice this board, DESIGNED BY AYLA!

It's nerdy, I know, but I feel so professional and established right now! I am sooo weird. I'm sure a million people have had their boards on this blog before; but here I am... little 21 year old know-nothing and BAM my name. My board. My ideas. And my first comment:

Wow, Great board! The fact that you took the time to place all of the proper information below says that your very organized and considerate. It’s very much appreciated. Elegant simplicity is what I would call it.

Lets hope for 100 more just like it, shall we? ;)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wedding Inspiration??



This pretty well sums up my dreams, thoughts and lovely things going through my head lately! As far as a dream wedding, I could never make up my mind on a colour - but materials, that I can do! See these things would look great with pink, green, blue, grey, white, yellow and orange of course....

Making mosaics is going to be my guilty pleasure I think. Things look so much better together in organized co-existance.Thats the one that didn't fit in there - I think tables scattered with penny's would look pretty. And inexpensive!

Good night blog!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

All that goes with Thanksgiving weekend....

Dear Colour & Lighting teacher,
This would save you a lot of marking time:
http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

my score: 8 (eyes said ouch)

So it seems I've had an inspiring weekend, one in which I, once again, realise the changes I need to make, the things I need to treasure and the to-do list that is still wanting attention.
Things I did this weekend:
1. sulked with ice cream (Haagen-Dazs' new half the fat vanilla - not even half bad!) and pie and a movie (The Talented Mr.Ripley - so enjoyed it) all alone in the big dark house!
2. slept in
3. intended to clean my room
4. went to boy's house; chilled/cuddled/watched 2 1/2 men/napped/cooked supper (which was pretty good italian style sausage&chicken&peppers concoction with mashed potatoes and NY style crumble cake for dessert) oh and then made him get me an americano while I cleaned up. Then we watched about Schmidt.. well almost. We failed at that because it was boring and watched 'The Man who Knew Too Little' which was quite awesom. Then went home (too late for a Saturday night but I was giddy on coffee!).
5. meeting Sunday morning @ the Wood's was great. We had lots of extras so it was really special; afterward the elder's wife said hi to Susie and I and added that 'you girls add a lot to our meeting and I really appreciate it, I don't tell you enough.' It was very cute and definetly made my week. :) Its good to hear some simple encouraging words that even if I sometimes feel blah, someone is noticing something they like.
6. Lunch - plan was to go to boy's and then drive down to Bellingham to shop/hang out for the day. But the past-criminal-horrid-bad-boy (I exagerate - a lot) wasn't able to cross the line
this time which just means he actually needs to do the paperwork for a pardon he's been talking about for a while now.
7..... 1.5 hrs in line up at border and 2 hrs waiting at immigration...then drove back to Langley
8. Starving boy and starving me get to Coza for supper (staarving by this time) which was LOVELy. Had salmon with lemon and olives and such on it. Yummmm
9. Starbucks to take home to watch more movies :P.... why do we watch so many ?!
10. Time to stay home and FINALLY get the room cleaned and some laundry done. Its a good thing I have so many clothes cause that was a LOT of laundry. Still going at it actually. And my room is moderately clean; more organization needed though.
11. Thanksgiving dinner at Calverley's - Sonya and Andrew were wedding planning with Lynda all day so got to look at lots of books and magazines before/after dinner. Turkey was GREAT!

Now, at work, doing nothing all day but loving it. :P
I need to do more research on Rococo style ...
But instead, I played this fun game:
First, you answer these twelve questions. My answers are in parentheses.

01. What is your first name? (Ayla)
02. What is your favorite food? (Gelato)
03. What high school did you attend? (Bowness High School)
04. What is your favorite color? (tangerine)
05. Who is your celebr
ity crush? (matthew mcconaughey )
06. Favorite drink? (Café Americano)
07. Dream vacation? (Tuscany)
08. Favorite dessert? (Angel Food cake)
09. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Mommy)
10. What do you love most in life? (Love)
11. One word to describe you (Grinning)
12. Your Flickr name (Nothing)

Then you build a mosaic by typing your answers into Flickr's search function. You choose one photo for each of your answers, and you can only use images that appear on the first page of search results. Get the details here.
Here's what I ended up with:
I think its pretty. But you'd never guess which is which! Well... a few are obvious.
Anyways, I feel it is high time to start planning for Halloween.
I think it would be fun to have a proper dinner party for Halloween. With good food, not themed and gross looking. And a haunted cake. We'll see how it goes; it would be a lot of work but it would also be a lot of fun. Some of my friends also want to go trick-or-treating (like Susie cause she's never had the privilege!) which is cool, and we also want to carve pumpkins.
I know what I'm being for Halloween, I just haven't quite put it all together yet. And I still need to convince the boy to come.
And about him; he's so so so good to me in so many ways - just not in the ways that are obvious to other people. I joke about how his greatest compliments are something like 'nice tights! Did you have to crank them open with a steal rod to slip into them?' (that was last night and I'm pretty sure that's not how it went exactly but it resulted from the long Sunday in WAY too tight of tights [note to self: no more HUE tights] during that long wait with no food and then stuffing myself to full over-contentment and complaining, stripping them off as soon as entering the house) and all kinds of nice comments; there are too many to even start thinking of the best ones. But anyways, despite his rough exterior, or... abrupt nature...er.... blatant honesty etc., he has done amazing things for me. I should tell him that more. He makes me to think more, care more, share more, do more and be more. And I want to care, share, do and be even MORE because of him. It's probably not as easily explained as felt. Its just that I see this wondering lifetime available to me; the places we would go the things we'd see and family we'd make. It really puts a light in my eye.... or... makes me want to move forward. Maybe that is dangerous- I think it's very nice and very important to be content in the moment too.
It's exciting to move forward in life though and at this point it feels very necessary. I'm not even really enjoying school anymore and working with architects is...enlightening but not really what I had in mind as a designer. I don't want to have to work for firm and be all corporate and officey. I enjoy artsy fartsy. But then again, the Boy's a builder and if the company gets to a certain point I can just design home interiors which is ultimately what I'd enjoy best I think.
I'll let this do for now. Blog time is over.
How does one end a blog? I feel the need for a cute quotation or a little poem...

"One should always be in love. This is the reason one should never marry." (Oscar Wilde)