Not so Glare-morous

Most of my life, I’ve worn glasses. They don’t aggravate me when I wear them at all. It’s something I’ve gotten used to, but just recently, in thinking about our wedding, I want to be a bride with no glasses. No, I’m not just taking off my glasses. If I did that, everything would be blurry and my klutz level would rise to dangerous proportions. Reason for the switch then? Glare…yeah, you glasses wearing brides know ALL about glare!

I’ve been HAUNTED by glare in yearbook pictures, candids, prom night and almost engagement. However, our wedding photog is excellent and she just wasn’t going to let it happen! Check out our e-pics for proof!

Look at an example of my tragic glare that I found all over my facebook pictures. Sorry for the bad quality.

I decided to avoid any type of glare, I’m going to wear contacts. *gasp* Well, I’ve worn contacts before in college. I just quit because I’m lazy and really don’t like fighting with my eyes in the morning. Here’s a picture of me with contacts.

Now, the fun part: Picking the contacts. I’m naturally greenish-greyish (weird color) eyes. Here, I’m wearing aqua enhancements. Acuvue sells these enhancement contacts that just add tint to light colored eyes. It doesn’t look fake at all!

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I really liked the aqua when I wore them, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to get those again.

If you are hesitant about colors, you can always go to the site for a free trial pair or even a virtual look at how the colors would look on you. However, I couldn’t get my eyes to line up quite right in the picture to show you an example. It’s a little hard to work with, but hey, can’t beat a free trial pair!

Are any of you glasses wearing brides looking to wear contacts?

More Martha Love…

As I mentioned in my last post, I love Martha Stewart. My absolute favorite wedding magazine is her Weddings magazine. She has wonderful inspiration pictures and most importantly, DIY projects.

I’m definitely incorporating a few of her projects into the wedding. Call me crazy but I LOVE crafts!

Ribbon Flowers

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I’m planning on making quite a few of these into a throw away bouquet. It would be a funky personal touch to a traditional part of the reception. I bought TONS of teal and brown patterned ribbon at Michael’s on sale for $1. Gotta love the sales!

Program Pockets


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This idea would work so well for me. I have leftover pocketfold paper that could house the programs. However, I wonder if the church would allow me to do this, and if people would even notice that they are on the ends of the pew, rather than by the door of the church. I could gocco on little fleur de lis on the pocket too. Yet another use for the Gocco, right?

Pressed Bouquet
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I love this idea of making a keepsake for after the wedding. I’m super excited about the wedding flowers, and would love to keep parts of it with me for a long time. I’d have to ask my mom or sister to start it for me, however, since I will be out of town right after the reception.

Are you using any of Martha’s ideas in your wedding?

Martha, I’d like you to join my kitchen!

Dearest Martha,

I would just like to thank you for your wonderful crafty ideas throughout my teenage and young adult years (minus the prison sentence). I love your step by step ideas for the perfect bow, so I can make my invitations super perfect. I love your Everyday Food magazine, because your recipes are so simple yet delicious. But now, OMG, I think I’ve reached a small obsession with you when I saw this in Macy’s.

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Point blank, I want you in my kitchen. Well, not necessarily you, just the mixer. In fact, I think this would be a most excellent addition to our kitchen. While my future (acting currently as Mr. Ballet Flat’s bachelor microwave room…love you babe but it’s true!) kitchen is a rusty red color, I think it’s royal aquaness brings a vintage-y appeal to my baking adventures. While I wish this was at Bed, Bath and Beyond, where we are registered, I’m ok with opening a registry at Macy’s just for your beautiful mixer. I’m sure Mr. Ballet Flat thinks I’m crazy, but this color just makes me want to bake 13 batches of cookies for no good reason!

Hive, is there one thing on your registry that makes you drool, smile, dance and giddy when you see it?

We’re going to DISNEY WORLD!!!

You know, it was kind of hard to choose a place to go for our honeymoon. We were thinking, well, NYC, Niagara Falls, Cruise in the Caribbean…sigh…but none of them REALLY appealed to our liking.

I wanted Disney World..bad. (I’m such a Mickey dork!)

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Mr. Ballet Flat knew that I LOVE Disney, but he also didn’t see a family theme park as a romantic getaway for us. However, Mr. Ballet Flat loves thrill rides, so we decided on Orlando for our honeymoon. I say Orlando, because we are actually going to Disney World and Universal/Islands of Adventure.

One thing we found rather difficult was finding lodging for our honeymoon that would be budget friendly and couple friendly, of course. Disney on-site was expensive, if we wanted to TRY to avoid kids screaming down the halls. Places off-site weren’t that cheap either. So, I did a little searching and thought to look into vacation home rentals.

I read so many great things on Disney boards about renting a home for a family, but I was afraid, once again, of the price. However, home rentals are WAY budget friendly!!

We ended up booking a 4 bdrm/3 bath house with a private pool and jacuzzi. It has a normal kitchen as well, with pots and pans, if we feel like cooking one night and staying in. According to the maps, it’s 10 minutes from the Disney gates!! We’re really excited! Yes, it’s excessive, but we knew there would be privacy there! PLUS, it’s only $149/night to stay in this huge house. Here’s a picture of a similar house we went with. They all look the same in the neighborhood.

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I’m so excited about this road trip with Mr. Ballet Flat! It will be so much fun to experience Disney in a different way than with our families!

How did you and your fiance decide on the honeymoon location?

A driving dilemma…

I’ve been a good bride. I booked everything within a month of being engaged. Well, almost everything.

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I still haven’t booked the limo(s). I know, I know…tomorrow is exactly 7 months until the big day, and I haven’t booked or looked much into the transportation yet.

Mr. Ballet Flat and I are on a budget, and we don’t exactly know how many limos to rent and what kinds of limos to rent, how long to rent them. We have SO many questions, and we don’t want to waste money. On top of that, I’ve read bad reviews on almost EVERY limo company in New Orleans on the local Knot boards.

I feel like the days keep passing by and this little problem won’t get solved. However, I know it won’t until we do something. Man, oh man!

What are you ladies doing/have done for transportation? If you are from NOLA, did you have good service from a certain company as well?

I love these gals!

As you might remember from this post about my bridesmaid, Miss K, she ended up picking her dress first out of the 4 ladies who are in my bridal party. I failed to explain that I’m letting my bridesmaids choose their dress. As long as it’s an Alfred Angelo tea-length dress in tealness, I’m good to go! Reason being, they all are very different in body type, size and height. I couldn’t justify choosing one dress to fit their likings. I want them to love their dress and not feel obligated to buy something they otherwise would NEVER choose.

A couple weekends ago, I went with Miss J to go choose her dress at Alfred Angelo. I failed to mention that I know Miss K and Miss J from a national service organization called Silver Wings. We were pretty involved in the organization and eventually were officers together for LSU.  Such great college memories…sigh. We all share a slight obsession with “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas, and it’s in the works to choreograph a dance to this song for the wedding with the gals! (sisters will be included too!) Anyway, besides my two sisters, these ladies are the closest gal pals I’ve ever had!

Me and Miss K

Me and Miss J

Anyways, onto Miss J’s choice in bridesmaid fashion. Unfortunately, the Alfred Angelo we went to didn’t have this dress, but Miss J loved it so much from the pictures, she knew it would be the one for her!

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I can’t wait to see her in the dress when it comes in! My sisters will be dress shopping for them in November (no worries, I’ll be tagging along!), so stay tuned for their choices in their dress! I totally can’t wait!!

Have you chosen a dress for your girls or are you letting them choose the dress?

What to wear…on my face?

I kind of have a problem. I love make-up. I own a lot of it, and it makes me feel good when I go to MAC and just get a lipstick. It brightens my day. Mr. Ballet Flat knows how much I love pretty eye colors too. In fact, for Christmas, he got me the big kahuna of make-up colors!

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It’s pretty fun, this palette. I’ve discovered some colors that look spectacular on me! (and some, well, not so spectacular..)

I remember when I got engaged and thought about the glamour of having someone come to the hotel, apply the perfect colors of make-up, do my hair and I would look flawless and feel beautiful. Then, I saw the price tag of it. Whoa…

So, the options started pouring in. I knew that MAC will do your make-up for free, that is, if you buy $40 in products. That would cover lipstick, gloss and a powder, so perfect for touch-ups. It’s still $40, but I’d feel justified with products in hand.

I could just DIY, right? Well, I’m by no means a professional at this, and I want my make-up to be flawless and actually STAY. So, I started researching and found Model in a Bottle.

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So, I bought it and tried it a few times. This stuff works wonderfully, but it feels like I put hairspray on my face a little bit. After work, my make-up looked (almost) the same as when I applied it that morning! So, brides, this stuff works.

I was so psyched! I could save $40-60 on my make-up using what I already have!! Yippee! Then, came the time to try to find a look. I was terribly torn.

I love the natural and a subtle smokey eye look. Two complete extremes here…but check these out!

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I tried and tried to make these looks happen on my face, but whenever I tried, it looked SO wrong for me. So, I decided to throw DIY out the window for the big day, and rely on a pro for this.

THEN, I realized, the MAC store doesn’t open until 9 on Saturdays, which would make a time crunch for us all getting our make-up and hair done too! (Our wedding is early afternoon) So, I squeezed it out of my budget to afford a professional to come to my house (or wherever we are) on the big day to make all of us ladies b-e-a-utiful! After many calls and research, I decided on Emily with Get Polished.  Sure, she’s pricey, but she has RAVING reviews. I’m hoping to see both looks on me from her at a trial, and make a decision from there!

How are you doing your make-up? DIY? Make-up counter? Or a house call professional?

Shall we dance?

You know the saying, dance like no one is watching? Well, uhm, I only dance when no one is watching. It’s really awkward to think that 150 of our closest family and friends are going to watch Mr. Ballet Flat and I *gulp* dance. My idea of a dance is the ever-so-popular sprinkler, but I know that’s not necessarily the most traditional thing to do.

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See? P-diddy even does it. So, it’s GOTTA be cool, right?

Anyway, I’m a little nervous about this dance. So much, that I encouraged Mr. Ballet Flat and I to apply for TLC’s Rock the Reception. I haven’t gotten a call or email yet, but hey, there’s still hope for us right? Right?!

I know there’s not a chance in heck that they will call us, so I’m going to need some courage to just appear on the big day. I’m hoping the adrenaline and copious amounts of happiness helps!

As far as music goes, Mr. Ballet Flat and I are torn between two songs, it seems (last we talked about it, at least).

Here’s what I like:

Here’s what he likes:

In case this doesn’t work, click here. Savage Garden wants to cause problems, I guess.

Well, I kind of like his too, but I’m not sure what to think. This Aerosmith song comes from my favorite movie EVER (Armageddon). I played that tape (yep, good ol’ VHS) so much it’s now broken.

So, hive, what do you think? Should I bend to Mr. Ballet Flat’s liking or push for some Steven Tyler?

Was choosing your first dance song easy?

Finding my motivation…

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I need to cut out this picture and post it on my fridge.

Mr. T would say, “I pity the bride who plans but doesn’t act on it!”

I have so much to do! I guess I’m feeling a small crunch here. Even though the big day is almost 7 months away, it seems far away, but I know that’s pretty close for engaged couples.

I should have sent my Save the Dates a month ago! That was the plan, at least. However, I can’t gather up the motivation to finish the guest list since my iBook died. I know, it’s no excuse. Bad Ballet Flat!

I also need to start on my Gocco projects. I have napkins, invites, thank you notes, etc. to Gocco. I’m just intimidated by the machine, because screens and lamps are hard to come by if I do mess up!

I gained 6 lbs. in a MONTH. I really let myself go here and gained back (and two lbs.) the amount of weight I worked my booty off to lose! I’m so let down right now.

Also, a small background. I’m paying for the majority of the wedding. Saving has never been so hard! It seems everytime I get a good savings going, something comes up. First, the iBook died and now, I need serious dental work done (like $1000 out of pocket..gotta love the rotten genetics of weak enamel!).

I guess I’m just in a small rut right now. I’m feeling the crunch, yet I have no motivation to GET MOVING.

Have you ever had moments like this in your planning?

Some (favor) food for thought…

I absolutely love the idea of little favors for guests. Some people opt not to do them, but I see this as a fun opportunity to bring some kitchen love in. Everyone loves food, right? So, it was an obvious decision to do an edible favor. However, we are still undecided on what exactly we are doing for favors. I do have some fun ideas, but I’m afraid there may not be enough time in my day.

Idea #1 (at least for kids): (Kind of) home-made lollipops

These are SUPER simple to make. I make these for kids whenever I volunteer in classrooms, and are always a hit! I found these on This Mama Cooks! blog.

Here are the directions for these fun lollipops!

* 8 Reynolds® FunShapes™ Stars or Hearts Baking Cups (I’ve found these at Dollar Tree with 24 to a pack in both shapes)
* 8 (6-inch) Lollipop sticks (found at any craft store near cake decorating or candy making)
* 40 Jolly Ranchers

Preheat oven to 300°F. Place Reynolds FunShapes Stars and/or Hearts Baking Cups on a cookie sheet with sides.

Make a hole in one side of each of the baking cups near the bottom of the cups with a toothpick. Insert the lollipop sticks from the inside of the cup through the hole made with the toothpick and push it to the outside leaving at least 1 inch inside the cup.

Arrange 5 candies in each baking cup, placing one candy over the lollipop stick. (It does not need to lay flat, it will melt around the stick.)

Bake 5 to 6 minutes (it took my oven 9 minutes but watch them carefully) or until candy is melted. Carefully remove baking cups from cookie sheet onto a tray to cool; immediately twirl stick to completely coat with candy. Prop sticks with handle of a wooden spoon if necessary to keep the sticks straight in baking cup while lollipop cools.

Remove lollipops from baking cups by tearing foil and peeling away from lollipops.

I think this would be great for kids (especially with heart shapes, who could resist right?). You can make these ahead too, because they don’t go bad quickly.

Idea #2: Home-made Truffles

I made Oreo Truffles when asking my friends and sisters to be my bridesmaids. I also make them as gifts around the holidays, and these are a hit too! These have an easy recipe, but a little tedious and time consuming to form into truffles. However, buying a truffle mold makes it a LOT easier in this instance, rather than forming into balls and dipping.

The truffles read B My (squiggle pattern on third truffle) B M ? Cheesy, I know…but I couldn’t resist, really!

Here are the directions for these (found in Beantown Baker’s food blog):

* 1 bag Oreos (crushed either by food processor or in a Ziploc with a rolling pin)
* 14 oz. condensed milk
* Chocolate candy melts or almond bark

Mix the oreos and condensed milk together, and roll into small balls…I used a half teaspoon measurement as guidance for this…then freeze the oreo balls (used wax paper b/t layers of balls to prevent sticking).

Melt the chocolate in a glass or plastic bowl according to the packages instructions. Make sure the bowl has NO WATER in it because that will mess up the chocolate’s texture, making it very difficult to work with.  Then, dip in melted white chocolate or dark chocolate (to make the chocolate more shiny, I sprayed a tiny bit of veggie oil in the bowl with the chocolate).

I used a mold for this for pretty purposes…so for a mold, you “paint” the shell of the mold with chocolate first, freeze for like a minute or so, then take out the mold, put the ball in the mold, then pour in chocolate to fill the rest of the truffle mold and allow to set in the freezer for another 2 minutes, and then they pop out!

If you want to dip instead, just dip the balls in chocolate with a toothpick and allow them to cool on parchment (with the toothpick taken out).

For writing, I used a plastic cake decorator bag and microwaved the chocolate in the bag at 30 sec intervals, squeezing the chocolate around the bag after every interval, on the defrost setting until smooth and melted. Then snip a small corner off and write. Be careful though…the bag can be hot!

Idea #3: Cupcake Pops

While I haven’t made these myself (yet), they have become quite known to the food bloggers out there, and I think I’m going to attempt these for the holidays. I just love this idea, made famous by Bakerella.

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Aren’t they just ADORABLE?

Here are the instructions for these beauties. Linky.

Are any of you brides thinking about giving some kitchen love to your wedding favors?