Reader Question: The Fascinator

Reader Question: My question for you is specifically about your fascinator flower and veil. I love it! I'd seen and saved the image months ago but could never find where it was from. Did you make it/buy it? Do you have any advice about how I could make or buy the same?

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I made my fascinator and intended to do a tutorial ages ago, but after attempts to make fascinators for a few friends I realized I couldn't recreate what I did well enough to feel comfortable sharing my methods. But, with the help of a few other tutorials, I'm going to do a quick write up of what I did here.

To start with, this tutorial seems pretty good, as does this one. If what I'm writing makes no sense, maybe try one of those?

Both are similar to what I did, in that i started with a felt base (mine was two layers glued together). I then glued my first layer of feathers down and waited for them to dry, then my second layer of feathers and let them dry.

For the flower I took apart a fake flower I liked the shape of and used it as a template to cut out new "petals" from raw silk I owned (you could just use a pre-made flower, but I liked the color/texture of the silk I had). I sewed and used a tiny bit of glue to attach the longer feathers to the center of the flower, and then sewed the stones I used (they were actually stone beads) through the center of the petals to stick them all together. I wrapped ribbon around the top of a hair comb and sewed that to the felt on the bottom of the fascinator.

The veil was actually entirely separate. For that I removed a piece of vintage veiling from one of the way too many vintage hats I own. I scrunched up one side of it until I liked the shape, sewed that together with white thread, and then attached it to my hair using bobby pins!

I did base my fascinator design on the ones made by k. autumn, so she'd be a good place to start if all of this looks totally overwhelming. One of my friends had a k. autumn fascinator and loved it. I will say it might be worth trying to do it yourself first if you are on a budget. I spent a total of about $15 making mine, and I know the pre-made ones run at least $100. Hope that helps!

On my feet

By far the most frequently asked question I've received from readers about my wedding is where I found my red shoes.

The shoes don't say on them and since the box is long gone I wasn't really sure. Until person number one-hundred or so asked me today and I realized I should stop sending y'all to Anthropologie, begging them to sell you shoes that I'm sure they haven't had in months. So I got my act together and realized they came with a cloth bag that I was sure I didn't toss. I dug around a bit, and Ta Da! I have answers...

The shoes are by UK designer Miss L Fire. And while I didn't see my particular shoes on the website, she makes some other dang cute shoes.


Hope that helps!

DIY: Polaroid Photobooth

Like many who have come before us, we really wanted a photobooth at our wedding. But, the cost of renting a "real" booth was far too high, so we went diy.

We wanted people to take pictures for us to keep, but also be able to take some home, so we decided to go the Polaroid route. We already had the camera (we found it by the side of the road, in a junk pile, right after we started dating).

Of course this came right around when they decided to take the film off the market, so the price of Polaroid film shot way up. We bought some of the film before the crisis, but we ended up scavenging eBay for most of it. All in all I believe we purchased around 200 shots worth of film for 100 people (we didn't use all of it). I've also heard that Fuji is now making Polaroid 600 film, so that should make it easier for those of you who want to try this.
While some people have a designated picture taker, we knew our friends would be all over taking Polaroids so we figured they could switch off being picture taker and model. That worked out just fine and the booth was literally full all day while people were setting up, all night, and into the next day as we were cleaning up!
To make the backdrop for the photobooth we purchased two sheets of fabric (three yards of each). One was a regular sized fabric, and the other was upholstery fabric from Ikea. I'd recommend upholstery fabric because the heavier weight hangs better and the extended width allows more people to stand in front of it.

To our advantage, we were able to just tack our fabric to my parent's deck and use their porch lights to light it. You could also make a wood frame to attach the fabric to, hang a line from trees and attach the fabric to that, or nail it to a wall.

On the deck we put a table with the film, a board for people to post pictures on, and several costume items. For the costumes we used things I had lying around my house, plus a few purchased pairs of crazy $1 glasses. And yes, I have hats and fur coats and eye patches just lying around. The felt mustaches I made.

And of course, as some of these pictures exhibit, our photographer couldn't help but snap a few pictures of people using the booth as well. They loved it!

DIY: Gocco Invitations

How did I not write about our invitations? Perhaps I blocked them out because they were so. much work. After they left my house I was happy to have them out of sight, out of mind.


Our invites were entirely designed and created by little ol' me (using purchased art...I'm not an artist!). P. bought me a gocco for my birthday so the invites were really my first project using the gocco. I highly recommend practicing a bit more before you create your invites. The gocco isn't hard to use once you get the hang of it, but we burned through several frames and lots o' ink before we figured out how to burn the screens to create clean, crisp pictures on the other side.

Gocco, straight out of the box, with computer tutorial.

There were papers everywhere. Everywhere.

Our invitations had four components. The actual invite, the response card, an info sheet, and the envelope.This image is probably the closest to the actual color of the paper (which came from Paper Source). For the envelope I handwrote a screen using the gocco pen and then printed them so we wouldn't have to handwrite a return address on each envelope. As a sidenote, we no longer live at that address so good luck stalking me there :)

While I wanted to use vintage stamps, that ended up being a cost that I couldn't justify. My way of getting around using the flag stamps (the only stamps available when I was sending out invites), was to use a variety of smaller amount stamps. This involved running around to four post offices who looked at me like I was a crazy person for buying hundreds of 5cent stamps.

Our invitations were simple, using an image from Nikki McClure, one of my absolute favorite artists. The text is in a dark brown color, with gold ink for the image.

Our info cards used two screens: one for the image done in gold ink and another for the text, done in a raspberry color. We intended to have driving directions on the back of this sheet, but for some reason could not get the screen to print clearly so after several ruined screens we just scrapped the idea and stuck directions on the website.


You may notice that on our reply card we didn't really make it clear that people should still write their name if they weren't planning on attending. Several people responded with "no" responses and no names. We had to guess based on postage and process of elimination who those people were. Kind of a pain.

So all in all I really liked how they turned out. They aren't professional. They aren't letter pressed. But they were fairly cheap. For save the dates, all the gocco supplies, paper, and stamps we spent a total of $310.

And, since I'm sure someone will ask, here is our save the date. We made my sister take the pictures of us lying under my parent's apple trees holding blank pieces of paper, but wouldn't tell her why. She thought we were crazy. I added in the text after the fact. We printed them using VistaPrint, with a discount code, and I think we paid around $15 total.


Thanks for all the questions! Keep them coming!

DIY: Making Mason Jar Lamps

Several people have asked how we created the mason jar candle holders. While I don't have the tools here to do a good step-by-step with pictures, here's what I've got using one of the already made holders.

Tools:
-Empty jars with labels removed
-Sand
-Tealights
-Wire (I *think* the wire we used was mostly 20 gage...we found two different spools of wire in my parent's garage, so we used that.)
-Wire cutters or planting sheers (something that will cut through the wire you have).
-Needlenose pliers

1. Wrap the wire around the jar, under the lip, leaving about an inch of slack in the wire and cut.
2. Twist the wire together to close the loop, but still make sure that the wire is a bit slack.

3. Cut another length of wire to use as the "hanger." Mine were all around a foot long, maybe a bit longer. We did different lengths so they'd hang at different levels. Bend the wire into a big "u" shape.

4. Twist the ends of the hanger wire so that they form a "u" facing out. The pictures show the ends closed already. I felt like having the hooks face out made them more securely attached to the lip wire, but maybe I was being crazy.

4. Hook the hanger wire onto the wire around the lip of the jar (this can be slightly tricky if you don't leave enough slack in the wire around the jar).

5. Tighten the lip wire by twisting it more with the pliers until it feels securely on there.
6. Close the hooks on the hanger wire with the pliers (the pictures show this step already done).

7. Fill with about an inch of sand and stick in a candle!

Let me know what questions you have. We used one of the long lighters to light everything so we could put the candles in ahead of time, but if you don't want to buy one of those you could just stick the candles in as you light them at the wedding.

Details: Creating an outdoor seating area

Paul and I had a very lazy weekend. He's been busy lately so he swore off work for all of Saturday AND Sunday. No work emails, no checking his blackberry, nothing. I was pretty impressed that he pulled it off. We spent the time going on a hike, cooking semi-elaborate meals, having friends over, and other odds and ends.

None of that is at all relevant to what I'm about to post, except for to say, that I've had a good excuse for not posting in a few days!

So one of the things that I knew I wanted at our wedding was an outdoor seating area. Couches, floor pillows, a fire pit, the works. Since our wedding was in my parent's yard, they offered to let me drag their living room furniture outside. Have I mentioned that I love how flexible my parents are?

I was given a Crate & Barrel gift card from my old office as an early wedding present, so I used that to buy a rug and some floor pillows that I knew we'd reuse in our house. And I lugged up a big chair I love, because I thought it would look cute in pictures (and I'm going to admit that is a crazy reason to bring a hundred pound chair anywhere).


We set the lounge up on the pool deck, which was located just close enough to the dance floor to be a good place to take a break and people watch, but just far enough away from the DJ to carry on a conversation.
After dark we lit torches all around the patio and floating candles in the pool, got the fire pit going, and people sat around on the couches and curled up in quilts on the rug. One of the great mysteries of our wedding is how there isn't a single picture of it! I've put out a request to my friends in hope someone has one that they've been hiding from me, so if something shows up I'll be sure and post it here.

Having the seating area was a great, super easy addition to the wedding (particularly since we could use stuff we already had on site). People don't really want to sit at tables after they are done eating, and it gave them somewhere to be if they didn't want to dance. I have no idea how much this would cost, but I was at a wedding recently where they primarily rented couches instead of tables and chairs. They did have a few tables for those who needed or wanted them, but in general it was perfectly fine, and a lot more comfortable for seating once people were done with their food.

My brother-in-law & his girlfriend at the couch-seating wedding.

DIY: Dying a Petticoat

Someone asked, so I thought I'd write a quick post on dying a petticoat. You can occasionally find them online, but it was so cheap and easy to make one, you should just go for it.

Step One: Find a white petticoat. Mine was $5 at the antique mall near my house. There are used ones at thrift stores all over the place. They also sell them various places online and I'm sure bridal shops will sell you one for an insane price.
Step Two: Find dye in your preferred brand/color. I used Rit, because I did the dying on a whim and just walked down the street to my local drugstore and that's what they had.

Step Three: Follow the directions on the box. Seriously. I assume they must be different for every brand. Mine basically told me to wash the item in the washing machine with the dye. You let it sit for a bit at the beginning of the wash cycle. Watch the color in that part--that's where you have control over how intense it gets.

When the petticoat is washing, stop it occasionally to untwist it. Wear gloves or you'll end up with colored hands like I did! If you don't untwist it you'll have a crazy, swirled petticoat.
Step Four: Take the petticoat out and dry it. I dried mine in the drier on a low heat with a towel I didn't care about (in case it was leaking dye at all).

After it was dry, I washed the towel in the washing machine to soak up any remaining dye in the washer.
Initially I was concerned that since most petticoats are polyester, the dye wouldn't take. I actually left it sitting in the dye longer than the box said because of that. And I ended up with a super saturated yellow colored petticoat! So surprisingly (to me at least), Rit will dye cheap poly fabric and netting. The only part that didn't take the dye was the lace at the bottom and the elastic at the waist.

Wedding Recap: we arrive at the wedding!

After running around town, we headed back to my parent's house (aka the wedding site) to get ready and take some family pictures. We planned on walking around the countryside to get a few more country shots of us, but we all got caught up in talking to people and working out details of the wedding so that didn't happen, and it's fine.
Once we were at the wedding, we made no attempt to have people not see me in my dress. I'm not sure if it struck people as odd that the bride was hanging out, greeting people as they arrived. Regardless, it made me feel a whole lot less nervous about being up in front of everyone during the ceremony and I got a chance to meet some of P's people I didn't already know.
We really didn't think we wanted a "jump shot." Actually we'd kind of joked about it prior to the wedding. But then some of our wedding party got a little tipsy while we were walking around downtown and requested one.
I'm kind of glad we have it now. The two who really wanted to do it (can you tell which two that might be) are hilarious. Here's another one just in case you couldn't tell from the last.
P. was really excited to hold everyone's flowers while I took a few pictures without them. Did I mention how much I HATED carrying them around all day? I kept suggesting pictures where I wouldn't have to hold them.
While we didn't end up having a flower girl, the girl who would have been our flower girl (my cousin's daughter) took a few pictures with us and our puppy--we made her our official puppy watcher instead of flower girl. She was very happy to have a role.

In between all the picture taking, I was running around figuring out last minute details--like we had no idea how we were all going to walk into the ceremony and hadn't practiced at all, and my officiant needed something to stick the ceremony printout in so she didn't have to stand up in front holding pieces of computer paper, and realizing our guestbook didn't have a sign to explain it (I hand wrote one quickly)...
Actually the whole welcome table was a bit...underdressed. We wanted to give people something to drink during the ceremony since it was warm outside and people were going to be talking. But, we are fairly anti-plastic bottled water, so we knew we wanted to get something to put the water in. At that point our budget was pretty tight and we couldn't find anything at Target, so we just went with the big blue water dispenser my mom uses for the track meets she coaches.
Actually, with the bright table cloth, the whole thing looks pretty cheerful, even if Martha Stewart would disapprove like crazy.

P. and officiant friend plotting their entry. Notice that S. found a lovely folder in my dad's office that we dumped everything out of and filled with ceremony.

Up next, the ceremony begins!

mustached.

Recently Ariel on Offbeat Bride wrote about the fake mustache trend at weddings. I have to say that I fell victim to it. Although, at the time I didn't know it was a wedding trend. I just saw a fake mustache on etsy and thought "Hey, I can make that and wouldn't they be cute at the wedding." Plus, we were doing a photobooth with costumes, so I assumed they'd be put to good use there. In fact, I'd bet that the fake mustache trend is pretty in sync with the photobooth trend. But who cares? They're both fun and I don't regret either one.

My sister twirling the tips of one of the mustaches I made.

I also ended up buying a few cheap mustaches from a local party store. They were under $1 each, and while you had to stick them in your nose to wear them, people weren't as grossed out about that as I assumed they would be.

My husband in one of the handmade ones, and me with a mustache stuck in my nose.

So maybe I'm trendy and unoriginal. But people had fun with their faux facial hair at my wedding, and years from now I bet nobody will remember that mustaches at weddings were marginally trendy for some period of time.

More mustache pictures here.

Escort Cards

While we had originally thought that we'd do the relaxed thing and avoid assigned tables, after a quick poll of our friends we realized that most people would prefer being told where to sit. So we ended up with assigned tables, though not assigned seats.

This added an additional project at the last minute--figuring out how to let people know what table they were seated at. I decided right away that names were going to be on leaves. I bought appropriately colored paper from an art store and cut out two leaf shaped patterns from cardboard. I enlisted the help of a bridesmaid who traced the leaves, cut them out, and wrote names on the front and tables on the back.

My original thought was to have them hanging from a branch, but after realizing that would involve more work than I was prepared to dedicate to this project, I looked around for an alternative. I'd already requested that people collect acorns for me (they were originally going to be scattered on the tables) so I dumped all the acorns in a basket I found in my parent's laundry room, stuck in a few mushrooms I had lying around from Small Stump, and used the acorns to prop up the leaves.

Ta da! Project done in less than 2 hours. Total cost: $5 for the paper.

counting cards

I was browsing around crafting websites today and came across these adorable counting cards on eeBoo. They are meant for kid's rooms, but if you had 10 or less tables, they would also make great table numbers. The animal and bird sets seem most wedding appropriate, but they also have trains if that's your thing.