On New Traditions

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

-Robert Brault

It was the first week of May 2010--one full year before Mr. Tartlet and I would take our vows. Around this time I had hit the wedding planning doldrums. Our engagement photos had been taken. Our venue was decided. Florist, videographer, baker--all booked, booked, and booked. I had lapsed on reading wedding blogs, and found myself getting irrationally irritated when someone would inquire as to how wedding planning was going (because it wasn't). I was stuck in another dreaded "waiting" phase. At any rate, the day started out just like any other: I hit the snooze on my alarm a couple times. I walked the 10 minutes to work. I grabbed a very large coffee from the Java City in the lobby and proceeded to take the elevator up five floors to the lab. Little did I know that it was no ordinary day, because BM Tanya had brought in a beautifully wrapped box and this delightfully cute card:

DiY Project: Edge Painting

Today we're going to chat about edge painting--that lovely final touch to add a pop of color to your invites or really any paper project. We edged our invitations in gold, but the juicy color possibilities are endless--check out Miss Panther's sneak peek to her sexy, aqua-edged invites!

via Dolce Press

I spent a lot of time digging on the internet for techniques and tips, but for the most part came up empty since professional edge painting appears to be a closely guarded secret. I'm actually a little worried that ninjas are going to shimmy down ropes and whisk me away to printing purgatory once I complete this post. In short, I flew by the seat of my pants on this one, although outwardly I portrayed myself as far more confident in order to get Mr. Tartlet on board.

Mr. Tartlet: You know what you're doing, right?
Me: Oh yeah. Absolutely. 100% without a doubt! (Read: no clue in hell, but I'm not about to admit that because I'm stubborn and want shiny gold edges, dagnabbit!)

The Tartlet Invites, Part II

Unwrap these babies here! Upon opening the box mailer, our guests will see this:

In addition to the belly band, we lined the lid of the box mailer with decorative paper. We bought different patterns as large sheets from a local paper shop and cut them to size. I must admit that my horrific math skills necessitated an intervention: after watching me struggle with how to maximize the large sheet of paper, Mr. Tartlet took over and finished the job in half the time. Hooray for the mathematically-inclined!

The Tartlet Invites, Part I

By now these packages have made their way into the mailboxes of the Tartlet guests, lovingly protected with a wrapping of 40# brown kraft paper:

The vintage stamps were purchased off eBay as part of an online estate sale (check out Miss Jam's post for more on how awesome these are), and I paid less than half of face value for these. Score! These were an homage to Mr. Tartlet's childhood hobby of collecting postage stamps, something our guests may not be aware of--but have special meaning for us as a couple. I wrote each guest's address on the front using a calligraphy fountain pen. On the reverse side, guests will see our return address and bit of extra flair:

Invitation Mashup

Hello, lovelies! Today we're going to talk PAPER!

I confess that I've been in a long-term love affair with paper. Ever since grade school I remember enthusiastically awaiting the arrival of September, because that meant new. notebooks. I drove my poor mother up the wall scuttling up and down the aisles of various supply stores looking for just the right one. Don't even get me started on pens. Fast forward two decades, and it's no surprise that our wedding stationery must be just so. I scoured the internet for inspiration, and found a plethora of stationery with elements that I adored, starting with the layers of pink used for these gorgeous letterpress invitations:

 

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Showered with Love and Paper Flowers

After a merry night out at my bachelorette, the following Saturday morning started off right with some much needed sister time at breakfast:

Waiting for our AM cup o' joe at Cafe Marie

Afterward, we headed over to BM Tanya's home, which had been transformed into bridal shower central. Much to my sister's amusement, I meandered around for quite some time, snapping photos of the beautiful tablescapes and adorable favors. My sister and I used to play with sandalwood fans all the time as kids, and the tins held one of my favorite candies--M&Ms!

Seven Girls and a Hot Pink Boa

Oh boy. It's a sure sign of a good night when the vast majority of the photos of you come out looking like this:

 Apparently I struck this pose whenever I was laughing and/or embarrassed.

Last weekend my girlfriends planned one prodigious party. It's so rare for all of our schedules to line up for a night out, so this was a really precious evening for me to have all of my favorite gals in one place. We started out at Bab's Underground Lounge where upon my arrival I was crowned with a sparkly headband and bequeathed a hot pink boa. I swear they had magical powers because I immediately felt more sassy and daring! Anyone else love bachelorette props as much as I do?

Anyhoo, within a few minutes I had struck the "holy haberdashery, batman!" pose above, thanks to a little ice breaker surprise from BM Tanya. *Disclaimer: the next photo may not be safe for work. Maybe you could convince your co-workers that it's a mouse of sorts. At any rate, a quick scroll past the break will have you reaching the "safe" zone in no time!

A Hairstylin' We Will Go

After the haircut mishap of 2008 and growing my hair out for what seems like forever, I'm thrilled to once again have long locks and the versatility that comes with them! However, perhaps some of you have also found that too many choices can be a paralyzing problem. I have a hair trial next week with the ladies at Posh Studio, and I'm nowhere near zeroing in on a style that complements my overall "look." And, as I was writing this post I realized that you've seen my dress, and you've seen the shoes, but I have yet to share my veil with you!

Pixie Cuts and Boing-Boing Curls

...or why I'm dead set on scheduling a hair trial before the wedding.

The year was 2008. My hair was well below my shoulders and had started to acquire that scraggly look at the ends that screams for a trim. As I sat in the salon with my head dutifully tilted downward, quietly listening to the sound of the stylist's scissors snip-snipping away along with her chatter to a nearby stylist, all conversation suddenly ceased, and I heard a terrified "oops..." whispered from behind me. Essentially, the stylist was a little too distracted talking with her nearby co-worker and had mistakenly lopped off a huge chunk of my hair. Unfortunately, no amount of layering and blending could mask the error. I couldn't find any photos immediately after the cut (probably because I was refusing to be in any photos at this point), but I did scrounge one up to show y'all what my "trim" looked like a couple months later:

The haircut fiasco of 2008

Needless to say, I never went back to that salon again.

Good Eats

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience."

- James Beard

This week we attended a menu tasting at our venue, The Royal Park Hotel, to suss out what we'll serve at our reception. It also turned out to be an opportunity to get to know the venue coordinator better and clue her into our tastes and overall style. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had the entire Conservatory to ourselves for the private tasting, which was great for marking out the space and brainstorming a preliminary room layout!

The tummies in attendance: BM Laura, BM Tanya, Mr. Tartlet, and Miss Tartlet. This was taken prior to the fabulous suggestions from the Hive on how to counteract our glow!

Each of us sat down to a beautiful place setting, complete with a personalized tasting menu:

Keeping the Asian Glow Away

Last week the lovely Miss Sparkler shared her dreamy engagement photos with us, and not only was I left seriously lusting after a red Vespa, but I was also yearning for the ability to down a bottle of wine and still look that fabulous. You see, both Mr. Tartlet and I suffer from a genetic abnormality where we can't metabolize alcohol very well. This condition is colloquially known as the "Asian Blush," even though it's not exclusive to people of Asian descent. The tell-tale sign is turning red after imbibing even small quantities of alcohol. It's like a litmus test: Hey-o, Miss Tartlet looks like she's blushing. She must have had a sip of something! Whooeeee, now she's lookin' like a tomato! Better watch out, she's had at *least* half a beer!

Exhibit A: half a beer (or so) later; Mr. Tartlet has yet to show

T-Minus Five Days to the Weekend of Awesome

One night while I was out with a group of my besties, the subject of the wedding came up, which naturally evolved into a discussion about my bachelorette party. At some point "The Thunder Down Under!!!" was proclaimed in a grandiose voice, which prompted everyone to dissolve into fits of giggles. Although a getaway to Vegas was out of the question, a couple of my gal pals pointed out that the fair city of Chicago is within driving distance! More dialogue ensued about the gyrating hips of half-naked men and how best to make me blush. At one point, someone turned to me and said: "Tartlet, what would you want to do in Chicago for your bachelorette?" I paused briefly to consider the question, and then chirped: "I'd really like to go to the aquarium!"

*cue crickets*

 

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Registry Gods, Why Hast Ye Forsaken Me?

...or to speak plainly, how did I not know about Antiquaria before? Maybe I'm just toddling in the dust of the bandwagon, but just tonight I discovered this amazing place dedicated to selling vintage housewares with a focus on mix and match china sets. Feast your eyes on these:

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Flower Girls and Dapper Dudelets

Over the past couple of years we've been incredibly blessed to be a part of our close friends' lives as they experience the joy of parenthood. Our own lives have been enriched so much by the presence of these little ones that when we envision our wedding party gliding down the aisle--gals dressed to the nines, guys all snazzy and fine--it simply isn't complete without a little maid and man to round out the procession. Plus, Mr. Tartlet is cray-cray about kids. Having them around is a surefire way to plaster a grin on his face (see picture below). Allow me to introduce the two wee ones who are likely to steal the show. First up, my cousin's adorable daughter:

Those CHEEKS! *pinch pinch pinch*

And BM Laura's son:

Musings on a Longer Engagement

I've had a love-hate relationship with our relatively long engagement. On the one hand, the extra time has allowed us to carefully consider what's most important to us for the wedding, and afforded us the luxury of planning when we want to (rather than feeling pressured to). We've also been able to save up our money, shop around for the best deals, and take our pick from the massive pool of available vendors.

On the other hand, a big repercussion of our now 22 month engagement is that it's given me plenty of time to second guess our wedding-related decisions. I've gone through the whole spectrum of wedding "mood swings," from feeling purely content to long periods of time where I've been consumed by boredom, wishing that the big day would just get here already. It's during these times that I ended up getting lost amongst the pages of countless blogs and inspirational websites, which in turn led to me take a tumble down the wedding wishing well. Tell me, will some of my objects of desire be fulfilled at your wedding?

String lights. I have a sentimental attachment to these. On our first "real" date, Mr. Tartlet and I saw the movie Big Fish, and I fell in love with the twinkle of these lights as a direct result of this scene:

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Our venue has strict rules regarding electrical wiring, so there will be no throwbacks to our first date. But, I can count on candles to emulate the luminous glow that this wedding achieved to perfection: