Sharpen your blades, it's time to trim the guest list

((Before I begin, what do you think of the new background for the blog? Is it a keeper, or back to the original colors?))


The guest list was by far the most stressful aspect of wedding planning for me. I am in -love- with the charm of a small, intimate wedding with just family and a few close friends. However, both Shaun and I come from ginormous families, so that's really not possible. And with the cap of 100 people that Borderlands has, we really had to be ruthless (like, limiting-guests-to-only-a-particular-generation ruthless). But it's a gorgeous park, and with that huge ivy-covered mansion, we were in love! Even more so after Shaun finally made it up to Mass to see the place up-close (even if it was drizzling that day). The best method we've found is to try to tackle it in three sittings: the first, our absolutely must-haves; the second, our would-be-nice with a dash of obligatory I-invited-one-so-I-should-invite-them-all; and third, the people we thought it would be nice to have around, but not absolutely necessary.

However - we've had an epiphany. All that rustic, natural charm of a state park? Yes, we want it. No, we don't want to sacrifice having the folks that are dear to us. While wandering through the Park, we came up with the idea of having our reception at a campgrounds, since it would be so hard to have it there as we originally planned (no electricity, no real flat ground, and no place to go in case of rain). So, a brief internet search showed few options. I magically recalled a particular cabin-filled campsite that I visited often with Girl Scouts when I was young (yes, I know I'm dating myself here), and asked my mother about it. Oh Magical Google showed me Camp Kiwanee of Hanson, only 15 minutes from my house (rather than the 40 of Borderlands). They have a gorgeous Lodge that can accommodate 150-200 people - far more than we'll ever have on the list. You can also rent entire sets of their Cabins for a reduced rate. Weekend-long camping extravaganza, anyone? I'm thinking Oh Yes. And still far more eco-forward than your tradition church-then-rental-hall.

Two downsides, but they are quite minor in comparison to all the questions that are answered by this place: 1) it's more expensive than having the ceremony at Borderlands would be, and 2) with inviting all the folks that we would like to, we are obviously going to have to cater (which translates to 'more expensive'). But keeping the meal to brunch/lunch should help tame the budget as well.

Ohhh, Shaun and I are so excited, next post I'll come armed with photographs of the place! Though this does make the naming of this blog a tad odd - there's a gorgeous arbor in the rock garden at Borderlands, and we hoped to get some photos of us underneath it. Betcha didn't know that one, did you?

Summer inspiration

This will be a short and sweet one, I promise, just a lot of pictures. I wanted to share all the fun things that I made for my sister's bridal shower at the end of last month. I made all that you see below myself - the candles, the wreath, I even made about half the food for it (thought I didn't take pictures of that =p ).

First up, the candles. I made 15 of these (those in front with the raffia), and had 15 that my sister's other bridesmaid gave me which were purchased ahead of time. This is what gave me the inspiration for rounding out the other half of the 30 required favors.



Those are real sand dollars that my aunt had already (she very kindly offered for us to have the shower at her house), and the starfish are also real little guys (who sure smelled it when we took them out of the packages!)

So, the containers are votive holders I found at AC Moore for about $0.80 a piece. I affixed the wicks to the bottom with just a dot of Elmer's glue. The sand was from Michael's (they had better colors there), which I just poured in layers (it also helps to keep the wick in place). Then I just placed one small pearl, a minitature starfish (also purchased from AC Moore), and mini sea shells on top of the sand. I forgot to take many WIP shots to share, sorry =( .

There were two special candles as well, one in a small footed glass for my aunt as thanks, and one in a wine glass for the bride. You can see the details much better in this one.



We also decorated all the tables with similar shells and starfish.



And, lastly, my gift to the bride was a hand-made wreath. All the shells were picked by hand: the blue and white large ones by me at Nantasket, and all others by my parents on their adventures through the years. Sorry, another cell phone picture.



And that's that! I won't bore you with step-by step instructions about the wax in the candles, or making the wreath. I just followed the instructions on the wax packaging, and just glued in shells and beads where I thought they looked nice on the wreath.

So, anyone else have any fun ideas about beach-themed extravaganzas?

And back from far, far and away...

So it has been over a month since I last posted, huh? You wouldn't believe how many things I wanted to write about, but never found the time to. Favors doubling as table decorations, size of the guest list, 'best' time of the year for a wedding, friends officiating vs. family pastor, making a website for our wedding - the list just goes on and on. And then there's all the fun little favors and decorations I made for my sister's wedding shower this past weekend that I'm itching to share with you all. I hardly know what to start with first.

I guess I'll just go chronologically. Favors. Or decorations, depending on your interpretation. We've been all over the map on this one. Originally it was making cookie-cutters out of metal craft strips in the shape of a maple leaf, attached to a card with our favorite cookie recipe(s). In fact, the idea was born from these:

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Next, one of my friends showed me an article on terrarium centerpieces (which did double-duty in both decoration idea AND introducing me to Indie Bliss. A wonderful discovery, that). So that prompted a mad week or two of researching cheap containers and the best methods for making small terrariums. I figured that, working at a pet store that also offers live plants and terrarium products for the scaly kids, I could get all the other supplies I needed there. Somewhere along the way I discovered this PERFECT idea for making the whole thing even more green (as if living terrariums could be more eco-friendly, eh?). Recycled light bulbs. For the containers! Do see the beautiful examples at Re-nest. The first one you see is my favorite.

Perfect, right? Except, where to find about 50-60 burnt-out bulbs... Hm...

I do still love the terrarium idea, but then got to thinking: I wonder how many folks would really like these little guys as much as I do? I'd hate to see them go to waste, just sitting on some dark shelf until they get all moldy and stinky. Plus, that's a lot more work to put into our 'simple' wedding than we had been hoping for. Do love, love, love the idea, and if I had about 3 or 4 more of me I would probably pursue it whole-heartedly, but now I'm back to one of the first ideas I had and forgot about until I saw it in the beginning of my little scrap/note-book. Donations to a charity or non-profit organization. Specifically one like the Nature Conservancy, or the National Wildlife Federation. Simple, less expensive, and more pro-active. I mean, we might still do some little doo-dad if we find something fun and, well, not to sound like a cheapskate, but let's say 'efficiently frugal.' But let us not forget: beside being green about this affair, our goal is to NOT start our married life by digging ourselves into debt for the "biggest day of our lives."

So, can anyone think of any other charity or non-profit that we should consider for our donation?