Snow Day Triggers a...Drugstore Makeup Challenge!

I want you to read that like Ben Bailey from Cash Cab announces a "Red Light Challeeeeeeenge!"  Did you do that?  Good, now we can get started.  

It feels like so long ago that I shared my DIY engagement shoot makeup with the hive, and now I'm finally back for Round 2!  I haven't had too many opportunities to glam myself up, so while we were off of work and "snowed in," (haven't seen any snow yet - jut some sleet) I dug through my makeup products and did a little tutorial for y'all! It's another long one, but you should know by now that's how I roll.

A lot of the products I used last time were high end, and if you're just aiming to get a nice look for the wedding or pictures, it might not be worth it to invest in those.  So I challenged myself to recreate my e-pic look using entirely drugstore (or low cost) products.  Even I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but here's the final look:

All-drugstore final face.  Unless otherwise noted, all photos personal and collages made on Fotor.

Hotel Block Tango

Get it? It's like Cell Block Tango.  Ah, it's Monday, cut me some slack.  True story: I am always stumped when it comes to titles.  

Do you have some kind of wedding task that you just keep avoiding?  Maybe not for any good reason, but it's just that line that never gets scratched off of the to-do list?  For me, that was searching for our hotel block.  Since we're getting married downtown, I was overwhelmed with the number of hotels in a few-block radius from the Board of Trade.  And it's a lot more than just deciding on a suitable hotel for our guests to stay.  This would be where we would get ready at on the wedding day and possibly take our first look and bridal party photos, and spend our first night as a married couple.  So I spent time scouring some wedding photographer's blogs to find pictures of suites and lobbies to see which hotels had the best spaces.

After contacting a few places for prices and suite availability, I settled on two hotels that were staring me right in the face the whole time.  See that building right behind the Board of Trade? 

Photo found on What I saw Riding My Bike Around Today

Let's Get Digital

Wedding websites are a handy (albeit cheesy) platform for the couple to share information with the wedding guests.  I'm not afraid of a little cheese, and I like things that are convenient, so I knew we would put together a wedding website and list the address on our save the date cards.  When I first started looking for the wedding websites (way back last summer), I checked out the The Knot and Wedding Wire, since those were easy-peasy: punch in your info, add a few pictures, and move on.  Certainly, I had a lot better things to be doing with my nights than making a detailed, time-consuming website.

Okay, seriously, you know me well enough by now.  Is that how it happened? Of course not.

I loved the look of the beautiful websites by Mrs.Camel and  Mrs. Wallaby, so I decided to take a stab at creating a Wix site like theirs.  This allowed for more customization than the other templates, which apparently I thought I needed.  I told myself to just try out the Wedding Wire one, and if it looked fine then I would just leave it.  Well, there was something that wasn't looking right on there, so I went the customized route because I was picky about something I don't even remember.  Typical.  I started our website in September, after we received our engagement picture files, all bright-eyed and optimistic about making the most beautiful wedding website you ever did see!

Well, that didn't happen either.  But I was committed to Wix already and with a deadline hanging over my head I was able to get a finished site that I'm pretty happy with.

Let There Be Light!

Hey, hive, guess what's cluttering up my guest room?  These pretty babies!  

Christmas decor might still be showing face at Pyramid Manor.  I've been busy, y'all.

That's right, I bought and began assembling my coveted chandeliers!  I had been eyeing up this one from Home Depot online, but they were out of stock for several months.  I couldn't find anything that looked as pretty for that low of a price anywhere else, so as soon as they were back in stock, I ordered up four!

If you're just tuning in, hello, I'm Miss Pyramid, and I love chandeliers and am bound and determined to hang some in the trees in our venue's courtyard.  

Candle in the Wind

Now that I've shared what kinds of flowers we will have going on at the reception, let's talk about the flip side of that: candles!

When I first started looking into weddings at the Board of Trade, I noticed that the decorations for the courtyard always seemed to revolve around beautiful candles in glass vases and lighting in the trees.

Gorgeous candlelight around the courtyard fountain./Decor by Get Polished Events/Photo by Meg Baisden Photography

They're so romantic and create a beautiful ambiance, so I knew that we wanted candles incorporated into the decor.  And they've got to be such a great money saver over flowers, right? 

Well, not so much.   

Posies, Petals, and Prices

When it comes to flowers at weddings, the battle lines are pretty well drawn with supporters on every side feeling strongly about their choice.  Whether you go no flowers, fake/handmade flowers, or real flowers, it is a personal choice and depends on the feel of the wedding and what fits in the budget.

For me, I love real flowers; I love their smell and look and I enjoy some fresh flowers on a vase on my table because it makes me smile.  So I knew that I wanted flowers at our wedding, and I knew I wanted real ones.


Some say that it's crazy to spend that amount of money on something that will die in a few days, but the idea of some type of faux flowers sitting around in boxes after the wedding doesn't really appeal to me.  That just means I need to find something to do with it all!  Maybe I'll dry my petals, but mostly I just want the flowers to function well on the day of.

Flowers by Blumen Lendle.  Photo credit: Studio Tran

But they are a pricey item that don't actually add any value to the wedding - nobody can eat, drink, or sit on it, so I understand why they get cut from the budgets.  For us, we will be using the flowers in key areas that will make an impact, so that the cost doesn't get out of control.  I love the idea of assembling arrangements yourself by purchasing the flowers wholesale, but it definitely seemed like something out of my abilities.  To the pros we go!

I'll be working with Claire, and her business is Blumen Lendle Floral.  I had emailed her to ask if she was available for our date during my great vendor blanketing campaign of  February '13, and got a quick reply back saying she was booked.  A day or two later, Nanny was telling me about this lady who does flowers and goes to her hair salon (a special bond, there), and asked if I had contacted her.  I said I had, but she was booked for our date, so we made a phone call and she said that the other wedding was small and that she could take us on too!

Mark Your Calendars!

All the wedding resources of the great, wide Interwebs say that save the dates should be sent out about six months before the wedding date.  With our wedding in May, I said "Let's get these done and sent out around the middle of November so that we'll be well ahead of the Christmas mail rush!"

Well, you know what they say about the best laid schemes of mice and brides, right? 

Between the invite design, the guest list, addresses, and other details, we couldn't get everything together in November.  I freaked out for a minute, realized it wasn't a big deal, and set our new deadline to the end of December so we would come after all the Christmas postage.  And on my birthday, we set 110 of them off into the world!  

 Super excited  to drop them off!  This wedding not sponsored by Bodybuilding.com.  Just a conveniently sized box! 

Crowded post office made me feel ridiculous for having Sphinx take pictures - but I knew I needed them!  The things I do for y'all. 

He Made Me an Offer I Couldn't Refuse

Or, my mom mentioned that he might be able to help and I reached out to him, to be more precise!

Who?

My godfather, of course!

Daddy P and Uncle G from a few years back./Personal Photo

Uncle G is one of Daddy P's closest friends, and we grew up with them like family.  He also happens to own a printing business, which can be pretty useful in the world of wedding stationary.  My first plan was to buy a customized save the date design from an Etsy seller, and get Uncle G to print it.  I never really entertained the notion of printing out our stationary, even it was DIY.  You see, I have a big problem with printers.  We just don't get along. A recent text to Sphinx about a situation at work will show you...