new fiction blog {antonia crane}

my dear friend antonia, member of the bridal brigade, has launched her fiction rant blog.  a talented writer, we asked her to do one of the readings in our ceremony.  her writing is brash, funny, no-holds-barred, sharp and sweet.  for some flights of fantastic fiction, check out her blog here.  she's one to watch out for...

living terrariums {kat geiger}

i may not be able to drive up to the bay area for mothers day, so i was thinking about something to get my mom other than cut flowers.  so predictable & they don't last...then i stumbled upon kat geiger's living terrariums.  aren't these amazing?  she is in the bay area and only does local orders {unfortunately for me she doesn't ship!}, so if you are in the bay area, check her out.  

i think these would also make amazing centerpieces...so dramatic, too.  something living and beautiful that you could give away after the ceremony to your bridal brigade or friends and family!

if you are in oakland, she's having a trunk show this saturday april 18 at a store called urban indigo.  

check out her etsy store and her blog.

{photos from koko studios on flickr}

wedding details: {readings}

meg over at a practical wedding is doing a great feature about readings.  this post featured tom robbin's STILL LIFE WITH WOODPECKER.  this inspired me to share one of the readings our friend melissa read at our wedding.  melissa was part of the bridal brigade.  i asked two brigade members, melissa and antonia, who are both getting masters degrees in creative writing, to choose and read something for the ceremony.  i let them choose something or write something, it was their choice, whatever inspired them when they thought of us.  melissa interviewed both patty & myself about specific details of our dating life and courtship.  she then used those details to adapt tom robbins' WOODPECKER.  here is what she read at our wedding:

this is my attempt at answering tom robbins' question how to make love stay.

who knows how to make love stay?

1.  tell love you are going to the alcove cafe on hillhurst ave in los feliz to pick up a pecan pie and if love stays, it can have half.  it will stay.

2.  find love...tell her there is a half off sale at the anthropologie store but you have to go together to get the discount.  love never refuses a good deal.

3.  tell love that you will forgive her if she forgets entire decades, more specifically the nineties.  she will stay or she may just forget to leave.

4.  tell love you are going to get a bikini wax and you will be back in half an hour.  love will definitely wait.

5.  tell love if she stays she can name her next dog gepetto.  love will wait and see.

6.  sit beside love on a fluffy bed.  be chivalrous.  don't make out with love too soon.  instead send love a text.  ask her:  "don't you think i should have  kissed you by now?"  love will laugh.  laughter sustains love.

7.  hold love close...sway back and forth.  love will ask: "are we dancing?"  say yeah, we're uh...we're doing the schemoletti...

love will surely stay forever.

bridal brigade featured on "a practical wedding"

such an honor, meg over at a practical wedding has featured the bridal brigade!  having my friends involved in the wedding was such a blessing...i have such lovely, talented and gifted friends, and their effort made our wedding outstanding.  i wanted to involve our community in our wedding, rather than just hire a planner.  the idea for the brigade--having friends participate in the planning of the wedding--came to me after i abandoned the potluck idea.  i wanted friends and family participating in the wedding, not just observers and hence the bridal brigade!  i wanted to showcase people's talents, but i also didn't want to burden them with too big of a project, that's why the idea of several close friends worked so well.  everyone participated in the way that they felt comfortable...since there were so many, people could pick and choose different projects that suited them.

i also didn't want to be fussy with the outfits--as i've mentioned before, i told everyone to wear whatever they wanted as long as it was in the pink and brown family...that way everyone's individual style came through.  i also really didn't want anyone going out to purchase an outfit that they would never wear again!  

in fact, this blog was born because of the bridal brigade...i used it initially as a way to communicate projects, inspiration and ideas with the brigade and it grew from there.  the wedding was such a community effort and we felt so supported throughout the entire process.  it was a great way to see friends, too!  i loved having friends over to craft and assemble items for the wedding, it made it so much more special!

all my love & thanks to the lovely, talented bridal brigade:

{clockwise, from my left}

georgia:  the brigade general--planning & all details!

linda: diy projects, thrifting & opera singing

kate {and mary, her mom, not pictured}:  my beautiful bouquet & flowers, the garden

moore: vegan cupcakes & diy projects

danny: cupcakes, usher & the serenity prayer

craig: diy projects, thrifting, wedding dress help, usher & the serenity prayer

antonia: diy projects & lovely, fun reading

romy: diy projects, photography support & the gift of song

leslie:  love from sf, my beautiful tattoos

melissa: thrifting, diy projects, patty's cufflinks, wedding dress help & beautiful reading

not pictured, but instrumental help on day of the wedding:

roz:  my make up & hair, patty's grooming

pamela, shrader, kelly & donyale:  transforming the seating area to the dining area 

what an amazing, special day thanks to all of our fantastic friends & community.  

wedding details: {chanteuses}

my friends are the most talented, lovely ladies.  i was so blessed to have them all help with every wedding detail from cupcakes to tipping the valet.  two of the girls from the bridal brigade both sang love songs for us.  linda sang a beautiful operatic aria and romy sang "that's how strong my love is."  

love is all you need.  vote no on prop 8.  don't take away fundamental rights.

wedding details: {cup cake tiers}

this was probably our most fun, but most involved diy project--the cupcake tiers.  we probably spent a total of 4 of the project brigade weekend afternoons working on them.  we bought the plates from thrift stores, garage sales and some from ebay.  the stemware all came from thrift stores {i tried to stay under 50 cents per glass!} and garage sales.  

first we used a pencil to trace the glass on the plate.  that way, we could make sure that the tiers lined up properly.  then we put some epoxy on the glass and on the circle we had drawn on the plate, pressed together & voila.  

we made some that were only one tier, and some that were up to four tiers.  the result was magnificent.  comment me if you want more details about the diy project.

some wedding details

it has been so much fun going through the photographer's photos.  here are some details.  we did end up going with the gold jordan almonds.  we used recycled lace and ribbon to wrap them and then put them in people's drink glasses.  to minimize washing & water resources, we encourage people to use the same glass all night, so we dropped the jordan almonds in the glasses.  that's the only favor we had, i struggled with the idea of a favor, but decided to go with the jordan almonds since they are such a strong italian tradition...and it's not something wasteful since all the wrapping we used was recycled (i have so much vintage lace & ribbon for crafting, i just used that).  plus it was a fun project.  the lovely ladies linda and moore wrapped all the almonds during one of our project brigade afternoons.

even the little tags that i wrote names on were doubly-recycled.  they were made from discarded file folders that were made from post consumer recycled content.  and i found them on etsy.

the other signs were also recycled.  i purchased ribbon from another vendor on etsy, blue bird lane & she used the large tags to wrap the ribbon.  so i re-used those tags for the lettering.

reviewing details

in the heat of the planning (and juggling work--producing TV & producing a wedding simultaneously can be quite a feat!), i missed some great details on the blog.  we had a few project brigade craft days and "cranked out" some fun stuff.  here is the project brigade team working on the napkins rolled with the silverware.

shower

well, it's post wedding & i have completely neglected the blog.  here's some highlights from the shower.  see more shower photos here.

napkins

this is what i was thinking of doing for the napkins/silverware so folks can just grab.  need to have a ribbon-tying party, too!  lots of diy'ing going on...i hope we can pull it off!

photo from martha stewart weddings via ritzy bee

project brigade: {cake stands part deux}

we had an impromptu project brigade this weekend.  i went to the thrift store & craig & georgia bought epoxy, so we decided to put a few cake stands together!  they look amazing.  they were very easy to make & fun to put the different plates together.  i also went on ebay & bought some more platters, hopefully enough to finish off the project.

project brigade: {stuff invites}

 georgia stamping the address stamp

almost all stuffed!
rsvp cards waiting for stamps!

the "suite":  wedding invite & rsvp postcard.  we decided to do an rsvp postcard to save paper by not having an envelope.  the invites & the envelopes are made from recycled paper. and they are printed in soy ink.




so georgia, wedding planner extraordinaire, came over on friday night & we stuffed the invitations!  we are still waiting for the custom postage stamps--which better come today!!  patty will help me stamp & seal, and hopefully they will go out tomorrow!  yay! 

brigade calendar

georgia posted a calendar of events here. that way, you can check on brigade activities & see if you can join us! let me know how this works for you.

more brigade girl dresses

more cool bridesmaid/brigade dress ideas.  this is an etsy designer who has great stuff.  i may this lace dress from an earlier post as a reception dress (maybe easier to dance in).  but here are two dresses that she can make in different colors (brown?  pink?) and they are really reasonable!  you can buy them here.

project brigade: {cake stands}

these are the cake stands i'd like to make.  i saw this idea in a BUST magazine a while back & i think it would be fun to make them.  anyone up for trolling the thrift stores for plates & stemware?  maybe you have some lurking in your own cabinet...these are from the pleasing pantry.  

i also found some on this site, design*sponge.  they use old vases rather than stemware, but same idea.

another great dress

another great dress for the girls.  it's available in chocolate.  eco-friendly fabrics & a great dress that can be worn again & again.  she has lots of other great designs, too!  from gaiaconceptions on etsy!

great brown dresses

cool "green" dresses for the girls!  I really like this one.