New wedding invites … simple 1 and 2 color block design. Revamped from an invite I got in the mail that I thought I could make easier-to-undersand.

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I haven’t been posting many wedding invites. This project has kind of gone on the backburner … which is sad, but true. I’ll pick it back up again at the end of December.

Anywho, I designed this lovely invite a while back and listed it on my etsy. I love the funky chunky font. This obviously can be changed to fit any color scheme or wedding theme. You can choose to have the word “love” or your initials featured.

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it’s been a month and a handful of days, and my friend Steph and her beau are still happily married.

and my friend Kelly finally posted her amazing photos.

That means it’s finally time for a recap!

We started off the day before the wedding with a fabulous bridal tea thrown by Steph’s future sister and mother-in-law at their home. Here’s Steph with the teacup and saucer I made her for the occasion.

The bridal party

AMAZING sangria. I *need* this recipe.

After tea we went and got our nails did. Which was rather entertaining because I broke off half my thumbnail two days before (yes HALF of it) and I run (in case you forgot) so I told the lady to leave my calluses alone.  She was pretty put off by that request even AFTER I explained that if she shaved off my calluses that it would make my feet worse. And it would hurt my training. (ha. training!)

She managed to paint my thumb so it looked like there was a real nail on it.

We went and rehearsed and after rehearsal we went to 801 Chop House for the rehearsal dinner and our significant others joined us.

Mark looks dead sexy in a suit. Just sayin.

Then came the wedding day! The ceremony was outside at Sticks in Des Moines and the reception was inside the warehouse.

I was in love with the flowers — even though Steph said they were definitely NOT what she’d ordered.  They were gorgeous.

and so was the cake. also delicious for the record (kelly and I snagged 2 pieces)

the bridal party — ready to rock — glittered up!

After the wedding the bride and groom were showered with white rose petals and left to get some pix taken.

This photo is beyond gorgeous (Amanda does AMAAAAAZING work).

While they were out, we waited for our official photos. Somewhat impatiently …

for the record, the above two shots are probably 2 of my favorite photos of myself ever.

Mark held my flowers so I could take a pee break from the ridiculousness that was ensuing.

oh, and my other BFF Adria was there.  Holla!

And our friend Jen made it with her hubby and her month-old baby, Adoree.  She had to break Chinese tradition of 30 days of house arrest to attend (BY ONE WHOLE DAY). They are the cutest little family ever!

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Dinner and drinks were served.  Cake was nommed.  Dancing ensued.

One thing I must note — the music, the food — everything — was so significant to the couple.  They spent hours and hours on the perfect playlist and even had their string quartet play “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure for the processional and they played “Today” by Smashing Pumpkins as the recessional.  I *loved* it.  And I know they were hoping that everybody loved the food and music because they put so much of themselves in the selection of both.

take one

take two

take three

WINNING

because we’re classy.

And yes, I had got drunk enough to show off the fact that I worked my butt off the previous week and a hafl to lose the last 5 pounds to fit in that dress.

Note: always get the bigger size if you’re between sizes.  I didn’t even THINK about the fact that my hips are hugetastic (11 inches larger than my waist) and that even if I weighed 10 pounds less the dress STILL would have been tight because my hips aren’t going to be any smaller. You can’t shrink bone people!

However, you just got a free pass to the gun show.  Enjoy.

all photos are from Kelly, Amanda or Candace unless otherwise noted. Photos without credits are mine.

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It’s a week late, but last Saturday we went out for my friend Steph‘s bachelorette party.  Not the typical bachelorette. That’s not how we roll. No giant plastic penises (peni??) or beads or leis or whatever else.

The plan was to eat sushi, have some lovely homemade desserts at her place and head to a really douchey bar for some dancing.

Sushi at Appare started out the evening. Then we went to Steph’s place for some oreo truffles and amaretto cupcakes with baileys irish cream frosting (Steph and I baked the Thursday before … note the cream cheese frosting was from the Guinness cupcakes I made for my birthday).  Then we went to Uncle Bucks in West Des Moines for some douchery.

All in all, fun was had.  And the douchey guys by us at the bar were actually quite entertaining — they kept hopping up on the stripper pole and making fun of the slutty girls that were actually using the stripper pole. Hilarious.

Also, I would like to point out that I was wearing a dress owned by Steph and it FIT. AND I wasn’t wearing the miraculous bra (yes that cleavage is TRULY miraculous).

I didn’t text Mark all night …

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I made these ultra-gaudy flower pins for everybody to wear as a headband or pin. Here’s Kelly modeling hers.

The bridal party!

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I’m going bridesmaid dress shopping with two of my bestest girlfriends today. We’re trying to find a dress to fit 3 completely different body-types … so we’ll see how that goes. I’m going to try to stand back and let the other girls pick since it’s been pointed out that I can look good in a potato sack.

I will let you know the outcome. Also, the color is BLACK. So that should make it a bit easier.

BUT it is super windy and snowy out. So that could make things interesting.

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I’ve been working with a local blogger who wanted to launch a bigger and better version of her blog.  She curates and posts about local Des Moines vendors that cater to wedding needs.  The website: Des Moines Wedding Savvy.

We began talks a couple months back, and after chatting about the creative direction for a while, I decided it was time to build out the site. I love her style and it definitely shows throughout the blog scheme.

So, brides, check her out.

Crafty peeps — she’s got a lot of local vendors (big and small) featured. Want yours featured? Contact her, and she will hook you up. She’s always looking for new and exciting vendors who are ready and willing to cater to her brides. Plus, it never hurts to get your name out there in one more place.

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wow it was a realllllly long weekend!

Here’s a super quick recap. I’m sure I’ll have a more extensive recap of Saturday’s wedding once people post pix on Facebook.

Friday we had a wedding reception at ISU’s alumni hall. Mark went to the wedding but it was at 3 PM and I worked, so I got there about 6 or so.  We stayed until about 8 and then snuck out so I could get Barney to Adria‘s sister’s house for the weekend.  Adria’s brother-in-law watched him for me, so Barney got to play with an adorable basset hound all weekend.

Mark, our friend, Matt, and I drove to my parents’ house on Friday night as a stopping point between Ames and Mt. Pleasant, where Saturday’s wedding was.  We didn’t get there until super late, so we ended up going right to bed.

The next day we set off for Mt. Pleasant. The wedding was a short ceremony at a Catholic church in Mt. Pleasant and the reception was at the University of Iowa Memorial Union (much to the dismay of most of our friend group, I’m sure!).

After the reception, we went to a bar called Summit in Iowa City and then ordered some pizza and hung out around the hotel when we got back.  Check out wasn’t until noon, so there was plenty of time to stay up and hang out with people we used to see every day in college but hardly ever get to see anymore.

The next day we stopped and got lunch at Micky’s in Iowa City and parted ways. I hate when weekends like this end. It makes me realize how much I love my friends and how grateful I am to have such an amazing group of them, but how unfortunate it is that they’re all scattered everywhere.  Hopefully a trip to Chicago might be in the works soonish so we can see a handful of some of the most entertaining ones.

Anyway, here are some photos I took. I haven’t gotten used to being a photo whore again, so I didn’t capture as much as I would have liked to.

Don’t worry guys — I was at a stop light. I realized I didn’t take any photos at the first wedding we went to. I didn’t know the people (well, actually, turns out I remembered them from concert band, which was before Mark knew them, so once again, I knew somebody before he did!) … so I felt weird taking photos of people I didn’t know. So here’s me in my cute pink dress and one of my favorite pieces of jewelery — some costume jewelry of my great grandmother’s from the 40s.

Mark and I all schnazzed up before the wedding at the hotel. Sorry guys, but this boy looks amazing in a suit. Whoa. It was hard to be somewhat appropriate with him all night.

One of our friends who hails from Chicagoland — Meg Zandi. I met her last fall for the first time, but she’s been a long-time best friend of one of Mark’s best friends and former roommate, Drew Sabo (the man, the myth, the legend — who probably won’t get blogged about since content is probably not really appropriate. ever.)  She’s a whole lot of fun and super crafty.  Anyway, this was the Zanditory pic of us.

Matt (Mark’s roommate and one of our best friends), the moustache and I at the wedding reception.  I may or may not have stolen his hat a few times throughout the night. Fortunately, there is no photographic proof of that.

Also, I have NO clue who this kid is, but he was working the ladies at the reception pretty hardcore.  Here he’s air-guitaring to Beat It and Matt gave him his hat for the occasion. Seriously, this kid was awesome.

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I’m going to be MIA for a couple of days as Mark and I attempt a double wedding. One of Mark’s friends is getting married today in Ames and our friend and his former roommate is getting married tomorrow in Iowa City.

Which means, I’ve gotta drop off the Barnstormer at a friend’s house for dogsitting. He’s not going to like that, but my friend Adria’s sister’s husband is going to watch him this weekend. They’ve got a laid-back basset hound who would love some company, so let’s hope this helps him get re-associated with dogs.

On a side note, I’m making one of the gifts, so I’ll be posting photos after they’ve received it.

I’m sure I’ll have an adorable recap on Monday or Tuesday for you.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

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Although I have had kind of a crappy Saturday so far, my friend @CatRocketship did send me a photo of the mugs I made for their wedding gift back in April. I didn’t take photos of them before I gave them to them, so I’ve been waiting for a while for a picture…and here it is!

SOOOO cute!

To see some more info about their wedding, check out this article.

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