I'm back!

Why, hello, Blog! I'm sorry I haven't been around, it's been a crazy five months--first, I graduated from law school, then I got married, then I took the bar exam. Between studying for final exams, taking care of wedding things, and preparing for the bar exam, I felt guilty doing anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. So posts didn't happen.

Fortunately for the blog (unfortunately for me) I am not yet employed, nor can I be fully employed as an attorney until I find out if I have passed the bar in November. So while I'll be spending much time sending out resumes, I also have the time to update everyone here.

Since this is a wedding planning blog, I'm going to start with filling you all in on our honeymoon. Once I get the photo CD back from the photographer, I'll go through everything in our wedding and let you know what was worth the money we spent on it, because that is truly what this blog is for.

And as always, at the same time, I'll post thoughts and ideas coming out of weddings my husband(!) and I are attending or involved in.

A new piece of information that I hope to blog about too: I'm planning on starting a floral design class next month at a nearby community college. I'll let you all know what I learn.

How to turn a 4x6 Proof into a good 8x10

A fun reception decoration idea is to collect old family photos of weddings for display at the hall. Unfortunately, anything older than 10 years isn't likely to come with a DVD of high-res photos to print from. Sometimes you get stuck with a 4x6 of a beautiful picture you'd rather have enlarged, and it's hard to enlarge a small print without ending up with a rather grainy image.

After some experimenting, I want to share how I have successfully enlarged one of my parents' proofs, with step-by-step instructions!

1. Find the photo you want to enlarge. We decided to concentrate on wedding parties, as opposed to just photos of the bride and groom, so that guests would have the chance to recognize more relatives, but this decision is up to you. Take note of the dimensions of the print you have.

2. Find a scanner that can accommodate high-resolution scans. I did some research, and in order to get a good quality photo, you want 300 dots per inch (dpi). So if you're enlarging a 4x6 to an 8x10, you need to scan the 4x6 photo at a higher resolution than 300 dpi.

You can use a personal scanner if you have one at home. HP All-in-One Printers, along with the HP Solution Center program, allow you to scan at very high resolution, but I noticed some problems with the image that got scanned in. Probably due to imperfections in the glass on the scanner, I ended up with lines running through the digital image, like there was sunlight streaming down in odd places.

I have found the UPS Store to be a great resource in this regard. They'll do the scanning for you--it's $2 per scan--and put the files on a flash drive for you. Their highest resolution for scanning was 600 dpi, which turned out very well when I enlarged the print.

3. Organize your photos, put them on a jump drive, and head to your nearest photo printing center! My parents' 6x6 proof, scanned in at 600 dpi at the UPS Store, looks great when enlarged and cropped to an 8x10.

Baseball boutonnieres

Some people don't like fresh flowers. You don't get to keep them forever (unless you want to press them, but it's not exactly the same) and they can wilt or fall apart during the wedding day depending on the flower type. Additionally, some beach venues won't allow fresh flowers.

That's why I think Mark Ellingson of the San Diego area has come up with a fantastic invention: bouquets and boutonnieres made from baseballs and softballs!

Each rose's petals are handmade from the leather from a baseball or softball. The baseball varieties come in white, but the softball roses come in yellow or pink. It's perfect for the couple who loves America's pasttime.

Football roses are expected to come soon, and who knows? Maybe Mr. Ellingson will expand to soccer balls and basketballs...although I have a hard time imagining how a hockey puck rose would work.

Check out the Baseball Rose website here. Boutonnieres start at $13.99, but you can save buy buying in bulk. Bouquets start at $34.99 for a three-stem bunch.

Terra Cotta and Turquoise Wedding

Inspired by all the clay pots I have been scraping to make bole for a gilding project, I decided to post this board of turquoise and terra cotta. Enjoy!

Photo Credits:

Bride's dress; Bridesmaid's dress; Tiles: 1, 2; Rings; Candleholders: black, crackly; Church; Flowers: spiky, bouquet; Flan; Invitations

Daffodil Themed Wedding

Spring is coming!

Bridal gown by J.Crew (item 24810)
Wedding cake by Cakes by Robin
Earrings and Necklace by Stranded Treasures
Daffodil Hair Pins by Hairflowers.net
Bridesmaid dresses by Alfred Angelo (style 7017S in white with sunshine and peach fizz sashes)
Daffodil centerpieces from Bulbsonline.org

Did you know that daffodils come in pink, too?

16-in-1 Bridesmaid Dress

All the bridal media seems to be raving about this one bridesmaid dress company: Two Birds. Two Birds sells these dresses that are stylable in 16 different fashions. They come in two lengths, and two sizes, and 20 colors; there are a few different styles of hemline too. The top part of the dress consists of two strands of fabric that can be tied and twisted to create all these different looks.

It's a really cool idea, I agree. Ingenious from an engineering standpoint. But--and maybe it's because the company is based out of New York City and LA--no one has yet pointed out that most of these 16 styles are backless (or close enough). Several of the designs have a little comment that says "bra friendly!" and I'm thinking, What kind of bra are they talking about? Do they have some magical contraption in LA and NYC that we don't have in Detroit? Or maybe the girls in those cities are just so skinny that they don't really need more than two band-aids. Of the 16 styles, there's really only one you could wear with a regular bra, and one with a strapless bra--see for yourself.

To be honest, though, I'd like to see how they work. It should be noted that you can buy a $30 "bandeau" to make the styles a little more modest (and not backless). Maybe I'll get another bridesmaid gig soon and I can talk the bride into letting us make use of their through-the-mail try-on program.

The dresses are $270 for the tea-length styles, and $290 for the full-length. Size A fits sizes 0-14 and Size B fits sizes 16-24 and costs an additional $20.

I think it's a little pricey for a dress made of a nylon/jersey/spandex blend that you have to put together yourself, but maybe that's just me. Perhaps when the novelty wears off, they'll go down in price. Dessy makes competitors for $140 (tea-length) and $180 (full length).

Andrea's Wedding

Photos from Andrea's beautiful wedding are up! Andrea and Liam had a gorgeous wedding right in the middle of the fall colors in Hartford, Connecticut. Derek and I had a great time at the ceremony (St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Farmington, a lovely old stone church) and the reception (the Town & County Club in Hartford).

The wedding colors were red and orange, mimicking the autumn foliage in New England. Andrea's dress is made by Cymbeline USA. You can see my bridesmaid dress again at the right. Andrea's and our bouquets were made of red roses, orange callas, orange spray roses, and little red berries, created by Devars-Phillips. My favorite unique detail is that they incorporated Liam's desire for pumpkins in the decorations by using little, decorative pumpkin-shaped gourds, although I can't seem to find a picture of it.

Below is a small taste of the festivities. More photos can be viewed at the photographer's website. Victoria Souza Photography did a great job of capturing the color and movement in the day, didn't they?